Wang Yan had been made Left Vice Minister of Revenue and placed in charge of the Ministry of Revenue—not so he could simply follow procedure and do the books.
He was there to make money.
To make money, large-scale action was necessary. That meant touching other people's interests, and so, naturally, it became reform.
Reform was a long-term process. It did not appear out of nowhere; it had continued throughout every dynasty, always changing and always overturning. But every era of great upheaval had a beginning—like Sarajevo for World War I, or the head of Louis XVI for the French Revolution.
If Great Ming's great transformation were ever unearthed from the dust of old records, and historians had to draw a clear line marking the beginning of this reform, it would surely begin with Wang Yan's promotion to Left Vice Minister of Revenue and his assumption of control over the Ministry.
The winds of reform had long been blowing. Any man of insight could see Great Ming's glaring problems, and some had indeed sought solutions. But too many others ignored the bigger picture and continued madly lining their own pockets.
This reform had begun to sprout from the various problems raised and solutions sought by Great Ming's men of insight over the previous decades. Wang Yan's use of silver to secure the post of Chun'an chief clerk became a major turning point.
That turning point was also linked to the Rice-to-Mulberry Reform, reflecting Great Ming's fiscal crisis at the time. It was further tied to the great political event of toppling Yan, revealing the political environment of that era and highlighting the bloody political struggles concealed beneath a few short lines of historical writing.
Afterward, Wang Yan brought the Chun'an model to Great Prosperity, then spread it throughout Shuntian Prefecture.