Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 311 There is another mystery
Lord Jia came to the Lin residence again, complaining to Daiyu as he walked: "My uncle is too much. How can I interfere in such a big matter as entering the cabinet?"

Daiyu looked at Jia Lian with a smile, thinking to herself that her cousin had the composure to remain calm even when faced with a huge crisis, but now he was furious. It must be her father's fault, as he was forced into a corner.

"I don't understand adult matters, but we are all family. For mother's sake, please forgive father." While Daiyu was speaking for Lin Ruhai, she was thinking about asking her father for clarification later.

"Your uncle said we would come back together, so why did you come first?" Jia Min appeared and asked curiously, which showed that Lin Ruhai had sent someone back to deliver the message.

"I didn't want to go with him, so I came here first to avoid gossip." Jia Lian would never admit that he skipped work early.

Jia Min was so smart that she realized something was wrong immediately. She couldn't help but test him, "Your uncle has always been very cautious as an official, and the children of the Lin family are not very motivated, and they don't have any helpers."

Daiyu added, "Are the Lin family members not ambitious? They are too ambitious. They are so ambitious that they hope their father will die so that they can inherit the family business."

Family disgrace should not be made public. My little cousin really doesn't care about this matter. It's true that her last name is Lin, and she remembers everything the Lin family did in Yangzhou.

After hearing this, Jia Lian felt embarrassed to cause trouble for Lin Ruhai. After all, they were family.

He picked up the teacup and pretended to drink tea to cover it up, and took the opportunity to change the subject: "My sister is beautiful and intelligent, and her talent and courage are not inferior to men, but it's a pity that she is not a man."

Daiyu's face turned red due to the praise, and her eyes became a little evasive when she looked at Jia Lian.

At this time, Lin Ruhai came in from outside. The servants of the house rushed over to serve him. When Lin Ruhai saw Jia Lian inside, he smiled and said, "You guys chat first, I'll go change my clothes."

After changing his clothes, Lin Ruhai came out and asked with a smile, "What were you talking about just now?"

Jia Lian glanced at Lin Ruhai and said, "Uncle has bags under his eyes and his complexion is not looking good. I heard that he has taken in a concubine. He should take care of himself."

The topic was so far away that Lin Ruhai felt awkward. Jia Min smiled and stood up, saying, "You guys chat. I'll go take a rest."

Daiyu watched her mother leave and chose to sit aside without moving. Lin Ruhai would not chase her away anyway.

After Jia Min left, Lin Ruhai asked, "What do you think about the cabinet's addition? Tell me."

It seems that he really cares about her, and his tone is extremely casual. He doesn't treat Jia Lian as an outsider at all.

In response, Daiyu stared at Jia Lian with her eyes flickering. Jia Lian couldn't be too perfunctory, so he thought about it and said, "The key point of this matter is not to add cabinet members, but what does Your Majesty want to do?"

Lin Ruhai was stunned for a moment. He had never considered this angle before. Thinking carefully about Emperor Chenghui's usual style, he must have had other purposes for suddenly throwing out such a big news.

As far as the addition of cabinet members is concerned, Lin Ruhai has made comprehensive considerations. Legally, the number of cabinet members has little impact on the emperor's power. Of course, it depends on whether the emperor is strong. If the emperor is a weak emperor, even if the five cabinet ministers are strong enough, they can still suppress the emperor. There have been precedents in the previous dynasty, and this is not something to be taken for granted. Once the cabinet and the emperor cannot reach a consensus, and neither the monarch nor the ministers are willing to give in, the possibility of a long-term confrontation will arise. If there is an irresponsible emperor like Wanli, the country will have big problems.

The game between the ruler and his subjects is like this: if you retreat one inch, he will advance one zhang.

"Go on!" Lin Ruhai decided to listen to Jia Lian's opinion first. After all, if we talk about who is familiar with the emperor, Jia Lian is the one.

"One thing must be confirmed. The emperor is quite pragmatic. When serving in the court, one cannot only look at the upper level, but also learn to look at the lower level. In other words, His Majesty is not optimistic about the current state of the country. There are two possibilities for this move. One is to warn the cabinet. The other is that His Majesty has things to do and is worried that the ministers will hinder him. Therefore, he first appeased the ministers by increasing the tribute, and then proposed to add to the cabinet, so that the ministers would not unite to oppose the move. If nothing unexpected happens, the result will be known in three to five days. Back to the issue of adding to the cabinet, it is better to stay still than to move. The one who jumps out to compete early may be the first to be eliminated."

