Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 278 This is too much

Disappointment, so disappointing!
Looking at the officials who stood up one after another, Jia Lian shook his head regretfully.

There was no scene of "Die for justice today" appearing. I was so disappointed.

How could such a huge group of less than a hundred people just stand up and leave so easily? How could they just let the emperor go?
Roll on the ground, Uncle Zhou, and bang your heads against the pillars, your loyal ministers!
What about the Great Zhou version of the Three Yangs?
Looking at the cabinet leaders again, who were standing like Bodhisattvas in a temple, Jia Lian felt more and more bored.

I finally got a little excited, and you show me this? I took off my pants! That's it?

As for today's incident, the more Jia Lian thought about it, the more confused he became, so he simply stopped thinking about it.

Let's just understand that the Fang family, which has surrendered to the Second Prince, wants to find some sense of existence through this matter.

It's not a complete loss. At least the conflict between the second and third sons is no longer concealed.

When Li Laosan was mentioned, Jia Lian still shook his head. This kid still couldn't keep his cool. He had to stand up and criticize. At this time, he should just stand aside and watch how Emperor Chenghui cleaned up the situation.

In this chaotic situation, it is better to stay still than to move!
The higher you jump, the more of your tail will be exposed from under your butt. Don’t you understand this principle?

This is a grand court meeting, not a small meeting like the cabinet. Is it the turn of such an important position as the Nine Gates Commander to be decided at a grand court meeting? The grand court meeting is for small matters! It is to give the middle and low-level officials a chance to see the emperor and to give them a sense of existence. As a prince, Li Heng should be invisible.

No matter who wants to stir up some trouble during today's grand court meeting, it shouldn't be Li Laosan who speaks out.

Let's continue watching. The next step should be that the cabinet meeting decides to transfer Ningyuan Hou! If nothing unexpected happens, the cabinet meeting will definitely be delayed for a while, and the quarrel will last for ten days or half a month. Taking advantage of the quarrel, let's see how many people jump out.

When thinking about luring the snake out of its hole, Jia Lian felt that this was about the right rhythm. Emperor Chenghui probably didn't expect that his two sons would come out and disrupt his rhythm, right? It's funny to think about it!
Oh, Li Yuan, who was ordered to study behind closed doors, has just been released, right? That guess is even more reliable, what do you think?

Jia Lian regarded all the words about how difficult it was to be born in an imperial family as a joke. You were born in an imperial family. The moment you were born, you would reach the peak with just one more step. What else do you have to be pretentious about? If you have ambition, try your best. If you don't have ambition, just lie down.

With a sharp shout of "Withdraw from court!" the crowd gradually dispersed, and Jia Lian, who was not far from the door, was the first to run away.

There are so many things he needs to do, but he cannot show too much political sensitivity. Jia Lian needs to strike the right balance.

The first thing to do, of course, is to return to his loyal Wucheng Bingmasi!
When they were still more than a hundred meters away from the gate, someone ran back to report: "Master Jia is here!"

When he got off his horse, a group of people rushed out from the gate and saluted in unison: "Your humble servant greets Lord Jia. Now that you are back, the Five Cities Army is back in order, and the security of the capital is better."

Although they are all true, they are still very disgusting to hear!

"Thank you for your courtesy, my colleagues. I am honored!" Jia Lian had a humble look on his face and smiled as he clasped his hands in return.

A group of people surrounded Jia Lian and entered the hall. After they sat down in the hall, Jia Lian spoke without any politeness: "I came here for one thing today. It's the end of the year, and all kinds of villains and demons are going to celebrate the New Year. Everyone should work harder and keep a close eye on it. Report any problems in time. Secondly, arrange the shifts well, ensure that there are no blind spots in the daytime, and have a team of people on standby at night to prevent emergencies. Finally, I still want to emphasize that discipline is the guarantee of the combat effectiveness of the Five Cities Army. With that, all the censors stay, and the others disperse."

After returning to the Wucheng Bingmasi, Jia Lian was free to do whatever he wanted. This place was his private land. To put it bluntly, without the emperor's order, no one dared to covet the power and position of the Wucheng Bingmasi. It would always be his.

"Everyone, it's the end of the year now. Please go out and visit the various parties. Give warnings to those who need them and give warnings to those who need them. In short, if something goes wrong on someone's territory, don't blame me for not caring about our friendship."

Jia Lian said this, but the censors had different thoughts in their minds: "You don't charge much, so where does the friendship come from?" No one dared to say anything, and they all agreed.

"Financial personnel, please sort out the expenses for the New Year. Bring them to me for signature. We can make more money this year. We can distribute the money in advance to prevent the brothers below from working listlessly. That's it. Jian Renda, please stay for a while."

