Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 357 Correctly Understanding the Intentions
The appointment of the chief secretary was very careless. He was simply given an official seal and was considered to have taken office. What about the clerks? Does the Ministry of Personnel still manage personnel matters?

The Zhongshu Sheren is equivalent to the emperor's secretary. There are four secretaries now, plus a foreman, which is equivalent to the secretarial office. Is Jia Lian the director or the secretary-general?
The original cabinet was a secretariat team set up by Zhu Yuanzhang, which later gradually became a substitute for the prime minister.

After sending Xiao Guizi away, Jia Lian was very confused as to whether the new appointment would bring him any salary increase. If it was still the same as before, there would be no point in being an official.

Not only will there be no change in power, but the four secretaries below may not buy into it. By then, even if I keep sending them around, I may not be able to do anything about it.

Emperor Chenghui really thought of one thing after another and only caused more trouble for Jia Lian.

Just when Jia Lian was confused about this new appointment, a clerk from the cabinet came and asked Jia Lian to visit the cabinet.

Jia Lian, who didn't know the truth, asked a clerk along the way and found out how the five cabinet ministers usually work. The cabinet ministers have at least one legal advisor, and each cabinet minister has several clerks to do copying work. Clerks are not considered officials, so they don't have the various benefits of officials. They just get a dry salary of two taels of silver and one hundred kilograms of grain per month. The clerk didn't mention the gray income, but Jia Lian knew about it. The clerks and clerks in the cabinet are exposed to a lot of information. The middle-level officials below need to queue up to see the cabinet ministers (the King of Hell). The first thing they have to face is the clerk (the devil), and then the legal advisor (the judge).

Officials who want to meet the Prime Minister have to offer ten taels of silver as a bribe, but they don’t even have the chance to queue up and can be replaced by others at any time.

Of course, there are also middle-level officials who do not need any arrangements and can come to see the Grand Lord at any time, such as Jia Lian. All the officials in the cabinet know that this is a big boss who cannot be messed with.

Jia Lian was led directly to the conference room, where all five cabinet ministers were present, and they were very respectful to him.

Kong Zhao's cheeks twitched slightly when he saw Jia Lian coming in. After Jia Lian greeted everyone, he said, "As the head secretary, all official correspondence between the cabinet and Your Majesty will be handled by Lord Jia. I heard that Lord Jia has many responsibilities. Will he be too busy?"

I didn't expect Kong Zhao to still care about me, but when I think about it carefully, even though I have a lot of part-time jobs, there are not many things that actually need to be dealt with. As long as I am willing to delegate power in my daily life, it won't be too busy.

"Since your majesty trusts me, I will naturally do my best to do my job well. The cabinet needs to send documents to the imperial study, so I think we can just do it as usual."

Jia Lian acted very calm. It was true that the cabinet ministers were all there, but they could not scare anyone. Even now, several cabinet ministers were still worried. If there were any important documents in the future, Jia Lian would not withhold them, but would hand them in at the end, right? Even if he couldn't withhold them, he could find some faults and send them back for redoing, right? So, in turn, the cabinet ministers were not happy with Jia Lian.

The cabinet ministers looked at each other without saying anything, and Jia Lian took his leave without any intention of asking for details of the cabinet meeting.

After Jia Lian left, Kong Zhao reminded him with a worried look on his face: "From now on, you must be careful when sending official documents to the cabinet."

Liang, Guo, and Li all looked gloomy. It was really disgusting to have someone with whom they had a bad relationship sitting in this position.

Pan Jixun looked at his colleagues with a smile, but said nothing. Anyway, he had no grudge against Jia Lian, so he was really not worried.

The one who suffered the most was Guo Yan. He originally had a pretty good relationship with Jia Lian, but after becoming a cabinet minister, he became arrogant and tried to trip up Jia Lian, causing him great offense.

Not to mention that national affairs are no joke, officials fighting at court meetings is not new. No matter how high the official is, he is first and foremost a human being.

Anyone who gets angry will turn hostile and fight! If they can't do something to you openly, can't they sabotage you secretly?
"You must believe in your majesty's judgment of people!" Kong Zhao said something that was absolutely correct but meaningless.

Liang Daoyuan stared at the ceiling with lifeless eyes. The documents for the Ministry of Personnel to appoint officials of the fourth rank and above need to be stamped by His Majesty before they can take effect. A list from the beginning of the year is being compiled and will be submitted tomorrow.

This list seems to be flawless, but Liang Daoyuan knows that the Ningbo prefect has made outstanding achievements in the past three years and has been promoted to the next level. The letter from his hometown clearly states that the prefect almost worships the Liang family as his ancestors. The family's fertile land has more than doubled, and there are ten more seagoing ships. How did they get the license?

So, Liang Daoyuan was really worried that Jia Lian would use a magnifying glass to find problems when he saw the official document of the personnel appointment report submitted by the Ministry of Personnel.

