Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 460 Chores
Tommas pulled the carriages on the rails. This primitive railway was much more efficient than many current land transportation modes.

Qin Shi Huang built a straight road, but other dynasties did not copy it, probably because the investment was too large. Maybe it was also due to the terrain, anyway, it was lost in the long river of history.

Jia Lian, standing on the side of the road, was filled with emotion. The wisdom and talent of our ancestors were no less than those of later generations.

You see, it was just an idea, but the craftsmen realized it with their exquisite skills. The bearing problem that Jia Lian paid the most attention to was also solved by the craftsmen. The biggest problem now is that the steam locomotive cannot be solved. I am afraid that this is the only way for the time being. In five years, at most five years, we must see steam locomotives galloping on the North China Plain.

The cabinet meeting lasted for three days, and after much arguing, they finally reached a consensus.

Wang Ziteng was a special case. As his fief, Jiaozhi did not have to pay taxes to the Ministry of Revenue for five years. After five years, he had to pay 30% of his fiscal revenue. As part of the domestic territory, Jiaozhi was allowed to engage in trade and pay taxes normally.

At the same time, other decisions were made: Niu Jizon would be appointed as the commander of the navy of the country, and Wang Ziteng would resign from the position of commander of the navy and serve as the governor-general of Guangdong and Guangxi for another three years to facilitate the development of Jiaozhi and consolidate his rule.

Wang Ziteng unconditionally obeyed the decision made by the court and handed over five of the ten third-level battleships and related personnel as the foundation of the court navy.

Wang Ziteng submitted a memorial to the court proposing to establish a naval academy in Guangzhou. The court agreed in principle, but wanted to choose two locations, one in the north and one in the south.

After so many years of hard work, after seeing the results of the war in Annan, the imperial court finally started the formal, large-scale construction of the navy.

Li Jinrong, the Annan envoy, finally left the capital, carrying a lot of things in large and small bags. Although you might say he failed, he still gained something.

[The Great Zhou occupied Saigon, but named it Jiaozhi (Hanoi), which shows its intention. It is only a matter of time before it annexes Annan. It is so sad that a small country cannot decide its own destiny. It should be prepared early! ]

When boarding the ship from Tianjin, Li Jinrong looked back and left sadly.

At the same time, on the vast ocean, at the Cape of Good Hope in Africa, the French envoy's ship was docking to replenish water.

The messenger Menique stood on the dock and talked to the people around him: "Lavoisier, you are the most outstanding scientist in France, why do you travel thousands of miles to the East?"

After exchanging glances with his wife, Lavoisier smiled slightly and took out a French version of "Basic Chemistry" from his pocket: "That's it!"

Menick shook his head in confusion. This trip was too hard. If it was fast, it would take ten months to get there, and if it was slow, it would take more than a year. The sea was full of risks. If he was not an envoy, he would not have come.

In fact, what Lavoisier and his wife said was that they went to the East to find the truth. What truth was about the composition of the world?

How can I explain this matter? If anyone is to blame, blame Jia Lian. He printed a periodic table of elements on the last page of the book.

Lavoisier said he didn't understand it, but he was greatly shocked. It seemed that a mysterious voice was telling him to go to the East, go to the East, because there was truth there.

"America's envoy has arrived in Paris and is seeking the support of His Majesty the King. The ministers are all opposed to it. His Majesty hopes that I can persuade the great and honorable Emperor of the Great Zhou to jointly interfere in the affairs of North American independence. To be honest, I have no confidence in this task." Menique, who was full of worries, confided his inner anxiety to Lavoisier.

Lavoisier said he could do nothing to help, but Menique said he understood and that he just wanted to talk to someone.

"The ancient empire in the East doesn't seem to be interested in the world's affairs. The only thing that can impress them is the precious metals shipped from all over the world."

"To be frank, compared to the UK, France is indeed lagging behind in some aspects."

Three days later, at the same dock, the British envoy's ship stopped for supplies. After learning that the French envoy's fleet had just left for three days, the resident envoy Wayne smiled and said, "If we are lucky, we may be able to have a naval battle with the French fleet!"

Royal Navy Rear Admiral Churchill shrugged and said, "Victory is inevitable. We are just worried about angering the Emperor of the Great Zhou!"

Wayne said: "Yes, the Eastern Empire is gradually becoming more interested in going to sea. Their Tosassoon family has purchased a batch of third-class battleships. With their national strength, they want to dominate the East Indies. Even the invincible Royal Navy will find it difficult to defeat them in the far east."

