How did a street urchin from the film crew end up in a Northern Song Dynasty drama called "The

Marshal Jin rode in his carriage and slowly returned to the gate of the Jin residence. As soon as the carriage stopped, a servant of the Jin residence hurriedly came forward and said softly, "My lord, the patriarch is waiting for you in the study."

Jin Shuai nodded, stepped into the Jin residence, and went straight to the study. Upon entering the study, he saw his grandfather sitting upright at his desk, smiling at him.

Jin Shuai walked quickly to his grandfather, bowed and said, "Grandfather, you wanted to see me."

Seeing this, the old man's smile widened, and he asked kindly, "How did things go?"

Jin Shuai hesitated for a moment, then replied, "We should have results in the next couple of days. They've agreed to hand over the list of all the officials who bribed them, including 50 individuals, along with all their assets. Once they do that, I'll let them leave safely."

Upon hearing Jin Shuai's words, the old man's smiling face suddenly darkened, as if a dark cloud had obscured the sun. His brows furrowed tightly, his lips pursed, and he let out a cold snort from his nose: "These alien races got off easy!"

Seeing this, Jin Shuai quickly recounted his experiences at Juxianlou to the old man in detail. The old man listened quietly, his expression changing with Jin Shuai's narration. When Jin Shuai mentioned selling those alien races to other countries, the old man's expression gradually softened, and a barely perceptible smile even appeared on his lips.

"Haha, grandson, you've done a good job!" the grandfather finally said, his voice revealing a hint of appreciation. "Every year, thousands of people go missing in Tokyo. I think these foreign tribes must be among them. They've been committing atrocities on our land, and now it's time for them to pay their debts."

However, the old man's tone shifted, becoming somewhat heavy: "But today, the Grand Minister of Agriculture came to see me. He heard that our farm is doing very well, even growing vegetables in winter, so he wants to see if your planting methods can be promoted. This year's harvest is poor, and the amount of grain harvested is not much, so he is very anxious." The old man sighed, seemingly sharing the Grand Minister of Agriculture's worries.

"He wouldn't be thinking of growing grain in greenhouses, would he?!" Jin Shuai exclaimed, his eyes wide with disbelief. "That would be a huge loss! Greenhouses are too expensive to build; ordinary farmers simply can't afford them."

The old man nodded, also showing a helpless expression. "That's what I was thinking too, but I was too embarrassed to directly discourage him, so I let him go and see for himself. That way, he can give up on this idea."

Jin Shuai still felt something was amiss. He frowned and asked in confusion, "That's not right! There have been basically no disasters this year, and the military rations aren't provided by the national treasury. Logically speaking, grain production should be increasing! How come we can't harvest enough?"

The old man sighed and explained, "The reasons are very complicated. Every year, the powerful families in various places are seriously annexing land. They own a lot of land but do not have to pay taxes. As a result, the country can collect less grain."

Jin Shuai suddenly realized that during the Northern Song Dynasty, there were numerous exorbitant taxes and levies, and the problem of land annexation was also quite serious. After the farmers had worked hard to cultivate the land, they had to hand over a large portion of their harvest to the landlords, and after paying various miscellaneous taxes, there was hardly anything left, not even enough to make a living. In order to pay taxes, they could only borrow from the landlords, thus falling into a vicious cycle, and were forever trapped in the fate of being bound by the landlords.

Jin Shuai was well aware that resolving the current predicament wasn't entirely without a solution. For example, the "equalization of land tax and poll tax" policy implemented during the Yongzheng era effectively addressed the issues of land annexation and poll tax. However, Jin Shuai didn't want to take the risk of being the first to act. After all, such matters often attract attention and controversy, and a slight misstep could backfire. Jin Shuai couldn't touch the land annexation problem, a chronic issue from the Northern Song Dynasty; it had far too many implications.

Moreover, Jin Shuai has always had his own plans. He intends to implement the welfare policies he envisions only after he has his own territory. Therefore, now is definitely not the time to put these ideas into practice.

Faced with his grandfather's question, Jin Shuai remained silent and did not respond directly. His grandfather, on the other hand, was merely grumbling casually; he had no expectation that Jin Shuai could actually come up with a good solution to this thorny problem. Therefore, after Jin Shuai's silence, his grandfather did not pursue the matter further.

The grandfather and grandson chatted for a while longer, and the conversation gradually became more relaxed. Seeing that it was almost time, Jin Shuai got up to say goodbye to his great-grandfather and then turned to leave.

The next morning, sunlight streamed through the window into Jin Shuai's room, illuminating his still slightly weary face. He stretched, slowly sat up from the comfortable bed, and savored this peaceful and beautiful moment.

After breakfast, Jin Shuai was about to leave when a servant led a messenger in. The messenger saluted Jin Shuai and said, "My lord, Commander Di sent me to fetch you to receive the Hebrews' belongings."

Jin Shuai raised the corners of his mouth slightly, revealing a smile, and replied, "You're quite quick. Let's go." After saying that, he stood up, straightened his clothes, and then set off with the messenger.

It was the same restaurant as last time. As soon as Jin Shuai entered, he noticed a few more people. His gaze first fell on Zhang Maoze, since they had met before. The other three people, however, were complete strangers to Jin Shuai.

Upon seeing Jin Shuai, Zhang Maoze hurried forward, greeting him with a broad smile. He then introduced the three strangers to Jin Shuai; it turned out they were all from the Third Division.

Jin Shuai immediately remembered that it was Lao Di who had found them. After all, it was better to hand over the people from the Hebrew tribe to the Three Departments, while the list of corrupt officials and evidence needed to be given to Zhang Maoze, who would then pass them on to the officials for review. In this way, he could both give away some credit and offer some benefits to the Three Departments, without appearing to be hoarding the spoils.

Jin Shuai didn't care too much about these things. He knew in his heart that the gold and silver treasures would eventually end up in the government's pockets. It was perfectly reasonable for them to get some shops and properties. Even if the government knew, they wouldn't care. You can't expect the horse to run without feeding it.