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

Chapter 20 Oh no, things aren't looking good for the young Grand Secretary!

At this moment, seeing the moderator of the Jiajing Bar simply slip away and run away, all the members of the bar were stunned and their minds went blank.

"The moderator has run away, what do we do now?"

"Should we stay and defend Emperor Jiajing to argue for right and wrong, or should we also slip away?"

Before the group could even catch their breath, Chen Yu dropped several more bombshells.

As I mentioned before, Lao Tzu said, "Be compassionate, be frugal, and dare not be the first in the world." People often talk about and openly proclaim what they lack most.

Since his so-called "compassion" is entirely false, then his so-called "frugality" is naturally even more absurd.

As I've mentioned before, the Jiajing Emperor was unusually obsessed with Taoist alchemy and the idea of ​​auspicious omens descending from the heavens.

He not only allocated a large sum of money specifically for searching for auspicious omens throughout the land and holding celebrations to commemorate them, but he also undertook a massive construction project within the palace, specifically building temples and monasteries for his own Taoist practice.

[It wasn't just the construction of the facilities; the various materials used by the Jiajing Emperor for his Taoist cultivation and alchemy were also extremely exquisite, resulting in frighteningly high expenses.]

[He claimed that in summer, to clear away so-called "heat toxins," he would soak his feet in aged liquor that had been stored in his cellar for decades.]

Let's talk about the pills he always had on his lips; each one cost a fortune to refine.

[Leaving all that aside, the Ming Dynasty's treasury was already completely depleted at the time. In order to produce hundreds of thousands more bolts of silk, the court even forced Zhejiang to convert half of its farmland into mulberry fields, making it impossible for the people to survive. Emperor Jiajing was well aware of all this.]

[But just because Princess Yu gave birth to the Emperor's eldest grandson, his casual remark on the gifts was outrageously generous. He directly bestowed upon Princess Yu's family 100,000 bolts of silk and 200,000 bolts of printed cotton cloth, which alone were worth nearly a million taels of silver!]

Although the birth of the emperor's eldest grandson was a joyous occasion, such lavish rewards clearly showed to anyone with discerning eyes that Emperor Jiajing's actions had absolutely nothing to do with "frugality."

As for the point about "not daring to be the first in the world," I will explain it in more detail later.

In conclusion, the Jiajing Emperor is an extremely complex character, requiring careful study and refinement from the director and actors. He is undoubtedly the most complex and multifaceted character in the entire "Ming Dynasty" series.

As soon as Chen Yu posted this, all the netizens who saw it fell silent.

"???"

"Wow, so that's the truth?"

"When I read other experts' analyses of the Jiajing Emperor before, I genuinely thought he was a kind and frugal emperor. Now I realize that it was all just polite talk; he wasn't like that at all in real life!"

These words immediately caused many netizens to gasp in shock.

"Is this the level of the emperor in 'Ming Dynasty'? He puts on such a facade that even we, watching the script from an omniscient perspective, are completely fooled. If we encountered a leader like this in real life, wouldn't we be sold out and still be counting the money for him?"

"I'm starting to doubt my intelligence. How did I actually come to believe that Emperor Jiajing was a sage ruler?"

"I suddenly panicked. Do I usually confuse good people with bad people at work?"

"Wow, this is so educational! 'Ming Dynasty' truly lives up to its reputation as a top-notch educational drama. After watching it, I have a legitimate reason to suspect that I'm a complete novice in the workplace."

Where are the members of the Jiajing Bar?

"Come out and clean up the mess! Hurry up and wash up on your Jiajing Emperor!"

At this moment, the netizens who were originally determined to fight to the bitter end and defend Emperor Jiajing have gone from making bold statements to falling silent.

"How are we supposed to wash this?"

"It's completely unwashable!"

"Jiajing is completely blackened, no wonder our forum administrator ran away."

"No wonder they were able to become the forum moderator; their foresight is truly remarkable!"

"Where did our forum administrator go?"

Just then, a new post suddenly appeared in the Jiajing forum.

"I am the former moderator of the Jiajing Bar. I really can't defend Emperor Jiajing anymore. Now I have switched to the Xiaoge Lao Bar and become a junior moderator."

"As the saying goes, a good bird chooses a good tree to perch on, and a good minister chooses a good lord to serve. So, whichever forum I'm in, I'm still serving my Great Ming Dynasty, aren't I?"

