Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 339 Is it okay to dislike him?

In principle, this new temporary special office is under the Inspectorate. It is not of high rank and its powers and responsibilities are relatively simple. It supervises the implementation of the three policies.

The situation of this department is rather awkward. As for supervision, just cursorily observing is supervision, and turning over an ant to see whether it is male or female is also supervision.

If the supervised departments cooperate with the work, it is supervision; if they fail to cooperate with the work and try every means to create obstacles, it is also supervision.

In this case, the political environment and the head of the department are crucial.

If the situation is like that of the Lighthouse Country, and there is an amateur president, the investigators sent out will fall with the plane. What's wrong with the president? If you investigate me, you can just wait for me to be shot in the back eight times and commit suicide.

The current political environment of the Great Zhou is good. The emperor is extremely powerful and has been continuously purging the two major groups of nobles and civil officials. In addition, he holds military power.

In this situation, the only way is to fight with words. Fighting with force is equivalent to treason. The whole clan will be executed.

As for intellectuals, there were cases of rebellion, but it depended on the time. When Huang Chao and Hong Xiuquan rebelled, they were not only scholars themselves, but also had their own armed forces. Huang Chao was a private salt dealer, and the group led by Hong Xiuquan, Feng Yunshan and others were all local tyrants.

All we can say is that, in terms of probability, intellectual rebellion is a minority, just like the petty bourgeoisie, most of whom are naturally weak.

If we cannot resort to force, the only option left is to resort to diplomacy.

Jia Lian is not an expert at this, but he comes from a good family and can switch between civil and military duties at any time.

Don't even mention "disaster star", this is just a way to label people. What really frightened the officials was Jia Lian's style.

I don't actively target anyone, but when someone targets me, I will definitely launch the most effective counterattack.

Smart people soon discovered that Jia Lian rarely took the initiative to target anyone, and almost always fought back when he was targeted.

In the eyes of all the civil and military officials in the court, the so-called three major policies at present were not Jia Lian's suggestions at all, but were simply making excuses for the emperor.

Yes, it is true that you can’t mess with the emperor, and you can’t mess with a dog either.

The problem is that Jia Lian was born in a duke family, and he was not an ordinary dog, but a Roaring Sky Dog. He would eat the sun if he was unhappy.

There is no way to deal with this kind of person. If you don't cooperate with him, he will be angry and pounce on you and bite you. It's really not worth it.

The most important thing is that Jia Lian's tentacles did not extend into the territory of civil officials. There was no fundamental conflict of interest between the two sides.

In fact, the people who wish Jia Lian dead are still in the noble circle. Traitors should be killed by everyone, unless they become the new noble leader.

When Qin Benzhong and others found that the new government seemed to be very powerful, their mentality also changed. They were not fools. The Inspectorate could not do anything to the Ministry of Revenue, so how powerful could this new government be?

The conclusion comes naturally: the department boss is very capable.

The procedures at the Ministry of Revenue went smoothly, and when they returned to the new yamen, everyone became active.

At first I thought it was a tough job that would offend people, but now I realize it’s not right.

Qin Benzhong called everyone together and said, "I am just a temporary errand boy. As for how to carry out future official duties, I think we just need to follow Lord Jia's orders. Isn't that right?"

Everyone was still thinking about the previous scene at the Ministry of Revenue. The officials there were very polite wherever they went. Thinking further back, the officials at the Ministry of Personnel were also very polite.

[Who am I? Why should they be so polite to me? Because I have been waiting in the capital for half a year and still can’t find a job? ]

[After being in the capital for such a long time, as an official waiting for a vacancy, how many people have you been looked down upon? ]

Similar thoughts emerged in everyone's mind.

The result was that Qin Benzhong made a suggestion, and everyone agreed without much effort.

That is, unless Lord Jia is around, otherwise he would have to kowtow to Jia Lian, indicating that he would follow Lord Jia in the future even if he had to go hungry for three days and nine meals.

Jia Lian did not think this new job was that great. First of all, it was a job that offended people, and it was difficult to grasp the degree of supervision. It was not good to be too strict, nor was it good to be too lenient.

If any of these three matters were not handled properly, the whole court would be mortally enmity. To put it bluntly, Emperor Chenghui really had bad intentions.

By assigning this task to Jia Lian, the emperor will not lose out no matter what Jia Lian does.

Jia Lian's reputation alone would make the civil officials afraid to go too far. If Jia Lian worked hard and offended everyone to death, Emperor Chenghui would wake up with a smile in his sleep.

Even if Jia Lian slacked off, it would be difficult for him to gain the trust of the civil service group because of his identity and position, let alone break through and form his own civil service force.

Emperor Chenghui was convinced that Jia Lian might be very lazy, but he would never collude with civil officials to let things go on such issues.

Of course, this is only limited to Jia Lian now, because he is too young. Being young means it is difficult to convince others.

