Chapter 1563: The Great Ming Reformer

Zhang Juzheng was Xu Jie's student, so at this time, he still had to protect Xu Jie. No matter what, it was impossible for him to agree to an investigation of the farmland and property in Xu Jie's household.

Wang Yan had been harping on about this matter for three years. In any case, whenever he attended a major meeting with Xu Jie, he would clamor for an investigation into Xu Jie's family farmland, only to be met with opposition from everyone present.

The matter of clearing farmland and checking household registrations in Songjiang Prefecture thus became a mere formality, never carried out as thoroughly as it was in other places. Even for everyone present—Zhang Juzheng, Gao Gong, and Chen Yiqin—the investigations in their own hometowns were not completed in their entirety.

Of course, as the top leadership of the Great Ming, they certainly had to set an example, so the amount of farmland and household registrations uncovered was indeed higher than before. But it was absolutely not the accurate figure, which is why it is said that it was not carried out completely.

Truth be told, they were a large family, and their views on these matters varied. It was just that Wang Yan was too powerful, and they were afraid of being hounded and bitten, so they brought out a little bit, more or less. Even so, they still felt aggrieved: "What more do you want from us?"

Knowing what is right and wrong, yet treating the wrong as right, to the point where one no longer knows right from wrong, taking what is good for oneself as right and what is bad for oneself as wrong—this is the base sickness of the ruling class.

However, turning it around, the ruled class was not much better; they just didn't hold power. A considerable portion of them acted like rogues, were lazy and slippery, played dumb, and shirked responsibility. Their detestable faces were not much better to look at than those of the officials...

At this moment, the scene inside the room was very tense. Other officials working in the Wenyuan Pavilion dared not even breathe loudly, hiding in corners to lower their presence, each pretending to be very busy.

Wang Yan sat there with a smile: "Old Zhang, you don't need to be so filled with righteous indignation; your hometown will also be investigated. It's just a matter of time. I might as well make myself clear: I am thirty-five years old this year, I have been subjected to over forty assassination attempts, and I am still safe and sound to this day. It wouldn't be surprising if you all had a hand in these forty-plus attempts..."

"You..."

"Don't quibble, I don't believe you." Wang Yan waved his hand and continued, "Regardless of how you put it, I will certainly live longer than you. If you can't kick me out or kill me, then when the time comes, I will still investigate your family's farmland and population."

You are all smart people, you should understand this logic. What is the point of hiding it for a few more years? You wouldn't be thinking of earning a bit more silver, would you? Rest assured, starting from the fifty-first year of Jiajing, you will have to make up for every year that is missing. If even a single copper coin is short, see if I dare to make you lose your entire family fortune. As for those looking for trouble, see if I dare to have you all struck from the household register..."

Putting on a tough face—who doesn't know how to do that?

"This is outrageous!" Gao Gong slammed the table in anger. "Wang Yan, are you still human? How can you say such things in a place like this? I am going to impeach you to His Majesty!"

"Don't go getting yourself killed by anger; you're at an old age, you should cultivate your character and not get angry easily." Wang Yan smiled, completely unconcerned. "Old Gao, I am speaking the truth to you precisely because I respect you. Why deceive yourself? If I don't say it, does that mean things aren't as they are? You are in power now, but there will always be a time when you are not. His Majesty protects you, but there will always be a time when he doesn't."

To put it more directly, even if you want to kick me out, you won't be able to do it in this lifetime. Unlike you, I have acted with integrity throughout my life, loyal to His Majesty, loyal to the Great Ming, and loyal to the people of the Great Ming. I only do things that are beneficial to His Majesty, the Great Ming, and the people. I am the most honest person; even after you are dead, I will still be here working for His Majesty, for the Great Ming, and for the people."

"Now you are shouting at me, but you will have your share of suffering in the future. I will first deal with that old thing Xu Jie, to set an example for you, so you can see it in advance. And let that large group of people in your families, and those who follow you, learn a lesson—each and every one of them acting arrogant, lawless, and utterly despicable."

"Wang Yan, you must know that those who initiate evil will have no descendants." Zhang Juzheng glared at Wang Yan.

"I do have descendants; over these many years, I have fathered more than twenty children, and I have sixteen sons."

Seeing Zhang Juzheng's eyes spitting fire, Wang Yan laughed out loud. "Old Zhang, you shouldn't always say one thing and do another. You shout all day about being for the country and the people, but in the end, it's all for your own selfish desires."

"Clearing farmland, checking household registrations, and collecting commercial taxes—it seems like the entire Great Ming has been executed once, and farmland and population have increased quite a bit, but was it done thoroughly? I think it's not enough, far from enough. You all know these things yourselves, and you have received various pleas, telling the people below to show mercy."

"You feel you've done a good job, you feel that the farmland and population uncovered are higher than you expected, and this achievement is enough to be written into the history books, and the situation in the Great Ming has eased, right?"

