Chapter 1529: Zhang Juzheng

"Master, great good news."

In the Yuxi Palace, Lü Fang walked quickly to the Jiajing Emperor, who was meditating, directly disturbing his cultivation.

However, the Jiajing Emperor was not angry; his mood was too good, so many things were just small problems.

The Jiajing Emperor didn't even open his eyes and asked: "What good news makes you so rude?"

"Master, Your Majesty, forgive me." Lü Fang cupped his hands and then said, "Wang Yan collected silver all night over there, and by morning, he had collected two million taels. After counting it several times to confirm it was correct, he had Zhu Qi escort it into the palace.

Just yesterday, Zhu Qi asked him how much silver he could collect and how to handle it. Wang Yan said he could collect five million taels. Let's not talk about how to handle it first; when two million taels were collected, he had Zhu Qi escort it into the palace, saying it was to let Master, Your Majesty, repair the palace well, and also said he heard Master, Your Majesty, only has eight sets of clothes for the four seasons, and he wanted to get more clothes for Master, Your Majesty."

"Master, you say such a big good thing, can this servant not be excited? This is why I was rude before the imperial presence and disturbed Master's cultivation."

The Jiajing Emperor's eyes were already open, and the corners of his mouth couldn't be suppressed: "I wish you were rude more often. Wang Yan is good; even Yan Song is not as good as him."

This was the highest evaluation. After all, Yan Song was the Jiajing Emperor's white glove, and all the efforts of so many years were not as pleasing to the Jiajing Emperor as the things Wang Yan had done in just a few short days.

Because Wang Yan not only earned silver for the Jiajing Emperor but also greatly boosted his authority as an emperor, because a sharp knife that was easy to use had appeared under his command...

After laughing, the Jiajing Emperor asked, "He gave me two million; how much did he take for himself?"

"Zhu Qi said that Wang Yan took one hundred thousand taels of silver in front of him, saying that he wanted to be like in Chun'an, buying pigs, chickens, ducks, and geese to give to the commoners to raise, so that the commoners could all eat meat, and he could also earn silver. He also said that when things are numerous, they are not valuable; he just wants to raise many pigs, chickens, ducks, and geese, so that the commoners of the world can all eat meat, and then his merit will be immeasurable, saying he is even more sage than Confucius."

"He doesn't hide anything at all." The Jiajing Emperor was even more satisfied, "I take two million taels, and he takes one hundred thousand taels, which is exactly half a percent of the cement and white glaze given to him. Not bad."

"Wang Yan is a person who understands reason and has a sense of proportion." Lü Fang took the words, "When there is good news, he thinks of Master, Your Majesty, first. He is a good minister."

The Jiajing Emperor nodded with a smile and turned to say: "Since Wang Yan sent silver to me, letting me repair the palace, I cannot ruin his good intentions. Lü Fang, repair all the palaces in the palace, and the Longevity Palace must also be covered. In addition, I will go out of seclusion in a few days to see the empty space in the palace; I must spend the silver."

He seemed to remember something and reacted, "Lü Fang, for this construction work, pay the craftsmen and hire them. I am repairing the palace; it is also a good thing to let them earn some money, and I also want to see if what Wang Yan said is right or wrong. In the future, all construction work in the palace must be paid for; let's try it for three years first. You must keep the people below under control; I am giving silver to the commoners, not to them. If their hands stretch too long, they will be chopped off."

"Yes, Master, this servant will definitely discipline them well."

"Just do your best; are the people below so easy to control?"

The Jiajing Emperor waved his hand, stood up from the Daoist dais with Lü Fang's support, spread his arms to expand his chest and exercise his muscles and bones, and stood still in front of the glass window.

"I estimate that at this moment, the Grand Secretariat is thinking about how to dig silver out of Wang Yan..."

In the blink of an eye, another day and night passed. Twenty-four hours had passed since Wang Yan made a big fuss about raiding Wang Chonggu's house, and it was the eighth day of Wang Yan's tenure as Daxing Magistrate.

On this day, the Daxing County Yamen was extremely lively. On the original site of the main hall that had been burned into ruins, more than a dozen big pots were placed, and Wang Da and his son led more than twenty men and women to be busy.

In the courtyard, tables were full, and nearly five hundred people were sitting together buzzing.

Wang Yan stepped on a big box and shouted with his arms raised.

"Brothers, through everyone's unity and overcoming dangers, and also through the household department clerks whose hands and feet were chapped from the cold, the cleaning fees, fire hazard fines, and penalty interest for overdue payments were all collected in full without a single copper coin missing."

"Here, I want to commend the yamen runners, helpers, fire brigade, and officials at all levels. Such as yamen runner Wu Da... helper Liu Zhenghong... fire brigade Zhao Erniu... treasury minor official..."

"Without your support, no matter how capable I, the Magistrate, am, I couldn't have collected so much silver. You are all good."

