Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 467: Imperially Appointed Zhilu Inspector
"I can understand Jia Qing's approach!" Emperor Chenghui said lightly, which made Guo Ran speechless. He was just about to make a point when he was hit hard on the head and became dizzy.

Later, Emperor Chenghui said: "Not only do I agree to let him lead his troops to set out, I will also give him the imperial sword and the right to do whatever he wants."

Zhang Ting'en stood up and folded his hands: "Your Majesty is wise. If officials are diligent in their duties, they don't have to worry about being implicated. If they fail to do the tasks assigned by the court, or even have a counterproductive effect, they can be beheaded!"

If others say they want to kill someone, they may just be pretending, but if Jia Lian says he wants to kill someone, he will really kill.

No one will forget that outside Datong City, Jia Lian opened fire and killed hundreds of people in one go. It was a bloodbath!
If you think about it carefully, why did they send Jia Lian on the tour? It is not difficult to draw a conclusion. Since the English envoy sent a ship, the emperor has asked the two shipyards in Tianjin and Dengzhou to send people to learn and imitate it. It has been a long time, and there is no result at all. You should know that the emperor has allocated 500,000 yuan from the treasury for this.

Pan Jixun's face was not very good, because he was also the Minister of Works, and Dengzhou Shipyard was under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Works.

Everyone who knows about the official shipyard of the imperial court knows that there has been no serious shipbuilding for many years. It is too difficult to restore it in just one or two years.

The problem is not this, but the officials! Have they organized this matter and taken the emperor's will to heart? This ship sent by the British is the emperor's face.

In order to return the gift, Emperor Chenghui took out the best tribute, including porcelain, silk, embroidery, tea and other things that Westerners could not buy even if they had money.

One year has passed, how did the people below report it? It went smoothly, but there is no result yet.

Just because Emperor Chenghui doesn’t know how to build ships doesn’t mean he’s a fool.

How many craftsmen were organized, how much wood was prepared, whether the blueprints were drawn, whether the dock was organized, these were all normal preparations. If there was a little bit of data in the report, Emperor Chenghui would not be angry and want to kill people. It was because of his kind personality that he did not call for war and let Jia Lian go out to test the knife.

With the emperor's attitude, no one else dared to talk nonsense, mainly because there was no leader. In the past, Kong Zhao would say a few words, such as "Your Majesty, you need to treat me with kindness."

Now Zhang Ting'en not only does not stop him, but also helps the tiger. Isn't it true that serving the king is like serving a tiger?

He appointed Jia Lian as the inspector of Zhilu, and expressed his intention in the form of an imperial edict. He also summoned Jia Lian to the palace and gave him instructions in person.

"You have been advising me to face the ocean. It's not that I don't want to, but I haven't made progress internally before and the time is not ripe. Now the court has established permanent envoys with England and France. Everyone in the court knows that the world is big and not just a corner of China. Emperor Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty sent Zheng He to the West seven times to open up the world. I may not be inferior to him." Emperor Chenghui spoke and expressed his attitude. He accepted Jia Lian's suggestion and did not cultivate the royal family.

This is the only way from now on. You can go or not. If you don't go, you won't starve to death in Beijing. If you want to become rich, just dream on.

Hearing the emperor compare himself to Zhu Di, Jia Lian would not let this equation stand, and quickly flattered him: "Although Emperor Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty was a man of great talent and strategy, he sent envoys to sea to raise funds for the northern expedition. The people not only did not benefit, but suffered losses. The court officials even received a lot of unsaleable pepper as salary, and there were complaints at the time. Your Majesty encourages the people to go to sea and benefits the people. Your mind is far better than Zhu Di."

"You mean, Zhu Di is better than me in chasing enemies to the north and roaming across the desert?" Emperor Chenghui was obviously still a little upset and wanted to take it out on Jia Lian.

Jia Lian said with a smile: "How can your majesty's ambitions be achieved by Zhu Di? There is no need to personally lead an expedition on land, and there is hope that the prosperity of the Han and Tang dynasties can be restored. How can your ability to plan and your broad mind be compared to Zhu Di's solution of problems by force?"

Emperor Chenghui smiled, and Jia Lian continued: "Those who are good at fighting have no glorious achievements. Your Majesty deserves it."

"Flatterer!" Emperor Chenghui finally couldn't help laughing, waved his hand and continued: "I know what you are thinking, don't worry, I won't destroy my foundation. When I go to Tianjin and Dengzhou, if there is any problem with the officials, I will kill them first and report later. I have prepared the imperial edict for you, and the imperial sword is also prepared for you. You are good at business, so take some time to reorganize the shipyard. You can't go to sea without ships."

