Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 298: The Struggle between the Emperor and His Ministers
In Wenhua Hall, five cabinet ministers gathered for a private meeting! The reason was that the emperor issued a document in response to the cabinet's abdication over the matter of the Minister of Revenue.

"You are not a human being! The only person who can come up with such a despicable trick to embarrass the cabinet is Jia Lian!" Kong Zhao, who has always been as steady as a rock, cursed in public, which shows how angry he is at the moment.

"Damn it, this budget system was introduced in the name of the cabinet. Do you guys still want to be human beings in the future?" Liang Daoyuan cursed without hesitation.

"I was wondering why that guy stood up to smooth things over that day. Turns out this bastard was waiting for us here." Well, Li Chi also swore.

"This is a beast who won't let people live!" Guo Yan didn't care about the people in the same boat anymore. It was too much of a rip-off. The key point was that the construction of the budget system was done by everyone, and the approval power was in the hands of His Majesty.

It's really not Jia Lian's fault. The Great Zhou didn't have a parliament, nor did there exist separation of powers. The power of the cabinet chief was insufficient, and it wasn't even a dual empire.

Pan Jixun remained silent. Kong Zhao couldn't help but ask him, "What do you think, Master Pan?"

"From Pan's perspective, it's not a bad thing. It just adds some workload. The cabinet might as well propose to set up a first-level review department to standardize the budget model, which will be directly under the cabinet."

Pan Jixun is looking at the matter from a different angle. In a sense, the cabinet has increased its personnel power. Once the budget system is implemented, there will be fewer disputes than before.

Li Chi was still unhappy after hearing this, because the biggest harm of the budget system is that spending is restricted, and how could an official tolerate this?

Guo Yan rolled his eyes a few times and whispered, "We still have to fight for the final review of the budget. At least the cabinet should have some power, right?"

"Your Majesty said it is a preparation period. At worst, we can just drag it out. To implement a new system, there are many things to consider from perfecting the rules to its final implementation. All aspects cannot be accomplished overnight." Li Chi decisively came up with a bad idea. Anyway, the cabinet can just shoulder it collectively. Everyone is familiar with the tactic of procrastination and can always find an excuse.

Kong Zhao felt that this person was not good enough after hearing what he said. Was he not careful in reading the documents or was he deliberately trying to trick everyone? Anyway, he would be able to retire after this term, so he might as well pretend that he didn't notice anything.

Liang Daoyuan was not polite at all. He turned to the last page and tapped a few times. "Look here. The system must be improved before the end of November. The budget report will be tried in December. The budget system will be tried next year. This is written by His Majesty himself. Delay? Just think about it. His Majesty's character does not allow for cleverness. Don't think that the law does not punish everyone. There are only five people in the cabinet."

It is obvious that Liang Daoyuan looks down on Li Chi's cleverness which is almost like cheating. You are a cabinet minister, so please take the right path and use open strategies in everything.

Li Chi was not a pushover. He immediately looked back in dissatisfaction after being teased. Just as he was about to retort, "Dudududu!" Kong Zhao raised his hand and knocked on the table, interrupting the impending argument.

"Let's put it aside for now. This is only the first step. It would be terrible if the cabinet started arguing among themselves. In any case, we should first finalize the list of candidates for the Minister of Revenue and submit it. This is a major step forward for the cabinet in personnel matters." Kong Zhao's words sounded fine at first, but everyone felt uncomfortable after hearing the latter part.

[Are you emphasizing the collective victory of the cabinet under your leadership? As the prime minister, how will the ministers outside the cabinet view it? Of course, they will view it as your political achievement.]

Kong Zhao didn't care what others thought. He would only serve his last term, and would have to beg for his life in the next one.

In the Qianqing Palace, Jia Lian, who had just gotten up early in the morning and was about to go to the Jiucheng Control Office, was once again dragged to the emperor's presence.

"The cabinet has received my letter and is discussing the budget system. I am worried that the cabinet will procrastinate. You should think of another way to put pressure on them." Emperor Chenghui was in a good mood and thought that the cabinet would definitely resist. But he had no good solution for the time being. At this time when the aftermath of the rebellion was not over, the cabinet ministers put pressure on him by resigning collectively, and the emperor could not bear it.

"Your Majesty, I'm wondering how the Zhen family is still doing well." Jia Lian's answer was a bit off topic, but Emperor Chenghui, who was in a good mood, didn't care and patiently explained: "When I went to the Western Hills, that person said in person that the Zhen family cannot be touched, at least not now, otherwise he would go on a hunger strike."

