Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 408 Return to Beijing and intercept people

Emperor Chenghui also knew that it was impossible to completely prevent drifting away. The fact that the state supported scholars meant that low-level soldiers were not considered human beings in the eyes of officials, but just cattle and horses, and it would be best if they could eat grass.

The purpose of making things difficult for Ning Ke was to give him a warning. After the Minister of Revenue took office, he did clean up some old people, but the people he promoted were no cleaner than the old ones.

What’s more crucial is that most of the people who were taken away were those who were promoted and appointed by Zhang Tingen.

In the eyes of Emperor Chenghui, the status of Zhang Tingen and Ning Ke are incomparable.

Ning Ke returned to the Ministry of Revenue and called his trusted subordinates to be furious. The salaries for Liaodong were paid on time, but you withheld the salaries for the Tongzhou camp. His Majesty was furious. You go and explain to him.

The subordinates were also very aggrieved. The purpose of sending salaries to Liaodong in a timely manner was to appease the local officers and soldiers. This was the established strategy of the cabinet. A lot of money was spent on Sichuan some time ago, and there was no money in the treasury. How do you let the subordinates arrange it?

Ning Ke asked his subordinates, "Have you ever been late in getting your salary? When you were not able to get your salary, would you be willing to take one tael less?"
It was because they had a private conversation that the incident did not become a big deal. However, the news that His Majesty was dissatisfied with the Ministry of Revenue because of the delay in the payment of salaries to the Tongzhou camp did spread.

Soon a consensus was reached below that His Majesty wanted salaries to be paid on time and it was all the fault of those people in the Ministry of Revenue.

The Tongzhou camp owed three months' wages, but only one month's salary had been paid before. Ning Ke issued a strict order and another two months were paid. However, the deficit still existed, but this time it was only 20%, which was very conscientious.

Jia Lian was in Shanhaiguan, and he could basically receive useful news from the capital in a timely manner. Therefore, even if Jia Lian knew what the Ministry of Revenue was doing, he pretended not to know.

The situation in Shanhaiguan was rather complicated. The garrison had two deputy generals and ten lieutenant generals, with a total of 30,000 combat troops.

The commander was a unique organization of the Beijing Camp, while the border troops continued the organization of the Ming Dynasty. It looked a bit messy, so some commanders were given the title of general.

After careful research, Jia Lian discovered that the number of real combat soldiers under the command of the Shanhaiguan garrison was only a little over 10,000. These were the so-called family servants.

After Xuanli left, Jia Lian ordered these servants to be dispersed and assigned to ten lieutenant generals. As for the issue of eating empty salaries, Jia Lian mentioned it once and never mentioned it again.

During the period in Shanhaiguan, Jia Lian's most strict emphasis was on training. No matter whether the departments were fully staffed or not, training had to be done well.

The biggest trouble with training comes from the cost, and the most expensive cost is gunpowder. The army on the Shanhaiguan side is equipped with a large number of matchlock guns and cannons. It looks fine at ordinary times, but it is terrible when it is really pulled out for training. The fire gun soldiers are better, but the cannon shooting is simply a disaster. It takes three minutes or even more to fire a cannon.

Jia Lian called the deputy general in charge of the artillery and asked him, "Don't you train normally?"

"If the garrison doesn't approve gunpowder, what will we use for training?" the deputy general asked in a straightforward manner.

"Please submit your request for retirement and I will sign and approve it." Jia Lian was very direct. The deputy general was dumbfounded. Even after repeated begging, Jia Lian did not change his decision.

The deputy general was naturally dissatisfied and went to Li Chi for help. However, Li Chi let him get his head broken and did not go out to see him.

During this period, Li Chi also thought clearly. As a cabinet minister, he failed to suppress Xuan Li in Shanhaiguan, and Jia Lian was needed to deal with the problem. His situation was not much better. If His Majesty is kind, he will probably let him go as a governor. If His Majesty handles it normally, he will probably demote him to a governor. What's more terrible is that Liaodong used to have a governor. After the King of Dongping took charge of Liaodong, he reported to the emperor that he was not able to deal with the governor, and later he did not set up a governor.

The Prince of Dongping is now entrenched outside the Great Wall. If Your Majesty appoints him as the Governor of Liaodong, he can only stay here. As for the power of the Governor, it would be good enough if he could manage southern Liaoning.

If he's unlucky, there could be something worse waiting for him, like early retirement.

In short, Li Chi has no intention of returning to the capital now. If he can go back, Jia Lian will bring the imperial edict, so why should he continue to wait.

The deputy general, who had nowhere to turn to, could only hold his nose and submit a retirement report. Jia Lian immediately stamped the seal of the garrison commander and sent someone to deliver it to the Ministry of War in the capital.

After this incident, the situation of lip service and double-dealing among the various departments in Shanhaiguan improved greatly. Jia Lian took his personal followers to inspect the training results of various departments every day, but he did not mention the issue of empty salaries, otherwise it would be even more torturous.

