Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 319 Different Thinking
Jia Lian had no idea how much Wang Ziteng needed money. It was still unclear whether Wang Ziteng would continue to deal in opium.

The current situation gives Jia Lian a headache. Jia Lian cannot accept what Wang Ziteng has done both psychologically and emotionally.

However, for people of this era, the harmfulness of opium trafficking is not fully understood.

Despite the imperial court's clear ban, Wang Ziteng still did it.

"Go back to Tianjin. Don't stay in the capital like a headless fly. The more you flutter around, the faster you will die." Jia Lian said. Sun Shaozu did not dare to argue and chose to leave the city immediately.

Before leaving, Sun Shaozu carefully put down a large envelope. Jia Lian glanced at it indifferently without saying anything. Sun Shaozu's nervous expression relaxed instantly. As long as he was willing to take the money, everything would be fine.

Jia Lian weighed the large envelope in his hand and sighed, "Political struggles are too complicated."

Jia Lian did not stay long, and immediately went to the palace to ask for an audience with Emperor Chenghui.

As usual, Jia Lian met Emperor Chenghui smoothly. He finally saw Emperor Chenghui who was taking a rest and drinking a bowl of iced sour plum soup to cool off.

Emperor Chenghui put down the bowl and looked at Jia Lian who was standing in front of him with his head bowed. He stood up and walked forward, walked around him and then spoke: "You asked to see me, why don't you speak?"

"Your Majesty rarely has time to relax, and I dare not disturb your rest." Jia Lian answered respectfully, so calmly that Emperor Chenghui opened his mouth in surprise.

"Okay, I've almost rested. You came to see the emperor instead of reporting to him. In your opinion, this matter must be very important. Tell me, I want to hear whether it is a big deal or not."

Emperor Chenghui returned to the table and sat down, putting one hand on the table, staring at Jia Lian, wanting to see how he would perform.

Jia Lian held up the large envelope with both hands, stepped forward and placed it on the desk, then stepped back five steps to create some distance before raising his head and speaking: "This is the life-saving money given to me by Sun Shaozu, the son of the Tianjin Navy. I dare not accept it. In addition, I want to impeach Wang Ziteng in person for selling opium. Your Majesty has issued a clear order to prohibit this, and Wang Ziteng broke the law knowingly, so he should be severely punished."

Emperor Chenghui's reaction was calm. After all, when others impeached Wang Ziteng, selling opium was just a minor crime. Although the court had banned it, in fact, this crime was really not a big deal for Wang Ziteng. Those whose financial resources were cut off by Wang Ziteng also knew that impeaching him for selling opium would not cause any harm, so they fabricated other charges, such as raising private soldiers and having bad intentions.

Emperor Chenghui felt that Jia Lian's "making a fuss over nothing" could not be compared to his initiative to ask for an audience. This guy would not go to the palace if he could avoid it, and going to the palace for such a small matter was a poor performance.

"I have already issued an edict to reprimand Wang Ziteng. Isn't that enough?" Emperor Chenghui decided not to expose Jia Lian's "performance."

Jia Lian's reaction was beyond Emperor Chenghui's expectations. He took a step forward, saluted very solemnly, and then raised his body and said, "Your Majesty, the harm of opium and drugs cannot be overemphasized."

Emperor Chenghui understood what Jia Lian meant. Although he was curious, he nodded and said, "Tell me in detail."

"The Celestial Empire was not a large silver-producing country. The reason why the former Ming Dynasty could use silver as its official currency was that it absorbed precious metals from all over the world through trade. The Western Barbarians relied on commerce as their foundation. Even England, the leader of the Western Barbarians, could not sustain a long-term huge trade deficit. The Western Barbarians were greedy, and those who could rob would definitely not do business properly. The reason they did not rob was because they felt they could not defeat them. In the former Ming Dynasty, Zheng Zhilong defeated the Netherlands, the strongest Western Barbarian at the time, and cut off the tentacles of the Western Barbarians extending eastward. Faced with a huge empire, they were not sure of victory, and at the same time they were unwilling to suffer a long-term trade deficit, so they chose to smuggle opium. Once this substance is smoked, it is difficult to quit. Once it is rampant, it will inevitably lead to a large outflow of silver, explaining the formation of foreign trade. The deficit will last for at most fifty years. It will be difficult for the imperial court to obtain enough tax silver through foreign trade. By then, the treasury will be empty and the finances will be unsustainable. The court can only squeeze the people internally. In another fifty years, the tragic situation of the late Ming Dynasty will reappear. Your Majesty, I am not exaggerating. The operation of a country cannot be separated from a healthy finance. The Southern Song Dynasty was able to survive for nearly two hundred years with half of Jiangnan, relying on foreign sea trade. In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the finances were difficult, and a big reason was that the English pirates were rampant at that time, which led to a sharp decline in the number of Spanish ships coming to China for trade. Famine can occur in the rich land of Huzhou because the people coveted the power of silk, planted more mulberry trees and less rice, and foreign trade declined, and silk could not be exchanged for money to buy food. Imagine what it would be like if the area of ​​arable land for growing opium increased sharply in the future, and it caught up with natural disasters and reduced grain production?"

