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

Chapter 1543 Meet again

After more than a year of development, especially with the stimulus of loans, Daxing's development has become even more vigorous.

Construction sites everywhere are busy rushing to finish work before winter, trying to get as much work done as possible.

On the official road, there were carts carrying goods, and at the Tongzhou docks, there were boats of goods being delivered. The dockworkers, like ants, were carrying all kinds of goods on and off the docks.

The closer you get to the city, the busier you become; a constant stream of people are heading to the capital, the crowds are enormous.

"This is the capital city! It's so lively!" The old woman lifted the curtain and looked at the magnificent scene outside, showing a sense of awe at having come to a big city.

“Mother, the capital used to be lively, but never this lively. It’s all thanks to Wang Yan’s good governance that we have such a lively scene. Look, the people’s faces are beaming, and they are all dressed very cleanly. Wang Yan’s governance is excellent; I can’t even begin to compare.”

"Then why do you always call him a big corrupt official?"

“It’s a fact that he took money he shouldn’t have, but we can’t ignore his greed just because he promoted great development.” Hai Rui remained principled. He said, “He actually dared to write to me directly, saying that he had embezzled 100,000 taels of silver. It’s utterly lawless!”

The carriage moved slowly forward with the procession. At the city gate, Hai Rui showed the documents to the soldiers and clerks who were checking him, and the clerks instantly became obsequious.

"Greetings, Mr. Hai!"

"you know me?"

"This is Dongcheng, Master Hai. We all have to obey the orders of the Grand Master. Everyone knows that back in Chun'an, Master Hai and the Grand Master were close friends. Now that Master Hai is going to the capital to take up his post, the Grand Master told us, his subordinates, to report to him as soon as we see him."

The official explained the situation to Hai Rui with a smile, then gave some instructions to those around him and arranged for someone to inform Wang Yan. He then led the way, taking Hai Rui to settle in first.

"Is Wang Yan outside the city?"

"Tongzhou is thirty li from here," the clerk replied. "Master Hai should know that it's the dock over there. Some goods are being transported from the south, and the magistrate personally went to receive the ship."

"That's not his business, is it?"

"The magistrate has a lot on his plate. He's in charge of the new paper money, and the Paper Money Management Office listens to him. He argues with his superiors about everything related to the people's food, clothing, daily necessities, housing, and transportation. Now that autumn has arrived and winter is just around the corner, he's arranged for his men to inspect houses for potential hazards. Since the beginning of spring, he's been buying a lot of coal to sell to the people for heating."

Last year's heavy snow froze more than twenty people to death, and more than ten houses collapsed. The magistrate was so angry he almost personally took a knife and beheaded people. This year, the magistrate is even more ruthless. He said that if even one more person freezes to death, he will investigate and confiscate the property of all the wealthy families and officials in the area, and exile them for thousands of miles..."

Seeing that the minor official was talkative, Hai Rui asked him all sorts of questions. Along the way, he saw the prosperity of the eastern part of the city and the smiling faces of the people who were full of hope for life.

They arrived at Wang Yan's residence and settled in temporarily. After they had freshened up, Wang Yan returned.

"Oh my, my lord, it's been so long! Hahaha..."

Wang Yan stepped forward to greet Hai Rui and patted his arm.

Hai Rui grinned happily: "I originally wanted to go find Wang Yongji first, since he was also transferred to the Ministry of Revenue. I didn't expect to be brought here as soon as I arrived at the city gate."

"You're too kind, sir." As he spoke, Wang Yan waved his hand and instructed the clerk beside him, "Go and invite Wang Yongji over, and tell him that Hai Rui has arrived."

The clerk readily agreed and left, without asking who Wang Yongji was or where he could be found. Finding someone wasn't that difficult; he could just ask around and find him.

"Auntie, how's the journey been?"

"Thank you for your concern, everything is fine." Mother Hai smiled kindly.

Wang Yan greeted Hai Rui's wife again, then took out a few banknotes from his pocket: "Here, niece, take this money and spend it. Buy yourself some nice jewelry and some good food."

Seeing the little girl looking at Hai Rui, Wang Yan smiled and said, "Don't look at him. This money is all earned honestly and can be spent freely. Come visit Uncle Wang more often in the future, and Uncle will treat you to good food."

Hai Rui nodded and hummed in agreement: "Take it."

The little girl happily accepted the money and turned to look at her younger brother.

Wang Yan then gave the young man the jade pendant he was wearing.

Having worked with Wang Yan before, Hai Rui was not so ruthless in his actions. Even though he caused trouble for the wealthy families in Xingguo, Jiangxi, when he was the magistrate, no major conflict broke out.

On the other hand, there's the existence of Wang Yan. Those who know Wang Yan know Hai Rui, and those who know Hai Rui naturally know Wang Yan. The upheaval in the "converting rice paddies to mulberry fields" movement against Yan Xishan can be said to have been initiated by Wang Yan and Hai Rui.

