Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 225 Western Logic
This training class was extremely successful, and the next one will be held soon, so there will definitely be no shortage of people.

The second generation has become more honest, but Tongzhou is still a mixed bag with all kinds of people, including demons and monsters.

Public security has improved, and the reason is naturally due to the enthusiasm of the Five Cities Military Affairs Department.

The new study class members are quite mixed, mainly gang leaders.

These people are not like the second generation, they will resist.

Jia Lian took advantage of this and arrested a group of people. They were all quite old, the kind that sat in the first seats when the incense hall was opened.

As for the poor people at the bottom, no one was arrested. Even if someone was arrested, they were beaten up, detained for a day and then released. They were also given treatment and medical expenses. Anyway, they were treated differently. With the name of the government, it was calmed down without causing too much trouble.

There is a piece of news circulating among the people that Lord Jia of the Five Cities Military Department has always enforced the law impartially and never targeted the poor people.

"All names will be registered, and these people will have to attend classes for short-term training regularly in the future. This should become a system."

In the eyes of the government, gangs are just rags, used when they are useful and thrown aside when they are not.

Jia Lian viewed gangs as a potential threat to social order, and he would crack down on them whenever he could and generate income at the same time.

The gang leaders were quite powerful, but once they entered the Wucheng Bingmasi, they all behaved themselves.

This is the deterrent power of the government!
After two months of hard work, the scale of the class grew larger and larger. The second term reached 200 people, divided into four classes, with tuition fees of 300 taels, 200 taels, 100 taels, and 50 taels respectively. The prices were determined according to the wealth of these people and tailored to their needs.

Not to mention the superiors in the Censorate, even his colleagues in the Five Cities Military Department all had their backs sprained by Jia Lian's continuous outrageous actions.

In the study class, there is no one who does not desire to make progress and strive for advancement.

For those who were stubborn and unyielding, Jia Lian neither beat nor scolded them, but locked them up in a small dark room for three days. After they came out, they all behaved well.

The kind of house where you can't see anyone and no one talks to you except for three meals a day, many people will collapse after living there for just one day.

If three days doesn't work, what about ten days? You'll drive even the best people crazy with your torture.

Jia Lian's reputation is polarized. One side praises him. The crime rate in the capital has dropped drastically. In the past, the young thugs who would go out with servants and touch any person they met, regardless of whether they were a human or a ghost, are now rarely seen. Those gangs that used to fight for territory and often used weapons have now learned to sit down and negotiate over tea.

As a result, word spread that Lord Jia's governance was effective and that public security in the capital had greatly improved.

Another kind of insult to Jia Lian is very ugly. The label of money-hungry is simply stuck on Jia Lian's forehead. In other words, no one can beat him, otherwise many people would have made Jia Lian half paralyzed.

The Wucheng Bingmasi were relatively united internally. After all, their social status and treatment had improved.

This fully demonstrates the importance of having a good leader.

His reputation among the people was even higher. In taverns and teahouses, many storytellers received favors from Jia Lian and naturally praised him.

The situation with newspapers was different. On one side was the Minsheng Daily, which promoted Jia Lian's positive image. On the other side were all kinds of newspapers. They didn't dare to mention names and could only make sarcastic comments.

By the way, after the Minsheng Newspaper set a precedent, private newspapers sprang up like mushrooms after rain, at the latest there were seven or eight, and now there are more than thirty. Even this was preserved because Jia Lian gave Emperor Chenghui the idea to establish an access system. At the peak, there were seventy or eighty newspapers, and management was non-existent.

Speaking of which, the Ministry of Rites should thank Jia Lian, as his suggestion was equivalent to generating income for the Ministry of Rites.

Anyone who has run a newspaper knows that most newspapers are a loss-making business unless they have advertising revenue.

Minsheng Daily received subsidies from the palace and employed a group of newspaper boys. With sufficient sources of information, it was naturally a leader in the industry.

From the perspective of newspapers, Jia Lian's reputation is still very positive. Those newspapers that slander Jia Lian are mostly believed by those who like to hunt for novelties. Rumors such as "he risked his life for the twin sisters" are absolutely non-existent.

Nan Ruyan, Nan Rushui, these names are obviously stage names. The two sisters have forgotten their real names. They were sold by their parents when they were three years old, so it doesn’t matter what their real names are.

The lives of the sisters have changed a lot. They now live in a separate courtyard with seven or eight people serving them. The show still needs to be performed, but now there will be no blind people seeking death in the audience.

This is mainly due to the fact that every time a troublemaker appears, he will be taken to the Wucheng Bingmasi for a study class. After so many times, they all become obedient.

The reason why Chunxiao Theater is doing so hot is definitely not because of the good operas, but because of this pair of sisters.