"Damn you Wayne, you'd better not keep thinking about fighting. I don't want to see hundreds of warships coming to settle accounts with you. I only have three third-level battleships. There is no way I can beat the Eastern Navy."

"We should be thankful that Eastern civilization is gentle. Their emperor decided not to interfere in North American affairs and sent permanent envoys to London and Paris. I hope their permanent envoys can stand the weather in London and the unknown excrement on the streets of Paris."

It's normal that when the British complain about the weather in London, they don't forget to mention the environmental sanitation in Paris.

In fact, before the cholera epidemic, the British did not pay much attention to the hygiene problems of water sources caused by the environment.

After all, when it comes to being an unhuman being, Dai Yingcai is the top spot, and Chouguo is the younger brother.

At the end of spring, Niu Jizong's affairs were settled and he led his troops south.

In the new year, Jia Lian had not come to the military academy for class. When he almost forgot that he was still a teacher at the military academy, Yue Qi came to him and asked, "When will Master Jia go to class?"

Jia Lian was surprised and asked, "Why, do I have to go to class now? Do you think I don't have enough to do?"

"You don't have to attend the tactics class, but the staff department courses are taught by others, and students don't respond well. I know that Lord Jia is very busy, so you have to attend a class every month."

Yue Qi could only speak nicely. How could he describe their relationship? It was not as good as when they fought side by side. After all, there was a conflict of interest!

In other words, Jia Lian unilaterally strangled the Ministry of War! Not only that, Yue Qi found that Jia Lian's influence in the army was no worse than his own.

The most noticeable thing is that in the military academy, students all take Jia Lian as an example and talk about his military achievements with relish.

In comparison, Yue Qi's record is not as good as Jia Lian's. Mainly in the field of new tactical thinking, Jia Lian has become a banner in the minds of young students.

Although not often visited, his legend has always been popular in the military academy.

"Okay, I'll take some time to attend a class!" Jia Lian nodded and agreed, and Yue Qi immediately confirmed: "Tomorrow!"

Jia Lian nodded, and Yue Qi left with satisfaction. He was still very rational and did not use the emperor to pressure Jia Lian. After all, it was the Royal Infantry School.

The next day, when Jia Lian arrived at the military academy, he was led to the auditorium. He peeked out the back door and saw a huge crowd of people. How many students were there in the whole school? Were all of them here?
The person accompanying him was naturally Yue Qi, the executive vice-president. Seeing Jia Lian's reaction, he sighed silently in his heart, but the smile on his face remained. "The school sent out a notice yesterday."

The rostrum was made of wood, and there were dozens of water tanks underneath. It can only be said that the wisdom of the ancients was quite amazing. After all, it was a military school. When Jia Lian walked onto the rostrum, the teacher shouted, "Everyone stand up! Applause!"

The warm applause lasted for almost a minute. Jia Lian pressed his hands continuously before the applause slowly stopped.

"I didn't expect that I am so popular. In fact, I haven't done anything for everyone. I am ashamed!" Jia Lian's self-deprecating words triggered another round of applause.

In fact, every student in the military academy knows that the establishment of this military academy was suggested by Jia Lian to the emperor.

The significance of the existence of military academies is to provide students from ordinary families with a channel for upward mobility, which is in no way inferior to the imperial examinations for literati.

It is even more commendable that Jia Lian, who came from a traditional noble family, made this suggestion. The image of Jia Lian imagined by the students is even more glorious.

"There are many people here today, and we don't have much time, so let me briefly talk about the significance of the staff department. To make an inappropriate analogy, a person only has one head, one pair of eyes, and one pair of ears. The ability to obtain information, analyze information, and make correct decisions is limited. Especially at the moment, the war model has undergone fundamental changes. What determines the victory or defeat of a war may very well be a piece of ignored intelligence. The significance of the existence of staff is to add eyes and ears for the commander-in-chief, and to take on various military chores. Let the commander-in-chief stay focused and command every battle well..."

An excellent officer is often first an excellent staff officer...

Unfortunately, there is no suitable example. Napoleon has not yet appeared. Even if he did appear, Napoleon, who lacked a general staff in the later period, still made major mistakes on the battlefield.

The class lasted two hours. After Jia Lian finished speaking, the students stood up and applauded excitedly again, especially the students studying in the staff department.

In general, military academies encourage students to learn more than one subject. No matter if you are an infantryman or an artilleryman, you can learn courses in other subjects. As long as you have the ability and pass the exam, you will still be given a course certificate. Of course, if you say you are an artilleryman and don't need to learn anything else, there is no problem. But in the future in the military, having an extra course certificate will be a help when you are promoted.

