The world of film and television begins with the God of Medicine.

Chapter 1520 Like a Boat Without Moorings
Listening to Hai Rui scolding Zhao Zhenji for a long time, Wang Yan laughed and said, "Zhao Zhenji is alright, after all, he didn't force us to confiscate raw silk to support his grand plan of 500,000 bolts of silk."

"Hmph, it's not that he doesn't have the ability, it's that he doesn't dare," Hai Rui said irritably. "You petitioned His Majesty for a three-year tax exemption, and His Majesty agreed. You also share profits with His Majesty's businesses, and His Majesty even specially sent someone to deliver a thousand taels of silver to you. Zhao Zhenji is a perfectionist; would he dare to cause you trouble?"

Zhao Zhenji's portrayal in the drama differs somewhat. He didn't enter the Grand Secretariat during the reign of Emperor Jiajing, only during the reign of Emperor Longqing. His personality also differs. Furthermore, although he was a disciple of the School of Mind, he wasn't Xu Jie's student, though in the drama he is portrayed as Xu Jie's student.

Hai Rui said, "Even if I don't submit my resignation, Zhao Zhenji won't tolerate me anymore. He will definitely transfer me to another province. I'm afraid you won't be able to stay here for long either. After we leave, I'm afraid this great situation won't last long."

"What we can guarantee is that there will only be some temporary unrest, but in the long run, there won't be any problems. Didn't we talk about this before? As my official position grows higher and higher, I don't believe anyone will dare to cause me trouble."

"What good is it if a scholar who has passed the imperial examinations becomes even more successful?"

"You yourself are a scholar who passed the imperial examination."

"It is precisely because I am a scholar who has passed the imperial examination that I know I cannot achieve great things."

Wang Yan laughed and said, "It's alright, I'm only twenty years old, I still have a chance to take the exam. Besides, what if His Majesty is in a good mood one day and directly grants me the title of Jinshi? Wouldn't that solve everything?"

"Haven't you heard what Madam Ru said?"

"So what? Who would dare say that to my face?"

Hai Rui said, "You have the potential to be a treacherous minister."

Wang Yan laughed heartily: "If you can do things well and satisfy all parties, what does it matter if you're a treacherous official? My lord, the so-called treacherous officials and upright officials are nothing more than tools for factional struggles. Are treacherous officials really treacherous? Are upright officials really upright? I don't know about other things, but I do know that it's hard to be a good person once you become an official. Not everyone can be as self-disciplined as you, my lord."

Hai Rui stopped talking, because he finally saw the people patiently waiting on the side, waiting for Wang Yan to treat them.

"I'm fine, I'm just going home to see my mother. Come, all of you, let the Third Master give you a good look." Hai Rui waved to the people, then turned and went into the yamen, fanning himself as he returned home...

The following afternoon, Tian Youlu, looking like he was about to die, led his constables and pushed a young man who was tied up and had rags stuffed in his mouth.

The young man glared angrily, struggling and staring intently at Wang Yan and Hai Rui in front of him, but was firmly restrained by the local militiamen who had been promoted to yamen officials, and was even slapped on the back of the head...

"Master, Third Master, this is the second son of Minister Hu," Tian Youlu introduced.

Hai Rui glared: "You freeloader, and you dare to impersonate Minister Hu's son?"

The second young master struggled even more fiercely, whimpering.

Wang Yan laughed heartily: "Alright, sir, stop teasing him. Who would dare to impersonate the minister's son? Come, take the cloth off his mouth."

"You wait, I'm not done with you! If you know what's good for you, release your grandfather right now and kowtow to apologize, or you'll regret it." The second young master lashed out as soon as he was taken down.

With two crisp snaps, the Second Young Master stared in disbelief at the smiling Wang Yan before him.

"Second Young Master still doesn't understand. Minister Hu is Minister Hu, and you are you. Stare? Try staring at me again and see what happens?"

Upon hearing Wang Yan's words and seeing that the yamen runners were about to take action, the second young master became obedient, and even tears welled up in his eyes.

"Look, he can understand human speech now." Wang Yan patted the second young master's shoulder. "You, you just won't shed tears until you see the coffin. Are you used to being so powerful that no one dares to offend you anywhere? It seems that Minister Hu's upbringing is still somewhat lacking."

Tian Youlu, standing nearby, felt like the sky had fallen. He was the one who arrested the man, and the Second Young Master would definitely hold a grudge against him. Wang Yan had even beaten him up—it was absolutely outrageous…

Who is Minister Hu? He is the third-in-command of the Yan Party, the number one person after Grand Secretary Yan and Junior Grand Secretary Yan, the face of the Yan Party, and the new generation of power core who will enter the cabinet after the defeat of the Japanese pirates.