The six people decided to draw lots to form groups first, and then divide into three groups after finishing the task. The temporary person in charge Qin Benzhong went to find Jia Lian and found that his boss was not in the new yamen.

He stopped a minor official to inquire about the news and learned that Jia Lian had gone out, but he didn't know where he went.

There was nothing in the new government office. There were no elders to consult, and no files to study. The six people were a little confused and had nothing to do for a while.

So he gathered a dozen or so clerks to understand the situation one by one.

The origins of these officials are relatively concentrated, with most of them having connections with the Wucheng Bingmasi, and a small number of them being family members of the Shenjiying. Their advantage is that they are all relatively young, and their disadvantage is that they are still relatively young.

Jia Lian certainly would not waste time in the new government office. He had already thought about the advancement of the three projects and just focused on the three cabinet ministers. The cabinet ministers were in charge of the work, so the people in the new government office did not need to go to the grassroots level to supervise. They could just take the documents from the cabinet ministers back for review. The advantage of doing this was that if something went wrong, they could clear themselves of the charges. Even if they were accused of poor supervision, it would be a minor crime.

After lunch, someone brought the six new recruits relevant materials, including plans for three major projects that the court would be promoting before the end of the year. Everyone first read the written materials to familiarize themselves with the situation, and the specific work would be arranged tomorrow.

As for the reality that our boss Jia Lian is elusive and often can't be found, we will just have to get used to it slowly in the future.

With this little salary, Jia Lian felt that working half a day was a loss. However, he did not skip work today. Instead, he was found by Li Heng's newsboy, who brought him a message, asking Jia Lian to meet him somewhere.

It was not a good idea to run around in official uniform, so Jia Lian went to the south of the city first. The two sisters changed into casual clothes, arranged a sedan chair, and went out the back door to a secluded courtyard.

Li Heng had a bitter look on his face when he saw Jia Lian. After he went inside and got on the kang, Li Heng sighed and said, "I was too impulsive. I thought that I could deal a heavy blow to the second brother by taking down the Chongwenmen tax supervisor. I didn't expect that I would end up in such a bad way."

"Too many people have been offended?" Jia Lian had a look of gloating. Emperor Chenghui was so capable that he even betrayed his own son.

"Too many. I didn't expect that the second brother, through this position, not only facilitated the Li Ni caravan, but also took care of almost all the dignitaries in the inner city. There are quite a few civil servants among them, and there are also matters concerning the Xue family."

After Li Heng said this, Jia Lian sat up straight and asked, "What happened to the Xue family?"

"The Xue family is an imperial merchant, but even as an imperial merchant, there is a limit on the amount of goods that can enter the inner city. The previous tax supervisor would not stop the imperial merchant's caravan and would let it pass for a long time for money. Now that he has been arrested, the new tax supervisor will not give face to anyone. Everyone has to pay taxes and blames me for being nosy. Good guy, the civil officials, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Clan, and the imperial merchants have all been offended. By the way, the Xue family's southern goods caravan has brought a lot of goods to the officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Clan. Let me put it this way, the former Chongwenmen tax supervisor could collect a maximum of 1,000 taels per month. Now he can collect 30,000 taels a month."

Jia Lian was really shocked. Just based on the difference in numbers, Li Heng must have offended a lot of people.

"Is the gap so exaggerated? Isn't the new tax inspector too stubborn?" Jia Lian was so surprised that he almost stood up.

"Who says it's not? But he really doesn't care. He was an old official in the palace, and because he made a mistake, he worked as an eighth-rank official in the Ministry of Revenue for several years. This time, the emperor appointed him to the fifth rank. How could he not give it a try?"

Jia Lian had a question mark over this "made a mistake", maybe he was scapegoating Emperor Chenghui. A few years ago, the group of people led by the retired emperor were very powerful.

"In that case, the benefit goes to His Majesty, and Your Highness doesn't need to worry about it." Jia Lian said in a half-hearted way to comfort him.

Li Heng nodded and said, "I understand the reason, but what's annoying is that many people are looking for trouble with me. There are dozens of impeachment memorials against me. I have written down the names of the people. Please help me find a few of them to deal with so that I can vent my anger. These people don't have the courage to go to my father, they only bully me. No one in the court would go to the second brother. You know, the tax inspector has been to the second brother's house for banquets many times before."

Jia Lian found this interesting and asked directly, "What crimes have you charged His Highness with?"

Li Heng said angrily: "It was the Tongzhengshisi who said that I blocked the channels of speech and cracked down on dissidents. And the Honglu Temple said that I was servile and subservient to the Western barbarians, which was a disgrace to the state."

Jia Lian... [When you were kneeling down to learn foreign languages ​​from Esmeralda, you did bend your knees, so it's not unfair.]

