Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 331 A United Cabinet

I am good at accepting advice, and this is the image that Emperor Chenghui has always maintained!
No matter what you want to say or do, you need someone to "suggest" you. It's best if someone gives you a suggestion. If no one gives you a suggestion, just create someone.

Jia Lian had long been numb. Facing the attention of the ministers, he stood up calmly and said, "Just a humble opinion! You don't have to mind it!"

Are we concerned about Asami? We are concerned that you are the one who sponsored the broadcast of [Asami].

Of course, [Qianjian] also cares a lot about it. No official would be happy about the emergence of such a yamen.

What's wrong with officials spending some money? Endless supervision and inspection, now there is an audit.

How can we explain auditing? Again, there are policies from above and countermeasures from below. Officials in power have many ways to spend public funds.

The existence of this system itself serves as a constraint. Nothing can be excessive. After all, public money has been spent and things must be done, otherwise the audit will not pass.

Auditing cannot eliminate corruption, but it can ensure the completion of a project. Of course, whether it is a shoddy product that is subcontracted at various levels is another topic.

Let's take a very simple example. For example, if the imperial court wanted to build a school, the budget would be approved, and when the audit was conducted, at least there had to be a school there, even if it was borrowed.

In Jia Lian's opinion, the biggest advantage of this system is that when the next person takes over, he will find that the money has been spent and the school is gone in the account book. At that time, the successor will have to think twice.

In short, the purpose of the system is to create obstacles to corruption, and it cannot be eliminated. After all, having an extra pair of eyes watching over officials is not a bad thing.

Comparing the systems, if we say that officials in ancient times only served as officials while wearing official uniforms, officials in modern times serve as officials while wearing shackles.

"Jia Lian, the so-called budget system may cause great opposition." Liang Daoyuan criticized Jia Lian lightly. He did not dare to offend Jia Lian too much.

This bastard holds a grudge very often. You never know for sure if he will ambush you on the road and hit you with a club one day.

"Officials govern the people of a region and consider themselves the parents of their country. Parents shouldn't mind if they work a little harder for their children." Jia Lian replied in a neutral tone, almost answering: If you become a prostitute, don't put up a memorial archway for yourself.

Do you serve as an official for the court or for the people? In this era, which official does not serve as an official for himself or for his family?

Liang Daoyuan sat down angrily, and Jia Lian continued bluntly: "To put it bluntly, the court must treat officials as thieves to prevent them from undermining the court. Don't say that Jia is exaggerating. You have all read history books. In the late Tang Dynasty, Guanzhong suffered from drought for three consecutive years. The court exempted Guanzhong from taxes, but Guanzhong officials continued to collect taxes and eventually rebelled. You all know the names of Wang Xianzhi and Huang Chao. The current situation of the court is not bad, but we must prevent problems from happening. To put it bluntly, no powerful person will be afraid until the bones of officials are trampled on in the streets of heaven."

Jia Lian is totally helpless. He has been pushed to the forefront by Emperor Chenghui. He cannot avoid offending others. So he might as well just take it all on. That's what I suggest. What do you think?

For more than two thousand years since the Qin Shihuang, later generations have studied and researched and come to the conclusion that it is a cycle of order and chaos. Who is to blame for not evolving a more advanced system?

Jia Lian mentioned Wang Xianzhi and the imperial dynasty in order to first take the moral high ground.

After a brief pause, Jia Lian's gaze swept across the faces of the ministers. No one dared to look him in the eye, even Kong Zhao, who chose to close his eyes instead of lowering his head.

"Scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans have been the motto for thousands of years. Which dynasty was not ruined by the high and mighty scholars? Don't tell me about incompetent emperors. No matter how incompetent an emperor is, he can't be all-powerful. The ones who truly hold the power in the world are the scholars. What was the imperial examination of the Sui Dynasty aimed at? Wasn't it aimed at the Guanlong clans? Don't say you don't understand this principle. You are just pretending not to understand."

Emperor Chenghui was stunned by what he heard. He had never seen Jia Lian at full power before. In the past, he was released because he was making trouble and stirring up trouble. The Jia Lian released today was refreshing.

[Boy, you didn't read in vain, you really have something in your head. ]

"Power without supervision is bound to lead to corruption. The audit system must be passed and implemented. I've said it all!" Jia Lian sat down very decisively, closed his eyes, and continued to pretend to be invisible.

Ning Ke's performance was the most obvious, with his mouth open for a long time. He didn't expect that he just wanted to rectify the banking system, fight for a little voice, and establish his personal image, but he directly brought out a freak like Jia Lian and directly proposed an audit system for all government offices in the world. Now, no matter what, some people will doubt whether this was discussed by Jia Lian and Ning Ke.