Jia Lian couldn't help but twist his lips slightly after hearing this. Although he had never seen the emperor, he could tell from the words of a loser how much he cared about his reputation.

Or rather, this was his last bit of dignity. If he couldn't even protect the Zhen family, he would be completely disgraced. It would be better for him to end his life. If that really happened, Emperor Chenghui would be cursed in history books.

My dad is amazing!

"The cabinet will definitely not give in easily. I have two plans for the future. First, there are only five cabinet ministers now. We will add two more, one noble and one civil servant. The addition of two people is a trial. We will see the effect and then decide whether to make it permanent. Second, give officials a raise. The current salaries of officials are too low. Don't increase them too much, just 20% is enough."

After hearing what Jia Lian said, Emperor Chenghui was pleased at first, then felt pained. He was not stingy. He just felt that the officials took enough but did very little work.

Jia Lian then added: "This salary increase is not a random increase, nor is it fixed. It must be linked to performance. This is a similar performance evaluation system for all officials."

Emperor Chenghui was stunned, but Jia Lian continued: "The most important thing in governing a country is the administration of officials. No matter how good the policies are, their final execution depends on the officials. Your Majesty is determined to govern the country, so why not start with rectifying the administration of officials? On the basis of the performance evaluation system, make some additions to form a new system to first solve the problem of officials' laziness and inaction. In this dynasty, the imperial examination system does not train excellent officials, but only selects talents on a relatively low basis. Zhao Pu said that half of the Analects of Confucius can tell the world, but I say bullshit."

If it were another emperor, he would definitely criticize Jia Lian for his outrageous words, but Emperor Chenghui felt that he was very much in my heart. The officials don't pay taxes to the country, so how can the common people understand what the Analects is?

People only look at the present, and they don't care about the future. It is normal for people to focus on the immediate interests and hold them firmly in their hands.

Emperor Chenghui was not an emperor who grew up under the deception of civil officials. He knew that there was a problem in this country. It is not terrible to have a problem, just solve it. What is terrible is to find a problem but not be able to solve it or dare not solve it.

In any case, Jia Lian's ideas were quite effective and all came into effect. Emperor Chenghui is now somewhat path-dependent.

"That's it, let's decide on the candidate for the Minister of Revenue in March first. I'll give in first and see how they delay." It has to be said that Emperor Chenghui is very good at this kind of struggle.

Even in the Zhou Dynasty, the emperor's power was legally unlimited, but he could not do whatever he wanted. The emperor was also a human being, not a god. Governing a country is not a one-person job, it requires the cooperation of ministers.

Emperor Chenghui knew that he couldn't push too hard. The way of civil and military affairs is to relax and tighten. Sometimes taking a step back is to take two steps forward.

Well, if Jia Lian knew what he was thinking, he would definitely give a thumbs up, and so did Teacher Lie. Regarding the selection of the Minister of Revenue, the cabinet acted quickly and came up with five ministers with corresponding qualifications. Of course, it was impossible for them to become cabinet ministers.

When the list appeared in front of Emperor Chenghui, Jia Lian was attending a meeting at the Jiumen Control Office.

The Nine Gates Commander was a very special position, directly under the emperor. His power was not that great, he could not even control the tax gates at Chongwen Gate, but it was not that small either, as the officers and soldiers under the Nine Gates Commander had the power to check anyone who wanted to enter the inner city. To put it bluntly, if Jia Lian wanted to make things difficult for someone and prevent them from entering the inner city, even if the Prime Minister of the Cabinet came, he would still have an excuse to delay for a long time.

Not to mention, this is a sensitive period!

The Nine Gates Command Office has one commander, one deputy commander, and nine deputy generals. Not counting the attached personnel in the office, the nine deputy generals each lead a battalion of soldiers, which is 9,000 combatants.

Before Jia Lian took office, Emperor Chenghui arranged a deputy commander in advance. Li Ran, who was from the Imperial Clan Court and was of the same generation as Li Heng, was in charge of internal affairs and had no power to mobilize troops. The remaining nine deputy commanders were purged, and Emperor Chenghui also transferred officers from the border troops to fill in. It can be said that Jia Lian is now the commander of the Nine Gates. When Emperor Chenghui shouts, Jia Lian can do nothing.

In view of this situation, Jia Lian was not in a hurry, since he was just a temporary acting official anyway.

"I'm Jia Lian, temporarily serving as the commander of the Nine Gates. Everyone, please introduce yourselves so that we can get to know each other." Jia Lian's opening remarks were simple, and the deputy commander to the nine deputy generals appeared one by one.

