By Terra's Overall Standards, Most People Are Even Worse Than Jiajing (Laughs) / Zuo Xuanliao and Zuo Le's Father-Son Game; What Zuo Xuanliao Wants to Tell His Son

"The court cannot be without the southeast for a single day, and the southeast cannot be without Hu Zongxian for a single day." Jiajing nodded and said calmly, "Suppressing Seaborn depends on him, and pacifying the disaster victims to prevent rebellion also depends on him."

"We can't let him worry to death, and we certainly can't let him work himself to death!"

The next moment, Jiajing slowly leaned back, resting on the cushions of the study. Then, he uttered a line that was truly astonishing for a ruler of a nation:

"The national treasury has no silver... Let Yan Shifan and his men get it."

"Twelve coins of one tael of silver go to the national treasury, and four coins go to them. I accept this."

"Ten coins go to the national treasury, six coins go to them... I accept that."

Jiajing's somewhat reluctant words truly surprised everyone present. Not to mention the Emperor of Great Yan and Wei Yenwu, even Theresis, who was in power without a formal national government, was astonished that the monarch would actually bargain with his ministers.

What's even more surprising is that the king, knowing full well that his ministers were corrupt, still tolerated their actions, and all of this was because he had no choice but to accept it.

After all, it seems that only the Yan Faction can bring Jiajing benefits and money to replenish the national treasury. Jiajing knows they are greedy, but without the Yan Faction, it would be extremely difficult for Jiajing to send people to find ways to replenish the national treasury himself.

Only the Yan Faction was like a high-profit investment product, allowing Jiajing to generate relatively large profits for his national treasury after investing a certain amount. Therefore, if he wanted to replenish the national treasury, only the Yan Faction could be used.

Even so, Jiajing had his own bottom line, and his desire to overthrow Yan Song was not something that had just begun. Ever since he learned that Yan Song was starting to lose control of his Yan Faction, and that Yan Shifan was even less able to control his subordinates, he had harbored the idea of overthrowing Yan Song.

"If they still want to gain more, and they can't even tolerate Hu Zongxian, thus driving the southeast into rebellion... then I can no longer tolerate them!"

Jiajing himself was also frustrated, but it wasn't time yet. Yan Shifan hadn't reached the point where he couldn't tolerate him anymore. He wanted to see if Yan Song could still revitalize the situation. If Yan Song could, then the Yan Faction would still have a reason to exist.

"It's a pity there are too few people." Jiajing couldn't help but sigh. There were simply too few capable people in the Great Yan now, so much so that people like Yan Shifan had to be used.

"Tan Lun, whom Prince Yu sent to Hu Zongxian's side, was to secretly pass on a message to Prince Yu: Xu Jie, Gao Gong, and Zhang Juzheng, if they request anyone to go to Zhe City again, it must be approved immediately."

"Also, tell Yang Jinshui that the palace should no longer make things difficult for Hu Zongxian."

"What a fine balancing act." Theresis immediately saw the Emperor Jiajing's standard for managing people: no matter where he was, he could not allow one family to become too powerful, nor could he allow one faction to be in charge of everything.

Take Zhe City in the drama as an example. Yan Faction's faction has now become deeply entrenched in Zhe City. If it weren't for Hu Zongxian, a pillar of the southeast who still cares about the people, the entire Zhe City would have become a place for Yan Shifan to make a fortune. If the people were forced to rebel, it would be Jiajing would have a headache.

Therefore, he needed to send members of the Clear Stream Faction to Zhe City to balance the power of the Yan Faction and ensure that things did not get out of control. He also needed his own people to be present so that he would know everything that was happening in Zhe City.

"Jiajing used this method to ensure that the information he received was accurate and comprehensive every time... Are the officials in the Directorate of Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs similar to assassins? Should I also consider cultivating a force that is absolutely loyal to me?"

This thought crossed Theresis's mind, and he wasn't alone; the new emperor of Ursus, whose situation was similar, realized how much his fate resembled that of the Emperor Jiajing.

The old aristocracy was like the Yan Faction in the drama, while the new aristocracy he supported was like the Purists. Strictly speaking, neither faction was loyal to him, but rather they were acting in their own interests. Ironically, he almost lost control of everything, causing him to lose his power as emperor for a period of time.

He also drew inspiration from Jiajing's experiences and began to examine the servants and maids within his own country who had cared for him during his times of hardship... Although they weren't particularly talented, perhaps their abilities extended beyond what they had shown?