Don't admit it? I saw you two enter the teahouse together!
Ning Ke trembled slightly uncontrollably, his fists clenched in his sleeves, still unable to stop shaking. Now he couldn't even speak properly. Now he regretted why he wanted to improve!
Emperor Chenghui looked at the dead silence in the meeting room after Jia Lian sat down, his indifferent eyes wandering over everyone's face. A group of cabinet ministers were silent after being told off by a fourth-rank official. Were they afraid of Jia Lian and dared not refute him? No, if they really wanted to refute him, they could find ten thousand reasons to quibble. It was just that on this occasion, facing the emperor who was always clear-headed, they did not dare to take action.

"If even a word of today's meeting is leaked, the rest of you, with the exception of Jia Lian, will resign. I will not try to keep you."

Emperor Chenghui's kindness was reflected at this time. He said harsh words in advance that if anyone can't control their mouths, they will be punished collectively. No one should take chances!

It's unreasonable, right? It's unreasonable!

At that time, whoever leaks the news will immediately gain a bunch of enemies.

The emperor first set the tone, and then directly arranged the work: "Select a group of officials who are proficient in mathematics from various departments. After a month of study and assessment, those who pass the assessment will enter the new government office, the Audit Department. The Ministry of Revenue will appoint an Audit Assistant Minister, and the relevant candidates are to be determined. This matter was caused by Ning Qing. The Audit Department belongs to the Ministry of Revenue, so Ning Qing is naturally in charge. Well, within half a year, the personnel and system must be established and improved. Ning Qing, if you have something to do, please ask to see me. I will support you. Ning Qing is responsible for drafting documents, which will be approved by the cabinet and reviewed by me."

These words cut the Gordian knot without giving the cabinet ministers time to react. Even with this matter, Jia Lian was removed from the cabinet. Ning Ke was not simply tired of the fool, and still gave him a lot of power. As long as it was successfully achieved, Ning Ke's entry into the cabinet was basically a done deal.

"I obey your command!" Ning Ke stood up tremblingly and took the task!

Kong Zhao, who had kept his eyes closed, also stood up and said, "I obey your order!" The others stood up and echoed him.

The meeting ended, and Emperor Chenghui left first. After a brief silence in the meeting room, Kong Zhao stood up and took the lead. The ministers of the cabinet followed. In the meeting room, Jia Lian sat still, Ning Ke slumped in the chair, his mouth moving slightly, and no one knew what he was saying.

In the cabinet, Kong Zhao instructed his long-time attendant: "Keep irrelevant people away and send reliable people to guard."

The moment the door of the already remote small conference room closed, Kong Zhao, who was sitting in the middle, picked up the teacup and smashed it hard on the ground.

After the bang, everyone's eyebrows jumped slightly!
"Damn it! Who is the person who supports the abolition of sea transportation behind the scenes and is making such a move? Tell me yourself, don't wait for me to find out." Kong Zhao's voice was not loud, but it was very intimidating at this time.

He didn't mention Ning Ke. After all, Ning Ke was going to the bank, and it was unlikely that he would provoke such a monster as Jia Lian! Thinking of the fact that Jia Lian almost had a teacup smashed on his face because of shipping, Kong Zhao concluded that it must be because of the shipping that angered Jia Lian, causing him to slander Emperor Chenghui and set up a cabinet! After all, it was normal for Jia Lian to suspect the cabinet of abolishing shipping.

This is not the kind of person who can talk to you about the unspoken rules of officialdom. Jia Lian is the kind of person who, if you touch me lightly, I will beat you up so hard that you can't take care of yourself.

"This guy from a noble family has no sense at all!" The person who spoke was Guo Yan. He was also frightened by Jia Lian. How could he play like this?

Everyone's eyes immediately surrounded him, and Guo Yan quickly waved his hands in front of him: "Don't get me wrong, the issue of abolishing shipping has nothing to do with me. I just agree with the Prime Minister's point of view."

Pan Jixun said, "Now is not the time to pursue responsibility. When the signs of abolishing sea transportation appeared, if you did not immediately suppress it, it would be too late. Without Minister Ning's advice, Jia Lian would have found other reasons to convince Your Majesty, and the responsibility would still be on the cabinet. Here, I must remind you that Wang Ziteng was ordered to raise a navy, and Jia Lian seemed to be distancing himself from it, but he did not hesitate to help when he should. Don't just think about the benefits of grain transport and forget that sea transportation may also have huge benefits, but the benefits here have nothing to do with us. However, it is related to Zhang Tingen, Sun Huazhen, Wang Ziteng, and Jia Lian."

These words were recognized by everyone. Yes, this is the logic of the cabinet members in looking at the problem. Pan Jixun's words did not mean that he was on the same page with Fei Haiyun, but that today's incident was a surprise attack. As one of the cabinet ministers, they must unite at this time to prevent today's incident from happening again in the future.

