Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 391 Another Big Hole
During this period, Jia Lian went to get off work and came home from work as usual every day, waiting patiently for Emperor Chenghui to summon him.

This is the benefit of doing the work in advance. He knew clearly that Emperor Chenghui would summon him, a minister who knew all about Western affairs, to make a report to deal with Zhou Songtao's report.

As expected, just one day after Zhou Songtao finished his private report, Emperor Chenghui asked Qiu Shi'an to go to the Honglu Temple to pass on the message, asking Jia Lian to enter the palace.

"I thought you would come to the palace on your own initiative, so I waited for a day." Emperor Chenghui's tone was a little helpless, implying that [You are the minister who is most enthusiastic about external development, or even the only one. ]

"If Your Majesty asks, I will answer. If Your Majesty does not ask, I will not influence Your Majesty's decision." Jia Lian answered slowly, and Emperor Chenghui nodded to show that he understood.

What does it mean? Jia Lian said that he could not take the initiative to speak, which would affect the emperor's judgment on the direction of national development. Interestingly, the development process of countries in all dynasties is actually very similar. When a country develops to its peak within the framework of agricultural civilization, it is destined to go downhill. In the past dynasties, it was difficult to escape this shackles, so after the country reached its peak, it often maintained its rule. When the rule was difficult to maintain, it was time to change. The call for reform appeared, which attracted the emperor's attention and started the reform.

The reforms in the Song and Ming dynasties actually achieved certain results, and the national treasury was indeed enriched, but after fierce counterattacks from opponents, those who presided over the reforms did not end well.

This kind of reform is characterized by stock competition, and there will be huge opposition from both the government and the opposition. The reformers can only use high-pressure means to promote the reform.

This kind of change is doomed to be short-lived. Once the reformer does not end up with a good result, there will be no one else to lead the reform. The country will rapidly slide downhill until it collapses.

Emperor Chenghui was actually also carrying out reforms, and was also facing great backlash pressure. This backlash was mainly concentrated in the middle and lower levels, and the main body of the opposition force was the gentry (including a large number of officials).

Behind every official is actually a vested interest family. The imperial examination system prevented the emergence of aristocratic families, but it inevitably created one small vested interest group after another.

In the past hundred years, as many new interest groups have emerged as there have been many Jinshi and Juren. They may not seem big, but they are all devouring national interests at the grassroots level.

At the same time, these gangs that devour national interests are all supporters of imperial power and defenders of the system.

Emperor Chenghui's reforms were also a form of competition based on existing resources, and they did improve the environment to a certain extent. However, since the fundamental problems were not touched upon, the result was often the demise of the regime.

The most that later generations wrote in history books was: Chenghui Zhongxing.

What Jia Lian showed was the so-called "sincerity". If Your Majesty asked, he would say whatever he thought. If Your Majesty did not ask, I would not take the initiative to speak and influence Your Majesty.

This was very rare in the eyes of Emperor Chenghui. As an emperor, how could he not know that the ministers around him were always trying their best to influence him and use the emperor's power to realize their so-called "political ambitions".

You see, doesn't this comparison reveal the difference? Some people could enter the palace at any time and be around the emperor all day, but they gave up this opportunity.

It seems that Jia Lian is an abacus bead that moves when it is pushed, but he is an abacus bead with thoughts and opinions.

Emperor Chenghui looked at Jia Lian with complicated eyes, picked up a secret report from the table and handed it to him: "Take a look!"

Jia Lian took it and unfolded it to read it carefully, his face full of helplessness and bitterness: "It's always like this. They have to wait until things get out of hand before they give up radical strategies. Jinchuan has geographical advantages, and the officers and soldiers' manpower and firepower advantages are difficult to play. Why don't they play it safe? Fortunately, Lord Xia took action in time after discovering the problem and controlled the situation in Chengdu. It can be said that it is a blessing in disguise. Now the situation is corrupt and difficult to clean up. Let's hold them accountable first!"

The secret report came from Xia Shouzhong. After he arrived in Chengdu, the battle in Jinchuan had already begun. Just as he was about to go to the front line, he received a tip that the governor and governor of Sichuan were responsible for raising military funds for the army to suppress the rebellion. Under this banner, officials at all levels throughout Sichuan levied heavy taxes, causing public resentment. Many gangs in Sichuan and Chongqing were eager to try.

Xia Shouzhong immediately decided to stay and sent someone to Yuzhou to understand the situation. At the same time, the battle far away in Jinchuan was not going well. In short, God did not help. The four armies attacked at the same time, but they frequently encountered natural disasters of varying degrees. Especially the east and west armies, the east encountered mudslides, and all the baggage was destroyed. The west encountered continuous hail and rain. During the subsequent march, it was rainy and snowy almost every day, and it was not smooth. After walking for a month, the rebels were not encountered, and non-combat casualties reached 30%. The remaining troops were exhausted and it was difficult to fight again.