After a period of reorganization, the training intensity of the Shanhaiguan garrison was improved from once every ten days (just for show) to once every three days.

The expenses for training will undoubtedly increase a lot, but what can I say? As long as the generals are not stingy, there is no shortage of food in Liaodong. There is a grassland nearby, so it is very convenient to buy some meat.

As for training on an empty stomach, no stupid general would do that. If they did that, not only Jia Lian would take action, but the officers and soldiers below would be able to shoot from behind.

To be honest, Jia Lian was not satisfied with the current situation, but he did not force it. From the perspective of the entire Nine Frontiers, it was normal to exercise once every ten days, a good general would exercise once every five days, and a strong army would exercise once every three days.

Don't laugh at your second brother, the Dongping cavalry outside the Great Wall only train once every five days.

Jia Lian also did one thing, which was to be present in person when the pay was distributed. He had someone take out the roll call and have each soldier come forward one by one to receive their pay. He also emphasized that the soldiers' pay was given by His Majesty and the court.

This matter caused great trouble to the officers and commanders below. The previous arbitrary deductions in wages were no longer seen, and the soldiers were very happy even though the pay was not enough.

But the generals were unhappy. With Jia Lian in Shanhaiguan, no one dared to have any evil ideas and try to take back the military pay that had been distributed.

Jia Lian really hoped that someone would do this, so that he could kill another chicken.

With Jia Lian watching over them, each unit gradually added some soldiers to their ranks. It was calculated that there were about 20,000 combat soldiers, but it was still insufficient.

But Jia Lian didn't keep staring at her!

The Great Zhou adopted a conscription system, and the border troops' salary was five taels of silver per month. According to the standard of a full staff of 30,000 people in each department of Shanhaiguan, the minimum salary was 150,000 taels per month.

If we expand it to the whole country, how much is the monthly expenditure? The treasury does not have that much money, so we can only turn a blind eye to many things.

Thanks to the reforms carried out by Emperor Chenghui, the situation has improved. Otherwise, it would have been even worse.

Jia Lian was very self-disciplined in Shanhaiguan. He was either in the military camp or in the prefectural government office every day, and he never lived in the garrison.

The autumn wind in Shanhaiguan was getting colder. On October 15, Jia Lian finally waited for Liu Fang, the garrison commander sent by the court. A eunuch was also with him and read the emperor's edict to Li Chi. Just as Li Chi had expected, he, the cabinet minister, was demoted and appointed as the governor of Liaodong. The reason for the punishment was four words: poor handling.

In the eyes of Emperor Chenghui, this was considered giving Li Chi enough face. As a cabinet minister and a former governor, he should be able to lead troops on horseback and govern the country on foot. Don't talk nonsense about being a civil servant. Aren't all civil servants like this? They think they can do anything. As a cabinet minister, he couldn't suppress a Shanhaiguan garrison commander, which was the greatest incompetence.

Li Chi, who received the imperial edict, could only kneel down to thank the emperor. This was still good, as he still had a chance to return to Beijing. After all, he was only fifty years old. He was in good health and could work for another twenty years. Li Chi said he would give up the garrison and find another place to live, but he did not dare to ask Jia Lian to move out of the prefectural government.

Liu Fang was a sensible man. He immediately said that the garrison was big enough and Li Chi didn't need to move out, and he didn't have many followers anyway.

He is worthy of being a military general who is close to civil officials!
When facing Jia Lian, Liu Fang was also very polite. At the dinner, he praised Jia Lian for his good fight in Zhangjiakou. At that time, the atmosphere in Jiayuguan was also very tense. After Jia Lian won, the pressure from the west and north disappeared. At that time, the defense line of Jiayuguan was insufficient, so they took the initiative to shrink the defense and concentrate their forces to defend Jiayuguan. As a result, the local area still suffered some losses.

Liu Fang also mentioned that because the negotiations were not going well, the envoys of the Chahar tribe were still in the capital.

Liu Fang explained that he didn't know the reason why the negotiations failed. In short, there was no clear explanation from the Honglu Temple.

Jia Lian did not ask any further questions, but completed the handover step by step. According to the imperial decree, Jia Lian could lead his troops back to Beijing after Liu Fang officially took office. The Tongzhou camp had already returned to Beijing before that.

Because it was done carefully enough, the handover took two days before Jia Lian led his troops back to the capital.

This time the Shenji Camp was not in such a hurry. They traveled sixty miles a day. They still did not disturb the people along the way, did not enter towns or villages, and camped in the wild.

It took eight days to get there, and when we returned to the capital, it was already the end of October.

As usual, the Shenji Camp returned to camp and Jia Lian went to the palace to report. When Emperor Chenghui saw Jia Lian, he was very impressed: "Jia Qing has lost weight and darker."

Jia Lian didn't feel any changes. He had been cultivating himself and improving his physical fitness during this period. However, he still agreed with the emperor and said, "I don't want to do that either!"