It was rumored that the sisters were kept by Jia Lian, and the story was so vivid and full of details.

The Nan sisters certainly knew this best. They had not seen Jia Lian since the last time they met him at the Wucheng Bingmasi.

All the changes in life were arranged by Ni Er.

After settling down, Ni Er reported to Jia Lian, hoping that he would have time to inspect.

In response, Jia Lian said that he was very busy recently and had no time to inspect.

Jia Lian is not a good person, but he is really busy. He can slack off at work, but he cannot skip work. He goes home directly after get off work. Ping'er and Guixiang take turns to indulge him at night, which is when the novelty is strongest. In other words, Jia Lian is quite restrained. Given the current situation in the Jia family, it is not difficult for Jia Lian to change one every day.

Summer came, and Jia Lian's peaceful life was broken.

The cause of the incident was that Li Heng came back, and he came back alone, bringing back a foreign envoy.

Normally, this matter had nothing to do with Jia Lian, and it was the job of the Ministry of Rites. Unexpectedly, when Li Heng entered the palace to meet the emperor, he mentioned, "The only person in the court who knows the West well is Jia Lian."

Emperor Chenghui immediately announced that he would order Jia Lian to temporarily take charge of the Honglu Temple and be in charge of receiving Western envoys.

Apart from anything else, this matter directly made Jia Lian take the blame and offended the people in the Honglu Temple.

You can do it, right? You have the ability to do all the work. Of course, they just complained privately, because Jia Lian made them look incompetent. It's not Jia Lian's fault. It's mainly because these people have no problem receiving people from small countries and tribes around them, and they are familiar with the situation, but there are very few people who are familiar with the Western side. The key is that this guy is a disaster!

Jia Lian, who was about to leave work early, was stunned when he received the imperial edict. What the hell has this got to do with me?

After slipping a silver note to the eunuch who delivered the imperial edict, he learned what had happened and was so angry that he privately cursed Li Heng for being a human being.

In any case, Jia Lian couldn't refuse this task, so he had to go to the Honglu Temple the next day.

When he met the Minister of Honglu Temple, Jia Lian apologized repeatedly, saying that he had no prior knowledge of the matter and that it was just a temporary assignment.

What else could the Minister of the Honglu Temple do? He could only ask Taoist priests and monks to perform rituals at home at night.

He announced to the public that his child was possessed by an evil spirit and he had asked someone to exorcise the evil spirit. Jia Lian just smiled for the sake of face, turned around and took out his little notebook and wrote down the name of the Minister of Honglu Temple.

Damn, since I can’t take off the hat of “Disaster Star” anyway, I might as well just run wildly on the inhuman path.

"This Western envoy claims to be from the French Empire, which is consistent with the article you wrote."

Li Heng also joined the temporary reception team, claiming that he was here to study.

According to the rules, if a foreigner wanted to see Emperor Chenghui, the process was very complicated. They needed to learn the etiquette here and burn incense and bathe every day. Because he was the first envoy sent by a Western king himself, Emperor Chenghui paid more attention to him and treated him better.

"This person's team consists of 33 people. I sent people to investigate and found that half of them are Western monks. Westerners are all religious, and the so-called Pope has great power. I believe that the King of France has also been under pressure from the Vatican."

Li Heng introduced the situation as he walked.

Jia Lian kept nodding all the way, calculating in his mind that the person at this moment was the founding father of the Ugly Country, the Sun King Louis XVI.

If we calculate the time again, this is almost the time of the Boston Tea Party, right?

Thinking of the precious land of North America, Jia Lian's mouth watered. If nothing else, San Francisco was mouth-watering.

In the hall of the Honglu Temple, after learning more about the situation, Jia Lian knew that these people had been settled in and could be seen at any time.

Speaking of these Westerners, the biggest annoyance of the Honglu Temple officials was that they smelled too strong. Those foreigners who came to China in the early years were used to taking baths here, so their body odor was not that strong. These envoys were different. They probably hadn't taken a bath for a while, and they almost scolded the reception staff of the Honglu Temple to death.

Yesterday I was busy forcing them to take a shower. If they didn’t take a shower or wash their hair, or if they didn’t scrub it clean, I would threaten them not to eat.

Fortunately, the Western envoy was quite cooperative and did not cause any trouble. Of course, it was mainly because the Zhou Dynasty was too famous. In those days, Westerners had a fantasy of an ideal country for the East.

The more famous one is in the intellectual world, the more he will mention Eastern Ceres when criticizing the system. This ancient name was popular for a long time before it was changed.

Facing Jia Lian, Li Heng was willing to be his deputy, sitting at the bottom, waiting to meet the French envoy.