Wang Yan's astonishing feats need no further explanation. He basically wiped out the wealthy families in Chun'an. Even when Yan Shifan was still powerful, he dared to slap him and curse Yan Song as an old dog.

Needless to say, what he did after taking office as the magistrate of Daxing County was a series of things. He would seize any opportunity to do something to harm others. He started by targeting Xu Jie's second son. Later, he did all sorts of things, including facing more than twenty armored soldiers alone. He was incredibly awesome.

The wealthy families there knew how powerful Wang Yan was, so they didn't dare go too far when targeting Hai Rui, lest they incur Wang Yan's wrath and suffer an even more gruesome end. They certainly didn't believe that the powerful figures in the capital weren't as formidable as they were, nor did they believe Wang Yan wouldn't avenge Hai Rui, or that he couldn't destroy them…

So now Hai Rui has achieved the ideal of having both a son and a daughter.

Wang Yan sat down with Hai Rui, and they sat down again, sipping tea from a small red clay stove.

"From now on, you can live in my house."

"Can't afford it."

“I rented it properly, one tael a year,” Wang Yan said. “You can live here comfortably. What problem could one tael of silver possibly cause? Don’t worry, no one will cause any trouble. The former county magistrate, Ma Defu, has been transferred, but his rented house is still there. The new county magistrates and registrars all have houses, but they can only live there while they are in office.”

Leaving aside the officials, even the lowest-ranking clerks who did the bare minimum tasks received a considerable amount of money last year for the Lunar New Year. The one who performed the best, solved problems for the people, and was praised by everyone, I actually gave him a house; he got married this spring, and his wife is now cooking at a shelter.”

Seeing Hai Rui about to launch into a tirade, Wang Yan waved his hands repeatedly, "I admit I pocketed money, but most of those below me are still honest. They did have some extra income, but no one dared to go too far. They mainly relied on their government salaries. I was openly distributing money to them from the public accounts. I was helping everyone make more money, what's wrong with that?"

They're all living good lives now. If I, the one who gave them a good life, am not living well, how can that be right? People's hearts don't become chaotic in a day, and morality doesn't become corrupted in a day.

The people are uneasy knowing I live in poverty, but delighted to see me feasting and drinking lavishly outside the county government office. They even dare to approach me for medical treatment and wish me a long and healthy life. Where does the problem lie? Don't say it's with His Majesty. What does it have to do with His Majesty? The empire is so vast, with so many people; can His Majesty possibly manage everything?
These officials have been misled by their education; they spout platitudes about benevolence, morality, and serving the country and its people, but once they're in office, they say one thing and do another. Let me tell you the truth: the butcher shops in Chun'an are enough to feed me, so what would I need so much money for? But if I don't take it, how can others? Taking it openly is always better than doing evil deeds secretly. I can't stop them from being corrupt; I can only try to make them do less evil.”

Hai Rui wasn't stupid; of course he knew that what Wang Yan said was from the bottom of his heart and was not false at all.

"I won't stay there either."

“You’re just asking for trouble. You’re making trouble for yourself,” Wang Yan said. “Living in the capital is not easy. You’re going to suffer.”

"Then let's suffer first and see what happens."

Hai Rui changed the subject and asked, "I heard you went to Tongzhou to pick up a cargo ship? As the magistrate of Daxing County, what kind of cargo ship requires you to make this trip in person?"

Do you know what brings people the greatest happiness?

"Please enlighten me."

Wang Yan poured Hai Rui a pot of tea, then added water to the pot, saying, "I don't know."

Hai Rui reacted for a moment, understood what Wang Yan meant, and said with a knowing look, "It's about doing things for the palace again."

His words carried a hint of discontent, a dissatisfaction with the abuse of imperial power.

Hai Rui favored keeping imperial power in check, preventing the emperor from doing whatever he pleased. This sentiment was shared by a large number of civil officials.

The difference is that others wanted to prevent the emperor from acting recklessly, so they united to cause trouble. Hai Rui, on the other hand, limited imperial power, giving everyone a greater voice and enabling them to do things more effectively.

Wang Yan took a sip of tea: "Don't think that doing things for His Majesty is a good thing. Don't think too badly of His Majesty, and don't go against him. Do you know that in the past two years, His Majesty has been building palaces and paying the craftsmen and common people who have worked on them? In the past two years, tax revenue has been rising steadily. You must have seen the lives of the people along your journey. This is all thanks to His Majesty's wisdom."

"Then tell me, who gave an explanation for the flooding of Chun'an?"

