Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 330 You Know How to Pass the Buck
Wang Xifeng's increasingly clear stance is gratifying, but after all, they are a family, and no matter how disharmonious they are, they have to look good on the outside and not let people gossip about them.

Jia Lian was still thinking about Ning Ke's behavior, so after chatting with him for a few words, he ate dinner absent-mindedly and returned to his study.

Knowing that Jia Lian was in trouble, Wang Xifeng had no intention of getting involved. Wang Xifeng was very good at keeping a distance from men's affairs. Even though she didn't know about the two women in the south of the city, she pretended not to know.

A muffled thunder woke Jia Lian from his deep thought. He looked out the door and saw a sparse rain falling, and the stuffiness dissipated a lot.

It is conceivable that Ning Ke must want to join the cabinet, so the next step depends on his actions. For the time being, let's regard his behavior as good.

Jia Lian actually spent more time thinking about another issue, which is balance.

After the Li Rebellion, the noble group suffered a severe blow, and the vacated sphere of influence was quickly swallowed up by the civil servants.

The court structure during this period was actually unbalanced. Emperor Chenghui must have seen this. The emperor followed the strategy formulated during the reign of Emperor Taizu, where the emperor held important positions, the nobles and civil officials were on the left and right, checking and balancing each other, and the emperor in the middle could mediate. This was a stable triangle.

If nothing unexpected happens, the next step for Emperor Chenghui is to take action against the civil officials. It is almost inevitable to strike at the civil officials and promote new nobles. In fact, it is not difficult to see the clues from the previous series of events.

The emperor dared to bring up the idea of ​​cabinet additions at this time, and the civil servants actually dared to believe it.

There is another force that the emperor seems to trust, but in fact he is most wary of, and that is the royal family. These people can make money, but it is difficult for them to gain real power.

Just look at Prince Zhongshun and you will know how powerful he was when he had the royal family, the Imperial Household Department and the Central Bank in his hands. But as soon as he got a little arrogant, he was kicked out of the Central Bank by the Emperor, and then he suffered a heavy blow in the distribution of royal family.

It can be clearly seen that Emperor Chenghui has a strong ability to control the overall situation and can be regarded as a wise ruler. The question is, will the next emperor be able to control the situation that he is so good at?
The biggest drawback of the supreme imperial power system is fully exposed in the emperor. The rise and fall of a country can easily be affected by the emperor himself.

The nominal monarch advocated by Confucianism is not the same as the nominal monarch in Jia Lian's mind. If Confucianism does not undergo reform in this era, it is doomed to lag behind and drag the entire country into decline.

In other words, the development of Confucianism is like a program that has been constantly patched and has become a mountain of code.

If you want to change the fate of the entire country, you must carry out a social revolution and use violent means to eradicate the forces that hinder progress.

Change without bloodshed is equivalent to no change.

The emerging capitalism is thriving in this era, while the Great Zhou is like the setting sun of the old era.

All we can say is that reality is too cruel, forcing Jia Lian, a lazy man, to think about the future and direction of the country.

In other words, the life of a rich and idle person is certainly very pleasant, but it is too boring, so Jia Lian plans to make some changes. So far, the effect of the change is quite good.

The next day, Jia Lian, who had just arrived at the government gate, was forced to turn around and head toward Xihua Gate. The emperor summoned him again.

In the Qianqing Palace, looking at the bloodshot eyes of the emperor, one could tell that he did not sleep well at night.

In response, Jia Lian said, "Your Majesty's health is related to the rise and fall of the empire. You can't be hasty in anything. The sky won't fall."

Emperor Chenghui nodded slightly with a tired look on his face. It was unknown whether he had heard it or not. After rubbing his brow with his hand, Emperor Chenghui said, "Yesterday Ning Ke asked for an audience and reported something secretly. I am very hesitant about it."

Jia Lian said seriously: "I'd rather die!" This sentence made Emperor Chenghui laugh, and his brows relaxed.

"Who gave you the confidence to attack the court officials without reason?" Emperor Chenghui seemed to be blaming him, but in fact he was smiling and felt much better. Yes, there is no need to worry.

No matter how difficult it is now, is it harder than a few years ago?
"I think that as the Minister of Revenue, Ning Ke has the right to ask for a secret meeting and make a secret report, but since it is not a military or national matter, he should have made a detailed report. The act of having a secret meeting with the emperor seems to be for the court, but in fact it is for the individual. In the current court, as long as it is an official matter, is there anything that cannot be said clearly?"

Jia Lian was so impolite, but the reason he said was absolutely correct. At the moment, the biggest hidden danger of Emperor Chenghui has been eliminated. Although the government is stable and the people are harmonious, it is basically on the right track.