"But damn it, this matter was something I fought for with my life against the group you represent. Without me risking my life, this matter would never have been pushed through. Xu Jie stepped down, and it seems he even retired with honors? You all sing praises. Damn it, what does it have to do with you? You all just dragged your feet."

"When fighting the powerful families in the southeast, you didn't allocate funds, and after they were subdued, you pleaded for them. When fighting the Tatars, your people were corrupt below, and you even stuffed a bunch of incompetents under my command."

"And in places like Xuan-Da, don't you know what kind of character those people have? After the fighting was over, you sang praises as if you had won the battle. What does it have to do with you? That was fought by the soldiers, and fed by the taxes paid by the people of my Great Ming!"

"When adding taxes to the people, it's just 'let the people suffer a little.' When it's time for you to take silver out of your own pockets, you start finding reasons. 'Those who initiate evil will have no descendants'? Bullshit! You are the ones who are truly cursed."

"I'll put it plainly today: I will definitely collect your taxes, and none of you will be able to run. The Great Ming needs a thorough investigation, and it will start with you!"

"Do you not have His Majesty in your eyes? A thorough investigation? Is this Great Ming yours to decide?" Gao Gong was so angry he laughed.

"His Majesty had a reputation for wisdom even before he ascended the throne; he surely knows who is truly good for the Great Ming, and he knows how to make the Great Ming better." Wang Yan bowed toward the West Garden. "Naturally, he will make the correct choice. Only when the current is strong do you know the strength of the pillars; you rebellious subjects will eventually have a day of reckoning."

Chen Yiqin said: "Wang Yan, we are officials in the same court, just with different political views; why must we be at daggers drawn, leading to mutual destruction?"

"When I was being assassinated, why didn't you jump out to speak?" Wang Yan glanced at him. "No need for forty times; tomorrow I'll arrange for people to kill you four times, and then you can come and tell me this?"

"Gentlemen, one by one, piece by piece, there is an account for everything. If you say you really didn't know anything and didn't participate in anything, I don't believe it. And don't clamor for me to produce evidence. We are all standing here; who does things by producing evidence?"

"I have this proposal: you, write it into a memorial, and let the various cabinet ministers discuss it. Let's see if these cabinet ministers, who shout all day about reform and change for the sake of the country and the people, are willing to change and reform their own families."

Wang Yan casually pointed to an official working in the cabinet, telling him to write the memorial in his name. The official, being pointed at by Wang Yan and watched by Zhang Juzheng and the others, became so stressed he started to tremble.

"What are you afraid of?" Wang Yan walked over and patted his back, not too lightly or too heavily. "They are cabinet ministers, am I not one too? They hold high positions and power, do I not have power? What is there to be afraid of? It's just writing a memorial, what's the big deal? Write it now!"

"Also, tell the historians to record today's events clearly for me, with the causes, processes, and results all written out, so that future generations can see what kind of faces these people have. It makes no sense to only write about the officials impeaching me for corruption and bribery, and not write about them disregarding national policy for their own selfish interests."

Wang Yan was not lying about this at all; those historians who compiled the history of the current dynasty were truly quite keen on Wang Yan's dark history. Those bastards left a considerable amount of space for him, Wang Yan, in the precious history books, and they were still updating it.

Others were just mentioned by year, month, and day, saying who was impeached, and that was it. When it came to Wang Yan, they were practically eager to copy every impeachment memorial, pulling out every impeachment official of sufficient weight to record, just to highlight how much Wang Yan was hated...

These people were too bad, and they deliberately jumped in Wang Yan's face, hoping Wang Yan would kill them. Of course, Wang Yan wouldn't do such a thing; when he dealt with people, he always used solid evidence. So, after sending some people to do labor according to standard procedures, no one jumped in his face anymore, but they still continued to slander him.

To deal with this, Wang Yan also developed a hobby for compiling history. He publicly announced that he wanted to compile a private history of the time he was alive, and he really hired a bunch of people to do this work. The main firepower was concentrated on those who compiled history for the country, just watching them write...

Recording all the dark history of these people, and whoever these people praised, he would write the dark history of that person; in any case, it was mutual destruction. It was quite lively day after day.

"Yes, Cabinet Minister." The official nodded repeatedly, stealing a glance at Zhang Juzheng and the others who were furious, and sat down at the table to start writing.

Gao Gong's tone softened quite a bit: "Wang Yan, you are clear on the principle that haste makes waste."

"I am not clear."

Looking at Gao Gong's deathly complexion, Wang Yan said, "I only know that you have been 'making haste' for so many years, and you haven't accomplished anything. The opportunity for a thorough reform of the Great Ming that I fought for with my life has also been dragged back by you."

"What if it forces a rebellion..."

