Chapter 1519: Facing the Emperor

Where the Northern Internal Security Division was located.

Wang Yan jumped off the carriage and stretched a big stretch.

"Third Master, Seventh Master, is this the Imperial Prison?" Qi Dazhu also pulled his wife down from the carriage behind.

Wang Yan slapped the back of his head: "Didn't you see the sign saying Northern Internal Security Division? Do you think the brothers of the Northern Internal Security Division all live in the prison?"

Zhu Qi glanced at Wang Yan without speaking, then went up to greet the people who were welcoming him, and then had people arrange a place for the three of them to stay. He himself, without stopping, ran to the Ceremonial Secretariat to report the news.

In full view of everyone, almost choking Yan Shifan to death—could this be a small matter?

Especially now that Yan Maoqing had just returned from inspecting the salt, bringing back millions of taels of silver to resolve the Imperial Court's fiscal crisis. Wang Yan's lawless behavior really had a truly terrible impact...

However, Wang Yan was completely unaware. Under the gazes of the Embroidered Uniform Guards who looked at him like a madman, he walked with his hands behind his back, strolling along with them to the courtyard next to the Northern Internal Security Division.

"Registrar Wang, the person living next to you is the former Hangzhou Prefect, Gao Hanwen."

"Is that so? We were both officials in Zhejiang, and now we are both criminal officials. Reason and logic dictate we should meet. I wonder if you could make it convenient?"

"Better forget it, Registrar Wang. You are a deity; don't make things difficult for us brothers."

Wang Yan shook his head regretfully: "No wonder you can't get promoted. I am a deity, but what is His Majesty? One must be careful at all times and cannot be lax."

"Yes, yes, yes. Registrar Wang, please go in. After the long journey, I will have people boil water and prepare wine and food." This guy had a head full of lawsuits. You were about to choke Yan Shifan to death, and you're telling me to be careful and not be lax?

Wang Yan probably understood how this person was thinking. In his heart, he was already halfway down the road to the underworld, about to drink a big bowl of Meng Po soup...

He simply tidied up his few belongings; there were only a few books and a few pieces of clothing, and nothing else.

Under the service of Qi Dazhu and his wife, he again used a small red clay stove to drink hot jar-jar tea. When the Embroidered Uniform Guard's strong men boiled the water, Wang Yan took a hot bath by himself.

When he finished his bath and came out, he saw Zhu Qi accompanying a white, chubby man drinking sweet jar-jar tea in his previous seat.

"Wang Yan, this is Chief Huang of the Ceremonial Secretariat, and also the Director of the Eastern Depot." Zhu Qi introduced him.

"Subordinate Wang Yan greets Chief Huang."

Huang Jin waved his hand with a smile: "Your courage is truly great. Even I have to be polite when I see Yan Shifan, so I cannot afford your bow."

"Are you scolding me? You are polite to Yan Shifan because you don't want to ruin His Majesty's affairs. I don't fear those things. I suppose you know what I said earlier; they all want to put me to death, so what else is there to worry about?

Let alone Yan Shifan, even if Yan Song were there today, I would have to beat that old dog. But Yan Shifan is an idiot, so he came to my face. Yan Song has old arms and legs; even if he wanted to come, he couldn't. But I couldn't really kill him, which is a pity..."

Huang Jin was so angry he laughed: "You kid, your guts are truly big. I can't talk to you. When I came, the Old Ancestor didn't have any other instructions; I'm just here to let you bathe and groom, and then teach you the rules."

"Chief Huang, can we teach the rules while eating?" Wang Yan said with a grin, as if he were truly a shameless silly boy.

"What good things are you thinking of? Do you want His Majesty to wait for you? Let's go!"

Huang Jin finished the tea and left, flicking his sleeves in annoyance.

Wang Yan trotted a few steps symbolically, followed Huang Jin onto the carriage, drove all the way into the Forbidden City, and then took a turn, heading toward the West Garden.

Arriving here, Huang Jin led Wang Yan off the carriage, walked through the palace gate, and stepped into the snow.

Along the way, Huang Jin did indeed teach some rules. It was nothing more than kowtowing when arriving at the place, not looking at His Majesty, doing whatever one is told to do, and answering whatever one is asked.

Not letting the little eunuchs hold an umbrella, Huang Jin followed Wang Yan and was blown by the wind and snow.

"I remember you said His Majesty has had a hard time, and how much silver could it cost to build a palace..." Huang Jin asked with a smile, "Now looking at this West Garden, how is it?"

"Magnificent and imposing, just right for the imperial atmosphere." Wang Yan pointed to a ruin, "Why is it so empty over there?"

"That is the Longevity Palace, destroyed by a big fire the year before last. It was only cleared out before winter. You tell me, should it be rebuilt or not?"

"It must be rebuilt!"

Wang Yan pointed to the mirrors in the nearby palace, "No need for anything else; I imagine the silver earned from this white glass for the whole of next year will be enough to build the Longevity Palace. Such a large place, building such a large palace, will take quite some time. Now is the time to prepare materials; when spring comes, we can build, and the silver will keep up, without delaying His Majesty from moving into the Longevity Palace early."