"What nonsense! You have only been in office for a few days. There are many things going on in the court, how can you speak out about everything?" Emperor Chenghui seemed to be scolding, but his tone was not harsh.

Jia Lian silently judged that Ning Ke had at least initially gained the trust of Emperor Chenghui. This new Minister of Revenue was quite something.

Emperor Chenghui saw Jia Lian keeping his head down and saying nothing, thinking that Jia Lian was accepting a lesson and was reflecting on himself, so he nodded with satisfaction and said, "Minister Ning, what you said is indeed not suitable for public disclosure. I called you here because the matter started with you..." Emperor Chenghui briefly relayed Ning Ke's words, and Jia Lian listened and thought to himself that this was all expected.

Banks are new things, and in their early stages of development, they are bound to have many loopholes. If the emperor had not experienced the pain of the hidden crisis, how could he have changed it?

People cannot teach people, but things can teach people. If they are hurt, they will remember. It is just like a big child. Sometimes, only a beating can make the child remember.

Most of those who criticize corporal punishment are just talking nonsense. In reality, how many parents are exhausted just by making a living? How can they have the energy and patience to educate their children?
There were four brothers in my generation, and my parents had to work, so they didn't have much energy to educate us. We were beaten for doing something wrong, right? I never saw any of my four brothers go astray.

After all, many of children's bad habits are caused by being spoiled.

"Your Majesty, I think we should not act rashly when it comes to banking matters. Send someone to investigate secretly. Once we have enough information, as long as the mistakes are not too extreme, we should make changes and impose penalties. We should not kill a new thing with one blow and return to the original state because of a temporary mistake. In short, we should not throw the baby out with the bathwater."

Well, this is what Jia Lian really thinks. Even though banks have all kinds of problems now, if we find problems and shout and kill them, the problem is that we can only solve part of them, but development will also be delayed. If we really kill them, it will be difficult to start over.

Emperor Chenghui had thought about this problem before, so he was so troubled that he couldn't sleep well all night. The emergence of banks greatly facilitated the flow of funds. It was no longer like before when the emperor wanted to mobilize funds to do something, he had to spend countless words, argue with the cabinet, argue with officials, and deal with all kinds of messy things.

"What you said makes sense, but how to investigate and who should investigate are all things that need to be considered carefully." Emperor Chenghui actually wanted Jia Lian to step forward and take responsibility.

Of course Jia Lian would not take this responsibility, the reason is very simple, there is no benefit at all, and it will offend many people. "Your Majesty uses the money from the inner treasury to support the Dragon Guard, isn't it for this kind of thing?" Jia Lian decisively pushed the Dragon Guard out. This department is the most trusted unit of the emperor. If it can't even do intelligence work well, it's better to depose it. Why support a bunch of useless people?

Emperor Chenghui was silent for a while. He still didn't want to touch Long Jinwei. To put it bluntly, he was willing to bear the reputation of ordering Long Jinwei to secretly spy on his ministers.

"The court is not peaceful now, and Long Jinwei's energy should be focused on investigating all parties." This was said with a guilty conscience. In addition to protecting the emperor, Long Jinwei's biggest role was to be a spy. What does a spy do? To monitor the ministers, but Emperor Chenghui was unwilling to admit it. As for the current problems of the bank, Emperor Chenghui must know something, but he didn't think about its harmfulness. It was only after Ning Ke made a secret report in person that Emperor Chenghui noticed it. It's new, so it's understandable.

For example, before the P2P crash, who knew it was a Ponzi scheme?
As I said, policies are always lagging behind, and it is never too late to mend the fence after the sheep have been lost.

"In that case, let's take advantage of the New Year and organize capable personnel under the leadership of Minister Ning to conduct a large-scale audit of the bank. Moreover, this type of audit must be continued, and a special department must be established to audit not only banks, but also various ministries and government offices. This department should be independent of the Ministry of Revenue and directly under the Cabinet."

At first, Emperor Chenghui nodded repeatedly, but at the last moment, he frowned and asked, "Why is it directly under the cabinet? Then who will audit the cabinet?"

"Your Majesty, the Dragon Guard should also set up a relevant department to audit the Cabinet, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Clan Affairs, and the Palace. In short, the accounts must be kept clearly and audited twice a year to form a system."

Jia Lian didn't know why Taizu didn't set up an audit department. Maybe he didn't have enough time.

Emperor Chenghui was silent for a while and said, "The budget system combined with the audit system is indeed promising. It can greatly reduce the possibility of official corruption from an institutional perspective."

Jia Lian couldn't help but chuckle, "Your Majesty, you think too highly of these officials. As the saying goes, there are policies from above and countermeasures from below. There must be benefits, and the whip must be raised. It is up to Your Majesty to decide when to drop it. Corruption cannot be eradicated. It is human nature. Your Majesty should prevent it."

