Red Mansion: Fuyao River and Mountain

Chapter 222: Studying Things to Find Talent

Since Jia Cong joined the Ministry of Industry's Firearms Bureau as an assistant manager, every matter has been carried out in an orderly manner.

Not only did he successfully recruit several talented Westerners in the capital, but the English gunsmith Masido was a rare and skilled talent.

It broke the deadlock in the Firearms Inspectorate's collection of famous Western Yi scholars.

Although Jia Cong was only a seventh-rank official, he had been granted the power to make direct reports. After a few days of assisting in the Firearms Supervisory Office, he wrote a memorial to Emperor Jia Zhao based on the needs of various matters.

It is suggested that the Shenjing Ministry of Industry coordinate with the Nanjing Liudu Ministry of Industry to increase communication with overseas personnel at ports such as Nanjing, Ningbo, and Fuzhou.

In addition, he recruited talents from overseas according to the Western classification of things, such as gunpowder, guns, alchemy, mechanisms, and smelting. He also added the subject of "Study of Things" to the official and civilian academies in the coastal states to cultivate talents for the Great Zhou.

Emperor Jia Zhao knew that Jia Cong was very familiar with Western firearms, and he could also explain it as his outstanding talent and intelligence, as well as his many brilliant ideas. He also had experience in using firearms to encircle and suppress Japanese ronin in Nanjing.

Little did I know that he was so knowledgeable about Western philosophy and philosophy.

After receiving the memorial, he was summoned to the palace and asked how he knew such information.

According to Jia Cong, the last time he went to Jinling on business, the official ship stopped at Baoying County. He got off the ship to Baoying County to get medicine, and accidentally met a Western missionary named Delro.

The two hit it off immediately and had a great conversation. Delro was a very learned man, especially well-versed in Western studies of things. The Western classification methods he listed were all heard from Delro.

After talking with Delro, Jia Congyan thought that the Western barbarian study of things had something in common with the Taoist Huang-Lao method and the Mohist mechanical method. By seeking common ground while reserving differences, it would be of great benefit to the strategy of strengthening the country.

This is why I came up with the suggestions and ideas in this memorial.

Emperor Jia Zhao had always been a thoughtful person and would not just listen to Jia Cong's one-sided story. Naturally, he asked the Imperial Chariot Service to investigate afterwards.

Because there were spies from the Imperial Chariot Division on the official ship that Jia Cong and Qin Ye took to Jinling that day.

After checking the records of the Imperial Chariot Company, it was discovered that Jia Cong did indeed go ashore in Baoying County and stayed there for two or three hours because he was getting medicine for a sick maid.

However, the spy recorded Jia Cong's movements and thought it was a trivial matter at the time, but it was impossible to follow him ashore. There was no way to find out whether he had met a Western missionary named Delro.

This matter will be settled.

Any lie is very easy to convince others if the first half is true, and the second half cannot be verified.

Jia Cong's memorial once again caused a disturbance in the court.

Officials of the old party who strictly adhered to the ancestral system wrote letters to the emperor, claiming that they were just young men who made irresponsible remarks about state affairs, introduced strange and lewd techniques from the West, and corrupted the morals of the people.

Civil servants such as Zheng Yan, the Junior Secretary of the Taichang Temple, and Guo Youchang, the Minister of Rites, were somewhat disappointed when they saw that Jia Cong, such an outstanding talent for literature and art, did not develop on the path of a civil servant but was obsessed with craftsmanship all day long.

Perhaps this is what His Majesty hopes for.

Although Jia Cong's memorial contained many impeachments and objections, Emperor Jiazhao issued an edict three days later, requiring the Ministry of Works in the capital to coordinate with the Nanjing government to handle the matter according to the memorial.

……

But when Jia Cong thought about this incident afterwards, he always felt a chill in his heart.

Emperor Jiazhao was a man of deep shrewdness, extremely suspicious, and meticulous, and he actually asked himself where he knew the Western Yi method of studying things.

In the eyes of outsiders, he is a descendant of the Rong Kingdom and has a prominent family background, so he rarely has the opportunity to know these things.

If Wu'er had not caught a cold and fallen ill on the official ship to Jinling that day, and he had not happened to go ashore in Baoying to get medicine, this would have been a perfect excuse for him to deal with it.

Otherwise, if the emperor suddenly asked about this matter, he really didn't know how to answer it.