"It's not as simple as you say. Are materials so easy to prepare? Just the timber for the beams requires hundred-year-old wood, transported from thousands of miles away from Shu, Yunnan, Guizhou, and Huguang."

"Then it's even more necessary to prepare. Such hard-to-find timber naturally needs to be prepared early, so as not to delay the construction period in spring." Wang Yan said, "Chief Huang, what is difficult about His Majesty wanting to build a palace? It doesn't use the national treasury's silver. What needs to be solved are two points: one is materials, and the other is craftsmen and manpower.

What needs to be paid attention to is that these people handling affairs below shouldn't be too greedy. Clearly, one tael of silver could get it done, but they insist on embezzling nine taels themselves; that is excessive and should be killed! There are even those who dare to use inferior goods to fool His Majesty, which is even more deserving of death!"

"You are loyal. Why don't you just supervise the construction of this palace?"

"Wouldn't that be snatching food from the palace? I wouldn't dare do such a thing."

"You even dared to beat Yan Shifan; is there anything you wouldn't dare to do?" Huang Jin was speechless.

But it was indeed correct. After all, Yan Song and his son were the biggest power base in the current Great Ming. Wang Yan directly beat Yan Shifan, the second-in-command, so what talk of daring or not daring? The whole person was a gutsy spirit.

Between the two of them chatting and laughing, they walked to the area of the Jade Purity Palace.

Stepping over the threshold, Wang Yan looked at the tall and exquisite architecture, looked at the bright glass windows on the walls, and looked at the lights inside.

At this moment, the sun had already set, and there was still some remaining light. The light of the lamps naturally spilled out from the hall, making the Jade Purity Palace in front of him look even more exquisite.

"Let's go, we're here." Seeing Wang Yan stop, Huang Jin urged him.

Wang Yan nodded with a smile, in his green robe and official boots, walked up the steps, and finally walked to the gate of the Jade Purity Palace, stomped his feet, rubbed the snow off the soles of his shoes, and then stepped inside.

The freezing cold outside and the warmth inside the Jade Purity Palace seemed like two different worlds.

Standing at the entrance, the heat wave from inside rushed toward his face. As soon as he entered, it became even more scorching, as if the inside and outside were two different worlds.

Stepping inside, Wang Yan didn't move, waiting at the entrance. Huang Jin walked quickly, passed through the corridor, and went to the very back to report.

Before long, Huang Jin came out, beckoned to Wang Yan, and when he got closer, said: "Kowtow and salute at the entrance, don't move around, don't look around!"

Wang Yan nodded, walked to the entrance with big strides, turned his head to glance at the situation inside, and then began the five bows and three kowtows.

"Subordinate Wang Yan kowtows to His Majesty!"

Wang Yan did not look up, but saw Jiajing staring at himself from the corner of his eye, and also heard the sound of an abacus inside. This was calculating the salt inspection accounts brought back by Yan Maoqing.

"Come in!" Jiajing's voice was not loud, but his tone was natural and imperious.

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

Wang Yan responded, stood up, walked in, and knelt in front of Jiajing. At the same time, Wang Yan clearly felt some hostility around him, with gazes like knives nailed to his body. These were Jiajing's guards. They stood solemnly not far away, all tall and looking very powerful.

Jiajing either loved being struck by lightning or being burned by fire, so he naturally attached great importance to his own safety. Operating for forty years, there were really many people loyal to Jiajing. Otherwise, he wouldn't have lived for forty years.

After all, the emperors of the Great Ming dynasty were all short-lived; the more diligent they were, the shorter they lived. On the contrary, it was precisely because they were not diligent that they lived long. Jiajing and Wanli, this grandfather and grandson, lived for one-third of the entire Great Ming dynasty; this is authority.

Jiajing sat on the steps of his Daoist platform, leaning on his knees with both hands, looking quite weak.

"Look up, let me see if the person who almost choked Yan Shifan to death in full view of everyone has three heads."

Wang Yan looked up and smiled: "Your Majesty, your subordinate is wronged. That bastard Yan Shifan knew clearly that it was Your Majesty supporting your subordinate, yet he insisted on coming up to mock your subordinate. He is a dignified Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works, yet he flaunted his power before a ninth-rank Registrar like me; where is the appearance of a high official of the Imperial Court?

Anyway, he wanted to kill your subordinate, so I wasn't afraid of offending anyone; I just beat him. If it weren't for fear of affecting Your Majesty's grand plan, your subordinate should have killed him."

Jiajing was so angry he laughed: "Tell me, what grand plan does Zhen have?"

"The Yan faction can earn silver, right? Your subordinate heard Seventh Master mutter a bit, saying that the smoke is rising... ah, phew, saying that Yan Maoqing, that bastard, inspected the salt and brought back more silver than in previous years. It should be enough for the Imperial Court to make up for the deficit and handle the expenses."

"Audacious Wang Yan, talking nonsense. His Majesty cares for the nine continents and ten thousand directions; how did it become that he only values silver in your mouth?" Lu Fang scolded from the side.