What's wrong with the son of such a powerful figure being arrogant? Is it wrong for him to be a little arrogant? But then Wang Yan slapped him in the face. Was that a slap in the face for the second young master? No!
This is a slap in the face to Hu Zongxian!
Wang Yan shook his head and put his arm around Tian Youlu's shoulder: "Good brother, look how scared you are. What's the big deal? I'm the one who beat him up, so he's definitely going to cause me trouble. Don't you think that if he doesn't deal with me first and then causes you trouble, isn't he just waiting for my revenge?"
He's not stupid. Would anyone else dare slap him? Even Zhao Zhenji wouldn't dare. But if I dared to slap him, wouldn't he ask Minister Hu about it later? Even if I slapped his second son right in front of Minister Hu today, Minister Hu would only say "good."

"I'll leave this matter to you. I'll write a letter in a bit, and you can send it to Minister Hu. Isn't it time to collect this month's raw silk? Also, talk to the weaving bureau and have them come with the money and supplies to collect it. When they get there, feel free to complain about me, push all the blame onto me; it's no big deal."

So Wang Yan indeed wrote a letter, and Hai Rui also co-signed it, sending Tian Youlu out on an errand...

"How can you resort to violence at the slightest disagreement?" Hai Rui complained, dissatisfied.

"That's because others wouldn't dare, and even if they did, they wouldn't have the ability. I just arrived to take up my post and I already whipped the former registrar, Zhang Song, flying through the air. Doesn't Your Excellency know that?"

Wang Yan chuckled, striking a smug pose. "I'm capable of fighting, and I dare to fight. With the Emperor's favor, what do I have to fear? The second young master of Minister Hu's family is arrogant, so I'll be even more arrogant. We govern this region on behalf of Heaven, serving His Majesty, so naturally we cannot disgrace His Majesty's dignity. What is the second young master? Even if Yan Song were to act arrogantly in my Chun'an territory, I'd teach him a lesson."

"If this gets out, you'll be in big trouble. It's not like you at all."

"What kind of style do I have? Sir, I've offended quite a few people. Do you think I've curried favor with anyone? Sigh, you have a very deep misunderstanding of me."

"I've never seen anyone say so bluntly that being an official is all about making money."

“I’m a very honest person. Others are hypocrites who appear respectable on the surface but are actually dirty and despicable in private. I’m different. I’m a real villain. Whoever I don’t get along with, I will take revenge on. Whoever blocks my way, I will deal with. Not only will I deal with them, but I will also go further and do my best to eliminate them completely.”

Hai Rui fell silent again, turning away from Wang Yan. He had simply become somewhat immune to the outrageous statements Wang Yan often uttered…

A month later, Hu Zongxian achieved another great victory, severely weakening the Japanese pirates along the southeast coast and rendering them no longer a significant threat. The blow to armed smuggling groups was equally devastating.

Hu Zongxian had long been preoccupied with various matters and had fallen ill. Warfare was extremely exhausting, and he really needed to recuperate. So Hu Zongxian left Taizhou, transited through Chun'an, and returned to his hometown to recuperate.

At the Chun'an County government office, Hu Zongxian looked at the polite Wang Yan and said, "I have long heard of your deeds; you are a man of courage." "You flatter me, Your Excellency. I am very timid; everything I did was to survive. I was also fortunate enough to gain the Emperor's favor, which allowed me to gain a foothold. Even a great figure like Your Excellency has heard of my name."

Hu Zongxian lay weakly on the recliner: "You did nothing wrong about my second son, and you were right to punish him. I also had someone whip him."

Wang Yan glanced at the obviously disgruntled Second Young Master serving beside him and said with a smile, "Your Excellency is very magnanimous, I thank you."

"I know you disagree, so there's no need for pretense. The people in my family are indeed poorly disciplined, which is the root of all the trouble."

"Minister is wrong. The root of the Hu family's troubles lies with Yan's faction."

"You all think I'm a member of Yan's faction?" Hu Zongxian asked, looking at Wang Yan and Hai Rui sitting in front of him.

Hai Rui retorted firmly, "Yan Song is the Grand Tutor of the Ministry of Personnel, how can he escape responsibility?"

Wang Yan said with a smile, "What impact does it have that we believe that Minister Yan is a member of Yan's faction? It means that Prince Yu, Grand Secretary Xu, and others believe that Minister Yan is a member of Yan's faction, and that Minister Yan will not bring down Yan."

"If Yan falls, does that mean I'm no longer a member of the Yan Party? The worst thing for an official is to be two-faced. Now that things have come to this, I have no choice, and neither do you."

Hu Zongxian looked at Wang Yan and said, "You don't know yet, do you? Grand Secretary Yan petitioned His Majesty on the grounds of colluding with the Japanese, and requested that you and Qi Dazhu be interrogated."

"What?!" Hai Rui stood up anxiously. "Outrageous! Yan's faction is turning black into white, eliminating dissidents, and harming the country and its people!"

"Alright, I'm not in a hurry, why are you? Don't worry, we won't die." Wang Yan waved his hand and said, "It's nothing more than Yan Song's plan to convert rice paddies to mulberry fields being ruined, and Zheng Bichang, He Maocai and his gang will also lose their jobs. They've lost cities and territories in Zhejiang, and they're going to use us as a scapegoat to save face, and in the end, they'll drag Xu Ge Lao and the others into it."