"We can't count on the Jiajing Emperor. Surely the Junior Grand Secretary and Grand Secretary Yan can't be corrupt too, can they?"

"The Little Grand Secretary's forum is short-handed right now, so why don't we all team up and take down the Little Grand Secretary's forum!"

When this post was published, the members of the Jiajing Bar were taken aback at first, but then nodded in agreement.

"yes!"

"That's right! No matter where we are, we all support our Great Ming Dynasty!"

"The moderator is absolutely right. Surely Yan Shifan, the young Grand Secretary, couldn't be entirely corrupt, could he?"

"That's impossible! The Grand Secretary is the pillar of the Ming Dynasty. Even if the Jiajing Emperor is incompetent, with me, the Grand Secretary, here, the Ming Dynasty will not fall!"

"Let's go seek refuge with the young Grand Secretary!"

As soon as the words were spoken, most of the members of the Jiajing Bar, except for a small number who were still shouting "Uphold the orthodoxy of the Ming Dynasty" and stubbornly resisting, followed the former bar administrator's call and flocked to the Xiaoge Lao Bar, while another group turned around and plunged into the Yange Lao Bar.

Everyone's thoughts were surprisingly consistent.

Could the patriotic Grand Secretary Yan be as ruthless as the Jiajing Emperor?

That's simply impossible.

The incorruptible Grand Secretary, who was almost at the pinnacle of his abilities in "Ming Dynasty," could he possibly have any scandals?

impossible!

We absolutely have to give them a calI (California quintillana) treatment; it couldn't be more reliable!

On the other side, Chen Yu had just scratched the surface of Emperor Jiajing's true nature when a meaningful, wicked smile appeared on his face.

He remembered clearly that the netizens' support for Yan Song and his son Yan Shifan was exceptionally high, even giving rise to memes like "Grand Secretary Yan, who was concerned about the country and its people" and "Grand Secretary Yan, who was incorruptible."

Chen Yu grinned, having come up with an idea.

Today, we need to teach these netizens a lesson.

A few seconds later, Chen Yu tapped his fingertips on the keyboard and typed out a line of text.

[Analysis of the Character Yan Shifan in Act III of the Ming Dynasty]

When netizens saw this line and realized that Chen Yu was about to analyze the young Grand Secretary Yan Shifan, they recalled the entire process of Emperor Jiajing's rapid downfall, and everyone felt inexplicably panicked.

But not long after, they reaffirmed their belief.

"If the Jiajing Emperor could be exposed for scandals, could the young Grand Secretary possibly have any more to uncover?"

"It doesn't exist!"

"The young Grand Secretary and his son, Grand Secretary Yan, single-handedly held up half the sky of the Ming Dynasty!"

"The young Grand Secretary is very stable, absolutely stable!"

Just then, Chen Yu's keyboard came down again, typing out new content.

The characters of Yan Song and Yan Shifan, father and son, are portrayed as two completely opposite extremes in the script.

Yan Song's style of doing things was calm and reserved; he would never speak unless absolutely necessary, always appearing calm, composed, and incredibly shrewd.

[But Yan Shifan is different. In the third act, he displays a fiery temper, even appearing somewhat reckless and impulsive.]

Why do fathers and sons have such different personalities? There's a lot to it.

First, as we all know, a person's upbringing directly shapes their personality.

Yan Shifan was one of Yan Song's sons, and Yan Song was a powerful minister who served as the Grand Secretary for twenty years. With his father's immense power backing him, Yan Shifan naturally had a smooth and successful life, and no one dared to disobey him in the slightest.

[Part of his personality was indeed his true nature, which also indirectly proves how powerful the Yan family was at the time. Only a family that truly held immense power could raise someone with such a fearless and daring personality.]

But there's an even more crucial point: in the treacherous and unpredictable court, a person with deep-seated cunning makes everyone feel dangerous, while someone who seems reckless and impulsive makes people feel safe.

After all, a person who is deep in thought and never shows their emotions makes everyone feel that they are unfathomable, and even those sitting on the throne will be filled with fear towards them.

However, someone who appears reckless and impulsive is particularly easy to see through, with glaring weaknesses on the surface. This actually indicates controllability and safety, making those in positions of power more willing to use such individuals.

[Just think about it: if Yan Shifan were like his father Yan Song, shrewd and calculating, with such a father and son holding control of three of the Six Ministries, which emperor could sleep soundly?]