Jia Lian finished his explanation very straightforwardly, leaving Jian Renda with a seemingly calm expression, but actually very excited. As the first censor to surrender to Jia Lian, he had the consciousness that "I am the confidant of the master".

"The court has been in turmoil lately. Pick some capable people from your staff and spread them out to different places. Report any disturbances promptly. Use the official account for the expenses and submit them to me for reimbursement."

Jian Renda said without hesitation: "I obey your command!"

Jia Lian looked at him, smiled, and patted his shoulder: "I won't stay in this position forever. I will have to hand it over sooner or later."

Jian Renda's face flushed slightly, and he nodded very hard: "Thank you for your support!"

After signing some documents that required Jia Lian's signature, seeing that it was still early, Jia Lian went out without even saying goodbye.

As a member of the Censorate, Jia Lian is a subordinate of the Censorate in principle, but the Censorate can only manage Jia Lian, not the Left and Right Censors. The Left Censor-in-Chief has claimed to be ill and is waiting for a decent retirement. The Right Censor-in-Chief Lin Ruhai is actually in charge of the Censorate. He should be able to take over the Left Censor-in-Chief next year, and be sent out to serve as a governor or governor-general in two years, and then return to Beijing as a cabinet minister.

It can be said that unless Lin Ruhai himself commits suicide, he will definitely die within ten years. Ten years later, Lin Ruhai will only be fifty years old, which is the perfect age for a man to combine maturity and ability.

With Lin Ruhai in the Censorate, Jia Lian naturally walked sideways. Colleagues along the way took the initiative to greet him, regardless of whether they had any dealings with him before, just to make themselves familiar with him. It is said that the clean officials in the Censorate are responsible for offending people, but in fact, who would want to offend people in the officialdom? It is all due to the requirements of KPI.

Jia Lian, who had served in the positions of [Guan Zheng She Ren] and [Zhong Shu She Ren], knew very well that the impeachment memorials from the Censorate seemed to be quite a lot every year, but in fact, they were all some minor charges. Excluding 80% of the rumors, there were very few that could really cause people to die. The Censorate did not follow suit in actions similar to the impeachment of Ningyuan Hou. However, when Sun Huazhen was impeached, a group of people from the Censorate came forward. How should I explain this? The Censorate still needs to maintain the character of [Qiang Xiang Ling].

Of course, the charges chosen by the Censorate at that time were relatively simple, and they could be summed up in one sentence: "Too harsh in governing, many disharmony". In layman's terms, the means used by Lord Sun to govern were too simple and crude, which led to many public complaints. This "people" is of course not ordinary people. How can ordinary people be qualified to be the "people" described by the Qingliu? You have to be a rich family or a gentry. Others think that the topic of the Censorate is a double-edged sword, but they can't do anything about this relatively independent department. If someone really dares to confront the Censorate, the censors will let those people know what it means to "face the storm".

Jia Lian followed the rules and handed in the card first. After a while, Lin Ruhai appeared at the door and waved at him: "What a waste of time! Come in directly next time. You can wait in the office when I'm not here."

No one can find fault with what was said. A nice explanation is that the superior is caring about his subordinates. A blunt explanation is that these are uncle and nephew, and people who are not involved should keep quiet.

Jia Lian came in smiling. Lin Ruhai asked the attendant to make tea. After the attendant left and closed the door, Lin Ruhai said solemnly, "What's the news? I feel like the atmosphere is not right lately."

It can only be said that Lin Ruhai was born into a noble family and was very gifted in terms of sensitivity. After noticing something was wrong, he came to verify it.

If there was, Jia Lian couldn't tell the truth even to Lin Ruhai.

"With two suns in the sky and His Majesty intent on reforming the law, it was only a matter of time before something bad happened. I just didn't expect that the two princes couldn't hold back and jumped out to steal the show first." Jia Lian was telling the truth, but he didn't tell it all. There were many things he couldn't tell, so he could only let Lin Ruhai experience it.

Lin Ruhai nodded and said, "Indeed, the Zhen family in Jiangnan has been very active recently. The eldest son of the Zhen family came to Beijing to celebrate the birthday of the retired emperor last time, and he has not returned since then, claiming to be ill. It's okay that he didn't go back, but the most worrying thing is that several convoys of the Zhen family came to Beijing."

Considering the fact that the grain transport was blocked, Jia Lian naturally came to the conclusion: "Take the sea route!"

Lin Ruhai added: "Although Elder Sun has made a big splash in Liangjiang, he has not actually touched the foundation. The Zhen family has been entrenched in Jiangning for thirty years, how can it be easily shaken? If Elder Sun was not known for his iron fist, Liangjiang would have been in turmoil long ago."

