Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 426 Lin Ruhai takes the lead in opposing

The fact that Li Yuan was sent to Liangjiang caused a huge shock in the court. The imperial censors were ready to take action and were all watching Lin Ruhai's reaction.

Lin Ruhai's reaction was to immediately ask someone to notify Jia Lian and go to the Lin family after get off work.

Daiyu, who hasn't seen Jia Lian for a while, looks a bit like the girl in the original novel, with a strong air of sorrow and resentment.

In recent days, many people have come to propose marriage, but Jia Min rejected them all on the grounds that the girl is still young and needs to stay with her for a few more years.

Even so, there are still many people who care about Lord Lin's daughter.

Lin Ruhai's peers, who thought they had a good relationship with him, all wrote to him to mention that there was a young man in their family who was so outstanding.

Lin Ruhai, the daughter of Daiyu, never avoided her at home and did not hide these things from Daiyu, just hoping that she could wake up from the dream.

But Daiyu never took it to heart and seemed not to be affected at all. Occasionally when someone mentioned it, Daiyu would reply unhappily: If you can't get married, you'll become a nun.

Lin Ruhai felt sorry for his daughter, but he couldn't hit her or scold her, so he could only worry.

This is also the reason why Lin Ruhai doesn't like to invite Jia Lian to his home. Without a legitimate reason, he will never let Jia Lian come to his house.

Today is a very important matter, so I can only hold my nose and ask someone to come over.

Jia Lian met Jia Min first and mentioned what the old lady had been saying, that her daughter was in the capital but was not often seen.

Jia Min glared at him unhappily: "Why are you going to the Jia Mansion? Baoyu, that useless guy, always hangs around Daiyu, and it makes me annoyed."

What could Jia Lian say? Even though he had no feelings for Daiyu, if Daiyu really wanted to marry Baoyu, Jia Lian would be the first one to disagree, and he would be very conflicted.

Daiyu looked resentful and disliked Jia Lian, who had nothing good to say to Jia Min after three sentences. Jia Lian felt a little regretful that he did not check the almanac before going out today.

Fortunately, Lin Ruhai came back and was rescued by Jia Lian. The two went into the study and sat down to talk. Daiyu came in under the guise of serving tea, and she sat down and refused to leave.

She looked diligent and studious, and if she hadn't kept looking at Jia Lian, Lin Ruhai would have believed it.

"Ahem!" After coughing twice, Daiyu looked away, and Lin Ruhai spoke again: "The court officials reacted strongly to the Second Prince's visit to Liangjiang. What do you think? Should we file a petition to oppose it?"

"Why are you asking me this?" Jia Lian thought it was something else and asked in confusion.

Lin Ruhai said angrily: "Stop smiling so much, the fight for the crown prince is no small matter."

Jia Lian smiled and said, "Uncle, in my opinion, I will naturally oppose it. Your Majesty wants the Second Prince to go to Jiangnan for training. I think it is not necessary to go so far for training. Shuntian Prefecture is a good place."

When talking to Lin Ruhai, Jia Lian spoke with dry goods. When Lin Ruhai heard this, he immediately asked curiously: "When Taizu appointed a crown prince, the sons fought against each other. When the emperor appointed a crown prince, the princes fought among themselves and forced the crown prince to rebel. The current emperor has been on the throne for ten years, and he has never mentioned the topic of appointing a crown prince. It can be seen that the emperor is cautious about this matter. When Fang Baiyi was there, he mentioned the issue of appointing a crown prince, but was rejected by your majesty. When Kong Zhao was there, he never mentioned this matter. Now this topic is very sensitive in the court, and no one dares to touch it easily. If the second prince really went to Liangjiang and someone mentioned the topic of appointing a crown prince, how do you think about it?"

Jia Lian understood what Lin Ruhai meant. He still had the mindset of a traditional scholar and was inclined to appoint a crown prince as soon as possible as this would cause the least trouble.

Jia Lian would never tell anyone all the details on this issue. Lin Ruhai certainly had no preference on the issue of appointing a crown prince, but he advocated appointing a crown prince as soon as possible, but he was worried that the emperor would be dissatisfied. The issue of the crown prince was too sensitive. If Lin Ruhai wanted to touch it, Jia Lian had to stop him firmly.

"Absolutely not. There is no big problem in submitting a petition against sending the Second Prince to Liangjiang. How can His Majesty not feel sorry for his own son? As for the matter of appointing a crown prince, His Majesty will make his own decision. Throughout history, few ministers who got involved in the fight for the crown prince had a good ending."

After hearing this, Lin Ruhai hesitated for a moment before asking, "Do you want to submit a memorial?"

Jia Lian twisted his lips and said, "Anyone can make a report, except me and Master Zhang."

This sentence was a bit awkward for Lin Ruhai. Of course he understood Jia Lian's meaning. Zhang Tingen and Jia Lian were ministers with the word "current" engraved on their foreheads. Your Majesty is in the prime of his life, and you are nominating him as the crown prince?

What's going on?