"With your Majesty's support, I feel confident. The way to run a business is not difficult. It's nothing more than officials being upright, and secondly being kind to their subordinates, and being both kind and strict. Every official understands the truth, but they just can't resist the urge to take money they shouldn't." Jia Lian's words were also very clear. There are very few officials in the world who are not greedy. Even with the tacit approval of the court, as long as the people are not forced to rebel, they basically don't kill people. Didn't the people of Sichuan rebel last time only kill a few of the main responsible persons? The county officials below are at most exiled to the new province.

"The rectification of the administration of officials needs to be carried out step by step. We cannot act too harshly at once, otherwise the court will be in chaos. I hope you can understand my thoughts." Emperor Chenghui was frank. After all, he was the emperor, and he must consider the issue from the perspective of the overall national interests. First of all, we should pursue stability. At any time, the rulers pursue the same thing.

How can we govern a country that is in chaos? If it is in chaos, we must first govern it.

This is a bit like the theory of contradictions, the main contradiction and the secondary contradiction.

To be honest, based on these words, Jia Lian admired Emperor Chenghui very much, and the image of a qualified monarch emerged.

This time when leaving the capital, Jia Lian was different from the past. In the past, he tried to keep a low profile, but this time he assembled his troops, set out the ceremonial guard, and set out with a grand ceremony, without doing anything like a secret visit.

The reason for doing so is very simple. The so-called four-column accounting method of this era cannot withstand scrutiny. The accountants trained by Jia Lian have learned the modern methods, so there is no problem with checking the accounts.

Many things are actually very simple and can be found out by checking the accounts.

Of course, there is also the special nature of this official business. Since it is a government-run shipyard, the main problem is still the accounting issues.

There was still some cover-up. On the surface, they were under the banner of the Zhilu Inspector General, but they did not say that they were going for the shipyard.

After the news spread, the officials below became alert. After all, Jia Lian brought a thousand Shenjiying soldiers, including four field artillery, which was a bit scary.

Apart from anything else, even if the governor of the provincial capital had 3,000 soldiers, they would still be no match for these 1,000 people. Besides, if they really did this, it would be called rebellion.

So, those who need to clean up their messes should clean up their messes, and no one dared to neglect Jia Lian's trip.

But the news changes every day.

"What? Jia Lian brought a pretty maid with him on his business trip, and she was dressed as a man?"

"What? Jia Buqi complained of being tired halfway through the journey, rested in Dezhou for three days, and went to visit brothels every day?"

"Good news. Lord Jia has accepted the silver sent by the governor of Cangzhou and Dezhou."

As Jia Lian's troops approached Jinan, the Jinan governor and the three officials, who had been on high alert, could finally breathe a sigh of relief. Jia Buqi's reputation for being greedy and lustful was indeed true.

When they were near Jinan, Shandong Governor Wu De led the three departments and other officials including the Jinan prefect to go out of the city fifteen miles to welcome them, which really gave them enough face.

Since Shandong is relatively close to the capital, the implementation of the performance evaluation system is still quite good. After all, if something happens, the capital will know about it in a few days, and it is under the eyes of half of the capital.

While waiting, Wu De and the governor Lin Guanggou chatted together. The two brothers were not in harmony, after all, their powers and responsibilities overlapped. No one likes the mother-in-law above them to make decisions. In principle, the governor has the right to govern the government affairs of Shandong, but in fact it should be the governor's office. The relationship between the governor and the three offices is a check and balance, with conflicts and cooperation.

If a powerful governor meets an equally powerful provincial governor, they will definitely fight and neither side will trust each other.

"It's a rumor in the martial arts world, and I don't know if it's true or not, but Jia Lian brought a thousand elite soldiers and four cannons. It's obvious that he has bad intentions."

In this critical moment, the two officials who usually do not get along with each other have to get through this difficult time first.

This is what Wu De meant. We all need to work together. Now is not the time to fight for power and profit.

Lin Guang nodded. "The elite soldiers of the Shenji Camp are all those who fought their way out of the mountains of corpses and seas of blood. Jia Lian single-handedly led this team. This guy is really evil. He can win the imperial examination and lead the troops to victory. When he governed Yunyang Prefecture, the people praised him unanimously. When he left, they begged him to stay. Staying in the Wucheng Bingma Division can greatly improve the security of the capital. Setting up a research and development division has become a treasure trove."

Wu De could sense Lin Guang's uneasiness and laughed, "Brother, you should say this in front of Jia Lian."

"Isn't this just a rehearsal? Shandong is such a big place, there will always be times when we can't take care of it. I hope Jia Lian is not a mean person and won't find fault with me."

As the two were talking, a scout came in the distance to report that the guard of honor of Jia Lian, the Zhilu Inspector, was already two miles away.

The two of them went up to the pavilion together and looked into the distance. After seeing the smoke and dust, they exchanged glances, which meant that they should not undermine each other and settle grudges later.