Due to environmental factors, the troops from the north and south were unaware of the experiences of the troops from the east and west. In that ghost place, the weather was so different every ten miles that the communication between them was cut off during the battle.

Niu Jizong continued to use the tactic of steady and steady attack on the southern front. He was lucky. He approached the thieves' lair in half a month. Then a heavy rain and mountain torrents blocked the road and could not move forward. Under such circumstances, the Northern Army continued to move south and was hit by Ben Luosha's concentrated forces. They were constantly harassed by small troops along the way, restless day and night, and the troops were exhausted. Ben Luosha seized the opportunity and launched a night attack. The Northern Army was defeated, and the troops lost their armor and weapons. Fortunately, the veteran general who commanded the troops stabilized the situation in the chaos, retreated while fighting, and stabilized the situation after retreating a hundred miles.

After repelling the Northern Army, Ben Luosha turned his guns on the Western Army. More than 500 elite soldiers attacked the camp at night. After burning all the food and fodder, they took advantage of the chaos to charge and fight fiercely all night long before retreating at dawn.

Niu Jizong first received the news that the Eastern Army was forced to retreat half a month later, and then learned that the Northern Army was defeated a month later. After another half a month, he learned that the Western Army also retreated.

At this time, the mountain torrents had receded and the bridge was built. Niu Jizong attacked decisively and fought for 20 days. He used the accompanying field artillery to destroy dozens of towers in succession. When the thieves' nest was in sight, he suddenly received news from Xia Shouzhong that the people in many places in Sichuan could not bear the excessive exploitation and oppression of the government and rose up. Gangs in Chengdu and Yuzhou suddenly attacked and killed local officials and gentry. Xia Shouzhong, who was stationed in Chengdu, took action in time and ended the riots with a day and night of armed suppression. After stabilizing the situation, it was found that more than 30 officials including the prefect, the prefectural chancellor, and the chief clerk of Chengdu were killed, and more than 40 wealthy families were destroyed by the rioters.

Compared with Chengdu, the situation in Yuzhou was even more serious. The riot lasted for three days, the prefect was killed, the government office was burned, and many county offices in the surrounding areas were destroyed, and the county magistrate died.

Upon hearing the news, Niu Jizong retreated hastily, abandoning his food and baggage, and marched quickly for seven days. After withdrawing from the battlefield, he joined the governor and the governor who were in charge of logistics and marched towards Yuzhou.

Niu Jizong was very efficient and quickly recovered all the troubled areas. This was not because he was a good fighter, but because the rebellious people looted the cities and manors and then fled, becoming mountain kings.

Yuzhou is surrounded entirely by mountains. The rioters knew they could not defeat the soldiers, so they hid in the mountains. The soldiers could only catch those who ran slowly.

At this point, the rebellion suppression campaign had failed completely, and the fire in the backyard had spread to Chengdu, Yuzhou, and the surrounding twelve counties. According to statistics, more than 10,000 rioters fled into the mountains, and the incident caused more than 200,000 deaths and injuries, including more than 80,000 deaths and injuries among officials and their relatives. It can be said that it was a heavy blow to the Sichuan government. In other words, after more than half a year of tossing and turning, the situation is worse than before. In the past, it was said that Sichuan alone could support the rebellion suppression army, but now it can barely support itself and has no spare energy to attack.

"The court allocated two million taels twice, which can be said to be extremely considerate of the difficulties of the local government. The officials in Sichuan were able to force the two prefectures to revolt just for a little food and grass. It can be seen how exploitative they are. How could the people rebel unless they have no livelihood?" I thought that Emperor Chenghui was very clear-headed and spoke the truth in one sentence. Unexpectedly, he picked up another secret memorial and handed it to Jia Lian.

After taking a look at it, he was speechless. According to the statistics of Long Jinwei, before the incident, there were hundreds of cases of collusion between officials and gentry in Chengdu and surrounding counties to seize people's land and property and to take over people's wives and daughters. There was clear evidence that more than 30 women could not bear the humiliation and hanged themselves or jumped into the river. There was no data for Yuzhou at the moment, but it was definitely not much better.

"My goodness, the whole Sichuan is now a powder keg. Mr. Xia is going to have a hard time this time!" Jia Lian couldn't help but mock him, not hiding his disgust at all.

"Xia Shouzhong hopes that you will lead the troops into Sichuan. He does not trust anyone else." Emperor Chenghui finally finished walking through the map.

Jia Lian did not answer immediately, but asked in return: "Where is the Sichuan Provincial Surveillance Commissioner? Didn't he have any advance information?"

"Thanks to Xia Shouzhong retaining 500 Shenjiying, we are able to take action. Currently, the three divisions are safe. The governor and the governor have been detained by Niu Jizong. The official documents will arrive in two days. Are you willing to go?"

