Chapter 1534

Wang Yan walked along the fields with his hands behind his back, strolling leisurely.

Not far away, many people were using tape measures to measure the land, confirming it acre by acre. In the village behind them, everyone was gathered together, registering one by one.

It wasn't just registration; they were also explaining the rules to the commoners at the same time.

They told them that the land now verified was their land, and private trading was not allowed. Furthermore, they would have to pay taxes on this land. If anyone was "carrying" land for the gentry, they would be the ones left destitute and homeless if they couldn't pay the taxes.

But now that it was verified, even if they were "carrying" land for the gentry, that land was under the commoners' names. The county recognized nothing else but the actual documents; whoever's name was on the land was the owner.

Because of this, after this matter was announced, dozens of gentry households died, and their entire families were wiped out—it was quite miserable.

Later, as the news spread, and since those who valued money over their lives were ultimately few, the situation stabilized. The various gentry and wealthy families swallowed their pride and accepted the matter.

Of course, they had no choice but to accept it.

On one hand, they didn't dare let the land under their names exceed the permitted limits, because Wang Yan would definitely destroy them if he caught the chance. Not to mention anything else, the fines alone could bankrupt them.

On the other hand, they had all divided their land among their tenant farmers and servants, and even the commoners who were "hiding" land for them were given more land to "carry." As a result, the other commoners who had gained land for nothing now had an interest alliance.

Before, they were bullied at will, and the commoners couldn't unite or resist them. But now that the commoners all had land, and the county recognized their land and forbade trading, anyone who tried to seize their land was threatening their lives. With the lips gone, the teeth are cold; the other commoners certainly wouldn't just watch. They wouldn't want to see others being dealt with and not themselves.

With the commoners united, the gentry and wealthy families were helpless. Even at their most arrogant, they could only bully a few dozen people, but if everyone in a village fought them to the death, they couldn't withstand the consequences of such a massive incident erupting. The imperial court wouldn't even need to decide; Wang Yan would have to raid them first.

After all, Wang Yan was the Magistrate; if a civil uprising occurred under his jurisdiction, that would be a disaster. Everyone would suffer!

Wang Yan's madness was already common knowledge; he was absolutely a famous ruthless man in the Great Ming. But being ruthless was useless; after all, cutting off someone's path to wealth is like killing their parents...

"Look carefully, everyone. The boundaries cannot be off by even a fraction. The boundary markers must be set properly, and trees planted there. From now on, between two neighboring families, neither is to occupy more than their share. Otherwise, if it escalates to the county, whoever is in the wrong will be punished with the rod. Don't think about the good fortune of bullying others. As long as I, the Master, am here for a day, everyone must follow the rules."

Hearing Wang Yan's instructions, the surrounding minor officials and commoners all responded in agreement.

They were all very happy. The commoners had gained land in reality, and most of the minor officials were temporary workers—poor scholars from the capital. They were provided with food and housing and paid in silver for working here, so how could they not be happy?

Just like that, Wang Yan continued his inspection, bringing a few attendant Yamen runners, and walked up to a Daoist temple.

"This poor Daoist, Qingyangzi, greets the layperson."

Looking at the white-bearded old man in front of him, who looked like an immortal and was calm and composed, Wang Yan waved his hand lazily: "What are you dazed for? Take him down for me!"

"Magistrate Wang! This poor Daoist was personally appointed by the Emperor of Longevity..."

Wang Yan kicked him to the side: "Slap his mouth!"

His subordinates stepped forward and began slapping him left and right.

"Stop tarnishing His Majesty's holy name. His Majesty let you cultivate the Dao honestly, not to seize the commoners' land and evade taxes to the dynasty. Qingyangzi, if I find even one extra acre of land, I'll take your life!"

"It was all voluntary by the commoners; what does it have to do with me!" Qingyangzi still tried to quibble.

Wang Yan glanced at him: "The commoners donated it, but did you give the rent to the imperial court? What does it have to do with you? And how come I heard you, you dog, are keeping several women? Widows, decent women, prostitutes? Is this how you cultivate the Dao? Deceiving His Majesty and disrupting the holy heart—you deserve to die. Keep hitting him! If you don't understand the rules and I didn't tell you to speak, keep your mouth shut!

You all as well—we've already investigated the Imperial Estates; what's there that can't be investigated in this Daoist temple? And that temple over there, didn't they say they had over ten thousand acres of land? Can they really have that much? Go notify them that we're investigating there too. Whoever blocks us, arrest them. After verifying, arrest everyone, draft the sentencing documents, and send them all to build roads with those hooligans and scoundrels.