"Enough." Jiajing waved his hand, "What are we doing here? Isn't it calculating silver?"

"There is no wisdom greater than Your Majesty's. The nine continents and ten thousand directions all need silver to operate. Officials need salaries, soldiers need military pay, commoners need food, clothing, housing, and transportation, and roads need to be repaired between various places. All these things require real silver."

Jiajing pointed to the paper scattered on the ground: "Take a look."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Wang Yan responded, knelt on the ground, picked up the paper, and looked through it.

This was the total amount collected from Yan Maoqing's salt inspection, as well as the detailed accounts from various places.

"Do you think this number is correct?"

"No." Wang Yan shook his head without hesitation, "Your Majesty, what is 3.3 million taels? During the time of Taizu and Chengzu, the annual salt tax in Jiang Nan was in the tens of millions. How could it be a mere 3.3 million? After being divided up and down, I estimate that the salt tax Yan Maoqing received this time is over 5 million."

"Hmm? How did you come up with this number?" Jiajing was surprised.

"Your subordinate conservatively estimates that the various parties embezzled 50%; in reality, they might have embezzled even more. It's just that this year, because of the 'converting rice to mulberry' policy, the Yan faction suffered a setback, and Yan Song proposed sending Yan Maoqing to inspect the salt. They needed to have an explanation to fill the hole left by 'converting rice to mulberry'..."

Jiajing gave a light snort: "Still dare to talk about 'converting rice to mulberry'? Half of it was ruined by your hands."

"Your Majesty, your subordinate is wronged. This matter was ruined by the Yan faction. They just wanted to seize the fields in Chun'an and Jiande. They earn 40 shi of grain per mu, and 1 shi of grain is 5 mace of silver, which is 20 taels of silver. 500,000 mu is 10 million taels of silver. This doesn't even count the income after converting to mulberry fields."

Wang Yan said, "They were too greedy. If the land was in the hands of the commoners, why wouldn't it work? Combining the capabilities of the nine counties, even if they couldn't produce 500,000 bolts of silk, 400,000 bolts would be possible.

15 taels of silver per bolt, removing 3 taels of cost, and giving the silk merchants 2 taels of hard-work money so they don't work in vain, the Imperial Court could also earn 4 million taels of silver. After some embezzlement up and down, the Imperial Court could also get 2 million taels of silver. How is it like now? It was made a mess by the Yan faction, and up to now, they have only earned 1 million taels of silver, and it has caused panic and chaos in Zhejiang."

Jiajing was noncommittal and turned to say: "You governed Chun'an quite well."

This was an affirmation of Wang Yan's merit.

Wang Yan said: "It all depends on Your Majesty's support. Without Your Majesty's decree of three years of tax exemption, it would not have been easy to catch our breath. After three years pass, if Chun'an does not increase taxes and maintains the status quo, it will be another important fiscal area."

"Are you giving advice to Zhen?"

"Your subordinate is scolding those treacherous thieves who failed Your Majesty's grace." Wang Yan shook his head repeatedly, "Your Majesty, these people are too bad. Not to mention the distant ones, just look at the officials in this Imperial Court; which one doesn't have thousands or tens of thousands of mu of land in their hometown? The hidden households in their homes are also thousands or tens of thousands. Their land and people don't pay taxes, and the businesses they open don't pay taxes.

Greedy without limit, the land and households that can pay taxes are becoming fewer and fewer. They don't say they should pay taxes themselves, but insist on constantly increasing taxes, forcing those commoners to have no way to survive, and they can only offer their land to the wealthy families, which is even more terrible. Year after year, officials force the people to rebel. This group of bastards runs faster than anyone else, and they still say it's because Your Majesty is licentious and wasteful, and some even write wild histories themselves, cursing Your Majesty as muddled."

"What good solution do you have?"

"Kill!"

"You are just a ninth-rank Registrar, yet you dare to recklessly discuss the great affairs of the world? Kill?" Jiajing shook his head with a smile, "If it were really that simple, it would be fine."

For Jiajing, killing is the simplest thing, but it is also the most difficult thing, and it really isn't that easy to kill.

"Your Majesty, as long as there is silver, and the people handling affairs below are well-fed and well-clothed, isn't it just a matter of telling them who to kill? Just like your subordinate, Your Majesty gave me half a percent of the shares, and fearing that your subordinate wouldn't eat or drink well, specially ordered people to send 1,000 taels of silver for meal money. Searching through history books, there has never been a sage and wise monarch like Your Majesty who treats his subjects this way."

Wang Yan kowtowed heavily, "Your Majesty, your subordinate will surely exhaust his energy for Your Majesty, go through fire and water, and die only after his heart is crushed."

Jiajing laughed out loud...

?? Daily thanks to the great brothers who tip, vote for monthly tickets, recommendation tickets, and silently read the book for their strong support! ===== CHAPTER 1520 =====

?? Daily thanks to the good brothers who tip, vote for monthly tickets, recommendation tickets, and silently read the book for their strong support!