Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 390 Development Direction
"I am no longer the Minister of Rites. Is it wrong to discuss the matter objectively? As superiors, how can we work together to govern the country and share the worries of the emperor if we do not consider the feelings of our subordinates?" Guo Yan was not a pushover! He reacted very quickly and immediately found a safe and correct high ground for himself.

Pan Jixun didn't care about all those twists and turns. You can come from many directions, and I will just focus on one direction.

"It's ridiculous! The imperial court's appropriations are shared by everyone, and everyone is united. If they don't do their job well after receiving the money, it's fine. But if anyone does their job well, they will be bitten like a mad dog."

Guo Yan couldn't stand it anymore, and pointed at Pan Jixun and said, "How can you slander someone's innocence out of thin air? If you don't produce evidence today, I will never give up."

"If you need evidence, it's easy. The Audit Department has just been established and has no business for the time being. We can go to the Ministry of Rites to check the accounts and we will have evidence."

"You are being unreasonable!" As expected, he was beaten to a complete defeat. It was not because he was not strong, but because his opponent was determined to go all out and directly overturned the table.

No one dared to respond to this. If the Ministry of Rites could be audited today, it was hard to say who would be audited tomorrow. No wonder His Majesty wanted to set up such a department, just to put shackles on the necks of officials.

"Okay, stop arguing! I, a humble official of the court, have lost the dignity of an important official in front of Your Majesty." Prime Minister Kong Zhao couldn't stand it anymore and hurried out to smooth things over.

Emperor Chenghui looked at this scene with a half-smile, finding it very interesting. The three cabinet ministers should know best why Pan Jixun was furious. Not to mention that he had received half of the money for the river repair, they basically left no space for others due to the invasion of bandits and the fire in Tongzhou. The meritocracy did not get a penny. Pan Jixun's accumulated anger completely exploded.

Sit in a row and share the fruit. If you eat in such an ugly way, don't blame Pan Jixun for going berserk. It's hard to say what else will happen. If Jia Lian is involved, if you don't seize the opportunity to make it bigger, all your years of service will be in vain.

Speaking of the pragmatic faction, they are truly an alternative minority in the court. They emphasize practical work and are a group of beasts of burden who can only do work but not be officials. It brings tears to my eyes to talk about them.

There were no leaders with sufficient status before, but now Pan Jixun has entered the cabinet, which shows that Your Majesty is pragmatic. You factions and cliques have been tolerated for a long time. In front of Your Majesty, you will naturally take action if you have the chance.

Seeing that the emperor did not speak, and Pan Jixun was still unwilling to give up, still standing and glaring at Guo Yan, Kong Zhao had no choice but to continue: "Yuan Qinghe is indeed too rigid and not suitable for foreign affairs work. Go to the Hanlin Academy to edit books!"

Emperor Chenghui still didn't say anything, as if he didn't care about me. Liang Daoyuan stood up and agreed, "England is the most powerful country in the West, and we should give it enough respect. Jia Lian is right."

Seeing this, Guo Yan knew he couldn't go on. In fact, he really had no intention of causing trouble for Jia Lian. He was just taking advantage of the situation. However, what Pan Jixun said might not be untrue.

"Guo seconded the motion! It would be nice to change someone else!"

Seeing this, Pan Jixun sat down and said, "I reserve my opinion! If you ask me, it would be better for the Ministry of Rites not to get involved in this reception!"

The implication is that the replacement has nothing to do with me. However, if you remove Yuan Qinghe from the Ministry of Rites, who will take over the stall? This matter is of great concern to me.

"The Ministry of Rites guides the Honglu Temple's foreign affairs work. This is the law of our ancestors. How can it be changed at will?" Liang Daoyuan said in a sarcastic tone. In fact, he was the one who disliked Pan Jixun the most today. After all, the Ministry of Personnel had the most say in filling vacancies for court officials, and Liang Daoyuan took the most advantage. He also knew why Pan Jixun suddenly made trouble.

Just as Pan Jixun was about to retort, Emperor Chenghui suddenly coughed, and everyone immediately became so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. Liang Daoyuan immediately broke out in a cold sweat, thinking, "Oh no, I accidentally hurt His Majesty."

When it comes to changing the ancestral system, Emperor Chenghui did a lot.

"I think what Mr. Pan said makes sense. From now on, the Ministry of Rites should not get involved in foreign receptions. It is useless and only causes trouble!"

Emperor Chenghui's words were like a bolt from the blue, and the four ministers were all shocked. Even Pan Jixun complained in his heart: I was just talking casually, but you took it seriously!
After the strange silence lasted for more than ten seconds, Kong Zhao stood up with difficulty, and everyone followed him and slowly said: "Your Majesty is the one who makes the decision, and we have no objection!" X4.

