Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 302 Jia Dang {ask for monthly ticket}
There is actually no explicit regulation on reducing or exempting commercial taxes for gentry who have made great achievements. It is an unspoken rule in the implementation process, which means it can only take effect in the local area.

So it depends on where you are. If it is in some poor provinces, it is not so obvious. But it is different in Liangjiang, which is a commercially developed area, so the local tax exemption is much higher.

Just after the first month of the year, Sun Huazhen convened several meetings on this issue and warned some local officials, asking them to keep an eye on the clerks below them and collect taxes strictly in accordance with the regulations.

In Jia Lian's opinion, the commercial taxation system of the Zhou Dynasty was a mess, especially in transportation, where there were demons and monsters everywhere. Not to mention the canal, Jia Lian had personally experienced that every government office along the river dared to set up a banknote gate to collect money, although most of them were temporary, and it was not uncommon to collect money for one month every year. The same was true on the Yangtze River, where temporary banknote gates were also very Yangtze River-like. These government offices actually had no power to do this, but they did it anyway, and no one cared. The question is, why should they care? The money was not collected by one company, and the money collected must have been bribed by people from top to bottom.

To put it bluntly, the government treated merchants like pigs and slaughtered them. This is the nature of the times. At this time, when we see that gentry with official titles can be exempted from business taxes, isn’t it not so glaring?

Let's put it this way, in some places, commercial taxes were not reduced, but they were put into their own pockets. Of course, this was done "secretly", unlike the lijin tax in the late Qing Dynasty, which was allowed by the court.

Jia Lian had no good solution for Li Dong and Lin Ping's request. He could only tell them to just follow the instructions from above. However, during work, one should try to go deep into the grassroots level and understand the actual situation. Don't stay in the government office every day. If you do that, after a three-year term as an official, it will be difficult to gain anything except being familiar with some paperwork and other work. The most important thing for an official is to go deep into the grassroots level. Only by understanding the operation process of the grassroots level can you find the answer to any seemingly unreasonable things in any position in the future. Also, the actual situation in each place is different. Don't copy and paste the template. Of course, it will be very tiring to be an official in this way. It depends on personal choice.

First of all, it should be made clear that the power of the local government in the Great Zhou Dynasty was very great. The county magistrate was called the parent official, which is understandable.

Deep down, Jia Lian still holds the idea that one should not meddle in matters that are not his responsibility. The future of Li Dong and Lin Ping still depends on their efforts.

When they met privately, Li Dong and Lin Ping spoke without much concealment. Lin Ping was better. Li Dong said very directly that he was called "Jia Party" in the court.

Speaking of this, Lin Ping also said that it was not groundless and that there were indeed people hyping this concept.

The so-called Jia Party was formed because Jia Lian performed too prominently, and some officials who had a good relationship with Jia Lian were automatically incorporated into this faction.

Li Dong and Jia Lian were classmates at Qingyun Academy, and they were also good friends of the same age. They were die-hard Jia party members, and Wu Anzhong and Yang Wen were both in the same group. Lin Ping was a level lower, belonging to the middle level. Others who were born in Qingyun, worked under Zhang Tingen, and had interactions with Jia Lian were all classified as middle-lower level.

This is very funny, but Lin Ping and Li Dong, the parties involved, did not resist this so-called party, and even gathered a group of people around them, most of whom were young officials who were not very successful. From what they said, all they needed was Jia Lian, the party leader, to come out and raise his arms and make great achievements.

To be honest, Jia Lian was quite frightened by this incident, and he immediately reminded the two of them: "This matter cannot be neglected. The emperor has always been averse to his subjects forming factions. Don't mention this matter again in the future."

Lin Ping nodded: "That's right, don't mention it openly, just tell me it's a social gathering among colleagues, it's harmless."

Li Dong also said: "Yes, in the late Tang Dynasty there was the Niu-Li faction struggle, in the late Ming Dynasty there was the Donglin faction, and the struggles among the Qi, Chu, and eunuch factions. They only consider the standpoints, not the right and wrong. Factional struggles are not desirable."

Li Dong and Lin Ping have different understandings of this matter. Lin Ping's understanding is that everyone has a tacit understanding in their hearts and it is better not to say it out loud. Li Dong firmly disagrees with the idea of ​​forming a party.

Jia Lian understood that Li Dong believed that friendship between gentlemen should be as light as water, and that they could be friends but not accomplices. Lin Ping, on the other hand, believed that forming cliques was too normal in the court, and it would be abnormal not to do so.

There is one thing in common between the two. Whether there is this organization or not, Jia Lian is the core. There is no way not to think so. The two are officials in the court. No matter where they go, others will associate them with Jia Lian. Not to mention giving them convenience, there are few things that deliberately make things difficult for them. If you want to blame someone, blame Jia Lian for his notoriety. The two also explained at the beginning, but then they just lay down. No matter how you understand it, it’s good to have this identity.

