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

Chapter 1545 Taking office
"The Prefectural Governor's Office?"

Hai Rui watched Wang Yan eating and drinking heartily, shook his head and sighed, "A fifth-rank official, your rank has risen so quickly."

“It is because His Majesty trusts us and is willing to give us important responsibilities,” Wang Yan said. “We must never forget His Majesty’s great kindness and virtue, no matter when or where.”

“Hey, Ziyan is right, otherwise his official rank wouldn’t have risen so quickly.” Wang Yongji laughed from the side.

“You’re underestimating His Majesty.” Wang Yan shook his head repeatedly. “Don’t think of His Majesty as someone who only likes to flatter and say nice things. It’s only natural for people to want to hear nice things. Even Hai Gangfeng can’t stand three compliments, let alone others.”

As the Emperor of the Great Ming Dynasty, Your Majesty is the supreme ruler. It is our duty as subjects to say some nice and pleasing things to make Your Majesty happy.

But beyond words, what truly matters is getting things done. Do you think His Majesty is incompetent? Little do you know, those who write these edicts are all incredibly reliable when it comes to getting things done.

Hai Rui said, "I think His Majesty is pushing you to make enemies of those powerful and wealthy families."

"Isn't this exactly what you'd like to see?" Wang Yan said with a smile.

Wang Yongji nodded and said, "Ziyan is wholeheartedly for the people. He targeted the powerful and wealthy, but he also brought benefits to the common people, allowing them to live a better life."

Hai Rui shook his head: "No matter who it's for, at this point, their lives are hanging by a thread."

"What kind of unlucky talk is this? I've been attacked so many times, even with the deployment of armored soldiers, crossbows, and muskets, and I'm still doing fine, aren't I? I've said before that I rose to power by going against the powerful and wealthy. If I were to collude with them, I would truly have no good days ahead of me."

Furthermore, returning to the matter of Shuntian Prefecture, I already collected cleaning fees and imposed fines for fire hazards in Daxing. It's just a matter of doing it again. I refuse to believe that these powerful and wealthy people are so ignorant as to deliberately oppose me.

"Weren't all the problems in Daxing caused by those people in Xicheng? The matter is already settled; any further resistance will only give me leverage to destroy them, and they're not stupid."

Wang Yan waved his hand and raised his wine cup. "Alright, you've finally been promoted again. You'll be able to make even more money from now on. If you have any problems in the future, just come to me. Although I have enemies all over the court, I can still get things done."

“We’ve never had to beg you for anything,” Hai Rui said decisively.

"It's not good to say too much."

“Ziyan is right,” Wang Yongji said, not being a pedantic man. “Things are unpredictable.”

Wang Yan laughed heartily: "No need to predict the future. You are all in charge of the Ministry of Revenue. When it's time to remit the accounts at the end of the year, you should come to me."

"What do you want?" Hai Rui still didn't understand.

"They need money, of course. The imperial court is in deficit every year. They need money here and money there, but there are only so many places to make money. In the past two years, because of Daxing, there has been an extra million taels of silver in cleaning fees every year. After the clearing of fields and checking of households, the tax collection has also been sufficient. So, everyone is eyeing the silver from Daxing, right? Everyone knows that you and I are good friends. You will definitely come to me for money when the time comes."

"I simply won't come."

"The nation is in dire straits, and the people are suffering greatly... Ruxian, this is for the sake of the court, not your own private matter. What's so hard about speaking up? Are you going to disregard state affairs just because you're reluctant to speak up? Do you know how many places are waiting for money? Drought, floods, earthquakes, peasant uprisings..."

Hearing Wang Yan's words of coercion spoken in a tone that sounded like he was acting in the name of the country and its people, Wang Yongji sighed: "A gentleman can be deceived by his principles."

Hai Rui fell silent, because after hearing Wang Yan's words, he realized he was truly embarrassed not to come and see Wang Yan. So he couldn't help but turn his hopeful gaze to Wang Yan once again.

"Don't look at me like that. I can tell you directly right now that, apart from His Majesty, no one can get extra money from me. The affairs of the state are difficult, and the people's livelihood is hard. When is it not difficult? When is it not hard?"
"I've collected the cleaning fees and taxes in full, and now they're eyeing me? What are their cabinet members doing? They don't dare collect nationwide, they're starting with their own hometowns—can that even work? They're all local tycoons; the Xu family is the undisputed authority in Songjiang Prefecture. Can't they collect the cleaning fees? Can't they handle the land clearing and population control?"

Wang Yan smiled and said, "Just tell my superiors what I said. Who told you to come to me for money? Who should go back to your hometown to collect sanitation fees and check fields? If you're so concerned about the country and the people, why aren't you willing to do such a small thing?"
Of course, don't curse that old bastard Xu Jie. That old man is cunning and holds grudges. I don't care; I've been at odds with him for a long time. Don't go looking for trouble. Alright, let's not talk about this anymore. Come on, let's drink!"

