Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 420 Straight Hook Fishing
Xia Shouzhong replaced Li Yuan. This move caused a certain reaction in the court and the country, but it did not take off.

This kind of voice is very interesting. It probably means that the imperial court is too involved and fails to care about the people's livelihood.

There are such voices, mainly after the introduction of the new regulatory system, which has strict regulations on interest. Interest rates higher than 30% are illegal. Those who borrow for more than ten years do not need to pay interest and only need to return the principal. As for other matters, for example, banks need to report to the central bank office on a monthly basis when issuing bank notes, and the central bank will conduct a small audit every quarter and a major audit every six months.

The case of Jinshang Bank has not been concluded yet, mainly because it takes time to check the accounts. Externally, it claimed that it was ordered by the court to suspend business for rectification, while internally, it was negotiating.

The imperial court did not wipe out the Shanxi Merchants Bank, but instead demanded that the court hold shares. The specific ratio could be discussed slowly. The shareholders and shopkeepers who had been trembling under the "protection" of the Dragon Guards some time ago felt that they were strong enough again and started negotiations with the imperial court on the shareholding ratio.

To the surprise of the cabinet, the emperor did not ask for the imperial treasury to hold shares this time, and the Ministry of Revenue came forward to negotiate. However, Emperor Chenghui only required that the shareholding should not be less than 10%.

On the day Liang Daoyi left the capital, there were only three or five people seeing him off. He used to be the Second Assistant to the Minister of Personnel in the Cabinet, and he had such a glorious life, but unexpectedly, when he retired and left the capital, only these few people saw him off.

Even though he knew that the emperor had shown him special grace, Liang Daoyuan still felt unhappy. There was only one step left!

If Emperor Chenghui insisted on being serious and conducted a thorough investigation of the Liang family, Liang Daoyuan would probably not be able to escape unscathed and his reputation would be ruined.

Before the officials in Beijing had time to feel sad about Liang Daoyuan's departure, another bombshell news came out that the Prime Minister Kong Zhao requested to beg for his remains.

He still applied and resigned three times, and within just three days, Kong Zhao's retirement report was approved.

The Prime Minister’s retirement is much more beautiful. He has been given all the honors he deserves and can return to his hometown to retire in dignity.

The next day, Emperor Chenghui issued an edict, allowing Ning Ke to enter the cabinet and Zhang Ting'en to return to Beijing.

The current cabinet members are as follows: Guo Yan, Pan Jixun, Lin Ruhai, Ning Ke. Zhang Tingen has not returned yet, but everyone with a discerning eye knows that he has returned to be the prime minister.

While handling the Shanxi Merchants Bank case, Lin Ruhai filed an impeachment complaint against Wang Chong on charges of corruption, abuse of power for personal gain. Emperor Chenghui immediately found evidence and Wang Chong was dismissed. Fortunately, he retained his honors and was not demoted to his original position.

This was not a figment of the imagination, but in the case of the Shanxi Merchants Bank, it was discovered that Wang Chong did have financial problems, and he had received money from the Shanxi Merchants Bank and helped to build relationships. Because Li Yuan was involved, Lin Ruhai did not say it explicitly, but the emperor dealt with it very decisively, which showed that he knew his background.

Jia Lian was like a pot falling from the sky while he was sitting at home. Someone in the court was playing a joke on him, and he became another person who was swept by the comet.

It doesn’t matter if someone says so, the key is that everyone really believes it.

I thought the matter of Shanxi Merchants Bank was over, but unexpectedly, Long Jinwei who was sent to Shanxi sent back a message that things seemed to have gotten serious again.

Emperor Chenghui urgently convened a cabinet meeting. When the cabinet members arrived and saw Li Hengshi, who was excited in the corner, they all had some thoughts in their minds.

Li Heng never thought that he would be able to attend the cabinet meeting. Was he being specially trained?
Is the long night coming to an end? Is it time for me, Li Laosan, to come to the fore?

No one paid attention to Li Heng's fantasies, because the emperor had arrived. After greeting each other, the ministers motioned Lin Ruhai to sit closer to the front.

Under the envious gazes of the crowd, Lin Ruhai walked forward from the back and sat in the seat of the second assistant, leaving the seat of the first assistant vacant.

"Zhongshu Sheren, send it down!" Emperor Chenghui was not in a hurry to announce the matter, but asked Zhongshu Sheren to send the transcribed documents to the cabinet ministers, and Li Heng also had a copy.

It would have been fine if Li Heng hadn't looked at it, but once he did, he was furious. It turned out that after Long Jinwei entered Shanxi, while "protecting" the shareholders, he found that the prices of grain in various parts of Shanxi were higher than those in the capital.

This was very unreasonable, so they sent someone to check and found that Shanxi had good weather and a bumper harvest last year. The grain price should have fallen, but in fact it was about 30% higher than in previous years.

A deeper investigation revealed that the problem lay with the Shanxi merchants, who purchased grain from the public at high prices and transported it to other places for sale.

Following this line, we finally found the northwestern borders. The grain did not stop when it was transported here, but continued to go outside the country.

