Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 387 Subtle
Jia Lian walked out of a sea of ​​blood and corpses. Just a glance from him made Sassoon's heart turn cold and his legs go weak. He took three steps back before he could stand firm.

Many things flashed through Jia Lian's mind. Modern China's foreign humiliation began with the poisoning of opium. Although the Qing government's own poverty and weakness were the root cause of foreign humiliation, invaders are invaders.

"There's no need to mention this matter anymore. Your gold coins are too hot. I dare not take them." After a flash of murderous intent passed through Jia Lian's mind, he quickly returned to normal and turned away.

If he didn't leave, Jia Lian was afraid that he would lose control of himself and strangle his grandson to death. The depressing atmosphere in the room seemed like an invisible hand strangling Sassoon's neck, making him unable to speak.

After Jia Lian went out, the depression slowly dissipated the moment the door was closed. Sassoon leaned against the wall for a while, his eyes full of resentment and his teeth clenched.

Henry saw Jia Lian coming out with an unhappy face, and he sneered in his heart, secretly mocking Sassoon. Because of religion, squid is not so popular in Europe. The situation in the UK is better, there is no overt discrimination against squid, but invisible discrimination is everywhere.

"It seems that your conversation with Mr. Sassoon was not a pleasant one!" Henry was not afraid of Sassoon, and his tone was full of joy.

This was something Jia Lian had not expected. After all, wasn't the Royal Navy the East India Company's thug?

Jia Lian looked at Henry in silence, indicating that he was waiting for him to continue.

Henry smiled and said, "It's stuffy in the room, let's go out and talk while walking." He made a gesture to invite Jia Lian, who was not polite and went ahead.

After walking for a while and when there was no one behind him, Henry spoke: "If you can persuade the returning emperor to give up cooperating with Louis XVI, I promise that Mr. Sassoon will leave you a reward that satisfies you."

Jia Lian stopped and turned around, sneering rudely: "Excuse me, I have no confidence in the assurances from England."

This... Henry was speechless. This was the pain he had to face when facing someone who had a certain understanding of Europe.

"If you do not have confidence, I can have someone deliver not five thousand pounds but ten thousand pounds to the place you specify tonight."

After Henry gritted his teeth slightly, he whispered the conditions.

Jia Lian did not agree immediately, but looked at Henry suspiciously and asked, "Ten thousand pounds? Paper money?"

The gold standard was proposed by Newton, and 1 ounce of gold is equal to 3 pounds 17 shillings 10.5 pence. From this conversion unit, we can see the peculiarity of the British.

Henry saw Jia Lian's excitement and was secretly delighted. He whispered with emphasis, "Gold coins! Of course, it can also be gold bars!"

Because before Zhou Songtao returned from his visit, there was unrest in North America, and Louis XVI's envoy secretly contacted Zhou Songtao, which was known to the British. So, they were very worried. But they couldn't kill Zhou Songtao, after all, he insisted on sending someone to deliver the message, and they couldn't stop him at all.

Although the trade with Zhou was a deficit, it was indispensable to British capital. Once France and Zhou reached an agreement to cut off trade with British merchants, it would be an unbearable blow to Britain. At that time, British merchants would not only be unable to buy necessities such as tea, but also need to purchase second-hand at high prices from merchants in other countries. This was a result that British trade absolutely did not allow to occur.

The problem was that the British government did not know much about the Zhou Kingdom, so they made many preparations. The normal visit of the delegation was to achieve the goal through negotiation, and the hidden one was to bribe the ministers who could influence the emperor of the Zhou Kingdom at the lowest cost. As the chief envoy, Henry was responsible for persuading the Zhou Kingdom not to interfere in North American affairs.

This interference was not military, but its importance was not above the military. Europeans were at an absolute disadvantage in trade with Zhou. Although the British were the hegemons of the sea, they did not dare to gamble.

Along the way, Henry obtained a considerable amount of intelligence through various relationships. In fact, Henry had a better understanding of Jia Lian, an official of the Zhou State, than Sassoon.

"I can't answer your request for now, but I will seriously consider it. Well, let's put this matter aside for now and talk about it when I return from the capital."

Jia Lian did not insist too much, just to give Henry the impression that Jia Lian did not care much.

At this time, ten thousand pounds of gold are really gold.

The Central Plains Dynasty has been based on silver since the Ming Dynasty, and because of the influx of a large amount of silver, the purchasing power of silver has actually been declining. In contrast, gold is much stronger.

Unfortunately, the Central Plains Dynasty was never a major gold producer. Gold could be used as money in the Zhou Dynasty, but it was mostly used to make jewelry and then sell it for added value.

