Chapter 1054

"Jiang Nan is good, the most memorable is Hangzhou..."

Fan Zhongyan stood by the Qiantang River with his hands behind his back, his words filled with endless emotion.

It was already the autumn of the third year of Huangyou; Fan Zhongyan had been in Hangzhou for more than two years, a time much longer than originally planned. But no matter how long, there was a time to leave. At the end of the year, an order came from the capital to promote him to Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue and transfer him to be the Prefect of Qingzhou.

Qingzhou was the location of the Jingdong East Circuit, near Hebei. Originally, Fan Zhongyan's health was very poor at this time, and because he could not bear the cold in the north, after working for a period of time, he turned to Zhao Zhen to request to be the Prefect of Yingzhou, and then Fan Zhongyan took office while ill, and finally died of illness in Xuzhou.

But now Fan Zhongyan's health was still very good, which benefited from two reasons. On the one hand, it was because of Wang Yan, and on the other hand, it was also because of Wang Yan.

First, Wang Yan adjusted Fan Zhongyan's body and passed on the method of exercising the body, with tonic and medicine, and he was well-nourished. Second, the power of Hangzhou was all tied to Wang Yan, and Fan Zhongyan, the Prefect, became a helper, and the work was easy. Coupled with what Wang Yan did in Hangzhou, it was the reform and strengthening he had always wanted, and it was successful. His entire spirit was raised several times, and he had the heart again.

Now that he was about to leave, he was actually showing a trend of rising ambition.

Wang Yan smiled: "This student sees that Master Fan's ambition has risen again, which is really a great thing. However, Master Fan knows everything about the Hangzhou matter; the method of killing is really too much. It is not a necessary siege, but a last resort, assassination, poisoning, and so on. It is very difficult for Master Fan to do the same thing in Qingzhou as in Hangzhou. Master Fan, please do not be impatient; even Hangzhou has not achieved full success, so Master Fan must think twice before acting."

Fan Zhongyan glanced at Wang Yan sideways, hummed, and said, "How could this old man not know?"

"It is also for the sake of Master Fan's health; at such an age, why work so hard? Moreover, each generation has its own talents, and Master Fan must also give us younger generations a chance to do things. One generation cannot take care of the affairs of several generations."

"This old man will not move the land, just want to collect the cleaning fee. By then, it will be like Hangzhou, with major construction throughout the prefecture, employing common people to work, which will always make people's lives better."

"Brother Yaofu is not by your side this time; this student told Brother Yaofu that Master Fan can live for more than ten years. Master Fan, do not be too tired; if you miss your lifespan, how can this student meet Brother Yaofu?"

"Alright, this old man knows his body best. It is you; you should also go to the capital by the end of the year. You must arrange Hangzhou well so that there will be no repetition."

"Master Fan, rest assured, my Dao is prosperous, and no matter who comes here, they have to obey. Master Fan, you have a long way to go, and the boat and car are tired, so please go slowly."

Fan Zhongyan nodded with a smile and patted Wang Yan's shoulder heavily: "This old man is leaving."

"Respectfully send off Master Fan."

Fan Zhongyan waved his hand, was helped by someone into the comfortable carriage Wang Yan gave him, and the team that had long been prepared slowly set off and headed north...

Wang Yan bowed respectfully to see him off, until the team went far away and the figure became small, then he stood with his hands behind his back, looking at the departing team, and said without looking back: "Disperse."

The officials at the prefecture and county levels behind all bowed respectfully to Wang Yan's back, responded, and left, leaving Wang Yan alone standing at the head of the river, watching Fan Zhongyan go far away.

Hangzhou at this moment was very different from two years ago. The existence of great families was not some so-called local pillar, nor was it an engine of economic vitality; on the contrary, they were obstacles to all development. Without the great families making trouble, Hangzhou would only be more prosperous.

After more than two years of major construction, the water conservancy in Hangzhou had been reorganized, fully considering the requirements of water storage and flood discharge, and also set up many waterwheels and mills for watering the land.

The official roads on land in the territory had all been widened and hardened, and many large and small roads had been repaired between counties, and between counties and villages. It certainly did not finish repairing everything, but that was only a matter of time. After all, Hangzhou was not short of money, although the number of annual accounts was much higher than before, the amount left behind was naturally also a lot.

