Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 236 Jia Lian's Insistence

Li Heng's face was filled with black lines. He immediately used the transfer method, pointed at Lin Yifu and asked, "Who is this?"

Without Jia Lian's permission, Lin Yifu didn't dare to step forward and could only look at Jia Lian expectantly.

Jia Lian introduced him casually: "He is a merchant from Japan. He is somewhat useful, but not very useful. I will tell you the details later. If you find him useful in the future, you can take him in as a servant."

You know what, when Lin Yifu heard the word "house slave", he was not angry at all, but looked happy instead.

Li Heng understood, waved his hand to signal the eunuch to take him to the side and wait, and led Jia Lian inside.

"You will be gone for a month. The French delegation is only one step away from meeting the emperor at the grand court."

Jia Lian twisted his lips and said, "It's such a hot day, you think I'm worried about you. Look at me, I'm all tanned."

After the servants served tea and left, Jia Lian lowered his voice and said, "The Japanese man is called Lin Yifu. He said that there are people who mint copper coins privately. You can report this to His Majesty and severely crack down on those who mint copper coins privately. It would be best if you take charge of this matter yourself and reach out to the Ministry of Revenue."

Li Heng suddenly perked up and asked, "Is this feasible?"

Jia Lian smiled and said, "Of course it is feasible. Your Majesty attaches great importance to finance. Nothing can be done without money. Private minting is equivalent to stealing money from the national treasury. How can we tolerate this? That Lin Yifu wants to do some copper coin business. The details are as follows..."

When Jia Lian spoke carefully, Li Heng's eyes became round and glowed. At night, you would have thought it was a flashlight.

"Can you earn ten thousand taels a month?" Li Heng was so excited that he trembled slightly. Jia Lian shook his head and said, "You're overthinking. Ten thousand silver dollars is about right. The official silver dollar price is one dollar for one tael, and the common people can only exchange it for eight coins. It's not realistic to ban the use of silver right now. In a dozen years, the court can completely ban the use of silver as currency."

"Ten thousand silver dollars is not a small amount. This deal is a success." Li Heng danced with excitement. Jia Lian interrupted him: "Don't be too happy too soon. It depends on whether you can get the position of ambassador for prohibiting private coinage. Don't underestimate this job. Once you get it, you will have a lot of room to play in the future."

Li Heng nodded repeatedly: "I don't need to." He didn't think at all why Jia Lian didn't do it himself and let him do it.

Is Jia Lian poor and generous? Really not. Jia Lian would never touch such a profitable business. As long as Li Heng does it for a while, others will follow suit. By then, the headache of the lawsuit will be Li Heng's business, and Jia Lian will be clean. To make money, Jia Lian would rather go into business and do some work.

Li Heng took it for granted that Jia Lian was already giving him advice, but because of his father's concern, he couldn't be too obvious and could only give him advice in private.

Did Emperor Chenghui know about this? Of course he knew. He would be more than happy if Jia Lian could be brought out to Li Heng.

Unlike the second brother, Li Yuan, no one knows what he does every day at the central bank. After get off work every day, he goes out to have a banquet with others as he did in the past.

The advantage of doing this is that it can quickly gather a group of merchants and people behind them to rely on it. The disadvantage is that Emperor Chenghui thinks this child is too smart, too smart. I asked you to go to the central bank to help you collect the money, not to let you make money.

After leaving Lin Yifu to Li Heng, Jia Lian went back and continued his writing career.

It's so miserable, really so miserable. Recently the storytellers have no new content to tell, but Jia Lian has to continue making up stories. He must let the people of the whole country remember that there was a Jia Sheng who was born as the top scholar and was a loyal minister. In contrast, a group of enemies, local tyrants, evil gentry, and corrupt officials united to fight against Jia Sheng.

This chapter is well written. The assassin broke into Jia's house at night and hid on the beam. Seeing that his study was simple, he knew that Jia was honest. The assassin was ashamed for a moment. He thought, "I also come from a poor family, so why should I assassinate an official who speaks and works for the poor?"

So the assassin left a letter and left!

Next chapter, next chapter will have a new female assassin! Yeah, that's it.

Will the content about the female assassin be 404?
Today is the third day of working at home. When Jia Lian sat up, he looked at Ping'er, who was already dressed neatly, with a melancholy look on his face.

"You worked very hard last night, how come you were able to get up early?"

Ping'er glanced at her crotch and said, "Is it because you don't get up early to wait for the master? You can't get up in the morning, you've become a lazy girl. The Second Madam said, don't be too accommodating to the Second Master, it will hurt your vitality in the future."

"Bullshit, I'm in good health, don't you know that?"

Jia Lian got up cursing, dressed and washed, did some morning exercises, checked the time, and then went out at a leisurely pace.

Just as I was leaving, I remembered that there was a grand court meeting today and the French envoy would pay homage to Your Majesty and present his credentials.