"I know that many people have scraped the people's wealth, embezzled public funds, fawned over superiors and bullied inferiors, and oppressed the common people. All kinds of evil deeds are endless. However, the sage said that one should give people a chance to turn over a new leaf and let people correct their mistakes, and those who haven't made mistakes should do better. The yamen's documents, account books, and case files were all burned clean, and I can't find out who embezzled money or who did evil."

"So, past matters are written off. For future matters, you have all seen my methods clearly. Whoever dares to oppress the good, I will make their whole family suffer. Whoever dares to embezzle silver, let's see how long you can hide it, and see if the Factory and Guard can make you unable to seek life or death."

"Of course, I also know that the brothers' salaries are not high. Who doesn't have a whole family? A bunch of friends and relatives? Everyone thinks we live so well in the yamen, and on weekdays, they always want to take advantage of us."

"Living in this world, isn't it all about face? If you haven't eaten your fill, you have to smear some oil on your mouth when you go out. I have seen the brothers in our yamen these days, and I believe that honest people who do their duty are the majority. Only a few people are bold, follow superiors to embezzle, follow the Five Cities Military and Horse Division, and bully the common people with some local ruffians on the street."

"Regardless, I cannot let the majority of brothers who do their duty do the most tiring work, get the least money, and still be scolded the most severely, and even more so, have to take the blame for those who are not human."

"This kind of thing, if others don't know, I, Wang Yan, will absolutely not allow it to happen as long as I am in Daxing."

"I have said so much, firstly to boost everyone's spirits, and secondly to let everyone understand why I want to give everyone silver; your silver must be worthy of your conscience. Whoever has no conscience, I will make them have a hard time."

"Alright, let's talk about business. First, the powerful families involved in burning the yamen and assassinating this official will all be dealt with. After they are all dealt with, their land in Daxing will be used as the yamen's salary land to give everyone more salary."

"Second, a lot of silver was collected this time, and everyone contributed, so everyone should get a return. I have seen everyone's performance, and according to your performance, I have personally listed the silver you deserve."

"Now I will read the names; come forward to receive the silver and kowtow to the Emperor to thank him for his grace!"

"First, He Chuan, five taels of silver! Come forward!"

Just as the voice fell, the scene became clamorous, boiling like boiling water, and the clamor of the people was even sharper than the whistle of a kettle...

Immediately after, Wang Yan let people come up one by one to receive silver, and one by one kowtow in the direction of the Emperor, thanking the Emperor for his great grace.

Until the end, Wang Yan said loudly: "County Assistant Ma Defu, one thousand taels!"

Ma Defu, who was over forty, widened his eyes in disbelief and stared fixedly at Wang Yan. After all, Wang Yan had already distributed silver to the officials, and he, the County Assistant, definitely wouldn't be missing out, but he never expected that Wang Yan would actually give him one thousand taels!

"County Assistant Ma, what are you stunned for? Why don't you hurry and kowtow to the Emperor to thank him for his grace?"

"Magistrate, is this..."

"It's given to you, so you take it. Don't talk about whether it fits the rules or not; this money was raised by this official, so naturally, it is for this official to distribute. Whoever chirps, let them raise the silver themselves. This is honest silver; you take it with peace of mind, and I guarantee there will be no problems. Now that you are an official, who still wants to be like Hai Rui and be a poor official? Hurry up, kowtow to thank him for his grace."

Thus, Ma Defu kowtowed, took the silver note with trembling hands, ended this money-distributing conference, and turned to start eating and drinking with everyone.

People were arguing even more fiercely, extremely excited. Now if Wang Yan told them to take knives and go out to chop people, they wouldn't have a single stumble.

Because the person who received the least silver received five taels! There were many people who received dozens or hundreds of taels.

And most importantly, it wasn't that only officials received hundreds of taels; the yamen runners, helpers, fire brigade, and minor officials who performed well all received hundreds of taels. The officials weren't special, and some only received ten or twenty taels, not even as good as Wang Da, the cook; he and his son divided one hundred and fifty taels.

Especially since the silver was distributed in front of everyone, there was some gunpowder between those who received less and those who received more.

Wang Yan simply divided his subordinates into two factions and used silver to stimulate their subjective initiative.

He had reason to believe that in the future, when implementing his orders, those who received less silver would definitely be more active and proactive, in order to strive for the appreciation of him, the Magistrate.

As for them complaining about him, it didn't matter. Once such a competitive environment was established, even if they complained about him, they wouldn't dare to engage in small actions, and on the surface, they would have to be more active than anyone else in licking his boots; otherwise, they would be reported and excluded...

In short, this was a happy conference where everyone was very satisfied, and Wang Yan's authority in the Daxing area was implemented from top to bottom.

People all knew that this was just a beginning.