Lin Ruhai, who had been in a restless mood for a day, was completely calmed down by these words. There is no doubt that the current five cabinet members will definitely oppose the addition of personnel. If this is true, Lin Ruhai feels that he has a great chance. After all, the strongest competitor is the Minister of Revenue Ning Ke. In the past, the Minister of Revenue was concurrently held by the cabinet ministers. But Ning Ke has been a Beijing official for too short a time, which is a natural weakness! There are two quotas, and Lin Ruhai feels that he will definitely get one, so he is so anxious. Now, Lin Ruhai feels that it may not be the case.

After calming down, Lin Ruhai couldn't help but wonder if His Majesty didn't want to add more personnel at all, but was just trying to cover up what he was going to do next.

"Brother Lian, what do you think His Majesty wants to do most?" Lin Ruhai completely gave up his airs and asked sincerely. Before this, he was still a little reserved.

"Your Majesty, I think there are two issues that you are most concerned about. One is finance. Without money, the emperor cannot rule steadily. The second is the administration of officials. Because of the corruption of the administration of officials, two large-scale civil uprisings were triggered. Of course, these two issues together are actually one issue, which is to consolidate the imperial power. Therefore, Your Majesty is opposed to anything that is not conducive to the imperial power. If there is a conflict between people's livelihood and imperial power, Your Majesty will definitely choose imperial power. There is no doubt about this. If I were your uncle, I would definitely write an article on the issue of administration of officials. I suggest that you talk about it in general terms and not in depth, so as not to offend too many people."

After hearing this, Lin Ruhai fell into deep thought. Jia Lian was not in a hurry either. He held the teacup and drank slowly. The tea was from before the Qingming Festival. After all, the Lin family was a wealthy family in Suzhou, and their tea was very good.

While Lin Ruhai was lost in thought, Jia Lian stood up, walked around slowly, and looked around. To be honest, he had not had time to take a good look at the Lin family.

Daiyu quietly followed Jia Lian, and the two of them passed through the central hall to the backyard. Along the way, they looked at a northern mansion with many Jiangnan styles and some old traces. Jia Lian couldn't help but sigh. The Lin family has been passed down for five generations, and the foundation is profound. The Jia family can't compare. Wait a minute, the Lin family has been passed down for five generations, and the Jia family has only been passed down for four generations. It seems that he has discovered something incredible.

"Brother Lian, what is father thinking about?" Daiyu asked quietly. Jia Lian smiled and shook his head: "I don't know! Children should not ask too many questions."

"If you don't want to talk about it, forget it. I don't care." Daiyu stamped her feet in anger. What made her most angry was the word "child".

After walking for about ten minutes, Jia Lian returned. Lin Ruhai should have figured it out. As expected, seeing the two of them coming back one after the other, Lin Ruhai stood up and said, "It's better to be quiet than to move. It's better to do nothing. Don't forget that the cabinet members need His Majesty's approval to be members."

"Aren't you going to write any memorials?" Jia Lian asked curiously. Normally, writing some general articles would not be a big deal.

"It's not appropriate to write such a memorial at this time." Lin Ruhai made a decisive decision. Jia Lian thought about it and nodded: "Yes, I was wrong."

Daiyu didn't understand and looked anxiously at this and that. Lin Ruhai, who felt sorry for his daughter's anxiety, explained: "If we talk about officialdom at this time, we may be attacked by everyone!"

Jia Lian added, "Even if Your Majesty really wants to rectify the administration of officials, this move may seem to be ahead of others, but it also risks becoming a target of public criticism. Your uncle is the Chief Censor, so there is no need to take risks. If nothing unexpected happens, the day your uncle steps down as Chief Censor will be the day he joins the cabinet. In the final analysis, it's still because of your competitors that you are not good enough. Even if your uncle does nothing, he will still stand out from the crowd."

Daiyu asked curiously, "Why, Brother Lian, do you think that the ministers of the court are not as capable as father?"

Lin Ruhai blushed when he heard this question. How dare you ask such a question?

Fortunately, Jia Lian did not think there was anything wrong with it. Instead, he explained patiently: "It is not a question of ability, but a question of whether you want to and are willing to do it. Which of the five ministers in the cabinet did not start from the grassroots? Everyone is a good official and a good person. If they can enter the cabinet, there will definitely be many officials following them. After being carried into the cabinet by everyone, the cabinet ministers will definitely seek benefits for their subordinates. There are also family aspects, relatives and friends, etc. These people constitute an interest group, which causes the cabinet ministers to consider very carefully when making any choice. It also makes them lack sufficient decisiveness. Your Majesty has the subjective requirement to refresh the administration of officials and government affairs, in order to avoid the recurrence of the crisis of empty treasury and civil unrest in the past few years. From the perspective of the vested interest group, any change will hurt the vested interests."