In the drama, Jiajing's decree reached Prince Yu, and now, the group is discussing the current situation in Zhe City and how they can maintain a balance with the Yan Faction.

The first thing the Purists Faction thought of was to cut off the disaster relief supplies to Hu Zongxian when he went to Zhe City. Wenyue, who plays Zhang Juzheng, also said this to Prince Yu:

"This doesn't need any logic. They just want those big silk merchants in Zhe City to take the grain locally and annex all the fields that were affected by the disaster, all under the guise of 'resolving the dilemma by combining land with grain for disaster relief.'"

However, although Zhang Juzheng said this, and his tone was full of disdain for the actions of Yan Faction, when Prince Yu asked why the Ministry of Revenue could not allocate grain to Hu Zongxian, he changed his tune and said:

"Your Highness, to be frank, even if it were possible, we wouldn't have arranged it for him at this time."

"... What do you mean by that?" Prince Yu also realized that the Purists faction had come up with new ideas behind his back, and at this moment, Zhang Juzheng told him about the Clear Stream Faction's plans.

"Let's just let Zhe City descend into chaos—at this point, it's time for Your Highness to understand our intentions."

"The Yan Faction has controlled the government for over twenty years, and it was already in a state of utter collapse. The only reason they were able to maintain their power was by pandering to the emperor. The palace was insatiable in its demands, and the Yan faction engaged in layers of corruption, which is why such a huge deficit has been incurred."

"The prince should have known that their proposal to convert rice paddies to mulberry fields was actually a way to make up for the deficit. But even Hu Zongxian knew that such a major undertaking should not be implemented within a year—but they couldn't wait, and their subordinates saw it as a golden opportunity to make money. That's why they did something as heinous as destroying the dikes and flooding the fields."

"Anyway, it's cutting off the flesh of the common people, which is actually cutting off the flesh of my Great Yan Dynasty to mend their wounds! How can the court and its officials turn a blind eye to such a clear thing?"

"It's rare for someone Hu Zongxian to stand up and speak out, and it's for their own good, but they treat him like an enemy. They can't even tolerate someone Hu Zongxian, which shows that their luck has run out."

The next moment, Wenyue, playing Zhang Juzheng, who had been so indignant and deeply disgusted with the Yan Faction who were sucking blood from the Great Yan, immediately revealed the Purists's plan and this idea that was completely inconsistent with their name "Purists".

"So we think it's better to have a short, sharp pain than a long, drawn-out one. This time, let Zhe City fall into chaos—consider it a piece of flesh rotting in our Great Yan Dynasty."

"And now that this piece of flesh is rotting, it's time to squeeze out this festering sore that's Yan Faction!"

Undoubtedly, Zhang Juzheng's words, from the perspective of a ruler of a country, can be considered correct. However, nowadays, no one is willing to say that Zhang Juzheng's methods in the drama are correct; instead, they hear the indifference towards the people of Zhe City hidden behind the seemingly righteous arguments.

The Emperor of Great Yan also looked disdainful. Zhang Juzheng's words gave him a clear understanding of the Purists faction.

"They want to overthrow the Yan Faction and replace them... Fine, fine, replace them. It's not that they're better than the Yan Faction, it's just that they're dissatisfied with the Yan Faction and hate that they're not from the Yan Faction."

"Even if a piece of flesh has rotted away in my Great Yan Dynasty, isn't that piece of flesh still the lives of millions? These so-called 'Purists' are nothing more than hypocrites compared to the Yan Faction; they're still a bunch of beasts in human clothing!"

PS: This is the second chapter today! There will be another update tonight! (Hurry up and finish writing, I'm about to pay off my bounty, this is my last struggle to survive! collapses)

Volume 1: Chapter 299: In terms of overall quality, most of Terra are not even as good as Jiajing (laughs).

It must be said that while some lines in "The Great Yan Dynasty 1566" are sharp, it would be utter nonsense to say that similar things have never happened in other countries and are unique to the Great Yan.

Many principles and suggestions for governing a country are interconnected. As for the idea of "sacrificing the small for the big," in any human society, the ruling class has certainly put forward many similar suggestions, and even after adopting them, has done many similar things.

However, as the Emperor of Great Yan said, "Great Yan Dynasty" and "Yes, Prime Minister" are different. Although the latter also had similar plots, the addition of humor greatly enhanced the public's acceptance of politics, and many of the sharp issues reflected in it were simplified.

However, this drama lacks laughter and empty talk. The story is set against the backdrop of a still powerful nation, and even the emperor doesn't care about people forming cliques and engaging in corrupt practices. With so many problems, everyone is only afraid of the emperor like a tiger. At other times, their ugly side is revealed.

