Chapter 1540

After developing for more than a year, especially with the stimulus of loans, Daxing's development was even more vigorous.

Construction sites could be seen everywhere, busily rushing to work before winter.

On the official road were horse-drawn carriages pulling goods, and at the Tongzhou wharf, ships were sending goods up, and dock porters were like ants, moving various goods on and off.

The closer to the city, the busier it was; endless pedestrians were rushing to the capital, and the crowd was surging.

"This is the capital; it's really lively." The old woman lifted the curtain, looking at the magnificent scene outside, quite amazed at coming to a big city.

"Mother, the capital was lively before, but not this lively. This is all because Wang Yan governs well that there is such a lively scene. Look, the commoners have light on their faces and are dressed very cleanly. Wang Yan governs well; my son is hard to catch up with."

"Then why do you always say he is a big corrupt official?"

"Taking money that shouldn't be taken is a fact; one cannot ignore the fact that he is greedy for money just because he made Daxing well-governed." Hai Rui was still as principled as ever, saying, "He actually dared to write a letter directly to tell me that he embezzled 100,000 taels of silver; it's simply lawless!"

The carriage moved slowly with the team. Hai Rui showed his documents to the soldiers and little officials at the city gate, and saw the little official turn into fawning in an instant.

"Greetings, Master Hai!"

"Do you know me?"

"This is the Dongcheng, Master Hai; we all have to listen to Master's orders. Who doesn't know that as early as in Chun'an, Master Hai was close to Master, and you are true close friends. This time, when Master Hai arrived in the capital to take office, Master heard the news and told us little officials handling affairs that we must report to Master Hai the first time we saw you."

The little official explained to Hai Rui with a fawning face, and then gave instructions to the people around him, and arranged for someone to notify Wang Yan, while he led the way in front, leading Hai Rui to settle down first.

"Is Wang Yan outside the city?"

"Tongzhou, thirty miles away from here." The little official replied, "Master Hai should know that side is the wharf, and some goods are transported from the south, so Master went to meet the ship himself."

"That shouldn't be something he should manage, right?"

"Master manages many things. The new treasure notes are presided over by Master, the Treasure Note Bureau all listens to Master's orders, and the commoners' food, clothing, housing, and transportation—all related matters, Master argues with those above. This is not entering autumn, seeing it's almost winter, he arranged for people below to check for housing hazards everywhere, and bought a lot of stone coal from the beginning of spring to sell to commoners for heating."

"Last year, there was heavy snow, and more than twenty people froze to death, and more than ten households had their houses collapse; Master wanted to personally carry a knife to kill people. This year, Master was ruthless, saying that if one more person froze to death, he would investigate and confiscate the property of the local large families and officials, and exile them a thousand miles..."

Seeing that this little official was a talkative one, Hai Rui asked questions along the way, and along the way, he also saw the prosperity and flourishing of the Dongcheng, and saw the smiling faces of the commoners full of hope for life.

Thus, they arrived at Wang Yan's mansion to settle down temporarily, and after they had washed up, Wang Yan also returned.

"Oh, my Master, it's been a long time, hahaha..."

Wang Yan stepped forward to pay his respects to Hai Rui, patting his arm.

Hai Rui also grinned happily: "I originally wanted to find Wang Yongji first; he was also transferred to the Ministry of Revenue, but I didn't expect to be brought here as soon as I arrived at the city gate."

"You're being a stranger, Master." While speaking, Wang Yan waved his hand and instructed the little official beside him, "Go and invite Wang Yongji, and tell him Hai Rui is here."

The little official responded simply and left, without asking who Wang Yongji was or where he could be found. Wanting to find someone, it wasn't that difficult; just go out and ask around and you'd find him.

"Mother, are you adapting well along the way?"

"Thank you for your concern, everything is good." Hai Rui's mother smiled kindly.

Wang Yan greeted Hai Rui's wife again, and then took out a few treasure notes from his pocket: "Come, niece, take this money to spend, buy yourself some beautiful jewelry, buy some good food."

Seeing the little girl looking at Hai Rui, Wang Yan smiled, "Don't look at him, this money is all aboveboard, spend it as you please. Come to Uncle Wang more often in the future, Uncle will take you to eat good things."

Hai Rui nodded and gave a hum: "Accept it."

The little girl happily accepted the money and turned to look at her younger brother.

Wang Yan gave the jade pendant he was wearing to this boy.

Having the experience of working with Wang Yan before, Hai Rui didn't act so decisively without leaving any room, even if he was stirring up the large families in Xingguo, Jiangxi, as a magistrate, but there was no fierce conflict.

