Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 248 Confrontation
(The title is serious!)

How much do you despise Jia Lian that you use a straight hook to fish?
Emperor Chenghui complained in his heart! He had never liked Li Chi before, and now he couldn't help but feel a little disgusted.

What do you mean? You are too low-level. You are so old, but you still can't fool a child?
The key is that Jia Lian is also very tough and just plays dumb. I don’t understand.

This caused Guo Yan to laugh.

Kong Zhao’s inner thoughts: What a conceited person!

Liang Daoyuan’s inner thoughts: This is something I’ve never suffered any loss before!

Li Sanjiang thought to himself: Fortunately, I slowed down, otherwise I would be the one who got embarrassed.

Guo Yan’s inner thoughts: I have to worship this little ancestor.

All we can say is that Jia Lian’s age is very deceptive, and Li Chi was not careful enough at the time.

"Haha, what a slip of the tongue." Li Chi admitted his mistake very straightforwardly, which made Jia Lian add some points to his rating.

If it were someone else, they would have been angry and embarrassed, but Li Chi just accepted it.

Jia Lian reminded people to be careful, as everyone present was a thousand-year-old fox, and it was not his turn to show off.

Kong Zhao slowly stood up and bowed to Emperor Chenghui: "Your Majesty, I think you can issue an imperial decree to all departments to investigate the issue of empty salaries, and strictly order all departments in the capital not to embezzle. Once verified, they will be severely punished."

The final severe punishment looks scary, but in fact, the previous words are the key point. This is called "let bygones be bygones, and if you know your mistakes but don't correct them, you will make the same mistake again next time." How could Kong Zhao not know about this mess? The dignity of the literati still needs to be taken care of. Take care of it to the extent of not mentioning that group of people arranged people to eat empty salaries. The main reason is that there are too many people involved, even Li Yuan is involved.

Emperor Chenghui raised his hand to signal Kong Zhao to sit down. He did not comment on his remarks, but looked at Jia Lian and said, "Jia Lian, do you think the matter of floating away can be stopped? Don't be afraid, speak boldly."

Speak boldly? What does your majesty mean? Is this something I have any say in?
This is a rhythm that will not stop until I am trapped to death.

Jia Lian stood up reluctantly, his expression naturally looking very ugly, and the ministers became nervous.

Emperor Chenghui's thoughts are very difficult to figure out. No one knows what he said to Jia Lian in advance, and he used Jia Lian to spread the news.

"Your Majesty, I don't know much, but I do know a thing or two about the difficult life of officials in the capital. How about giving them a raise?"

After Jia Lian finished speaking carefully, the expressions of all the cabinet ministers changed slightly. This tactic of retreating in order to advance was indeed a ruthless one.

Increase salary, how much? Isn't it just a matter of the emperor's words?

Adding one or two taels is adding, adding one cent is also adding.

Emperor Chenghui pressed his hand, motioning Jia Lian to take a seat, and then he said to the ministers, "This is a good idea. First increase the salary, then prohibit the embezzlement. Well, my dear ministers, please tell me what methods are there to eliminate this bad habit. Today, you are free to speak your mind!"

Li Sanjiang said, "Your Majesty, the silver coins minted by the court so far cannot meet the needs of the market. After the tax silver is collected from various places, it needs to be re-minted. There is no unified standard for fire consumption, which has many problems. I think that each province can be ordered to mint silver coins locally, and part of the fire consumption revenue should be submitted to the Ministry of Revenue, and part of it should be used to supplement the income of local officials."

This is a variation of the "fire consumption is returned to the public", but in Jia Lian's view, it has sinister intentions.

Unfortunately, this was a cabinet meeting, and Jia Lian had no chance to speak. He could only listen with a gloomy face.

Emperor Chenghui obviously noticed the gloomy expression on Jia Lian's face. He silently calculated the consequences of this action and couldn't help but frown.

What was the original purpose of coinage? To make money, for fiscal purposes. Now you suggest that the right to coinage be decentralized?
Li Sanjiang felt that what he said made sense, and he was feeling proud. But then he noticed that the expressions of the other people at the scene were very calm, which was very unusual. He quickly glanced at the emperor, who had no expression on his face.

Li Sanjiang quickly made up for it: "This is just my humble opinion!"

Emperor Chenghui gestured for him to sit down without making any comment, and thought to himself: Well said, don't say it again in the future.

The cabinet has so few people, but they can still cause such trouble. This shows that the court officials have shortcomings in finance.

Is it because they are insensitive to finances? No, they only care about their own gains and losses.

Emperor Chenghui had already made up his mind about Li Sanjiang: You want to be the Shangshu concurrently? After this term, you'd better get ready to leave.

His eyes fell on Liang Daoyuan's face. As the deputy minister, Liang Daoyuan could only stand up and said, "I have thought about it for a long time, but I have gained nothing. As for finance, I don't know much, so I dare not speak rashly. I beg Your Majesty to let me go back and think about it before reporting again."