Li Heng handed over a list. Jia Lian took a look at it and found that the positions were not high. The highest one was Wang Jin, the Shaoqing of Dali Temple. Well, he was not a coach.

"Isn't this Wang Jin from Shanxi?" Jia Lian asked casually. After all, Wang is a big family name, and the more famous one in the past was the Wang family of Langya.

Li Heng thought for a moment and said, "No, he seems to be from Jinling. Well, he should be a descendant of Wang's family of Langya."

"The descendant of Wang Lang who was scolded to death by Zhuge Liang in the show?" Jia Lian was a little curious. If he was really a descendant of Wang Lang, then it would be Huang Chao's fault for not doing his job properly.

"I guess so. It's not as exaggerated as you think. The Wang family has long been spread all over the south of the Yangtze River. Many people like to find a prominent ancestor for themselves, so it's not surprising that someone with the surname Wang found the Wang family of Langya. Besides, Wang Lang was not really scolded to death by Zhuge Liang." Li Heng felt that Jia Lian was making a fuss out of nothing. It was completely unnecessary. He couldn't sue someone for mistaking their ancestors, right?
"Is it okay if I don't like him?" Jia Lian argued. In fact, Wang Jin was the highest-ranking official, and to kill a chicken to scare the monkeys, he had to catch the most jumpy one.

"It's not impossible. You don't really believe what is said in the novel, do you?" Li Heng really didn't think that Jia Lian had never read the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, but instead believed the stories in the vernacular novels.

"There is one thing that is correct in Romance of the Three Kingdoms, that is, it respects Liu and suppresses Cao. No matter from which angle you look at history, you should not and cannot overestimate the historical value of Cao Cao, who often massacred cities." Li Heng was surprised to hear Jia Lian's words. Isn't this nonsense? Throughout the dynasties, Cao Cao was a traitor to the Han Dynasty, a treacherous prime minister, and a minister who usurped the throne.

"Brother Jia, what's irritating you?" Li Heng was a little surprised. He could never have imagined that Jia Lian suddenly thought of some modern scholars who regarded themselves as fans of Cao Cao.

In fact, it is not surprising. People of this type are often sophisticated egoists. They are completely on the same wavelength as people like Jia Lian, who are at the bottom of society and living a miserable life.

"One a day. Tomorrow it will be him. The day after tomorrow we'll see who will be the unlucky one." Jia Lian stood up to leave. Li Heng caught up with him and said, "The people on this list are all civil servants who are close to the second brother."

Jia Lian stopped and turned around and said, "Nonsense, if I don't even know this, what am I doing? Why, have you stopped?"

Li Heng said: "That can't be possible. We have to vent our anger."

Jia Lian said, "Don't worry, wait and see."

Some things are just coincidences, for example, the three women around Jia Lian, as if they had agreed, became inconvenient one after another for three consecutive days.

In the evening, Jia Lian rested happily in the study. In order not to bring dirty things to Jia Lian, the three women were tactful and did not get close to him.

The ones serving Jia Lian at night were naturally Xiangling and Xiren.

It just so happened that Jia Lian had been thinking about a problem at night, how to find fault with Wang Jin tomorrow. As for the excuse, he had a ready-made one. Jia Lian also had the title of inspector of the capital, so he just had to go to the Dali Temple to check the files.

What I am worried about is how far I should go so as not to be considered as supporting Li Heng.

After thinking for a long time, Xiangling was so sleepy that she went to sleep on the master kang, and Jia Lian finally found a reasonable reason.

Bang! Jia Lian slapped his thigh. "I'm so stupid. The Dali Temple is responsible for trying cases. Is it difficult to find a wronged victim?"

He grimaced after being slapped in the face, and Xiren, who was a little sleepy, perked up: "Second Master, what's wrong?"

Well, Xiren was relatively quiet tonight. She didn't find any opportunity or excuse to get closer and kept a proper distance.

Jia Lian glanced at Xiren, who seemed to have just grown up a little bit, and didn't think too much about it. He waved his hand and said, "It's late, let's rest."

Xiren quickly fetched water to help Jia Lian wash and dress. She was the only one serving him at night, but she didn't feel tired or annoyed. Instead, she felt that she was finally being useful.

Seeing that Jia Lian got on the kang directly and did not let Xiangling take him away, but just moved inside, Xiren was so frightened that she raised her hand to cover her mouth.

Jia Lian noticed her expression, but he was too lazy to explain, so he covered himself with a blanket and closed his eyes. Xiren blew out the light, went back to the next room, lay down, and listened, but there was no sound.

Xiren, who was afraid of missing anything, tossed and turned for almost an hour before falling asleep.

When Xiren woke up in the morning, she was late again. Jia Lian had already gone out, leaving Xiangling alone to tidy up the kang.

"Last night..." Xiren came over to ask, Xiangling looked up at Xiren with dissatisfaction: "Second Madam doesn't care, do you want to care?"

(End of this chapter)