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

Chapter 1546 Going to Kill

After Wang Yan took office as the Chief Administrator of Shuntian Prefecture, his orders to collect sanitation fees, expand the team to crack down on organized crime, and conduct field inspections were well implemented and executed.

Similarly, during this process, the entire Shuntian Prefecture's staff was purged, including Wanping County, which was also thoroughly dealt with.

In addition, the crackdown on organized crime has resulted in the arrest of everyone involved, both government officials and ordinary citizens, who have committed wrongdoings and harmed the people. One difference this time compared to the previous crackdown in Daxing is that some cases involving powerful and wealthy individuals who committed crimes were either not processed or were handled hastily for various reasons.

So, in his spare time, his biggest task was to overturn cases. As long as it was on record, as long as the person could be found, and as long as he thought it was wrong, he would summon ordinary people for questioning and summon powerful and wealthy people for interrogation, and then see how the powerful and wealthy families would react.

If no one intervenes, even in winter there will still be construction sites where people can work, so people will definitely be busy. If they were to intervene, they could simply pay compensation to the people and fine the government.

Wang Yan has already left a lot of room for maneuver; even in a murder case, a fine would suffice. Not focusing on one point and fighting to the death isn't the most cost-effective option.

The powerful and wealthy families certainly wouldn't let their family members work themselves to death on construction sites, so they all received compensation and paid fines, and they were all in so much pain that they lost their appetite for meat. This was because Wang Yan's fines were extremely harsh. Especially for murder cases, the fines were enough to buy countless lives.

But what can be done?

Some who didn't believe in the evil spirits tried to kill Wang Yan again, launching several attacks, including but not limited to killing him in the street, assassinating him at night, and ambushing him when he went out.

Apart from being captured alive by Wang Yan and handed over to the Imperial Guard, and subsequently labeled as a rebel, and having several prominent families' property confiscated and their families exterminated, he did not cause any disturbance.

The capital city was still the same capital city, and Wang Yan was still as arrogant and lawless as ever. The only difference was the sudden increase in the size of the Shuntian Prefecture's treasury.

Although the East and West were already beginning to diverge in wealth and status at this time, it didn't mean that the West was less prosperous than the East. Commerce in the West was just as good. After all, no matter how powerful and wealthy the West was, it couldn't be deprived of any space for other people and places. The ruling and exploiting classes are always a minority; otherwise, how could they rule or exploit?

Wang Yan took office in early autumn, and by the middle of winter, he had thoroughly reformed the entire Shuntian Prefecture. Although it wasn't completely thorough, at least the problems that had been exposed had been largely resolved. At this point, he had completed half of the task that Jiajing had entrusted to him to govern Shuntian Prefecture.

The Jiajing Emperor appointed him to govern Shuntian Prefecture so that he could extend what had been done in Daxing to the entire Shuntian Prefecture, which was essentially a thorough overhaul of the prefecture.

The purpose was to make Shuntian Prefecture, a place that was both rich and powerful, hand over the wealth that it was rightfully entitled to hand over.

After all, the amount of silver Wang Yan had generated in Daxing was more than double what it used to be. And if we consider the entire Shuntian Prefecture, it would be even more.

On the other hand, faced with the year-by-year decline in farmland and population, even though Jiajing knew clearly that the population was being hidden, he never imagined that so many could be hidden.

As a result, after Wang Yan launched a large-scale operation to clear fields and check populations throughout the entire Shuntian Prefecture, the population of Shuntian Prefecture reached nearly two million, compared to just over one million originally, with seven hundred thousand residing in the capital.

Of course, the statistical methods were different, but everyone in the Shuntian Prefecture, whether they were servants, tenants, unregistered households, or even slaves waiting to be sold in servitude, was all dug up, registered, and recorded, which truly demonstrated the atmosphere of the capital city.

After Wang Yan ascended to power, concealing people and land, and illegally buying and selling people and land became serious crimes, potentially punishable by the death of the entire family. Every acre of land and every person had to be traceable; if the person or the land couldn't be found, someone would suffer...

Plowing through Shuntian Prefecture is one half of the task; the other half is naturally the prosperity of Shuntian Prefecture. Let the entire Shuntian Prefecture be as bustling as Daxing. Roads and waterways must be repaired, all kinds of public service positions must be fully staffed, welfare programs must be implemented thoroughly, and public security must be maintained—and so on.

The goal is singular: to make the capital of the Ming Dynasty a utopia of this era. It must be a place of wealth, where the people are happy, where they can live in peace and prosperity, a place everyone aspires to be.

The reason why Jiajing had such delusions was also due to the influence of Wang Yan. This immortal emperor, who lived deep in the palace and never went to court, became a holy and wise ruler praised by the people.

He heard the genuine voices of the people through various channels, a feeling that brought him comfort and a great sense of accomplishment. Naturally, he wanted things to improve.