For example, the words spoken by Zhang Juzheng, played by Wenyue, are a metaphor that makes it easy for people to overlook the essence of the problem. "It's just a piece of rotten flesh on my Great Yan Dynasty." But this clearly means sacrificing the people of an entire Zhe City, forcing them to rebel in order to eliminate the Yan Faction.

What's frightening is that all those in power present today, if they set aside their conscience and act purely as political animals, would feel that this might be the best way to consolidate their power.

From the emperor's perspective, although the Yan Faction was useful, if Yan Song and Yan Shifan could not control so many disciples and subordinates, then it would ultimately do more harm than good to the country, and they would have to be eliminated sooner or later.

From the perspective of powerful ministers, with the Yan Faction gone, the Purists faction would become the dominant force, the closest to imperial power, and many policies could potentially be implemented. But Purists truly stronger than the Yan Faction, or more Yan Faction about the people's welfare?

"They're nothing more than a group of self- Yan Faction, gathered under Prince Yu's command. They'll become the next Yan Faction, betting on the future emperor."

"The Purists '... those who do not follow the crowd are called the Purists,' yet the Purists' will stop at nothing to replace the mainstream. But when the 'Purists' becomes the mainstream, will they be any better than the previous mainstream?"

At this moment, the Emperor of Ursus also understood the meaning of the term "Purists". Before, like everyone else, when he heard this title, he thought that the Clear Stream Faction should be more upright than the Yan Faction, but now it seems that he was wrong.

The Yan Faction was united from top to bottom, and there were still good officials like Hu Zongxian protecting the people of Zhe City. Although he was eventually ousted, he did his best to take care of both sides.

In order to overthrow the Yan Faction, the Purists immediately offered to sacrifice the entire Zhe City. Compared to Zhang Juzheng's righteous indignation at the Yan Faction's destruction of dikes and flooding of fields, this was truly ironic.

"In the parlance of the Great Yan, this is what they call 'all crows are black,' able to see the blackness in others but not in themselves, right?" Talulah shook her head, her eyes filled with disappointment, and said softly:

"Now, in order to overthrow Yan, they're willing to abandon the people of a Mobile City and let them rebel. If several other factions emerge to compete with them in the future, how many more Mobile City will they have to abandon?"

Like Chen Huijie, she previously believed that the opposition between the Purists and the Yan Faction was likely a gathering of good officials. However, this scene made her even more desperate about the future of the Great Yan in the drama—neither faction were good people, and the opposition was not due to ideology, but to interests.

"... Do Grand Secretary Xu and Gao Gong both see it this way?" In the drama, Prince Yu, as a prince, didn't even have the courage to oppose such actions immediately.

However, it was clear from Prince Yu's expression that he was not keen to allow the Purists Faction to do so. He turned to Tan Lun, who was standing to the side, hoping that he could give him a reason to refuse.

After a moment of silence, Tan Lun finally spoke, albeit with some hesitation:

"It's a grand strategy, but... it's brought hardship to the people of Zhe City."

Even Tan Lun's attitude of neither supporting nor opposing the proposal was so negative that Prince Yu's expression showed some disappointment. Just as all the powerful figures present remained silent, feeling that this proposal, though ruthless, was useful and had to be implemented, Prince Yu's Consort suddenly interrupted their conversation.

At this moment, Prince Yu's Consort seemed to represent the conscience of the audience, speaking to this group of self-proclaimed loyal ministers and sanctimonious scholars, expressing her and the audience's true feelings:

"I heard everything you just said inside—it's the inevitable course of events, and some things can't be accomplished overnight. But there's one thing we must never forget: the fate of our Great Yan."

"The Prince is the Crown Prince, and the young prince he is holding in his arms will also be the Crown Prince. For this reason, you must think long-term and leave a realm that wins the hearts of the people for the Prince and the young prince."

"Your Highness is the Crown Prince, and will be the Emperor of Great Yan in the future. All the people of the Great Yan Dynasty are your people, and in the future, they will be the people of the Heir Apparent. How can a sovereign stand idly by while his people suffer?"

"Even Hu Zongxian knew how to care for the people in his jurisdiction. Your Highness, and all of you, are you even less than Hu Zongxian?"

"The Great Yan Dynasty is not the Great Yan Dynasty of the Yan Faction, much less the Great Yan Dynasty of those corrupt officials and powerful figures under their command. They can prey on the common people, Your Highness, and you self-proclaimed loyal ministers; you cannot turn a blind eye to this."