Emperor Chenghui nodded and said, "This is a very good saying. If you plan ahead, you will succeed. If you don't plan ahead, you will fail. Come on, the cabinet will hold a meeting. Xuan Ningke will be present."

Seeing this, Jia Lian wanted to leave, but Emperor Chenghui said, "You stay and wait for my advice."

Jia Lian wanted to leave but failed to do so. He was very upset and complained in front of the emperor: "Not much money, but a lot of work."

Emperor Chenghui pretended not to hear and turned his head away and couldn't help laughing. His anxiety disappeared the moment Jia Lian complained.

The most difficult official in the palace must be the recorder. If there is any leakage of information that is required to be kept confidential during the cabinet meeting, they are the first to be investigated.

Emperor Chenghui walked in front, and Jia Lian followed behind. Emperor Chenghui asked in a casual tone: "The Hanlin Academy has requested to reopen the imperial lectures. What do you think?"

Jia Lian was not afraid of offending people on this issue, and said very straightforwardly: "A group of scholars want to teach Your Majesty how to do things? Is Sima Guang knowledgeable? Sima Guang made great contributions to the struggle between the new and old parties in the Northern Song Dynasty. He is a good person and has excellent knowledge, but he is ignorant of worldly affairs. It would be a disaster for such people to be officials and let them rule a place, let alone be the prime minister of a country. Isn't it better to study and write books?"

Qiu Shi'an, who was following behind, wished he could plug his ears after hearing these words. If the news really got out, Jia Lian would think he was the one who spread it and would hate himself to death.

When they arrived at the meeting room, Emperor Chenghui pointed at the officials who were recording the events and said, "All of you, get out! There's no need to record this!"

Jia Lian listened to the complaints and thought, "Someone has to record it later, right? I'll do it."

Emperor Chenghui added: "Jia Lian doesn't need to be recorded, he can just be present."

The cabinet members arrived one after another. When they came in, they saw that the emperor had arrived first and there were no recorders. Their expressions became serious.

After all the ministers paid their respects in turn, looking at the extra Ningke, everyone became nervous, knowing that this matter was of great importance.

The court has been dealing with a lot of things during this period, and His Majesty has been chasing after everyone with a whip in his hand. It's so tiring to be a cabinet minister.

Back then, when Fang Baiyi was the chief minister of the cabinet, he would hold banquets every now and then, inviting officials to attend, drink, appreciate flowers, and recite poems. Being an official at that time was really easy.

As a human being, who doesn’t want to make more money, have less work, and live close to home?

"This meeting was sparked by Ning Qing's request for a meeting yesterday." After Emperor Chenghui's opening remarks, Prime Minister Kong Zhao's expression changed slightly.

Knowing that he might have to step down after serving two terms, Kong Zhao has been secretly supporting Ning Ke and deliberately mentioning the relationship between Ning Ke as a student and his teacher in front of and behind people.

In any case, Kong Zhao intended to help Ning Ke enter the cabinet before leaving office, but Ning Ke's request to meet the emperor undoubtedly showed that he did not accept it, otherwise he would not have made a secret report to the emperor without prior notice. No matter what he said, it caught Kong Zhao, the prime minister, off guard. I hope it is not about the outer court, otherwise Ning Ke does not trust the cabinet headed by Kong Zhao.

If this is true, the consequences will be too serious.

Ning Ke first greeted everyone one by one, and then began to report. He had said it once yesterday, summarized it carefully after returning, and added a lot of details when repeating it today.

Ning Ke also mentioned the land annexation which had not been mentioned before!
Jia Lian listened quietly on the side, secretly calculating in his heart, the harm of land annexation has been mentioned countless times in the book. However, from the perspective of developing industry and foreign trade, it is not all bad for farmers to lose their land. What is worrying is that there are not so many workshops in the city and they cannot absorb the labor force. There is another huge harm of land annexation, that is, the internal market is severely suppressed. Farmers have no money without land, and how can they consume without money? Who can they sell their products to without consumption?
Ning Ke was worried that land annexation would lead to social unrest, but who among those present was not a landlord? And they were all big landlords.

Therefore, no one listened to the topic of land mergers, but they quickly reached a consensus that the current situation of banks could not last long and that supervision and strong measures must be taken!
Don’t think that these people are truly serving the country. It can only be said that the banks’ interests are too huge!

After all the cabinet ministers reached a consensus on comprehensive supervision of banks, Emperor Chenghui finally put forward the real purpose of supervision.

"Before this, Mr. Jia gave me an idea..."

Jia Lian..., you know how to pass the buck!

(End of this chapter)