Emperor Chenghui, in a bad mood, did not want to continue this topic and asked directly: "Which of you has any good ideas? If not, go back and think about it carefully, and submit a memorial to explain this matter."

Fortunately, today is a briefing, and Emperor Chenghui wants to use the ministers to get the rumors out.

"The next topic is to ban firearms from the public. Some officials are so bold as to sell the latest firearms to merchants. What if they fall into the hands of rebels? This is tantamount to treason. My dear ministers, please discuss this."

Emperor Chenghui forcibly changed the topic and asked Qiu Shian to send an investigation report to everyone, including Jia Lian.

[After investigation, it was found that the officials involved were Wang XX, the lieutenant general of the Shenji Camp stationed in Jinling, and Niu XX, the deputy general. The two conspired to sell 100 new-style fire guns they were equipped with at the price of 100 taels per gun, and divided the proceeds among themselves. The commander Niu Jizong was unaware of this.]

I won't go into the details, but this is basically what happened.

Seeing that none of the ministers spoke, Emperor Chenghui directly called on them, "He Shuiqing, you speak."

Li Sanjiang, who was named, could only stand up and fold his hands: "Your Majesty, when I was the governor of the grain transport, I heard about the activities of the White Lotus Society among the people and reported this matter to the emperor. Now that Your Majesty has asked me, I am worried that this thing may fall into the hands of the rebels."

You know what, this time Li Sanjiang's words really suited Emperor Chenghui's taste. At least he is sensitive in this regard!
In fact, it is clearly written in the report that it is tantamount to treason.

Jia Lian began to feel sleepy again. There was nothing much to say to him about the new musket. The three words "White Lotus Sect" did not wake him up at all. After all, when he was a child, the textbooks mentioned the White Lotus Sect, and the word used was "uprising".

Jia Lian didn't want to suppress civil unrest again.

Jia Lian, who was distracted, saw that several ministers suddenly became alert and made a big fuss about the White Lotus Sect, as if they must be killed. How much hatred? How much resentment?

Oh, this is a professional rebel organization, that’s okay.

What do these civil officials fear the most? They don't even frown when foreign enemies attack them, but they are afraid of internal rebellion.

This was of course before it happened. After it happened, look at the cabinet ministers again, none of them volunteered.

Jia Lian has seen through these civil officials. They are not incompetent, but they just lack responsibility.

To put it simply, he is treated like a CEO, but considers himself as an employee.

Eh, I think I think so too, forget it, I won't criticize them. This boomerang came too fast.

Jia Lian, who was distracted, did not record the task today. The other two servants were writing furiously and trying their best to perform. His Majesty has been dissatisfied recently. This rice bowl is going to be lost, and the future is going to be ruined. He must work hard to perform.

Bored Jia Lian picked up the report in front of him and started reading it. After a while, he became interested. After the White Lotus Sect entered the Great Zhou Dynasty, it really did three things. All of them happened during the reign of the Emperor Taishang.

The scale of each incident was not large, and each time it was nipped in the bud in the bud because the actions were not kept secret enough.

The biggest one occurred at Jeju Wharf. The Wenxiang Sect suddenly attacked and occupied the wharf and then attacked the city. The prefect fled first, causing the fall of Jeju. The situation was very serious for a while, and later the governor of Jinan led troops to suppress it.

According to the information, a large number of people were killed that time, and 30,000 people lost their lives.

The reason is simple: where there is oppression, there is resistance.

But as a noble, Jia Lian was very conflicted. It was the same when he went to Yunyang last time.

After Emperor Chenghui ascended the throne, scattered localities also reported more than a dozen cases of the White Lotus Sect. In short, no matter what organization it was, local officials would accuse it of being a White Lotus Sect. In contrast, the Dragon Guards had much stricter prohibitions, and the reports clearly marked them.

Jia Lian suddenly thought of something, that is, the Tianli Sect. This group of people seemed to be active in the capital.

Thinking of this, Jia Lian suddenly perked up, read the report carefully, and found that Long Jinwei was not mentioned.

Jia Lian couldn't help but frown. After all, in real history, this group of people really took action.

I don’t need any plug-ins to know the specific year. I just glanced at it in a book and didn’t look at the time.

Emperor Chenghui noticed the change in Jia Lian's expression, and thinking of the fact that this guy had dozed off before, he couldn't help but want to give him a knock.

"Jia Lian, what do you want to eat for lunch?" Emperor Chenghui naturally thought that this bastard was slacking off again.

Jia Lian, who was awakened, stood up in surprise: "Ah, Your Majesty, is there something wrong?"

If it were any other minister, he would have been in trouble and would have lost his monthly salary.

But this is Jia Lian. Emperor Chenghui just wants to make things difficult for him and has no intention of dealing with him.

"I ask you what you are thinking about?" Emperor Chenghui finally found some changes to ease the boring atmosphere. It was really boring. The ministers took the White Lotus Sect seriously and thought of all kinds of ways, such as strictly urging the local authorities.

You can never get to the root of the problem. The root of the problem is that the people have no hope in life, so they have to look for help. If they can't rely on the court, can't they rely on other things?
These cabinet ministers are definitely not useless, but their thoughts are definitely not on the same track as the emperor's.