Wang Yan naturally did not save money at all, spending as much as he had. Expanding the Ever-Normal Granary, large-scale construction of village schools and county schools, subsidizing school funds and teaching funds, building orphanages to take in the old and young, reducing taxes, giving bonuses to officials at all levels, etc...

After all this, Hangzhou was built better, the common people were more prosperous, commercial revenue was more, and the number of commercial taxes and additional cleaning fees was also growing.

Thanks to Wang Yan sweeping away the old great families and strictly limiting land transfer, now 60% of the land in Hangzhou was public land. And these fields were also cultivated by ordinary common people, plus Wang Yan opened up the passage of common people in the prefecture, they farmed during farming time and worked outside to earn money during leisure time.

In this way, the common people lived better and had a certain ability to resist risks, plus the relatively clean governance, and the opportunities for great families to interfere were much less. Especially since Wang Yan was still there, many people were lucky, but many also died.

But at the same time, their land had to pay heavy taxes, and there must be people to farm it, and the rent collected could only be 10%; if they dared to be a little more, they would be dealt with. The big landlords were all broken and destroyed by Wang Yan, and the small landlords did not dare to covet the land. So after going back and forth, they naturally paid more attention to commercial affairs.

The assets of the many great families before were taken over by small and medium landlords. Now that all industries in Hangzhou were prosperous, they had no choice but to do business well since they could not do anything about the land. In this way, they competed again, promoting the development and progress of technology.

In this way, the great families of Hangzhou transitioned from former landlords to commercial capital.

Of course, this group of people would certainly not be so promising. Limited by their ideological understanding, they could not help but stare at that one-third of an acre of land. Even if they stared at that one-third of an acre of land, no one thought about opening up land outside and seeking the increase of land, but desperately competing for the limited stock of land. They did not go far, just in the countryside. If they became high officials, it was in the capital and their hometown, annexing a large amount of land.

However, if it was changed to "hometown complex," it could also make sense.

In essence, they were not controlling the land, but controlling the people and mastering power through the land; after all, people were the source of power. How many people they could control determined how much power they had.

So even if Wang Yan updated and transformed the great families to a certain extent, they would still continue to figure out how to turn public land into private land and how to turn other people's land into their own land.

This was a problem that Wang Yan had to solve at a higher level; if Hangzhou could not become a country on its own, it could not be changed...

In short, there were still many problems in Hangzhou at the moment, but social contradictions were all suppressed; if there were no accidents and no desperate exploitation and oppression, there would be no big problem for a hundred or eighty years of stability.

It was also because of this that Wang Yan and Fan Zhongyan stayed for a lot of time. Because Zhao Zhen and other ministers in the capital were a little afraid of repetition and changes. Anyway, Wang Yan was awesome, and he could suppress the scene if he stayed.

Of course, another reason was that no one wanted to come to be Wang Yan's superior. Everyone understood that they were mascots in Hangzhou, even if Wang Yan left. If they dared to have any actions, maybe Wang Yan would find trouble to deal with them.

They did not doubt Wang Yan's ability to make trouble. Wang Yan stayed in Hangzhou for two years, from the two Zhejiang circuits to the capital, pulling down no less than a hundred people. From this point of view, Wang Yan was bolder than those great families who besieged him; he was a lonely official who did not get along with his colleagues.

Although they did not want to admit it, it was true that many people were afraid of Wang Yan; his record was too fierce. Thinking about fighting for power with Wang Yan, they also trembled. He could fight, his methods were high, his guts were big, and he really played with his life; many people thought Wang Yan was a lunatic.

This resulted in the fact that even though Fan Zhongyan had left, the popular and sought-after position of Prefect was still vacant. Selecting and sending people to be the Prefect of Hangzhou was still under constant discussion.

There was also a struggle in this; the reformers wanted to inherit Wang Yan's position, but the conservatives would not let them, but the conservatives did not dare to come.

Being afraid of Wang Yan was one aspect, and messing up the good situation in Hangzhou was another. Wang Yan only worked for two years, and the tax revenue of Hangzhou's accounts reached the position of only behind the four capitals. Many people did not have this confidence, so they did not dare to come.

Being an official had two requirements. First, stabilize the local area and not cause chaos; second, raise money. If these two things were done well, the future would definitely not be bad. If they were assisted by flattery and sycophancy in the process, and had some vision and stood in a good position, then it would be a smooth official career.