Especially those powerful families who suffered losses, they were even clearer. Because they also accumulated from ten mu of land to thousands or ten thousand mu, they were clear about that kind of uncontrollable greed.

Wang Yan scraped a huge sum of money from their hands, so naturally, he would want to push further and find ways to scrape more money from their hands...

"Brother Wang, eating again."

Amidst the noise, Zhu Qi brought Qi Dazhu over and sat at Wang Yan's table.

County Assistant Ma Defu, who was saying good things and toasting Wang Yan, hurriedly wanted to stand up and leave. Wang Yan waved his hand: "We are all our own people, no need to be so polite; you sit down steadily, Seventh Master doesn't eat people."

"That's right." Zhu Qi smiled, took the bowl and chopsticks, and let Qi Dazhu serve him wine, "We are all working for the Emperor, and County Assistant Ma is also a person loyal to the monarch and loving the country. What Brother Wang said about being our own people is not wrong."

Ma Defu toasted with a smiling face and didn't say anything. He understood that the matter of being their own people referred to collecting more than five million taels of silver and sending two million to the palace. It also included Wang Yan himself crazily taking one hundred thousand taels, and the people like Zhu Qi in front of him all sharing hundreds or thousands of taels to varying degrees.

After such simple mutual flattery, Zhu Qi said: "Now that the silver has been collected, this matter is over, and it is time to investigate those rebels."

"Did Eunuch Lü speak?"

Zhu Qi nodded: "Handle it according to what was said before; Daxing's industries will be handled by Daxing, and we will handle the others."

"Then I will trouble Seventh Master."

"What trouble or not? Just doing my duty." Zhu Qi raised his head and drank the wine in the cup, stood up, "I'm leaving, not disturbing your good mood."

Qi Dazhu hurriedly ate two mouthfuls of meat and mumbled: "Third Master, we are going to handle matters."

Wang Yan nodded with a smile; he liked Qi Dazhu's straightforwardness very much. He said not to be polite to Qi Dazhu, so Qi Dazhu was never polite. If he gave silver, he would take it; when eating together, except for the first cup of wine to toast, the rest was just eating and drinking by himself.

Zhu Qi always smiled and said Qi Dazhu was a smart man...

Zhu Qi escorted people to handle the case, and Wang Yan continued to eat and drink with the people in the yamen.

In fact, this matter was not over yet; later, the household department people had to check the accounts one by one and make them correspond with the paid cleaning fees. If the difference was too large, it would be another matter to talk about.

But most importantly, these people had to pinch their noses and pay this cleaning fee; other problems were just small problems.

Wang Yan said to Ma Defu with a smile: "Old Ma, I estimate that this time raiding those rebels, besides the shops, there can also be a few good houses in Daxing. When the time comes, I will live in one, and I will also divide one for you."

"Can't do it, can't do it." Ma Defu waved his hand in a panic.

"What are you afraid of? That big house can be considered a public house of the yamen; I will rent it to you for fifty years for ten taels of silver. Who can say anything? Who dares to take this house back? As for things after we die, we can't control that, can we?"

Wang Yan said, "Old Ma, as long as you do the things I explain well, nothing is a problem, and no one will trouble you. You don't have to be afraid of things after you are transferred away from Daxing; the Emperor also knows you."

After giving Ma Defu a reassurance, Wang Yan sat there eating and drinking, dealing with the officials, yamen runners, helpers, and fire brigade soldiers who dared to come over to toast, saying encouraging words.

He called everyone by name, making people very excited. He cared about these people's families and also made appointments to see doctors for the sick family members of some people. Because the fact that he was a divine doctor had also spread, and in the past two days, many people had popped out to ask him to see doctors, and their guts were quite big...

Just when it was lively here, a group of people walked in, among whom a person wearing a scarlet robe was particularly conspicuous. His goal was clear, and he went straight to Wang Yan, who was drinking with others.

The appearance of the scarlet robe naturally attracted everyone's attention. The clamor disappeared all at once, and the world became silent; this was the aura of a scarlet-robed peacock powerhouse.

Wang Yan put down his wine cup and stood up to salute: "Subordinate Wang Yan, I have seen the Department Head."

"I am the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, Zhang Juzheng."

Stopping his subordinates, Zhang Juzheng reported his name and waved his hand at the people in the yamen, "You continue, I will talk to your Magistrate."

Thus, everyone's eyes looked at Wang Yan.

"What are you looking at me for? Department Head Zhang said to continue, so continue! Keep eating meat, keep drinking wine, and don't return until you are drunk today."

Wang Yan waved his hand, and someone brought bowls, chopsticks, and wine cups.

"Department Head Zhang, please!"

Zhang Juzheng sat down, didn't move his chopsticks, and didn't touch the wine cup...

?? Daily thanks to the good brothers who tipped, voted for monthly tickets, recommendation tickets, and silently read the book for their strong support! ===== CHAPTER 1530 =====