The world of film and television begins with the God of Medicine.

Chapter 1669 Different
As Zhao Erhu said, his life has indeed been quite uncomfortable these past few years.

Because he disliked being buried in endless meetings and paperwork, he preferred riding horses and galloping across battlefields, facing life and death.

He has certainly changed; like Jiang Wuyang, his power has grown daily. But what remains unchanged is his lack of enthusiasm for power. The good life he envisions is one where he doesn't have to worry about survival, and can simply drink and eat heartily with his brothers.

He never imagined that the kind older brother he met by chance back then would lead him to where he is today in just a few years; he never dared to dream of it.

However, now that the internal battles are basically over, the only remaining issues are the border regions and the plateaus where things are a bit unruly. The rest of the country is generally stable, and he really doesn't want to make any moves. He just wants to stay in one place and live comfortably.

After congratulating his older brother, he went straight to the point and told him what he wanted.

Wang Yan looked at Jiang Wuyang, who followed him in and was grinning foolishly, and couldn't help but shake his head: "You two are the same. The third brother came back a few days earlier than you, and as soon as he saw me, he started yelling that he was quitting and wouldn't leave. You're the same. You haven't even finished looking at the Prince's Mansion yet, and you've already come here to quit?"

“Brother, I’ve really had enough. You used to say that with the army out there, you couldn’t do without people you could trust. But now we’ve conquered the country, and we’ve promoted quite a few people. There’s no one in the army who doesn’t know what’s good for them. I don’t know about other places, but the people under my command are all very good. Brother, just let me have some peace and quiet. I’ve really had enough.”

"Everyone else is thinking about seizing power and forming cliques, but you guys are just complaining about having too much power. You've finally made it this far, and you really want to be idle princes?"

Jiang Wuyang walked up and casually picked up a small three-legged cauldron from the shelf to play with: "Big brother, neither my second brother nor I are suitable to be officials. We certainly don't want to cause trouble, but we're afraid that people around us will do bad things, using our names to get us involved."

You know us, brother, we're both a bit slow on the uptake and easily fooled. What if something bad happens and everyone's unhappy? That would be terrible.

“That’s right, brother,” Zhao Erhu chimed in. “Being a carefree prince isn’t so bad. I heard the Heavenly King is quite comfortable and relaxed, isn’t he?”

"The Heavenly King may be comfortable, but he's not relaxed at all. You don't care about these things. You don't know that the Heavenly King is the director of the Religious Affairs Bureau. He has a lot of monks, Taoists, and foreigners in his residence. You see him as comfortable, but he actually has a lot of things to do."

The Religious Affairs Bureau may seem like a leisurely government office, but in reality, it wields considerable power. Especially since the Heavenly King isn't just a figurehead, he also possesses considerable initiative. Even though he's come to the capital to retire, he's still willing to do the work assigned to him by Wang Yan, since he's idle anyway.

As long as there is power, there will naturally be a place to exert it. Even a security guard at the gate can block food delivery orders, and someone in the community can get a couple of packs of cigarettes for a wedding. How much more so for the Heavenly King, the supreme figure in China's religious circles.

Buddhist temples need approval, temple properties need to be investigated, monks need to be recounted, new temple construction needs approval, new monks need to be ordained with quotas, and rules need to be redefined. Taoist temples need to be registered, ordination needs to be approved, and there are annual quotas. Existing tax exemption measures need to be revised, and so on.

There are also plateaus, border regions, Miao regions, and so on. Different ethnic groups have different beliefs, and the worship in these places is naturally within the scope of management. The various temples in these places are also under control.

At the same time, because of the reach into the plateau and border regions, religion also involves issues of unification and governance. Local myths and legends also need to be organized and improved, and the pantheon needs to be sorted out. This is a very grand and valuable undertaking, a responsibility that the king has given to the Heavenly King, to do something even more valuable.

Local churches are already under strict management, let alone those from abroad. Foreigners have built many churches, and some even have cardinals leading them. Their churches are like countries within countries, and nobody can control them.

But now the situation is different. The rules have been redefined, and for a period of time, those important figures in the church had all fled. Only after the situation stabilized and Wang Yan stopped the large-scale arrests of foreign church members did they feel relieved and gradually return to embrace the new order.

Therefore, there are quite a few issues involved here, and many stakeholders are involved. The Heavenly King's approval process has caused immense suffering for religions across China. These people dare not openly resist, after all, Wang Yan has never compromised with anyone. If anyone dares to cause trouble today, he will send troops to destroy their lineage tomorrow.

