Wang Yan's rank was simply too low. He had no chance to intervene in Zhejiang's affairs at all.
He had been able to influence matters before because he had been the one calling the shots in Chun'an, and Chun'an had been the center of it all at the time. That was why his actions had some impact, and why his name had become known among Jiajing, Prince Yu, and the Yan Party.
But now that the rice-to-mulberry reform was over, the matter at hand was the massive corruption case sparked by Shen Yishi. It had reached the emperor's ears, with multiple sides fighting and compromising. Naturally, there was no place for him in it.
After all, he was only a minor Registrar. By modern standards, he was no more than a deputy division-level official, yet this case involved central investigators, provincial authorities, and countless subordinate officials, even reaching as far as—
Put in later terms, it was like a member of the county standing committee in some small Zhejiang county getting tangled up with central investigators, numerous senior officials, department- and bureau-level cadres, with the matter faintly pointing toward those seats at the very top.
Unless Wang Yan had connections to those implicated, he could be investigated and dealt with. Otherwise, what right did he have to speak up? Even knowing the news was a mistake.
As for fighting the Japanese pirates, the main battlefield was now in Taizhou. The pirates elsewhere were merely harassing and tying down forces; they could not amount to much. Besides, within Chun'an, forget Japanese pirates—even the local toughs who liked to throw their weight around had all been beaten into submission. Everyone was honestly working away at production. Chun'an might not have reached the point where doors were left unlocked at night and lost