Corrupt official in the Red Chamber

Chapter 383 Jia Rui’s decision

After Jia Rui read the memorial, his hands began to shake. This guy was simply unable to hold himself up to the wall.

Don't stay in the cabinet now, go find the Supreme Emperor quickly.

Jia Rui left the cabinet in a hurry and went straight to the Dragon Head Palace of the Supreme Emperor.

Not even halfway through, when passing by the emperor's Nourishing Heart Hall, he saw an eunuch running towards the side as if flying.

Jia Rui glanced around and found that it was Xia Shouzhong.

Xia Shouzhong also saw Jia Rui. When he was very close to Jia Rui, he finally stopped. Then he grabbed Jia Rui's hand regardless and carried him to the Yangxin Hall.

Jia Rui originally wanted to go to the Dragon Head Palace, but when he saw Xia Shouzhong pulling him, he couldn't break free, so he had to follow him to the Yangxin Palace first.

When he entered, he saw the emperor anxiously stomping back and forth in the Yangxin Hall with his hands behind his back.

Jia Rui hurriedly stepped forward to salute, but was pulled up by the emperor just halfway through, and then said anxiously: "Have you heard about Prince Nan'an?"

"I have just received an urgent call from Eight Hundred Miles, and I am preparing to report to the Supreme Emperor and His Majesty."

The emperor said angrily: "This Prince of Nan'an County is simply a fool. A good situation was ruined by him all of a sudden."

This is indeed the case. Given Prince Nan'an's position in the court, the court cannot ignore him and may have to negotiate with those pirates in the end.

At that time, the Heavenly Kingdom may have to pay a heavy price.

Jia Rui stood there without saying a word, because everyone knew clearly about his relationship with the emperor. If he said one more wrong thing now, he would be blamed in the end.

"What do you think we should do?" the emperor asked.

Jia Rui blinked, and then said respectfully: "I will obey the orders of the Supreme Emperor and the Emperor."

When the emperor saw Jia Rui's appearance, there was nothing he could do about him.

In the end, the emperor collapsed on the throne, with some fear and helplessness in his eyes.

Jia Rui glanced at the emperor, and then whispered: "Long live my lord, I'm afraid the emperor hasn't received the news yet, so I have to go and report it."

After hearing this, the emperor nodded first, and then waved his hand for Jia Rui to go out.

Jia Rui quickly bowed, then bowed and exited the Hall of Cultivation of the Heart.

After arriving outside, Jia Rui started to jog and soon arrived at the Dragon Head Palace.

The tension in Longshou Palace was completely different from that of the Emperor, and the atmosphere was still so peaceful.

Jia Rui soon met the Supreme Emperor.

At this time, the Supreme Emperor was chatting with the Empress Dowager about family affairs. Of course, they might also be talking about other things, such as the affairs of Prince Yi Zhong.

It's a pity that Jia Rui didn't hear these, because as soon as Jia Rui came in, the two people stopped talking.

However, Jia Rui also saw it. The main reason was that the Queen Mother did not want to say anything more in front of Jia Rui. The Emperor did not regard Jia Rui as an outsider.

"Jia Rui, what are you doing here at this time?" The Emperor seemed very strange.

Jia Rui hurriedly came to the Supreme Emperor with the memorial in his hand and said in a low voice: "The Supreme Emperor, we are hurrying eight hundred miles south. The king of Nan'an County has been defeated and captured."

The Supreme Emperor didn't seem to be surprised after hearing this. He took Jia Rui's memorial while stroking his beard, read it carefully, and then threw it aside indifferently.

The Queen Mother was very discerning at this time and quickly stood up to say goodbye.

Jia Rui bowed and stepped aside. It was not until the Queen Mother left that he dared to straighten up.

The Supreme Emperor waved to Zhao Jin at this time, and Zhao Jin immediately came to the Supreme Emperor holding several books like account books.

The Supreme Emperor did not pick it up, but pointed at Jia Rui. Zhao Jin quickly handed the notebook to Jia Rui.

Jia Rui took the book and glanced at the Supreme Emperor. When he saw the Supreme Emperor pointing at the books, he quickly lowered his head and started to read.

As a result, Jia Rui became more and more frightened as he watched. By the end, Jia Rui was only filled with anger.

"Do you know what's going on? Do you know what they are going to do?"

Jia Rui sighed, and then said: "The tree wants to be quiet but the wind doesn't stop. This is forcing the heaven to take action!"

"Haha, I didn't expect these barbarians to be so bold."

The Supreme Emperor stood up from the dragon chair, walked around on the ground a few times, and then kicked a huge vase to pieces.

"Those traitors will be punished by everyone."

The reason why the Emperor was so angry was that, as Jia Rui had guessed, the pirates in the south were not independent entities, but were inextricably linked to the gentry in the south.

At the same time, these pirates are also the main navy sent by another country.

This country is an island country far out at sea. The people on it are all fierce. They only know how to kill and have no sense of shame.

They secretly colluded with some gentry in the south who were blinded by money, and constantly robbed towns in the south to obtain a large amount of wealth, which was then slowly digested by these gentry and finally transported back to the island country. The information was obtained after a year of hard work by the Intelligence Division.