Jia Lian firmly opposed this, believing that Li Heng must be the leader of this matter, otherwise he would go on strike.

Li Heng couldn't continue his poor version of respecting the wise and humble, so he reluctantly took the seat in the first seat.

The interpreter hired by the Honglu Temple was a missionary who had been in China for more than ten years and could speak fluent Chinese.

When asked his name, it turned out that it was not Lang Shining, but Frye, and he took a Chinese name, Hu Lai.

Jia Lian was a little disappointed that he lost the opportunity to get a painting for free!
The French envoys showed up, not one, but five. Leading was a man and a woman, followed by three men dressed as missionaries.

"I am D'Artagnan, sent by the Sun King Louis XVI to meet the great Emperor Ceres in the Great Zhou Dynasty. I have brought gifts from the king and hope to be received by the emperor of your country as soon as possible."

The tall d'Artagnan was a very direct man. He stated his identity and purpose right away.

Jia Lian listened calmly, without commenting, but thinking about the name D'Artagnan, isn't this the Three Musketeers? And the woman, Esmeralda, isn't this the name in Notre Dame de Paris?

Well, maybe when Dumas was creating the work, he just picked the name randomly from the folk.

The three missionaries were indeed sent by the Pope, hoping to be allowed to preach in China.

After Li Heng and the others finished speaking, he did not immediately express his opinion, but nodded slightly, turned around and asked Jia Lian: "How is it?"

Jia Lian did not answer immediately, but said to D'Artagnan: "Esmeralda, isn't this name gypsy? How did it become a French noble, a countess? Which count would marry a gypsy?"

After Jia Lian spoke, Frye was the first to be confused. He subconsciously said to himself: "Yes, why did I forget this?" Then he quickly said to Jia Lian: "The young master is really a scholar. He knows Western customs without being there."

Jia Lian waved his hand to interrupt his flattery and said directly: "Tell d'Artagnan that he is dishonest and wants to elevate his mistress's status. It would be better to change his name to a better one."

Li Heng didn't say anything, but he stared at her chest honestly, muttering, "It's immoral, immoral!" Westerners may not necessarily have big breasts, but Esmeralda in front of him was definitely above average. According to modern standards, she was a 36D. With the contrast of the clothes, she looked even more unfathomable.

Jia Lian had seen it many times in his previous life, but this was the first time he saw it in this life, but he just took a glance.

The foreign woman's perfume smelled so strong that Jia Lian couldn't help sneezing several times.

Frye translated Jia Lian's original words without any psychological burden.

D'Artagnan was immediately shocked, Esmeralda looked terrified, especially Frye who threatened them: "It's a good thing you didn't see the emperor. If you had seen the emperor and said the same thing, it would be deceiving the emperor, which is a capital crime."

Seeing Esmeralda's pale face, Li Heng felt pity and said, "Okay, don't scare them. Ignorance is not a crime." Frye glanced at a Westerner standing behind Li Heng and knew that he had another translator with him. He restrained his exaggerated words and actions a little.

Jia Lian did not know French or Latin, and did not comment on Li Heng's statement. He was like, "If you ask, I will tell you that you don't know. I will just sit there and watch."

Interestingly, Jia Lian discovered that the three missionaries were actually gloating over other people's misfortune. The struggle between the power of the church and the secular power has always existed and is gradually intensifying.

After a brief exchange, Jia Lian hinted to Li Heng to send the envoy away and keep the missionary.

Since there is a conflict between you, you would be doing yourself a disservice if you don't take advantage of it.

As expected, the leading priest saw that D'Artagnan had left and complained directly, saying that they had warned D'Artagnan, but he relied on his envoy status to do what he wanted. The gypsy girl was brought back by him when he went ashore in Africa for fun. In short, she was not from a legitimate background.

In Jia Lian's memory, France relied on its Mediterranean advantages to develop colonies mainly in Africa, and later expanded to Southeast Asia. Today, France is also one of the European powers, but it is far inferior to Britain.

Jia Lian asked about the relationship between Britain and France again, and when the Protestants were mentioned, the missionaries gnashed their teeth.

Sure enough, heretics deserve to die more than pagans.

Heretics understand each other better and adopt more targeted policies.

Of course, if it were another occasion, Jia Lian firmly believed that the attitudes of these people would be different, and the pagans should all die. It's just that they were out of reach. Speaking of the French, there is another thing. The so-called idea of ​​bringing civilization to the backward and barren land is the excuse for the French to be colonized. And it was widely used in the process of Western colonization.

Damn it, I went to your house to burn, kill and rob in order to bring you the light of civilization.

This logic is truly Western.

(End of this chapter)