Although he had already monopolized power, Emperor Chenghui still felt very happy every time he encountered such a situation. He could make a decision by his own words against all the opinions of others. This was the feeling that only an emperor could have!

The emperor left first, and the remaining four ministers looked at each other in bewilderment. They were all in trouble today. They had to go back and draft a document, submit it to the emperor for his seal, and confirm the change of a system.

This is equivalent to weakening the power of the Ministry of Rites. Originally, the Ministry of Rites had the right to participate in matters involving etiquette and rituals.

The cabinet was forced to take the lead in doing this, and not only was it scolded by the Ministry of Rites, but it also couldn't pass the blame to the emperor. It was so frustrating!

Old Pan also had a gloomy face. He must take the blame for today's incident. It was he who casually said that the Ministry of Rites should not interfere. Although he specifically mentioned this time, the emperor didn't care.

Liang Daoyuan suddenly laughed: "Let's all go. We still need to go to the Ministry of Personnel to see which official is suitable to take over Yuan Qinghe's position."

After hearing this, Pan Jixun grabbed the teacup and almost flew over to hit Liang Daoyuan on the head, but he finally endured it.

Needless to say, the person recommended by the Ministry of Personnel to take over as the Minister of Personnel must be from the pragmatic faction. If Liang Daoyuan cannot make Pan Jixun take the blame, he will be out of the game.

Pan Jixun suddenly felt that working in the cabinet was not as refreshing as repairing the river.

In Tianjin, Jia Lian was also confused when he received the news. It was no big deal that Yuan Qinghe was sent back. From now on, the Honglu Temple would be an absolutely independent department that would be responsible to His Majesty and supervised by the Inspectorate.

In theory, the rights are greater, but the responsibilities are also much greater, and there is one less person to blame when mistakes are made.

In any case, there was laughter and joy in the Honglu Temple. No one likes to have another father above their head, right?

For such a result, everyone in the Honglu Temple thought that they should thank Jia Lian very much. Without Lord Jia's mission, the contradiction would not have been exposed and a good result would not have been achieved.

Without the constraints of the Ministry of Rites, things progressed naturally faster. Half a month passed in a flash, and the delegation was released from quarantine and set off for the capital.

The road from Tianjin to Tongzhou is very well built and maintained, and is considered to be a relatively high-standard road in this dynasty.

As the main road goes north, the official road on the North China Plain is straight. As you go along, you can see white sails on the canal not far away, or rows of masts, and the rhythmic calls of the boat trackers.

"I heard that this canal has existed for more than a thousand years?" Henry, who deliberately rode a horse instead of taking a car and followed Jia Lian, took the initiative to find an excuse to talk.

Jia Lian shook his head: "The Grand Canal has indeed existed for nearly a thousand years, but this section should only have a history of more than 500 years." Henry was also shocked and said: "This is unimaginable in medieval Europe!"

Jia Lian smiled, not mockingly, but answering objectively: "Most of the rivers in Europe run north-south, while those in China run east-west. This is an objective geographical condition. Secondly, Europe has many states, making it difficult to form a joint force. China has been unified since the Qin Dynasty, and it has continued to this day. There is a political need, and it also has the objective conditions to form a joint force. They cannot be confused!"

In fact, Jia Lian wanted to criticize the Vatican for its ability to call for the Crusades, but not using its appeal to build a few roads and bridges. But after thinking about it, he felt that the topic was too sensitive, so he gave up and just talked about it briefly. There are fundamental differences between Eastern and Western cultures, and in many things, both sides cannot understand each other's behavior.

Let's put it this way, the foundation of Western culture is ancient Rome and Christianity, and many things can be understood almost completely by substituting these two sets of formulas. Of course, the premise is to understand both.

In contrast, after the Jedi reached the sky, the things in heaven returned to heaven, the things on earth returned to earth, and in the Chinese civilization dominated by secular regimes, the monarchs on earth had the right to deify people.

If you think about it carefully, isn't it a big difference? Wouldn't it be unimaginable in the West? The gods on both sides are completely different concepts. I guess Westerners will explode after reading the book "Investiture of the Gods".

God actually has his own organization, which is hard for Westerners to understand. I can't find a template to follow!

All we can say is that in the era of agricultural civilization, great unification is the best solution.

"Mr. Jia Lian, what do you think of the parliamentary system in England?" Henry was not just making small talk. He really wanted to know Jia Lian's true thoughts and get to know other people through him.

Unfortunately, Henry chose the wrong person, as Jia Lian was not an ancient person in the true sense.

However, Jia Lian did not fool him. Instead, he was silent for a while before speaking: "Lord Henry, I am a pragmatist. When it comes to institutional issues, my view is that there is no perfect system. There are only systems that are in line with the actual situation and conducive to the stability and development of the country. From this perspective, the parliamentary system made England strong, and the monarchy made China dominate the East. They are evenly matched!"

