Chapter 1530: Expansion

Historically, Zhang Juzheng was still in the Prince Yu's mansion at this time, but in this drama, he had already entered the Grand Secretariat and had been removed; Yan Song left, and Li Chunfang entered the Grand Secretariat. Zhang Juzheng, who was originally a director in the Ministry of War, had his work adjusted to become the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, in charge of the Ministry of Revenue's affairs.

He didn't move his chopsticks or drink, but Wang Yan didn't care; he ate and drank by himself, not feeling like an outsider at all.

In fact, Wang Yan didn't need to be an outsider to anyone now; his positioning was already very clear: a proper imperial party member, an absolute little genius at making money. Even the Yan party wasn't as awesome as the things he had done in these eight days.

No matter how things changed, he had his place in the imperial court. Not to mention that he was favored now; the Jiajing Emperor clearly supported him, let him handle matters, and he had enemies everywhere, so he didn't care about anyone's perception.

So seeing that Zhang Juzheng had no interest in eating and drinking, Wang Yan took the initiative to ask: "I don't know why the Department Head came here?"

"The yamen earned silver, and as the director of the Ministry of Revenue, I naturally have to come and ask about it."

Zhang Juzheng said, "Wang Yan, I know you are a person for the country and the people. Looking at your actions, you have never mistreated the common people and have not offended the common people in the slightest; instead, you have racked your brains and tried every possible way to let the common people live a good life. In Chun'an, you even openly defied the orders of your superiors just to preserve the vitality of the Chun'an commoners. You also built red brick and tile houses for the Chun'an commoners, saw doctors for the commoners, and taught the commoners to better raise silkworms and reel silk..."

"And now the world is as precarious as an egg, with Tatars in the north, Japanese pirates in the south, and natural disasters in various places, leading to civil unrest. This Great Ming empire is like a leaking ship; water has flooded into the ship's cabin, some people are scooping water out, some are repairing, and some are expanding the loopholes..."

"In such a situation, it is truly critical; anyone with eyes can see that there is not much time left for us. Wang Yan, you are a smart man, and you understand reason..."

Wang Yan waved his hand, interrupting his words: "Department Head, if you want silver, just ask for silver; don't talk about these big things. That is not something a small sixth-rank Magistrate like this subordinate can consider. Hai Rui is a person who thinks too much; this subordinate once advised him not to seek political affairs if he is not in that position."

"This silver was earned by this humble official with my own life. Since the Minister has so many grand principles, is so worried about the country and the people, and possesses such foresight to see through the ills of the dynasty, why haven't I seen the Minister earn this share of silver himself?"

These words were too direct and explicit; even Zhang Juzheng couldn't take it. He was an official, that's true, and a thick skin was a basic quality. But Wang Yan's words almost denied him as a person, which was very heart-stabbing.

Seeing his bad complexion, Wang Yan drank a mouthful of yellow wine with a smile.

"Department Head, you have been floating in the officialdom; why are you in such a hurry after saying two sentences? When this subordinate was in Chun'an, I truly saw the faces of these officials. From top to bottom, everyone tried every possible way to embezzle silver, tried every possible way to oppress and exploit the common people together with the local powerful families."

"Department Head, can you tell this subordinate how much of the silver taken from this subordinate today can fall to the common people below? Department Head, are you scooping water out, or repairing the hole, or expanding the loophole?"

Wang Yan said with a smile, "You said I am for the country and the people; you are wrong. I just don't like bullying the common people, but prefer bullying those who bully the common people. Everyone is embezzling silver; how much money can the common people have? Naturally, it's whoever has money, I will embezzle from them."

"Good ambition." Zhang Juzheng praised; he had to admire it; Wang Yan truly did it.

Wang Yan waved his hand again: "This subordinate is not a person who doesn't understand reason. If one point of silver can fall into the hands of the common people, that is good. Department Head, you came personally; it's not good to let you run for nothing. Give the Ministry of Revenue one million taels of silver."

"Really?" Zhang Juzheng couldn't even sit still, his eyes widened.