"Okay, now everyone is familiar with each other. This generation commander has many responsibilities and basically doesn't care about daily affairs. His Majesty asked me to train the troops, so let's talk about training. First of all, I will give you ten days to reorganize the troops in each battalion after you go back, eliminate the old and weak, and kick out some unqualified slackers. Remember, in ten days, this generation commander will check one by one. Those who pass the test will stay and continue to serve, and those who fail will go back to where they came from. I'm going to say it in advance. If I'm not satisfied at that time, no one can intercede for me. Just as it is, Deputy Commander Li will stay, and the others will go back."

The meeting was extremely brief, and all the deputy generals were a little confused. They had anticipated various situations, but they never expected that it would be over in just a quarter of an hour.

When Jia Lian and Li Ran were left alone, Jia Lian still briefly explained the tasks; "Deputy Commander Li, you are fully responsible for the internal affairs of the government office. The personnel configuration should be replaced and supplemented. All accounts must be sorted out, and the warehouse must also be fully counted. The accounts must be clear. I will check it within ten days. The power is given to you. If you don't do well, get out!"

Li Ran was also full of emotion when he heard this. This was the first time he had seen such a superior. When he was in the clan house, any power he had would be used to the extreme, and there were many people who made profits for themselves. But this one was different. He directly gave up all power and only retained the power to inspect and fire people.

It's a blessing to have such a superior.

Li Ran, who came out of the clan house, heard many rumors about Jia Lian, especially about the children of powerful and wealthy people, who were so scared at the mention of him.

When I met him today, I found that he is very down-to-earth and only cares about results.

Li Ran quickly agreed. Jia Lian did not completely give up and leave Zhang San, the head of the family guards, to stay here every day and report any problems in time.

After handling the affairs of the Nine Gates Control Office in a swift and resolute manner, Jia Lian went straight to the Research and Development Department. He only did two things a day, which was his bottom line. Unless there was force majeure, he would never do more.

In the R&D department, Arang felt abandoned. With soda ash in hand, beakers and test tubes were no problem, and he could easily make it. The difficult part was flat glass, which required some craftsmanship.

Of course, this is a technological problem. At least at this stage, there is no float glass technology.

After finally making a piece of flat glass the size of an octavo paper, I excitedly reported it to my boss, only to find that he was even busier and spent every day in the laboratory.

No one cared about the results, but fortunately there was the book "Basic Chemistry" to study, which has kept Arang busy recently. After studying "Basic Chemistry", a alkali-making method suitable for the local area of ​​Da Zhou has gradually taken shape, and he has been busy doing experiments recently.

Jia Lian came quietly, and after a round, he found two main players, each with four apprentices, in the laboratory. Not bad, he didn't forget to take care of the apprentices.

Without disturbing their experiments, Jia Lian went into the office to see the latest results.

Well, the report is on the desk, let me take a look!

"Transparent glass has been produced! Great! This combination of Jean Valjean and the wild chemist has paid off."

"Oh, the flat glass has been made, but the size is a bit small. Fortunately, I have done some research at the glass factory. Oh, we can start with the existing production capacity to make wine bottles."

"Oh, there has been some progress in the soda ash process. Can we use the triacid next?"

Jia Lian's most important thing for the R&D department is the three acids and two bases. This is the foundation of modern chemical industry. Without the three acids and two bases, where would the primer come from, where would the nitrocellulose come from?
Ahem, let's get the fire cat first, and then improve the black gunpowder. Let's put the nitrocellulose aside for now. This thing was born quite early, but it didn't work because there was no stabilizer. Unfortunately, I'm not a chemist, so I can only hope to slowly explore it.

In fact, black powder can be used for a long time. Take your time and cultivate talents!

Well, simply giving money is probably not enough to solve the problem of attracting talents. We need to think of other ways. For example, giving them official positions? That's not enough, they need titles!
As for the title, we have to find a way to convince the emperor. However, before there are outstanding results in weapon improvement, it is difficult to convince the emperor, let alone the court and the people.

Just as Jia Lian was staring at the work report on the table, the eunuch Xiao Guizi came in and coughed. When Jia Lian looked at him, he saluted and said, "Master Jia, the emperor summons you!"

Jia Lian looked at the report in front of him, called the office director Ma San, picked up a pen and wrote something to instruct him: "I will go to the palace to do some work first, and come back tomorrow. The R&D Department has made remarkable achievements and deserves praise!"

The emperor's summons were force majeure, so Jia Lian was forced to work overtime. On the way to the palace, Jia Lian asked Xiao Guizi, "What's the matter?"

(End of this chapter)