You were asked to write a political intrigue drama, but you wrote "Da Ming 1566".

Faced with Yan Shifan's words, which directly targeted the Emperor, Gao Gong was momentarily speechless.

Just then, Xu Jie, the cunning old fox who had been hiding his true intentions, finally stepped forward. He first smoothed things over for Gao Gong, and then changed the subject, demanding that Yan Shifan explain the background and consequences of these expenditures.

Suppressing his anger, Yan Shifan replied curtly.

It's all so obvious, what's the point of arguing about it?

[This expense at the beginning of the year was originally planned for sourcing and transporting timber from the deep mountains of Yunnan and Guizhou. However, after on-site inspection, it was discovered that the mountains there were too high and the forests too dense to even have roads, making it impossible to transport large timbers. Therefore, the plan was changed at the last minute, and the timber was transported by sea from Southeast Asia.]

[The original one-year construction period was disrupted by these unexpected difficulties. Our Ministry of Works worked day and night, and several large ships carrying materials sank. We did everything in our power to complete the repairs of several palace buildings before the end of the year.]

[For the Emperor, we've endured any hardship and suffered any torment, spending just a little extra silver. Why are you still making a fuss about it!]

When Chen Yu wrote this line, even though he had read it countless times, he still couldn't help but admire it repeatedly.

Yan Shifan truly lived up to his reputation as Yan Song's son; he was a young Grand Secretary who could make decisions and set the course of events for Grand Secretary Yan.

These words were spoken in such a grand and dignified manner that, at first glance, anyone would think that Yan Shifan was an honest man who had done his best to get things done, only to be wronged in the end.

However, there is a crucial detail here, which Yan Shifan specifically mentioned: the Ministry of Works capsized several large ships used for transporting materials in order to repair the palaces.

Don't forget, the Ministry of War still had thirty warships on its books, and the Ministry of Works originally intended to return ten of them to the Ministry of War.

Who can say for sure that the few capsized ships Yan Shifan casually mentioned here are among the ten that should be returned to the Ministry of War?

In this way, since these ships sank while building palaces for the emperor, how could the Ministry of War possibly ask for their return later?

If you knew the ins and outs, you'd understand even more clearly that the so-called thirty warships were nothing but a fabricated lie from the very beginning.

With just a few words, Yan Shifan managed to cover up the huge deficit of three million taels of silver with the phrase "several large ships capsized," leaving no trace whatsoever.

They settled the accounts right away!

What's even more amazing is the last sentence: "I can endure any hardship for the Emperor, so why do you keep harping on the extra money spent?"

This is simply taking the art of "using the emperor's name as a banner" to its absolute peak!

Just then, a clear sound of a bronze chime rang out, which meant that Emperor Jiajing had accepted Yan Shifan's explanation, and the matter of this deficit was thus put to rest.

Without a doubt, this round of confrontation was another resounding victory for the Yen Party.

Xu Jie and Gao Gong, who had come with great momentum, realized that they could not continue like this after losing two battles.

At this critical juncture, Zhang Juzheng, the least senior member of the cabinet, stepped forward.

When he opened his mouth, he didn't dwell on past grievances, but instead started to calculate the court's military expenses and various expenditures for the coming year.

If we follow last year's methods, the Ministry of Revenue's reserves will be completely depleted in a year, leaving the court with no choice but to increase taxes on the people this year. Before I came, I heard that some provinces had already pre-collected taxes up to the 45th year of the Jiajing reign!

"Preparation is the key to success; lack of preparation leads to failure. If we continue to spend beyond the budget like last year, living beyond our means, and then run out of next year's grain, I really don't know what the Ming Dynasty will have left to eat!"

Yan Shifan immediately retorted sharply.

According to you, last year's efforts to repair river embankments in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and to renovate palaces for the Emperor, actually brought our Great Ming Dynasty to its knees?

At that moment, Gao Gong immediately took over the conversation.

Does the young Grand Secretary mean that this year will repeat last year's pattern and result in such a huge deficit again?

Yan Shifan, however, unleashed his trump card.

[Eunuch Lü, the treacherous officials have already revealed themselves! One is Gao Gong, and the other is Zhang Juzheng!]

I believe you, and some others here, are the masterminds behind Zhou Yunyi's slander of the imperial court on the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month last year!

[Zhou Yunyi was merely a minor official in charge of astronomical observations. How could he possibly know so much about the court's expenditures from the previous year when he was slandering it? I immediately sensed something was amiss.]

Now I understand everything. It was some of the people here who leaked all the inside information to him beforehand! Who exactly instigated him?

What, you dare to do it but not admit it?

Gao Gong fell silent, and Zhang Juzheng also remained silent; the entire hall instantly fell into dead silence.

[The End of Act III, Part IV.]

Upon seeing this, the audience all gasped in unison.

This intense dialogue, though only in black and white, feels like every word is a knife, every sentence a sword, and the whole screen is filled with a menacing aura.

Viewers who watched this segment broke out in a cold sweat, finally understanding what true verbal sparring, capable of killing without drawing blood, really meant.

The transitions between offense and defense here are so fast that they're almost overwhelming, far beyond what an average person could keep up with. If an ordinary person were in this situation, they would probably be speechless and unable to utter a single word.

At this point, the audience's perception of Yan Shifan took a complete 180-degree turn.

Originally, everyone thought that Yan Shifan had only gotten his official position because of his father Yan Song's influence, and that he was just a good-for-nothing at the bottom of the cabinet.

Who would have thought that his combat power was so formidable?

Yan Song barely uttered a word throughout the entire process. He single-handedly withstood the repeated attacks from Xu Jie, Gao Gong, and others. Now, he was pressing even harder, directly exposing in public that Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng were Zhou Yunyi's backers.

In the eyes of the audience, this simply exposed the truth directly, without any pretense!

In an instant, the live chat exploded.

"Young Grand Secretary, we must apologize to you!"

"You see things very clearly! That's right, Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng are treacherous officials, and so is Xu Jie next to them. They clearly want to help Prince Yu usurp the throne!"

"Quickly deal with these treacherous officials, and the Ming Dynasty will surely last forever!"

"I used to feel sorry and worried about Emperor Jiajing's benevolence, but now after reading the young Grand Secretary's thunderous words, all my worries have vanished instantly."

"So what if Emperor Jiajing was benevolent? So what if Grand Secretary Yan is old? The Ming Dynasty still has me, Young Grand Secretary Yan Shifan! Today, with just my sharp tongue, I single-handedly defeated three opponents, overwhelming everyone present. I was decisive and ruthless, with keen insight, and I exposed the mastermind behind it all at a glance!"

"With a young Grand Secretary like him in power, the Ming Dynasty is truly blessed!"

"The Yan family, with its two pillars of the family, will surely be remembered in history and become a timeless legend!"