It was also because of this that Wang Yan had to wait until this year's taxes were paid and this year's work was completed, and after the new Prefect and Assistant Prefect were selected, he could leave. However, his position after entering the capital was still under discussion.

Because his position was not easy to arrange; originally so many people were queuing up to be officials, and the positions were indeed few. But he was too awesome, and what he did was too big, enough for exceptional promotion. The conservatives wanted to arrange a high-profile but idle position for Wang Yan, but Zhao Zhen and the reformers would not do it. He could raise money and dare to deal with people; he was a top-notch knife. How could such a person be idle?

So they were arguing all day long, endlessly; these things were all told by Old Bao in his letters.

Wang Yan treated them as jokes; anyway, he was not in a hurry. His ability had already been demonstrated; he could cause trouble and solve trouble, not letting the Emperor worry, and he could not be suppressed at all. The so-called "simple in the Emperor's heart" was just like this. If there was any problem, the first person thought of was always someone like Wang Yan, who could be called a firefighter.

So he was not in a hurry in Hangzhou, going to the yamen every morning to sign official documents. Checking the work progress, and arranging and deploying some new work. Then either taking Hualan and Shulan to wander outside, or wandering outside himself, or going to the already built academy to give lectures, and occasionally writing new books.

He would be an official for three years soon, and he had made some achievements; it was time to continue to promote his theories. He had to revise the first volume and write a second volume to further perfect it.

With the record, Wang Yan was now standing up in the academic world, and many people who came to Hangzhou to study came to listen to his lectures. After all, the knowledge was his, and he even shamelessly wrote books early on, explaining in the opening chapter not to let people misinterpret his meaning. Then naturally, it was better to come to him and listen directly.

Furthermore, Wang Yan was an Assistant Prefect, and he had done so many big things; he was absolutely an awesome person. Being able to have time to give them lectures and answer questions, coming to see him was not a loss.

Not to mention the Hangzhou Academy, which was now the largest academy in Jiang Nan, and also the best academy, with complete configuration, beautiful landscaping, rich collection of books, and strong teaching staff. Students nearby all wanted to come and see.

However, speaking of the academy, Wang Yan's literary education was not very successful; although many academies and schools were built, the imperial examination results were not very good, and only one person became a Jinshi.

The reason was that his major purge also purged those scholars; after all, most of them were from the families of great families, which was normal. People from top to bottom understood it quite well; there must be some imperfections. People were sent to the Northwest, and no one could do anything about it...

This day was Hualan's eighteenth birthday.

The family made many dishes, and everyone in the mansion ate well and was happy.

In the evening, after Wang Yan washed his feet and got on the bed, Hualan leaned close to Wang Yan's side, exhaling like an orchid: "Da Guanren, your concubine is eighteen."

"Anxious?"

"Why does Da Guanren ask when he knows?" Hualan hit Wang Yan coquettishly, "Although I knew it early, your concubine has had a hard time these two years. Da Guanren probably doesn't know, my mother sent me many prescriptions. She also said she wanted to send a doctor over to secretly take a look for me. Since Da Guanren took Sister Shulan, it has been a year now, but there is no movement at all, and she asked me to find a doctor to take a look for Sister Shulan, and the result is that there is no problem at all.

This made me suspect it was Da Guanren's problem. I found a famous master in Bianjing City, who said Da Guanren's killing sins were too heavy, making it difficult to have offspring. My mother goes to Daxiangguo Temple to burn incense and pray for blessings on the first and fifteenth of every month, just to help Da Guanren resolve disasters and give birth to offspring."

Shulan indeed had no problem; Wang Yan was sure of this at the beginning. However, considering the harmony of the family, Wang Yan did not let Shulan get pregnant. After all, he was going to be a loyal official for a long time this time, but he also had a legal wife; no matter how close the relationship was, it was inevitable that there would be many messy things; this was a problem of the social environment.

Or maybe not; after all, even a thousand years later, the struggle for family property among children of wealthy families was common, and there were still differences between elders and juniors, legitimate and illegitimate.

This was what delayed Shulan.

Hualan's pressure these two years was also real. Not to mention far away, Fan Chunren's wife had another one. The noble ladies and common people in Hangzhou also had many discussions.