Moreover, the Jiajing Emperor, who was inherently suspicious and sensitive, would have been even less likely to allow the Yan faction to grow to such an extent.

However, Yan Shifan, with his obvious weakness of "recklessness and impulsiveness," was much safer, which was enough to reassure Emperor Jiajing to entrust him with such important government offices as the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Works.

This analysis immediately drew gasps of amazement from netizens.

How come I never noticed before that Yan Shifan's personality was so different from his father Yan Song's?

After all, Yan Shifan entered officialdom entirely under Yan Song's guidance. It's impossible for Yan Song to hold back his own son and not teach him how to survive in officialdom.

Thinking about it this way, Yan Shifan's personality does indeed hide a great secret. Just as Chen Yu analyzed, half of it is his true nature, and the other half is simply something he deliberately put on!

Thinking about this, the unease in netizens' hearts instantly grew stronger and stronger.

"What's going on? Why does it seem like even the young Grand Secretary isn't so stable anymore?"

"If his recklessness and impulsiveness were all an act, then his cunning is unfathomable."

"How can someone who can disguise themselves to this extent be a completely good person? I just don't believe it."

However, many netizens still refuse to believe that the son of "Grand Secretary Yan, who was concerned about the country and its people" and "Grand Secretary Xiao, who was honest and upright," would be a wicked person with evil intentions.

They all took to the comments section to defend themselves.

"What's wrong now?"

"The imperial court and the officialdom are full of pitfalls; how can you survive without some cunning?"

"Moreover, the court is fraught with danger, with so many treacherous officials and villains eyeing it. In order to uphold the Ming Dynasty, the young Grand Secretary naturally has to protect himself first. Does that mean the young Grand Secretary is not a good person?"

At that moment, Chen Yu continued writing.

Let's talk about the most tense part of the court discussion in the Golden Palace, specifically the scene where Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng publicly challenged the Ministry of War regarding the thirty warships.

[Yan Shifan's explanation at the time was that ten ships had been used to transport timber for palace repairs, and the remaining twenty ships were lent to the Maritime Trade Office.]

[There's a detail here that's particularly worth considering: when someone speaks the truth, they are usually confident and righteous, rarely adding unnecessary explanations.]

When people lie, they deliberately fabricate a bunch of seemingly flawless details to increase the credibility of their lies.

[It's like a wife questioning her husband about cheating. If the husband simply and confidently says "no," it's highly likely he's telling the truth. But if, in order to prove he hasn't cheated, he proactively launches into a long explanation of where he went and what he did that day, then nine times out of ten, something's fishy going on.]

[Our young Grand Secretary Yan Shifan, when discussing these thirty warships, specifically added that these ships were built in which shipyards. However, given his character as a whole, if this were true, he would be absolutely certain and would never have added such an insignificant detail.]

This actually reveals something—

The three million taels of silver that Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng used to launch their attack were not used to build these thirty warships at all; instead, they were diverted to other projects.

At this moment, netizens who had just been so determined to support Yan Shifan, the young Grand Secretary, felt their hearts sink.

"It's over————"

"This young Grand Secretary is about to have his career ruined!"

At this moment, the audience who had just been confidently asserting that the young Grand Secretary was absolutely certain suddenly felt a chill in their hearts, instantly sensing that something terrible was about to happen.

Earlier, when they saw Yan Shifan easily defuse the joint attack by Gao Gong, Zhang Juzheng and others, they were all overjoyed and applauded Yan Shifan.

But after reading Chen Yu's analysis, they suddenly realized that Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng's attack was completely correct, and Yan Shifan was indeed dishonest.

Many viewers simply couldn't accept this result.

"How could this possibly be true?"

"Isn't the young Grand Secretary a pillar of the Ming Dynasty? How could he be corrupt?"

"Chen Yu, you bastard, give me back the honest and upright young minister I knew!"

Besides the emotionally charged audience, many netizens, after the initial shock, raised a series of questions.

"That's completely wrong! If the young Grand Secretary really embezzled that much silver, why would Lü Fang and Chen Hong risk their lives to cover for him?"

"According to Chen Yu's previous statement, Jiajing was a master of political maneuvering. How could he not have noticed this trick? And how could he simply knock on the bronze chime and move on? Isn't this a blatant contradiction?"

"This doesn't make any sense at all!"

"1

Just then, as if he had already anticipated what excuses the audience would come up with, Chen Yu calmly typed out new content.