Not only can it be better, but it can also bring in more money. He can then spend the money to hire people to work, which will earn him the sincere praise of the people and allow him to obtain all kinds of buildings he wants. It's a win-win situation.

But what is the reality?
The common people were merely offering verbal thanks; they dared not speak ill of the emperor in any situation. They weren't fools; they knew that it was Wang Yan who truly carried out the policies.

Otherwise, why hadn't things improved after all these years? Only after Wang Yan came to power did the people begin to live a good life. Before Wang Yan, the highest-ranking officials the people in the countryside had ever seen were those low-ranking bureaucrats; many had never even seen a county magistrate.

However, after Wang Yan came to power, he visited many villages, met many people, and even treated and cured many patients. Whatever their grievances or injustices, as long as they found Wang Yan, even if he couldn't solve the problem, he would at least provide a result and compensation. Of course, most of the time, money was the deciding factor.

After all, the complaints the common people brought to Wang Yan were mainly conflicts with wealthy households. Neighborhood disputes could generally be resolved by the village head or similar officials…

In the past, it was easy for landlords to control the common people. Now, as long as the common people can ensure their own safety and have the ability to break free from the landlord's control and go to Wang Yan to complain, the landlord will absolutely not dare to act recklessly.

Because Wang Yanzhen gets things done.

Losing money isn't so easy...

Besides the things mentioned above, Wang Yan's main task was to inspect the entire Shuntian Prefecture and issue documents to the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Works to plan and budget the basic construction of the entire Shuntian Prefecture.

Next year, he will begin large-scale construction throughout the entire Shuntian Prefecture.

The silver was certainly sufficient. This time, dealing with the rest of Shuntian Prefecture and the various fines, he managed to raise over three million taels of silver. He directly presented half of it as tribute to Jiajing.

In addition, there's the silver from the Daxing government office. If others can't mobilize Daxing's silver, why couldn't he? With over a million taels of silver withdrawn here, it adds up to three million taels. At the same time, there are the monthly cleaning fees and other revenues, which will amount to over ten thousand taels more.

If one-fifth of the entire Ming Dynasty's annual fiscal revenue were poured into Shuntian Prefecture, there would be no project that couldn't be undertaken.

Moreover, these numerous projects are not one-time expenditures, but rather spread over several years and dozens of months. In addition, Wang Yan himself commands the Royal Bank, and the money is printed under his orders. As the new banknotes gradually spread, this represents another considerable sum of money that can be used.

The Ming Dynasty was poor, the Jiajing Emperor was rich, and the Shuntian Prefecture under Wang Yan's leadership was also very wealthy...

And so the year drew to a close, and the grandeur of the capital was simply explosive.

With money in their hands, the people, having worked hard all year, would always want to eat and drink well, buy some cloth to make clothes for their wives and children, and buy some wine to enjoy themselves. As a result, all the markets, big and small, inside and outside the city were packed with people.

At the same time, in order to praise the merits of the great emperor, Wang Yan specially used the silver from Shuntian Prefecture to hire an opera troupe to stage a grand opera starting from Zhu Yuanzhang, and they would find places to perform the opera from time to time.

Of course, it wasn't all emperors, nor all civil and military officials. Wang Yan's historical perspective was based on the people, so there had to be ordinary soldiers and hardworking civilians. However, the operas Wang Yan staged were model plays, depicting the killing of Japanese pirates and the struggle against landlords, which were absolutely ahead of their time.

This also stirred up hatred. The powerful and wealthy were not stupid and could see through Wang Yan's sinister intentions, so they launched various impeachments against him.

Strangely enough, no matter how many impeachments were made, none of them could directly lead to Wang Yan's execution. For example, it was common knowledge that he had embezzled hundreds of thousands of taels of silver and raised an unknown number of pigs.

He has now become the largest pig, sheep, chicken, duck, and goose farmer in the entire Shuntian Prefecture, supplying at least half of the meat and half of the eggs. Even if these powerful and wealthy families have farms outside the city, they might still buy meat and eggs from Wang Yan's farms. He has even expanded into Tibet, trading with the local chieftains and purchasing yak meat, cordyceps, and so on…

Besides this, Wang Yan also privately expanded his yamen runners, hangers-on, and fire armor. This matter is still unresolved. The expansion wasn't the end of it. He also privately mobilized these troops to oppose the Five Cities Military Command, fabricated charges to frame others, used torture without authorization, and accepted bribes...

In any case, there wasn't a single crime that could kill him; they were all about trivial things like being disrespectful, willful, domineering, arrogant, and sleeping with women...

Wang Yan ignored all that and did as he pleased.

It was snowing lightly that day. After wandering around outside all morning and having seen enough of the excitement, Wang Yan returned to the Shuntian Prefecture Office for lunch.

