Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 472 Family, Country and World
Lin Ping brought the latest news from the capital. The Navy Office was officially established, and Niu Jizong was appointed as the Prime Minister of the Navy. Although the Navy was still under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of War, its actual status was equal to that of the Minister of War. Since Yue Qi became the Minister of War, the nobles once again took control of another important department.

There is no doubt that Wang Ziteng's achievements in Annan gave Emperor Chenghui great confidence. The censor impeached Wang Ziteng for selling Jiaozhi officials in Guangdong and Guangxi, but the emperor did not respond.

Jia Lian had a great time in Dengzhou, and he gave Lin Ping a lot of instructions on how to maintain it afterwards.

"In the hundred years since the founding of our dynasty, the gentry has gone from being the original foundation of our rule to a cancer that must be taken seriously. Recent investigations have found that the gentry clans in Dengzhou generally have the phenomenon of setting up private courts. The power of the gentry and clans in the local area is limited to mediating local conflicts, and cannot exceed this. If such a situation is discovered, the government must resolutely crack down on it. Public power must never be placed in the hands of private individuals. If this continues, the government's prestige will be lost. You can write a memorial to the emperor and explain this in detail."

Lin Ping woke up immediately after hearing this, and was so scared that cold sweat broke out on his back. How could such a thing be easily touched? Was he going to make enemies with the gentry and clans in the world?

Jia Lian saw his unpredictable expression and knew that he was struggling. In the end, Lin Ping gritted his teeth and said, "Then I will make the report!"

There is no choice, really no choice. Now everyone says that Lin Ping is Jia Lian's accomplice. If Lin Ping doesn't dare to do it, then Jia Lian will have to do it himself.

Jia Lian nodded with satisfaction. As the leader of the gang, his words were still useful, even in such a big matter.

"Jia has already cleaned up Dengzhou and the surrounding counties. The gentry are relatively honest in the short term. It is hard to say whether the old problems will relapse in the future. Brother Lin should keep a close eye on them."

Lin Ping had a headache and asked, "What should we do if the gentry don't cooperate during the two-tax period?"

Jia Lian smiled and said, "If you cooperate well, you will get some benefits. If you don't cooperate well, let him ruin your family. I tell you, they are not clean, and it is too easy to find a handle. If you do it boldly below, someone above will deal with you, and I will naturally come forward to solve it."

After staying in Dengzhou for a few more days, Jia Lian set off for Tianjin to continue his account-checking journey.

The news from Dengzhou had already spread. When Jia Lian arrived in Tianjin, the prefect had already brought a group of people to greet him. After he settled down, he voluntarily handed in all the accounts, as if he was not afraid of being checked.

Jia Lian mainly checked the 300,000 yuan of internal treasury to see if there was any problem, and did not check anything else.

Speaking of which, Tianjin is a very fertile place. As long as officials are not too greedy, they can take any money and basically will not make any mistakes, and it will not hinder them from making money.

Probably because it is too close to Beijing, the shipyard in Tianjin does not have too many problems. It just means that the learning time is a bit long and the ship has just been put on the slipway.

Jia Lian was not polite at all and warned them sternly: "In the future, if there is any progress, you must report it in time. This is related to the treasury, so don't be careless."

At least on paper, after finding no problems, Jia Lian's attitude softened a lot. On the navy side, Sun Jinzhong played a little trick and sent Sun Shaozu to Wang Ziteng's command. Although his rank was not raised, he was still a lieutenant general, but he participated in the war and made meritorious service. Although the court did not give him any reward, he personally accumulated experience in leading troops.

As for whether he had done anything tricky in private, Sun Jinzhong said that he had definitely never touched opium.

Jia Lian even sent people to the city to investigate and found that the opium dens that had been opened privately before were now closed, at least Jia Lian didn't see any in Tianjin.

As a close friend, Jia Lian specifically told Sun Jinzhong: "You can make other money, but you must never touch the money from selling opium, which will destroy your family line. Now that the Navy Office has been established, your rank as commander has also risen. You can strive for the position of commander of the Beiyang Navy."

In terms of status, Niu Jizong's Minister of the Navy was a first-rank official. In the past, civil officials were more important than military officials, and the status of a first-rank official was not as good as that of the second-rank officials such as the Minister of Works and the Minister of Justice. Now it is different. The nobility has risen again. Yue Qi has been appointed as the Minister of War. His position is a second-rank official, but he is not inferior to other second-rank officials.