On the other hand, of course, it was Wang Yan's existence. Those who knew Wang Yan knew Hai Rui, and those who knew Hai Rui naturally knew Wang Yan. The anti-Yan storm of converting rice fields to mulberry could be said to be the shots fired by Wang Yan and Hai Rui.

Wang Yan's astonishing feat didn't need to be mentioned; the large families in Chun'an were basically eliminated. When Yan Shifan was still awesome, he dared to slap people, and dared to call Yan Song an old dog.

Not to mention the various things he did after taking office as Daxing Magistrate, catching people's handles and working them to death, first taking Xu Jie's second son as a knife, and later various things, including facing more than twenty armored soldiers alone, simply awesome to the sky.

The large families over there knew Wang Yan was awesome to the sky, so when targeting Hai Rui, they didn't dare to go too far, otherwise, it would lead to Wang Yan, and they would die even more miserably. They certainly wouldn't think that the powerful in the capital were not as powerful as these local large families, wouldn't think Wang Yan wouldn't avenge Hai Rui, wouldn't think Wang Yan couldn't kill them...

So now Hai Rui realized having both a son and a daughter.

Wang Yan sat down with Hai Rui, and they drank tea in a red clay stove.

"You can live in my mansion from now on."

"Can't afford to live here."

"I rented it with real silver, one tael a year." Wang Yan said, "You can live there steadily; what problem can one tael of silver have? Don't worry, absolutely no one will find trouble. The former County Assistant Ma Defu was transferred, and the rented mansion is still there. The newly arrived County Assistant, registrar, and others all have mansions, but they can only live there while in office.

Not to mention officials, even the little officials handling affairs below shared a lot of silver last year. Those who performed best, solved problems for the commoners, and were praised by the commoners, I really gave them a mansion. They got married in the spring of this year, and now the wife is cooking in the shelter."

Seeing Hai Rui staring and about to spray, Wang Yan waved his hand repeatedly, "I admit I scrape silver, but most of those people below still have clean hands. There are indeed some extra wealth, but no one dares to go too far. They mainly rely on the yamen's salary. I openly distribute money from the public account, I let everyone earn more money, what's wrong with that?

They all live good lives, so if I, the one who lets them live good lives, don't live well, would that be appropriate? People's hearts are not chaotic in a day, and morality is not corrupted in a day.

The commoners know I live in poverty, but they feel uneasy; they know I eat and drink well, and see me eating and drinking at the entrance of the county yamen, but they are happy, daring to come near to let me see a doctor, wishing me a long life. Where is the root of the problem? Don't say it's with the Emperor. What does it have to do with the Emperor? The world is so big, the population is so large, can the Emperor manage it all?

It's just that these people who are officials read the wrong books, full of benevolence and morality, but once they become officials, they say one thing and do another. I'll tell you the truth, the meat shops in Chun'an are enough for me to eat and drink without worry; what do I need so much silver for? It's just that if I don't take it, how can others take it? Taking it openly is better than doing evil things secretly.

I can't stop them from being greedy, I can only let them do less evil."

Hai Rui is not stupid, of course, he knows that what Wang Yan said is from the heart, not false at all.

"Then I still won't live there."

"You are just looking for trouble for yourself, belonging to the type that has no bitterness but insists on eating it." Wang Yan said, "Living in the capital is not easy; you will have bitterness to eat."

"Then I'll eat the bitterness first and then talk."

Hai Rui changed the subject and asked, "I heard you went to Tongzhou to meet the cargo ship? You, this Daxing Magistrate, what cargo ship needs you to run this trip personally?"

"Do you know what makes people happiest?"

"Please enlighten me."

Wang Yan poured tea for Hai Rui and added water to the pot, saying: "I don't know."

Hai Rui reacted and understood Wang Yan's meaning, looking like he understood: "It's doing things for the palace again."

His words were quite full of dissatisfaction, towards the arbitrariness of imperial power.

Hai Rui tends to put imperial power in a cage; the Emperor cannot toss as he pleases. This is also the idea of numerous civil officials.

It's just that others want to prevent the Emperor from doing evil, and they unite to do things. Hai Rui wants to limit imperial power, so that everyone has a greater say and can do things better.

Wang Yan took a sip of tea: "Don't think that doing things for the Emperor is not a good thing, don't think the Emperor is too bad, don't stand on the opposite side of the Emperor. You know, in the past two years, the Emperor has been building palaces, paying money to craftsmen and commoners who work, and for two years, Daxing's tax revenue has risen steadily. Along the way, you must have seen the lives the commoners live; this is all the Emperor's wisdom."

"Then tell me, who gave an account for the flooding of Chun'an?"

