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

Chapter 25: The Shock of an Official's Three Thoughts! A Ban on the Ming Dynasty?

The so-called "three considerations" are: consider danger, consider retreat, and consider change.

Being able to detect danger in advance allows one to avoid it early; this is called being prepared for danger.

Retreating to a place where no one is watching you anymore—that's called thinking about retreating.

Only after stepping down do you have the opportunity to calm down, reflect carefully, and see where you went wrong in the past and how you should proceed in the future. This is called strategic thinking.

The moment the complete dialogue appeared on the screen, Mr. Shen, Xiao Lin, and other viewers who had come with the intention of learning all gasped in surprise.

"Holy crap?"

"That's amazing!"

They were hoping to learn something real from "Ming Dynasty", but they never expected that the fourth act would drop such hardcore content right at the beginning!

When a CEO like Mr. Shen, the head of a listed company, saw this six-character proverb about thinking thrice before acting as an official, he was deeply moved.

"Think of danger, think of retreat, think of change —"

"Wow, that's amazing, absolutely brilliant!"

A dazzling light flashed in his eyes.

"I really learned something!"

At that moment, in an office of the Guangxin Office.

An office worker in charge of reviewing variety shows pushed open the door and walked into an office, cautiously asking his supervisor a question.

"Boss, the variety show 'Creator Competition' has recently contained some content that is suspected of being sensitive."

"There's a contestant named Chen Yu who actually wrote about the ways of being an official in his script. That's a bit politically inappropriate."

"Boss, what do you think? Should we just stop it immediately, or at least give them a warning?"

Upon hearing this, his leader immediately spoke with a serious expression.

"Stop? Warn?"

"Xiao Wang, I really need to give you a good talking to about this."

"The script written by that contestant named Chen Yu is set in ancient times, right? Writing about the ways of being an official in an ancient story, can that be considered politically sensitive?"

"As review staff, we need to be confident in our judgment. We shouldn't get overly anxious at the slightest sign of trouble. That's not good, it's very bad. It will seriously dampen the enthusiasm for folk art creation, do you understand?"

Xiao Wang's heart skipped a beat, and he nodded repeatedly, agreeing each time.

After Xiao Wang turned and walked out of the office, his boss breathed a sigh of relief, a meaningful expression appearing on his face.

"This Xiao Wang really has no comprehension whatsoever. The 'Three Thoughts for Officials' from the TV series 'Ming Dynasty' are right in front of him, yet he's not moved in the slightest. He even came to ask me if I should issue a warning or ban him. With this level of comprehension, he can forget about ever taking another step up in his career."

As soon as he finished speaking, he eagerly took out his phone, and on the screen was Chen Yu's live stream.

The leader then quickly pulled out a small notebook and carefully wrote down every line of the script, his face full of undisguised admiration and respect.

"Wonderful, absolutely wonderful!"

"After two or three decades of navigating the officialdom, the principles of conduct and interpersonal relationships that I've come to understand are not as concise and insightful as the six words 'Think thrice before acting as an official.'"

"If I had seen these intricacies in 'Ming Dynasty' ten years earlier, I'm sure I would be at least one level higher now."

"Fortunately, it's not too late now. I can learn more from 'The Ming Dynasty' and I feel that I can still take another step forward."

"Ban 'The Ming Dynasty'? Hmph, if they really ban it, where am I supposed to learn these life lessons and advance my career?"

"A brainless idiot!"

After explaining the importance of careful consideration for officials, Lü Fang's next arrangement almost made everyone present gasp in surprise.

That meant having Feng Bao leave the palace and go to Prince Yu's residence to become the personal attendant of the newborn imperial grandson.

Lü Fang's decisive move not only left Feng Bao, the character in the script, completely stunned, but also left the audience watching on screen speechless.

Having gone through the layers of drama in the first three acts, the audience is no longer the naive newcomer they once were.

Many plot points can be figured out on your own without waiting for experts to break them down and analyze them.

Everyone could see that Zhou Yunyi was a subordinate of Prince Yu, yet it was Feng Bao who personally beat Zhou Yunyi to death.

Given this deep-seated blood feud, sending Feng Bao to Prince Yu's mansion is practically jumping into a fire pit.

But when they calmed down and thought about it carefully, they were suddenly terrified and broke out in a cold sweat.