"Well, Brother Li is right. There is no such thing as a party. We are all like-minded and work for the court. Thanks to the current emperor's wisdom, we have the opportunity to show our talents."

Jia Lian's official language was full of flaws, and the two of them smiled knowingly and nodded in agreement: "That's the truth."

Jia Lian looked at it and thought, well, it was all in vain. Forget it, do whatever you want!
In any case, Jia Lian hopes that these two people can do a good job at the grassroots level. Working in the court is definitely not possible without a few helpers. Jia Lian does not need to deliberately cultivate a team. As long as he is unique, there will always be people who come to him through various relationships in the future. For example, the people from Qingyun Academy, Zhang Tingen's resources, and Jia Yucun and Xu Zhushi. If you don't count, you won't know. If you count, you will be surprised. There are still quite a lot of people!

I became the party leader inexplicably?

After seeing off the two friends, the whole morning is gone. I take a break at noon. As usual, I can only do two things at most in a day.

Wucheng Bingmasi is one of the base camps in Jia Lian's mind. A place like Shenjiying is really not suitable to be used as a base camp because it attracts too much attention.

Military power is a very dangerous thing. You must maintain a close but distant relationship with it, or find another way.

Ni Er did a very good job. He took a group of family members of the Shenjiying with him and worked hard in Dongcheng for a few days. He conquered the territory of three streets and basically gained a foothold.

Dongcheng Censor gave money and was protected, so he was relieved now. The dark hand he was most worried about was gone, and his position was secure. Unfortunately, he had no chance to move up.

It was because he was reluctant to give up this lucrative position, otherwise he would have changed jobs long ago. He would have had the opportunity to be promoted. He was old and had no chance to get promoted to the third rank or above. What was he still struggling with? He should make money quickly.

Jian Renda's attitude did not change. Whenever Jia Lian came, he would always surround his leader. He had heard of the so-called Jia Party, but unfortunately he had no chance to join.

Jia Lian thought about it and finally decided to train Jian Renda. The reason was simple: he was the youngest. Being young meant development potential. Jia Lian didn't really care whether he was a party member or not. He had too many part-time jobs, so he had to have someone he had promoted to take up the vacancy. Especially the Wucheng Bingmasi government office was too special.

To exaggerate a little, if there is any gossip in the capital, the Five Cities Military Department will know about it.

Some things look insignificant, but when you really need them, you have nowhere to find them. With this mentality, Jia Lian called Jian Renda over and hinted to him in person: "You have performed well recently."

Without saying much, Jian Renda was ecstatic after hearing it. This was like currying favor with someone powerful and reaping the benefits.

"Thank you, sir. I will follow your orders from now on." Jian Renda quickly expressed his loyalty.

In this way, Jia Lian reported the successor recommendation, which had been suppressed for a while, to Lin Ruhai. He reported it in person.

Lin Ruhai was very capable. He used the case of the Little New Year's Eve Rebellion to dismiss and recruit new personnel, which was done very smoothly, and he quickly stabilized the situation of the Inspectorate. Without putting on the airs of a superior, Lin Ruhai met Jia Lian in the office. After learning that the recommender was Jian Renda, he joked in a joking manner: "Congratulations to the Jia Party for adding another general."

If someone else said this, Jia Lian could just laugh it off. But when Lin Ruhai said this to his face, Jia Lian had to straighten himself up and said solemnly, "Uncle, this is not a joke."

Lin Ruhai said: "Let's not talk about whether it's a joke or not. There are indeed people spreading this, so we should take it seriously. There are all kinds of people in the officialdom, and anything can happen. A tree that stands out in the forest will be destroyed by the wind."

In other words, there were indeed people in the court who were deliberately creating the concept of the Jia Party. This was not something that could be laughed off. Someone was trying to put Jia Lian to death.

Who could it be? Jia Lian thought about it again and again, but he could not figure it out. He could only say that he did have enemies, and quite a few of them.

But it is difficult to trace the source of such rumors, and it is difficult to find anyone to take revenge on.

Not everyone in this world does things with a purpose. Sometimes they simply don't like you and want to mess with you. It doesn't necessarily mean that you are blocking their way.

Jia Lian, who was originally a little complacent, soon realized the harmfulness of the "Jia Party" rumors. These rumors are subtle and may take effect over time.

"In any case, we should first investigate where the rumor came from. We should know who is behind it." Jia Lian expressed his attitude, and Lin Ruhai nodded: "We really need to investigate. He has been too prominent in recent years."

After a moment's thought, Jia Lian said, "I am the censor, and I will report what I hear. Let's start from now on."

