Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 338 Is it so cool?
It was temporary, Jia Lian didn't take it too seriously, after all, he didn't want to take the blame. That's how it is in the officialdom, when things go wrong, the first choice is to pass the buck.

The same goes for Jia Lian. He first finds a few people to take charge of the work. If things are not done well, of course the specific people in charge will take the blame.

What did you say? Moral bottom line? Oh, as a person in the imperial court, it is understandable that you should talk about morality to the people, but of course you should talk about rules and interests to your colleagues.

Not to mention, now someone is targeting you, you still talk about morality? Are you stupid?

Everyone in the Zhou Dynasty officialdom knew that Jia Lian was a treacherous person, but he never targeted any one person. Every time he targeted all the bureaucrats, unless he was forced to fight back.

Since we never actively target anyone, the problem is very simple. If there is no hatred between the two parties, they can be objects of unity.

After the meeting, Jia Lian followed Liang Daoyuan all the way, which made Liang Ge Lao turn around and ask in confusion: "Why are you following me?"

Jia Lian glared back confidently: "If I go to the Ministry of Personnel to ask for someone, won't the old man issue an official document?"

Liang Daoyuan would certainly not cooperate with him. He sneered and asked, "Don't you have a gold medal? Why would you need my official document?"

Jia Lian showed no respect for the elderly. He sneered and stared at him with a sinister look. He rolled up his sleeves and said, "Asking the elder for official documents is called official business. It is the correct procedure. The matter was explained by His Majesty at the cabinet meeting. If the elder disagreed, he should have refuted it at that time. Now you are making things difficult for me. Do you really think that I will not hit the elderly and children?"

Liang Daoyuan was dumbfounded. After a moment of stagnation, he made the right choice and raised his hand to stop Jia Lian: "Stop, I will issue you an official document."

Jia Lian knew that he was not forgiving and continued, "Really? You really want me to use force!"

So would Jia Lian really do it? Of course not, he was just betting that Liang Daoyuan didn't dare to bet.

After being beaten in the yamen, Jia Lian was dismissed from his post and imprisoned. Liang Daoyuan was not much better off and he also had to resign in grief and anger.

Why was he beaten? He came to do his job, but you made things difficult for him. It's not surprising that he was beaten, right? How many people here heard it? Can you really cover up everything?
To put it bluntly, Jia Lian is young. If he is dismissed this time, he may have a chance to make a comeback in the future. But Liang Daoyuan is so old that if he really resigns, his whole life will be wasted.

Not to mention, given Jia Lian's current favor, he may not be punished in any real sense. It may just be a fine. Does he need that little salary?

Liang Daoyuan entered the office, and Jia Lian followed him in. There was no place to sit, so he just stood aside and waited. Knowing that the old man was angry with him, Jia Lian would not be fooled this time. Isn't it just standing for a while? If you have the ability, let me stand for an hour, and see if I dare to beat you up so that you can't take care of yourself.

Liang Daoyuan didn't let Jia Lian wait any longer. He quickly wrote a document and checked it. After he was done, he stamped it and handed it to Jia Lian, saying, "Take it and leave quickly."

Jia Lian took the document but did not leave in a hurry. Instead, he read it carefully first. Only when he found no problem did he ask, "Who should I ask to handle it?"

"You go find the Right Vice Minister. He is in charge of officials below the fifth rank." Liang Daoyuan didn't want to care about it anymore. He wished this guy would get out of here immediately. He didn't want to hold on to this hot potato for even a moment.

"I'm not familiar with the Ministry of Personnel. Show me the way!" Jia Lian was really disgusting. Liang Daoyuan suppressed his anger and said, "Turn right after you go out. It's the third door. There's a sign on it."

Jia Lian then went out and walked forward along the corridor. He saw a sign on the door. The door was closed, so he raised his hand and knocked.

"Come in!" The people inside spoke with a Cantonese accent, which easily reminded people of the term "Hong Kong Mandarin". This Mandarin is not good.

Pushing the door open, Jia Lian saw a thin old man with a neatly trimmed goatee. Seeing a compass placed on his right hand side, he fell silent and wanted to ask: Commander Zhang?
When he saw Jia Lian, he was so surprised that he almost jumped up. He stood up at an amazing speed, with a look of even a little fear on his face. He said in a lost voice, "The hexagram is really accurate, it really didn't deceive me!"

Jia Lian was stunned. Aren't these two too similar? After a while, when the Minister sat down, he folded his hands and said, "I am Jia Lian, following your orders!"

The Right Assistant Minister took the document and read it quickly. He hesitated for a moment and asked, "Is it the emperor's order at the cabinet meeting?"

Jia Lian nodded: "What's your name, sir?"

"No need to bother, my last name is Cai."