Henry saw Jia Lian off attentively. After watching Jia Lian ride away on horseback, he turned back to the yard. Seeing Sassoon with a somewhat unpleasant expression, he could not help but sneer, "Jia Lian was born into the most elite aristocratic family in Zhou. Mr. Sassoon lacks sufficient respect for the most elite aristocrats in Zhou."

Sassoon was ridiculed but he couldn't vent his anger. He could only hold it in. He couldn't say anything like "the Zhou people are barbaric and ignorant."

Well, in this era, the Central Plains dynasty is the symbol of civilization. The mainstream views of progressive people in Europe are the same. In the 18th century, China was the beacon of the world.

When the British delegation visited the Qianlong period, they brought all the best things they had in their boxes. They looked at the Qing Dynasty through a filter, which was really like bootlicking.

As a result, after this trip, Qianlong's true identity was exposed.

Why did Jia Lian go to so much trouble to do so many face-saving projects? Wasn't it to minimize the negative impression? At least he wanted to give the British the impression that Zhou was invincible on land.

After leaving the delegation's residence, Jia Lian rode a fast horse back to the capital. It was almost dusk when he arrived in the capital. Fortunately, it gets dark late in this season, so Jia Lian could still enter the palace before dark.

Emperor Chenghui met with Jia Lian as soon as possible and listened to his report.

Apart from the secret conversation with Zhou Songtao, Jia Lian reported everything else truthfully, even the bribery.

Emperor Chenghui was very satisfied after hearing this, and said with emotion: "I didn't expect that Westerners would still be obsessed with the opium trade and attach so much importance to the relationship with our dynasty."

Jia Lian naturally wanted to deepen Emperor Chenghui's stereotype of Europe, and naturally took over the conversation: "Western countries value commerce. England is an island country with little production, and commerce is the lifeblood of the country. The country is like this, and so are its people. They value profit and forget morality, and will do anything to maximize their profits. Bribery is just a common thing. In more cases, Western colonists plundered wealth in the colonies, killed people and seized land, and enslaved the natives. The crimes they committed are too numerous to list. In my humble opinion, when dealing with Western countries, benevolence and morality should be put aside first, and only interests can be considered. This is true for Britain and France. They are not of our race, so their hearts must be different. Not to mention the Western countries thousands of miles away, from what I have seen in history books, which of the surrounding small countries is not rampant when they gain power?"

The words touched Emperor Chenghui's heart, and he could not help but nod his head in approval: "As long as there is no problem in our Celestial Empire, the small countries around us will naturally not dare to act rashly and will bow their heads and call us subjects. It's a pity that Jia Qing has lost an income!" Finally, he changed the subject and started to tease. The atmosphere became relaxed and cheerful.

Jia Lian mocked himself without any concern: "I know my own worth. If it weren't for your Majesty's protection, the grass on my grave would be three feet high."

Emperor Chenghui had no idea whether this was true or not, but he was really happy when he heard it.

"It is absolutely correct to entrust this matter to you. Today, Western countries are rampant on the sea. The world is so big that we cannot sit in a well and watch the world from afar. Otherwise, we will suffer from it in time. It is necessary to maintain contact with Western countries and increase understanding." Emperor Chenghui was unconsciously deeply influenced by Jia Lian on this issue.

"Your Majesty, I think that the export of tea trees must be strictly prohibited. Once smuggled tea trees are discovered, they will be treated as treason. At the same time, in order to ensure the advantage of foreign trade, the strength of the navy must be further increased. I suggest that a navy tax should be added. Anyone who exports tea must pay a portion of the profits to be used to strengthen the navy. Furthermore, the term navy should be changed to navy to show the importance of national policy." Jia Lian made a formal suggestion. As a key product of foreign trade, tea cannot be overvalued. Those who harm the interests of the entire country for their own personal gain should not be overly punished.

Upon hearing these suggestions, Emperor Chenghui nodded in approval: "I will seriously consider this matter. This matter still requires the cooperation of the cabinet."

It can only be said that the huge inertia of Taizu's cabinet system still exists, and Emperor Chenghui also adheres to this concept, and the cabinet's rights must be respected.

In fact, this is a good thing. Jia Lian did not dwell on this issue and returned to the question of whether to agree to cooperate with France.

"There is still instability in the country. Our dynasty should focus on maintaining domestic stability while strengthening its own strength. The King of France's invitation to intervene in the affairs of the North American colonies is not in our country's interests and should be politely rejected. The English envoy is willing to present 10,000 pounds of gold coins. I will accept it on behalf of Your Majesty and rush it into the treasury. It will not be in vain for their hard work."

Emperor Chenghui was amused by this and suppressed his laughter, saying, "Well, there is nothing wrong with Jia Qing taking money to do things!"