Speaking of the six ministries, the most important ones are the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Revenue, and the Ministry of War, and the Ministry of Rites is ranked fourth. This shows the emperor's good intentions.

Yue Qi was used as the new noble, and Niu Jizon was used as the old noble. A balance was achieved among the nobles and within the court.

Once it is balanced, it is stable.

To put it bluntly, individuals can be carefree as long as they are happy and can take revenge. Once you enter the public sector, you must pursue stability, personal problems, government stability, and overall stability.

Without a stable order, there is no room for the power in our hands to be exercised.

Even if Jia Lian was angry, there was no reason for him to kill people in Dengzhou. This was the reason. Since this was a public matter, it was not the place for personal loyalty to be brought into play.

A dispute for the sake of personal satisfaction means a loss of fairness.

Personal interests and collective interests are not necessarily contradictory, but the extreme pursuit of personal interests will inevitably hurt others.

So, what makes you think you can do that?
Feeling that some chaos exists, I am afraid of 404 error if I start to criticize too much, so I can only be more subtle.

Things were easy in Tianjin, Jia Lian finished quickly and left at a leisurely pace, returning to the capital.

Even though Jia Lian did nothing in Tianjin, not even dealing with the gentry, firecrackers were still heard everywhere in Tianjin on the day he left.

The meaning of setting off firecrackers during non-holiday periods is very clear.

Even if Jia Lian had heard it all the way, he pretended not to hear it because it would not hurt him in the slightest.

When he returned to Beijing to report, Emperor Chenghui had someone bring him a basket of impeachment memorials: "Would you like to take a look? They are all impeachments against you."

Jia Lian didn't read it, but he was still very curious and asked: "What are the charges?"

Emperor Chenghui satisfied his curiosity: "No serious crime, just disheveled clothes, accompanied by maids and errand boys, disturbing the people along the way, etc."

Jia Lian was very disappointed and said, "I thought someone would impeach me for abusing and harming the gentry."

Emperor Chenghui also laughed: "The censors are not stupid. Besides, General Lin is watching us."

Jia Lian showed a trace of regret: "This is all I can do. The situation is like this, what can I do?"

Emperor Chenghui nodded and said, "It's good to be able to do this. If all officials in the world can be like you, I will be at peace. However, you don't have to feel regretful. It's always moving in a good direction."

Jia Lian smiled and said, "Mr. Hengqu said that it was to bring peace to the world for all eternity. The pattern is there, but that's all."

Speaking of this, Emperor Chenghui was a little uncomfortable. After Emperor Wu of Han abolished all schools of thought and respected Confucianism alone, the emperor still used the Legalist approach when governing the country. Confucianism is just a layer of skin. Is it useful? Of course it is useful. If it is not useful, it will not continue. It's just that the side effects are relatively large. But how to say it, for now, this is the best way.

Looking at the problem from Jia Lian's perspective, it is a question of the matching degree between production relations and productivity.

In other words, China's situation is too special. Even if it is a system learned from the West, it must be combined with the actual situation and take its own special path. Throughout history, when times need change, there will always be heroes who emerge. Regardless of their personal success or failure, their appearance itself is a push from the majority force.

Whether or not Wang Anshi, Zhang Juzheng, and even the people who participated in the Westernization Movement achieved good results is one thing, but they always did it, leaving profound lessons for future generations.

Because they did things that others dared not do, history recorded them, and future generations should give them a fair evaluation.

Personally speaking, if I were in that time point, even if I were a time traveler, I might not be able to do better than them.

Never underestimate the political wisdom of the ancients. Even if you have the ability to see through the sky and know the direction of history, you will still run into obstacles everywhere when you are in it.

After reading too many books, I really feel powerless. I can only say that the founding group is really awesome!
It can only be said that the emergence of the founding group at a critical juncture in the nation’s destiny is a blessing for the nation.

The goal of Confucianism is ambitious, there is no doubt about that. The goal of the world being one is so far-reaching.

Moving towards a great goal, little by little, even if no changes can be seen during the process, just like Yugong moving the mountains, or like the moon leaving the earth little by little.

If you understand this principle, the slogan of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation will not seem abrupt at all. Instead, you will feel that it is timely.

