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

Chapter 1534 Governance
"If we wish to achieve great order and prosperity, and make our Great Ming capital even more like a celestial empire, we must govern the merchants and the people. Some time ago, I led you all to collect the cleaning fee, and the merchants responded enthusiastically and paid their fees voluntarily, making our Daxing government office well-fed."

Having received the money, I must now perform my duties. I have heard that local ruffians and scoundrels are terrorizing the neighborhood, making it impossible for merchants to conduct their business in peace and for ordinary people to shop in an uneasy state. Even worse, there are wicked individuals who steal and mutilate children, committing heinous crimes that are utterly depraved and unforgivable.

Some break into homes to steal, some rob in the street, and some harass respectable women in public. Others gather thugs and ruffians to bully others and prevent people from doing business. All of this is truly an eyesore for our great nation. If foreign barbarians see this, they will think that our great and civilized country is full of lawless criminals.

Effective immediately, notices will be posted, inviting the people to come and file complaints, and I, the magistrate, will uphold justice for them. You all recognize the local thugs and ruffians; this time, I will wipe them all out. Anyone who dares to tip off the thugs or release them privately will be dismissed from the county office. If you want to be a rogue and care about some bullshit sense of loyalty, then go ahead and be one, but don't get in my way in the yamen.

Everyone must supervise each other; those who know but fail to report will be punished equally. Any violation will be severely punished. The Five City Garrison Command is a useless bunch; the people have suffered too much humiliation. I've taken their money, so I must do their bidding.

What? You're saying the silver came from the merchants? You son of a bitch, slap yourself! Without the people spending money, how could the merchants' silver just appear out of thin air? Huh? Without the people paying taxes, how could your salaries be paid? Ultimately, the silver we earn comes from the people.

Don't think that entering the government office makes you a superior person. Do you feel more powerful lately, and some officials are even smiling at you? Bullshit! They're afraid I'll cause them trouble, not you!
You know best what kind of life we ​​lived before, what kind of humiliation we endured. You've been oppressing the people, extorting money, and you still haven't managed to get anything out of it. You sons of bitches, I heard some good-for-nothings are even robbing old men who come to town to sell firewood of their copper coins. Damn it, if I find out about this again, they're as good as dead.

Do you understand everything? "

More than a thousand people gathered at the entrance of the yamen, looking at Wang Yan standing on the table in the center of the room, and loudly replied: "Understood!"

Wang Yan waved his hand dismissively: "I don't want to see a single scoundrel in the eastern part of the city. What are you all standing around for? Arrest him!"

"Yes!"

So a bunch of constables, hangers-on, and gunmen, all looking menacing, set off to arrest the hooligans...

Wang Yan watched with satisfaction as the crowd dispersed, then strolled back to the front hall of the county government office, where he sat down and began to drink his tea.

County Magistrate Ma Defu approached: "Your Honor, these local ruffians and scoundrels can never be completely eradicated. When we arrest them here, they run off to another place, or disappear without a trace. Once the heat dies down, they all come out again. Being greedy, lazy, and bullying the weak while fearing the strong is human nature, and it is truly difficult to eradicate them."

Wang Yan glanced at him: "Old Ma, bring out the same energy you had when you were causing trouble for me with Young Master Xu. They're just a bunch of thugs and ruffians. You can't even handle them?"

Even if we lower our guard and the drums fall silent, aren't there still people pleading for justice? If the people plead, then arrest them. Wherever they run, then arrest them there. I don't believe any of the people from Wanping County or the Five Cities Garrison would dare to cross me. Unless these scoundrels flee the capital, arrest them all. And keep a close eye on the human traffickers; once you have evidence, punish them severely and impose hefty fines.

There's another matter: within the Daxing district, not a single beggar is allowed on the streets. We should allocate funds to expand the shelters, providing accommodation for the elderly and children, and find impoverished scholars to teach the children to read and write.

"Master, there's no way to save him." Ma Defu looked heartbroken. He understood that the beggars on the street were not his problem.

"You save them first. I'll figure out the rest. Old Ma, with over two million taels of silver in hand, there's so much we can do. I remember the previous statistics showed that Daxing had 390,000 people, let's say 400,000. Even if we pay silver per person, each person can get five taels of silver. If we spend those five taels of silver a year, we won't starve or freeze, and we can even eat meat and drink a few jugs of wine."

Old Ma, remember this: there are no unsolvable problems. If there are, there are only two reasons: either there's not enough money, or the people aren't capable. The reason Daxing isn't doing well right now is simply because the people aren't capable. Just get rid of whoever isn't capable, and then things will get done, right?

"Maybe we can even make some money. Like those rebels who tried to assassinate me, didn't we both get houses? I even got two good shops. The government also gained tens of thousands of acres of farmland. Isn't that great?"

