Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 244: When People Leave, the Tea Gets Cold

He is truly the Marquis of Annan. After this seed is planted, it all depends on Wang Ziteng’s personal understanding.

To be honest, with Wang Ziteng's status, he really has no interest in going to such a remote place to dominate. But, how about operating it as a retreat? This is very attractive, just like the Jia family used Liaodong as a retreat, but it was a pity that it was messed up by later generations and was just used as an ATM.

The prosperity and wealthy life in the capital city eroded people's will and fighting spirit. It was easy for anyone to become addicted to it.

The Wang family would never be willing to leave the capital unless it was absolutely necessary. They might not even be willing to return to Nanjing, let alone go to Annan.

The specific choice depends on Wang Ziteng. In short, the emperor's arrangement is really worth pondering.

Wang Ziteng looked at Jia Lian with melancholy. What was he doing at his age? This rising star of the Jia family was already involved in the most top-level affairs. It can only be said that each person has his own fate. This is the inevitable product of the power structure. The closer one is to the core of power, the more information he can obtain at the highest level, and the higher his starting point will be.

After seeing Jia Lian off, Wang Ziteng felt uneasy and hesitated whether to set out to take up the post immediately or wait for the birthday of the retired emperor.

This question was not asked to Jia Lian, there was no need to do so. Jia Lian's attitude was very clear, to be sent out! Then he should leave as soon as possible, and get as far away from the whirlpool of the capital as possible. As the backbone of the Wang family, Wang Ziteng must give priority to his personal future, because this is not just a personal issue, but a matter related to the entire Wang family.

After much thought, I still can't leave. If I leave immediately, it will be too obvious and not the golden mean.

If you stay and don't have to go to the birthday party, there is only one thing you can do: get sick.

The next day, Jia Lian heard the news that Wang Ziteng had fallen ill due to overwork. The emperor sent an imperial physician to see him, who concluded that he had overworked and damaged his vitality, and that he would be fine after two months of rest.

Hey, isn't this a coincidence? The emperor will celebrate his birthday next month. The timing of this illness is very accurate.

Emperor Chenghui was very satisfied after learning the details, and specially called Jia Lian, who was slacking off in the Wucheng Bingmasi.

"What are you busy with recently? I heard that you stay in the office every day and have a lot of leisure time."

As soon as he opened his mouth, he had the face of a capitalist who couldn't bear to see workers having a good time. Jia Lian couldn't help but complain: "Your Majesty, I work hard every day, how can I have leisure time? There must be someone who can't bear to see me doing well, so they spread rumors and make trouble."

Emperor Chenghui was a little embarrassed, especially when he saw that face was still a little immature, and he couldn't help coughing twice: "Ahem, if there is something wrong, correct it, if there is nothing wrong, try harder. You are so petty, you are not generous at all. Wang Ziteng is sick, why don't you go and see him?"

"Isn't it time to go to work? My wife has already gone back to check on him. It won't be too late for me to go on my day off."

Emperor Chenghui originally wanted to praise this guy for doing a good job with Wang Ziteng. When he saw his face that looked like he wanted to skip work at any time, he wanted to criticize him. Unfortunately, this guy was so young, but he was so good at talking and refused to take any loss. Emperor Chenghui's guilt for using underage child labor disappeared. Forget about the praise, he had to find something for him to do to make him feel comfortable.

"Xia Shouzhong has found out in Nanjing that the new-style muskets did indeed come from the Shenji Camp that went south. The person involved has been arrested, and Niu Jizong's letter of apology has also been delivered. Here is also a letter from Wang Ziteng, who attaches great importance to the new-style muskets and affirms that the court has completely replaced the equipment. He also requested that a batch of new-style muskets and ammunition be brought with them when they go south."

When it comes to the new type of musket, Jia Lian becomes excited. After all, it is something he personally promoted, so naturally he has to pay attention to it.

"Your Majesty, I think it's too early. The new muskets now rely entirely on manpower and are polished bit by bit. If you want to mass-produce them, you can only pile up people. I think we should find a way to make a steam engine. It would be best if we could get one back from England, so that we can disassemble it and study it."

Was the First Industrial Revolution difficult? Yes, and no. The steam engine was just a craft, unlike the electrical revolution, which required the basic theories of natural science to guide it. The Great Zhou was still using the eight-part essay, and Jia Lian was very worried.

Productivity determines production relations, so let's solve the problem of productivity progress first. Jia Lian doesn't know if he can live to the era of the electrical revolution. Pushing forward little by little, making progress little by little, this is the materialist way of thinking. Don't be greedy for speed or seek big things. In short, after seeing the effect, the people will naturally follow.

