Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 468 Threats and Cooperation

Officials from Dengzhou also came out ten miles to greet him, but Jia Lian still looked harmless.

When they reached the city gate, Jia Lian ordered the sedan chair to stop. Everyone thought it was abrupt, but they didn't pay much attention to it. Unexpectedly, Jia Lian got off the sedan chair, became extremely serious, raised the token in his hand and said loudly: "Shenjiying, take over the city defense."

Nothing had happened so far, and Governor Wu De and Provincial Governor Lin Guang thought that this was the last hurdle, but they never expected Jia Lian to suddenly attack here and directly order the army to take over the city defense. This meant something was going to happen.

"Master Jia, why is this happening?" Wu De asked in panic.

Jia Lian looked at him, without a trace of smile on his face, and said sternly, "I am Jia Lian, the Imperial Inspector of Zhilu, and have been ordered to thoroughly investigate the official shipyard in Dengzhou. The Governor had better hope that he will not be implicated. Otherwise, no matter who it is, I will not be partial to him."

Wu De's face changed slightly. Although Dengzhou Shipyard was under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Industry, he had no right to ask him for help in handling matters on his territory. However, this government office was too small, and the chief officer was only a seventh-rank official. He didn't even know if it had any connection with the government office.

I think, most likely, there are some, after all, he is the governor, and if the people below him want to do something, they must serve their superior well.

Actually, Wu De might not know which official gave benefits, but he knew clearly which officials did not.

It was obviously too late to react at this point.

The Shenjiying has directly controlled all officials and quickly sent people to take over the city defense.

All the officials followed him to the prefectural yamen. Jia Lian required everyone to stay in the yamen during the investigation, otherwise they could not blame the Shenjiying for shooting and their deaths would be in vain.

As the chief officials of a province, Wu De and Lin Guang did not make a fuss, but obediently followed to the prefectural government office to stay, waiting for Jia Lian to thoroughly investigate the shipyard. It was not that they were not afraid, but they were probably a little sure in their hearts that the shipyard might be involved, but it was definitely not related.

When the Shenjiying arrived at the shipyard government office, they immediately sealed up all the accounts. They did not check the accounts of other government offices.

This makes the unrelated officials feel a lot more relaxed, since after all, they are not being investigated, so they just need to cooperate.

After seeing how quickly Jia Lian turned hostile, Wu De and Lin Guang could not help but feel sympathetic during a private discussion. If they were not investigated this time, what about next time? This Jia guy is really a piece of shit! It was a waste of good wine and food to entertain him. There was really no news in advance. Fortunately, these two brothers were relatively stable and did not send the Chengyi right away. The plan was to send it before Jia Lian left.

Now I realize that if I didn't send it in advance, I would have missed a handle. Who knows if this guy will make a big fuss about it.

The people in Dengzhou Prefecture were the most uneasy. Jia Lian locked them up in a room. They had to stay there until the investigation was complete. They had to eat, drink, defecate and urinate in the room. After all, this was Dengzhou Prefecture's territory. Who could guarantee that they had not interfered in the shipyard's affairs? Before locking them up, Jia Lian also warned everyone.

"You all don't understand Jia's style of doing things. This time, I am investigating the case under the order of the emperor. Jia first warns you that it is best to stay at home and don't have any bad thoughts. If anyone here gets into trouble, everyone will be punished. I can't say that you will lose your life, but you will definitely lose your position. Don't think that Jia is just bragging. Please see, the emperor's order is here, and Jia can do whatever he wants."

The effect of this warning was very good. The so-called doing things expediently means that for those below the third rank, execute first and report later.

These officials did not want to make trouble, but they did not dare to. The bayonets of the Shenji Camp were all drawn. In front of the glaring bayonets, those who made trouble would die immediately, while those who did not make trouble might not die.

The prefect of Dengzhou behaved in a rather special way. He was completely stunned, just like Xianglin Sao, muttering to himself: "I am so stupid, really!"

Jia Lian did not go anywhere but sat in the hall of the prefectural government of Dengzhou. He did not go to the back house to rest at night but slept on the floor in the hall.

Waiting for the accountants to sort out the shipyard's accounts.

In the evening, Wu De and Lin Guang arrived together. Seeing Jia Lian sitting in the lobby, they looked at each other with mixed feelings and walked forward together. Wu De folded his hands and said, "Inspector Jia, can you tell me the truth?"

Jia Lian said to the two men, "Did you see me restricting your freedom of movement while you were in the government office?"

"That being said, we can't get out, right?" Lin Guang was a little unhappy and felt that Jia Lian was indeed a bad person.

