"Master, it's midnight. Time to rest."
At Jade Brilliance Palace, Lu Fang urged Jiajing.
Jiajing sat cross-legged on his Daoist platform, reading the memorials submitted by censors, remonstrance officials, and other officials. A pile of them lay scattered across the floor, having been thrown there by Jiajing.
He was genuinely reading them with great care!
"Hmph! A pack of rebel ministers!" Jiajing angrily flung aside another memorial impeaching Wang Yan. "When it comes time to divide up my silver, every last one of them is more eager than the next, afraid they'll miss out if they reach too slowly. But when I want them to give up some silver, they start whining about how the people can barely survive, how it's competing with the people for profit, and how Wang Yan is ruining the country and harming the people. They're all traitors and thieves!"
Of course, he had anticipated this. Otherwise, after hearing Lu Fang relay Wang Yan's plans—which sounded so enticing, and which would make him an enlightened sovereign for the ages if realized—he would not have immediately declared himself in seclusion to enjoy some peace and quiet.
Nothing now was more important than Wang Yan collecting sanitation fees within Great Prosperity County. Not war along the borders, not disasters somewhere, not commoner uprisings anywhere—none of it was as important as this.
A war would not yield results overnight. Disasters could be handled with relief efforts and suppression. Minor uprisings could be put down in a day or two, and even if they grew larger, they could not withstand a single assault by government troops.
Collecting sanitation fees was different. This was real silver, meant to solve the problems of war, disaster, and rebellion.
Moreover, according to Wang Yan's theory of circulating money and goods, Great Prosperity's tax revenues