Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 455: Do Something, Don’t Do Something
The last expanded cabinet meeting at the end of the year is a summary of the past year.

All departments reported on the performance evaluation law, the budget law, and the audit law.

In summary, the official atmosphere has been tightened and development has improved. The past situation of lazy and inefficient governance has been greatly reduced and efficiency has been greatly improved.

Just as the meeting was about to succeed and end victoriously, the Minister of War Yue Qi stood up and raised a question.

"The equipment for the Beijing Army is funded by the Ministry of Revenue, and the replacement is going smoothly. How about the border troops?"

Before everyone started discussing this issue, Ning Ke raised another question.

"Many workshops under the R&D Department do not pay taxes or turn over their profits. There are many complaints in the court. I hope you will pay attention to this and make changes as soon as possible."

These two questions seem unrelated, but in fact they are both directed at the same person.

In the imperial court, the relationships between some people are constantly changing. This is not the result of subjective will, but the result of people below pushing those above them to do so.

Do you think Yue Qi and Ning Ke are willing to offend Jia Lian?

Of course he is unwilling, but the people below are instigating him in various ways. No matter how unwilling he is, he has to speak out, otherwise he will lose his position as the boss.

Emperor Chenghui had a blank expression on his face and showed no intention of expressing his opinion.

Lin Ruhai asked Ning Ke with a smile: "Lord Ning, do other workshops in the court pay taxes? Or do they hand over a certain amount of profit every year?"

Ning Ke could only reluctantly answer: "Neither of them, but the weapons produced by the workshop are allocated by the Ministry of War, and the army does not need to pay."

Lin Ruhai turned to Yue Qi and asked, "Excuse me, Minister Yue, do other workshops under the imperial court have production stocks for the military to allocate?"

Yue Qi seemed to have been acupunctured, and answered with gritted teeth: "Yes!"

Lin Ruhai then concluded: "The R&D Department is responsible for its own profits and losses. The equipment it produces is good, and the military is willing to use it, but they have to pay for it. The equipment produced by the Ministry of Industry is free, but the military is unwilling to use it. Is that right?"

Ning Ke and Yue Qi had no choice but to nod, because facts are the best way to make people shut up. Those who insist on being stubborn in the face of facts have lost all their dignity. What else can you say to them?
Lin Ruhai continued: "In this case, from now on, the Ministry of Revenue will transfer the military equipment funds directly to the Research and Development Department, and the Ministry of Industry will transfer all workshops to the Research and Development Department for management. Wouldn't that make everyone happy?"

After these words were spoken, the scene fell silent. Emperor Chenghui looked at this and that with a smile on his face.

No one spoke, and the atmosphere was about to become dull. Zhang Tingen spoke up, "The R&D department has created a new model for government-run workshops. In my opinion, taxes still need to be paid, and it is reasonable to hand over the surplus at the end of the year. The military also needs to pay for equipment purchases. It can't be like before, where people had to pay bribes if they wanted good equipment."

Because of Zhang Tingen's words, things developed in an uncontrollable direction. Because if they really did this, it would become a reform of state-owned enterprises.

Those who are dissatisfied do not want to reform, nor are they willing to give up the power and interests in their hands. All they want is to take more and more, and they have no public spirit.

According to Zhang Ting'en, all state-owned enterprises will be responsible for their own profits and losses in the future. Isn't that a life-threatening thing? If someone is really capable and can run a good enterprise, how can he be jealous of other people's prosperous enterprises?
In the current system, all state-owned enterprises are under the control of officials. If you make this change, the nature of state-owned enterprises as a profit-making entity will completely change.

In this case, should the salt road be changed? Should the river be changed? Should the mine supervision be changed?

This is not just aimed at a research and development department, it is aimed at the entire official system of the court, everything must be changed!
Yue Qi and Ning Ke’s suggestion was just to prick the area with a needle to let out some blood, but Zhang Tingen went straight for the aorta.

Don't even mention that you really want to change it, it's scary enough. You're all fishermen, others use hooks to fish, but you just use explosives and pumps.