Jia Lian spoke slowly and calmly, fearing that Emperor Chenghui would overlook the key factors. The starting point of his words was very direct, aiming at the key point of shaking the foundation of control.

What is the emperor afraid of? He is afraid that his control will be unstable. If you want to persuade someone, you must go to the topic that he cares about.

Otherwise, no matter how many profound truths you say, he will just treat them as nonsense. How can you know more than me?

It is difficult for people, especially those after middle age, to accept and keep up with the rapid changes in society. At the same time, people are still a species that is very willing to shirk responsibility.

Many things are like this. It's not my fault, it's someone else's fault. Parents think that if their children don't study well, it must be the fault of games. The most classic example is to attribute a certain amount of spiritual opium to games.

These parents will never admit that they are unable to adapt to the rapid changes in society and do not have enough time and patience to care about their children's growth.

If children don’t learn well, it’s the school’s fault and society’s fault, and has nothing to do with them.

Pulling away, get back to business.

Emperor Chenghui did not fully agree with Jia Lian's words, and Jia Lian did not expect him to accept them completely.

"Then what do you think we should do?" Emperor Chenghui was silent for a long time before asking back.

Jia Lian stepped forward and spoke forcefully: "Wang Ziteng is a first-time offender. Your Majesty can issue an additional reprimand order. Wang Ziteng and the entire navy are required to crack down on the trafficking of opium at sea. The court must introduce stricter laws. All principal offenders must be beheaded and all their property confiscated. Accomplices will be beheaded or exiled depending on the severity of the crime. Those who smoke opium are also guilty. They must be forced to quit. Those who cannot quit cannot serve as officials, and cannot participate in the imperial examinations within three generations. Current officials who smoke opium must quit within a time limit. If they fail to do so, they cannot be directly dismissed. Regardless of their background, everyone will be treated equally."

Jia Lian has already emphasized the harmful effects of opium before, and this time it is an expanded version of his reiteration.

Although Emperor Chenghui felt that Jia Lian was still a little alarmist, he still nodded and said, "I will let the cabinet discuss and introduce new laws and regulations to improve the previous deficiencies. As for Wang Ziteng, I can add another reprimand order to forbid him to do this again in the future."

Emperor Chenghui did not think about taking down Wang Ziteng, but the consequences of doing so were too serious. If he really took action, it would be fine if he succeeded, but if he failed, Guangdong, Guangxi, Liaodong, and the Northwest might all rebel, and the emperor could not bear this consequence at all. Therefore, Emperor Chenghui would rather suppress it first and wait and see. It would not be too late to take action in the future when the country's financial and military conditions have improved. Maybe Wang Ziteng would go directly to Annan and voluntarily give up Guangdong and Guangxi.

As for the idea of ​​cutting off trade with the Western Barbarians, there was no such idea at all. Now the foreign trade tax revenue of tens of millions of taels per year would not be abandoned even if Emperor Chenghui was killed. There was one point that Emperor Chenghui and Jia Lian highly agreed on, that is, the country cannot do without a healthy finance.

As for Jia Lian, his explanation actually only mentioned one key point of finance, and there was another key point that was not mentioned, which is distribution.

If the distribution problem is not handled properly, it will inevitably lead to a sharp polarization between the rich and the poor. There is a poem that says: The rich have wine and meat, while the poor have frozen bones on the road.

We really can't underestimate this problem. In this era of agricultural civilization, a natural disaster plus some man-made disasters can lead to large-scale corruption.

The country's difficulties do not affect the greed of the powerful in the slightest. Morally speaking, they are no nobler than the capitalists.

In terms of greed, the human nature of the East and the West is the same. That is why the former richest man said that Wanda is in debt, not me.

The essence is the same, but the gameplay is different. At the level of greed, the version is constantly updated.

Jia Lian had no intention of forcing the emperor. He wanted to change, but he didn't intend to do it rashly.

In this era dominated by imperial power, the core of the game is inseparable from the emperor. In layman's terms, it is still necessary to surround the emperor and pry social changes bit by bit.

