Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 234 Be Your Own Gravedigger

Jia Lian naturally had no good feelings towards the devils, and they were not worthy.

But what can I say? As for tools, one or two more doesn’t matter. If you can make a lot of money, why not do it?

Lin Yifu, who was kneeling on the ground, was feeling uneasy. He did not feel any resentment, but was thinking in his heart, I have stepped down from my seat, but this young nobleman from the Great Zhou still did not seem to be moved. He is indeed the top noble, and the money spent on the intelligence is worth it.

After meeting and chatting for a few words at the dock, Lin Yifu was keenly aware that the person in front of him was different. He spoke Mandarin and was surrounded by elite soldiers. Although there was an uncomfortable look in his eyes, Lin Yifu decided to seize this opportunity.

Jia Lian’s attitude is that if he knew there would be no results, he would try his best, just in case it could be of some use.

Jia Lian didn't care whether Lin Yifu, who came to visit him at the post station overnight, had a chance or not. What was the harm in giving it to him?
Japan is now in the Tokugawa Shogunate era, and the wounds from the beatings during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty have not yet fully healed.

"Tell me, what can you do for me? And what do you want from me?"

Jia Lian did not beat around the bush and started the discussion directly with the benefits. In this regard, Lin Yifu not only did not think there was anything wrong, but thought it was a normal development. You are a vassal who you have only met once, and you deserve to be treated with courtesy? If I were Jia Lian, I am afraid I would not even meet you.

"I can represent your interests in Japan and bring you huge business benefits. I hope to be qualified to do business freely in China."

To Jia Lian, these words were no different from fart. He couldn't help feeling a little disappointed. How dare this little guy make empty promises?

"Huge commercial benefits? Tell me, what are the huge benefits from trade with Japan?" Jia Lian resisted the urge to attack immediately, wanting to see what this guy could come up with.

"Hey, the upper country is rich in products. Japan is rich in silver, cotton cloth, tea, and porcelain. If we ship them here, we can make five times the profit. What Japan produces does not have much market demand in the upper country. The only thing that is still a little competitive is women. These industries are too risky. I want to do the copper coin business."

Hearing about [copper coin business], Jia Lian perked up a little. He had been in a lazy state, but now he was more energetic. He didn't care what the title was. His narrowed eyes also slightly opened: "Continue."

"In Japan, copper coins have the largest market. For example, one tael of silver in Dengzhou is worth 800 wen, while in Edo, it can only be worth wen. It may not seem like a big profit, but copper coins are small and easy to transport, so the actual profit is not small, and there are few competitors. People can't tell the difference between good and bad money, so there is plenty of room for maneuver."

Jia Lian raised his hand to interrupt him: "What is the standard for good money?"

"In the beginning, good money was made up of 60% copper and 40% lead. Since the founding of the Great Zhou Dynasty, good money has been made up of 40% copper and 60% lead. Private money among the people contains even less copper, which is inferior money." Lin Yifu is indeed knowledgeable. Jia Lian frowned slightly as he listened.

The principle that bad money drives out good money is understandable, but the issue of private money minting must be taken seriously.

There are people who do this business, even if it means getting beheaded. This is a market-driven behavior. If someone dares to mint copper coins privately now, they will dare to mint silver coins in the future. Don't even talk about anti-counterfeiting. How can the current technology of minting coins have such a high threshold?

With the current level of corruption, it is too easy for technology to leak out.

When the craftsmen were asked to develop stamping technology, the goal was not to cast coins, but to accumulate technology for making metal one-piece cartridge cases.

Judging from Jia Lian’s original intention, the real difficulty lies in chemistry. Without chemistry, there would be no primer, and without a primer, there would be no breech-loading rifle.

Nowadays, if you don’t have a breech-loading gun, how can you have the nerve to go out and fight for territory and market?

As far as the textile industry is concerned, the real competitive advantage of the Great Zhou should be cotton cloth. This is the product with the largest market, and the same is true for British woolen textiles. They have already used machines to weave, and the heyday of cotton cloth in the mid-Ming Dynasty is no longer there, and small textile owners including those in India will be beaten to pieces.

At present, the Great Zhou still has trade barriers, and European goods cannot enter on a large scale. The first to collapse is India.

Don't talk about the quality. In the face of low prices, quality is not very competitive.

The reason why the competitiveness of silk in the Great Zhou Dynasty is strong enough is not because of the advantages of industrial technology, but the advantages of the industrial chain. The fundamental reason why the Great Zhou Dynasty has not developed machine production is that labor is cheap and there are a large number of old textile machines. Why should we use new machines when the problem can be solved by manpower? In addition, the quality of machine production is not guaranteed at the beginning.