"Dead brain! Zheng Bichang and He Maocai were all beheaded last year; I even went to watch the execution, crack, their heads fell off... Yan Song went home to enjoy his retirement, Yan Shifan was exiled a thousand miles, and the others were all punished. Isn't this an account? Must everything be laid out clearly? Is it possible? It's like asking me how many women I slept with yesterday, what positions, how long—do you think it's appropriate?"

"Shameless! State affairs, how can they be mixed up like this?"

"The principles are all about the same, the meaning is the same, you grasp the spirit. There are too many things in this world that cannot be explained clearly; if everything is divided clearly, not to mention whether it can be understood, people will definitely lose their lives. With that time, it's better to live a few more years and do more things."

"Only by dividing clearly can more things be done."

"Isn't that back to the beginning, Master? The Taizu dynasty started killing corrupt officials, peeling skin and stuffing grass, but was it killed? If you are not greedy, others will be greedy. Even if everyone in the world has money, there will still be people who want power, want to ride on others' heads, want to order others around. Where is the end? Enough, enough, don't argue, you can't convince me, and I don't want to convince you; arguing is uncomfortable."

Hai Rui gave a hum, but still chatted happily with Wang Yan about governance. Such as his thoughts on being an official in Xingguo, Jiangxi, and his questions about the rapid development of Daxing today, and so on, the chat was quite pleasant.

After nearly an hour, Wang Yongji arrived at Wang Yan's mansion and met Hai Rui.

The relationship between these two was also very good. During the time of converting rice fields to mulberry, both of them withstood the pressure from their superiors. The situation in Chun'an was not easy, and Jiande wouldn't be much easier. After all, Chun'an was flooded by the whole county, and Jiande was flooded by half; both were meat on the chopping board.

These two fought together, adversity saw true feelings, fire refined true gold, and what kind of background was seen clearly in this fierce struggle. Thus, the two people who didn't retreat cherished each other and formed a deep friendship.

In the past few years, the two had also kept in touch by letter.

But this was the first time Wang Yan and Wang Yongji met.

"I've long heard of your great name, but I've never had the chance to meet you; it's truly a pleasure." Wang Yongji flattered very politely.

Wang Yan waved his hand: "Being able to be friends with Master Hai, people are about the same, no need to be so polite. I didn't know you came to the capital, otherwise, the two of us would have been drinking long ago, and wouldn't have to wait until now. Sit down quickly, let's drink and talk."

Wang Yongji met Hai Rui's mother, wife, and children, chatted with Wang Yan and Hai Rui for a while, and the little official led people to serve the dishes one by one. They were divided into two tables; Hai Rui's mother, wife, and children ate in another room, while the three of them were at a table, lively.

"Wow, I've long heard that you, Wang Ziyan, are the best at eating; today I've seen it. This table is truly a collection of Great Ming's products." Looking at the large table of delicacies, Wang Yongji exclaimed.

Hai Rui took a plate of stir-fried meat and a plate of green vegetables to his front: "I eat what I can afford."

Wang Yan squinted at him: "That is Lucy's yellow beef, and the green vegetables are carefully selected vegetable hearts; one basket only has this one plate."

Hai Rui's hand holding the vegetables paused, stunned for a moment, and then let out a long sigh: "You are even more corrupt..."

"It's okay, just treat it as the silver the Emperor distributed to me. In the past two years, the Emperor has distributed 100,000 taels of silver to me."

Wang Yan gave a hum and said, "There's no way, the so-called 'what the superior likes, the inferior will follow.' Whether it's the officials under me, the commoners under my jurisdiction, or the powerful and wealthy families, they all send me various foods—things from the sky, the mountains, the water, and the sea, regardless of value, everything. My cook is also a thoughtful one, leading a group of people to study how to make it delicious every day."

"Brother Gangfeng, Brother Ziyan's this is the direction of the people's hearts; this table of dishes must be delicious, hahaha..."

"Please!" Wang Yan raised his wine glass and drank with the two.

Hai Rui didn't have so many farts to talk about, chatting about the world, very comfortable...

After three rounds of wine, Wang Yongji asked curiously: "Brother Ziyan, you are almost at the end of your three-year term; where are you going next?"

"This is not for me to decide; it's with the Emperor and the hundred officials." Wang Yan shook his head, "Wherever I go, it's for the Emperor's loyalty; it doesn't matter where. I'm just afraid that the great situation I've built will be ruined by someone who comes and leaves."

Amidst Wang Yongji's sad sighing, Hai Rui laughed: "It's just a joke. You don't know, Chun'an still listens to his orders; in the past two years, three magistrates have been investigated and handled, and the current magistrate is trembling..."

"Is that so?"

Wang Yongji's eyes widened; he couldn't imagine how Wang Yan did it...

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