If it were a mediocre ruler, it wouldn't be a big deal. An emperor like Emperor Chenghui has his own ideas in his mind. Are you trying to influence him, or is it about the issue of the crown prince?
Jia Lian's words were just a rough response to Lin Ruhai. His real thought was that Jia Lian judged that the fundamental reason why Emperor Chenghui had been reluctant to appoint a crown prince was that he had not yet made up his mind whether to appoint the eldest son or the most capable one.

If the eldest son is the heir, then there is no doubt that it must be Li Yuan. However, since the founding of the Great Zhou Dynasty, during the reign of Taizu, the crown prince was the eldest son, and during the reign of the retired emperor, the crown prince was also the eldest son.

Would the emperor feel that it is not appropriate to establish a crown prince in this dynasty?

Jia Lian thought that Emperor Chenghui had a psychological trauma, so he might as well not appoint a crown prince for now and wait and see.

In this age where metaphysics is very popular, it is better to be cautious in everything.

"Okay, let's submit a memorial to oppose sending the Second Prince to Liangjiang. After all, we need to find a teacher. There are so many people in the cabinet, who can be useless?" Lin Ruhai made the decision very decisively.

After completing the communication and briefing, Jia Lian did not dare to stay any longer and quickly stood up to say goodbye.

When Daiyu personally escorted her to the door, she suddenly asked, "Brother Lian, don't you want to see your sister more?"

Jia Lian sighed, stopped, turned around, and advised: "Why are you doing this?"

Daiyu said nothing, lowered her head and said, "Goodbye, brother!"

Jia Lian couldn't bear it, and after some hesitation he said, "Be nice to yourself!"

There are some things that really cannot be done, at least Jia Lian cannot do them.

The next day, Jia Lian had to get up early for the court meeting. This dynasty was relatively conscientious, holding a court meeting only once a month. However, under Emperor Chenghui, the court meeting was irregular, depending on his mood. Sometimes it was at the beginning of the month, sometimes at the end of the month. Sometimes he simply remembered that there was no court meeting this month.

The grand court meeting has a greater symbolic meaning. To put it bluntly, holding a grand court meeting is equivalent to telling all the ministers that I am fine and have not been undermined by treacherous ministers.

Jia Lian, who was of the fourth rank, stood in the middle of the team, with a group of bigwigs of the third rank and above in front of him.

Jia Lian went to bed late last night, mainly because of Daiyu's matter, which gave Jia Lian a headache. After thinking about it, he couldn't come up with a good solution.

As a reader of Dream of the Red Chamber, there is no one who does not pity Daiyu, and no reader hopes that Daiyu will not have a good ending. This is an unsolvable problem, and Jia Lian can only let it go and ignore it.

Standing in the crowd, the people closest to him were all far away from him, as if no one wanted to be close to him, as if he was really a disaster. Bored Jia Lian quickly started fishing, one by one.

Suddenly, someone in the crowd spoke loudly, which woke Jia Lian up. When he saw that it was Lin Ruhai walking out of the queue, Jia Lian immediately became alert.

"Your Majesty wants to train the prince, I understand and have no objection. However, the Second Prince is the legitimate son, so it is not appropriate for him to be far away from the capital. Your Majesty can find a government office in the capital, and at most arrange a few more teachers."

All the ministers in the cabinet were watching cautiously, so after the emperor mentioned that the second prince would be sent to Jiangnan to study under Sun Huazhen, there was a brief silence at the scene.

No one expected that the first person to stand up was Lin Ruhai, and I had never heard that Lin Ruhai had a good relationship with the Second Prince. The two of them just didn't have any contact, okay?
Led by Lin Ruhai, a group of imperial censors came out one after another, holding tablets in their hands: "Your Majesty, what Elder Lin said is absolutely right, the legitimate son should not leave the capital!"

Emperor Chenghui found that today's situation was very special. None of the ministers who had a good relationship with Li Yuan in the past stood up to speak. Those who stood up to agree with Lin Ruhai were all people who had no contact with Li Yuan on a normal basis.

What does this indicate? It indicates that Lin Ruhai is a representative of the traditional scholar-officials. On this issue, he represents the silent majority.

In other words, the fact that some people were unwilling to curry favor with Li Yuan did not mean that they did not oppose Li Yuan being sent to the capital, because Li Yuan was the legitimate son, and according to the legal system he was eligible for inheritance, and he was at the front of the sequence.

Never underestimate these ministers who usually don't like to interfere in the affairs of the crown prince. They are the majority in this court.

Just as Lin Ruhai said, the succession plans of Taizu and Taishanghuang never had good results. Everyone has no objection if the emperor is cautious, but if you send the legitimate son out of the capital, isn't this a disguised way of establishing a succession?
Lin Ruhai did not say that there should be order of seniority, after all, the emperor was not the eldest son. But he had to clearly oppose the exile of the eldest son.

More than half of the ministers came out to agree with Lin Ruhai, causing quite a stir.

Emperor Chenghui sat high on the dragon wing and looked at his ministers in surprise, but he was not angry.

The reason is very simple. Emperor Chenghui saw the integrity of traditional scholar-officials. In this dynasty, both the government and the opposition adopted the eldest son system, but the royal family was special, and the eldest sons did not have a good ending.

