Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 261 Rotten to the core

When he saw Yue Qi, Jia Lian looked very unhappy. Yue Qi also knew the reason and apologized with his hands clasped in embarrassment.

Jia Lian could only wave his hands to let it go. What else could he do? After all, they were all in the same boat.

Along with Yue Qi appeared another senior official, the newly appointed Governor of the Grand Canal, Zhang Ru, who claimed that his ancestor was Zhang Liang.

Finding a glamorous ancestor for yourself is a basic operation.

The Taizu of this dynasty was an exception. He did not acknowledge his ancestors and said that he came from a humble background. Going back three hundred years, there was no ancestor worth mentioning in the family tree.

This gentleman is also a talented person. He completed the handover directly in the capital, and the procedure was a document approved and signed by both parties. In other words, no matter how big a pit Li Sanjiang left, Zhang Ru admitted it.

Of course, this is also an unspoken rule. Successor officials will not settle old accounts with their predecessors. As long as they are basically the same, they will take office with a pinch of the nose. If there is a gap, the unfilled part will be passed on to the next person. Often, the deficit becomes bigger and bigger until it can no longer withstand the thunder. From the experience of past dynasties, such pits at all levels of government will not be detonated. In most cases, they will disappear with the overthrow of the dynasty. Or because of the rebellion of the people, the bad debt becomes a debt.

Of course, as a grassroots official, if the local people rebel, the consequences will be disastrous. On the other hand, as long as the people do not rebel during the term of office, then everything will be fine, and you can go to the next place with the wealth you have collected and live happily.

Zhang Ru should have taken office as soon as possible, but it was the birthday of the retired emperor. He wanted to leave, but he didn't dare to. Although his position must be approved by the emperor, most of the officials in the court are the team left by the previous cabinet, and their power is extremely large. There is also a system of nobles mixed in, and the second prince Li Yuan is very close to the officials of the Fang faction. Various factors caused Zhang Ru to dare not act rashly. He waited until Xihuamen was attacked and Jining rebelled before he remembered to take office. This was the best time to take office, because a lot of bad debts could be settled. As the new governor, Zhang Ru could go into battle lightly.

No matter how positive he was, he just forgot that the governor's office of the Grand Canal of the Zhou Dynasty was in Xuzhou. The White Lotus Sect was rebelling in Jining, and the governor Zhang Ru was immediately at a loss. It was not that he could not take a detour, but that he did not dare to. Under normal circumstances, Zhang Ru should immediately go south along the canal, extract the elite troops from the canal along the way, and form an army to go south to quell the rebellion.

If he went from Tianjin to Lianyungang and then to Xuzhou under the pretext of taking office, then the Caobiao troops north of Jinan would not be able to play a role. There is also a more important point, that is, Emperor Chenghui gave Sun Huazhen power, and while he was the governor of the four provincial armies, the Caobiao troops were also under Sun Huazhen's command. In fact, because the north-south communication had to take a detour, it was asked whether you were willing to take the risk of going south to take office, find yourself a direct superior, and listen to his orders obediently?
When the Beijing army was heading south to quell the rebellion, Zhang Ru seized the opportunity and quickly contacted Yue Qi to join them.

Yue Qi had no choice but to refuse. He just didn't expect that the actual situation would be so bad that the troops from the Caobiao would be used as auxiliary troops to help plug the gaps. Yue Qi only followed Zhang Ru to two places and was no longer willing to take him with him.

I'm in a hurry to go south to fight, I can't afford to waste time.

Zhang Ru was also helpless, and he did not dare to leave Yue Qi and go south on his own. He was not sure he could defeat the White Lotus.

Simply send an order to the garrisons along the way, requesting to withdraw troops and go to Jinan to join the battle. I followed Yue Qi and quickly went south. Jinan is a big city with a grain management office, a garrison battalion, and a lieutenant general. Zhang Ru felt that the garrisons here should not be too bad, at least they were presentable.

If Sun Huazhen knew about this idea, he would slap him in the face. Huai'an Prefecture was once the station of the governor of the grain transport, a major grain transport town, but the 3,000 garrison troops were barely enough for 1,000 people.

In the Zhou Dynasty, Caobiao was the abbreviation of the army under the command of the governor of the grain transport. The similar Fubiao was the army directly under the governor, but the situation was different. The highest commander of the garrison in each province was the governor, but the garrison in each province under the charge of the provincial general was not directly under the governor, but under the direct jurisdiction of the Ministry of War, that is, the general could ignore the governor's orders. Of course, under normal circumstances, the general was under dual jurisdiction. Otherwise, if you were stationed in a local area and did not listen to the governor's orders, how would you solve the logistics and baggage problem? You would starve to death.