"Fortunately, his last name is not Zhang!"

Minister Cai looked puzzled, but he quickly picked up a pen and wrote a document. After he stamped it, he handed it to Jia Lian. "Turn right when you get out of the door and find Doctor Zhang!"

After Jia Lian left, Minister Cai fell back weakly, muttering to himself: "It is indeed a disaster. I must go to Baiyun Temple after my shift is over!"

The following things went smoothly. Doctor Zhang confirmed the list of six people. In fact, none of them had met before. Jia Lian picked the youngest ones. Even so, the youngest candidate official, who was a Jinshi, was 40 years old, and the oldest was 50 years old. The reason for these people to be candidates was very simple. They were delayed because of something that happened and could not be assigned in time. Three of them were in mourning, and three were sick.

The Ministry of Personnel quickly sorted out the documents and notified the people to go to the Ministry of Personnel to handle the formalities. Jia Lian could come to pick him up tomorrow. It was not that Jia Lian was diligent, but he suddenly remembered that there was no office space in the Inspectorate.

I could still handle it when I was alone, but now we are a team of seven people and I can't handle it easily.

Jia Lian went to the Inspectorate. Lin Ruhai was well-informed and had already known what happened at the cabinet meeting. After meeting him, he expressed deep sympathy and said, "This job is not easy to handle!"

"When the government implements the court's policies, supervision is good for everyone. Don't think that being supervised is a bad thing. If there is no supervision, there will be problems, and you can't explain it even if you have a lot of mouths. Your Majesty has good intentions!"

Lin Ruhai was surprised. Is this how he can talk?

"Your Majesty is not here, there is no need for you to say these things! As an official, who likes to be stared at?"

Jia Lian spread his hands and said, "This is not something I can influence, unless His Majesty withdraws his order. By the way, please find an office space for me, Lord Chief Justice."

Lin Ruhai was about to ask someone to ask about it, but he took back his raised hand and said, "For the sake of the feelings of all colleagues in the Inspectorate, you should rent a place outside to work. I will approve the reimbursement."

Jia Lian was angry, but only for a moment. This was Lin Ruhai, his own uncle, and he couldn't hit him.

"The monthly budget is one hundred taels!" Jia Lian said casually, and Lin Ruhai immediately raised his hand: "You need one hundred taels to rent a house? Why don't you just rob people on the street? Fifty taels at most!"

"Fifty taels is fifty taels, don't regret it." Jia Lian, whose evil plan succeeded, hurried out of the door and disappeared in a flash.

Lin Ruhai turned around and asked his long-servant: "Did I fall into that guy's trap?"

The attendant looked very embarrassed and said after a long pause, "A good house would cost several dozen taels of silver a month." Lin Ruhai suddenly understood and asked in a low voice, "How good is better?"

The long-servant whispered, "We can earn fifty taels a month by renting out our house."

Lin Ruhai stamped his feet and said, "You bastard, you'll cheat anyone you can, right?"

Jia Lian was bullying people because they didn't understand the price anchoring in business. He asked for one hundred taels of silver, but in fact, ten taels of silver per month was more than enough for seven people to find a house to work in.

This was not a prank, but a reminder to Lin Ruhai that he should not easily agree when it comes to matters related to expenses in the future.

It is said that a new official will start with three things when he takes office. Why do some new officials like to start projects? Jia Lian has seen a sidewalk being demolished and replaced with new tiles three times in half a year.

Jia Lian didn't mention that the price of an egg eaten by the emperor was two taels of silver in the accounts. That was too easy to understand.

Of course, you can't go to rent a house in person, and you can't live too far away from the government offices. Wucheng Bingmasi is naturally the best at finding houses.

At Jia Lian's words, all the troops near the imperial city began to move. Before they even picked up their chopsticks for lunch, the news came back that a total of three suitable places had been found.

In order to skip work in the afternoon, Jia Lian quickly ate lunch, wiped his mouth and rushed to the site to look at houses. After about two hours of busy work, he finally decided on a courtyard, which was only a five-minute walk from the Ministry of Personnel Alley. It was a courtyard with two entrances and was rented for one year. When negotiating the rent, the landlord still refused to accept it. Jia Lian forced him to give him a silver note of 120 taels and asked him to write a receipt for 600 taels.

There is nothing wrong in doing this. We agreed on fifty taels a month, and we must earn this money.

You can't say that these officials waiting for a vacancy in Beijing are very enthusiastic about their work. Even though they know that this new job is not easy to handle, their superior is still Jia Lian, so everyone is still in a very good mood. The next morning, these six people all went to the Ministry of Personnel, took their certificates, and waited for Jia Lian to come and pick them up.