During the question-and-answer session after class, the first student asked: After graduation, can I join Shenji Town?

Jia Lian replied: I have no say on this. First of all, it depends on the results, and secondly, it depends on the chief officer of Shenji Town. What is certain is that only those with the best results will have the opportunity to join Shenji Town.

The students raised many questions, including a very sharp one: Today, Da Zhou is invincible, and the cadets have no place to use their skills after graduation.

In response to this, Jia Lian gave the following answer: First, it is a good thing, not a bad thing, to have no enemies around. Secondly, the premise of having no enemies is to have an invincible army. Don't confuse the cause and effect. Only when the national army can fight can there be a peaceful external environment. Finally, if you want to make achievements, you have opportunities to go west and south. To the west, the former site of Anxi Protectorate, the King of Xining is in the process of recovery. To the south, there are plenty of opportunities in various parts of Nanyang. The enemies may be local natives or Western countries.

As I said in the article, foreign trade is now one of the financial lifelines of the Great Zhou. To ensure the smooth flow of foreign trade, we must control the key points.

The world is big. Prince Teng of Jiaozhi is the best example. He got the fief of Jiaozhi, and you will have opportunities in the future.

In the final stage, after a dose of chicken blood, the students screamed with excitement.

They shouted one after another: "Surpassing the Han and Tang dynasties, achieving unprecedented achievements."

Some more radical ones even shouted directly: "Fight for a piece of land of your own!"

Jia Lian had a smile on his face, but he was secretly thinking that it was rare for these young people to have the opportunity to get a fief. There was a problem. The emperor only had two legitimate sons, but there were several illegitimate sons. According to Jia Lian's understanding of Emperor Chenghui, most of the illegitimate sons would be given fiefs outside in the future.

No matter how hard King Xining tries, he will definitely have to make sacrifices when bargaining with the imperial court in the future.

The situation of Wang Ziteng and Niu Jizong is the same. They must share the territory with the emperor.

When he got home from get off work, Wang Xifeng was there and she pulled Jia Lian aside to talk about Jia Baoyu.

What's the matter? Baoyu's marriage!

The incident was caused by a letter from Jia Zheng, saying that he would return to Beijing in the near future and would probably be transferred to another post. There is no clear news from the Ministry of Personnel at the moment, but what is certain is that this side is over.

The letter mentioned Jia Baoyu's marriage, hoping that Mrs. Wang would discuss it with Jia Lian to see if there is a suitable family.

Although Jia Zheng did not say it explicitly in the letter, his meaning was implicitly expressed. If the Second Branch wanted to make a name for itself, it would be useless to rely on the Wang family. When Wang Ziteng's next term was up, he would have to go to his fiefdom, Jiaozhi, and Jia Zheng's future would be very embarrassing.

Instead of relying on Wang Ziteng's support, it is better to rely on Jia Lian.

What Mrs. Wang didn't know was that Jia Zheng also wrote a letter to Lin Ruhai, bringing up the marriage of Baoyu and Daiyu again.

After listening to Wang Xifeng's retelling, Jia Lian realized that Jia Zheng was considering his personal political future. This should be a decision made after careful consideration.

"Don't say anything about Baoyu's marriage. He has parents. As for the matter of my second uncle, I'll have someone ask the Ministry of Personnel for information later."

Wang Xifeng really wanted to lobby for Baoyu. After all, she was now a third-rank official and knew many noble ladies, some of whom really hoped to marry into the Jia family.

What is going on? We can only say that Jia Lian's rise is unstoppable. Some people may even use his background to argue that in the era of Emperor Chenghui, and even after Emperor Chenghui, Jia Lian would have a future as a cabinet minister, and any smart person could see that.

"By the way, many people want to marry Qiaojie and Quan'er." Wang Xifeng brought up this again. After all, she had been hanging out with many noble ladies recently.

Fortunately, Wang Xifeng was more sober-minded and knew that her children’s marriage would only take place with Jia Lian’s approval.

"What's the point of child marriage? That's nonsense." Jia Lian interrupted her directly. Wang Xifeng was not very convinced. She pouted and didn't say anything, but she still endured it.

Seeing her like this, Jia Lian patiently explained: "Qiaojie and Jia Quan are both legitimate children. Their status determines that their marriage has great significance for my family."

"Okay, okay, you have the final say!" Wang Xifeng stopped struggling.

At the Lin family, after reading Jia Zheng's letter, Lin Ruhai sighed and handed it to Jia Min.

Jia Min took over and read it, then hummed twice: "It is true that Baoyu is intelligent, but he is not making progress."

(End of this chapter)