Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 226 I am also a cow and a horse
"Your wife is pregnant, so I have prepared a gift for you." After sending the missionary away, Li Heng listened to the report of the people from the Honglu Temple on the preparatory work. It was done in a short while, and he began to build a relationship with Jia Lian.

The trip to Liangjiang was a huge gain for Li Heng. Mainly because he saw the true face of the grassroots gentry. Then the officials must be members of the gentry, so we can infer what kind of people the officials' families are.

It was for this reason that the actions of Yunyang Prefecture shocked Li Heng and made him realize why Jia Lian was favored.

It is impossible to bring him under his command to work as a slave, as he is his father's slave. Li Heng only wants to maintain a good relationship with Jia Lian.

In Jia Lian's impression, Li Heng is a very smart person. After leaving the palace and setting up his own household, he grew up very quickly. Although it is difficult to change one's nature, he can only believe that he is true if he can pretend to be polite and courteous all his life.

Although there are flaws in the cooperation between the two sides, it is generally good.

Jia Lian was no longer so distant during the conversation. He didn't want to talk about his own family, so he changed the subject directly: "Your Highness likes Hu Ji? I can get the trust of the Western Regions and have someone pick a few good ones and send them to your door."

Li Heng's thoughts were seen through, and he looked around guiltily. When no one was around, he whispered, "Western Hu girls are very conservative and cover their faces. This Western Hu girl is bold and fresh, so I took a few more glances at her."

Jia Lian smiled slightly and asked in a low voice: "Is it big?"

Li Heng was caught off guard and nodded instinctively. When he realized what was happening, his face turned red.

Jia Lian went on to say, "I advise Your Highness not to have any thoughts about her. That woman is a gypsy girl. Her status in this dynasty is that of a lowly person. If what the missionary said is true, she is a prostitute. Western noble women lead a decadent life, and their husbands are often proud of their wives having lovers. Promiscuous sex leads to syphilis, and the second daughter may have it. Your Highness, if you want a Western Hu Ji, you can ask the missionary for it."

Li Heng didn't quite understand and didn't know about the existence of the saint. Jia Lian didn't continue to explain and prepared to leave work early.

I've been busy lately and it's rare for me to have some free time. Why should I work myself to death?

It is meaningless to pursue progress at a young age. If you don't seek progress now, but want to be a third-rank official by the age of 30, that would be considered rapid progress. Being in a high position at a young age is not a good thing.

Li Heng hadn't seen Jia Lian for a while, so naturally he was unwilling to let him go and insisted on treating him to a meal.

Jia Lian threatened him helplessly: "You have official duties to attend the banquet. Your Highness should think about how to deal with the French envoys. If you deal with them properly, you will be pleased with your majesty. If you deal with them improperly, you will be charged with a crime for feasting in broad daylight."

Li Heng suddenly realized it and bowed quickly, saying, "Brother Jia, please teach me!"

Okay, don’t call yourself lonely anymore.

"It's very simple. Four words: When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Since you are in our dynasty, you should respect the etiquette of our dynasty. It doesn't matter if you don't know how to do it. Just learn slowly until you can do it. In short, you must not make any mistakes. This matter can be big or small. I heard that the Second Prince is doing well in the central bank and many court officials praise him. The Prince is just starting to gain momentum, so you must not be careless."

These words were quite rare, as Jia Lian never got involved in such matters before.

Li Heng was immediately delighted when he heard this, thinking, "Jia Lian is on my side."

How to say this, Jia Lian certainly hopes that Li Heng will come to power. After all, he has no contact with Li Yuan at all. It seems that the subordinates of that prince are all so-called famous ministers who look down on him, and most of them are remnants of the Fang party.

When Li Yuan was mentioned, Li Heng could not help but show his worry: "My second brother is known as a wise king, but I am far inferior to him."

Jia Lian obviously lacked confidence after hearing this, so how could he do that? He quickly encouraged him: "Your Majesty is in the prime of life. As a prince, it is not a good thing to be called a wise king. If it snows in June and a few snowflakes fall on your head, it will be a great honor for the king."

Li Heng didn't quite understand and looked puzzled. Jia Lian looked around and knew that Zhuzi was standing at the door, so he lowered his voice and said, "The more the Second Prince is supported by the court officials, the more he will be feared. Now that the Second Prince is in the central bank, if the approval is not strict, something will definitely go wrong in the future. You must know that these people have money to make money, and there are people in their family who are officials in the court. Think about the Shanxi merchants in the former Ming Dynasty. If you have nothing to do, read the "Taizu Shilu" more often, you will definitely benefit a lot."

After hearing this, Li Heng fell into deep thought. Jia Lian's words could be said to have pointed out a way forward.

The key to whether or not he could inherit the throne naturally lay with his father. Didn't Jia Lian tell him how to gain his father's trust?