They waited until noon, and when everyone thought that Jia Lian would not come back, Lord Jia appeared in the Ministry of Personnel, holding his waist.

Six people hurried forward to greet him. Jia Lian looked around and nodded with satisfaction. There was no one with a bad appearance. The overall appearance of the new department was OK. The most gratifying thing was that there was no handsome guy like Lin Ruhai! Lord Jia's appearance was far ahead in the new government office.

"Follow me!" Jia Lian didn't say much and didn't even bother to get to know everyone. He led everyone and when they arrived at the rented office, Jian Renda was already waiting there.

"Is everything ready?" Jia Lian asked casually. Jian Renda smiled attentively. "Your Excellency, everything is ready. The chairs for work are also ready. The clerks are also ready."

Hearing this, Jia Lian slapped his thigh and said, "Oh no, I forgot to go to the Ministry of Revenue to handle the daily expenses of the government office. The Ministry of Revenue is in a mess right now, I'm afraid it won't be handled for a while."

Jian Renda took the opportunity to flatter, "Others can't do it, but with your reputation of being a powerful figure in the capital, wouldn't it be easy for you to do it yourself?"

"If I do it myself, wouldn't that give face to the Ministry of Revenue?" Jia Lian said in a proud tone. The six newcomers behind him felt their hearts tremble in fear and regretted so much that they followed such a thing.

Jia Lian finished boasting without realizing it, his face changed, and he turned around and pointed at the oldest official among them: "Qin Benzhong!"

"I'm here!" Qin Benzhong immediately recovered from his distracted state and bowed to greet him.

"You will be in charge of the daily work of the new government office. If you really can't handle something, come to me. Under normal circumstances, I am in the Research and Development Department and the Five Cities Military Department. This is the office space. You are responsible for the allocation. After handling it, go to the Ministry of Revenue to handle the daily office expenses. By the way, everyone has to go to the Ministry of Revenue to handle the formalities when they take up their new posts. Don't miss any of your salaries when you return. If the Ministry of Revenue misses any of your salaries, they will reissue them. I dare not even look at the reissued rice and grain if you dare to eat it."

Qin Benzhong is fifty years old. He and Jia Lian are both Jinshi in the same class. He only returned to his hometown to observe mourning for his mother, which delayed his study for three years.

Actually, there is no official rule that mourning must last for three years. The limit is 49 days. But what can we say? Qin Benzhong is a Neo-Confucian fundamentalist, and this school insists that mourning must last for three years.

The authorities do not encourage or approve of this kind of behavior. It is a personal choice, but if you want to use it to brag about yourself, don't blame other officials for being hostile to you.

Well, Confucianism has developed into many schools. As a branch of Neo-Confucianism, there are also several schools.

You can understand that within the same school, there are many different factions formed by different teachers.

In this case, the importance of the so-called official school (famous school) is reflected, that is, the Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism that is officially recognized and included in the imperial examination.

Qin Benzhong, who knew his destiny, naturally would not contradict his superiors. In fact, what he wanted most was to be an official in a local area, serve as a county magistrate for ten years, and then retire at the age of sixty on the grounds of illness to return home and enjoy his old age.

As fate would have it, I've now become a clean official. Even though I feel helpless, it's much better than waiting at the door of the Ministry of Personnel for more than half a year without getting a real vacancy.

Why didn't these six get the real vacancies before? Did they not give money? No, they gave less money than others, so they can only continue to queue.

In fact, they could all go to the bank to borrow money, and the bank was willing to lend them money. The reason why these people did not go to borrow money was naturally because after the Li Ni case, the bank was also implicated. Although the matter was not serious, it was nothing more than freezing the account and Long Jinwei checking the account transactions, but the bank was afraid and suspended the business of lending money to officials.

Jia Lian held a short and concise meeting, which lasted about five minutes. After getting to know the six officials, he told everyone to draw lots to decide which yamen to go to, and then he patted his butt and left.

All in all, it seems very irresponsible and incompetent.

But what can I say? No one dares to find fault with Jia Lian, because he is the boss.

Qin Benzhong had no choice but to take charge of the work temporarily. After everyone finished drawing lots, they went to the Ministry of Households together to handle the relevant procedures.

You know what, when they arrived at the Ministry of Revenue, the gatekeeper was quite arrogant and came out to stop them.

Qin Benzhong skillfully took out the silver dollar from his sleeve and introduced himself: "I am the censor of the temporary special inspection team."

As soon as he finished speaking, the doorman of the Ministry of Revenue teleported back into the doorman's room, stood in front of the window, bowed and smiled: "Ladies and gentlemen, please come in!" It seemed that he had never come out before.

Everyone looked at each other, and the word "shock" was written on their foreheads.

I was even more shocked and thought, "Is our government so awesome?"

(End of this chapter)