Red Mansion Taoist

Chapter 315 Lin Mansion
After having dinner at Qingfeng Tower, Li Qiang took Lin Daiyu to the Lin Mansion. Since they had finally been able to leave the palace together, they naturally wanted to play for a while longer.

Jia Min was very happy when Lin Daiyu returned home.

Jia Min stayed in the palace for quite some time, until Lin Daiyu fully recovered and she had no reason to stay in the palace any longer, so she returned home.

"Brother Qiang, why did you leave the palace without any guards?" Jia Min asked when she found that Li Qiang only brought a few guards with him.

"Mom, the four of them are enough to protect us!" Lin Daiyu knew how powerful Jia Jingang, Jia Wei, Jia Gong and Jia Jian were, so she said with a smile.

"That won't do. You two are of noble status now, so nothing can happen. Besides, if people find out that you are traveling in simple clothes, people will say that Brother Qiang has lost the dignity of the royal family!" Jia Min advised seriously.

"Mom, we will pay attention!" Lin Daiyu was a little afraid of her mother's nagging, so she quickly hugged her mother and said.

Li Qiang watched Lin Daiyu's performance with a smile. He also knew that Jia Min was doing it for his own good. This kind of concern was something he rarely experienced.

"Where is Dad?" Lin Daiyu asked again.

"Ever since your father was promoted to Grand Secretary of the Cabinet, he has been spending more and more time busy outside, as if everything in the world cannot be separated from him!" Jia Min said with dissatisfaction when she mentioned Lin Ruhai.

This dissatisfaction was filled with concern. Lin Ruhai was often too busy to take care of himself, which made her very worried.

"I have already asked someone to notify Ruhai that he will be back soon!" Thinking that Li Qiang was still here, Jia Min turned to explain to Li Qiang.

As they were talking, the sound of Lin Ruhai's footsteps was heard outside.

"Your Highness is here, let's go to the study!" As soon as Lin Ruhai entered the room, he first glanced at Lin Daiyu, and then said to Li Qiang.

"Sister Lin, please talk to your mother-in-law. I'll be back soon!" Li Qiang said to Lin Daiyu.

"Dad, Brother Qiang rarely gets a rest!" Lin Daiyu said slightly, but seeing her father Lin Ruhai's expression, she said helplessly: "Brother Qiang, I'll have someone prepare tea and snacks!"

Jia Min had long been accustomed to Lin Ruhai's temper. She shook her head and pulled Lin Daiyu towards the inner room.

Lin Ruhai and Li Qiang came to the study. Since they were at home, neither of them cared about any rules. This Lin Mansion was also Li Qiang's home.

"Brother Qiang, you have been acting a little impatient recently!" Lin Ruhai said first.

In today's court, there are not many officials who dare to raise objections to Li Qiang.

"Father-in-law, I know it, but I really don't want to play the game of power with the civil officials!" Li Qiang said with a wry smile.

Not to mention that he has memories of his past life, even if he had memories of several more lives, it would be useless. In his previous life, he was just an ordinary person. In terms of the way he manipulated power, he was far different from the officials of Daqian.

So he could only use his own advantages. What were his advantages? Of course, they were his unparalleled force and magic that could make people 100% loyal.

Today, Daqian's power is unbreakable because he controls the army.

No matter how much trouble the civil officials made, it was only a matter in the court, and the army under his command could suppress it with a wave of his hand.

With absolute military power in his hands, he can make the court obey his orders.

"Then you pushed me to the position of Grand Secretary of the Cabinet?" Lin Ruhai glared at him.

"Father-in-law, this matter has nothing to do with me. This is the candidate given by the cabinet, and I just confirmed it! Besides, with your talent, the position of Grand Secretary of the Cabinet is just right for you to display your talents!" Li Qiang explained with a smile.

"The cabinet is really complicated!" Lin Ruhai said with a sigh.

"Has anyone in the cabinet made things difficult for you?" Li Qiang couldn't help but ask.

He had thought it through. If anyone in the cabinet made things difficult for Lin Ruhai, it would be a disrespect to him.

Any cabinet member who dares to disrespect him by taking advantage of the military performance must not be allowed to stay.

"No, Tian Daxueshi has been helping me integrate into the cabinet, and the other cabinet members also cooperate with my work!" Lin Ruhai shook his head and replied. He thought for a moment and said, "There are many factions in the cabinet. Many times, the cabinet has to take these aspects into consideration when handling government affairs, in order to find a balance among these factions!"

"You don't have to worry too much in the cabinet. You represent me. If there is any trouble that cannot be solved, let me handle it!" Li Qiang said.