Learn from Taizu!
Li Heng, who had something on his mind, no longer thought about the Western concubine. He hurried home and asked someone to find a set of Taizu Shilu.

As for Li Yuan, Jia Lian analyzed it very clearly. Being supported by court officials is not a good thing.

After returning home, Li Heng quickly got the Taizu Shilu, carefully looked through the table of contents, and quickly found the relevant content.

[At that time, an imperial censor reported that many Shanxi merchants were smuggling Hu people. Taizu ordered Longjinwei to investigate and found solid evidence, and exterminated more than a hundred households.]

Just these few words made Li Heng break out in a cold sweat.

My father is similar to Taizu. Taizu wiped out more than a hundred Shanxi merchants back then. Today, Shanxi merchants still have a wide influence in the court. This is mainly due to the fact that during the reign of the retired emperor, the suppression of Shanxi merchants was stopped, which allowed Shanxi merchants to rise rapidly, so they are called Southern Hui and Northern Jin.

When the central bank was established, Shanxi merchants received strong support from the emperor, which led to the establishment of the current Shanxi Merchants Bank. The Liangjiang Bank, headquartered in Jinling, was mainly run by Huizhou merchants. However, Shanxi merchants are powerful and now have many tentacles in Liangjiang.

Li Heng thought of all this information instantly. Was Jia Lian hinting that the Shanxi merchants were cheering for the Second Prince?

Li Yuan was indeed excellent. His way of walking, sitting, lying down, and personality were very much what a civil official would like.

Thinking of this, Li Heng couldn't help but wonder, "If I get Jia Lian's help, will the nobles be on my side?"

Unfortunately, I still lack counselors around me. It is difficult to see through such a complicated situation.

After opening the government, Li Heng adopted a conservative strategy, so he was short of people around him. The main reason was that he, as a prince, lacked appeal. There was no future in following him, so naturally no civil officials were willing to join him. Those who wanted to join were those who had failed in their official careers.

In the study, Jia Lian held a scroll in his hand, put it down and sighed, "A careful reading of the "Taizu Shilu" will reveal the current world."

The founder of our dynasty won the world on horseback, which means he was a man of both civil and military talents. Of course, people are constantly improving through practice, but some people are more talented and improve faster, while others are less talented and improve slower.

In Jia Lian's opinion, Li Heng is the one with high talent, while Li Yuan is the one with low talent, or he has become stupid because of reading too much and has been PUA'd.

Scholars have a sense of family and country, and generally put their family first. This is not wrong. As an emperor, he must try to make the pie bigger, rather than fighting for involution.

(PS: I find it funny when someone says I am whitewashing the Qing Dynasty. How did the current territory map come about? Do you have any misunderstanding about the word "Taotong"? Corruption and incompetence are corruption and incompetence, but it is also a dynasty that inherited the Chinese Taoism in history. If you insist on kicking it out, that is selling out the country. I advise such people to read more books to avoid being laughed at. The people who really whitewashed the Qing Dynasty mentioned the so-called 400 million population. They did not mention the global temperature and living standards at that time. Where did the term "eating bran and swallowing vegetables" come from?)
The Qing Dynasty is a typical example of internal competition. As a non-mainstream nation, it has made all kinds of ridiculous operations. Taking the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 as an example, the Qing government was actually more on guard against the Beiyang government. During the New Deal in the late Qing Dynasty, it even created a royal cabinet, which completely discouraged the constitutionalists.

Jia Lian read the Records of Taizu and felt quite happy. He didn't need to worry about making the cake, but mainly considered how to divide it.

When the emperor was in power, he was always squandering money, and basically squandered all the wealth that Taizu had saved. When Jiaqing came, he would kowtow to him. Why was it Jiaqing instead of Qianlong? Because Qianlong left Heshen for Jiaqing.

This is a long story. The problem Jia Lian faces is how to take advantage of d'Artagnan's visit to push the Great Zhou towards the sea.

Why did they head for the sea instead of expanding to the Western Regions? The reason is simple: cost. Ocean transportation has the lowest cost.

Many people read historical articles without considering the cost issue at all, which is not acceptable.

Any action must take into account costs, not only the court's income, but also the people's income.

When any emperor is in power, if the people below him oppose something, it often means that the interests of the majority are affected. In reality, you can see it with your eyes. (Hint: I am busy with the house rights protection recently, so the update is often a little late.)
The majority I am talking about here does not refer to ordinary people, but to the majority of vested interests.

You are a person with no power, no influence and no money, so don't take yourself too seriously. You have been represented at the hearing.

The next morning, Jia Lian went into the palace first, after all, he had received the emperor's order.

When I met the emperor smoothly, I felt that the emperor's eyes always had a bit of the flavor of an employee asking for salary.

Jia Lian quickly reflected on himself and realized that he had indeed not been to the palace much recently. Wasn’t it because he was busy with work?

It explains in detail how Li Heng, headed by Li Heng, handled the affairs of the diplomatic mission, and analyzes the composition of the diplomatic mission and the contradiction between Western secular power and the church.