In principle, Jia Lian should have presented a letter of thanks, but the emperor only gave him an official seal and no official document, so it was better for him not to present the letter but to express his thanks verbally in person.

There was no need to take out the gold medal; Jia Lian's meeting with the emperor was very smooth. He just gave his name and a eunuch came to lead him in.

The young eunuch explained enthusiastically: "The Grand Companion has instructed that Lord Jia can bring the official in charge of the Secretariat into the palace without waiting."

Jia Lian listened with a blank expression and sighed slightly in his heart. He really created all the conditions for him to work like a slave for the emperor.

If this foreman does his job well, he won't be too hardworking, he just has to run in and out of the palace, which is a bit troublesome.

Jia Lian thought to himself, Emperor Chenghui is obviously a model worker, why did he start to have a secretary recently?

After entering the Qianqing Palace, there were four desks lined up outside the imperial study. Four newly appointed secretaries were processing memorials. The eunuch asked Jia Lian to wait at the door of the study and go in to report.

The four Zhongshu Sheren were all over 35 and under 45 years old. When they saw Jia Lian, they did not stand up. After bowing, they continued to deal with memorials.

Jia Lian glanced at the nearest table and found it was full of memorials from various imperial censors. He immediately understood why the emperor felt that the workload was too heavy.

How could this not be a big deal? The memorials from the censors could go directly through the channels of the Tongzhengsi to the emperor. In principle, as long as it was an impeachment by the censors, the emperor would handle it personally.

But Emperor Chenghui created a personality for himself and was willing to accept advice.

As a result, the censors from all walks of life naturally had to perform well. They would impeach even the smallest matters, with strong reasons to show their names in front of the emperor.

In the first few years, Emperor Chenghui handled various memorials very patiently. But last year, there were so many things to do and the number of impeachment memorials was too large to handle at all. The emperor was so exhausted that he couldn't finish reading them all.

I heard that the Ministry of Public Security had sacks full of impeachment memorials that had been filtered out. At that time, Li Heng was still in the Ministry of Public Security, and Jia Lian was worried about him a lot, as he was impeached and his freedom of speech was blocked.

Well, the Great Zhou also has freedom of speech. Officials can say whatever they want, and the common people listen and do as they are told.

Take a look, do you think the elites at Lighthouse behave like this?
Is it the same as "I can say whatever I want, you better shut up and listen"? Of course, if you don't shut up, then physics will make you shut up (arrest someone, accident).

Thinking that he was also a person who could speak freely, Jia Lian was filled with emotion. The same freedom, the same things that some people could not say.

Before Jia Lian could sigh for too long, Qiu Shian came out and said to the Zhongshu Sheren: "My lords, please stop for a moment!"

The four Zhongshu Sheren stopped writing and stood up to greet him. Qiu Shian said to everyone, "Lord Jia was once the temporary Zhongshu Sheren. He deeply understands the heart of the saint, which is why Your Majesty re-established the position of Zhongshu Sheren. From today on, Lord Jia will lead the Zhongshu Sheren. If there are any difficult issues, you can hand them over to Lord Jia for handling first."

Everyone agreed, but there was no sign of dissatisfaction on their faces.

Qiu Shi'an didn't care what they thought and invited Jia Lian to come in.

In the imperial study, Doctor Wen was packing his medicine box and giving medical instructions at the same time.

"Your Majesty is not seriously ill. You are just feeling overworked. You should not work too hard in the future. You should only sit at your desk for three hours a day at most, and do not handle state affairs at night."

Emperor Chenghui said nothing, motioned Qiu Shian to send the doctor away, and turned to complain to Jia Lian: "I have been feeling low spirits and have not been sleeping well recently. Qiu Shian was so anxious that he insisted on calling in the doctor, but the doctor did not prescribe any medicine, but just told me to rest more and work less. The Queen was also alarmed and insisted that I add a secretary to the Secretariat. After much thought, the only one who suits my taste the most is Jia Qing. But Jia Qing holds many important positions, and I cannot trust a new person, so I can only ask Jia Qing to check things for me."

Jia Lian understood that Emperor Chenghui's health was fine, but after the age of 40, all kinds of problems would arise. It was common to have backaches and mental confusion after sitting for a long time.

In addition, there are all kinds of flowers in the harem waiting to be watered, and she works day and night, so it would be strange if she could be in good spirits.

Jia Lian didn't dare to mention a word about the affairs of the harem, so when he saw Emperor Chenghui stand up and walk around, he put his hand on his waist and thought to himself that he was in great trouble and his eye sockets were sunken.

"Your Majesty, you still have to take care of your health. There are endless affairs of state to deal with." Jia Lian could only talk nonsense and could not comment on state affairs.

Being an emperor only has three major powers: personnel power, military power, and financial power, plus at most the power of public opinion.

The emperor would be uneasy if he gave up any of the four powers. Even though the emperor feels tired now, if he really gave up power, he would worry that someone would undermine the imperial power.