As a human being, if you can make money while lying down, would you rather stand?

People who are engaged in the textile industry today are not yet considered capitalists. They can only be said to be workshop owners, and can barely be considered petty bourgeoisie.

The Zhou Dynasty was similar to previous dynasties in that its attitude towards merchants was defensive.

This is also one of the directions that Jia Lian is working hard on, to loosen up the restrictions on merchants a little. As the saying goes, everything should be done in moderation.

"Well, don't worry about the business you mentioned. Come with me to the capital and we'll talk about it when we come back." Jia Lian didn't agree with Lin Yifu immediately, but he decided to take him with him. The Japanese are not good at other things, but they are definitely good at being dogs.

Of course, you have to put a collar on it, otherwise it will bite you.

After returning to the capital, Jia Lian could not go home immediately, but went directly to the palace to ask for an audience with Emperor Chenghui.

On the way back, Jia Lian had already received news about the major events that had recently occurred in the capital.

I can't help but sigh that Emperor Chenghui's political skills are really powerful. In order to clear the debts, he dared to take action against the gentry, which also required great perseverance. Ordinary people simply can't bear this kind of pressure, even if you are the emperor.

Even as powerful as Emperor Chenghui, he has only changed bit by bit since he ascended the throne, just like a pawn crossing a river, step by step.

This fully demonstrates that the more complex the environment, the more patience and strategic determination are needed.

From the perspective of the struggle between the two emperors, Emperor Chenghui had the advantage of age, and he was not in a hurry. He was anxious about how to improve the country's financial situation. When this situation was promoted with the promotion of coinage, and one silver dollar was directly used as one tael of silver, the financial difficulties had been greatly alleviated. Of course, this was only a stopgap measure. If a new track was not found, the difficult situation would soon return.

The case of Wu Yuhui, the former governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, was gradually uncovered.

Lin Ruhai, who was in charge of the case, was also under tremendous pressure, as can be seen from his memorial to the emperor.

[Preliminary investigation confirmed that the amount involved in the case was as high as 30 million taels.]

The term of office of a governor is three years. Since the Great Zhou Dynasty, the average annual fiscal revenue has been 60 million taels. In other words, in three years, Wu Yuhui and his subordinates, through their hands and feet, embezzled half of the annual fiscal revenue. There are more than 100 officials involved in the case, and Lin Ruhai has arrested more than 50 of them.

The worst part of this case is that there were three consecutive years of disaster reports, but only the first year was a real disaster. The government policies and relief were not used for disaster relief, but were directly distributed. During the three years, local officials and gentry still collected taxes exempted by the government, and not a penny less. This forced countless people to sell their children, lose their homes, and their families were destroyed.

The amount of money Wu Yuhui personally embezzled has been verified to be five million taels, and there is still a lot that has not been investigated. Shaanxi and Gansu are not rich, and can even be said to be poor provinces. This is no longer just squeezing the land, it is squeezing the land.

Under normal circumstances, it would be understandable if you said you were defrauding the government for relief, but the key point is that you defrauded the relief money, so you should at least give the victims something to eat, right? Even a bowl of rice porridge?

The governors and three officials of the two provinces have basically all escaped, and the Dragon Guards are arresting people according to the list.

When Emperor Chenghui met Jia Lian, he naturally pushed the memorial in front of him to look at.

"Take a look at Lin Ruhai's memorial."

After reading it, Jia Lian understood the difficulty of Emperor Chenghui. The case was too big. Once it was completely spread out, the impact would be too bad. If so many officials were beheaded, it would be a big deal.

Jia Lian saw anxiety between the lines of Lin Ruhai's words, especially [Nowadays, civil unrest continues in various places, and robbers appear on the main roads from time to time. The private escort business is booming. I am afraid that the incident in Yunyang will happen again, and I implore Your Majesty to make a quick decision to keep the people safe. ]

"What do you think after reading it?" Emperor Chenghui rubbed his eyebrows and asked him in a low voice.

Jia Lian shook his head: "No, this is to be expected. The most urgent task is how to appease the people."

"What's the good plan?" Emperor Chenghui asked weakly, and Jia Lian answered equally weakly: "First, take action against the local tyrants. If that still doesn't satisfy the people's needs, then take action against the gentry."

After hearing this, Emperor Chenghui felt a headache and stood up angrily, "Can't you give me a more peaceful strategy?"

Jia Lian sneered and said, "Your Majesty, you should be thankful that there was no large-scale civil uprising during the three years of war in the Western Regions. Otherwise, you would have lost the war to quell the rebellion in the Western Regions without even having to fight."

Emperor Chenghui was speechless and sat back down silently: "Go on, there must be an explanation, right?"