Because of the monsoon, these delegations took a year to travel, a year to get to the destination, and another year to return. It was too far, really too far. Jia Lian was very eager to use France to build a navy of the Great Zhou, but he couldn't rush to do it. Jia Lian felt that if he could see the results in 20 years, it would be a success.

Well, we can add timber to our trade with North Korea. It needs to be shade-dried and can be used for shipbuilding.

The Grand Court Meeting was actually very torturous, and was normally held once a month. It had no other meaning, it was just to allow the officials in Beijing to see the emperor. Emperor Chenghui, a hardworking man, usually held a small court meeting, that is, a cabinet meeting.

There are special circumstances at today's grand court meeting, so all officials in Beijing who can come should come, except Jia Lian.

Jia Lian, who requested to enter the palace, could only wait outside the palace for the grand court meeting to end in boredom. What a mistake. If I had known, I would not have come today.

D'Artagnan was a very flexible person, fully demonstrating what it meant to do as the Romans do. Isn't it just kowtowing to the Emperor of the Great Zhou? What's the big deal? As long as he can be granted a title when he returns, he will agree to do anything.

Of course, the official statement is very particular, this is called etiquette equality. In the Great Zhou, the etiquette of the Great Zhou is followed, and in France, the etiquette of France is followed. The attitude of the Ministry of Rites is very clear, the two monarchs are equal and are brotherly countries.

The words sounded good, but when it came to the specific trade amount, problems arose in the negotiations.

The officials of the Ministry of Rites, who were no longer completely ignorant of the West, said that because your country's naval power was insufficient, it would be difficult to bring the goods back safely even if you were given a quota. Unless you directly resell them in Nanyang, that would go against the original intention.

Of course, D'Artagnan would try his best to get it. Now everything has been negotiated, except for the trade quota.

At the court meeting today, after all the procedures were completed, D'Artagnan stood up from the ground and read the letter of credence. He did not leave immediately, but said loudly to Emperor Chenghui: "Your Majesty, the most honorable Emperor of the Great Zhou, the envoys of the friendly countries have something to report."

Emperor Chenghui, who was in a good mood, listened to the translation and immediately said, "Approved."

The translation was quite good. "As a friendly country, we should increase economic and trade exchanges. Now your officials are trying their best to obstruct us. I don't know why."

Emperor Chenghui was stunned, and turned his eyes to the Ministry of Rites. After realizing that this was just the opinion of the foreign envoy, Emperor Chenghui smiled and nodded: "I know what your Excellency has said, but I don't know the details, so I can't answer immediately. I will reply after I ask for the details."

D'Artagnan did not demand a result immediately, he just wanted to put pressure on him.

After all, a shipload of goods back to France would bring at least ten times the profit, so how could he not give up without fighting? As long as he could negotiate a certain trade amount, he would be a hero of the French people when he returned to Paris.

When Western merchant ships came to China for trade, you could not buy goods just because you had money. This was not a rule of the imperial court, but something that was created by the messy interest groups below. Deliberately restricting the trading of certain merchant ships was never a new thing.

When Jia Lian was getting impatient, Qiu Shian came out and called out from a distance: "Why don't you go in and bask in the sun outside?"

Jia Lian looked at him speechlessly, raised his hand and touched his neck to make sure it was still there.

Qiu Shian then laughed twice and led Jia Lian inside. How could one barge into the inner palace? The guards would not let him in.

Emperor Chenghui seemed to be in a good mood. When he saw Jia Lian, he nodded and said, "It's a good opportunity to come here. I have something to ask you."

When talking about D'Artagnan's request, Jia Lian shook his head: "I don't understand. I should ask the people in the Ministry of Revenue."

"I have asked, and they said there is no so-called quota, and the amount is determined by the rules of the local customs offices."

Jia Lian was confused. What's going on? Oh, this isn't free trade.

Emperor Chenghui was still talking to himself: "Now that the five ports are open for trade, only Guangzhou and Fuzhou are the most popular. There are few Western merchant ships coming to the rest. I know that the fewer days of sea voyages, the better. It's just that the rules are made by the people below, and I don't know them."

Jia Lian's scalp tingled after hearing this. He realized that Emperor Chenghui hated people coveting his money the most.

The following shady operation must be a trick. This matter cannot be avoided, but Jia Lian is unwilling to go far away again, so he suggested: "Let Long Jinwei investigate. It doesn't make sense that the officials of the Ministry of Rites know about it, but Your Majesty doesn't know."

This accusation was so cunning that it was almost outright stated. All the civil officials in the court knew about it, but the emperor didn't know.

Emperor Chenghui glanced at Jia Lian and said, "Don't exaggerate. Most of the court officials are good. Maybe there is a special reason."

In any case, the seeds of distrust had been planted, and Jia Lian could retire with honor.

