Corrupt official in the Red Chamber

Chapter 302
Therefore, Jia Rui did not let Old Chen stand up, but crossed him and sat on the chair.

Seeing this scene, He Chaodong opened his mouth to say something, but looking at Jia Rui's expressionless face, he swallowed the words that came to his lips.

Old man Chen was also very scheming. Jia Rui didn't let him stand up, and he just knelt down regardless of his status.

At this time, a eunuch came in carrying a tea bowl and cakes.

After entering, the eunuch felt the dull atmosphere in the court room, which made him a little scared.

Finally, thinking of his errand, he could only walk to Jia Rui's side cautiously, and carefully placed the tea bowl and cakes on the table next to Jia Rui.

"Master Jia, what else do you need?"

Jia Rui waved his hand, and the eunuch quickly saluted Jia Rui as if he had been granted amnesty, and then hurriedly retreated.

At this time, Li Wanneng, the censor of Zuodu, came out. He glanced at Jia Rui, then walked to Old Chen's side and stretched out his hands to help Old Chen up.

Old Chen raised his eyes and looked at Li Wanneng, and then there was a hint of meaning in his eyes.

Li Wanneng had been in the court for decades, but with just this look, he knew what to do.

"Old sir, you are so old. There is no need to kneel here. I don't think Mr. Jia will make it difficult for someone of your age."

"Ahem," Old Man Chen coughed a few times, and then said in a very weak and sad voice: "I'm just a commoner. Without Master Jia's instructions, how can I dare to stand up?"

Li Wanneng sighed, then straightened up and said in a deep voice to Jia Rui: "Mr. Jia, you are a bit over it. You must know that Mr. Chen has followed the Supreme Emperor for a long time and has made great contributions to the Supreme Emperor. How can you Is this how you treat a meritorious official?"

Jia Rui picked up the teacup and took a sip, then slowly placed the teacup on the table and glanced sideways at Li Wanneng.

"You are the imperial envoy of Zuodu. Who knows the laws and regulations of the imperial court? What do you think a common person should do when he sees me?"

Li Wanneng was immediately stunned by Jia Rui's question.

When a common man saw a leader like Jia Rui, he would of course kneel down and kowtow.

Not to mention ordinary people, even lower-ranking officials had to kowtow when they saw Jia Rui.

Everyone in the room heard clearly that Jia Rui wanted Old Man Chen to kowtow to him.

Old Chen looked up sadly and angrily at the officials all around who were looking at each other, then crawled a few steps to the side, knelt in front of Jia Rui, and then kowtowed to Jia Rui three times.

Jia Rui smiled with satisfaction, then gave him a gentle support, "Mr. Chen, you have been wronged. You can stand up."

Old man Chen tried to get up tremblingly, but because he was old and had been kneeling for a long time, his legs were a little numb, and he suddenly lost his balance and threw himself on the ground.

Fortunately, Li Wan next to him had quick eyesight and quick hands. He grabbed Old Chen's arm and prevented him from touching the ground with his face.

The scene that happened in the court room has been reported to the Supreme Emperor by spies from outside.

At this time, the Supreme Emperor was changing into court clothes in Longshou Palace.

While changing into court clothes, he listened to the reports from the eunuchs below.

When he heard the conflict between Jia Rui and Old Man Chen, the Supreme Emperor frowned.

Chen Guozi became more and more out of tune as he got older. He had a conflict with Jia Rui just after he came back, and it was he who provoked Jia Rui in the first place.

Now that Jia Rui has taught him a lesson, he starts to act pitiful again.

However, Chen Guozi has made outstanding contributions over the years, so the Supreme Emperor has to give him some face.

It seems that Jia Aiqing has to be wronged today.

Then the Emperor's Luan Jia set off from Longshou Palace, bypassed the red wall, and came to Qianqing Gate.

The emperor's chariot was already waiting here. When he saw the Supreme Emperor coming, he quickly got out of the car and waited at the roadside.

The Supreme Emperor got off the chariot with the support of Zhao Jin, and then nodded to the emperor, and then the father and son entered the main hall through the back door of Qianqing Gate.

At this time, dozens of ministers were already standing in the Qianqing Gate Hall.

As the head of the civil service, Jia Rui stood at the front on the left hand.

Because Old Man Chen is white, although he was able to enter the hall today, he could only stand at the back of the civil servants.

The Supreme Emperor went up the imperial steps and sat firmly on the throne in the middle, with the Emperor sitting beside him.

Then Zhao Jin took Fuchen and stood in front of the imperial steps, shouting down below: "If you have a book, you will play early, but if you don't have a book, you will leave the court."

As soon as he finished shouting, Jia Rui came out of the class and said, "Your Majesty, Jia Rui, has the skills."

"If you have a copy, please bring it up." The Supreme Emperor said absentmindedly.

"Report to Your Majesty, Your Majesty: A few days ago, pirates invaded the counties along the coast of Fujian, causing casualties. Seeing that the scale of the pirates is not small, I think this kind of thing will happen again in the future, so I ask you to build warships, train sailors, and build Navy, guard the enemy outside the country's gates."

As soon as Jia Rui finished speaking, the three bachelors, He Chaodong, Li Chengyang, and Zhu Biao, were stunned.Wasn't there a good discussion at the cabinet yesterday?We had to move the people thirty miles away to avoid pirates. Why did we change it to training navy today?
When the Supreme Emperor heard Jia Rui's words, he immediately became energetic.