"We don't let you two leave because we want to protect you two." Jia Lian replied neither softly nor harshly. Lin Guang felt confident. He knew that it had nothing to do with the Dengzhou Shipyard. At most, it was just eating and drinking, and receiving some small gifts during the New Year.

Now that Jia Lian has confined him to the yamen, it would be strange if he was happy.

"We two are busy with many things to do, and keeping us here will delay our work." Wu De expressed it implicitly. Can you let us go?
Jia Lian looked at him with a smile and asked, "Are you going to disobey the order, Governor?"

At this point, the two had nothing to say. Lin Guang said, "Our followers can always come in, right? I'm not used to having no one to take care of me." Jia Lian was more relaxed about this: "You can come in, but don't even think about leaving."

The two had no objection to this, and Jia Lian agreed that each of them could bring in two followers.

The place where I live is the prefectural government office. In ancient times, there was a bad habit of not repairing government offices, at least not doing major repairs, but small-scale repairs were acceptable. This led to the problem that many government offices in many places were relatively old.

The same was true of the Dengzhou government office, which consisted of just a few rooms. The ones where the prefect and his wives lived were fairly well built, while the other rooms were very average, though they were cleaned fairly well and were barely habitable.

But so many officials were imprisoned here, and they couldn't even drive their families away from the backyard, so they could only find a room to stay in.

Wu Dedai's attendant followed him in and immediately asked him if he had any dealings with the Dengzhou Shipyard.

Chang Sui said that Dengzhou Prefecture had a lot of contacts, but the shipyard had no contacts. After all, it was under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Industry, so it was not easy to interfere too much. They were also tactful and sent a little tribute, not much, just a few hundred taels.

"Did you really accept the money?" Wu De's face looked a little ugly, for fear that Jia Lian would find out and make a big fuss about it.

Lin Guang was the same. He was really worried and asked his confidant Chang Sui about it.

The answer he got was the same. Lin Guang was a cautious official and did not overstep his authority to manage the Ministry of Works. It was just that his subordinates gave him gifts and Lin Guang did accept them, but the amount was not large.

So, what should he do next? As midnight approached, Wu De, who had not lain down yet, asked his attendant to prepare a lantern and use it to go to the main hall.

As a result, as soon as he went out, he saw Lin Guang, who lived opposite him, opening the door and coming out. The two looked at each other and smiled bitterly.

"Together?" Wu De invited. Lin Guang smiled bitterly: "What else can I do? It's not a big deal, so why not tell me in advance?"

"Ah, I was hoping for the best. It would be embarrassing if I found out later."

"I hope Jia Lian will just drink three cups of wine as punishment."

The two of them comforted each other and went back to the main hall. In fact, they had a plan in mind. After all, they could call their followers in. This matter itself was very telling. Jia Lian left room for maneuver.

Jia Lian was actually waiting for them to come. After all, Dengzhou is in Shandong, and some things do require their cooperation, which makes it easier to handle. So, although Jia Lian said it was strict, in fact, the restrictions on the two were not strict. I guess they can see that they should be able to come in a while. They didn't say it directly before, one because they didn't understand the severity of the nature, and the other because they didn't look good.

Just as midnight arrived, the two of them appeared outside the hall at the same time. Jia Lian stood up to greet them with a smile and motioned Xiren and Qingwen to serve them tea.

Speaking of these two maids, they are wearing men's clothes at the moment, but they look very good and have a unique charm.

Unfortunately, Jia Lian was not here to have fun, but to do business, so naturally he would not do anything to them.

If I really want to be impatient, I won't choose tonight. There will be plenty of time later.

After serving tea, the two men withdrew and stayed in the compartment.

Wu De and Lin Guang also dismissed their followers. When there were only three of them left, Wu De smiled and said, "Master Lin, thank you for letting me go first."

Lin Guang nodded: "Okay!"

Jia Lian watched the two perform with a smile on his face. Knowing that they had no major problems, Jia Lian was actually the most relaxed.

"Your Excellency the Inspector, the Dengzhou Shipyard did send some New Year gifts and a tribute of eight hundred taels. The people below did accept them. It is up to you to decide how to deal with them." Wu De went straight to the point and spilled the beans.

Jia Lian did not answer directly, but looked at Lin Guang: "Master Lin, it's your turn."

Lin Guang smiled bitterly and shook his head: "It's almost the same on my side, except that I only received 500 taels of silver."

After Jia Lian heard what he had said, he acted as if he was deeply distressed: "You two, how can I say this to you? His Majesty spent the treasury just to build a ship that suits him as soon as possible, and you dare to accept this money?"