Jia Lian's words in the cabinet meeting, standing on the commanding heights to criticize the cabinet officials, no one thought he was doing it for the country and the people. They only thought that the interests of Jia Lian's group must have been violated.

Everyone agreed that what Jia Lian meant by those words was, in layman's terms, "What rules? What do the rules of civil servants have to do with a noble like me? No matter whether the rice of shipping is half-cooked or not, I have eaten it raw. If you are not convinced, then set up your carriages and horses for a fight. Today is just an appetizer, I have plenty of ways to make things difficult for you."

That's right, it's a struggle between reformists and conservatives. Jia Lian is considered a pioneer of the reformists, and the boss behind the reformists is the emperor.

"Gentlemen, with the current emperor behind Zhang, Sun and Li, we can only temporarily avoid the limelight and wait patiently for the other party to make a mistake. Otherwise, similar things to the Audit Department will happen again. You know, the man surnamed Jia once said that he wanted to restore the old system of Taizu and completely loosen the restrictions on Long Jinwei." The speaker was Li Chi.

Seeing that no one understood what he meant, Pan Jixun interrupted and said, "Gentlemen, we must grasp the key points in everything! Today's matter concerns the national system. Your Majesty did not discuss it in advance and directly brought it to the meeting without giving you room to speak. This cannot happen again. I will submit a memorial later. Today's matter cannot happen again. Otherwise, the existence of the cabinet will only waste the country's money and grain. I ask Your Majesty to abolish the cabinet."

"That's right, I was so angry that I lost my mind!" Kong Zhao reacted immediately and took over the conversation, saying, "Bring me the memorial, and I will sign my name to second it."

The two quickly reached a consensus, and the others also said that they would join in. The cabinet collectively reported that the emperor must ensure that such a thing as today would not happen again. Otherwise, the cabinet would be gone.

Liang Daoyuan said: "Gentlemen, no matter what happens in the future, when you face Jia Lian, don't be lucky! This guy is deeply trusted by your majesty, and he has Zhang Tingen as his teacher. He was born in Rongguo Mansion. No matter which background, he has sufficient confidence. As long as it is not a rebellion, he will not be afraid or hesitate to do things that others dare not do. Take the third prince as an example. Since he left the palace and opened his own mansion, Jia Lian is the only official who has had contact with him. Can you see that he is so unscrupulous?"

No one would think that Jia Lian was just being cold-hearted, they would just think that he just didn't care. Didn't the second son's succession to the throne not happen yet?
Even with his style of doing things, no one would think that he supported the second brother, it was just because of their classmate relationship and work contacts.

To put it bluntly, if Jia Lian wanted to support Li Heng, why didn't he have to persuade the second brother to let Zhang Tingen support Li Heng?
To put it bluntly, anyone with a clear mind knows Jia Lian's attitude. He will support whoever becomes emperor without making any bets in advance.

"No one is allowed to leak a single word of what happened today. What will happen in the future depends on what His Majesty says after the joint memorial is submitted. In any case, the practice of bypassing the cabinet in advance must not happen again."

Kong Zhao set the tone: this time we must unite and resist strongly. Well, the previous step back was for a stronger resistance.

…………

Ning Ke finally recovered and looked at Jia Lian standing in front of him, remaining silent for a long time.

Jia Lian sneered slightly with a disdainful expression, and when he walked out, Ning Ke quickly got up and chased after him.

"Why has Lord Jia come to this?" Ning Ke's tone was still gentle. No matter what, it was impossible for him to distance himself from Jia Lian this time.

Jia Lian stopped and turned around, glanced at the Qianqing Palace and said, "Do you think I was the one who caused the trouble?" He had to distance himself from the matter decisively.

Ning Ke stomped his feet in regret: "It's too late to regret, I've already been cursed!"

Jia Lian felt guilty and said to comfort her: "Look at it in a positive way, maybe it will be a good reputation."

Ning Ke followed Jia Lian out, and it was completely invisible that he held a higher position.

"What good things are you thinking about? Don't you see the background of those who wrote history? Didn't great scholars like Sima Guang, in his magnificent work "Zizhi Tongjian", throw mud at Li Tang? If it weren't for the "Book of Former Tang", I might have believed the story about Gao Yang and Bian Ji." Ning Ke is also a man who reads a lot!
"Believe me, future historians will not have to cite such an isolated example!" Jia Lian continued to comfort him.

Ning Ke shook his head and sighed: "You don't understand human nature. Ordinary people are more willing to believe in some records that are not up to standard."

Jia Lian was silenced. Yes, conspiracy theories have a market. The pillow talk between Marilyn Monroe and the Kennedy brothers, the original author has already refuted the rumor, but it is still spread all over the world, and a lot of people believe it. Isn't it becoming the mainstream view? Write it down in my notebook. I will make more rumors about my enemies in the future, and I will use a pseudonym or use someone else's pen to make rumors.

(End of this chapter)