"Speaking of this matter, aren't you working part-time in the R&D room jointly run by the Ministry of Works and the Imperial Household Department? You have to pay more attention. The people below are complaining that you have nothing to do with it." Emperor Chenghui finally found an angle to criticize Jia Lian, and he felt secretly happy.

This time Jia Lian did not defend himself. Instead, he looked very sad and said, "I was wrong. I will go to work tomorrow."

After Jia Lian left, Emperor Chenghui was still feeling proud, but he soon thought of a question: "Why did I call him here? Oh, I want to praise him, that's fine. You bastard, a bald head that can't even hold two ounces of oil is not worth praising."

Jia Lian was in a stable mood. As long as he didn't go to the garden to help with the emperor's birthday celebration, it wouldn't be a problem. The emperor insisted on holding a birthday celebration, and Emperor Chenghui, with a big "filial piety" character on his head, could only support it, and even allocated one million silver dollars for the expenses of this birthday celebration.

Regarding this matter, the ministers naturally praised it unanimously, saying it was so correct that no one dared to say anything bad about it.

If someone jumps out and shouts that the country is in financial difficulty and is wasting money on celebrating birthdays, it will be a sign of the country's doom!
Jia Lian would give a thumbs up to this man and praise him as a warrior with correct values.

But not a single one did. Even Zhang Tingen, who was far away in the three towns of Wuhan, submitted a memorial to congratulate the emperor on his birthday.

Not only do you have to send a congratulatory message, you also have to send a birthday gift.

When Jia Lian found out about this, he just complained silently: This is called a family dynasty!
In fact, all virtues have been exhausted, and only filial piety is left.

How the retired emperor came to the throne is still a taboo, and how the old loyal prince did bad things is also a taboo.

For this, we can only look up history books and look at the history books of all dynasties to find the answer from between the lines of those very restrained words!

For example, the House of Ten Kings!

You see, the history books record it clearly!

Jia Lian could only close his book and sigh. The next day, he came to the R&D department. Since it was a department, there had to be a doctor in charge. There was nothing interesting. There were only a few kittens. When Jia Lian arrived, the doorman was still dozing off and didn't see Jia Lian enter at all.

Jia Lian, with his hands behind his back, paced slowly in this quiet house.

After walking around for a while, I finally saw an official drinking tea and reading a newspaper in an office.

Hearing the footsteps, the guy said without even raising his head: "Don't look for them anymore. They have all been transferred back to their original offices. If you want to find someone, go to the original office." "That's not right. I remember that there were 33 craftsmen alone, three of whom were officials. How come there is no one?"

Jia Lian smiled and continued, but the man still did not raise his head, and kept saying, "Excellent, really wonderful, Jia Sheng, magnificent!"

Not getting a reply, Jia Lian walked forward and knocked on the table. The man was interrupted at the interesting part of the story, so he threw the newspaper away in anger and turned around. After seeing clearly, he was just angry for a moment and then put on a smiling face very skillfully.

"Master Lian, why are you here?"

Jia Lian didn't know this person, and hesitated for a moment: "Who is it?"

"Don't call me Your Excellency. I'm just an errand boy in the Imperial Household Department, a mere ninth-rank official. How dare I call you Your Excellency? If you think highly of me, just call me Ma San. That's what everyone else calls me!" The official named Ma San smiled in an extremely flattering manner, which gave Jia Lian goose bumps. He quickly raised his hand to interrupt him.

"Stop, where are the people here? I have a job here after all, how come everyone is gone without telling me?" Jia Lian would of course take advantage of the situation to make a fuss. He built this place and got the money in the first place, not to let these people spend it.

Ma San's expression was extremely conflicted, he couldn't say anything. If he said it, he would offend others, if he didn't say it, he would offend the person in front of him.

Finally, he smiled and said, "Look, I'm just a house keeper. My monthly salary is only ten taels of silver. After I change it into silver dollars, I go to the bank to exchange it for copper coins. One dollar can only be exchanged for eight hundred coins, and there is a handling fee of eighty coins. And this is the Jinshang Bank. Other banks charge a handling fee of one hundred coins. A family of more than a dozen people depends on this money to live. I also heard that the price of copper coins has risen again recently. Next month, I can only exchange it for seven hundred and eighty coins, and the handling fee is not less than a penny."

Jia Lian's attention was immediately diverted. After sitting down, he looked at the teacup in front of him and saw only some crumbs in it.

Seeing the kettle steaming, Jia Lian pointed at it and said, "The water is boiling. Do you want to change some tea leaves? I brought some good ones."

"Oh, that's great, thank you. I'm here to greet you, you see, I was so happy that I forgot the etiquette." Ma San really didn't forget the etiquette, he was just so scared that his legs were weak and he couldn't stand up, now he has calmed down and reluctantly stood up to greet. Finally this guy was kind enough to let him go.