"My lord, I am innocent!"

Just then, accompanied by a wail, an old woman walked in and immediately knelt on the ground.

"No, please sit down and explain slowly. Please take a seat."

Wang Yan slammed the gavel down and ordered the clerk to take notes.

The old woman sat shakily on the stool and began to speak slowly.

It turned out that his eldest daughter-in-law had been harassed by a thug, and his eldest son had stood up for her and beaten the thug. The thug then gathered a group of men and beat the eldest son so badly he was paralyzed. After the matter was reported to the authorities, the government only lightly sentenced the thugs to half a month in jail, fined them some money, and made them pay one tael of silver in compensation. Five years have passed since then.

Wang Yan shook his head repeatedly upon hearing this: "Listen to this, listen to this! What kind of scoundrels are these? Huh? This is simply outrageous! Come here, take all these people to jail, confiscate their property, and use fifty taels of silver to compensate this old lady."

Magistrate Ma, investigate this matter thoroughly and dismiss all the yamen runners and clerks involved. Who was the previous magistrate? I'll impeach him! That son of a bitch, finally it's my turn to impeach someone! I'll impeach him until he's dead!

Wang Yan stepped forward and personally helped the kneeling, kowtowing old woman to her feet. "Madam, this is all what I, as the county magistrate, should do. Don't worry, those bastards will definitely not have a good end. I'll make sure they're half-dead. Go, sign and put your fingerprint on the document, then take it back and wait. In half a month, come back with the document to collect your money."

The old woman obediently went to sign and put her fingerprint on the document, then left with anticipation.

Then the next person would come to complain...

As a result, the local thugs and ruffians in Daxing suffered a great calamity.

All the ruthless individuals with names and identities were arrested. Those who resisted were immediately ordered to be suppressed by the capital's garrison. Even the worst-trained professional soldiers in armor were no match for these thugs; they were simply crushed and slaughtered.

Every day, you could see people wailing in the streets. Those once-powerful figures were now being dragged, beaten, and verbally abused like dead dogs. Not a single person dared to cause trouble for Wang Yan; they all behaved themselves.

Meanwhile, Wang Yan spent his days sitting in court hearing cases and hearing many grievances. The officials, yamen runners, and hangers-on in the yamen were also refined in this process.

The powerful and wealthy individuals involved also suffered losses in the process.

Burning the case files doesn't mean you can't do anything to them. Someone pleads, someone testifies, and then it's done. And whoever you say you'll do, you can do it. The powerful and wealthy have also experienced Wang Yan's madness firsthand; he really dares to lead men to their doorsteps and label them rebels. He'll deal with them first, and what can he do about it later?

Those big-time gangsters all have powerful backers. Wang Yan doesn't even need to frame anyone; with genuine testimonies and evidence, he can implicate powerful and wealthy families. These families don't want their own families to suffer, but they dare not attack Wang Yan again, so they have no choice but to pay money to keep their peace…

As Wang Yan said, as long as they were in the capital, once they were exposed, regardless of whether they were within the jurisdiction of Daxing, as long as they ran out of the capital, they were all arrested.

Such a large-scale crackdown on organized crime, which even mobilized the Beijing garrison, naturally yielded remarkable results. People discovered that those who used to fear and gather together to commit evil had disappeared, those who owed money to loan sharks found that the homes of those people had all been seized, and even the most unpleasant neighbors had all behaved themselves.

Walking down the street, the alleys and lanes were spotless, thanks to the cleaning staff, including the elderly, weak, sick, and disabled. Strolling through the market, there were no beggars pestering people for money, no thugs with shifty eyes staring at respectable women, and no organized gangs of thieves, robbers, or burglars. People felt at ease and happy walking down the street.

Correspondingly, Daxing's prisons are overflowing, and the detention centers are so crowded that there's barely any room to stand...

Wang Yan fanned his nose: "Damn it, how many times have I told you? It needs to be clean! It needs to be clean! Why does it still smell so bad? Wash it again! If you can't wash it, shave it all off."

After berating the people in charge of the shelter, Wang Yan turned to her and said, "I've allocated the money and assigned the manpower, so why don't you expand it? With so many people gathered together, can you take responsibility if an epidemic breaks out?"

“It’s not that we don’t want to expand, it’s just too much trouble.” Ma Defu was also overwhelmed with worries. He slapped his forehead. “Master, I know you’re incredibly audacious and fearless, but this time is different. The houses around here were already bought by Consort Li’s family, and they even wanted to buy this existing shelter.”

"Consort Li?"

“The Prince Yu’s residence… Consort Li just gave birth to a prince last year…” Ma Defu reminded her, “I went to Consort Li’s family, but they refused to see me…”

"You should have said so earlier! Why did you have to worry so much that you couldn't sleep and were losing clumps of hair?"