He landed in Baoying County, and many people on the ship knew about it. Emperor Jiazhao only needed to send someone to ask, and he should be able to cover it up. The reaction to the memorial and his family background.

If someone is born with knowledge of this, it is almost like a monster bringing disaster to the country.

But from then on, he became more cautious in his words and deeds, and he drew inferences from his past experiences and remembered the risks involved in Xiuniang's perfume shop.

……

In the west of the city, there is a small courtyard with a separate entrance. There is a main house, four side rooms on both sides, and a kitchen with a woodshed.

After Qu Hongxiu brought Jia Cong in, they saw the yard full of children, but all of them were pale and thin, and their ages were between eight and ten years old. There were even a few toddlers who walked unsteadily.

"According to your suggestion, I selected these orphans from among the refugees who fled the famine. There are seventeen of them in total. They all came from honest families and are all very smart and sensible.

The courtyard hired two women, also widows selected from the disaster victims, to take care of the children’s daily lives.”

Last year, there was a locust plague in the Huai River and Huai River areas, leaving the farmlands in ruins. Then, after the beginning of the new year, there was very little rain, and a spring drought lasted for several months, resulting in countless starving people and the victims fleeing everywhere.

Thousands of famine-stricken refugees gathered on the outskirts of the western city of Shenjing, where they built thatched huts to survive. In the late winter, due to the cold weather, dozens of people often froze to death overnight.

The government dared not let these disaster victims into the city. Although they distributed porridge and water outside the city from time to time, it was only a drop in the bucket.

Qu Hongxiu adopted orphans from the disaster victims according to Jia Cong's advice. Some of their relatives had died of poverty and starvation, while others had unfortunately gotten lost.

These orphans who stayed outside the city would either starve to death or become food for others.

But it is not easy to bring them into the city. They need to be registered and sold with the government and confirmed to have someone to take care of them before they can be brought into the city.

Jia Cong looked at the children in the yard and said, "Let's take care of them for a month. When they are stronger, I will ask someone to teach them literacy and arithmetic. If they have literary talent, I can send them out to study poetry and literature in the future."

Qu Hongxiu asked curiously: "Feeding these orphans is naturally a good thing, but why did you suddenly think of doing this and teaching them literacy and arithmetic?"

Jia Cong said thoughtfully, "I encountered something the day before yesterday that made me think a lot. Ever since the perfume shop started selling Japanese jade perfume, the business has been booming and has begun to attract people's covetousness.

Didn't you say last time that someone was trying to acquire shares in the incense shop and was trying to coerce him? It was nothing more than someone who was tempted by the money and intended to embezzle it. I'm afraid such things will happen more often in the future.

Historically, if merchants want to gain a long-term foothold and not be coveted by outsiders, they can be divided into three categories: the first category is imperial merchants, the middle category is private property protected by the powerful, and the lowest category is popular among the people in the market.

Our foundation is still shallow now, so even if it is an inferior method, I am afraid we can't do much now, but we must do something.

Besides, these children have clean backgrounds and are easy to educate at this age. We are going to open a branch in Jinling right now. When the business grows in the future, these children will be of great use and they can also have their own livelihoods."

Jia Cong suddenly said, "Xiuniang's incense shop is now well-known in the capital. Someone will definitely notice you in the future. Is your status in Dezhou appropriate?"

Since Jia Cong was still a child of the Rongguo Mansion and had not yet separated from the family, it was not convenient for him to own any property. Therefore, Qu Hongxiucai was the head manager of Xiuniang's perfume shop.

Qu Hongxiu said: "I lived in your courtyard three years ago and never thought about my past life again. I went to Texas several times in the past few years and put some effort into my origins.

When the Dezhou branch encountered the incident, I had just graduated and not many people in the sect knew me. Zhou Junxing surrounded and attacked the Dezhou branch, and everyone who knew my identity died in the fighting.

Outsiders only know that I am the daughter of a disabled escort from Dezhou. My father died when I was fourteen. The Dezhou government can verify my household registration, so you don't have to worry. "

After hearing this, Jia Cong breathed a sigh of relief. The two had a close relationship in the past few years, and in Jia Cong's heart, he had long valued her very much.

The two seemed to have forgotten the past and rarely talked about the Hidden Door. Now, after hearing her words, the last bit of worry was put aside.

(End of this chapter)