"Feng Bao went there under the guise of being the Grand Tutor of the Emperor's grandson. He was personally sent by the Emperor. His life in Prince Yu's residence might not be easy, but Prince Yu would never dare to harm him."

"Because harming him would be tantamount to openly defying and disrespecting the Emperor, so Feng Bao's life would not be in any danger."

"But what will we gain from doing this?"

"In exchange, I've gained a legitimate opportunity to get close to the imperial grandson, who is the next emperor after that!"

"At the same time, as Lü Fang instructed, Feng Bao was to be cautious and humble in his work at the Prince Yu's residence, so that the Prince Yu and his entourage could truly get to know him and accept him again."

"The trick here is obvious: it's about getting Feng Bao to gain Prince Yu's trust. Prince Yu is the undisputed heir apparent and the future emperor!"

"...

.」

The deeper the people pondered, the stronger the shock became.

That move was absolutely brilliant!

The audience, who had just been diligently studying and thoroughly analyzing the words about "thinking thrice before acting as an official," now had their eyes gleaming with admiration.

Isn't this a vivid, hands-on lesson on the importance of officials thinking things through?

Looking back at the court discussion in the Golden Palace in the third act, Xu Jie, Gao Gong, Zhang Juzheng, and other confidants of Prince Yu were already planning to make a big fuss about the national treasury deficit from the previous year and seize the opportunity to launch an attack.

On the surface, Lü Fang maintained an impartial and neutral stance in this court debate, but in reality, he stood on the same side as Yan Song and Yan Shifan.

For this one incident alone, Prince Yu must have held a grudge against him.

Moreover, Feng Bao, who personally killed Zhou Yunyi, was his godson whom he had personally raised. In Prince Yu's eyes, Lü Fang was absolutely involved in this matter.

The Jiajing Emperor has been on the throne for forty years. How much longer can he remain on the throne?

After the Jiajing Emperor passes away and Prince Yu ascends the throne, the power structure of the court will inevitably undergo a major reshuffle. Lü Fang will definitely not be able to escape this reckoning. All the things he did before will be enough to bring him to ruin.

Clearly, Lü Fang's admonition to officials to "think thrice before acting" was never just empty rhetoric.

He truly saw the potential for death in the future and wanted to avoid this danger in advance; this was his awareness of potential dangers!

The escape route he chose for himself was precisely the brilliant move he made to arrange for Feng Bao.

This move also represents Lü Fang's attempt to change her approach.

If Feng Bao succeeds in this move, he will become Lü Fang's safest backup plan.

At the same time, the strained relationship between Lü Fang and Prince Yu's faction will have room for improvement.

Even if he could no longer wield immense power as before, at least with Feng Bao around, Lü Fang's later years would not be too miserable.

When these layers of logic were completely sorted out in their minds, whether they were wealthy CEOs of listed companies or high-ranking officials within the system, they couldn't help but type a string of "666" in the comments.

Immediately afterwards, several CEOs of listed companies who were watching the live stream did not hesitate at all and immediately sent large amounts of gifts to "Da Ming Dynasty" through the fan donation channel.

Even several officials of considerable rank couldn't resist giving a generous gift—not ostentatious, but certainly not insignificant.

Large donation notifications scrolled rapidly in the live stream room, so densely packed that they almost covered the entire screen.

In just a short while, the amount of donations from fans of "Da Ming Dynasty" surged again by nearly two million, and together with the previous one million, the total amount directly exceeded three million!

The ordinary viewers in the live stream were completely dumbfounded by the spectacle.

"what?"

"Are you all crazy to have spent two million on tips just because of the saying 'Think thrice before becoming an official'?"

"Wow, is this the world of the rich?"

At that moment, the CEO of a listed company left a message.

"You don't understand because you haven't reached this position or this level."

"When you really reach this level, you'll understand how rare and precious it is to have such a high-level senior who is willing to share their most treasured skills with you."

"This one sentence might save you five or even ten years of detours."

"Is two million expensive? Just for the principle of thinking things through before acting as an official, it's worth the tuition. I'm willing to spend this money."

"If I could really get Eunuch Lü to give me some pointers in person, I wouldn't even blink an eye at two million, let alone twenty million!"

Meanwhile, in several other competition rooms, the contestants were still seething with anger and resentment over Chen Yu's earlier remark, "If you're bad, practice more."