Lin Ruhai nodded. His experience was still too shallow. He suddenly entered the cabinet and became one of the two ministers in the cabinet. He still felt that he lacked foundation.

It was because he had the crown prince behind him that he was able to secure his position as Grand Secretary of the Cabinet, and the other cabinet members did not behave in a hostile manner.

"What does the cabinet think about me seizing the properties of six major merchants?" Li Qiang asked again.

This is what he is concerned about. As Lin Ruhai said, there are many factions within the cabinet, and the movements of the entire court can be seen from the cabinet.

"Of course there was. This matter has been discussed many times in the cabinet, but Tanakatang has been explaining that you wanted to get back your 90 million taels of silver, which made others reluctantly shut up!" Lin Ruhai replied.

"Fortunately, they don't know the financial situation of the six major merchants!" Li Qiang said with a smile.

"I never thought that you have accumulated so much wealth in such a short time. Ninety million taels of silver, how much wealth do the six major merchants have?" Lin Ruhai couldn't help but ask curiously.

"The cash alone amounts to hundreds of millions of taels of silver, and the rest of the wealth can produce the same amount of silver as Daqian's tax revenue every year!" Li Qiang did not hide it and said it directly.

Lin Ruhai took a deep breath. He knew how much money big merchants could make, but he had never expected that their ability to make money was so strong.

"These industries should be handed over to the Ministry of Revenue, which should be responsible for their overall allocation!" Lin Ruhai still had some old ideas, he said.

"With such a huge amount of wealth sent to the Ministry of Revenue, how much of it do you think will end up in the national treasury? I have worked hard to plan this, and I cannot let those officials take more money!" Li Qiang explained, shaking his head.

"But how can these industries be stable without the management of big merchants and the Ministry of Households?" Lin Ruhai asked again.

"Look at the business in the capital. Can you find out from the cabinet's reports that there are problems with business in other places?" Li Qiang asked proudly.

"Brother Qiang, have you managed those industries well?" Lin Ruhai asked in disbelief.

"I kept the original managers. I used some tricks on them and now they are on my side, allowing me to completely control these huge industries!" Li Qiang explained.

Lin Ruhai still couldn't believe it, but he also guessed that Li Qiang's methods might not be very bright.

But so what? As long as the industries of the six major merchants can be stabilized, it will be a good thing that benefits the country and the people. Sacrificing the interests of some people will benefit the whole world, even if the means are not fair.

"In the future, I will delegate more government affairs to the cabinet, and you will have to help look after this area!" Li Qiang said again.

"I am definitely optimistic about the cabinet!" Lin Ruhai nodded.

"There is one more thing. The cabinet will focus on training new Jinshi in the future. All future Jinshi will be disciples of the emperor, and they are all my people!" Li Qiang said with a smile.

Lin Ruhai didn't quite understand what was said. He thought for a moment, with horror in his eyes.

Indeed, after the palace examination, the emperor set the test questions and corrected the papers himself. In theory, all candidates who had gone through the palace examination were disciples of the emperor. But this was only theoretical. Each of these Jinshi had their own origins, some from the south, some from the north, and there were different factions in the north and south.

Even those Jinshi with clean backgrounds and no ties to the court would be wooed by various parties after entering officialdom and eventually become a member of a faction.

"Are you saying that the newly promoted Jinshi is from the Eastern Palace?" Lin Ruhai reconfirmed.

"Yes, that's exactly what I mean! Not only this year's Jinshi, but all the Jinshi who pass through my hands in the future will be mine!" Li Qiang gave a very affirmative answer.

"I will focus on training them. It's not difficult. Even if there is no special care, according to the rules of officialdom, they will receive considerable preferential treatment and will be more likely to be promoted!" Lin Ruhai responded.

He chatted with Li Qiang for a while, and felt more and more that Li Qiang was unfathomable.

He also understood why Li Qiang did not want to compete for power with the civil officials in the court head-on, but instead used his powerful influence in the military and his own terrifying military force to forcibly suppress the civil officials.

Li Qiang is playing a very big game. The new forces in the civil service system are all Li Qiang's people. When these people grow up, the court of Daqian will be completely under Li Qiang's control, and there will be no dissenting voices.

If any other prince did this, Lin Ruhai's first thought would be to join forces with other civil officials to bring him down.

But this is his own son-in-law. Lin Ruhai believes in Li Qiang's ability and believes that Li Qiang can bring good changes to Daqian.

At this moment, a servant came over to tell them that the lady asked them to have dinner.

Li Qiang looked at the time and found that the Lin family had started dinner early.