During this period of time, the Intelligence Department also lost many good players in the south, but in the end, it obtained this information that made the Supreme Emperor furious.

"What do you think we should do?" The Supreme Emperor asked the question that the Emperor had asked before.

This time Jia Rui did not shirk, but said neatly: "First pretend to have peace talks and redeem the king of Nan'an County, then tear up the contract and send troops to destroy this rampant little country."

After hearing this, the Supreme Emperor was stunned for a moment, then stroked his beard and said: "In this way, the prestige of our country will be damaged."

The Emperor, who was educated in Confucianism, felt a little conflicted about breaking the contract.

"Your Majesty, these foreign thieves have seen that we care about face, so they dare to be so unscrupulous. If we simply don't care about face and directly bring disaster to them, the small countries around us will definitely be more respectful."

After saying this, a fierce light flashed in Jia Rui's eyes, "These small overseas countries are afraid of power but not moral. It is useless to reason with them. The only way is to beat them down with fists until they hurt. They will be in awe.”

After hearing this, the Supreme Emperor closed his eyes and thought for a moment, then nodded. He felt that what Jia Rui said made sense.

The reason why the Supreme Emperor changed his mind so quickly was mainly because he felt that he had been tricked by this small barbarian country this time.

He is also holding a fire in his heart now. Does he want to take revenge?

At this moment, a young eunuch walked in from outside, cautiously came to Zhao Jin's side, and handed over an envelope.

After Zhao Jin took the envelope and looked at it, he looked at the Emperor. Seeing that the Emperor was not paying attention to him, he opened it carefully and took a closer look, and then his face changed.

He hurriedly came to the Supreme Emperor's side and said, "The Supreme Emperor, there is another urgent message from the south."

The Supreme Emperor took it and looked at it, then threw the paper on the ground angrily and kicked it several times.

"Absurd, shameless."

Jia Rui hurried over, lowered his head, picked up the envelope, and read it himself.

After reading it, Jia Rui was almost happy.

This is a detailed report about the capture of Prince Nan'an.

It turned out that the Prince of Nan'an County did not want to go to Guangzhou to take over the customs as stated in the memorial sent from the south. Instead, he went to urge it because the grain and grass from Guangdong had not arrived.

As a result, they were ambushed by pirates on the way and were eventually defeated and captured.

This time, it was such a coincidence. The King of Nan'an County said that the pirates knew the route of the warship and the number of people in it. Otherwise, it would not have been such a coincidence that they would have hit him halfway.

Jia Rui lowered his head and said, "Your Majesty, it's time for the south to rectify its situation."

The Supreme Emperor naturally understood what Jia Rui meant. But he hesitated.

"Your Majesty, you can no longer hesitate. If you are soft-hearted and unable to get rid of the big tail in the end, the imperial court may be in danger of overthrowing."

The Supreme Emperor sighed. He was indeed old and couldn't bear to go on a killing spree, but when he thought of what those bastards in the south had done, he finally made up his mind.

"Okay, it's time to rectify the situation in the south, but don't take action for the time being until the King of Nan'an is redeemed."

After taking a few steps back and forth on the ground, the Supreme Emperor said: "Let the governor of Fujian negotiate with the pirates to see how they can redeem the king of Nan'an County. During this period, the navy will not move."

The Supreme Emperor sat back on the throne, rubbed his forehead, and then said to Jia Rui: "You have to be ready to make some moves. I don't worry about others doing the things in the south. You will have to go there when the time comes."

"I will never give up even if I die."

The Emperor nodded tiredly, and then asked: "What did the Emperor say?"

"Reporting to the Supreme Emperor, the Emperor is already a little at a loss."

The Supreme Emperor sighed. This emperor was personally chosen by him and was very smart, but he had never been trained in military affairs, so it was understandable that he would be a little panicked when encountering this kind of thing.

As long as this happens once, it will be much easier the next time.

"I still have nearly 10 million taels of silver in my inner treasury. When you go to the south, take 8 million taels with you as the cost of this operation."

Jia Rui nodded. With this money, he should be able to maintain it in the early stage.

As for the future expenses, that is simple. There are so many tycoons in the south who are collaborating with the enemy. They have a lot of money at home. Just copying a few will be enough for military expenses.

Jia Rui withdrew from the Supreme Emperor and returned to the cabinet. Then he pretended to be nonchalant and continued to correct the memorial.

Although he pretended that nothing happened, news of the capture of Prince Nan'an still spread.

The whole court was in an uproar, and the ministers were divided into two factions, those who advocated peace and those who advocated war. Anyway, the quarrels never stopped every day.

The number of memorials received by Jia Rui also increased sharply, because all officials in Beijing, whether they were seventh-rank officials or first-rank officials, began to write memorials to express their opinions on this matter.

Most of these memorials are the same, but you can't help but read them, so Jia Rui's workload suddenly increased.

However, this situation did not last long, because the news that the imperial court ordered the Fujian governor to negotiate with the pirates had spread throughout the court, and everyone was waiting for the specific results of the negotiations to be heard from the Fujian side.

(End of this chapter)