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

Chapter 33 Are you crazy?! This is what you call destroying dikes and flooding fields?!

Ma Ningyuan, right?

"That's right, it's Ma Ningyuan!"

"This person is a bureaucratic machine to the core, only focused on carrying out orders from above. Although he can't be considered a good person in the traditional sense, at least he is single-mindedly working hard to advance his career."

"Didn't those experts who did in-depth analysis say that Ma Ningyuan has climbed up the ranks with his ruthlessness and hard work, and he might actually become a cabinet minister in the future?"

"In a way, this might be the lesson Chen Yu wanted to teach us through this role: relying on heaven, earth, or others is not as good as relying on yourself; only hard work and dedication are truly reliable!"

"I've figured it out! I'll go apply to join Ma Ningyuan's team right now, and from now on, I'll take Prefect Ma as my role model, learn how to do things and plan my future according to his methods!"

"I refuse to believe it! With Ma Ningyuan's drive, how could he possibly fail?!"

While the audience in front of the screen was still reeling from the shock of Yan Song's complete collapse, Chen Yu's fingers did not stop for a moment, and he continued to write the subsequent plot with flowing strokes.

As Yan Shifan listened to Yan Song's words defending Hu Zongxian, his anger flared even higher, and he blurted out a scathing remark.

[Hu Zongxian is clearly trying to curry favor with Prince Yu's group and secure his own future. Why are you still protecting him?]

In this whole world, everyone except your own son has a way out.

As Chen Yu typed these words, a wave of indescribable emotion washed over him. As the old saying goes, "What a ruler rises by, he will also fall by," and this is generally true of things in this world.

Yan Shifan's meteoric rise to power and influence was entirely due to his father, Yan Song, a Grand Secretary who held immense authority in the imperial court.

But it was precisely because of this father-son bond that everyone in the court could find a way out for themselves. Even core members of the Yan faction could defect at the last minute and join Prince Yu under the banner of "abandoning darkness and turning to the light."

Yan Shifan, however, had no way out.

This was because he and Yan Song were father and son, sharing both glory and ruin. Emperor Jiajing would never allow Yan Shifan to side with Prince Yu and seek a way out for himself—because Yan Shifan's choice represented Yan Song's stance.

If Yan's faction had become Prince Yu's men, and the Qingliu faction had already sided with Prince Yu, then all the civil and military officials in the court would have ended up becoming Prince Yu's men. If Emperor Jiajing could have tolerated such a situation, could he have held the throne for forty years? He would probably have died and his country would have been destroyed long ago, and the grass on his grave would have grown taller than a person!

It was precisely for this reason that Yan Shifan was firmly bound to the Yan Party from birth to death, and could only fight desperately against Prince Yu and the Qingliu Party to the end. If he retreated even half a step, he would be the first to lose his head.

If Prince Yu were to ascend the throne, Yan Song would be too old and likely have already died of old age. But Yan Shifan would be in his prime. All the resentment and revenge that Prince Yu and the Qingliu Party had accumulated over the years would fall on his head, and his life would be worse than death.

Therefore, for Yan Shifan, the only way to survive was to intensify the factional struggle, eliminate all the core members of the Qingliu Party, and completely seize power in the court. If things reached that point, even if Prince Yu ascended the throne, he would be wary and would have to rely on Yan Shifan to stabilize the court.

This was the only way out for Yan Shifan.

This short sentence clearly explains Yan Shifan's usual obsessive, crazy, and even insane behavior.

He had no choice from the very beginning!

Having said all that, Yan Song also let out a long sigh, fully aware of his son's predicament and desperate situation.

He couldn't help but ask if there was another way to promote the conversion of rice paddies to mulberry fields, instead of making things so tense. Like Hu Zongxian had said before, couldn't we slow down and wait a few years before doing it? Why be so impatient and push things to the brink, leaving no room for compromise?

And this question resonated deeply with countless viewers.

As soon as he finished speaking, Yan Shifan and Luo Longwen, who was standing next to him, took turns explaining the reasons behind it.

[To promote the conversion of rice paddies to mulberry fields, those rice fields must fall into the hands of the major silk producers in Jiangnan, and must be concentrated in the hands of these large merchants and workshops.]

Only by concentrating farmland and production capacity can we drastically reduce costs across the entire silk industry chain, and only then can surplus raw silk be woven into high-quality silk that can fetch high prices.

If the people were allowed to convert their land into mulberry trees, most of the raw silk they produced would be collected by small workshops in various places. The silk woven by these workshops wouldn't fetch a good price, let alone be exchanged for silver.