Wang Yan had retorted to him so much that he thought there was no hope, but he didn't expect that after talking for a while, Wang Yan's tone changed and he actually wanted to give silver?

"Could this be fake?" Wang Yan laughed, "This is outside wealth; one hundred thousand more is one hundred thousand. I imagine it can fill some deficits. As for more silver, Department Head, don't think about it, and the Grand Secretariat shouldn't think about it either. As long as I am in this position, it is impossible for you to take the silver away."

"I imagine the adults also know that this time five million taels were collected. Two million were offered to the Emperor, one million was given to the Ministry of Revenue, and the remaining two million-plus, this subordinate wants to use for construction, to let the Daxing commoners live a better life."

"In addition, there is one more point: Daxing's construction still needs funding from the imperial court. It cannot be that because we have this sum of silver, there will be no funding. This is not right. Whoever has the idea not to give funding, this subordinate will go to their house entrance and request the superior to also collect silver from the powerful and wealthy families. This principle is very simple; please ask the Department Head to convey it to the gentlemen."

"Reasonable and fair." Zhang Juzheng nodded, and then came a "however," "It's just that our Great Ming is indeed facing internal and external troubles. Many of Daxing's construction projects are optional; if it were in previous years, they would definitely not be repaired. However, now that Daxing has obtained this sum of outside wealth, and there is income every month, the imperial court can provide funding, but the amount of this funding is indeed open to discussion. In addition, for the monthly income in the future, is it..."

Wang Yan grabbed a chicken claw and spat out the bone: "Department Head, you should go collect cleaning fees in Wanping; after you collect them, we will talk about sharing."

Zhang Juzheng understood Wang Yan's meaning. As far as the current situation is concerned, cleaning fees can only be collected while Wang Yan is in office. As long as Wang Yan is far from the capital, the new Magistrate won't be able to collect cleaning fees.

There are policies above and countermeasures below. At present, cleaning fees are only implemented in Chun'an and Daxing, and have not become a national policy. And there are many loopholes here. What if you lose money and don't pay? What if you bribe the tax collector and pay less? What if the county yamen catches fire again? What then?

Only Wang Yan doesn't worry about these problems, because whoever has a problem, he can truly deal with them. Losing money is not a reason not to pay cleaning fees; doing business in the capital, there is no such thing as losing money. Don't want to pay cleaning fees, right? Then don't do it!

It's just that simple and rude.

Seeing Zhang Juzheng being retorted to the point of having nothing to say, Wang Yan continued: "How about this, in the future, the Ministry of Works will send craftsmen to Daxing for free, and provide 20% of the construction cost."

Zhang Juzheng opened his mouth and wanted to deny it; he came to ask for money, not to spend money.

However, Wang Yan interrupted his words again: "15%, don't bargain, Department Head. Daxing's commoners are also commoners, and the funding that should be there should still be there. We have outside wealth and want to engage in big construction; the imperial court only providing 15% is already not bad."

"And Department Head, do you know that in the future, I want to spend silver to hire commoners to work, not to conscript corvée labor. The commoners have money in their hands, and the merchants earn more... In short, the taxes paid by Daxing in the future will only be more. For this year, I think it can increase by at least 50%."

"This way of money and goods circulation is well said."

Zhang Juzheng was thoughtful, and then asked curiously, "What do you intend to do next?"

"Department Head, do you know that a big fire burned down all the account books, documents, and case files in Daxing, as well as the documents for land and household registration? Since the documents are all burned, naturally, we must re-register!"

Zhang Juzheng's eyes widened suddenly; he understood that Wang Yan wanted to measure the fields and households, and he was doing it in the capital where powerful families were everywhere. The land around the capital, I really don't know how much it has been annexed, and I don't know which powerful family it involves; it could be imperial relatives, it could be meritorious nobles, it could be ministers, or even eunuchs in the palace...

Regarding Wang Yan's madness, Zhang Juzheng also had to say "awesome"...

"This is truly doing practical things."