Wang Yan raised an eyebrow at Hai Rui and grinned, "Don't you think about it? I get a share of the profits from His Majesty's business. I've opened up two avenues for His Majesty to make big money. If managed well, I can earn millions of taels of silver every year. His Majesty is so loyal and righteous, how could he possibly execute me? I'm going there this time to get a promotion."

“You’re a sensible man,” Hu Zongxian said, “but this is a difficult hurdle to overcome. The conversion of rice paddies to mulberry fields is not only Grand Secretary Yan’s idea, but also His Majesty’s. You have stubbornly resisted in this matter, and even today, though the Imperial Textile Bureau has woven 500,000 bolts of silk, it still hasn’t earned 7 million taels of silver. Much of this is thanks to you.”

"If we can't earn it in one year, we can always earn it in two or three years. Didn't the Minister also object? Now that the Japanese pirates have been defeated, the people can focus on raising silkworms and reeling silk. In three years, the tax revenue here will be double what it was before. In the long run, the court will profit, and His Majesty will also profit. This year's deficit sounds serious, but when hasn't there been a deficit? We've all gotten through them, haven't we?"

Hu Zongxian smiled and said, "That's right. The court has already sent Yan Maoqing down to inspect the salt. Yan's faction has been operating for decades, and this time they will definitely be able to collect the salt tax from Liangzhe and Lianghuai."

"It's not just that we can collect them, we're probably going to collect even more."

Wang Yan was certainly aware of this. As Jiajing famously said, "It's all my money. They received two million taels of silver, and I received one million taels. Do you expect me to thank them?"

Hu Zongxian remained noncommittal, then turned to Hai Rui and spoke his own words that had shaken the court.

Then he shook his head helplessly. Hai Rui's ideas were too rigid, his mind too inflexible, and he couldn't make sense of many things.

He waved his hand, ceasing his discussion. Seeing his subordinates preparing medicine for him, he said, "Ziyan, I've heard you're a master physician. Several of your prescriptions have circulated, and even Li Shizhen praised them highly. He's seen my illness before, but he couldn't cure me. Could you take a look?"

"Please extend your hands, Your Excellency."

Wang Yan did not refuse. He stepped forward, grasped Hu Zongxian's wrists, examined his tongue, and asked about his symptoms.

"The Minister's illness is not serious; any doctor with some skill could cure him. The main problem is that his body is weak and his energy is low. With proper rest and nourishment, he will recover completely. The reason he was not fully recovered before was because the Minister was in charge of the war, working day and night without a moment's rest. Now that the Minister has defeated the Japanese pirates, he can go back to his hometown and recuperate for three to five months."

"Where can one find true peace and tranquility?" Hu Zongxian asked. "How do you feel about my current situation?"

"Su Shi wrote a poem that is quite good: 'My heart is like ashes, my body like an unmoored boat.' If the Minister does not want to betray his teacher, then he is disloyal to the emperor; but if the Minister does not want to betray His Majesty, then he is disobeying his teacher."

In the current power struggles within the court, Hu Zongxian's attitude is extremely important. He is in charge of the overall resistance against Japanese pirates, and once he came to power, no one else could replace him.

He was completely devoted to Yan Song, and when fighting the Japanese pirates, he deliberately let them flounder, playing the role of nurturing the pirates to maintain his own prestige, slowly and casually fighting them, which disgusted Jiajing to no end. If he had been determined to follow Jiajing's lead, he should have directly severed ties with Yan Song and turned against him.

Anyone could see that Jiajing's attitude towards Yan Song was currently ambiguous. Otherwise, this massive upheaval against Yan Song would never have happened.

Yan Song saw these things and started to stir things up, demonstrating his importance.

Caught between two sides, Hu Zongxian listened to Wang Yan's words without saying anything, then sighed and changed the subject: "Give me a prescription. I heard that you presented His Majesty with a painting of Lao Tzu leaving Hangu Pass and wrote the Tao Te Ching, which pleased His Majesty greatly."

Grand Secretaries Yan and Xu, among others, have praised your calligraphy and paintings, saying you are already a master of your generation, possessing the air of a grandmaster. When I get back, I'll have your works framed, as a way of leaving a legacy for future generations.”

"The Minister's words were truly awful."

Wang Yan shook his head and smiled, then got up to write out a prescription, and rewrote Su Shi's poem, which he then gave to Hu Zongxian's attendant.

"Please stay for two days, sir. I will teach you a set of exercises to nourish your body. If you practice them often, I guarantee that all your ailments will disappear and you will live to be a hundred years old."

Hu Zongxian exclaimed, "Oh! Such divine skill?"

"That's just what I was saying. How can we control birth, aging, sickness, and death? It's just a nice wish. But one thing is true: a good mood means fewer illnesses. Your Excellency should take it easy."

"I take it all in stride."

Hu Zongxian is stubborn...

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