He stood up and walked to the imperial steps and asked, "My dear friends, do you have any suggestions for Jia Aiqing's method?"

The ministers below, now you look at me and I look at you, there is intense communication in the eyes.

After a while, someone finally stood up. He was none other than Li Wanneng, the censor of Zuodu.

This guy is a die-hard supporter of the current emperor and Jia Rui's main political opponent.

As long as Jia Rui supports it, Li Wanneng will always look for opportunities to oppose it. As long as Jia Rui objects, Li Wanneng will definitely support it with both hands.

This has become a common practice in the court.

"To report to Your Majesty, Your Majesty, Jia Rui's actions will waste people and money, and may not be a blessing to the imperial court."

Jia Rui's eyelids twitched when he saw this guy coming out to oppose him again, "Master Li, how do you know that wasting people and money, and how can you deal with those pirates without building a navy? Do you want the soldiers to swim over and fight the pirates' warships?" "

Li Wanneng glanced at Jia Rui coldly, then turned his head and raised his hands and said: "I think we should set up guard posts along the coast and train elite land soldiers. As long as we seize the opportunity to fight a few battles with these pirates, they will suffer losses." Tragic, this guy knows that our country is not easy to mess with, and will only die down in the end."

After hearing this, Jia Rui had to admit that Li Wanneng's method was also feasible.

On the earth plane, this method was adopted in the mid-Ming Dynasty. After several years of continuous invasion and seizure, the pirates at sea finally became wary and did not dare to invade at will.

However, this only alleviated the internal invasion of pirates. After that, pirates at sea became more prosperous, and several large pirates appeared. Each pirate even had thousands of warships. At that time, they could no longer be called ordinary pirates. pirates, and can even compete with the regular navies of some Western countries.

In the end, it was impossible to get rid of the pirates, and finally the court had to resort to recruiting tactics.

On the surface, the pirates surrendered to the imperial court, but they gave up sea power over the entire Ming Dynasty's waters. The Ming Navy had almost lost its sphere of influence and was left to the pirates.

Jia Rui raised his hands coldly and said: "Li Waneng's move can ensure temporary peace, but the money required is no worse than building a navy, and the result is only to make the coast less plundered by pirates, which is incompatible with the overall situation." There is no help.”

After the Emperor looked at Jia Rui with satisfaction, he turned to the Emperor and asked: "Which one of them do you think is right?"

The emperor lowered his head and thought for a moment, then raised his head and said, "I think what Li Wan said is reasonable."

"why?"

"Although the construction of a naval force mentioned by Jia Aiqing can eliminate pirates along the coast within a certain period of time, the cost of maintaining the navy is very high. After the pirates are eliminated, the navy will become a burden to the court."

"As for Li Wan, who can love you, it is different to arrange garrison posts along the coast to train elite troops. Even after the coastal areas are pacified, these elite troops can be transferred to the north or to places where the court's military strength is weak, so that the money invested by the court will not be in vain. .”

After hearing this, the Supreme Emperor's eyes lit up with admiration in his eyes.

To be honest, if he didn't want to provide an escape route for the losers in the fight for the throne, the Supreme Emperor wouldn't want to build a navy.

You know, the difficulties involved in building an army that has never existed from scratch can be imagined.

Just talking about those battleships is a big problem.

The Supreme Emperor turned his head and looked at Mr. Chen Guozi, who was standing at the end of the civil servants.

"Chen Aiqing, stop sitting at the back and come out and express your opinion."

With the words of the Supreme Emperor, Chen Guozi and old man Chen walked out from the back and knelt in the middle.

"Reporting to the Supreme Emperor, the common people believe that what Mr. Jia said is beneficial to the country and the people, and the common people completely agree."

Jia Rui, who was kneeling in front, was very surprised when he heard what Old Man Chen said. He had insulted him just now, and now he was saying nice things to him. What was this guy thinking?

The Supreme Emperor, who was standing on the imperial steps, was very satisfied after hearing what Old Man Chen said.

"Jia Aiqing's words deeply resonate with my heart. I ordered all provinces to collect boatmen and send them to Tianjin Guards to build warships for the imperial court."

After saying this, he issued another decree, "Order the governor of Fujian to recruit 3 coastal fishermen and transport them to Tianjin for rigorous training."

As soon as the Supreme Emperor finished speaking, Zhao De'en, the Minister of Household Affairs, shouted from below: "My minister, Zhao De'en, has his foundation."

When the Supreme Emperor saw it was Zhao Deen, he knew what this guy wanted to say.

Therefore, the Supreme Emperor did not give Zhao Deen a chance to speak, "The Ministry of Revenue only needs to provide 20 taels per year for the cost of building naval warships and training sailors, and the rest will come from my internal treasury."

After hearing what the Supreme Emperor said, Zhao Deen finally had nothing to say. Although the court was in difficulty, 20 taels of silver could still be obtained.

"My dear friends, do you have anything else to say?" The Supreme Emperor asked from above.

The ministers below were all silent, indicating that they had nothing to say.

"Since you have nothing to say, I will make another announcement."

After hearing this, the ministers, as if they had telepathy, turned their attention to old man Chen Guozi who was kneeling there.

(End of this chapter)