"Your Excellency the Prime Minister is absolutely right. It is my fault for not thinking it through!" Ning Ke admitted his mistake directly. He regretted it so much now. Why couldn't he listen to the instigation and stand up to do such a thing?

Yue Qi also quickly stood up and said, "My thoughts are not comprehensive. It is better for the R&D Department to maintain its old appearance."

Emperor Chenghui watched the show with a smile on his face, in a very good mood. Zhang Tingen, as the Prime Minister, was indeed quite satisfactory to him, as he always took the initiative without his repeated hints.

Compared with Kong Zhao, the gap is huge. That old guy would only stand up and play the peacemaker when he was forced to do so.

Zhang Ting'en looked at Yue Qi with a half-smile: "Are you not going to argue anymore?"

Yue Qi was caught and refused to let go, so he stiffened and replied, "I won't argue anymore!" He was forced to take the blame, and Ning Ke managed to escape.

I thought the matter was over here, but I never expected Lin Ruhai to stand up and say, "Your Majesty, I apologize!"

Emperor Chenghui was stunned. What was Lin Ruhai doing? Why did you jump out to apologize?
"What crime have you committed, my dear?" I could only ask perfunctorily.

Lin Ruhai said, "I am not strict with my subordinates! Tong Yang, the Chief Censor of the Supervisory Office, accepted money and spoke for others during his tenure. The victim has already complained to me, and there are witnesses and evidence!"

When Emperor Chenghui heard this, he remembered that he had almost forgotten about this matter.

"This Tong Yang's personal moral issues have nothing to do with love. Since there are witnesses and evidence, we will take him to the Dali Temple. It's almost the New Year, so we will lock him up first and try him again after the New Year. Do you have anything else to do? If you don't have anything else, let's adjourn!"

Emperor Chenghui hastily concluded the summary meeting. He was in a good mood. He thought the meeting was uneventful and stable, but it had a climax at the last moment. Naturally, he lost interest afterwards.

Zhang Tingen looked at everyone, all of whom lowered their heads and kept silent, and said, "In that case, we will obey the decree and adjourn the meeting!"

Emperor Chenghui stood up and left. As soon as he left the meeting room, he asked Qiu Shian, "I asked you to investigate Tong Yang. How is the investigation going?"

Qiu Shian said, "There are many problems. The most serious case was when Tong Yang was inspecting the area in Shandong. When he arrived at Qixia County, some people stopped him on the road to complain about their grievances. Their property was seized by local tyrants. The local county magistrate took money to do the job and killed the tyrant. The victim was sentenced to false accusation. Tong Yang, as an imperial censor, not only did not review the case and redress the grievances of the victim, but colluded with the county magistrate to suppress the case. The victim's son went to Beijing to file a complaint, but the master and servant disappeared and their whereabouts are still unknown. It is feared that the tyrant hid their bodies in the wilderness."

Emperor Chenghui laughed angrily after hearing this, his face flushed, "This is the imperial censor of the court, the censor with outstanding performance in the annual imperial examination. Go, summon Jia Lian."

At this time, Jia Lian was at home, hugging Xiren, the girl he had just won, and teaching her how to write. Xiren was sitting on his lap, looking a little restless.

Zhuzi stood at the door and shouted, "Second Master! Is Second Master in there?"

Jia Lian was in high spirits and was about to do something more mischievous when he was interrupted. He cursed at Xiren and told her to get up and let Zhuzi in.

"What's the matter? Why do you have to come at this time?" Jia Lian's tone was wrong. When Zhuzi saw Xiren's rosy face, he knew that he had ruined the Second Master's good deeds.

I quickly stepped forward and whispered, "I have inquired about Si Qi's cousin. On his first day at work, he threatened a merchant in the market to pay him. After careful investigation, I found out that the merchant had a grudge against him. He worked as a clerk for someone else, and the merchant fired him on the grounds that he stole their paper and also embezzled his wages. The East City Censor was reported by the merchant and fired him directly. He didn't tell Lord Jian, and no one on your side said anything. If Si Qi hadn't said it, you wouldn't have known. I asked Lord Jian, and he said he didn't know about it beforehand, so I went to investigate immediately."