Jia Lian knew that he agreed, so he continued, "What do you think? In daily local affairs, which one is not decided by the local tyrants and evil gentry? Nowadays, the people are unstable and bandits are everywhere. They enjoy the benefits brought by local power, so they should be responsible for the deterioration of local public security. They can't just enjoy the good things and the court pays for and sends people to quell the chaos, right?"

Seeing that Emperor Chenghui remained silent for a long time, Jia Lian added: "Why not cry together? Besides, this is a case of collusion between officials and gentry to deceive the court, which is tantamount to treason. Your Majesty, you can't treat this case as an ordinary corruption case. First, characterize it as treason! With this tone, Lord Lin can do his job freely."

Emperor Chenghui nodded: "Where are the officials? Where are all those officials?"

Jia Lian had an idea for this and answered quickly: "It's easy. Severely punish the main culprit, kill fewer people and exile more. I think the governor, provincial governor, and three officials involved in the case should all be beheaded, and the rest should be demoted to commoners, their corrupt gains should be recovered, and they should be exiled to the Western Regions."

Emperor Chenghui was surprised to hear this and said, "Why, you don't want to punish the entire clan? This is not your style."

Jia Lian jumped up immediately after hearing this: "Who made up this rumor? I am a gentle person."

Emperor Chenghui looked Jia Lian up and down and asked him curiously, "How can you, at such a young age, say such shameless words without changing your expression?"

Jia Lian's face was as black as the bottom of a pot, and he said angrily: "Your Majesty, some people are not human beings, but beasts. No, calling them beasts is unfair to them. Beasts are not capable of committing numerous crimes."

These words silenced Emperor Chenghui's interest, which had just improved a little. Yes, those people were not worthy of being called people.

It’s a pity that Emperor Chenghui didn’t know Aqina and Sethhei.

"In that case, write an imperial decree first, and let Wang Ziteng leave 3,000 troops under Lin Ruhai's command. All the local tyrants and evil gentry involved in this case will not be spared. Part of the seized property will be used for work-for-relief to relieve the people's temporary difficulties."

Many things are like this, once it works well, we will use it again and again.

At this point, when Jia Lian was about to leave, Emperor Chenghui suddenly asked, "This case involves a senior official in the capital."

Jia Lian trembled with fear: "Your Majesty, you cannot let me hear this."

Emperor Chenghui ignored him and continued: "I want to comprehensively reorganize the Beijing camp. You should go back and think about this issue carefully and come up with a strategy as soon as possible. The nobles and the country share the same fate. You can't just take advantage of it without contributing."

Jia Lian continued to resist: "Your Majesty, I am a civil official."

Emperor Chenghui gave him a rare stern look: "You are a nobleman."

Jia Lian understood, and after his unremitting efforts, he finally escaped the Jia family's original fate.

"Your Majesty, I think this is a matter of great importance and we should make a comprehensive plan. The old system of nobles leading troops can only provide temporary relief, not a long-term solution. We need to make corresponding changes."

Emperor Chenghui's expression changed drastically in an instant, and his eyeballs obviously shrank.

"speak!"

"Military power cannot be held in the hands of nobles for a long time. It is not enough for the court to simply hold military examinations. The winners of the military examinations should be retrained and furthered. A special royal military school should be established with Your Majesty as the principal. Those with outstanding results will be disciples of the emperor and start from the grassroots. In ten years, the nobles will be sidelined."

When Emperor Chenghui heard this, he was really shocked. This guy was too cruel. He was digging his own grave.

In the past, Jia Lian always said that he would serve the emperor with sincerity and loyalty, but Emperor Chenghui was unwilling to believe more than half of it. Now, he still did not believe it completely, but he believed it about 80%.

If this is not a loyal minister, who else can be a loyal minister?
"This matter must not be spread outside." Emperor Chenghui looked at Qiu Shian decisively and ordered. Qiu Shian nodded slightly and sighed. The two young eunuchs serving on the side had not yet realized that a disaster was about to happen.

"What if the nobles are dissatisfied with the current situation?" Emperor Chenghui asked again. This time it was not a test, but a real question.

"Your Majesty, if you want to raise a navy, you can order the nobles to go there. The older generation will not move, and the outstanding young men of the next generation will all go to the navy. In ten years, we don't ask that all the older generation will die, but at least half of them will die. Every twenty years, there will be a generation, and the Beijing camp will be continuously supplemented with military academy graduates. The problem of the nobles being too powerful to be eliminated can be completely solved."

Emperor Chenghui nodded in satisfaction: "After you go back, write a detailed report on what we talked about today."

Jia Lian was very upset when he heard this. It was you who really wanted to leave a written record, right? If you can't handle it in the future, you will use me as a scapegoat.

(End of this chapter)