"Damn it, what's there to be so proud of?"

"It's definitely faked. These donation figures are absolutely inflated. Did they really manage to pull it off?"

Contestant number 3, who also writes historical dramas about political intrigue, had the most ferocious and twisted expression on his face at this moment.

"Relying on data manipulation is not a real skill; it's all underhanded and unethical."

"If you're really that capable, why don't you get your fans to spend another two million on you?"

Suppressing his nameless anger, he opened Chen Yu's live stream, intending to check on Chen Yu's situation before starting to write his own script, to find fault with his script, and to vent his resentment.

The moment he clicked into the live stream, a barrage of donation notifications flashed across the screen, and the dazzling total donation amount was clearly displayed before his eyes—exactly a little over two million.

In an instant, contestant number 3 felt his blood rush to his head, and his entire face turned bright red.

"Holy shit!"

"Why is it that Chen Yu, who only wrote a script and quoted a few lines about officials needing to think twice, can receive a two million yuan reward?"

"etc----"

A look of suspicion instantly appeared on his face.

"Didn't I just say that if he's so capable, let his fans spend another two million?"

"Wow, is it really that effective?"

Contestant number 3 suddenly lowered his voice unconsciously.

"So, it's not unreasonable for my fans to give me five million in donations for my script, is it?"

After he finished speaking, he stared intently at the total amount of donations from his fans in his live stream.

The next second, a number "5" slowly popped up, and his heart instantly leaped into his throat.

Immediately afterwards, a five-yuan tip appeared clearly in his total tip amount.

Contestant number 3's eyes widened instantly, clutching his chest tightly, his face filled with grief, indignation, and resentment.

"What the hell!"

"I refuse to accept this! I just refuse to accept it!!"

The remaining contestants weren't in much better shape either. Watching Chen Yu's total donations skyrocket, they felt a sense of unease, as if they had swallowed a fly.

Andrew, contestant number 6, his face filled with resentment, angrily shut down Chen Yu's live stream, his teeth grinding together.

"It was all fake, completely and utterly fake!"

"That's absolutely shameless!"

He took a deep breath and kept trying to mentally prepare himself and reassure himself.

"It's okay, it's okay, let him keep doing it if he's so capable."

"Otherwise, how much screen time could he possibly fill with this kind of political intrigue plot?"

"The plot of 'Da Ming Dynasty' is about to collapse very soon, very soon, today, absolutely today!"

At this moment, Chen Yu was completely unaware of the various reactions of the other contestants.

He took a slow, deep breath. After finishing writing the plot of Lü Fang's scheme, before officially entering the core section of converting rice paddies to mulberry fields and destroying dikes to flood the fields, there was only the final concluding section left to write.

Inside the Prince Yu's residence, a group of officials from the Qingliu faction debated the national policy of converting rice paddies to mulberry fields.

Thinking of this plot, a strange look appeared on Chen Yu's face, and there was a hint of undisguised sarcasm in his eyes.

In the previous TV series "Ming Dynasty", this part of the plot was cut or omitted due to time constraints.

However, Chen Yu had read the original novel in its entirety and knew that this part of the plot completely tore apart the hypocritical true colors of this so-called group of upright people, exposing them completely to the light of day.

In order to obstruct the national policy of converting rice paddies to mulberry fields promoted by the Yan faction, they decided to win over Hu Zongxian, the governor-general of Zhejiang and Zhili. To accomplish this, they had to send Tan Lun, who had a long-standing personal relationship with Hu Zongxian, to Zhejiang.

Sending someone to Zhejiang, a region firmly controlled by the Yan faction and impenetrable to any influence, was an extremely dangerous undertaking, almost tantamount to pushing someone into a fire pit. It was not only sending them to their deaths, but also personally burying their own career prospects.

Tan Lun wasn't stupid; from the very beginning, he had no intention of taking on this dangerous task with a slim chance of survival.

However, Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng, who spoke of national righteousness at every turn, made every word sound grand and impeccable, but every word they uttered was pushing Tan Lun toward a dead end where he had a slim chance of survival.

Gao Gong's words revealed the cold-hearted nature of his character to the fullest extent.

Every detail is clearly visible.

That was his blunt statement to Tan Lun: if he was going to Zhejiang, he should either make a huge commotion there, even if it meant dying there, or he might as well not go at all.