Lin Ruhai was stunned at first, then he couldn't help but burst out laughing and said, "This is a great move. If someone else did this, it would probably be a joke, but it's okay for you to do this."

What does it mean? This is where the character setting comes into play. Look at what Jia Lian has done, each one is more outrageous than the last. Impeaching himself, is that a big deal?

Jia Lian did what he said and started working directly in Lin Ruhai's office. Lin Ruhai stood by and watched him write the memorial.

Jia Lian started with the harm of party struggles, first talking about the Niu-Li party struggle in the late Tang Dynasty, which consumed the last bit of vitality of the Tang Dynasty. Then he mentioned the Qi Party, Chu Party, Jin Party, Eunuch Party, Donglin, Fushe, etc. in the late Ming Dynasty, emphasizing that the Southern Ming Dynasty could have occupied half of the country, waiting for the Northern Expedition to revive the Ming Dynasty, but the party struggles continued and nothing was done, and even caused a farce of asking the Later Jin to join forces to destroy the King of Chuang. Thanks to the Taizu of this dynasty, when the nation was in danger, he raised his arms and called for the army to go north to save the people. Shocked to hear that Nanjing surrendered without a fight, Taizu was forced to suspend the Northern Expedition and instead marched east to clean up the southeast...

After talking about the past, Jia Lian brought up the present. What was it? [I was shocked to hear that there was a Jia Party in this dynasty. After repeated inquiries, I learned that Jia was the leader of the Jia Party...]

Finally, according to the rules, after being impeached, the minister should reflect on himself at home or submit a memorial to defend himself. It is impossible to defend himself, after all, he is impeaching himself, so he can only reflect on himself at home.

After asking Lin Ruhai to deliver this memorial to the palace, Jia Lian ran away home and could now slack off openly.

Lin Ruhai took the memorial to the palace. As an important official, he soon met the emperor and presented the memorial to the emperor, saying, "Your Majesty, Jia Lian has submitted a memorial. I cannot handle it, so I have to present it to you."

Emperor Chenghui took the memorial with a puzzled look on his face and read it. After reading it, he was furious and threw the memorial hard on the table, saying angrily: "You bastard, you actually found an excuse to take a holiday."

Lin Ruhai was also dumbfounded, and thought to himself, Your Majesty, I don’t understand your perspective.

Seeing Lin Ruhai's confused face, Emperor Chenghui put away his anger and said, "Don't you know what kind of person he is? Is he qualified to be the leader of a party? Will anyone believe it if you tell them? He just got a daughter and it is said that he loves her so much that he can't let her go and feels uncomfortable when he can't see her."

Lin Ruhai understood and quickly explained: "Your Majesty, what Jia Lian said in his memorial is true and has been widely circulated."

Emperor Chenghui was also stunned. He really didn't care about the so-called Jia Party. He just laughed it off. Didn't he understand Jia Lian?
Judging from what Lin Ruhai said now, there really is someone behind the scenes fanning the flames.

This must be taken seriously. Jia Lian seems to be young and not a high-ranking official. He is just a temporary replacement for the most important position, the Nine Gates Commander. The key is that Jia Lian is a hero in the Li Ni mutiny case.

Emperor Chenghui couldn't help but think too much and asked, "Are the remnants of Li Ni seeking revenge?"

Lin Ruhai shook his head. "No, even if there are remnants, they are probably hiding well. How dare they come out and cause trouble?"

Emperor Chenghui agreed with this view, nodded slightly, and sneered, "It's just that it's blocking people's way, or it could be something else. In short, let's check it out!"

Lin Ruhai said: "I will arrange for someone to investigate. If there is nothing else, I will take my leave."

Emperor Chenghui said, "Tell Jia Lian to forget about today and go back to work tomorrow. You just want to slack off every day."

After hearing this, Lin Ruhai was very convinced. This royal favor was incomparable.

Emperor Chenghui summoned Qiu Shian and asked him, "Last time you mentioned a joke, that someone in the capital was spreading rumors about the Jia Party. Now it seems that it is not a joke anymore, but someone is behind this."

Qiu Shian hesitated for a moment and expressed doubt: "Saint, could it be that Jia Lian is making a fuss out of nothing and taking the opportunity to slack off? Saint knows him."

Emperor Chenghui shook his head: "This boy is rude and reckless, and he has offended many people. If I really want to investigate his Jia party, I don't know how many people will applaud and add insult to injury. At this time, we must not be careless, investigate!"

Qiu Shian stepped back to do his work as instructed. He actually had some guesses in his mind, so he went to Xia Shouzhong to discuss the matter.

After listening to Qiu Shian's retelling, Xia Shouzhong hesitated for a while before whispering, "If we really want to investigate, we have to have a focus. I suggest that we pay more attention to some people around the Second Prince."

(End of this chapter)