Prince Yu's Consort's words silenced everyone in the drama, and even made many powerful figures outside the drama, who now felt that this was the only way, and that they had to do it even if it was ruthless, blush with shame.

Clearly, Prince Yu's Consort's words in the drama are truly righteous and genuinely consider the interests of the country and the monarch. From the moment these officials began fighting among themselves for their own interests, sacrificing the people, no matter how eloquent or righteous their words, they were destined to make the wrong choice.

Since there's no way to manipulate the grain supply, there's only one solution: make Zhe City battleground for the two factions and settle the score there.

Now, no matter what, the fate of the Yan Faction has been Yan Shifan in Zhe City. If the conversion of rice paddies to mulberry fields goes well, then the Yan Faction will have value to Jiajing, and there will be no need to overthrow Yan for the time being.

The only way to bring down the Yan Faction was to cause a mishap in the conversion of rice paddies to mulberry fields. If the Yan Faction could no longer carry out the conversion, then Jiajing would inevitably allow the Yan Faction, which had lost its value, to completely collapse.

At the end of the fifth episode, Yan Shifan presented his protégé Gao Hanwen, the newly appointed prefect of Zhe City, with a set of writing implements so precious they could be passed down as family heirlooms. This gift moved Gao Hanwen and earned him a heartfelt reward.

Finally, Yan Shifan went out of his way to explain why he had entrusted such an important position to Gao Hanwen, a scholar who was considered "useless in every way," saying:

"The austere life at the Hanlin Academy is hard to endure. Cultivating talent and building reputation is all for the purpose of putting it to use. For people like them, if they can survive through fire and water, their lives have not been in vain."

"Furthermore, sending him to promote the national policy of converting rice paddies to mulberry fields will provide some cover in the face of both the government and the public should it cause a popular uprising."

Yan Shifan's words had subtly sealed Gao Hanwen's fate. He knew that Gao Hanwen, a young man who pursued fame and fortune and was willing to die for those who had helped him, would definitely work hard to promote national policies once he went to Zhe City. There was no need to worry that he would betray him.

On the other hand... as mentioned before, scholars are useless, and Gao Hanwen was such a person in Yan Shifan's eyes. If he did well, great; if he messed up... it's only natural that a bookworm like Gao Hanwen, who had become stupid from studying, would be thrown out to take the blame.

And so, the fifth episode came to a complete end. The people in the hall hadn't quite reacted yet when Duke of Windermere asked, somewhat surprised:

"That's it? No, what about the political battles later on? That's the important part, why does it end here?"

As everyone who has watched "The Great Yan Dynasty" knows, the upcoming power struggle among officials is the key focus. What other methods will these corrupt officials of the Yan Faction use in Zhe City to implement the policy of converting rice paddies to mulberry fields? And how will the Purists Faction respond to stop the Yan Faction?

Everyone understands what political struggles are all about, but when it comes to the actual implementation, it all depends on the methods used by those involved. These details are the real deal!

"I'm so sorry, everyone, due to time constraints, we've only managed to produce the fifth episode. As for the rest, if you'd like to see more, I can only say please look forward to it."

"Please understand, everyone. We need to film many details of the political infighting later on, which will naturally take longer. I believe you all understand now that it takes a lot of time to tell everything in this drama."

When Chen Qi spoke, everyone fell silent. They had all directly experienced the impact of "The Great Yan Dynasty 1566." Although the drama was relatively difficult to understand, it was like a good medicine—bitter to swallow, but truly effective.

Especially for those in the ruling class today, there are many things they can learn from this, which is quite helpful in understanding the actions of their subordinates and becoming familiar with officialdom.

Because, judging from the general political level of the Terra today, everyone's tactics are really too immature compared to those in "The Great Yan Dynasty".

This is a TV series with very few fools. Everyone is scheming against each other, and everyone has to use any means to protect their own lives and interests. The higher the official rank, the more ingenious the tricks. All the wisdom of officialdom is contained in this series.

"--Director Chen Qi, I have a favor to ask."

At that moment, the Ursus Emperor suddenly stood up. The new Ursus Emperor fixed his gaze on Chen Qi, suppressing his urge to win Chen Qi over, and spoke:

"I came here this time for peace with the Great Yan, but also for Director Chen Qi's talent. Now, peace between the two countries has been achieved, and I have witnessed Director Chen Qi's great talent."