And so, Wang Yan, Hai Rui, and Wang Yongji parted ways after eating and drinking.

Hai Rui certainly didn't live in Wang Yan's house; instead, he rented a private house, which was quite expensive.

This is unavoidable. As the capital city develops better and better, apart from the various prices that Wang Yan has been suppressing, housing prices have soared the most. On the one hand, the people in the city are earning more and have various needs such as getting married and having children. On the other hand, people from outside the city are coming to the city to work, some needing to rent houses and others needing to buy houses to settle down, which has boosted the housing market in the entire capital city.

Since housing in Beijing is a limited resource, prices have naturally continued to rise uncontrollably.

In response to this, Wang Yan has begun planning and construction outside the city to accommodate the growing population and bring greater prosperity to the capital...

Jiajing informed Wang Yan in advance of the upcoming job arrangements, which were the final result after fully exchanging opinions with others. After saying a few words to him, the formal process began.

So three days after Wang Yan met with Jiajing, he received the appointment document from the Ministry of Personnel and an encouraging letter from the Grand Secretariat.

At the same time, along with the news of his appointment as the prefect, Zhao Zhenji, the vice minister of the Ministry of Revenue, was concurrently appointed as the prefect of Shuntian Prefecture...

In the main hall of the Shuntian Prefecture government office, Wang Yan met Zhao Zhenji for the first time.

"His Majesty appointed me as the Prefect of Shuntian Prefecture, which means he doesn't want me to get involved in anything. You must not let His Majesty down." Zhao Zhenji, dressed in a scarlet robe, sat steadily in the main seat.

"Your Excellency is being too formal," Wang Yan said, now dressed in a blue robe embroidered with white cranes. "Back in Zhejiang, I served under Your Excellency, and now that I'm in the capital, I'm working under you again. What a coincidence! I'll certainly need Your Excellency's help with the affairs of Shuntian Prefecture in the future."

Zhao Zhenji glanced at him sideways: "Too hypocritical. I'm going to put in the effort, will you listen?"

“Your Excellency is right, and what you say makes sense. I will certainly follow your advice.”

"No need. I won't interfere in your affairs; I can't ruin His Majesty's plans."

In this drama, Zhao Zhenji is a man who values ​​his life and is someone who doesn't do anything wrong. With Jiajing openly delegating the leadership of the entire Shuntian Prefecture to Wang Yan, how could he possibly interfere?

Let alone him, even Xu Jie, who opposed Wang Yan's direct promotion from four ranks to the position of Prefect of Shuntian Prefecture, would absolutely not interfere much in the governance of Shuntian Prefecture. If anything, they would only continue to suppress Wang Yan when he was seizing more power.

The achievements of Daxing today have proven that Wang Yan's governing logic is effective, and its application to Shuntian Prefecture will naturally not pose any major problems.

This is good for the common people, good for the Ming Dynasty, and good for His Majesty. Now it seems it even benefits the powerful and wealthy families. After all, these wealthy families are earning significantly more money in business than before.

Of course, the big spenders would only think it's bad, since they could have avoided paying so much money. They want to make more money without paying anything. Even though they fully understand that they can only make more money by paying more, they are still unwilling to pay...

Zhao Zhenji then said, "I heard that you and Hu Ruzhen jointly formed a fleet to go to sea?" "Your Excellency is joking. Our Great Ming Dynasty has a maritime ban. How could I possibly knowingly violate it with Minister Hu?"

There's no point in hiding things that everyone knows the truth.

Wang Yan laughed heartily: "No matter who asks, I certainly don't know."

“A few days ago you escorted a large amount of things to the palace, and there were several previous times as well. Everyone knows that you escorted a lot of things into the palace each time.”

Zhao Zhenji said, "I want to ask you, what exactly do you want to do?"

"Isn't it obvious, Your Excellency? It's all about making money," Wang Yan said. "Why should the wealthy merchants in the southeast be able to earn money? Who wouldn't want to make money?"

“But I heard that Hu Ruzhen’s fleet has over a thousand people.”

"Why don't you just think of Minister Hu as a Japanese pirate now? Minister, are you against it or in favor?"

"I neither oppose nor approve."

"Then let's not press the issue, Your Excellency. That's not like you. What, did that old geezer Xu Jie send you to ask?"

Zhao Zhenji glared at Wang Yan, dissatisfied with Wang Yan's use of the term "old thing".

"Grand Secretary Xu is the current chief minister, Wang Yan..."

"I heard he owns 100,000 mu of land in Songjiang Prefecture." Wang Yan chuckled. "Your Excellency, Hai Rui previously wanted to go to Fenyi to serve as a local official for that old dog Yan Song, but I want to go to Songjiang Prefecture to see how this capable official, praised by all the civil and military officials, truly serves the Ming Dynasty faithfully, and to learn from him."