"In that case, I have nothing more to say." After Jia Lian bowed, he took a few steps back, stood still and bowed. "I ask to leave."

Emperor Chenghui waved his hand: "Go!"

After Jia Lian walked away and could no longer be seen, Emperor Chenghui turned around and asked Qiu Shian, who had been pretending to be invisible, "Jia Lian impeached Wang Ziteng. What do you think of it?"

Qiu Shi'an's eyes darted around and he was unusually nervous. As the person who knew Emperor Chenghui best, Qiu Shi'an knew that the emperor didn't care about Wang Ziteng's opium trafficking.

"I don't understand this! The sage is asking the blind for advice." Qiu Shi'an decided to play it safe. The emperor and Jia Lian have a very good relationship now, and having no political inclination is the foundation of his life.

Emperor Chenghui picked up the envelope in front of him, opened it and looked at it, then smiled and said, "Wow, that's a lot. The commander-in-chief of the Tianjin Navy must have paid all the benefits as tribute."

After counting the silver notes totaling thirty thousand taels, Emperor Chenghui unceremoniously put them away and said, "He is just a naval commander, so let Jia Lian do you a favor."

The next morning, the cabinet members received another notice to hold a meeting.

The cabinet ministers were confused and guessed that something had happened recently that made the emperor want to hold a meeting. According to the regulations, if the cabinet ministers felt that a meeting was necessary, they would suggest initiating it and submit it to the emperor for approval and convening. The other one was that the emperor took the initiative to initiate the meeting. In terms of the number of times the emperor took the initiative to initiate the meeting, it was a minority. Emperor Chenghui was a little more diligent, but when he was the emperor, there was a precedent of not taking the initiative to initiate a cabinet meeting for a year. Except for some regular meetings, such as the New Year's regular meeting, the Mid-Autumn Festival regular meeting and other major festivals.

When all the ministers arrived at the cabinet meeting room and sat down, the emperor raised a topic that shocked everyone so much that they almost lost control of their expressions.

Jia Lian impeached Wang Ziteng. Such explosive news was really shocking.

Everyone instantly reached the same thought in their minds: Your acting is too poor, isn't it? Why did His Majesty cooperate with Jia Lian in acting?
The smart and intelligent people all felt that they had captured the high ground and began to speculate on the real reason behind it.

It must be said that the cabinet ministers were able to keep consistent with the emperor in their thinking. At least they all thought of one thing: making a fuss about the trafficking of opium would inevitably result in some injuries.

Wang Ziteng was an important official in the imperial court. He was once a great figure who was the chief military commander. If you wanted to bring him down, you would be kidding if you didn't accuse him of forming a clique or treason.

Since the emperor wants to act, everyone should cooperate with him reluctantly.

After Prime Minister Kong Zhao gave a look, Li Chi, who was walking closer to him, stood up and said, "Your Majesty, Wang Ziteng broke the law knowingly, and his crime is not small. Considering that it is his first offense, he should be severely reprimanded by imperial decree."

Guo Yan stood up and said, "Lord Li is right. I think that merely reprimanding is not enough, and punishment is also necessary."

Pan Jixun was a kind-hearted man. Seeing everyone standing up to perform, he decided not to join in. He closed his eyes to rest, indicating that he was not there and no one could see him.

Liang Daoyuan felt the most uncomfortable. After all, he had used Wang Ziteng as a lever before. Now he continued to impeach Wang Ziteng for the previous crime, which was to look down on the emperor's intelligence. He was even more embarrassed to express his position. What about your position? Is it so easy to change? You are the second assistant of the cabinet, what about your principles? He couldn't even stand up and insist on his original argument. That would be equivalent to fighting Wang Ziteng to death. It was not worthwhile to make a deal based on making a deadly enemy. Therefore, he also felt that it was better to remain invisible. Not expressing his position was the best statement.

"Prime Minister Kong, what do you think?" Emperor Chenghui saw that there were only two votes, and at least three votes were needed. Call the names!

"Your Majesty is concerned with perfecting legislation first, and does not punish without teaching. This is the style of a benevolent monarch." Kong Zhao also expressed his opinion.

Emperor Chenghui was a little disappointed that he didn't hear any new ideas. He thought that he should combine the suggestions of the cabinet and Jia Lian, and then see if there was any better idea.

Fortunately, Emperor Chenghui had enough expectations for the conservatism of the cabinet ministers. How should I put it? For the position of cabinet ministers, conservatism is a must. The way to govern a country is to stabilize it first. Any drastic action may lead to national turmoil. Therefore, the conservatism of national policies has never been a result of the ministers' stupidity, but a necessity.

(End of this chapter)