In Prince Yu's mansion, hearing that Wang Yan had happily given one million taels of silver and was going to measure fields and households, Prince Yu clapped his hands in excitement and praised.

Xu Jie slowly took the words: "Indeed doing practical things, but the words are too unsparing."

Gao Gong snorted: "Is what he said wrong? Among so many Daxing Magistrates, who collected more than five million taels of silver? People earned silver with their lives, and we said some righteous words to let people hand over the silver; it's too shameless. But he sees everything clearly and still gave the imperial court one million taels of silver; this is caring for the world. Unsparing? Grand Secretary Xu, what face does he have to spare? What face is there to spare? He sent two million to the Emperor; plus the cement and white glaze that he came up with for imperial monopoly, he earned three million taels of silver for the Emperor this year."

"In the future, there will be hundreds of thousands of taels of cleaning fees every month. He will give the Emperor 40%, which is at least another one million taels. Added together, it is four million taels of cash. Last year, our Great Ming's annual revenue was 16 million taels of silver; he alone got four million in cash for the Emperor. What face does he have to spare for us?"

"Grand Secretary Gao doesn't need to belittle himself; everyone is doing their best for our Great Ming. Wang Yan is a newborn calf not afraid of tigers, acting with a sense of righteousness; it is definitely not the right path." Zhang Juzheng excused Xu Jie.

Xu Jie said: "It's not all doing their best for Great Ming. I just found out that he sent two million taels to the Emperor and took one hundred thousand for himself. And he took it openly in front of Zhu Qi. He said he wanted to scrape money from the rich, and he didn't say false words."

"That one hundred thousand taels is also a bit too much." Prince Yu snorted, not very happy.

Xu Jie, Gao Gong, and Zhang Juzheng on the side looked at Prince Yu together...

Those without ability embezzle tens of thousands of taels; Wang Yan, who has ability, gets back five million taels of silver and openly takes one hundred thousand taels. Is this called too much? Are you speaking human words?

Xu Jie, a super big landlord in Shanghai, Zhang Juzheng, a big landlord with tens of thousands of mu of family property, and Gao Gong, a big landlord from Henan from an official family, none of them had a family fortune of less than one hundred thousand taels, and it was even many times more.

They looked at Prince Yu, hey, why does he suddenly look like "he doesn't look like an emperor"?

"Wang Yan has a count."

Regarding Wang Yan's practice of giving one million taels of silver to the Ministry of Revenue, the Jiajing Emperor expressed affirmation, "Although rice is eaten from different pots, it is always necessary to share some."

"Wang Yan has always been the one who makes Master worry the least." Lü Fang followed the words.

"Are you embarrassed to say that? If he truly made me worry less, would I be here in seclusion?" The Jiajing Emperor laughed, "The result is good after all. With this sum of silver, the palace will have a good year, and I don't have to look at Xu Jie and the others' faces. It's just a pity that there is only such a big sum of money, and in the future, there will only be one hundred thousand taels of silver every month..."

"Master, rest assured, Wang Yan said that the taxes paid by Daxing this year will increase by at least 50%. And this servant heard that Wang Yan is going to do big things next."

Lü Fang naturally couldn't wait for the Jiajing Emperor to ask, so he continued, "The Daxing County Yamen caught fire, and the documents were all burned. Wang Yan wants to re-measure the fields and households and register them. If this matter is done, even if ten thousand mu of land are produced, that is more than two million taels of silver. And the taxes paid by the extra households are another big sum of money..."

The Jiajing Emperor was stunned for a moment, and then he looked a bit unhappy: "He said he would make me worry less, but I see he is not letting me go out of seclusion..."

"Master, rest assured, he has already succeeded in the cleaning fees. I think there will be no problem with measuring fields and checking households; it will be done in two or three months."

Lü Fang said with a smile, "If you really want to talk about it, they were the ones who took the initiative to hand the knife to Wang Yan. If the county yamen hadn't caught fire, it wouldn't have been easy for him to clear the fields and check the households."

"There is no peaceful time." The Jiajing Emperor shook his head, "I hope he can succeed this time too."