In contrast, the Caobiao did not have this problem. The Caoyun Governor had great power and had certain jurisdiction over the various prefectures where the Caobiao troops were stationed. Speaking of which, Zhang Ru was also unlucky. He really did not expect that the Caobiao would be so rotten.

After arriving in Jinan, he thought that even if he didn't have 3,000 soldiers, he could still get 2,000. This was not too much to ask, right? Unexpectedly, after visiting the garrison, meeting the grain officer and the garrison commander, Zhang Ru almost burst into tears.

He went back to Yue Qi in shame, saying that they would stand together and go to see Jia Lian together. Later, Yue Qi learned that there were only 800 people under the command of the Lieutenant General of Jinan Caobiao, of which only 500 were used to bully the people and patrol the river on a daily basis, and only 200 were the so-called elite who could really defeat the ruffians. Well, it was definitely enough to stay in Jinan.

After meeting Jia Lian, Yue Qi told Jia Lian everything without hiding anything. He saw that the Caobiao departments were rotten to the core. Zhang Ru, who was traveling with him, immediately said that the pot was too black and he couldn't stand it. He wanted to impeach Li Sanjiang and hoped that Jia Lian and Yue Qi would sign it together. In response, Jia Lian refused very rudely, and the reason was very simple, there was no grudge.

To say that there is no grudge between them is actually quite unscrupulous. Jia Lian simply has no obligation to stand up for Zhang Ru, and he has no legitimate reason to do so.

Zhang Ru immediately said that Lord Jia had the job of an imperial censor, so you could do it, and no one would say you were crossing the line.

Jia Lian gave a more direct answer: "The Imperial Censor of the Grand Canal will say that I am exceeding my authority."

Zhang Ru was extremely helpless and could only sit aside dejectedly. As a second-rank official, he seemed particularly helpless.

Yue Qi had no good intentions either, he just couldn't refuse Zhang Ru directly, so he brought him here. In response, Jia Lian could only give him a look that said "you owe me a favor".

Well, one should do his job well. Overstepping one's authority is something that is hated by others. Jia Lian is not afraid of having many enemies, but he is afraid of trouble. Besides, I have no friendship with you, Zhang Ru, so why should I stand up for you? What are the benefits? How about you talk about this first?
Later, when the subordinates had all left and the three of them were drinking together, Zhang Ru finally took off his helpless disguise, put on a conspiratorial posture and took the initiative to speak: "General Yue, young master, there are no outsiders around at the moment, so I will speak directly."

Jia Lian and Yue Qi put down their chopsticks and looked at him, wanting to hear what he could fart, and then decide whether to cooperate based on the taste.

"Everyone knows the rules, so I won't go into details here. This governor never thought that Li Sanjiang could do this. If it's the case in Jinan, the situation in Xuzhou, Suqian, and Huai'an should be similar. Speaking of which, the Caoyun has nearly 30,000 troops stationed there, so at most, there should be 15,000 combat troops. Now it seems that I'll be very lucky to get 3,000 combat troops. The Jining Duan can still use the Cao Ding as an excuse to get away with it, but the other governors really have no other options. This governor can't take the blame." Yue Qi didn't say anything, and Jia Lian didn't say anything either. If you don't take the blame, then who should? How much money did you give him to get this position? Come on, don't beat around the bush, don't hide anything.

Seeing the attitudes of the two, Zhang Ru had no choice but to hold his nose and continue to tell the truth: "Li Sanjiang spent a lot of money to enter the cabinet, and he also did a lot of favors. This governor took the path of the Nan'an County Prince's Mansion and did a favor. But I didn't expect that he could be so deceiving."

When the Prince of Nan'an was mentioned, Jia Lian and Yue Qi's expressions changed slightly. This time, the cabinet had set up an election system for officials in the capital, so Zhang Ru could not be the Prince of Nan'an's man, but he might have a very close relationship with him and be a partner in interests. Zhang Ru was a third-rank official before, not a minor official, and had his own interests.

The position of the Governor of the Grand Canal was not chosen randomly. The general process was that the Ministry of Personnel would seek the opinions of the predecessor, come up with a recommendation list and send it to the cabinet, and then the cabinet would approve the list, and finally send it to the emperor, who would choose one from this list of five. According to the tacit understanding between the cabinet and the emperor, under normal circumstances, the first recommended candidate is the recommendation of the previous governor. If nothing unexpected happens, this recommendation will most likely be approved by the emperor, even if the emperor can veto it. Unless the emperor has a minister he particularly wants to use, he will not break this tacit understanding. If the emperor really did this, he would probably be extremely dissatisfied with the cabinet.