"I have ordered the Ministry of War to cooperate in the reorganization of the Beijing camp. You will keep your job as the head of the Five Cities Military Department. After Wang Ziteng returns to Beijing, I plan to let him be in charge of this matter, and you will be in charge of supervision." Jia Lian's cheeks twitched violently when Emperor Chenghui said this. Is there anyone who can do this job?
"Your Majesty, please change someone. I am really not suitable." Jia Lian hesitated for a moment, but still resisted.

Emperor Chenghui hesitated for a moment before nodding: "Okay, it's fine to change someone else. The Censorate is not short of censors."

Jia Lian finally breathed a sigh of relief. If he really took on this job, he might end up being blamed. Your wife is from the Wang family.

I silently sympathized with Wang Ziteng. He hadn't even arrived in the capital yet, but his work had already been arranged for him. He had to work around the clock without any rest. How miserable!
The deputy of the Dragon Guard appeared, and Emperor Chenghui ordered him to check the so-called quota. Jia Lian wanted to leave, but was kept and a memorial was thrown to him: "It's from the third brother, take a look."

Jia Lian took it and looked at it carefully. After reading it, his eyes widened with anger: "Damn it! These private minters who stole money from the national treasury should all die."

Emperor Chenghui said nothing and threw another report to him. Jia Lian took it and read it again. This time it was about Tianjin.

Wei Xuezhong was recalled to Beijing, and this report was the result of Long Jinwei's investigation.

In Tianjin, almost right under our noses, one is the leader of salt smuggling, the other is the leader of iron and opium smuggling.

As for the smuggling of salt and iron, Jia Lian didn't care much. After all, the harm caused by these things was not too great. However, opium was intolerable.

Emperor Chenghui thought differently. He slammed the table in anger and said, "Salt and iron are state monopolies. As an important official of the court, you took the lead in smuggling salt and iron. You should be executed."

"Your Majesty, there is no need to execute him. Instead, confiscate his property, order him to hand over his hidden property, and exile him to the Western Regions."

Emperor Chenghui was furious when he heard this: "Why, I can't kill them?"

Jia Lian didn't refute him, but looked at him in silence. He couldn't kill them all. If he continued to kill them, something terrible would happen.

Emperor Chenghui sighed and said, "How did the world become like this?"

Jia Lian said, "Your Majesty, you should impose severe punishments on the opium trade. This drug is debilitating and harmful, far more so than the smuggling of salt and iron. If it spreads, within fifty years, the country will have no money or soldiers to use, and will be destroyed."

This is not an exaggeration; the harm caused by this thing is really that great.

"Haven't I issued an edict strictly prohibiting officials from smoking? Those who can't quit will be demoted to commoners."

Jia Lian said: "As long as the profit is enough, someone will do the beheading business. The Dragon Guard should form a professional strike team. Local officials are not trustworthy, so we can only rely on the Dragon Guard."

Emperor Chenghui looked puzzled after hearing this. "Xia Shouzhong is not in the capital, and you are still speaking for him. Did you reach a deal?" Jia Lian's face fell immediately, and he folded his hands: "Your Majesty, I have the courage to be lazy, but I don't have the courage to collude with the eunuchs."

"You still have some self-awareness. Let me think about this matter. Giving too much power to Long Jinwei is not a good thing. It is harming them."

Jia Lian immediately shouted, "Your Majesty, this is a matter of national destiny and cannot be taken lightly. I think the opium dealers should be executed immediately!"

Emperor Chenghui looked at Jia Lian and said, "You should go see Jia Zhen!"

Jia Lian was shocked when he heard this. What was going on? Was this another trick of Jia Rong?
"Your Majesty, I still insist that all opium dealers must be severely punished and no leniency will be shown." Jia Lian would not give in on this issue. Emperor Chenghui might have his difficulties, but Jia Lian didn't care.

"I understand. You can go down first. By the way, I think the third brother's memorial is very good. However, the second brother is already in the central bank. If the third brother goes to the Ministry of Revenue, I am afraid that the ministers will criticize him."

Emperor Chenghui's words sounded very high-sounding, but Jia Lian knew it very well. You have already started to raise poisonous insects, and you are still afraid of the criticism from the ministers?
"This is a family affair of the emperor, why do the ministers criticize it?"

Emperor Chenghui looked at Jia Lian speechlessly. You have never seen a civil official spit at the emperor and shout "There is no private affairs in the royal family."

Jia Lian knew all this, so he added: "Anyone who interferes with the affairs of the royal family is despicable. Especially some officials who resign from their posts once the court policies do not satisfy them. Such officials should never be employed again."

Emperor Chenghui nodded and said, "Okay, I understand what you mean. We will discuss the opium issue at the cabinet meeting."

Jia Lian knew that he shouldn't use too much force, so he didn't say anything else.

I can finally go back to Wucheng Bingmasi and slack off!
(End of this chapter)