However, Hualan stood firm and finally reached today.

"Which master said that?"

"Master Zhishan of Daxiangguo Temple."

"The old monk cannot control his mouth; when I go to the capital next year, I will meet him." Wang Yan silently remembered this dharma name, and then began to help Hualan take off her inner clothes, "Whether I can give birth or not, I have to try to know."

"Please Da Guanren, cherish me~"

Hualan had a shy face, and her voice was charming...

Finally, the room was consummated, and Hualan's spirit was completely different; she pestered Wang Yan every day, hoping to give birth to a child soon. Wang Yan naturally would not drag it out again, nor did he forget Shulan, who was also very difficult, treating every woman fairly, opening the valve, and nurturing new life...

Just like this, two months apart, Hualan and Shulan confirmed their pregnancies one after another.

It was also in this process that he spent his third year in Hangzhou and completed all the work of this year. Although the ranking of the accounts was still fifth, the numbers had increased significantly compared to last year, and the lives of the people in Hangzhou were naturally much better.

It is no exaggeration to say that Wang Yan's influence in Hangzhou and surrounding areas was unprecedented, and it was truly worshipped by ten thousand families. Except for a few, the vast majority of common people hoped that Wang Yan could live a long life and could be an official in Hangzhou for a long time.

Obviously, it was because they lived really well; by comparison, Hangzhou now looked nothing like it did before.

Unsurprisingly, Hangzhou received commendations from Zhao Zhen, and a special imperial decree came to praise it, highly recognizing the work of the officials in Hangzhou.

After the New Year, the personnel changes that had been arguing endlessly were finally decided.

Wang Yan was promoted to be the Assistant of the Imperial Library, Prefect of the Left Military Patrol of Kaifeng Prefecture, serving in the Jixian Academy, and waiting for the Longtu Pavilion.

The officials of the Song Dynasty were notoriously complex; the Assistant of the Imperial Library was a proper official position, Grade Eight. The Military Patrol behind was his proper work, responsible for the security of the capital, with the power of detention, interrogation, and arrest, in charge of criminal prisons. The Jixian Academy and Longtu Pavilion behind were library and pavilion positions, with no actual power, but they were the standard configuration for high officials.

Wang Yan was originally qualified; as long as he did not make mistakes in Hangzhou, he could arrange library positions when he returned to the capital; the original Jinshi Feng Jing was such a configuration. But he did too well, and his merits were too great, so it was not good to let him sit on the cold bench; there was no one so suppressive. Coupled with the fact that Wang Yan was a well-known fierce person, he was allowed to manage the security of the capital.

It looked good, but Wang Yan understood Zhao Zhen's vicious intentions as soon as he thought about it. That was that he wanted Wang Yan to be a lonely official and continue to push his hand. Because what Wang Yan had already displayed was iron and blood, and it was not to be corrupted. The capital was a place of right and wrong, with too many messy things, but people's relationships were all very hard. Wang Yan would have a conflict with high-ranking officials and great families in the capital; this was certain.

There were many ways to suppress people; it seemed that this time Wang Yan's three-year term in Hangzhou was one of them. Because he was too young and too capable. He could not be unused, and he could not be used too much, because if there was merit, there must be a reward; Zhao Zhen had to consider Wang Yan's future status, and even more consider Wang Yan's age.

Being an Emperor for too long was not a good thing; if ministers lived long and had strong prestige, that would also make the Emperor unable to sleep.

Zhao Zhen already felt that he could not hold on for too long, so he wanted to suppress Wang Yan and isolate Wang Yan. He not only provoked the competition among his subordinates but also left a fierce person for his next class. If he wanted to use him, he could use him; if he did not want to use him, he could keep him to fight fires. This was the proper art of the Emperor.

Although the appointment was made, the time left for Wang Yan was very abundant; he could return to the capital to report on his duties before May.

This was because the candidate for the new Prefect had also been decided; Hangzhou today made people unable to understand; Wang Yan, the actual number one person, had to make a handover of work with the new Prefect, or rather, let Wang Yan cut off the power of Hangzhou.

The relevant official documents came with Wang Yan's promotion imperial decree; after reading the official documents, Wang Yan could not help but have a few expectations for the successor Prefect.

Because the name of the new Prefect was Wang Anshi.

This was really a name that was hard not to look forward to...