So these people had no choice but to spend all their time with the Heavenly King, catering to his preferences. All sorts of books and treasures were moved into the Heavenly King's palace. They were also given special advisors and formed a large professional team to organize the pantheon. They all brought their own food.

The purpose is to make the Heavenly King show leniency, set more lenient rules, leave some room for maneuver when investigating temple property, make the approval process smoother, and give more quotas each year.

In the Gaoyuan region, the reincarnation of a Living Buddha required the Qing court's golden seal and golden register to acknowledge its legal status. Wang Yan directly implemented the later management methods, prohibiting the use of spiritual mediums or reincarnation without approval, thus cracking down on illegal reincarnations.

Because of the high mountains and long distances on the plateau, and the fact that other more important matters were at play, no large army was sent to the border. Instead, only a small force was dispatched to coordinate affairs and maintain order. Therefore, the situation on the plateau was not good at first, with people fearing power but not respecting the emperor.

When the situation became clearer, Gao Yuan's attitude also became clear. At the same time, he had some spare capacity, so Wang Yan began to transfer troops to Gao Yuan little by little. In this way, he managed to assemble an army adapted to the Gao Yuan climate and was working to change the customs and traditions on the Gao Yuan.

Overall, the Heavenly King is living a pretty comfortable life...

At this moment, Su Zixuan, who was holding the child, laughed and said, "People are afraid that they don't have enough power or a high enough position, and that their good brothers will not share the spoils equally. But you guys are all pushing it away, as if power is some kind of monster."

“Sister-in-law is right. The third brother and I are just shallow and incompetent. If it weren’t for the eldest brother leading us, we would have been dead long ago, or even eaten alive.”

At this moment, the little thing in Su Zixuan's arms let out a soft whimper.

"I won't listen, I won't listen! Second Uncle is so mean, why does he have to bring up rice and meat?" Su Zixuan rolled her eyes at Zhao Erhu, then said, "Liansheng and the others are here?"

"Go to the back to find...my sister-in-law." Zhao Erhu was an honest man, and he was a little at a loss when it came to the question of his two sisters-in-law.

Su Zixuan snorted, then turned and left with the child in her arms: "We women are going to have our private talk. You guys keep chatting. Go, have someone bring the food."

Even as he left, he didn't forget to give instructions to others...

Inside the Hall of Preserving Harmony, only Wang Yan and his two companions were chatting idly. Zhao Erhu and Jiang Wuyang wandered around the hall, sometimes sitting on Wang Yan's dragon throne, sometimes on other chairs, sometimes patting the beams and pillars of the hall, and sometimes casually flipping through the documents on Wang Yan's desk.

He looked at the paintings and calligraphy with Wang Yan, and asked Wang Yan if he wanted any of them. After receiving a negative answer, he put them aside and planned to use them to decorate his own mansion.

It really felt like home; there was no need for formalities.

Wang Yan chuckled and let them perform their clumsy act.

Even with unwavering trust, doubts will arise when the disparity in status becomes too great. Both of them have a large following offering advice, their cultural backgrounds quite refined over the years. They've probably heard some historical anecdotes, and their anxiety is keeping them awake at night. After all, kings of different surnames rarely meet a good end…

Zhao Erhu said, "I don't think being an emperor is that great."

"What's wrong with it?" Wang Yan offered cigarettes to the two of them.

With tobacco leaves and paper, all that's missing is the processing technology. Even without processing, simply rolling up the tobacco and selling it as a finished product would have a market. Wang Yan is already producing filterless cigarettes under the brand 'Huoshan,' and the taste is quite good. Smoking while puffing out tobacco feels quite enjoyable… As the saying goes, five thousand years is too recent, fifty years too far. China is currently in such a turbulent phase, a historical period of great change. All of this can be embodied in this burning cigarette in Wang Yan's hand…

“Take this place for example. Look at your main hall. It’s too big and too deep. The sun only shines on this much of the room. There’s still so much stuff inside that doesn’t get any light. And this hall is so tall and spacious. Even with all this stuff, I still feel empty inside. It’s really uncomfortable.”

Zhao Erhu perfectly captured the emperor's loneliness.

He was inherently insecure, spending all his time in palaces and halls, alone and without support. The emptiness he felt was ultimately a result of his insecurity. In essence, it wasn't any different from the feeling of unease he experienced when he was in an abandoned building in the middle of nowhere.

However, this didn't matter to Wang Yan, since his state of mind wasn't in this grand hall, but in the true deep sea. Sunlight only penetrated to the top two hundred meters, and below lay twenty thousand miles of seabed.

The three brothers finished their meal, and their laughter echoed in the empty hall.