Jia Lian motioned to Zhuzi to take out the tea leaves and teacups. Ma San trembled as he poured out the teacups and changed the tea leaves.

The smell of freshly brewed tea made him feel good. Jia Lian asked Ma San to sit down, but he refused, saying, "How can I sit in front of you?" Jia Lian did not force him to sit down, but asked, "From what you said, this silver dollar can really be used for one tael of silver? Last time in Dengzhou, one tael of silver was only worth eight hundred coins."

Maybe it didn't involve his unit, and Jia Lian was friendly and didn't make things difficult for him, so Ma San got a little bolder and said, "You don't know, I have an official position, so I can only pay 800 coins. Ordinary people have to pay 650 coins. One silver dollar can be used as 7 coins at most, and this is the result of the government guarantee."

Jia Lian was silent for a few seconds before he said, "Let's not talk about this. How long has the R&D Department been like this?"

This time it was Ma San's turn to remain silent, but looking at Jia Lian, he still plucked up the courage to say, "Earlier, there were seventy or eighty people, about a month ago, especially after you went to Yunyang, people were transferred back to their original offices one after another. They said they were short of manpower. There was not even a proper chief doctor in the office. All the chief officials were part-time. What do you think they should do?"

This time it was Jia Lian's turn to be silent. I was careless. I didn't expect that the existence of this government office was actually to share the cake. In addition, the craftsmen were officials, and they lacked the initiative of the government. It was expected that they would do everything possible to sabotage you.

"Well, you take the trouble to notify everyone and tell them that I'm here, and ask them to come back for the meeting." As he spoke, Jia Lian took out a stack of silver dollars and put them on the table, saying, "This is the money for running errands for you, keep it."

When Ma San saw the ten silver dollars, he immediately smiled and quickly held the silver dollars with both hands and said, "Wait for me, I'll go right away. I've informed the custodian, but I can't guarantee whether I can come or not."

Jia Lian waved his hand and said, "Go ahead, go ahead. How many people are left in the government office? Call them all to go. I'll pay for each person's errands, one yuan! We won't let everyone work for nothing. Oh, call the accountant first!"

Ma San thanked him again, turned around and left. Jia Lian sat there alone, bored, drinking tea leisurely.

He hummed: "Build a seven-star stove, boil three rivers in a copper kettle, smile when we meet, and don't miss each other after that. When people leave, the tea gets cold."

After sitting for nearly two hours, an official came in, sweating profusely. Judging from the beast on his clothes, he was an eighth-rank official. When he saw Jia Lian, he didn't even wipe the sweat off his face. He came forward and saluted: "I am a humble and incompetent official. I am honored to meet you, sir."

Jia Lian sat still and nodded: "What do you do in the government office?"

"I am the accountant of the Ministry of Revenue, and I am also responsible for the accounts of the Research and Development Department."

He is indeed the official in charge of accounting. No wonder he was the first one to arrive. Ma San did a good job.

"Show me the account book." The first thing to do when arriving at the company is to check the accounts. This attitude is very telling.

The sweat on Leng Yong's head began to pour out again. After hesitating for a while, he gritted his teeth and went to get the account book.

After a while, the man brought the account books. There were several thick books, a huge stack.

Jia Lian began to read the books slowly, turning the pages one by one. Leng Yong, who was standing aside, was trembling. Jia Lian glanced at him casually, as if he didn't hear the sound of his teeth chattering, and continued to look down at the account book.

After just looking at the general ledger, Jia Lian frowned and gently threw the account book onto the table.

"If I remember correctly, there should be 10,000 taels of silver in the government account. It was insufficient at the beginning, so I asked the Ministry of Revenue to make up for it. I haven't received any salary here for the past few months since I was away. Now there are only three taels of silver left in the account. If I remember correctly, the Ministry of Revenue allocates funds for salary payment every month. In other words, according to what is written in this account book, there should be goods worth 10,000 taels in the warehouse, right? Let's go to the warehouse and take a look!"

Leng Yong fell to his knees and begged, "Sir, please take a look at the detailed accounts. I'll find them for you. Please take your time to look at them." He hurriedly took out an account book and handed it over with both hands.

Jia Lian took it and opened it to read it carefully. There were two major expenses, one was the Ministry of Works borrowing 5,000 taels, the other was the Ministry of Internal Affairs borrowing 3,000 taels. The rest of the account was a mess of expenses, 200 taels of official expenses, with the note saying it was for purchasing paper and pens. There were also various other items, such as summer vacation expenses, etc.

Anyway, this yamen was established only half a year ago, and the 12,000 taels of silver were all wasted without any research results.

Jia Lian looked at the account book in silence. At this time, officials came in one after another, but they all stayed in the yard and did not dare to come in.

(End of this chapter)