"I don't know either. The money came from His Majesty's treasury." Wu De made a cunning argument. It was mainly because of Jia Lian's performance that he lacked persuasiveness and made a very confident self-defense.

Lin Guang also thought so. He also realized that Jia Lian had no intention of dealing with them.

"This is also the case with me. I really don't know." In fact, they only said half of it. There were so many people who sent money, who could remember them all? Only Chang Sui and the housekeeper who handled it personally could figure it out.

As for what money should be collected and what money should not be collected, that's all nonsense. How can you not collect money that is delivered to your door?
It has always been like this, if someone offers money to your door, just accept it. People travel thousands of miles to become officials just for money!

Is there any difference between the money of the Ministry of Revenue and the money of the Imperial Treasury? Can we still distinguish between high and low?
"It was the time when the performance evaluation system was being implemented. I accepted money from my subordinates so that they would feel at ease and work hard for the court." Wu De found another reason, which shows how outrageous his real thoughts were.

Don't think that this is the case with officials in ancient times. If you don't believe me, look at the Lighthouse Country, where a bag of screws costs $90,000.

"At any other time, you two won't be able to leave smoothly." Jia Lian said something harsh, and the two of them were relieved immediately. They had passed the test. There must be a follow-up. Jia Lian needed their cooperation. It was understandable. They were all officials, and their routines were similar.

"You two, remember to hand over the money you collected. I will ask the accountant to include it in the account, and then you two will have nothing to do with the shipyard. Also, thank you for your trouble, please go visit the local officials and comfort them, tell them not to have any wild thoughts, no one must die. If anyone dies, I will hold the blame on you two." Jia Lian said it harshly. Although the two men were very unhappy, they still accepted it. Who would let Jia Lian hold their pigtails in their hands?
If they don't cooperate, Jia Lian will report it, and they may lose their official positions. Even if they don't lose their positions, their careers will reach the top. They may even have to serve as officials in remote areas, and their ranks will be lowered.

In front of the bayonets of the Shenji Camp, the two men came to the house where all the officials were imprisoned. Standing at the door, Wu De spoke first and coughed; "Everyone, I am Wu De. I came here in the middle of the night to tell you that the inspector has been ordered to investigate the shipyard. Everyone must cooperate well and don't think about getting rid of it all. The inspector has come with the imperial edict, and there is no such thing as not bringing disaster to relatives. Even if someone wants to die, they have to wait until the case is investigated thoroughly before dying. Otherwise, I guarantee that the daughter-in-law of the family will appear in the brothel, and the men will be exiled to the new province. All three families will be implicated."

After Wu De finished speaking, Lin Guang also stood up and said, "Everyone has heard what the governor said, and I mean the same thing. But I will add one more thing. Whoever makes the governor and I suffer a bad end, I will make his entire family suffer a bad end. Don't think that exiling your family members to a new province will solve the problem. There are many horse thieves on the road. Be careful that your family will be in danger. The ancestral temple will be cut off from incense, and the ancestral tombs will be dug up. The ashes of the ancestors will be scattered. If you cooperate well, this official and the governor promise that your family members will not be involved, and only your accounts will be held accountable."

The two seemed to be speaking harshly, but in fact they were also sending a signal to the officials. See, we can all move around with our regular followers, so your problems are not a big deal. Isn't it good to save your life? Those who are not related should cheer up and keep an eye on those who are not happy, so as not to be implicated together. The inspector has made a statement.

To be honest, although Jia Lian’s previous threats had some effect, they were not as effective as these two threats.

The fact that the two of them came here means that they have reached a consensus. As long as the investigation goes smoothly, they will be fine. If someone doesn't cooperate at this time and lets them get involved, it will really dig up your ancestral grave.

After Jia Lian knew what the two said, he could only sigh slightly. It was a matter of personal interests, so what was the point of saying something harsh?
Even though these people are all educated in the books of sages, they may have actually done things more despicable than thieves and prostitutes.

Let’s take an inappropriate example, Loli Island.

Why do those dignitaries want to go? Is it because they like this?

They certainly won’t at the beginning, because they have been in a privileged position for a long time, they are unscrupulous, they do evil without consequence, their threshold of excitement is getting higher and higher, and they are getting more and more perverted. Because of their privilege, even if they do evil, they will not be punished, so they naturally have no scruples.

You should all know a sentence from a political book: the law serves the ruling class.

If you look through all the political books in the world, you will probably find that only the textbooks we study are written in this way.

(End of this chapter)