"After the plague pandemic in the Middle Ages, the power of the Holy See has been greatly weakened since the Italian Renaissance. Although France today still respects the church, in fact, structural changes have been found in power."

Emperor Chenghui didn't quite understand what Jia Lian said, so he raised his hand to interrupt him: "Tell me more about it, what is the Renaissance?"

Jia Lian thought for a moment and said, "It happened in the past hundred years or so. The Black Death caused a sharp decline in the population in the West. Western believers originally thought that the Church was omnipotent, but the Black Death spread widely and the church was powerless, which led to the birth of many philosophers in the folk. From their own perspectives, they started a literary and artistic movement. This then affected fields such as astronomy and geography. After the West started the great voyages, the huge amount of wealth plundered from all over the world further promoted the development of various thoughts brought about by the Renaissance. The huge benefits brought about by technological progress have promoted the further development of modern disciplines such as mathematics and physics. The development of these basic theories, in turn, has promoted the advancement of science and technology, and is mainly reflected in navigation and the military. When this dynasty saw it, the ships were strong and the guns were powerful."

Upon hearing about the powerful ships and cannons, Emperor Chenghui frowned slightly, but soon calmed down and said, "You mean, we should strengthen exchanges with France?"

Jia Lian shook his head: "No, France is a big country in the West, but it is strong on land and weak on sea. Our dynasty should face the whole West. We can learn from the strong. This is called learning the skills of foreigners to defeat them."

Social reform is too suicidal, Jia Lian would never touch it. In fact, Taizu is the best candidate.

But Jia Lian doesn't mind giving birth to a new interest group, using interests to push everyone forward. If you don't move, the money will be earned by others, and you may not even be able to keep your own money.

"Westerners are good at business and piracy. I think they cannot be treated as normal people, but they cannot be avoided either. Otherwise, one will win while the other loses, and in time, future generations will suffer. If they want to do business, then do it. If they want to rob, then kill them. Holding the scarce goods in one hand and the guns in the other, this is the correct way to deal with the West."

Jia Lian didn't believe it. I kept saying that if I kept sticking to this argument, it would definitely be effective over time.

Emperor Chenghui asked, "Why did you suggest that the embassy go to the Ottoman Empire?"

Jia Lian said: "This empire connects Europe and Asia. It is big but not strong. We can be allies. Moreover, it does not cost our dynasty a penny. It is a good thing to be more considerate in etiquette. Why not do it? Through contact, we can get to know each other little by little, and know the strengths and weaknesses of our opponents. This is called knowing yourself and knowing the enemy. If we close our doors to the outside world, we will be blinded by a leaf and fail to see the mountain. The world is so big that China is not the only place. The supreme ruler of the world should be like the prosperous Tang Dynasty, not the Ming Dynasty."

Emperor Chenghui thought for a moment and said, "Keep an eye on Li Heng and don't let him cause any trouble. If there is any problem, you will be the one to be held accountable for the specific strategy."

Jia Lian was angry. If something goes wrong, I will take the blame, right? Well, you are the emperor, you have the final say, so I will just bear with it.

At this moment, Qiu Shian came in and said, "Your Majesty, great joy, great joy!"

Emperor Chenghui looked at him and asked, "Where does your happiness come from?"

Qiu Shian said: "The princess is not feeling well, the imperial physician examined her and said her pulse is positive."

Emperor Chenghui was indeed stunned. Since he ascended the throne, he had been working hard in the harem, but to no avail. The good news about Yuanchun showed that he was still capable. The ecstatic Emperor Chenghui glanced at Jia Lian and found that he looked dumbfounded. He was immediately displeased and thought angrily: I haven't been able to get it for many years, but he actually heard about it? Now facing the reality, he knows he was wrong, right?
Jia Lian was like a bolt of thunder. In the original novel, Yuanchun did not have any children.

I thought Emperor Chenghui was in poor condition, but I didn't expect that some land was not fertile enough.

This incident undoubtedly had a huge impact on Jia Lian. After all, everything had been distorted and the direction of the original work was no longer of reference value.

After Jia Lian came back to his senses, he saw the unfriendly look in Emperor Chenghui's eyes and quickly bowed: "Congratulations to Your Majesty!"

Emperor Chenghui raised his chin proudly and said, "Qiu Shian, reward the parents of Concubine Yuan..."

Now it all depends on ten months later. If she gives birth to a son, Yuanchun’s position as a royal concubine will be secure.

What Jia Lian was thinking about was whether Yuanchun could protect the child in the harem.

No, we have to increase the bribery of Qiu Shian and Xia Shouzhong. We can’t do it the same way as before.

This is really an unexpected surprise. It is a good thing, but also not a good thing.

If the baby is a princess, Jia Lian would think it is a good thing, but if the baby is a prince, it is hard to say.

(End of this chapter)