"However, no matter how much I cherish talent, I cannot stay in the Great Yan for long, but I am also reluctant to part with Director Chen Qi's talent. So, could Director Chen Qi, after filming the new episode, make a videotape of the series and send it to the Holy Steed Castle in Ursus?"

The new emperor of Ursus had a clear understanding of the situation. His current situation was not much different from that of the Emperor Jiajing, but when it came to imperial strategy, he had to admit that he was not as good as the Jiajing.

Although he also looked down on Jiajing's "laissez-faire" approach of doing nothing but focusing on building Feranmut, he had to admit that Jiajing's imperial strategies were very suitable for him to break the deadlock and resolve the current situation in Ursus between the old and new noble factions.

He wanted to use Jiajing's imperial strategies to gradually wrest imperial power from the hands of both the old and new nobles and return it to his own. He didn't want to be a "Jim Hacker" who was constantly constrained; he preferred to be the Emperor Jiajing who could act according to his own ideas!

"Director Chen Qi, I have the same idea." Theresis followed suit at this moment, making the same request. Clearly, his thoughts were similar to those of the Ursus Emperor.

Theresis now desperately needs these imperial strategies to balance the various kings in the Royal Court, and this knowledge is equally useful to him. Furthermore, the methods used in the power struggles among many officials are things he can employ in his future reconstruction of Kazdel.

Seeing that Theresis and Emperor Ursus had both said so, the others stopped pretending and all expressed that they wanted a copy too, so they could learn it slowly when they got back.

"Director Chen Qi, I'll leave Victoria in your care."

"Director Chen Qi, the order of Syracuse also needs your knowledge..."

"Stop, stop, stop! I understand, I understand! Don't worry, everyone, as soon as each new episode is filmed and broadcast on Great Yan, we'll make sure to send you the finished product as soon as possible!"

Chen Qi was somewhat embarrassed, but he didn't refuse their request at the moment—after all, the imperial strategies of the Emperor Jiajing were not so easy to learn. And "The Great Yan Dynasty" would definitely be broadcast in the future, so how much they could learn and comprehend in this short time depended on their own abilities.

However, in Chen Qi's own opinion, given the "simple" environment of Terra, most of them would probably need to spend a lot of Kung Fu Hustle to understand the show.

PS: Chapter 3 today! Still owes one last chapter for the bounty! (The day I escape this hell is almost here! Keep writing, keep going... collapses...

Volume 1: Chapter 300: The Father-Son Game Between Zuo Xuanliao and Zuo Le, What Zuo Xuanliao Wanted to Convey to His Son

"You agreed so readily, aren't you afraid they'll use your TV series to imitate Jiajing? Jiajing wasn't exactly a good emperor."

The state banquet came to a temporary end, and Chen Qi and Talulah returned to the filming location. At this moment, Chen Huijie Hai Rui, naturally heard from the two about the state guests asking Chen Qi to buy the drama series separately.

Yes, buy it. After the state banquet ended, Chen Qi was pulled aside by the Ursus Emperor, and it was then that Chen Qi learned of the Ursus Emperor's intentions—he wanted Chen Qi's videotape of "The Great Yan Dynasty" to be sent separately to a location he specified, rather than being sent to Holy Steed Castle under an official name.

The Emperor of Ursus had only one purpose in doing this: to exploit the information gap. He didn't want either the old or new faction of the nobility to know about the TV series "The Great Yan Dynasty 1566".

Because it's obvious that they can learn Jiajing's imperial strategies from this drama, and they naturally understand how to counter them. In the end, the two sides will check each other. Whether the Ursus Emperor has learned from Jiajing is unknown, but these people are all incredibly shrewd when they act as "Yan Song" (a reference to a famous Chinese court official).

Therefore, Emperor Ursus would absolutely not let them see this show. He wanted to learn its essence before they did, so he could use it on both the old and new nobles. By then, he would be able to reclaim as much power as possible, and by the time they realized what was happening, it would be too late.

"Jiajing isn't that eager to learn... but if he could really learn it, it might actually be a good thing for Ursus right now."

"The Emperor of Ursus did offer a good price, and the request wasn't difficult. He said he would send a trusted person to collect our videotapes once we reached the border of Ursus."

Chen Qi also explained to Chen Huijie and Talulah why he had agreed to the request from the Ursus Emperor and the others, saying:

"And to finish filming this drama, at the current pace, it will take at least another year. We must finish filming before the drama can be broadcast in Great Yan, and this year or so is the time it takes for the new emperor of Ursus to turn the tide... To be honest, it's not enough."