“Wang Yan, what you’re saying is just empty talk. You’ve heard that Grand Secretary Xu owns 100,000 mu of fertile land, and I’ve also heard that you previously embezzled 100,000 taels of silver from cleaning fees and fire hazard fines, and in the last two years you’ve embezzled tens of thousands of taels of silver again. In addition, you’ve also misappropriated public property; you rented such a huge mansion for just one tael of silver, and your daily drinking and eating are all paid for by public funds…”

Zhao Zhenji snorted, "Can you even defend yourself against every single one of these allegations?"

Wang Yan smiled and shook his head: "Minister, I can even tell you that since I took office in Chun'an, I have received a total of 175,000 taels of silver. The rent of one tael of silver for the house I am currently living in is indeed outrageous, but it is not my house after all. All my silver has been spent on raising pigs, chickens, ducks and geese. The meat that you eat every day may well be raised by me."

Besides this, I own no other land. I have no house of my own, not even an acre of land. The people who work for me are all well-fed and clothed, and can eat meat. Whether they can keep up with the demands of the people, I don't know; I only know that I haven't forced them to ruin, break up families, or enslave them. Your Excellency, what advice do you have for me?

Zhao Zhenji had nothing to say. Having reached this position, he naturally knew how many wealthy families had acquired their initial capital, and he also knew that these wealthy families were still steadily reaping profits.

"If we don't see eye to eye, then let's not talk about it. You'd better take care of yourself."

Zhao Zhenji stormed off...

Wang Yan sipped his tea with a smile, and then called out, "Come on in!" A group of officials who had been waiting respectfully outside the main hall hurried in.

"Greetings, Your Excellency."

Wang Yan was cleaning the tea leaves in the covered bowl. He had just arrived, and the necessary equipment, such as Wang Da and Guan Guan Cha, hadn't arrived yet. He would have to make some adjustments later and get people working at the government office.

His gaze swept over the officials below, each one extremely humble, clearly aware of how he, Wang, had managed things in Daxing. He knew how miserable the fate of those who didn't cooperate or obeyed could be.

"You all know what I did in Daxing. Four things: First, move the government office's account books here; I need to check them. Second, organize manpower and expand the number of yamen runners, hangers-on, and firemen in Wanping County to the same level as in Daxing. The government office doesn't need hangers-on, but expand the number of yamen runners to the same level."

Third, issue a public notice that all merchants within Shuntian Prefecture must pay a cleaning fee to their respective county government within three days, at the same rate as in Daxing. Seven days later, a thorough search of fields and households will begin throughout the entire jurisdiction of Shuntian Prefecture. Fourth, under the guise of this search, I will also arrest another wave of local ruffians and scoundrels. Two years have passed, and some people have become unruly again; arrest all the dishonest ones to ensure the people can live a peaceful life.

Did you all understand?

"Understood!" the crowd responded in unison.

"This time, you didn't intend to burn the account books, but rather to burn my men alive, did you?"

"You jest, sir. How could we possibly do such a thing?" one official replied with a fawning smile.

Wang Yan smiled noncommittally: "Have someone go to the Daxing County government office and transfer Wang Da and the others to the prefectural government office to take up their posts."

"Please enlighten me, sir."

“Explicit instruction? You don’t need to do anything, you can just sit in the yamen.”

Wang Yan then stood up and waved his hand, "Go and get to work."

Everyone sprang into action, creating a chaotic scene. They were all pretending to be very busy, to impress Wang Yan, the new leader.

The reputation of a person is reflected in the capital. Even though Wang Yan was once a subordinate official of Shuntian Prefecture, he never reported to the prefect of Shuntian Prefecture.

These people were all aware of Wang Yan's deeds, knowing how he treated others badly and how he treated others well. Before figuring out Wang Yan's preferences, they naturally tried their best to work hard and perform well, hoping to catch his eye.

This is what most people think.

There was another group of people who belonged to their own faction and didn't need to curry favor with Wang Yan. If they were unhappy working in Shuntian Prefecture, they could easily find a way to be transferred.

Of course, this was assuming they could leave safely. So these people didn't offend Wang Yan; they just did their jobs so that Wang Yan couldn't find fault with them, and they didn't fawn over Wang Yan, this arrogant new leader.

Wang Yan observed all of this without making a fuss. He simply strolled around the Shuntian Prefecture government office, accompanied by a sub-prefect, taking in the environment of the entire office.

It didn't look like they were about to collect taxes and conduct a thorough search of the fields throughout Shuntian Prefecture, potentially facing a new round of danger. It was quite peaceful...

　I want to express my sincere gratitude to all the kind readers who have given me generous support through tips, monthly tickets, recommendation tickets, and those who have been reading quietly!

　　(End of this chapter)