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Seeing his frustrated look, Emperor Chenghui couldn't help laughing at the thought that this guy would be lazy whenever he could. After laughing, Emperor Chenghui felt a little helpless. In fact, Jia Lian was not in the capital, and Emperor Chenghui always felt uneasy and uneasy about playing his trump card. So he couldn't help but hold Jia Lian's hand in shame and said, "It's good that you are back. I can't sleep well at night when you are not in the capital."

Jia Lian…….

Emperor Chenghui saw that he was speechless and laughed again: "Okay, go home! This time I will allow you to go to work whenever you want."

Jia Lian thanked the emperor for his grace, went out to the Ministry of War to handle the formalities, and then returned home.

Grandmother Jia once again brought the whole family to open the central gate to welcome him. The first thing she said when they met was, "The central gate of the Jia Mansion has not been opened very often since your grandfather. Because of your good grandson, the central gate has been opened again."

What this means is that because of Jia Lian, the Jia family gradually returned to its former glory.

After Jia Lian said a few humble words, Jia She was nowhere to be seen. On the male side, only Jia Rong was there. Baoyu did not show up, and Jia Huan left with Aunt Zhao.

"Uncle, you have worked hard. Take a rest for a day. I will welcome you back later." Jia Rong has not officially taken over as the patriarch yet. He needs to wait until the end of the year to worship the ancestors and go through the process to complete the handover. But in fact, Jia Rong has already mastered the power of the patriarch. For the sake of their own nephews, the old men in the Jia family cannot afford to offend Jia Lian, who supports him, and dare not compete with Jia Rong.

Jia Rong, who holds great power, has found the joy of life! He obeys Jia Lian's every word and admires him deeply.

After Jia Lian thanked Jia Rong, he looked at the women. Wang Xifeng was showing her pride with her bulging belly, while Qin Keqing avoided his gaze and kept peeking. Youshi had a complicated look in her eyes.

On the way home, Jia Lian learned that Emperor Chenghui had sent someone to reward him with some items. Wang Xifeng's fifth-rank imperial edict was upgraded to fourth-rank. The Queen also sent someone to give her daughter a lot of things, and gave a set of clothes to Lady Jia.

In short, the two words "服气" and "服气" have the same meaning, which is to express favor. Jia Lian has made meritorious service, so he is rewarded with a harem. As for why it was not rewarded to Jia She, it is unknown.

When Eunuch Sun, who served the Queen, came, he also said that it would be inconvenient for Wang Xifeng to go to the palace during the New Year and she didn't have to.

How could Wang Xifeng miss such a prominent opportunity? She repeatedly stated that she was in good health and must go.

After marching for many days in a row, Jia Lian was really tired. After returning home, he took a shower and went to bed first, without even having dinner.

When I woke up, it was already the next afternoon. I had slept for too long and my whole body was sore. I got up to wash up and walk around the yard.

Xiren served diligently, but unfortunately she could not compete with Xiangling. This girl washed Jia Lian's face herself and was unhappy if he did not agree.

While washing, he muttered that he had gotten tanned.

Xiren said as she was setting the table: "Second Master, Second Mistress said that you should not go over there, or she will feel bad if you go back."

Jia Lian understood the implication and nodded: "Let's go to the Lin Mansion in the afternoon."

There was no news about Lin Ruhai during this period, and Jia Lian was still a little uneasy. After all, Lin Ruhai was his most important ally.

As for Daiyu, Jia Lian really didn't have too many thoughts about her.

"By the way, you call me Second Master, so what should I call Baoyu?" Jia Lian suddenly remembered this.

Xiren laughed and said, "Now everyone in the Jia family knows that you are the Second Master, your wife is the Second Madam, and Baoyu is the Second Master Bao."

After understanding it, Jia Lian didn't care about it. The people below him were all like this. They just fawned on the powerful. Wasn't it for survival?

He ordered his men to prepare their horses, and when he was walking through the mansion, he met Mr. Lai, who was accompanied by a little girl.

The Lai family hurriedly pulled the little girl over to greet him. Jia Lian stood still and waited. Seeing that the little girl had a good-looking face, he asked casually, "Who is she?"

Lai Dajia hurriedly explained: "The cousin of the cook Wu Gui often comes to the mansion. The old lady likes her and wants to keep her by her side."

Jia Lian was stunned. What a silly cousin! Isn't this Qingwen? Why should he be so polite?
"Not bad! Very good!" Jia Lian seemed to have praised casually, but everyone kept it in mind and were worried about not having the opportunity to curry favor with Jia Lian.

After saying this, Jia Lian left. If Lady Jia still arranged for Baoyu to marry her, Jia Lian would go and snatch her away. Humph!
Lai Dajie took Qingwen to see Lady Jia, and when she mentioned her meeting with Jia Lian just now, she began to praise Qingwen.

After hearing this, Jia's mother immediately said, "Since Lian'er likes her, then send her over. I'll talk to Feng's daughter."

Qingwen followed them in a daze, carrying a small bag, but she was not shy. After all, being a maid was not a big deal anywhere.
(End of this chapter)