Jia Lian has many problems in the Great Zhou Dynasty and needs to change a lot, but he is only one person and wants to do a lot of things, which makes him helpless. Next, he should focus on cultivating talents with the same ideas as himself. He dare not say that he will subvert the system and culture of the Great Zhou Dynasty, but at least he should cultivate a large number of people who are willing to open their eyes to see the world and accept the concept of natural science.

"The proportion of foreign trade income in the national treasury and internal treasury income is increasing day by day. I am not a business person, but I look at the problem from the perspective of national finance. While the Western powers are plundering the wealth of the world, they are fighting each other endlessly. In the end, they will show it through military means. The speed of development of their weapons and equipment must be far faster than that of China. Over time, given the morality of Western countries, they will come to our door sooner or later. On the other hand, China is still immersed in the atmosphere of the Celestial Empire, and there are many people who think they are invincible. These people have divided up all the internal and external interests, occupied the court, the civil officials are busy fighting internally, and the military officers and soldiers are privately owned. We must not turn a blind eye to it, otherwise the dynasty will change soon."

Jia Lian had to speak very sternly in order to attract the attention of Emperor Chenghui. Of course, he did not intend to convince him in one go, but saying it a few more times would always work.

Emperor Chenghui listened without commenting, but just nodded and said: "I understand your heart. You must have worked hard on this trip. Go home and rest for a day. You will still need to work hard for the follow-up reception work."

"This is the duty of a subject! I do not deserve the word 'hard work'." Jia Lian knew that this was to serve tea to see the guest off, so he stood up and said goodbye.

After leaving the palace, Jia Lian couldn't help but sigh, this is an institutional problem. No matter how far-sighted the emperor is, he still looks at the stability of his position first.

The cost of rebellion is too high. It will take more than a day or two to transform the thinking of an entire country's people.

From the perspective of reform, we still have to transform our thinking first. This is difficult, but we have to do it.

Why is it difficult? Without experiencing the pain of being attacked by foreign powers and forced to sign a humiliating treaty, it is difficult for Chinese people to change their existing ideas.

Judging from modern history, during the process of change, a considerable number of people began to kneel. These people had loud voices, and if they knelt, you had to kneel too.

Otherwise, these people will treat you like a heretic, barking at you and even burning you to death on the fire.

Another group of people draw nourishment from the culture of their ancestors, absorb advanced external experience, combine it with local culture, and vow to change the world.

This group of people have faith, are motivated, and are not afraid of bloodshed or sacrifice.

Jia Lian is not that great, but he is willing to give it a try to see if he can change something, at least to let more Chinese people see the world as it really is.

After returning home, Jia Lian, who had a day off, naturally went to pay a visit to Grandmother Jia first, following the procedures of a filial son and a virtuous grandson.

Unexpectedly, when she met Lady Jia, she found that there were guests. Aunt Xue and Xue Baochai were both present, one sitting next to Lady Wang and Baochai standing behind her.

Jia Lian entered, stepped forward to greet them, and then greeted them one by one. When it was Aunt Xue and Baochai's turn, Jia Lian added, "I'm so busy with state affairs that I didn't have time to pay my respects. I'm sorry!"

Aunt Xue stood up quickly, stepped aside to let Jia Lian pay his respects, and said, "Brother Lian, what are you talking about? You are an important official in the court, and I am just a woman. I am not worthy of being yours!"

Baochai said from the side: "Hello, Brother Lian! You have put in a lot of effort in the Xue family's affairs. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to you."

Jia Lian returned the greeting and said, "We are all friendly, no need to be polite."

Without staying long, Jia Lian returned to his own courtyard. Wang Xifeng, who was pregnant, was hiding from the heat in the house. When she learned that Jia Lian had returned, she stood up and responded, "Master, have you seen Aunt Xue and Sister Baochai?"

Jia Lian smiled and said, "I saw it at the old lady's house. There were so many people in the room, gathered together, they were not afraid of getting heatstroke."

Wang Xifeng covered her mouth and laughed, "My Lord is very mischievous, how could he be so unbearable?"

After washing his face and changing his clothes, Jia Lian sat down to drink a bowl of iced sour plum soup. The coolness flowed out of the ice jar, and he said comfortably: "I should just stay in my own yard peacefully today."

Wang Xifeng said, "The Xue family's old house was sparsely populated before, so there is no food in the ice cellar. Aunt Xue wanted to send Baochai as a candidate, but unexpectedly this year is a national mourning, so the plan has fallen through."

As they were talking, the curtain was lifted, and Ping'er and Guixiang arrived, along with their maids, so there were suddenly many people in the room.

Wang Xifeng couldn't help laughing when she thought of Jia Lian's teasing about the old lady. Jia Lian also thought of it and suddenly felt like he was hit in the face by a boomerang.

(End of this chapter)