"Uncle, you'd better be careful. I always feel that something big will happen in the next two months." Jia Lian reminded him in a low voice.

This time Lin Ruhai did not answer, but nodded with a heavy face, meaning that he understood.

"According to the usual routine, if there is any real intention, the Censorate will always be the first to rush in. Uncle, you have to keep a close eye on it."

Lin Ruhai smiled bitterly and shook his head: "They are a bunch of clean people. They have always claimed to be strong. They dare to do anything for a good reputation. I can't control them. The only thing I can do is to know what they have done in time."

Jia Lian also fell silent. The Censorate was too special a department.

The Great Zhou did not have the six departments of the Ming Dynasty, so the power of the cabinet and the six ministries was not weakened, and the Censorate became more prominent.

Not every emperor is as energetic as Zhu Yuanzhang. In fact, Taizu of this dynasty did subtraction and strengthened the power of the cabinet. Cabinet + Prince X = Grand Council, which is reflected in Emperor Chenghui, that is, Cabinet + Prince Zhongshun = Grand Council.

The last prince who could regularly attend cabinet meetings was the old Prince of Beijing. You all understand, right? The old Prince of Beijing was the noble representative used by the emperor to check and balance Fang Baiyi. Otherwise, how could he become the greatest common denominator of the four princes and eight dukes?
All we can say is that the retired emperor was a master at balancing things, while the current Emperor Chenghui wanted more for change.

The prerequisite for reform is to grasp the overall situation. We cannot do it like Guangxu’s Reform Movement of 1898!
In fact, from the underlying logic of social structure design, the Zhou Dynasty, which had no strong external enemies, was not suitable for reform. If it had the energy, it would be better to expand outward. Land that was not suitable for farming should be left alone for the time being, and the control should continue. The ocean age had truly arrived, and we could not fall behind too much.

The current reality is that Emperor Chenghui must truly grasp power. Whether to reform the law or not must wait until he completes the prerequisites.

Speaking of the current situation, Lin Ruhai reminded with some concern: "It's better to remind your second uncle and cousin."

Jia Lian nodded without saying anything. How could he explain this? Jia Zheng was the elder, and he was still good, without much leverage. Jia Zhen was in trouble. Qin Keqing's coming into the family meant that he had close ties with some evil forces in private, and had been involved in them before. If you don't believe me, just look at Miaoyu later on. After Qin Keqing died, another Miaoyu came in.

If you say Jia Zhen didn't take any benefits in private, Jia Lian would not believe it even if he was beaten to death. But Jia Lian couldn't control him. At most, he used Qin Keqing's matter to warn Jia Zhen to know the limits of advance and retreat, and not to think that he could do it without anyone noticing.

Seeing that lunch time was approaching, Lin Ruhai invited Jia Lian to have lunch together and get acquainted with the people in the Censorate who were unfamiliar to him before. After lunch, Jia Lian did not stay to rest, but went straight out of the Censorate and headed for the Ministry of Works.

Pan Jixun was a diligent official who had no habit of taking a lunch break at noon. When he learned that Jia Lian was coming, he received him quite calmly. However, other officials were different. They were afraid that Jia Lian would kill another person.

When Jia Lian arrived at the Ministry of Works, he naturally handled his business impartially. He just mentioned the replenishment of firearms for the Shenji Camp. After the expansion, the Shenji Camp had a big gap in new firearms.

Pan Jixun did not put on airs as a minister, and sent his long-time attendant to accompany him to check out the warehouse of the Yuhengsi.

There were a lot of changes in the Yuheng Division. The original doctor was impeached and dismissed, and was demoted to become a county magistrate. The new doctor was Guo Yan's man. When he learned that Jia Lian appeared accompanied by the Shangshu's attendant, he led all the officials to give up their lunch break and line up to welcome him.

It can only be said that there is no secret in the Ministry of Works, and Jia Lian's visit to the Yuhengsi was a spur-of-the-moment decision. It was more than a hundred steps away, and when Jia Lian came over, everyone lined up to greet him.

After some pleasantries, Jia Lian unceremoniously asked to inspect the warehouse, check the accounts and check the inventory.

The whole group was in a state of panic. The elders who were meeting in the cabinet later all knew about it. Liang Daoyuan even said sarcastically, "I heard that you are one of us?"

Guo Yan pretended not to hear it. The final confirmed news was that there was no problem with the audit. However, Jia Lian left a rule that the distribution of new muskets must have his signature, which was too much.

Jia Lian, who had given an order, organized a convoy to load the goods and directly emptied the inventory of Yuhengsi. The groom was so scared that he dared not resist. He could only wait until Jia Lian took away all the goods and then go to Pan Jixun to complain.

(End of this chapter)