Daiyu listened attentively and couldn't help asking, "What should the emperor do?"

"Well, judging from the current situation, the strategy adopted by Your Majesty should be to target a certain group, replace a group of people, and warn the ministers at the same time. Of course, this is only a short-term effect, and it can work a little temporarily. Over time, the people who are replaced may be worse than the predecessors. Your Majesty is also very clear in his mind, but he can't do nothing. This is like a patient who can only take medicine to suppress the disease so that it will not deteriorate too much for the time being. But how to say it, it is only treating the symptoms and not the root cause, and it will still deteriorate little by little."

Daiyu was dumbfounded. She was smart and could easily see that this might be a dead end. She still asked unwillingly, "I've seen in books that order and chaos go hand in hand. Isn't there a permanent solution?"

Jia Lian told her confidently: "No, at least not at the moment. I don't know if there will be in the future."

They had dinner at the Lin family's house. Jia Min had a good appetite and ate more than Jia Lian. Jia Lian noticed that Daiyu's appetite was good and she could eat two small bowls of rice at a meal, which made him very happy.

After dinner, Lin Ruhai sent Jia Lian away and returned to the inner hall. Seeing Jia Min still waiting, he came over and sat down, holding his wife's hand and said, "I want to persuade Cun Zhou to be an official in a remote place. What do you think?"

Jia Min shook her head and said, "Not so good. If you can avoid doing something, you should not do it, so as to avoid being blamed."

Lin Ruhai stopped thinking about this. He had seen that the relationship between the first and second branches of the Jia family was not harmonious. Jia Zheng's presence in Beijing did not bring much help to Jia Lian.

The next day, the Ministry of Revenue sorted out new salary accounts according to the emperor's order, and Ning Ke hurried to the palace to report before leaving work. He knew very well that it was useless to worry now, and the best response was to concentrate on work.

Ning Ke also heard that Lin Ruhai, a very qualified general secretary, was also calm and composed, and he admired him very much. He didn't take action because he didn't have the opportunity, but he obviously had a great opportunity, but he still didn't take action, chose to work normally, and ignored others' jumping up and down. He really had great self-control, which he couldn't do anyway.

After hearing the new salary report, Emperor Chenghui suddenly asked, "How much money does the Ministry of Revenue have?"

Ning Ke answered confidently: "The Ministry of Revenue has 13 million taels of silver in its treasury, and the central bank has 30 million yuan in its account. I intend to replenish the Ministry of Revenue's deposits to 20 million taels, and in the next two years, reduce the amount of silver provided to the central bank for coinage as appropriate. In the future, the Ministry of Revenue will continue to increase the amount of silver in its deposits to prepare for emergencies."

The current central bank is a monopoly mint and an institution that manages banks across the country. From the perspective of the Ministry of Revenue, the central bank actually took away a lot of the Ministry of Revenue's interests. In view of the special nature of the Royal Central Bank, Ning Ke's concerns are necessary. He cannot say it clearly, so he can only express his attitude by increasing the silver coin of the Ministry of Revenue.

What Ning Ke is worried about? Of course, he is worried that banks will become ATMs for the royal family.

With the passing of the emperor emeritus, the royal family has an absolute advantage in the current structure of the central bank, and it is necessary to strike a balance.

It was obvious that Emperor Chenghui was also aware of this problem, but there was no good solution for the time being, so he could only appease him, "I understand what you mean."

And then nothing happened. Emperor Chenghui was delighted with the current situation of having no shortage of money. Even if he found a problem, he had no intention of taking the initiative to change it.

With the plan approved by the emperor, Ning Ke went back to organize the salary distribution. It had to be distributed before the Dragon Boat Festival in May so as not to delay everyone's holiday.

The Dragon Boat Festival came with great fanfare, and Emperor Chenghui also had the most comfortable festival since he ascended the throne. For this reason, he even went to the Xishan Imperial Manor to meet the "honored" emperor.

After the father and son drank two cups together, Emperor Chenghui asked someone to take away the wine and said, "Father is old, it's good for your health to drink less."

The emperor looked at his son expressionlessly and said in an emotionless tone: "I heard that you have done a good job. The financial problems of the court have been basically solved. What do you plan to do with the money owed by officials to the Ministry of Revenue?" Emperor Chenghui did not expect the emperor to ask this. After thinking for a while, he said: "We must recover it. After all, it is money from the national treasury."

The emperor hesitated for a moment before saying, "Slow down, don't be impatient!"

(End of this chapter)