Jia Lian was not in a hurry to leave this time. Not only did he take a boat to go out, but he also had to sit in a sedan chair carried by eight people when he got ashore.

And he didn't go to Tianjin Shipyard first, but came to Shandong.

As for the maids, she really brought them, and more than one, but two, Qingwen and Xiren.

Xiren wanted to come along on her own initiative. She felt uneasy as a master at home without anyone to serve him. She couldn't sleep at night without seeing her master.

It's no wonder Xiren is so clingy. It's true that she has everything she wants when she goes back to her parents' home. For face, she wears gold and silver when she goes home, and it helps her brother go to Jia's family school, which is a place you can't get into even if you spend money. For money, Jia Lian gave her 100 taels of silver. Xiren said that she saved it, but her family wouldn't believe it. The silver was given to the family, and her parents were happy. Their daughter is favored by the second master. That's good!

Now Xiren only has one wish left, that is to hurry up and get pregnant, and then her position as concubine will be secure.

As for Qingwen, isn't this just her? She is so precious!

The main reason was that this mission was rather special. Since Jia Lian was going to open up the ceremonial procession with great fanfare, he had to arrange some means of confusing people. Otherwise, if the targets to be investigated were all on high alert, wouldn't that cause trouble for himself? If a few people died before the investigation even started, that would be asking for trouble.

To be honest, Jia Lian did not dare to overestimate the integrity of these officials at all.

Xiren and Qingwen changed into men's clothes and each had a sedan chair carried by two people. They followed Jia Lian on the trip. Not to mention feeling tired, it was as if they were just out for fun.

Wu De and Lin Guang came forward to greet them. Jia Lian got off the sedan chair and clasped his hands to the two of them: "You two lords are of higher rank than me, how could I trouble you to come out to greet me? It's my fault."

Although he said that, his tone was not serious, and he had an attitude of "I am the imperial envoy".

"Master Jia, you are too polite. You are a special censor of the fourth rank. No one in your power will be in trouble. Besides, this time I am here to inspect the capital, which is a high-ranking official. It is inappropriate to talk about your rank."

Wu De had said something about Lin Guang before, and what he said now was quite disgusting.

When Lin Guang saw Jia Lian's style, he felt that this time he had a good chance, so he stepped forward to join in the fun: "There is a rumor in the capital that the chief examiner of this year's provincial examination is Lord Jia. Lin congratulates you in advance. Lord Jia, after passing this hurdle, will be sent out for a few years, and then he can return to the capital and work in the six ministries for a few years, and then he will become a Grand Secretary."

Don't blame these two people for shamelessly flattering Jia Lian. This scene is really a bit scary. If you say you are not here to cause trouble, who would really believe you?

"You're welcome, you're welcome, please! Please! Please!"

He drank a cup of wine in the pavilion and then continued on his way. He arrived at Jinan Prefecture before dark. The governor gave a banquet in his honor and Jia Lian happily went. The next day, Lin Guang gave a banquet and Jia Lian went again.

Jia Lian did not hesitate to take the prostitutes he had invited from the brothel back home. These prostitutes also insisted that Lord Jia's boss was very powerful and they were very satisfied.

You know what, the price of the two girls that Jia Lian took a fancy to and brought back has gone up. It used to be fifty taels a night, but now it’s less than two hundred taels. You’d better have a cup of tea and listen to some music outside.

You know what, many rich people are willing to spend the money and want to be friends with the top scholar.

Jia Lian stayed in Jinan Prefecture for three days before leaving in a leisurely manner. Wu De and Lin Guang tried to get him to say something during the reception. Jia Lian told them that he was just trying to see how the performance evaluation system was being implemented. There was no problem at the moment, and he would go to various prefectures to take a look. Now that he was out, he had to pretend to be good.

The two of them were reluctantly relieved when they saw that Jia Lian was really just pretending to be in Jinan and had no intention of investigating. In short, since the person had not left, they were all on high alert to avoid being tricked into hiding the truth.

Before Jia Lian left Jinan Prefecture, Wu De and Lin Guang discussed privately and decided that they were still worried and decided to follow him.

The two men found Jia Lian and expressed their willingness to accompany him on the inspection. Jia Lian did not refuse, and the two men felt relieved. Of course, they were still not completely relieved.

Jia Lian could understand the thoughts of these two people, and he would also feel uneasy if it were him.

There are many officials who turn their backs on others. The higher you go, the fewer opportunities you have. You have to cheat others so that you can climb up.

Do you dare to say that there is no possibility that Jia Lian came to Shandong to serve as the governor? When he was a censor, he was a fourth-rank official. He was in the Research and Development Department, which was a third-rank official.

The two chief officers accompanied Jia Lian on a tour of inspection. After half a month, they finally arrived at Dengzhou Prefecture. Jia Lian told them that this was the last stop and they would return to the capital after the work was done.

(End of this chapter)