Wang Yan looked disgusted and then instructed the clerk following behind him, "Go and deliver my invitation to Prince Yu's residence, saying that I will be visiting this afternoon to discuss something."

It wasn't that he was arrogant, but rather that he had already reached a certain level of authority. Even as a mere sixth-rank county magistrate, he could wield his power in the capital, even exceeding it. In Daxing, he was the undisputed ruler, and he had earned Jiajing millions of taels of silver. If he wanted to enter the palace, he only needed to announce his arrival, and Jiajing would certainly not refuse to see him. And what about Prince Yu?

He said he would go whenever he wanted, and unless Prince Yu had something truly important to discuss, he certainly wouldn't refuse. He would even have to host a banquet at the Prince's residence, showing respect and hospitality to this capable minister who could raise funds and get things done…

Ma Defu's eyes widened: "Master, please reconsider..."

"Think it over my ass! Prince Yu is His Majesty's own son. We've taken in the beggars and made the streets clean and quiet. This is His Majesty's great virtue. How could Prince Yu possibly obstruct us? You should have spoken to Prince Yu directly from the beginning. Why did you have to drag it out until now, with the shelter stinking to high heaven? And you even made me have to see Prince Yu. Don't you know I've been avoiding Prince Yu and Prince Jing?"

"Should I go?"

"With so many people watching, it would have been one thing if I hadn't known, but now that I do, how can I let you go? Wouldn't that make me, Wang Yan, look down on everyone and disregard Prince Yu? What would that say about Prince Yu? What would it say about His Majesty? Without a ruler and father, how can I live with myself?"

Wang Yan waved his hand, looked at the many beggars, young and old, being driven to boil water, and asked, "Is there anything else?"

"The prison is full, and many people are sleeping in the open. Besides, these people are no good either; they fight all day long and have already killed more than a dozen. They also bribe the prison guards to find out information."

"No rush. I have my own plans."

Wang Yan instructed, "You should send a document to the Ministry of Works, instructing them to dispatch personnel to Daxing to inspect and plan the roads and water conservancy. Throughout Daxing, existing roads that need repair should be repaired or patched up, and water conservancy should be replanned to improve the water use for farming and increase farmland yields."

Within a week, they need to temporarily start construction outside the city and make plans and budgets. Within a month, they need to make plans and budgets for roads and water conservancy throughout the entire area, and at the same time, they need to send a note to the Ministry of Revenue requesting that the agreed 15% share of funds be allocated.

The laborers who would work for a week were to be drawn up from the prisoners. A document was sent to the Ministry of War and the Five Military Commissions, requesting the transfer of soldiers from the Beijing Garrison to supervise the prisoners and perform the work.

Ma Defu suddenly realized: "Master, you intended for these people to do the work from the very beginning?"

"What excellent labor! They don't need to eat much, and we can use them to the point of exhaustion. The lightest sentence I've given them is two years. If they survive, it's because they're lucky. If they don't, who can they blame?"

Wang Yan chuckled, uttering words of -273.15 degrees Celsius from a mouth that was 36.5 degrees Celsius above zero.

Do these thugs, big and small, deserve to die? Many of them don't actually deserve to die.

But to govern the world well, severe punishments are necessary. Severe penalties for minor offenses and the death penalty for major crimes will naturally ensure stability and harmony in the capital for a period of time…

"Alright, get back to work."

Ma Defu sighed deeply: "There are just too many things to do."

When Wang Yan first arrived, he thought Wang Yan was a power-hungry person who wanted to handle everything, big or small. But as Wang Yan unified the voices within the county government and gradually purified the ranks by cracking down on hooligans and local bullies, Wang Yan began to delegate authority more slowly.

As a result, his power as the county magistrate, who was originally in charge of criminal matters, suddenly increased, and he made many decisions. This made him happy, but also exhausted him.

He didn't want such increased power. Throughout the Ming Dynasty, which government office was as exhausting as Daxing's? Not only did they have to get up very early every morning, but they wouldn't finish until the moon was high in the sky. If things weren't resolved and piled up, they even had to stay up all night to catch up.

For example, when they first started arresting thugs and hooligans, they arrested people in quick succession, and there were so many things to deal with that he could barely sleep for two hours a day. It was killing him...

But the result was indeed gratifying. The entire capital city had undergone a significant transformation, and he felt a sense of accomplishment, as if his studies of Confucian classics and his official post had not been in vain.

On the other hand, he also made a lot of money and reaped many benefits. For example, he was given a large house, and he could have his accounts processed by the county government every day to buy vegetables, meat and grain for his family.

Wang Yan, needless to say, lived a very extravagant life...

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　　(End of this chapter)