Uncle Lai in the Red Chamber

Chapter 297

Before the Spring Festival was over, Lai Shangrong became busy.

After making plans for Qin Zhongyuan to go to Xiyi on New Year's Eve, Lai Shangrong simply asked him to move into his home and live in the front yard.

Firstly, it was convenient for him and Qin Keqing to talk about their brother-sister relationship, and secondly, it was also convenient for him to give advice.

Although Lai Shangrong does not plan to work hard on wooden ships, the development of ironclad ships has a long way to go.

In addition, this kind of weapon for naval warfare cannot be popularized for civilian use, so there is still a huge demand for wooden sea-going ships. The sea-going ship manufacturing industry in Daxia is in decline, and the biggest problem is craftsmen, so I went to Xiyi to recruit some shipbuilding craftsmen. It is particularly important to come back and slightly modify the Guangzhou ship during the Zheng He period.

In addition to shipbuilding craftsmen, there are also workers in watch and other manufacturing industries.

Of course, since you are recruiting talents, you must set a threshold. Technical excellence is only one aspect, and the other is cultural identity.

Thanks to the nine-year compulsory education, although Lai Shangrong is not familiar with Western history, he is also aware that there are many Western countries. Due to the influence of religion, ethnicity and other factors, wars between Britain, France, Prussia, Britain and the Netherlands have always been there. Main theme.

Coupled with the popularity of silk, porcelain, tea and other luxury goods in the Western Yi, and the foreshadowing of Marco Polo's travels, Daxia at this time was a pure land full of gold in the eyes of the Western Yi.

This has the prerequisite for selection.

Cultural identity is not a trivial matter, and ideological wars will intensify in future generations.

The Westerners have studied this point more thoroughly than we do. To a certain extent, religion is also a manifestation of ideology.

Although Daxia also has Taoism and Buddhism, for thousands of years, the land of China has really upheld Confucianism.

This is also the reason why, despite hundreds of years of suffering, we have never been truly defeated.

Therefore, cultural and ideological recognition is the most important, otherwise it will only bring chaos.

In this regard, the Xiyi office will also have specialized personnel responsible for indoctrination, while Qin Zhong's main job is to select personnel and publicize.

In addition to teaching Qin Zhong, there are also many affairs in the yamen.

Although systematic work had been started years ago, he still had to make decisions on many things, such as scale, research and development direction, etc.

The results of the Security Section's assault, due to their different locations, began to spread to the capital one after another starting from the sixth day of the lunar month.

Although the results are gratifying, and the relevant personnel who stole the porcelain-making technology have been arrested, after all, this is the era of cold weapons, and damage is inevitable. Work such as pensions and recovery of stolen money are also top priorities.

At the end of the first month, intelligence from various places was gradually compiled.

Lai Shangrong also came to the palace, met with Emperor Zhenglong, and reported the personnel losses.

"What?" Emperor Zhenglong said, "They dare to resist arrest. Could it be that they want to rebel?"

"Your Majesty, calm down. The three injured were killed by Xiyi's firearms. After all, the security department is not equipped with firearms..."

Daxia officials did not dare to resist arrest, but the three injured people in Jingdezhen died of their injuries.

There are no antibiotics in this era, so once an injury becomes inflamed, it is difficult to treat.

"Is the Xiyi people really stealing our porcelain-making technology?"

"Back to the emperor, the captured Xiyi people are already on their way to Beijing. They will arrive in the capital soon and dozens of letters will be seized."

"Pass on my decree, go to Honglu Temple and ask the Western Yi envoys to..."

"The emperor calms down. This time it is the Gaulji of the Western Yi. It is not the same country as Britain that was negotiated last time, and there is also a feud between the two countries."

After a pause, he added: "However, the strength of the security department is still weak. Each factory is only equipped with about ten people. If we didn't happen to be in Jingdezhen this time, it would be difficult to organize enough manpower."

"Didn't we deliver Qianxiang's defeated army with nearly a thousand people last time? Why are you still understaffed?"

"Back to the emperor, Yantiesi's official kilns and salt farms are all over Daxia, and thousands of people look at them, but they are scattered throughout Daxia, but it's just a drop in the bucket."

Then Lai Shangrong was sincere, presented the facts, and finally let the emperor let go of the difficulties, and equipped the security department with firearms that were eliminated by the Shenji battalion.Lai Shangrong made persistent efforts and told the emperor about the accumulated abuses of the Yantie Division.