After achieving success, one should reminisce about the past and talk about the hardships of the past. This makes the good days that have finally come even sweeter and more fulfilling.

The story begins in a teahouse in Yangzhou...

This was the most relaxed and comfortable time the three of them had spent together in recent years. In the past, as their power expanded rapidly, Wang Yan was stationed in Huoshan, while Zhao Erhu and Jiang Wuyang, as people Wang Yan absolutely trusted, went out to carry out plans. Later, when war broke out, military affairs became increasingly important, and they were always too busy to meet. Even when they did meet, they would always leave in a hurry.

They haven't done this for many years.

So even with a mountain of tasks to handle, Wang Yan put his work aside and drank with Zhao Erhu and Jiang Wuyang from noon until night, saying things he had been holding back for years.

Zhao Erhu and Jiang Wuyang were both drunk. Maturity is not a good thing; let them distinguish between ruler and subject.

Even if Wang Yan had no such thoughts at all, he couldn't stop them from speculating. Once they started overthinking, he would become suspicious and insecure, and then he would lose all his resolve. As the saying goes, a thousand-mile dike is breached by an ant hole; once a breach occurs, it can never be contained…

Shi Dakai was led through the palace at a leisurely pace, listening to the introductions of his surroundings. They continued in this manner until they reached the Hall of Preserving Harmony, where he met Wang Yan.

"It's been a long time, General Shi."

"It hasn't been long, less than two years now. It feels like just yesterday I last saw you in Wuchang, and now you've achieved so much."

Wang Yan laughed heartily: "Life is full of ups and downs, how can you predict it?"

"We still have a long way to go. In the past, foreigners were so powerful. They forced the Qing Dynasty to sue for peace and sign a treaty with only 20,000 men, allowing them to ride roughshod over us. We used to think that foreigners were invincible, but ever since we started developing industry, they have become afraid. If we continue to develop, we will become even stronger one day. We have more people and more guns, but we just can't get past them."

I believe that sooner or later, we will have our own ironclad warships, and then we will lord it over the foreigners. We'll rise through the ranks, and by then, we'll surely never fall behind again.

Shi Dakai's words were prescient; it would be impossible to rebel in the future. It's like the great United States, where when things are bad, they resort to robbery, yet no rebellious organization has emerged to overthrow the government.

Ideology is one aspect, firepower is another, and technology is yet another.

"We'll have to wait and see what happens in the future. But one thing is certain: if we can take to the foreigners' homeland, we definitely won't let them have an easy time."

Wang Yan waved his hand, "Let's get down to business. The war in the south is all your responsibility..."

"Sir, it's the Second Master who's in charge..."

"You know I don't like to mince words. If you've done something, you've done something. Even if Zhao Erhu is my sworn brother, that doesn't erase your contributions. He's watching you, and it's good enough if he doesn't hold you back. If it's your achievement, then acknowledge it."

"For over a year, you have devoted yourself wholeheartedly, fighting your way all the way to the South China Sea. Your contributions are truly immense. In principle, your merits would be enough to warrant the title of Prince, but considering the Heavenly King's influence, we will bestow upon you the title of Duke, a rank above all else. That would be the highest you can attain."

"Heavenly King..."

"Don't overthink it. The past was just a matter of differing perspectives. I don't know exactly what you were thinking, and I didn't ask the Heavenly King about it. Now that you're together again, you're old brothers who went through thick and thin together back then. How could you really stop seeing each other? I don't have that many taboos, and I believe you don't have any thoughts of rebellion or that you have that many rules."

"Then I'll go visit the Heavenly King in a bit."

"Go ahead, have a good talk."

After a brief chat, Shi Dakai left.

Then came Lord Di, Lord Jiang...

This was after they returned with Zhao Erhu and Shi Dakai. After waiting for two days, it was finally time to meet them. They were all high-ranking officials who had previously opportunistically helped Wang Yan, reducing casualties and saving time for Shi Dakai's army. Their contributions should be acknowledged.

On the other hand, with the new dynasty newly established, it is precisely the time when people are in need. It is the right thing to use those who are capable first and get this old and broken machine running again.

As for the aging of the parts mentioned above, they can be replaced while driving.

So it wasn't as low as Di and Jiang thought, nor as high as they dreamed of, but they were still truly in charge of a whole host of affairs, pushing forward the empire's reforms and development, burning their lives as cogs in this machine.

And there are many people like them in the new dynasty...

　I want to express my sincere gratitude to all the kind readers who have given me generous support through tips, monthly tickets, recommendation tickets, and those who have been reading quietly!

　　(End of this chapter)