Henry felt that he understood, but also seemed not to understand. The Chinese people's thinking was too flexible, and he could hardly keep up.

"Your country has a cabinet but no parliament. It's so contradictory." Henry felt that he couldn't understand it and complained.

Jia Lian smiled and raised his hand to point at his head: "Chinese civilization is consistent in thought. The emperor and the literati have the responsibility to govern the country well. We call it family and country sentiment. Confucian sages told scholars all over the world to cultivate themselves, manage their families, govern the country and bring peace to the world! You can understand it this way. If there is a problem in the country, every scholar has the responsibility to change it and correct the mistakes."

Henry... He complained in his heart, "[What do we need nobles for?]"

When the capital appeared in Henry's sight, he was shocked again. The ancient capital sat on the North China Plain, like a mysterious giant beast, guarding the human spokesperson of the Oriental Goddess.

Don’t ask why Westerners think this way. Many things in their logical thinking are related to religion.

Outside the Shili Pavilion, Guo Yan appeared here very reluctantly to welcome the English delegation as a representative of the cabinet.

The returning envoy Guo Songtao went ahead after paying his respects. He was going to the palace to report on his trip to Europe.

In light of this incident, Jia Lian calmly watched Guo Yan and Henry exchange pleasantries, silently guessing that Emperor Chenghui's move to allow the Honglu Temple to exercise power more independently reflected the emperor's thinking about the direction of national development and further actions. It should be said that Jia Lian was very happy to see this change.

Guo Yan has to come. After all, the cabinet must have someone to support him, and it can only be him.

One of the cabinet ministers, this title was easy for Henry to understand. It was also not difficult for Henry to understand that there was no parliament. After all, the British Parliament did not exist at the beginning.

Interestingly, looking at the towering city walls, thinking of the vast territory and the thousand-year-old ancient canal, Henry couldn't help but ask himself: Is the parliamentary system really an improvement?

After entering the city, compared to the cleanliness and fresh air of the capital, Henry felt that the smog in London was simply hell on earth.

Looking at the crowds of people, Henry exclaimed again: "The capital of the mysterious Eastern country! It is exactly the same as what Marco Polo recorded."

Jia Lian was too lazy to correct him about the fact that Marco Polo was most likely a liar, so he just let him continue in his mistake.

Sassoon in the carriage was also observing the city. When he saw the heroic postures of the soldiers on both sides of the road holding their rifles and saluting, and felt that the grandeur of the capital was built on the foundation of a powerful country, Sassoon could not help but lament for his opium business and felt deeply unwilling.

If normal trade doesn't work, then the only option is to take the risk of smuggling. After all, the profit is too great. As long as the operation is carried out at sea, there should still be safety guarantees.

As for partners, with such a large country and such a large population, it is not difficult to find businessmen willing to cooperate.

Sassoon could only keep his thoughts to himself and didn't even dare to tell Henry, otherwise he would really ruin the government's plans and Henry would throw him into the sea to feed the sharks.

In the Qianqing Palace, Emperor Chenghui gave Zhou Songtao special treatment and the opportunity to speak alone. In the past, Zhou Songtao would have had no chance at all.

When they set out, they chartered two British merchant ships and reached India relatively smoothly. During the journey, they encountered pirates once, but were repelled by the British merchant ships.

After arriving in India, local British officials paid enough attention to it and specially sent two warships for escort. When comparing the records with Zheng He's along the way, they found that many of them matched the records.

According to the plan, we should go to the Ottoman Empire first, but the British strongly advised us not to go, because the Ottoman Empire and Europe are rivals now. The two sides have been fighting for hundreds of years. At the beginning, the Ottoman Empire had the upper hand, but now it is being beaten to the ground by Europe. Zhou Songtao almost gave up the plan to go to the Ottoman Empire under the hostage of the British. Only after repeated insistence did he land in the port of Marseille, France.

In France, Zhou Songtao received a grand welcome and also felt the flavor of Paris, the capital of a country. After staying in France for a month, he went to Austria and then Prussia. He was thinking about going to Russia, but he got seriously ill and stayed in bed for a month. Fortunately, the accompanying doctor tried his best and did not ask European quacks to bleed him. After recovering from the illness, he went to the Netherlands, took the sea route to Spain and Portugal, and the last stop was England.

Zhou Songtao spoke, and Emperor Chenghui listened quietly. He spoke for more than two hours every day for three consecutive days. During the whole process, no one else was present.

Then another day passed, with Emperor Chenghui asking questions and Zhou Songtao answering. Again, no one else was present, not even the recorder was present this time.

(End of this chapter)