Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 383: Bringing British Constitutional Stimulation
The British Empire, a troublemaker that is everywhere in the world, always reminds Jia Lian of the classic TV series "Yes, Prime Minister" every time it appears.

Jia Lian has many stereotypes about this country, such as "a well-known troublemaker" and "creator of concentration camps", which are closely related to "not being a human being". In contrast, football and gays are common.

While riding on the street, I saw people busy trying to make a living and working harder in the morning when the sun was not so strong.

Jia Lian's passing undoubtedly caused their work to pause for a moment, giving them a brief respite.

Compared with Britain, which has entered capitalism, the current Great Zhou is still stronger in overall strength, but it is hard to say what will happen a hundred years later.

Once institutional advantages enter the fast lane, it will be very difficult for latecomers to catch up.

Emperor Chenghui attached great importance to the arrival of the British envoys. The emperor was a little embarrassed by the series of troubles between the retired emperor and the young prince Zhongyi.

Emperor Chenghui needed the so-called atmosphere of all nations coming to pay tribute to him to prove that he was better than his father and that there were reasons for Li Ni's failure.

How to deal with the British delegation naturally requires the Honglu Temple to take action, but who can compare with Jia Lian in the Great Zhou who understands the West? This is a young scholar who has published a series of articles introducing the West.

Before this, the emperor convened a cabinet meeting to set the tone. After the tone was determined, the scale and measure of the subsequent work could be determined.

Jia Lian is here. Even if he doesn't come, the emperor will have someone bring him here.

In the cabinet meeting room, several Zhongshu Sheren were new faces. Jia Lian was silent for a while and said nothing. Emperor Chenghui was really ruthless. He replaced all the people quietly. It can be seen that when doing things here, one should not be clever.

Jia Lian seriously suspected that Emperor Chenghui was trying to incriminate others, but he had no evidence.

"Greetings, Lord Jia!" It was the first time for the four new secretaries to meet their superior. They also heard some rumors that something went wrong with the previous batch of people and they were all fired and demoted. The best result was that one was demoted to a seventh-rank county magistrate, and the other three were demoted to the eighth rank.

Jia Lian, as the boss, was actually unaware of the personnel adjustment. After a moment's hesitation, Jia Lian decided to resign and not earn this salary that would offend others.

Don’t let it go on for too long, or you’ll be accused of isolating yourself from the outside world.

"The meeting will start soon, everyone go get ready." Jia Lian said coldly, not intending to get along well with these people at this time. The youngest of the four was already 26 or 27 years old, and the age difference was very awkward.

Just as he finished speaking, Pan Jixun came in. He was surprised to see Jia Lian, then he walked forward with a smile on his face and said, "Mr. Jia, it's been a while since we last met."

Jia Lian couldn't get angry at such a smiling face. He had always thought that Lao Pan was a good person, but later he realized that this person would still bully others when there was a conflict of interest.

After standing up, Jia Lian folded his hands with a fake smile and said, "Greetings, Prime Minister Pan!"

Pan Jixun also saw that Jia Lian's smile was forced, it was just for the sake of face, but he didn't care. In this cabinet, even if Jia Lian wanted to take revenge, it would not be his turn, there were several people ahead of him. Besides, Jia Lian was a special person, and he was usually more direct in revenge. If the bottom line was really touched, he would dare to hit the Prime Minister with an inkstone. If the bottom line was not touched, he could still be harmonious.

Things are over, and they are often over. Jia Lian has not yet taken revenge on Prime Minister Kong. In fact, Pan Jixun has been waiting to see the show, but it is a pity that Jia Lian has not taken action yet. What a pity.

The ministers entered one after another. When Guo Yan came in, his smile quickly froze, but he still folded his hands to greet Jia Lian. Jia Lian also folded his hands in response! When Liang Daoyuan came in and saw Jia Lian, he was so cold and stern that he sat down without even looking at him. When Kong Zhao came in, he saw Jia Lian and just nodded slightly, and folded his hands in return: "Greetings, Prime Minister Kong!"

Kong Zhao did not speak, but sat down at his seat. In fact, Kong Zhao knew very well that he and Jia Lian did not have a big conflict, and the conflicts were all for official business. Kong Zhao had to speak out about the grain transport. Jia Lian lost his inkstone, and it was really an emergency at the time, so he had to open the sea transport. With the emperor's pressure and being the prime minister, Kong Zhao was really not afraid of Jia Lian at all. Unless this bastard shot him from behind.

Jia Lian handled the situation well in the front, and the four subordinates behind him were surprised and simply followed him. It was not clear if they had any big ideas.

Qiu Shian's sharp voice was heard: "The Saint has arrived!" Jia Lian was a little distracted when he heard it. The title of the Emperor of the Great Zhou was a bit confusing, it was Saint, His Majesty, and Emperor, highlighting the diversity.