Jia Lian understood: "We must find out the right and wrong. We must not wrongly accuse him, but we must not let him go either."

Zhuzi withdrew in response. Jia Lian had lost interest and no longer wanted to teach Xiren how to write. This matter seemed simple, but it was not. Only Jia Lian knew Pan Youan's origins. He asked Jian Renda to keep it secret because he didn't want the people below to have any ideas. The East City Censor didn't get along with Jian Renda, and thought that Jian Renda had planted spies, so he dealt with it decisively when something happened, and didn't intend to treat Jian Renda well. But he never expected that the source of the matter was Jia Lian.

The people below are not united!

Jia Lian was a bit troubled. It was not that he had not thought about adjusting the people under him, but the problem was that Jia Lian had no power over the five city inspectors. In name, as a special inspector, he had no control over the city inspectors. It was completely tacitly accepted by the people below that Jia Lian was still the head of the city inspectors. It was not that no one wanted to fight for it, but Jia Lian was too big and people did not dare to have any bad ideas.

The concern here is not that there will be a fight among the people below, but that someone may have evil intentions and want to intervene. If so, who is this person?

The chief censor of the censor system was Lin Ruhai, it couldn’t be him, right?

Oh, now I remember that it’s the end of the year and I haven’t been to the Lin family yet. It’s all because the maid is too fragrant and soft, which wears down my will.

I will abstain from sex from now on!

Just as I had this thought, I saw Qingwen come in with a small bamboo basket full of needlework items.

Among the maids, Qingwen is the prettiest, but she is still a little young. I completely forgot the thought just now.

Oops, I don’t care enough about Qingwen. I need to reflect on this.

Before Jia Lian finished his review, Qingwen said, "Second Master, someone from the palace has come to summon you."

When Jia Lian heard this, he immediately said, "Change your clothes!"

After entering the palace, he met Emperor Chenghui and had a conversation with his subjects. Emperor Chenghui directly talked about the disturbance at today's meeting, and finally asked a question: "I think what Prime Minister Zhang said makes sense. What do you think?"

Jia Lian was so dumbfounded that he almost wanted to ask, "Teacher, when did you wear it? Your idea of ​​reforming state-owned enterprises is very dangerous."

"Your Majesty, if every official learns from me, they can learn the essence and change!" Jia Lian said it very implicitly. What does it mean to learn the essence? Isn't it just implying that it would be strange if corrupt officials could run a good enterprise? If they really learn from the R&D department, they can move the enterprise back home.

Emperor Chenghui heard his sarcastic tone and said angrily, "Speak properly!"

Jia Lian saw that he could not fool the liar, so he said seriously: "Take the R&D Department as an example. The purchase of steel materials required is a huge number. If I want to make money, I only need to hint to the merchants, and they will naturally offer me benefits. Even if I don't hint, the merchants will take the initiative to give gifts in order to sell things to me. This is still a restrained approach. If you go a little further, you can directly set up a workshop and let the craftsmen work for you, and then sell them to the R&D Department. The money will be in your hands all the time. Anyway, I have the final say, who dares to control me? There is no problem with the account, and no one can do anything about it."

Emperor Chenghui's scalp tingled when he heard this. How could he not understand? He understood it so clearly!
He had seen the palace charge two taels of silver for eggs before, but now it was better, with five coins for an egg.

The real price of eggs is one penny for five eggs.

Emperor Chenghui knew it very well, but pretended not to know, just to give his subordinates some benefits. As long as it was not too excessive, he would not take it seriously. Without the motivation of interests, how could the subordinates work well? The same thing applies to state-owned enterprises. To put it more exaggeratedly, if the person in charge of the enterprise is not Jia Lian, it will become what Jia Lian said.

The imperial court gave food relief to the victims, and the silver was given according to the price of rice. In the end, what people ate might not be a grain of rice, but only bran. Those with a good conscience would not add stones.