Because of the invasion of the northern barbarians, the trade between the Great Zhou and the outside world was nominally cut off. In fact, the Shanxi merchants had been transporting grain and ironware outside the country, and they started doing so right after the war ended last year.

In other words, the northern barbarians’ invasion of the Great Wall to rob food was not enough to meet the food demand, but the Shanxi merchants, in order to make profits, delivered the food to the northern barbarians.

After reading it, Li Heng understood why the negotiations with the King of Chahar were so difficult. He found the reason why the other party's attitude was so fickle.

Just last time, I consulted Jia Lian and went back to discuss the issue according to his revised suggestions, but the Chahar tribe refused to make concessions again, especially on the location of the trade.

There is not much content, just one piece of paper, and you can finish reading it in a short while.

But everyone present looked at it again and again very carefully, fearing that they had seen it wrong.

Emperor Chenghui saw that the time was almost up, so he said, "Lin Qing, what do you think?"

After Lin Ruhai stood up, he looked ashamed and said, "When I was in Xuanda, I was too soft-handed!"

Emperor Chenghui smiled and said, "I have no intention of blaming you. When you were in Xuanda, you had to keep an eye on the land annexation and the distribution of relief grain, which was enough to worry you. Besides, the lenient punishment was decided by me and the cabinet."

The emperor took the initiative to excuse himself, but Lin Ruhai still looked ashamed: "I cannot shirk my responsibility!"

Emperor Chenghui smiled and said, "Let's not talk about the past. Let's decide how to deal with this matter today."

It was not the first time that Ning Ke attended a cabinet meeting, but it was the first time that he attended a meeting as a cabinet minister. The person he should thank the most for his successful entry into the cabinet this time was his mentor Kong Zhao, who took the initiative to resign in exchange for Ning Ke's entry into the cabinet. Of course, the addition of the cabinet this time was controversial in the government and the public. The main focus was on the last time the cabinet was supplemented, the election system was adopted, but this time the emperor directly appointed the generals.

There was some controversy on this issue in the newspapers of the capital, with the main point of view being that the elected cabinet ministers failed to satisfy His Majesty, which led to His Majesty changing his mind and appointing cabinet ministers.

This has also led to a debate: When Your Majesty selects ministers, does he choose their talents or their moral character?
During the debate, someone brought up Sima Guang to argue that Zhi Yao was more talented than virtuous and was a villain.

It was secretly said that there was a villain among the two new cabinet ministers. Who was it? Everyone guessed. Of course, it was just a debate in the newspapers, and no ministers expressed their opinions on this. Ning Ke felt that he was not a villain, so who was the villain? It couldn't be Zhang Tingen, right?

Lin Ruhai also saw the relevant newspapers. He did not think of himself as a villain and even did not bother to defend himself.

As long as you are a human being, once you get promoted, there will always be people saying weird things about you behind your back. If you take it seriously and say anything nonsense to them, you will lose.

Lin Ruhai especially disagreed with the saying that Zhi Yao was a villain. Compared with the target Zhi Yao, all the things Zhao Wuxiu did were villains. Zhao Wuxiu, who took advantage of his father's funeral to kill his son-in-law and plotted to seize the Dai Kingdom, could not be seen as a "gentleman" from any angle.

Therefore, Lin Ruhai has always advocated that "Zizhi Tongjian" must be read, but it should not be read as a history book, but as a collection of Sima Guang's remarks that vented his dissatisfaction with the New Party through writing books.

Sima Guang wanted to be an imperial teacher and a saint. He wanted to teach the emperor how to be an emperor. Unfortunately, the beginning of Zizhi Tongjian is full of private opinions. No wonder it was not included in the Twenty-Four Histories.

Seeing Lin Ruhai standing up and speaking, Ning Ke felt a little uncomfortable. He did not feel that he was less capable than Lin Ruhai, but that his luck was not as good as Lin Ruhai's. If he was the chief minister and handled a few major cases, the person in the position of deputy minister would be named Ning. In the current cabinet, Lin Ruhai, who was in his early forties, was the youngest. Ning Ke was two years older than Lin Ruhai.

"Your Majesty, how to define the behavior of Shanxi merchants is the key to this matter." Lin Ruhai cautiously raised the issue of setting standards first. The implication was, Your Majesty sets the tone and we will follow it.

Emperor Chenghui smiled and looked at his ministers: "What do you think? Speak freely!"

If Jia Lian were present, he would definitely remind Lin Ruhai that he must be careful when the emperor says he can speak freely.

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In fact, Lin Ruhai didn't need anyone to remind him. When Emperor Chenghui told him to speak freely, he became a little more cautious.

Coincidentally, all the ministers in the cabinet were also alert, and Emperor Chenghui tried to learn from Jiang Taigong to fish with a straight hook, but in vain.

Looking at the silent ministers, Emperor Chenghui missed Liang Daoyuan. Elder Liang always spoke enthusiastically in every meeting. The current cabinet team is not good. It lacks someone who dares to speak out.

Emperor Chenghui would never admit that Kong Zhao and Liang Daoyuan retired because he wanted to vacate his position.