Emperor Chenghui walked in steadily. Seeing that everyone was present and had saluted in unison, he nodded and took his seat. Then he spoke condescendingly, "Please stand up. We all know what happened. Our embassy that visited the West has returned, along with the English embassy. Let's discuss how to receive them and come up with a set of rules."

"Your Majesty, I obey your order!" Kong Zhao took the lead in responding. After sitting down, he quickly stood up again: "The only one in the court who is familiar with the West is Lord Jia. Why don't we let him introduce the details first?"

Emperor Chenghui immediately looked at Jia Lian. Jia Lian stood up helplessly and folded his hands: "Your Majesty, I know about the West only through books and oral accounts, and I have never been there in person. There is no urgency for this matter. Why not wait for Envoy Guo to return to the capital for a detailed report before making a decision? It's not that I can't talk about it, but I'm afraid that preconceived ideas will affect the judgment of the cabinet officials."

After hearing this, Emperor Chenghui said, "You have done a good job in assisting His Majesty the Third Prince in receiving the French envoys. You must also take responsibility this time and cannot shirk it."

Well, once a person’s impression is formed, it is difficult to change, just as Emperor Chenghui has now judged that Jia Lian does not want to take on the task and wants to be lazy.

Jia Lian sighed, "Your Majesty, it's not that I'm modest or lazy. It's just that the information I know is from the past. Western countries are changing rapidly. I don't dare to speak without understanding."

Emperor Chenghui nodded and said, "That's right. Wang Ziteng sent a report in an urgent manner over a distance of 800 miles, and attached a travel note written by Guo Songtao. I arranged for someone to copy it. Take a copy and read it now. We'll talk about it after you finish reading it."

This was almost like conscription, so Jia Lian had no way to "refuse" and could only say helplessly: "Your humble servant obeys your order."

The eunuch quickly presented a copied copy of "Journey to the West". Jia Lian took it and looked at the thickness. It was about a hundred pages, with 500 words on one page and no words on the back, for a total of 50,000 words.

Jia Lian looked at the scene, and Emperor Chenghui continued to hold a meeting to discuss what qualifications to receive the English delegation. After all, England was the most powerful country in the West, and there was a consensus on this. In the past, when receiving the French envoys, they gave them the treatment of a brother country. What about receiving the English delegation? It is said that England and France are mortal enemies.

How to deal with relations with England without damaging relations with France is a difficult problem facing the cabinet ministers.

According to the logic of the Central Plains dynasty, there are only two types of surrounding countries: one is the vassal state, and the other is the barbarians who refuse to submit to the king.

Previously, the French delegation's reception was a bit like the Northern Song Dynasty and the Liao Dynasty, calling each other brothers. However, the Northern Song Dynasty paid for it, and the Great Zhou gave preferential treatment as the first Western country to visit.

The West is too far away for the navy of the Great Zhou to reach, so they can only show their respect by not implementing the tributary system and being equal and friendly. This was also Jia Lian's original proposal.

Guo Yan advocated that now that England had also arrived, there was actually a template for how to treat them, but the template could not be copied exactly, otherwise France’s first-come-first-served preferential treatment would not make sense, and the treatment could be reduced as appropriate.

This view was refuted by Pan Jixun, who recently liked to be a troublemaker. England is the most powerful country in the West, and it is inappropriate to compare it with France. If the Great Zhou delegation went to the West and received the same treatment as the neighboring North Korea, would the Great Zhou delegation agree?

Then the quarrel began!

They quarreled as they pleased, and I knew that they were not quarreling for the sake of quarreling, but to demonstrate their right to speak. Jia Lian read the travel notes very quietly.

Jia Lian, who was on a leash, read very quickly, reading ten lines at a glance and turning the pages quickly. The quarrel lasted for half an hour before it died down, and Jia Lian just closed his travel journal.

Everyone knew that Jia Lian was gifted and had a photographic memory, but this was the first time they saw him look at something so quickly, and everyone stopped to look at him.

Kong Zhao asked directly: "Master Jia, have you finished reading it?"

Jia Lian nodded, and Kong Zhao asked again: "Tell me about it?"

Jia Lian did not answer, but looked directly at the emperor. Emperor Chenghui smiled and said, "Tell me about it."

Jia Lian then stood up, folded his arms, and then spoke: "The travel notes contain a lot of content, and there are two things worth paying attention to right now. First, England has widely used steam engines to replace human and animal labor, and production capacity has increased rapidly. Countries on the European continent have been influenced by England to varying degrees, learning and using steam engines to improve domestic production efficiency, among which France is the representative. Second, France and England have been enemies for a hundred years. Louis XVI, who is in power in France, seeks to cooperate with our dynasty and interfere with the independence of England's colonies in North America."

"Well, let's put the steam engine issue aside for now and talk about it slowly when we have time. What is the situation with the North American colonies becoming independent nations?" Kong Zhao had a very keen political sense and immediately grasped the crux of the issue.