[If it really comes to that, last year's huge deficit in the national treasury, this year's various expenditures of the court, and the big deal the Textile Bureau just finalized with the foreigners for 500,000 bolts of silk will all be ruined! At that time, Lü Fang and the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs will definitely not take responsibility; all the blame will fall on the cabinet, on you, Grand Secretary Yan!]

After he finished speaking, the audience in front of the screen instantly understood the whole story.

However, it was precisely this plot point that ignited the biggest controversy surrounding "Ming Dynasty" since its premiere.

There is only one core question: In the current deadlock of internal and external troubles, how should we change the rice paddy to mulberry fields to make it the right thing to do?

Should we follow Hu Zongxian's advice and proceed steadily and slowly, or should we follow Yan's methods and forcibly take over the people's land and return it to the silk tycoons, relying on the advantage of industrial concentration to quickly make up for the huge deficit in the national treasury?

Now that things have come to this, is there any other solution that would satisfy both sides?

This issue sparked a huge debate among viewers in the live chat and comment sections, creating a chaotic mess.

Many viewers, standing on the side of ordinary people, fully agree with Hu Zongxian's propositions.

"No matter how much we want to change national policy, we can't let ordinary people lose their land and their food, can we?"

"As the old saying goes, without land, there will be no people; without people, there will be danger to the country. Hu Zongxian's words are the true way to secure the country."

""

"The 'conversion of rice paddies to mulberry fields' is being done so hastily and radically; it's bound to cause a popular uprising sooner or later!"

At the same time, many viewers felt that Yan Dang's words hit the nail on the head and were not without reason.

"I admit that such a radical approach as converting rice paddies to mulberry fields will definitely cause trouble, but have you considered that if we don't implement this conversion, the current problems will only be more serious?"

"The deficit in the national treasury last year is already clear. Without the money for converting rice paddies to mulberry fields, the court will not be able to get through this year's crisis, and the Ming Dynasty's financial crisis will only become more and more fatal as it drags on."

"If the Ming Dynasty's finances were to completely collapse, and the Tatars in the north were to launch another invasion, with internal and external troubles erupting simultaneously, then the country would truly face annihilation!"

"Looking back at the conversion of rice paddies to mulberry fields, it was only a temporary pain. Once we get through this period of hardship and the government's finances recover, the people will find a way to make a living."

"Whether the pain is temporary or lifelong, we have to settle this score, right? I actually think what Yan's party said makes sense."

These two opposing viewpoints sparked a heated debate, causing the chat volume in the live stream to reach an unprecedented peak since the show began.

Not only the bullet comments, but also the comments section dedicated to "Ming Dynasty" refreshes at an alarming speed, with dozens of pages of new comments appearing in just one second.

Even the trending topics on social media platforms that were previously trending have all been overshadowed by the debate about converting rice paddies to mulberry fields, except for the recently revealed "Yan Ge Lao's house collapse".

Before long, the debate centered on Chen Yu's live stream spread like a virus across the entire Chinese internet.

On various forums, communities, and social platforms, even many netizens who never watch the "Creators Competition" program couldn't help but join the discussion after seeing others' summaries of the plot of changing rice paddies into mulberry fields and the core conflicts.

Even more surprisingly, this debate has long since transcended the realm of ordinary netizens. Numerous professionals from various industries have also joined the fray, using the data presented in the drama "Ming Dynasty" and their own expertise to analyze which implementation method is more reasonable.

Some computer science experts even worked overnight to create a "data model for converting rice paddies to mulberry fields" to simulate the various outcomes that would occur under different implementation methods.

In a solemn and dignified office in the capital city.

A composed and authoritative middle-aged man was browsing the web when his gaze was suddenly drawn to the topic of converting rice paddies to mulberry fields, which was trending all over the internet.

When he saw the core contradiction of the topic, his originally calm eyes suddenly lit up.

"Convert rice paddies to mulberry fields?"

"Faced with such a dilemma, what is the best course of action?"

"That's interesting, really quite interesting."

"Perhaps this case could be used as an essay question in this year's civil service exam."

The thought had barely formed when he started thinking about something else.

"Many leaders at the top are now very dissatisfied with the work style and attitude of many people within the system, and have repeatedly emphasized the need to strengthen ideological education and work style construction."

"Guiding everyone to reflect, learn, and improve their understanding through watching films and television shows is also a direction that our leaders have mentioned."

"But those traditional promotional videos are no longer up to par with current needs, and the higher-ups have been considering whether to make a new, more in-depth promotional film or television series."