"Ning Qing, please tell me how to characterize it." Emperor Chenghui had no choice but to make an appointment.

Ning Ke took a deep breath and stood up, feeling bitter in his heart. After returning to Beijing, few of the things he had done were in line with the emperor's wishes. He thought that there was no hope of entering the cabinet in the short term, but unexpectedly, his mentor had taken great pains to get him into the cabinet. He really didn't know how to repay him.

"Your Majesty, I think that since the government has not opened the mutual trade, what Shanxi merchants are doing is smuggling. Since it is smuggling, they should calculate the taxes and fines they should pay." Ning Ke felt that the emperor might not be satisfied with this answer, but there was one word he would never say, because saying it would offend people to death. If you want to stay in the cabinet, you can't do it without the support of the people below. Although there are not many Shanxi officials in the capital, it is too bad to offend the officials of the whole province.

"Mr. Guo, it's your turn." Emperor Chenghui motioned Ning Ke to sit down and continued to call the roll.

Guo Yan stood up and said, "There is food during smuggling, but no food during relief. Shanxi merchants are only interested in profit and must be severely punished."

All I can say is that this answer adds some weight to Ning Ke’s answer, but it is still not enough.

Emperor Chenghui looked at Pan Jixun and simply did not call his name. Instead, he suddenly turned to Li Heng in the corner.

"Old Third, tell me, how should we define the behavior of Shanxi merchants smuggling grain and ironware out of the border?"

Li Heng was very focused and eager to try. He almost jumped up when his name was called. He realized that he was too excited, so he spoke slowly: "Smuggling out of the country is aiding the enemy! It's treason!"

The cabinet ministers felt particularly heavy-hearted when they heard Li Heng's words. They actually knew what to say, but they just didn't say it.

Ning Ke, who had served as the governor of Shanxi, knew that the move of Shanxi merchants to develop trade routes outside the Great Wall was not a matter of one day or two. When did Shanxi merchants rise? Of course, it was in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, especially after the death of Zhang Juzheng, Shanxi merchants ushered in a long period of rapid development. In the late Ming Dynasty, Shanxi merchants entered a period of rapid development. After Taizu ascended the throne, he cleaned up Shanxi merchants, causing them to suffer a great loss of vitality. Later, they recovered their vitality by relying on the near-monopoly trade with the outside world. If Li Ni had not led the grassland tribes to break into the Great Wall, Shanxi merchants' trade with the outside world would have always been legal.

Well, in name it is legal, but in reality most of it is done by buying off local authorities, evading taxes, or even not paying taxes.

Because of Li Heng's speech, the atmosphere on the scene froze instantly. Emperor Chenghui smiled without saying a word and looked around at his ministers.

Pan Jixun coughed and said, "Your Highness, what you said is too much. Shanxi merchants have been trading with foreign countries since ancient times. Even if Shanxi merchants don't do this now, Liaodong is doing it."

Pan Jixun, who was speaking, glanced at the emperor and felt that his eyes were not right, so he added: "I think that Shanxi merchants should be allowed to compete with Liaodong, and the trade between the south and north of the desert should not be ceded to Liaodong. Through mutual trade, the relationship between the tribes in the south of the desert can be divided, which will pave the way for future affairs in Liaodong."

Well, Emperor Chenghui thought Pan Jixu's words made sense, and even nodded: "Mr. Pan has a good overall view!"

Li Heng was so angry that his eyes turned red. Without waiting for the emperor to ask, he shouted, "What nonsense! The Honglu Temple is negotiating with the Chahar tribe. Because of the smuggling of Shanxi merchants, the negotiations have been delayed and the Chahar tribe refuses to make concessions. They were badly defeated last year. Who gave them the confidence? If this is not considered aiding the enemy, then what is?"

Emperor Chenghui glanced at Li Heng and said calmly, "Sit down, Third Brother. If I don't ask you to speak, just shut up."

Li Heng sat down angrily and glared at Pan Jixun fiercely. What's wrong with the cabinet minister? I'll still criticize you for your nonsense.

"Prime Minister Pan is right!" Lin Ruhai stood up, first acknowledging Pan Jixun's point of view, then clasped his hands to Emperor Chenghui and said, "This matter cannot be exaggerated, and the special nature should be taken into consideration. In any case, taxes must be paid! Restore the trade as soon as possible, and it is not wrong for the Honglu Temple to make appropriate concessions in the negotiations."

Emperor Chenghui suddenly looked at the audience in the corner and asked, "Why didn't Yue Qi come? Oh, I forgot to inform him. Go and pass it on."

After waiting for half an hour, Yue Qi finally showed up in a hurry. Judging from his unstable breathing, he must have run all the way here.

Emperor Chenghui asked Lin Ruhai to brief Yue Qi on the situation, and then asked, "Does Mr. Yue have any good ideas?"

Yue Qi hesitated for a moment: "The pressure from Shanhaiguan on Liaodong is not enough!"

Obviously, Yue Qi, who had been at the border for a long time, was also avoiding the topic of Shanxi merchants. From a strategic point of view, it was the right direction to win over the various tribes in the grassland and weaken Li Ni and Liaodong.

(End of this chapter)