"This time we also captured a lot of officials selling salt and reselling official salt. However, after all, the security department is not a big government office, so we can only catch some small fish and shrimps."

"What's so difficult about it? I'll give you a salt censor to clean up these moths for me!"

"Thank you for your kindness, Your Majesty! It's just this stall in the capital..."

Emperor Zhenglong waved his hand and said: "It's just a name to facilitate your actions!"

Then he sighed: "It's a pity that Ruhai died young, and I have never found a suitable person, so I have not set up this position again. The documents from that year are also preserved. You can go to the Yushitai to collect them for inspection later."

Afterwards, the monarch and his ministers had a conversation about the staffing and series arrangements of the Xiyi mission.

"Is it too much for a small Western barbarian to send so many people?"

"There are many countries in the West, and there are not enough people to promote the prestige of our country, Daxia..."

Although media hegemony and the influence of public opinion could be systematically explained to the emperor, what the emperor liked to hear most was the coming of all nations to the court and the subjugation of the world. Therefore, Lai Shangrong did not explain much in theory and only followed his own preferences.

"It's just that Xiyi is thousands of miles away after all. Does Ai Qing have any good recommendations for the candidate to be the chief officer of this mission?"

"Back to the emperor, the chief officer only needs to show off. After all, the goal is big. He still needs to participate in the palace banquets there on a daily basis. Those down below who do the actual work are particularly critical."

"Is that why you arranged for your own students to join?"

When Leng Buding heard this, Lai Shangrong thought that the emperor wanted to blame nepotism, so he hurriedly defended: "Back to the emperor, Qin Zhong is the son of Qin Ye. When he obtained the account books, Wei Chen made a promise to Mr. Qin to save his son's life. But. How dare a humble official in the imperial court show favoritism, Qin Zhong followed the humble official to learn the way of investigating things..."

The purpose of beating has been achieved. Emperor Zhenglong did not wait for him to finish his words, waved his hand and interrupted: "You are loyal and keep your promises. How can I blame you?"

However, Lai Shangrong's mention of Qin Ye reminded Emperor Zhenglong of Qi Ning's report a few days ago.

After pondering for a long time, he said: "What do you think, Ai Qing, of letting Mei Gong, the young minister of Honglu Temple, who works with Qin Zhong both openly and secretly, to be the chief officer of this mission?"

"Mei Hanlin?" Lai Shangrong asked doubtfully: "I have participated in the negotiations with the Western Barbarians with this person. He is pedantic in his behavior. I'm afraid he will not be able to take this position!"

He was purely acting from a business standpoint. After all, Mei Gong had no personal enmity with him. Qingliu, who had such a good reputation and was pedantic in his behavior, was really not suitable to carry out his arrangements.

This was not a modern era. In the eyes of the Daxia people, ambassadors stationed abroad were no different from being dispatched.

Emperor Zhenglong said disapprovingly: "Hey! Didn't Aiqing also say that this chief officer is conspicuous and only needs to participate in some court entertainment! I think that's the deal!"

It was originally thought that Emperor Zhenglong chose Mei Gong because he had participated in negotiations with Xiyi together with him, so he felt that he was qualified for the job.

Unexpectedly, even after he pointed out the problem, the emperor still insisted on it.

Lai Shangrong had an idea and suddenly thought of the Mei family's divorce.

It's not that he thinks the marriage contract between the Mei family and the Xue family can be heard by heaven, but when he digs deeper into the matter, it actually involves the emperor.

It's also strange that he has been so busy with government affairs since the new year that he forgot to pay attention to the follow-up of Xue Baoqin's marriage.

Feng Ziying had previously speculated that Mei Gong insisted on breaking off the engagement because she suspected that the emperor had concealed Jia Zheng's corruption and wanted to distance herself from the Rong Mansion.

Does that mean that the emperor also heard the news and had an association with it, so he wanted to send him out?

It seems that I have to inquire about it when I go back, maybe I can gain some favor points.

However, this incident also reminded him once again that a companion is like a tiger.

After all, Mei Gong once served the emperor. Although he was pedantic, he was not without merit. He was actually quite capable in government affairs. Otherwise, he would not have been able to open up the situation in the Camp and Repair Department and solve the corruption case in one fell swoop.

But now, because of this trivial matter, he was abandoned by the emperor like a pair of worn shoes. I'm afraid he himself didn't expect it, right?
You should also take a warning from yourself!
(End of this chapter)