Jia Lian looked at Emperor Chenghui first, and after getting a nod of agreement, he continued: "After the Age of Exploration began, England and France both joined in and opened up colonies overseas. The pioneers of the North American colonies were people who couldn't make it in England and chose to risk their lives in new places. These people were very complex, including exiled criminals, bankrupt craftsmen, landless farmers, and some adventurers with a certain fortune. In layman's terms, they were all a group of losers who had no hope of rising in their own country."

Jia Lian would never talk about the Mayflower myth and directly label the thirteen North American states as domestic losers.

Of course, they were not wronged, this is the fact. Who would go to North America, a place like that, where there is no one, if they were successful in China at that time?
"Well, if that's the case, why did those people rise up in rebellion and establish their own country?" Kong Zhao looked at Emperor Chenghui's unhappy expression and quickly defined this group of people.

In the Great Zhou Dynasty, rebellion would result in the execution of the entire family. If you rebelled in other places, you would lose points in the first impression.

"Western countries have always valued commerce. They do not talk about morality and etiquette, but about conflicts of interest. This is true for the countries and their people. North America is separated from the European continent by the Atlantic Ocean. The local immigrants are far away from the British king, and over time they have lost their awe of the British king. Because they value interests, the local immigrants have the idea of ​​not paying taxes to England, and over time, they have rebelled. It happened that England changed the stamp tax and sold tea to North America at a low price, which caused dissatisfaction among local merchants. They bribed dock workers and imported tea on English merchant ships into the sea. As a result, the contradiction between England and the North American colonies intensified. One side wanted to suppress, and the other side wanted to resist. King Louis XVI of France has always advocated that if it can cause trouble for England, he must help the North American colonies even if he sells everything he has."

Well, very Louis XVI, worthy of being the father of the lighthouse.

Emperor Chenghui, who had been silent the whole time, looked at Jia Lian for a long time before speaking: "Jia Lian, I have something to say to you alone."

Everyone was surprised, but they didn't say anything. Emperor Chenghui stood up and left first, followed by Jia Lian. They found a quiet room and asked sternly, "Jia Lian, why didn't you mention the so-called constitutionalism in England?"

The fact that Emperor Chenghui called him by his name showed how much he valued the matter. The travel notes did mention that a lot of space was devoted to discussing constitutionalism. But Guo Songtao himself did not know the local history, and his accepted view was the Whig view of history, which was to shoot arrows first and then draw the target. Jia Lian certainly could not say these things in public, especially when it came to rebellion and the emperor's head was chopped off. He had to be a little bit cautious.

Facing this question, Jia Lian hesitated for a while and whispered, "Your Majesty, the issue of the English constitution cannot be explained in a few words. The essence of this system is similar to ruling by doing nothing. It's just that the English went too far and abolished the king for a time, with the traitor Cromwell as regent. Later, the people could not bear the suffering and rose up to kill him, and welcomed back the former king's relatives as king. Constitutionalism can be understood as ministers signing an agreement with the monarch to explain their respective rights. Speaking of which, the ministers of England are suspected of being disloyal and unrighteous. When dealing with them, our dynasty should hold on to the purpose of learning from the foreigners in order to control them!"

After reading the original, Emperor Chenghui knew that Jia Lian was right. In his view, constitutionalism was pure treason. When Jia Lian said it was suspicious, Emperor Chenghui was a little dissatisfied. But after thinking about it carefully, this guy had never been to England, but understood it from the perspective of ruling by doing nothing, so it was not a big mistake. After all, scholars always talk about this, and their real intention is to be a nominal emperor!
This has been going on since the Northern Song Dynasty. Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, strictly guarded against scholars. However, his descendants did not live up to their expectations in the middle and late stages, and eventually half of the country's power fell into the hands of scholars, ending the country's fortunes.

After the Great Zhou Taizu ascended the throne, he also took the route of guarding against scholars, and for this purpose he did not hesitate to improve the status of craftsmen. Unfortunately, Taizu's reign was not long. After the emperor ascended the throne, he constantly revised Taizu's system, which led to the current situation where civil officials gradually gained the upper hand. At this pace, it is really possible that there will be no emperor in the future. Scholars probably won't rebel, but they will bewitch people's hearts. If the later emperors accidentally fall into the trap, the great cause of the Great Zhou will be ruined.

Well, from now on we must strengthen the power of the nobles to counter the civil officials.

Ruling by doing nothing is similar to a figurehead monarch, and the only thing to be afraid of is an English constitutional monarch.

It is obvious that Emperor Chenghui's understanding was completely distorted, which is also related to Jia Lian's narration.

In short, Jia Lian had only one idea, which was that the issue of "constitutionalism" must not cause too much stimulation to Emperor Chenghui.

(End of this chapter)