It's outrageous; a bunch of people who cultivate the Dao have instead cultivated themselves into people above others. From now on, let them be people below others. If they don't work hard, beat them to death."

Watching the beaten Qingyangzi, Wang Yan walked into the Daoist temple to check the situation inside.

The Yamen runners, assistants, and guards who had arrived earlier were inside, rummaging through the place to raid the house, while on the other side, clerks were counting and tallying...

As the location of the capital, there were quite a few Daoist and Buddhist temples here, with Buddhism and Daoism competing. As the capital county, Daxing naturally had no shortage of them, attracting all kinds of high-ranking officials and nobles, as well as commoners struggling to survive below. There were many messy things going on inside.

Even when they were sweeping away evil in the capital earlier, quite a few things were linked to these monks and Daoists. It was just that energy was limited, and people couldn't run away, so Wang Yan hadn't taken any action.

Now that they were clearing fields and checking households, the result was the same; none of these people would get off easily. Those without monk or Daoist registration would all be arrested. Those with registration would also be taken down for reasons like exceeding land limits, tax evasion, and committing crimes. Everything, including the temple gates, would be confiscated. All land would be counted as public land and rented to commoners for cultivation at a rent of one-tenth.

This kind of criminal property, unlike the land the gentry and wealthy families returned to the commoners, could not be returned to the commoners even if it was donated by them. Whoever dared to oppose it would be dealt with.

Of course, the commoners were actually quite willing, because Wang Yan was stamping the county Yamen's seal and signing contracts with them, directly renting it to them for fifty years, with the option to renew after fifty years. One-tenth tax was already a very fair price. Once they paid this tax, they wouldn't need to pay additional land taxes.

More importantly, because Wang Yan directly stopped levying corvée labor, the commoners of Daxing were all spared this expense and could go out to work and earn silver.

In fact, the Single Whip Law was already being slowly implemented, but there was great resistance. It wasn't until the Wanli period, when Zhang Juzheng came to power, that steps were taken to start promoting it nationwide.

Regarding corvée labor, it meant the commoners paid the silver for it, and the government hired people with that money. But clearly, the government collected much more in corvée silver.

So Wang Yan's problem was here: he didn't levy corvée, didn't collect silver, and hadn't canceled it in policy, but in fact, he was carrying out reforms. If corvée was canceled, the collected silver would be far less.

However, others really couldn't say anything, after all, he hadn't canceled it, and he had the silver to afford it. But the cursing continued, and they were finding all sorts of reasons to attack Wang Yan.

But in the face of Wang Yan earning over five million taels of silver in one wave, and nearly two hundred thousand taels of cleaning fees collected in March, their various fierce words and strong opposition were so pale and powerless...

Wang Yan certainly wasn't just strolling; he was personally on the front lines, presiding over the progress of clearing fields and checking households, while also directly supervising, and by the way, treating commoners' illnesses and handling disputes. It was truly imperial power reaching the countryside.

But it was precisely this that gave those who opposed him an opportunity.

It was early April, and they hadn't been clearing fields for long. But reaching this point almost marked the success of the clearing fields and household registration. After all, the most difficult ones had already jumped out at the beginning, and those who hadn't were all resigned to it.

But being resigned didn't mean they were convinced; they would always try to find ways to struggle.

Undoubtedly, the simplest, most direct, and effective way to solve the problem was to kill Wang Yan directly.

So, on this day, Wang Yan was riding a horse, bringing more than ten Yamen runner attendants, walking on the official road.

Suddenly, Wang Yan, who was swaying on his horse, tilted his body sharply.

The next instant, there was a sound of arrows piercing the air. Immediately following were the mournful cries of the horses, the panicked shouts of the Yamen runners following behind him, and their pained groans and screams after being wounded.

"Master!"

"Protect the Master!"

The Yamen runners did their best. They knew who their true provider was and were all willing to trade their own lives for Wang Yan's, because it was worth it, and because they believed the Master would never let them down.

Wang Yan shouted: "Just take care of yourselves; I, the Master, am just about to stretch my muscles."

Within a few words, more than twenty armored soldiers rushed over from both sides of the road, holding swords and spears.

Wang Yan smiled slightly and charged directly toward the stabbing spears. Avoiding the spear tips and grabbing the shafts, Wang Yan directly swung the armored soldier holding the spear, sweeping away the other armored assassins.