The palace would be locked at a certain time, so he and Lin Daiyu needed to return to the palace before it was locked.

Of course, he could completely disobey this rule, but since he was not yet emperor, it was still necessary for him to respect these rules.

Jia Min must have known this, which is why she arranged dinner in advance.

The two of them had almost finished chatting, so they went to have dinner together.

"I heard from Yu'er that Jia Baoyu has turned into an evil creature?" Jia Min asked as soon as she entered the room and before she sat down.

This time even Lin Ruhai looked at Li Qiang, wondering how she was related to the evil creature.

"I told my mother what happened today!" Lin Daiyu explained.

Indeed, Jia Baoyu's strange skills are like evil to mortals.

"I can handle this matter quickly, there won't be any impact!" Li Qiang said with a smile.

"Should we strengthen the protection here?" Lin Daiyu asked, still a little worried.

She didn't have to worry about herself. With Li Qiang around, she felt very at ease.

But it’s different with the Lin Mansion. She is worried that Jia Baoyu will take action against the Lin Mansion.

"Don't worry. Now that my father-in-law is a first-rank official, he naturally has a restraining effect on evil things. They can't even get close to him, let alone do anything to him!" Li Qiang explained with a smile.

"That's good!" Lin Daiyu believed in Li Qiang, and she felt relieved after hearing what Li Qiang said.

The family began to eat. Lin Daiyu completely relaxed at home, appearing particularly relaxed.

Li Qiang had no choice. Lin Daiyu was the Crown Princess in the palace. Since there was no Queen, Lin Daiyu was the woman whose status in the palace was second only to the Queen Mother.

Lin Daiyu needs to behave like a mother of the country in the palace, and even in her own bedroom, she cannot be too casual.

Li Qiang could only take Lin Daiyu back to the Lin Mansion from time to time to let her relax there.

"Brother Qiang, I have chosen an auspicious day. You can marry Miaoyu, Yunfei and Zhujun first. It will not be good for you to take too many concubines at once. Arrange for these three first!" Sitting in the carriage, Lin Daiyu lay in Li Qiang's arms and said softly.

"Actually, having you is enough!" Li Qiang said, hugging Lin Daiyu's waist tightly.

"You are not an ordinary person. You are the prince and the future emperor. How can you have only me as your wife? Wouldn't this make the whole world accuse me of being jealous?" Lin Daiyu was very pleased with Li Qiang's words, but she said out loud.

She knew very well that Li Qiang could not belong to her alone. Even someone as devoted as Lin Ruhai had several concubines.

Even if she and Li Qiang were willing, I'm afraid the entire court would not agree.

The royal line of Daqian needs to have enough offspring to ensure the continuation of the succession of the crown prince of Daqian.

Otherwise, if something goes wrong, Daqian will fall into chaos.

"It's up to you to arrange it!" Li Qiang also understood this. He sniffed the fragrance of Lin Daiyu's hair and said casually.

"We can't be too casual this time. I will discuss it with the Queen Mother and do everything according to the palace rules!" Lin Daiyu already had an idea in her mind.

After following the Queen Mother for a while, she also understood the role of the Crown Princess.

Her role is to assist Li Qiang in external relations and to resolve or alleviate Li Qiang's external conflicts.

Take the matter of Li Qiang's breaking of the rules for example. The palace was most dissatisfied with the fact that Li Qiang brought nine women into the palace without any examination. This matter could not be resolved from Li Qiang's side.

It was impossible for Li Qiang to give in, but Lin Daiyu could make both Li Qiang and the palace satisfied by taking a concubine.

"Don't go back yet. Let's go to the old house next door. I'll show you some private collections!" Li Qiang saw that Lin Daiyu was in a bad mood, looked at the time, and made arrangements with a smile.

The carriage turned and returned to the old house, entered the house from the main gate, and came to the main hall.

"Everyone else, get out!" Li Qiang ordered in a deep voice.

All the servants left the vicinity of the main hall, and several summoned creatures cooperated with the remaining strong guards to guard the main hall courtyard.

Lin Daiyu looked at the familiar place, wondering what Li Qiang was going to take her to see.

"Actually, there is a secret room here, which contains some things that I was not convenient to make public before!" Li Qiang explained with a smile.

He hugged Lin Daiyu tightly, which made her very embarrassed and she pinched him in annoyance.

Li Qiang smiled, knowing that Lin Daiyu had misunderstood.

He activated the 'Zhichi Boots' on his feet, disappeared from the spot while holding Lin Daiyu, and then appeared in the underground secret room.

(End of this chapter)