Facing this question, Jia Lian's answer was very clear: "Your Majesty, the situation in Sichuan cannot be changed by sending a certain minister, but by the specific response policy of the court. I suggest that Niu Jizong take charge of Sichuan's military affairs and select other capable ministers to go to Sichuan to take charge. Under the current circumstances, only ministers of high moral character and prestige can control the situation. I am not afraid of hard work, but it will be of no use if I go there."

Emperor Chenghui was still unwilling to give up and asked, "Where are the big and small Jinchuan?"

Jia Lian sighed and said, "I have already made the relevant strategies and tactics very clear. We should besiege and cut off their material supply, recruit local warriors who are familiar with the terrain and dare to fight, strengthen intelligence gathering, and wait for the right opportunity to strike again. The most urgent task is to stabilize the situation in Sichuan. These can be put aside for later."

Emperor Chenghui knew that what Jia Lian said made sense, because everything he had said before had come true one by one. This was not something to be rushed. It was a pity that he did not listen to him at the beginning. Now Jia Lian's attitude had not changed. He could not force a cow to drink water.

Seeing the expression on Emperor Chenghui's face, Jia Lian said, "Your Majesty, it is not just Sichuan Province that is affected. Looking back carefully, there have been many civil uprisings in the past few years, and each one was of considerable scale."

Emperor Chenghui listened to this with a heavy tone and nodded: "Yes, I almost feel like the end of the dynasty."

Jia Lian said in a dull tone: "The people have grievances, and long-term peace is impossible if they are not appeased. Take Xuanhua, Zhangjiakou and other counties as examples. After the bandits left, the people returned, but their homes were gone, and their land was gone. The inspection team cannot eat idle meals, so send them out quickly to take a look. If any problems are found, they must be properly resolved. It is the right thing to do to appease the people."

Emperor Chenghui had a gloomy face and didn't say anything. Seeing this, Jia Lian tactfully shut up so as not to continue to provoke the emperor.

After at least half an hour, Emperor Chenghui finally asked, "What should I do?"

Only then did Jia Lian realize that Emperor Chenghui, who had always been confident that everything was under control, was actually losing confidence.

This won’t do, Your Majesty. If you lose your composure, all my previous efforts will be in vain.

Jia Lian quickly helped the emperor regain his confidence: "Your Majesty, the overall situation of the court is stable, and the country's military, political and financial situation is generally improving. As long as we stick to the previous policies and are determined to crack down on corruption, everything will naturally be fine. If we appease local officials and gentry, it will only make the civil unrest more and more intense. Forgive me for being frank, but the officials and gentry do not have the courage to rebel. Instead, it is the people who can't survive who will rise up in resistance. This has always been the case throughout history. Therefore, sending suitable officials and dispatching elite troops to Sichuan is the first step. The court must have a clear policy on how to appease the local areas."

"Well, you have a point." Emperor Chenghui fell silent again. It was obvious that he no longer had much trust in the cabinet officials who had tried their best to protect the governor and governor of Sichuan. That was why he had to ask Jia Lian first, and combined with his suggestions, he could come up with a basic response strategy in advance.

In fact, Emperor Chenghui didn't want Jia Lian to go to Sichuan, because the issue in Liaodong had not been resolved and his top thug could not leave.

"Is it possible for Yue Qi to go to Sichuan to serve as the governor?" Emperor Chenghui said something shocking, which caused Jia Lian to lose power.

No, Yue Qi was a military general. Since the time of the Supreme Emperor, has there been any precedent for a military general to serve as a local governor?

I knew you wanted to do something shocking, but I didn't know you could do such a big thing.

Seeing Jia Lian remained silent, Emperor Chenghui asked again, "How about Yue Qi being appointed as the Minister of War?"

Jia Lian was so confused that he finally understood why the conservatives said that the radicals were too conservative.

"General Yue is in charge of the Beijing camp and cannot leave without permission. Your Majesty should choose another capable person! The only thing to note is that he must be a minister who is ruthless, has the courage to take action, and has sufficient qualifications to be the governor of Sichuan." Jia Lian felt that Emperor Chenghui could not be allowed to act too radically, and he quickly cooled him down.

These words did work. After Emperor Chenghui calmed down, he felt that he was indeed a little impulsive. He had long known that the country was rotten, so he wanted to change it.

"You go back first. I need to think about it carefully." Emperor Chenghui signaled Jia Lian to leave. After sitting in front of the table in a daze for a while, he asked Qiu Shi'an to go to the Ministry of Personnel to get the list of governors, provincial governors, and provincial governors from all over the country.

After leaving the palace, Jia Lian was speechless. Sichuan was in such a state. Not to mention anything else, the national finances, which had just improved less than a year ago, were going to have problems again.

(End of this chapter)