Then, he took a long spear and began to dance it—swish, swish, swish, slap, slap, slap, crack, crack, crack. The spear tip smashed into the armored soldiers' helmets, leaving them dizzy and bleeding from their ears and noses. The butt of the spear pounded into their armor with great force, the power penetrating the armor and breaking their bones.

Then, operating the spearhead with blocking and thrusting, he precisely poked and broke people's fingers, and could even insert it through the gaps in the armor to cause damage.

A long spear was danced by Wang Yan so that not even a drop of water could pass through. After only a moment, he had killed all these armored soldiers, leaving them lying on the ground. Some were dead, some were gasping for air, half-dead, and some were crying out in pain.

Just then, a series of popping sounds rang out, and powerful bullets flew over.

Wang Yan dodged flexibly, threw the long spear, and only heard wails coming from the grass not far away...

"Master!" the Yamen runner shouted in panic.

"It's fine. See how the brothers are; they all suffered this unprovoked disaster because of me."

While speaking, Wang Yan also began to check the injuries of the fallen Yamen runners. They were all people loyal to him; if they could be saved, they must be saved.

Of course, he didn't forget to arrange for the uninjured to pair up and run off quickly to report the news and gather more people...

"Go in peace. Later, I, the Master, will send one hundred taels of silver to your family. I guarantee your family won't be bullied, and when your son grows up, he won't lack a future. From now on, all the silver that should be paid in the Yamen will be counted toward your family, so they won't lack food or drink."

Wang Yan's hand was tightly gripped by a middle-aged Yamen runner. This runner was already vomiting blood from his mouth, but he was stubbornly hanging on without dying, so Wang Yan made a direct promise.

Sure enough, hearing him say this, the Yamen runner closed his eyes and died in peace.

Of the twelve Yamen runner guards, only five remained; the other seven were all dead. Of the five remaining, only two had minor injuries, just enough to pair up and report the news. The remaining three were all crippled.

It was mainly due to the advantage of the armor, plus these assassins were indeed better in body and martial arts; the Yamen runners were no match for them at all.

Wang Yan wasn't so arrogant as to kill these assassins all at once, so after just one clash, the Yamen runners were finished...

"Master..." the Yamen runner whose hand had been cut off wailed.

"Save some strength." Wang Yan waved his hand, looking at the three pairs of eyes watching him. "If you strive for yourselves, you can survive. Don't think about living in suffering; you all heard what I just said to Lao Liu—I'll give one hundred taels of silver to those who died...

You three suffered heavy injuries and certainly can't work anymore. I'll give you a lump sum of thirty taels of silver, and half of the benefits you should receive every year will be given to you, which is enough to support your families. As for you three, once your injuries are healed, go work at my business. Don't I have a job raising pigs, chickens, ducks, and geese? It doesn't take many people, so you go and do what you can.

If I don't fall and get killed by others, as long as my position is stable, you can live comfortably for a lifetime. You won't need your sons to support you in your old age; in the future, even my son will have to see you off."

"The Master earns silver for His Majesty with his life and lets the commoners live good lives; he will surely live a long life and surely rise steadily in his career." The Yamen runner grinned, stubbornly flattering the Master.

"Then I'll take your auspicious words." Wang Yan laughed, "But, I, the Master, don't pursue that much. Earning enough silver, having a clear conscience, and letting those who follow me live good lives—that's enough. Rising steadily in my career? How could a mere Juren like me think of that? If it weren't for His Majesty's trust, how could I be the Magistrate of Daxing?

But it's useless for me to say so much; it still depends on how His Majesty arranges it. If His Majesty lets me go up, I go up. If His Majesty lets me go down, I go down. You look at that old dog Yan Song and you'll know; His Majesty is a nostalgic person. No matter what, he will definitely let me enjoy wealth and honor, and that is true. So, you all be at ease."

Wang Yan looked at the armored soldiers lying all over the ground and said, "Look at them; they did something that would get their whole family killed, and I don't know what conditions those masters behind them promised. No need to guard them; I won't interrogate you. The Factory and Guard people will come. Once you reach the Imperial Prison, you won't be able to hold out.

I've already crippled your hands, so you can't commit suicide, and biting your tongue doesn't necessarily mean death. You'll have plenty to suffer later, and those behind you won't fare any better. There's no wall that doesn't let the wind through. It's useless for you to hold out; everything can be investigated. Even if there's no solid evidence, there's always a range of suspicion. No need to determine which one; just deal with them all—once and for all.

Come, come, come. I see you look like the leader. It'll be a long time before people arrive, and since we're idle, let's talk. Were you a dead soldier trained from childhood?"

"No..."

"Regret it now, right?"

Wang Yan smiled...

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