Emperor Chenghui nodded to show that he had received Jia Lian's concern, and continued walking while saying: "After the establishment of the Zhongshu Sheren, Jia Qing will work harder and keep an eye on the four Hanlin Sheren to make sure they don't cause any trouble."

Jia Lian knew Emperor Chenghui very well, and nodded quickly: "I understand!" to indicate that he had received the signal and handled it correctly.

Emperor Chenghui added: "The rank of the chief secretary will remain unchanged, but Jia Qing can make his own decision on the specific personnel matters."

Jia Lian was slightly shocked when he heard this. The emperor was still very generous in giving him the power of personnel. That would make it easy. He didn't have to worry about these four secretaries being dissatisfied.

However, the emperor did not say it explicitly. He just wanted to see how capable he was and whether he could control the secretaries under him.

In terms of rank, Zhongshu Sheren was of the fifth rank, while Jia Lian was of the fourth rank, but he was at a disadvantage due to his age, and people might not necessarily accept this.

Jia Lian said goodbye and came out to meet his four colleagues. There was no one around at that time, and the four colleagues did not look at Jia Lian in a very polite manner.

"You are all from the Imperial Academy, so I cannot teach you how to handle text. Your Majesty has trusted me and appointed me as your leader. I hope you can listen to what I have to say."

Jia Lian did not act like a superior, nor did he preach to them, so the four new servants felt much more comfortable.

"Please give us some advice, Lord Jia!" The four of them bowed and spoke in unison, as if they had discussed it beforehand.

Jia Lian sneered in his heart. You have discussed this beforehand, right? So what? I have the power to decide whether you stay or go. How can you fight me?
"First, in principle, all impeachment memorials must be sent to the emperor. The Tongzhengsi follows this principle. When it comes to you, if it involves the third rank or above, [whether there is actual evidence] is the principle of review and must be marked. For those below the fourth rank, it will be transferred to the Supervisory Office for verification and disposal. Secondly, after reading the documents sent by the cabinet, you should write a summary to facilitate your review. Remember that all documents should be based on facts and not misleading. Military and national affairs should be handled first. These three points are based on experience, and I hope you can encourage each other. Finally, I advise you all: Serve the emperor with sincerity!"

Even though everyone might not be convinced in their hearts, Jia Lian really gave them some important information, and everyone recited it silently in their hearts, not daring to ignore it at all.

Seeing that everyone was silent and waiting for the follow-up arrangements, Jia Lian knew that what he had just said had taken effect.

These people are not young anymore. They can become Zhongshu Sheren, thanks to Jia Lian, the initiator. Taizu of this dynasty abolished the post of Zhongshu Sheren. Although the emperor was not diligent, he delegated power to the cabinet and did not have so many government affairs to deal with. If Emperor Chenghui had learned from the emperor, he would not have been so tired. Unfortunately, the emperor had to work harder to centralize power.

Of course, there is one good thing about Emperor Chenghui, he is very clear in dealing with issues, unlike Jiajing who spoke in a riddle-like manner, thus maintaining the mystery of imperial power.

In fact, as a boss, unless there is something that cannot be said explicitly, it is best to explain things clearly to avoid misunderstandings and wrong actions by those below you, which would result in greater losses.

Of course, everyone has things they are embarrassed to say openly, so it is inevitable to let subordinates guess occasionally.

In the early days, Emperor Chenghui would occasionally ask the cabinet to guess, but now that he has the power, he doesn't do that anymore. He basically tells them directly what he wants, but he just uses someone else's mouth to say it.

"Thank you, Lord Jia, for your guidance!" The four of them spoke in unison again, but not as uniformly as before.

Jia Lian finally said, "I have a part-time job outside. I will come here for one hour every day this month. After a month, I will come here every five days. I don't like to beat around the bush. I will speak clearly in person. I hope you can understand my style of doing things. From now on, if you make a big mistake once, I will warn you. If you make a big mistake twice, I will warn you again. If you make a big mistake three times, I will write a resignation letter and submit it to Your Majesty for approval."

Jia Lian was talking about big mistakes, which means that small problems should be ignored and only mistakes of principle should be dealt with.

After saying this, Jia Lian left, leaving the four of them looking at each other in bewilderment. They all heard clearly that the standard for what constitutes a serious mistake was not clear.

In other words, as the foreman, Jia Lian can flexibly decide whether it is a big mistake or not.

This is disgusting!

From now on, everyone will be very cautious when handling official documents, so as not to be caught by Jia Lian.

Liu Sheren, the oldest, pondered for a moment and warned everyone, "Everyone, if you have any questions in the future, you can ask Lord Jia."

Everyone suddenly understood that this was the correct way to understand what was said.

After leaving the palace, Jia Lian was in a good mood. He had priority access to information channels, which sometimes affected life and death.

(End of this chapter)