"They have already clashed once. As long as Wang Yan can live, this matter can be done. Now the people in the Daxing County Yamen are truly convinced by Wang Yan."

"He takes the lead in doing everything, and after doing it, he distributes silver; who wouldn't be convinced by him?"

Lü Fang said: "He distributes silver to his subordinates in the name of Master, Your Majesty, and those who receive the silver all kowtow to thank Master, Your Majesty, for his grace."

The Jiajing Emperor gave a hum; he was very satisfied with Wang Yan's consistent attitude. Doing things is indeed fierce, but he can get it done without making people feel embarrassed, and he keeps grabbing silver for him; this is a close and good minister.

I thought that after Yan Song left, Xu Jie would be useless, and I would have to live a bitter life for two years. I didn't expect the days to be even better...

After distributing the money and celebrating the merit, it was time to do things.

The entire household department was dispatched to check the accounts of each shop. At the same time, Wang Yan also announced a reduction in cleaning fees for grain shops and other necessities of life, allowing grain sales to have a certain profit.

Wang Yan naturally wanted to ensure the stability of the people's livelihood, but at the beginning, what he wanted was submission. Only after everyone had softened their stance could they study the details of how to charge fees for each industry.

On the other hand, the actions of Zhu Qi and others were also very rapid, raiding more than a dozen families. There were imperial relatives, meritorious nobles, and ministers. This was clearly instructed by the Jiajing Emperor; delaying the Jiajing Emperor's consumption was not allowed even for the King of Heaven.

Wang Yan also divided a big house and had a place to live.

These were all secondary matters.

The main thing was land. Just checking these dozen families resulted in more than 14,000 mu of land. Of course, it was only the farmland in Daxing. In fact, in other prosperous places, mainly based on their hometowns, there was also a lot of land.

All this land was designated by Wang Yan as the salary land of the Daxing County Yamen, rented to the commoners for cultivation, and a 10% rent was collected. When there was a disaster, there was no need to pay rent; this was written in black and white in the contract.

The people in the Daxing County Yamen who had just received silver were even happier.

This year there was a lot of heavy snow, and the harvest couldn't be more abundant, so it would definitely be a good harvest. When the time comes, the yamen people will divide it, and everyone will be able to divide a lot.

Even if everyone can only divide a little, it is extra silver, which was not there originally and is common in the future. Who wouldn't be satisfied with something that comes for free?

Of course, human greed determines that satisfaction is temporary. After getting used to it, it becomes a matter of course, and they want more silver. And they will never think that there was no such silver at all before...

The output of tens of thousands of mu of land is their beautiful fantasy for the few hundred people in the yamen.

How could Wang Yan allow such a thing to happen?

After failing to memorialize the Grand Secretariat to annex the Military and Horse Division Yamen in the Dongcheng, Wang Yan expanded the fire brigade to five hundred people, set up strongholds in various places in the Dongcheng, patrolled to check fire hazards on weekdays, and also helped catch criminals and maintain public order.

In addition, he absorbed helpers and expanded the yamen runner team to two hundred people and the helpers to five hundred. Their functions were the same as those of the Five Cities Military and Horse Division.

And under Wang Yan's leadership, a team integrating functions such as legal police, public security police, urban management, and market supervision was formed.

Personnel, in addition to the original ones, were partly good families in the city and partly good families outside the city.

No one knew what Wang Yan wanted to do, but everyone felt it was not very good.

Thus, censors, officials, nobles, and clansmen whose family industries had been fined or charged cleaning fees, as well as the Five Cities Military and Horse Division whose functions had been taken away, and the Ministry of War, the superior department of the Military and Horse Division, all began to attack Wang Yan.

At this time, the great Jiajing Emperor was still in seclusion...

?? Daily thanks to the good brothers who tipped, voted for monthly tickets, recommendation tickets, and silently read the book for their strong support! ===== CHAPTER 1531 =====

At this time, the great Jiajing Emperor was still in seclusion...

?? Daily thanks to the great brothers who give rewards, cast monthly votes, recommendation votes, and silently read the book for their strong support!