On a snowy day, nothing beats a hot bowl of mutton. Wang Dayi had already bought more than a dozen sheep from Wang Yan's butcher shop to prepare, make soup, and cook meat. The aroma had been wafting through the government office all morning.

The reason they took more than a dozen sheep was that it was the end of the year, and people were busy with all sorts of official documents and statistics, working themselves to the bone, so everyone was eating and drinking well.

Of course, Wang Yan often treated everyone to meat on ordinary days, as he was known for his generosity. However, Wang Yan used money from the government treasury to buy meat from animals he raised himself, thus gaining a good reputation in the process…

"I apologize, Lord Wang, we are late."

Inside the government office, there were two tall, strong-looking men with rough skin. One was a middle-aged man around forty years old, and the other was an elderly man in his sixties with a lot of gray hair.

The one speaking was this old man.

Wang Yan bowed to the two of them and said, "General Yu and General Qi are both quite good at cursing. According to their official ranks, both of you are first-rank military commanders, the highest-ranking officials. In terms of your duties, General Yu is the commander-in-chief of Guangdong, and General Qi is the commander-in-chief of Fujian. You hold high positions and great power, leading the army of an entire province and fighting against the Japanese pirates. How can you call me, a mere fifth-rank prefectural administrator of Shuntian Prefecture, 'sir'?"

"Lord Wang is deeply trusted by His Majesty and shares the burdens of the king, bringing great order to Shuntian Prefecture and creating a prosperous era. This is all thanks to Lord Wang, and we truly admire him..." Qi Jiguang cupped his hands, a smile on his face, and spoke only kind words.

"I can tell you've been through a lot. Alright, the three of us are just meeting, but we've been corresponding for a long time and are no strangers, so let's not stand on ceremony. This morning I specially asked the cook to make lamb, stewed fish and lamb soup, and some yellow wine. It's quite a treat. Come on, let's eat, drink and chat."

Wang Yan gestured with his hand and then turned and walked into the main hall of the government office.

Although there is a dining room, he still prefers to eat in the central hall, which is more spacious and comfortable.

Yu Dayou and Qi Jiguang exchanged a glance, both thinking, "That's really direct," because Wang Yan had been so blunt about how they had been framed...

Once seated in the main hall, the three poured themselves wine and began eating and drinking without much fanfare. Yu Dayou and Qi Jiguang adapted to Wang Yan's pace; although they felt somewhat uncomfortable, they found it very pleasant and relaxed.

"Did His Majesty send you two, or did you two choose to come on your own?"

Yu Dayou replied, "His Majesty sent the two of us to discuss with...the Governor how to expand the fleet."

“Exactly,” Qi Jiguang echoed.

Wang Yan sensed their displeasure and said with a smile, "Do you think the more important thing is the Japanese pirates in Guangdong and Fujian? Do you think His Majesty doesn't value military intelligence and is more interested in overseas money?"

"We wouldn't dare!" The two shook their heads repeatedly.

Wang Yan shook his head and chuckled: "You two generals are used to fighting Japanese pirates. You've been in the local area for a long time, so don't you know where the Japanese pirates come from? How many real Japanese pirates are there? Why can the Japanese pirates penetrate deep into our Ming territory by hundreds of miles every time they cause trouble? Why do they disappear without a trace after retreating? Why can't they be wiped out completely?"

But we still have to suppress them! We can't afford not to! His Majesty doesn't seem to care because he trusts the two generals. The fact that His Majesty sent them to discuss the future of the fleet with me shows that he believes they can quell the Japanese pirates. To say they 'quell' them wouldn't be easy; let's just say they'll prevent the Japanese pirates from becoming a major threat.

"The key to defeating the Japanese pirates really lies in this fleet."

"What do you mean by Zhizhong's words?" Yu Dayou asked, genuinely curious.

Wang Yan reached out and munched on a lamb leg, muttering, "Don't you two know that the fleet's more than a thousand soldiers didn't cost the Ming Dynasty a single penny? They even earned His Majesty hundreds of thousands of taels of silver. Once we have more ships and more soldiers, what Japanese pirates will dare to run rampant on the Ming Dynasty's coast?"
My strategy against the Japanese pirates was to first develop my fleet, train and strengthen my navy, and then quell the pirates. And now, in just two years, I've already achieved this. Given time—no, at most three to five years—I will utterly wipe out the Japanese pirates!

Qi Jiguang chimed in, "We two are so foolish that we never thought of this. It is Your Majesty and the Grand Master who have such foresight."

"Gentlemen, what do you think we should do after we've quelled the Japanese pirates?"

The two looked at each other and shook their heads.

"You two are just hiding your true abilities," Wang Yan said with a chuckle, pointing at the two men. "You're both exceptional individuals, how could you not see it? You're definitely going to take down the big shots in the southeast. Not only will you take them down, you'll annihilate them!"

　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)