Emperor Chenghui looked at Zhang Ting'en again and found that he stood with his eyes closed, as if he had nothing to do with the outside world. Zhang Ting'en was also a traditional scholar-official, and it was rare that he did not stand up to oppose the emperor.

Among the cabinet ministers, only Pan Jixun stood up, Guo Yan and Ning Ke did not stand up, the reason was very simple, not because they did not want to stand up, but because they could not. The two were promoted directly by the emperor based on his personal preference, and their qualifications for entering the cabinet were flawed.

No one opposed Guo Yan and Ning Ke to join the cabinet because the emperor had a high prestige. In addition, there were not so many stubborn people in this dynasty, and the ministers were very flexible.

Therefore, even though Lin Ruhai opposed releasing Li Yuan from the capital, he did not mention the establishment of a crown prince or the order of seniority.

Unlike the Ming Dynasty, when a bunch of important officials stood up to fight for the emperor's loyalty and died for justice, the value of this word has been reduced a lot.

"I have my own considerations on what Lord Lin said. Let's discuss this matter later." Emperor Chenghui spoke slowly, looking at Lin Ruhai who was standing in front of the crowd. How should he react? Should he continue to pester him or retreat?

Lin Ruhai's choice was to retreat and not continue to pester the emperor. As long as the emperor gave in on this matter, there was no need to be too serious about the rest.

Well, Lin Ruhai is also very flexible.

Pan Jixun followed suit and a large group of ministers behind him retreated one after another. If the emperor insisted on sending Li Yuan to Liangjiang, there would still be time to submit memorials.

Emperor Chenghui was well aware that there was a hidden message in the actions of these ministers: the eldest son was exiled to the south of the Yangtze River. Has Your Majesty forgotten the Rebellion of the Eight Princes?
Let alone the eldest son, even if he is a legitimate son, the biggest convenience after being sent out is that he can get involved in military power, which is a huge destabilizing factor.

Emperor Chenghui had considered this issue, so he placed him in Liangjiang, in front of Sun Huazhen, because Sun could keep an eye on Li Yuan.

"Dismiss the court!" Seeing that there were no more major events, Emperor Chenghui announced the dismissal of the court.

Everyone left. Jia Lian covered his mouth with his hand, yawned a few times, and staggered out. An eunuch came out from the side and said, "Master Jia, the emperor has summoned you."

This was a newcomer, whom Jia Lian didn't know, but that didn't stop him from slipping a note over to him. The eunuch took it with a smile and led Jia Lian to the front.

Emperor Chenghui's face showed no joy or anger, but was very calm, as if he had not been confronted by his ministers during the court meeting.

"Recently, I have received a lot of impeachments, all directed at you. They say that you have total control over the capital, and the Research and Development Department is completely sealed off. Most officials in the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Revenue have the same attitude, saying that if they don't care about you anymore, the Research and Development Department will become your own government office. Oh, and there is also the Five Cities Military Department, which is clearly a subordinate of the Inspectorate, but the censors can't control it, and they only obey the orders of Jia."

Jia Lian understood what Emperor Chenghui said. I am the one being punched, right? I was scolded by Lin Ruhai and opposed by the ministers, so you take it out on me?
That's fine! I'll rebel for once!
Jia Lian took off his hat slowly and held it in his hands: "I am guilty, I resign."

Emperor Chenghui was stunned. I just said a few words to you, or even relayed them, and you reacted so strongly? Are you just giving up?
Do you really think I dare not dismiss you?
It really can't work. Many things are really hard to handle without this guy. For example, the Wucheng Bingmasi was a government office that everyone bullied. At that time, the second generation of the rich and powerful in the capital would always cause trouble.

That is to say, after Jia Lian took charge of the Five Cities Military Affairs Department, no matter who caused trouble on the streets, he would be arrested and taken back. He was really capable of taking responsibility, which is why the capital city has such good public security today.

For example, the Research and Development Department. It is two different things whether Jia Lian is in this office or not.

"You are not allowed to resign. Get out!" Emperor Chenghui had no place to vent his anger, so he held his nose and told Jia Lian to get out.

Jia Lian uttered an "ah", put away his hat and put it on. Just as he was about to leave, Emperor Chenghui asked again: "At the grand court meeting, most of the ministers stood up to oppose me. What do you think?"

"I was standing and watching." Jia Lian answered the question irrelevantly, trying to confuse the audience.

Emperor Chenghui said angrily: "Speak human language!"

Jia Lian sighed and said, "Your Majesty is really able to embarrass me. This is your Majesty's family affair."

When Emperor Chenghui heard this, he could not help but sigh and said, "I always hear my ministers say that the emperor has no family affairs."

Jia Lian said: "That is true, but as a minister, I have to know my limits when it comes to caring about your majesty's family affairs."

"Oh, don't you have any selfish motives? Don't you have a good relationship with the third brother?" Emperor Chenghui blurted out a heart-piercing remark.

After hearing this, Jia Lian was about to take off his hat again, but Emperor Chenghui decisively said, "Stop! If you don't want to talk, then don't talk. I don't want to see you. Get out of here right now!"

(End of this chapter)