So, that's how many things are, wishes are always good.

Nothing can be done without people to execute it, so the foundation of governing a country is still the administration of officials.

Emperor Chenghui thought of Tong Yang again and waved his hand in a disinterested manner: "Okay, it's all right, you can go back. By the way, Tong Yang, the censor who impeached you, is in trouble. You can ask Lin Ruhai and find out."

Jia Lian wanted to ask, isn't it a holiday? Then he realized that the cabinet hadn't had a holiday yet, and there was still some finishing work to do at the end of the year. The cabinet elders had worked hard.

I strolled into the cabinet office area. There were not many people there. It must be because they announced a holiday. Only a few people on duty were left.

Lin Ruhai just came out and saw Jia Lian, so he took the initiative to greet him: "Master Jia, what do you have to say?"

The resentment in the words seemed groundless, yet also justified. In short, it was very mysterious.

Jia Lian explained his purpose, and Lin Ruhai greeted him: "It's time to get off work, go back and talk."

They didn't talk along the way. When they arrived at the Lin family, Jia Min and Daiyu went out to greet them. They were a little surprised to see Jia Lian was there too.

Lin Ruhai went to change clothes first. Jia Min pulled Jia Lian aside to talk and asked about things at home. Jia Lian said, "I don't know either. Why don't you go back to your parents' home to take a look?"

Jia Min thought about it and said, "Then I'll go back and stay for two days, and come back on the 29th."

Daiyu stood aside very quietly, and seemed to have a weak presence, but Jia Lian could strongly feel her presence.

Lin Ruhai left quickly and came back quickly. He called Jia Lian to the study and told him about Tong Yang. Daiyu listened with an angry look on her face.

"Is there really a victim?" Jia Lian was very surprised. His people had also investigated, but they didn't get to such depth. They were mainly watching his guests and visitors.

"Another official involved is the magistrate of Qixia County. The official document from the Inspectorate has been sent out, instructing the governor's office to arrest the person and escort him to Beijing after the New Year. Tong Yang has been sent to the Dali Temple, and he will have to spend this New Year in prison. Prime Minister Zhang arranged for me to send people to investigate this case. Coincidentally, the victim's nephew was studying in Jinan and was a classmate and friend of the nephew of the censor, so he had the opportunity to file a complaint. It happened that the person I sent contacted the censor, and the matter was revealed." Lin Ruhai said it easily, seeming quite refreshed.

Jia Lian added, "The place Tong Yang goes to most often in the capital is the Jiangnan Guild Hall. He has been there three times in the past seven or eight days."

Lin Ruhai knew that he had something else in mind: "If you have evidence, just tell me."

Jia Lian shook his head: "I suspect that the directors of Jiangnan Guild Hall are brokers who have engaged in rent-seeking activities. Unfortunately, I have no evidence. This kind of thing is not easy to investigate, so I can only let it go."

Lin Ruhai was furious when he heard this: "This is difficult to check, but can't you check something else? If you really can't find anything, with the power of the Five Cities Army, wouldn't it be easy to cause trouble for him? Check his goods and close his store."

This is the difference in the two people's thinking patterns. Lin Ruhai's logic, are you qualified to tell me the evidence?
According to Jia Lian's logic, if he randomly targeted someone without any evidence, it would destroy the business environment in the capital and damage the reputation of the Five Cities Army.

"The Wucheng Bingmasi is an office of the imperial court, not the private property of Mr. Jia!" Jia Lian said righteously.

Lin Ruhai twisted his mouth and sneered, "You are soft, so others think you are easy to bully. This matter must not be underestimated. Prime Minister Zhang told me to take heavy measures just to deter the villains. This matter seems to be aimed at you, who knows if someone is going after the cabinet, running towards Prime Minister Zhang? You, don't think too highly of others, this world is very dark."

Daiyu listened to their conversation and her eyes widened.

Jia Lian did not argue, but smiled and said, "Jia has his own ways and his own ways."

(End of this chapter)