Before Chen Yiqin could finish his sentence, Wang Yan waved his hand: "Do you dare to rebel? At that time, the southeast was subdued, the Tatars were beaten to a pulp, Liaodong was stable, and the four barbarians dared not provoke us. Shuntian Prefecture had long been thoroughly investigated under my direction. Removing these, isn't it just Shandong... Shaanxi... and other places?"

"The Beijing Garrison has a hundred thousand troops, idle all day. You tell me, who dares to rebel? Who can rebel? No need to look at the past situation; even now, at this very moment, Cabinet Minister Chen, tell me, who do you think wants to rebel? I will ask for an imperial decree from His Majesty right now, dispatch the army, and flatten their family graves. You see, Old Zhang isn't saying anything."

Wang Yan expressed his approval of the silent Zhang Juzheng. "Back then, Old Zhang agreed to a thorough reform, but it was blocked by that old thing Xu Jie. Now that Xu Jie has stepped down, Old Zhang, you say the things that weren't done thoroughly, do they really need to be done all over again?"

Watching the official finish writing, using silk to wipe the undried ink, Wang Yan picked it up and placed it in front of Zhang Juzheng.

The silent Zhang Juzheng looked left and right, and finally sat down, picked up a brush, wrote his opinion on the slip, and then pasted it onto the memorial.

"Old Gao?"

"Hmph!"

Although very dissatisfied with Wang Yan's attitude, Gao Gong still wrote a slip and agreed to this matter.

All three agreed, and Chen Yiqin, who had only served in the Prince's mansion and had just entered the cabinet, naturally had no room to object. Or rather, even if he were the Senior Grand Secretary, with it already being three to one, he had no possibility of pushing it through forcefully. Not all Senior Grand Secretaries were Yan Song.

"Are you satisfied?" Gao Gong threw his brush on the table, staring at Wang Yan. "Do you feel your wings have hardened, and now that the late Emperor has passed away, you can no longer hide your true nature and have started to seize power? Why, do you want to be a powerful minister? Why don't you let me be the Senior Grand Secretary?"

"Do you think I can't do it? I suppose you all know the late Emperor's jokes about me; the past is the past, and now is now. Who doesn't have a few usable people under them?"

Wang Yan sneered and said sarcastically, "Saying I'm seizing power to be a powerful minister—Cabinet Minister Gao, I remember you didn't have such a big temper before. Back then, when I protected Hu Zongxian, you even came to remind me. Now that Xu Jie has stepped down and the late Emperor has passed away, you haven't been Senior Grand Secretary for many days, yet you've already developed the temper of one?"

"Recently, I have heard many rumors about Cabinet Minister Gao, saying that you abuse power for revenge, exclude the virtuous, eliminate dissidents, promote relatives and fellow villagers, students and former subordinates, and accept bribes."

"The thing you all like to do most is find people from the Censorate to submit memorials for impeachment. Come to think of it, I have never done such a thing. Today I will arrange it, let people prepare, and start impeaching you tomorrow. What do you think, Cabinet Minister Gao?"

"You speak so openly and honestly; no need for you to impeach me, I will impeach you first." Gao Gong was so angry he was trembling.

"You all, you just say one thing and do another. You let others impeach me, and on the surface, you still have to pretend you don't know and have to appease them. Now I'm putting it on the table, I haven't even done anything yet, and I'm already guilty? Can't I even talk?"

"Then I'll write another memorial, and we'll summon the Ministry of Rites, the Censorate, the Ministry of Justice, and the Court of Judicial Review to add another article to the Great Ming Code: speaking is also a crime. Come, write it now."

Wang Yan pointed to the previous official again, and the latter obediently started writing...

Seeing this, the corners of Zhang Juzheng's mouth twitched, and Gao Gong was so angry he pointed his finger at Wang Yan, his eyes spitting fire, wishing he could burn Wang Yan to death.

Just as the tension was at its peak, someone walked in while talking.

"Yo, are the cabinet ministers practicing their glares?"

"No choice, the old thing refuses to admit he's old; his eyes are about to dry out, yet he's still glaring at people." Wang Yan smiled, without any dignity of a cabinet minister, looking like a rogue, making Gao Gong's teeth itch with anger.

Wang Yan greeted Feng Bao, "What wind blew Eunuch Feng here?"

"It's not that Cabinet Minister Wang left in such a hurry just now, and the Master had some things he didn't instruct. It just so happened that I was going over, so the Master let me come to find Cabinet Minister Wang. The three cabinet ministers are busy; Cabinet Minister Wang, please, let's go to your Ministry of Revenue office."

"Old Gao, if I were you, I would go and kowtow to His Majesty right now. His Majesty is saving your life; if it really went on for a while longer, I'm afraid you'd be angered to death. That would truly set a precedent for my Great Ming, and you would implicate me in being updated into a great traitor in the history books, really..."

Wang Yan looked heartbroken, bowing toward the direction of the West Garden. "Long live, long live, long live my Emperor..."

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