Having said that, it is not appropriate to go into more depth. There are too many stakeholders involved here, first of all, the Ministry of Personnel, and secondly, the entire cabinet. Being selected into the Ministry of Personnel shows that Zhang Ru himself is qualified in terms of rank and qualifications. Secondly, among the five ministers in the cabinet, at least three of them support him to take over. It is hard to say how much money and price he paid, but anyway, most of the cabinet ministers support his succession. In other words, before dealing with Li Sanjiang, he also dealt with at least two cabinet ministers, and then cooperated with Nan'an Junwang Mansion to deal with Li Sanjiang. It is really not good to be too rude to such a successor.

Even Jia Lian had to show respect when he heard about the Nan'an County Prince's Mansion. Of course, it was just respect. I won't cause you any trouble. If you want to cooperate, play your cards.

Seeing that the two men's attitudes had eased a little, Zhang Ru continued, "Such a big thing has happened. The Governor of Shandong, the three departments, and the grain transport department are all to blame. Even if the cabinet pretends to be deaf and dumb, His Majesty will not let it go. In this case, why not take the opportunity of suppressing the bandits to reorganize the whole department and restore a certain degree of combat effectiveness of the grain transport flag, at least to be able to suppress the canal. The governor of the grain transport department has a certain jurisdiction over the garrisons in various prefectures. After the reorganization, there will always be some vacancies. This governor dare not take on too much, but five seventh-rank positions and one sixth-rank position for each family can be achieved."

What does it mean? You helped me this time. After you have sorted out the canal transportation, I will give you ten seventh-rank officials and two sixth-rank officials as rewards.

This condition was very attractive to Yue Qi, but not to Jia Lian. So, after listening to him, Jia Lian stood up and said with a smile: "It's convenient to go downstairs, you guys continue chatting."

The implication is, ignore me and you guys go ahead and chat.

Jia Lian left as soon as he said he would, but Yue Qi stayed. Zhang Ru looked at Jia Lian helplessly as he left. In fact, he wanted to win over Jia Lian the most. Yue Qi was not bad, but compared with Jia Lian, he was still a little bit inferior.

After Jia Lian left, Yue Qi also said directly: "As for the matter, if the young master doesn't get involved, it's not convenient for me to get involved either."

Zhang Ru was slightly shaken by this sentence, mainly because it contained a lot of information. Yue Qi seemed to have said nothing, but in fact he had said everything he should have said. In layman's terms, Jia Lian ranked before Yue Qi in the emperor's eyes.

The basis for this ranking is mainly trust and the comprehensive value of united front values.

Take Jia Lian as an example. Let's put aside his trust and favor with the emperor, but consider his personal value. He is the pillar of the Jia family, the future face of the family, the son-in-law of the Wang family, and the emperor's cheap brother-in-law.

In fact, the identity of brother-in-law is not of much value. The key is the Jia family, the Wang family and the Shi family, among which Wang Ziteng has the greatest value.

From the emperor's perspective, stabilizing Jia Lian is equivalent to stabilizing the four major families, and the key representative figure Wang Ziteng is also stabilized.

Keeping Wang Ziteng stable was a prerequisite for Emperor Chenghui to rectify the Beijing Camp. Wang Ziteng took the initiative to request to be transferred to other places and became the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi. When he left, he took 500 soldiers and followers with him, indicating that he would never cling to the military power of the Beijing Camp, nor seek more military power.

Zhang Ru understood what he meant, that is, how about you impress Jia Lian first? I can say anything.

Yue Qi was actually very tempted. With his status, he could get five seventh-rank officials, which were really needed. He would wake up laughing in his sleep at night.

Obviously, Jia Lian would not be tempted by the five seventh-rank positions. If the Jia family exerted their strength, they could get even the fifth rank, let alone the seventh rank. The key is that Jia Lian's personality in the eyes of the emperor prevented him from using these bargaining chips.

What would the emperor think if I formed cliques?
Jia Lian was not afraid of being punished by the emperor for his lawless behavior, but if he gave the emperor the impression that he was forming a clique, he would be in big trouble and the consequences would be serious. Jia Lian had not expanded his social circle so far for a complicated reason.

The main thing is that the motivation for hard work keeps changing!
Yue Qi left a message and also stood up and left, leaving Zhang Ru to think slowly.

I found Jia Lian in the hall, and discovered that he was staring at the map in a daze, so I walked over to talk to him.

"The situation is in my favor. The difficulty is that it takes time for all parties to communicate. If we fail to do so, the religious bandits will break out and flee."

Jia Lian looked at the situation map without turning his head, nodded and said: "Yes, never underestimate the opponent. The court has been in a bad situation in recent years. There will be many similar things in the future. For the military, the intensity of the war is not great. For the local areas, it is easy to destroy but difficult to recover. The court cannot expect local officials and gentry to have a change of heart and treat the people well."

These words were very unpleasant to hear, and Yue Qi didn't know how to respond because they were the truth.

(End of this chapter)