"Stubborn fool! Zheng Bichang and He Maocai were both beheaded last year. I even went to witness their executions. Their heads just snapped off... Yan Song went home to enjoy his life, Yan Shifan was exiled thousands of miles away, and the rest of them were all punished. Isn't that enough to explain things? Do you really have to lay everything bare? Like, if I slept with several women yesterday, what positions I used, how long it lasted, do you think that's appropriate?"

"Utterly shameless! How can matters of state be so confused?"

"The principles are all similar, and the meaning is the same. Just grasp the essence. There are too many things in this world that cannot be clearly explained. If you try to clarify everything, not to mention whether you can understand it at all, you will definitely shorten your lifespan. Instead of wasting time on that, you might as well live a few more years and do more things."

"Only when you understand the distinctions can you accomplish more."

"Isn't that bringing us back to the point, sir? The founding emperor started killing corrupt officials, skinning them alive, but did he manage to stop it? Even if you're not corrupt, someone else will. Even if everyone in the world is rich, there will still be people who want power, who want to ride on other people's heads, who want to be bossy. Where is the end? Alright, alright, stop arguing. You can't convince me, and I don't want to convince you. It's too painful to argue."

Hai Rui snorted, but still chatted pleasantly with Wang Yan about matters of governance. He discussed his reflections on his time as an official in Jiangxi, and his questions about the rapid development of Daxing today—the conversation went fairly well.

Nearly an hour later, Wang Yongji arrived at Wang Yan's residence and met Hai Rui.

The two had a very good relationship, and both withstood pressure from their superiors during the conversion of rice paddies to mulberry fields. The situation in Chun'an was not easy, and even if it were easier in Jiande, it wouldn't be much better. After all, the entire county of Chun'an was flooded, and half of Jiande was submerged—both were essentially sitting ducks.

These two fought side by side, their true feelings revealed in adversity; only fire can truly test gold, and their true nature became clear in such fierce struggle. Thus, these two people who did not back down developed a mutual respect and forged a deep friendship.

The two have maintained correspondence over the past few years.

This was the first time Wang Yan and Wang Yongji had met.

"I've heard of your great name for a long time, but I've never had the chance to meet you. It's a pleasure to meet you," Wang Yongji said, flattering him politely.

Wang Yan waved his hand: "Being able to be friends with Master Hai is good enough, no need to be so polite. I didn't know you were in the capital, otherwise we would have been drinking long ago, instead of waiting until now. Please sit down, let's drink and talk."

After Wang Yongji met with Hai Rui's elderly mother, wife, and children, and chatted briefly with Wang Yan and Hai Rui, the clerk led the servants to bring out the dishes one by one. They were divided into two tables; Hai Rui's elderly mother, wife, and children ate in another room, while the three of them drank and made merry at one table.

"Wow, I've long heard that you, Prince Yan, love food. Today I've seen it for myself. This table truly brings together the delicacies of our Great Ming Dynasty!" Wang Yongji exclaimed in amazement as he looked at the table full of rare and delicious food.

Hai Rui took a plate of stir-fried pork and a plate of green vegetables and placed them in front of him: "I can afford to eat what I can afford."

Wang Yan glanced at him sideways: "That's Lucy's beef, and the greens are carefully selected bok choy hearts. There's only one plate like this in a whole basket."

Hai Rui paused, his hand still holding the food, and after a moment of stunned silence, he let out a long sigh: "You've become even more corrupt..."

“It’s alright, just think of it as the silver that His Majesty gives me as a bonus. In the past two years, His Majesty has given me a total of 100,000 taels of silver as a bonus.”

Wang Yan sighed and said, "There's nothing I can do. As the saying goes, 'What the superiors like, the inferiors will follow.' Whether it's the officials under my command, the common people under my jurisdiction, or the powerful and wealthy families, they all send me all kinds of food. From the sky, from the mountains, from the water, from the sea, regardless of price, they have everything. And I, the cook, am a thoughtful one. I lead a group of people to research how to make delicious food all day long."

"Brother Gangfeng, Brother Ziyan, this is what the people want! This meal is sure to be incredibly delicious, hahaha..."

"Please!" Wang Yan raised his glass and drank with the two of them.

Hai Rui stopped rambling and chatted about all sorts of things, quite content...

After a few rounds of drinks, Wang Yongji asked curiously, "Brother Ziyan, your three-year term is almost up. What's next?"

"This matter is not up to me to decide; it rests with His Majesty and the officials." Wang Yan shook his head. "Wherever I go, I will be loyal to His Majesty. It doesn't matter where I go. I'm just afraid that the great situation I've built will be ruined if someone leaves and the government collapses."

As Wang Yongji sighed sadly, Hai Rui laughed and said, "Brother Runlian, he was just joking. You don't know, Chun'an still obeys his orders to this day. In the past two years, he has investigated and punished three county magistrates. The current county magistrate is trembling with fear..."

"Is that so?"

Wang Yongji stared wide-eyed, unable to comprehend how Wang Yan had managed to do it...

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