"I am thinking, since the emperor's birthday is approaching, should we launch a special campaign to eliminate gangsters and evildoers in the capital?"

Emperor Chenghui wanted to curse after hearing this, "You bastard, how much do you like to stir up trouble? Hasn't the capital been tossed around enough these days?"

No wonder you didn't accept the benefits from the local gang. It turns out you are waiting here. Is the man from Wucheng Bingmasi your father?
"Sit down and shut up!" Emperor Chenghui spoke decisively. Jia Lian sat down skillfully and shut up.

The meeting finally reached two resolutions, but they had nothing to do with drawing a salary without working or drifting away.

First, officials who illegally sold arms were to be executed immediately, and the merchants involved were to be arrested and their backgrounds thoroughly investigated. Second, an official document was issued in the most severe tone to strictly investigate the activities of the White Lotus Society throughout the country.

Just as Emperor Chenghui was about to adjourn the meeting, Jia Lian stood up and said, "Your Majesty, the White Lotus Sect must be investigated, but it cannot be the local government that does the investigation. The Dragon Guard can be responsible for the investigation."

As soon as the words fell, the officials' faces changed. Liang Daoyuan said angrily, "You bastard, how dare you speak nonsense in this cabinet meeting?"

Jia Lian did not back down this time, but fought back: "Your Majesty, handing it over to the local government means that they can arbitrarily accuse the people of religious bandits and seize their property. It's not that I don't trust the integrity of local officials, it's just that I have seen too many of them. The Yunyang uprising was a man-made disaster."

The three new cabinet members finally saw Jia Lian's "arrogance" and questioned the decision in front of the cabinet ministers.

It would have been fine if they just questioned it, but they directly shouted "man-made disaster!"

Emperor Chenghui did not get angry, but looked at Kong Zhao. The Prime Minister slowly replied: "Just conduct a secret investigation. Local governments can only conduct secret investigations and report the information after obtaining it. Do not act rashly."

Jia Lian sneered and said, "Local officials won't take anything that doesn't benefit them seriously. Investigate secretly? Go ahead!"

Kong Zhao was not like others. He put the blame on others and said, "Your Majesty, I am an old and incompetent minister. Please retire."

A guy was set up by the emperor, and Emperor Chenghui frowned and said, "Prime Minister Kong, why do you say that?"

He didn't even need to address him as "My dear minister", which shows how angry Emperor Chenghui was.

Kong Zhao stood not far away with his mouth shut and his eyes closed. Jia Lian had witnessed how powerful this old man was.

Emperor Chenghui then turned to Jia Lian and said, "You have offended the ministers and will be punished by serving for one year and confining yourself to reflect on your mistakes for three days. Get out!"

Jia Lian left without saying a word. Emperor Chenghui watched him leave without saying a word, with a gloomy face.

Kong Zhao felt a chill in his heart. He had finally caught this opportunity to give that boy a hard blow, but he never expected this result. He could no longer say he would resign. His Majesty would really do it.

Emperor Chenghui really used the punishment of Jia Lian to make a fuss: "Although Jia Lian was a bit rash, what he said is absolutely right. The civil unrest in the Great Zhou Dynasty was mostly caused by man-made disasters. The ethics of some officials are worse than those of a BIAO. Let's do as Jia Lian suggests, and the Dragon Guard will investigate."

A hammer!
All the ministers were in awe, their hearts trembling.

Kong Zhao was not disappointed that he failed to stop the hand that Long Jinwei stretched out, because he had to do so. The reason why Kong Zhao could continue to be the chief minister in a transitional cabinet was not because he was capable, but because he was cooperative.

"I obey your order!" Kong Zhao cooperated decisively. His resistance was flexible and he just pretended to do what he should do.

Even the attack on Jia Lian was just a pretense, because he knew that the cabinet could do nothing to Jia Lian.

The rest followed suit, and the plan was agreed upon and implemented.

In any case, the news of today's cabinet meeting spread like wildfire.

Kong Zhao's punishment of Jia Lian naturally attracted a lot of praise. Being able to fine this guy a year's salary would provide a lot of food for the evening. Many officials in Beijing did not say it in public, but were relatively fair when they were drinking and chatting behind closed doors.

[My dear ministers, you are not as concerned about the officials in the capital as Jia Lian is. ]

[Yes, although Jia Lian is evil, he treats his subordinates very well and can understand the hardships of the officials in the capital.]

This kind of words were widely circulated among the upright officials in Beijing, which was a result that no one had expected.

The person involved, Jia Lian, went back to the Research and Development Department first. Before leaving, he issued an official document and asked someone to hand it over to the Ministry of Revenue, stating that these eight people had been removed from the Research and Development Department and their salaries would be stopped.

The printout ended with a bang, Jia Lian stood up, looked around with a sneer, and walked out of the R&D department with his head held high.

"Three days later, Jia will be a brave man again!" Before leaving, he did not forget to say something cruel.

(End of this chapter)