"The theme and depth of this 'Ming Dynasty' are certainly up to par."

"only----"

The middle-aged man frowned slightly, unsure of what to do.

"This drama is a bit too explicit; it exposes the dark side of the imperial court far too thoroughly."

"So far, almost none of the characters who have appeared are good people in the traditional sense. Only Hu Zongxian's character has a bottom line and a sense of responsibility. But I don't know how many scenes this character can maintain."

"If a truly believable positive character could appear later in the story, that would be perfect."

He pondered for a moment, then finally made a decision: "Let's put this film on the shortlist first, and observe it further later."

Meanwhile, on Chen Yu's screen, the plot of Act 10 continued to unfold and advance.

In order to shirk the responsibility of converting rice paddies to mulberry fields, Yan's faction had no desire to get involved in this hot potato. So they plotted to have the Grand Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial, Lü Fang, present Hu Zongxian's memorial complaining to the Jiajing Emperor when the Jiajing Emperor went to the Prince Yu's residence to see his newborn grandson.

Their plan was shrewd: as long as Emperor Jiajing personally set the tone for converting rice paddies to mulberry fields in front of Prince Yu, Prince Yu would absolutely not dare to disobey in the slightest. At that time, whatever Emperor Jiajing said about Zhejiang, Zhejiang would have to do it. Even if the Qingliu Party was extremely unwilling, they would never dare to obstruct it again; otherwise, they would be openly defying the imperial decree and opposing Emperor Jiajing, and the consequences would be dire.

What's even more remarkable is that Yan's faction never offered any specific suggestions to the Jiajing Emperor from beginning to end. Even if the conversion of rice paddies to mulberry fields in Zhejiang were to cause a rebellion in the future, no one would be able to use this as a pretext to attack them.

As for anyone daring to use this incident to criticize the Jiajing Emperor? Zhou Yunyi of the Imperial Observatory was beaten to death for speaking a few truths. Who else would dare to risk their life and provoke the Jiajing Emperor?

However, Emperor Jiajing's political acumen was clearly several levels higher than that of the Yan faction.

He received the memorial but didn't even glance at it.

He knew perfectly well: I'm here to see the grandson of the emperor. On such a joyous day, why should I be reading memorials or dealing with troublesome matters?

He returned the memorial to the cabinet verbatim, leaving Yan Song and Yan Shifan to handle it themselves.

This was a flawless maneuver: I hadn't even seen the memorials, and I knew nothing about the turmoil that ensued in Zhejiang's conversion of rice paddies to mulberry fields. People were starving? The people were rebelling? I was completely unaware! I've always been a wise and benevolent ruler; if I truly knew such a thing would happen, how could I possibly stand idly by? If problems arose, it would all be the fault of my subordinates' incompetence, the fault of those good-for-nothings, and would have absolutely nothing to do with me!

Emperor Jiajing's mastery of the art of Tai Chi was unparalleled, and he wielded imperial power with unparalleled skill.

Did the Yan faction want to use me as a shield and shift the blame? Emperor Jiajing knew perfectly well what was going on.

The current deficit in the national treasury still needs to be filled by the Yan Party's promotion of converting rice paddies to mulberry fields. People cannot be moved for the time being, but those who need to be disciplined must be disciplined.

After the court meeting in the Golden Hall, in order to put down the aggressive Qingliu Party and to show his trust and respect for the Yan Party, Emperor Jiajing specially invited Yan Song and his son to eat Yuanxiao (sweet rice balls) together.

But this time, Emperor Jiajing suddenly spoke up, saying he wanted to stay at Prince Yu's residence for a meal.

It is important to know that Emperor Jiajing had been obsessed with Taoist practices for many years and was extremely superstitious about these astrological theories. He firmly believed that both the emperor and the crown prince were destined to be dragons, and there was an ancient saying that "two dragons cannot meet." Therefore, he rarely summoned Prince Yu, and the father and son would only see each other a few times a year. If it weren't for the birth of his grandson, he would never have set foot in Prince Yu's residence.

But now, he has surprisingly decided to dine at the Prince Yu's residence. The signal he is sending is all too clear: a warning to the Yan faction.

The intrigue and power struggles in this scene are all subtly veiled, devoid of any real human drama, yet fraught with danger. The Jiajing Emperor and Yan Song each make their moves, each step concealing profound calculations; their political maneuvering is astoundingly sophisticated. Compared to the earlier clash between Ma Ningyuan and Qi Jiguang in the Zhejiang Governor's Office, the game here is on a completely different level.