As a time traveler, Jia Lian has been trying to open his eyes to the world, not to say how good the West is, but to say what Mencius said, "Born in sorrow and die in comfort!"
A nation or country without a sense of crisis will not go far.

Because they had really fought against the coalition of 17 countries, when a certain country designed its military force, it was aimed at single-handedly fighting against 17 countries or even more countries.

When this country was first established, the external environment was so bad that people could only think of the worst-case scenario. As it turned out, they were right.

"The Celestial Empire is not something that can be claimed just by words. It must be recognized by other countries. It is not enough for the surrounding small countries to recognize it. It must also be recognized by the more distant Western countries. This is what I think." Jia Lian told the emperor his true thoughts very frankly. Emperor Chenghui agreed with him and said, "I know what you think and I believe it."

What a person does can be seen by everyone, including the emperor. If a person only seeks personal gain, he cannot do what Jia Lian did.

People without public spirit do things that others cannot see, so how can the emperor not see it?
"The country is lucky to have your Majesty, and I am lucky to have your Majesty's kindness." Jia Lian was not flattering this time, but he really felt that Emperor Chenghui was much better than other emperors. It was a great fortune to be able to appear during the reign of Emperor Chenghui.

"Well, between you and me, there is no need for this." After hearing his heartfelt words, Emperor Chenghui felt very uncomfortable. Jia Lian was so young, but he could understand the emperor's heart. In comparison, there were countless civil and military officials in the court who knew me, but they could not understand my heart when they did things.

“It is not wrong to put family first, but too much is as bad as too little. Moderation is easier said than done!”

Jia Lian was quite emotional. In fact, some things in Confucianism were really not commendable. That's right, most people only talk about it but don't do it.

Wang Yangming jumped out and called for the unity of knowledge and action, but it was of no use!
But when the moment of national crisis really comes, countless people will sacrifice their lives to defend the country and the nation.

So, from Jia Lian's perspective, did Confucianism succeed or fail?

I'm afraid this problem cannot be explained clearly by the two words "success or failure". Many thoughts are deeply rooted in our bones.

Therefore, what Jia Lian needs to do is to let the Chinese people see the power of industry, rather than to touch the system.

When the power of industry is unleashed, a powerful social force will naturally emerge, and at that time, they will drive social change.

Jia Lian believed that with a 5,000-year-old civilization as its foundation, industrialized China would definitely not be like the Angsa people.

"Go back and think carefully about the topics of the provincial examination. I will use you in a big way!" Emperor Chenghui made the promise again.

Jia Lian said without hesitation: "Don't think too much. The first question of the provincial examination is "family, country and the world". Cultivating oneself, managing the family, governing the country and pacifying the world, this statement is absolutely correct. If there is any mistake, it is the individual's mistake when facing the choice."

After leaving the palace, Jia Lian went to the cabinet first and met Zhang Tingen, but received only a simple nod and one sentence: "When you come back, prepare to be the chief examiner of the provincial examination!"

Jia Lian smiled and said, "What can the examiner prepare for? Master, please think more about the scope of the provincial examination."

Zhang Tingen stopped writing and looked at him sharply, "Why, do you want to include your Jia's practical studies in the exam?"

Jia Lian smiled and said, "If it's possible, that would be the best!"

Zhang Tingen sneered, "If you want to die, don't drag me into this! Get lost!"

Jia Lian smiled and left.

There is one thing that Jia Lian has always been paying attention to, and that is the teaching materials of Jia's practical studies and how well they are selling.

If you want to know how the sales are going, you naturally have to go to Jia Rong.

Since its inception, Jia's Bookstore has become the industry leader in Beijing. Although those pirates deserve to die, the content of Jia's practical learning is still available to more people through piracy.

"Why is my second uncle here instead of going home?" Jia Rong was very surprised. He used the bookstore as his base camp, naturally to save face.

There is always a moral advantage in selling books.

"I came to see how the Jia's practical school textbooks are selling?" Jia Lian explained his purpose, but Jia Rong said a little embarrassedly: "It's selling so-so. There are only a few dozen left from the original 5,000 copies printed."

Jia Lian was not disappointed at all, and exclaimed: "They are almost all sold out? What good news!"

Jia Rong said, "Second Uncle, other books sold in the bookstore are worth tens of thousands a year, but with only 5,000 copies, there are still some left over after more than a year, and that's even including the textbooks for the technical school."

Jia Lian still waved his hand nonchalantly: "It's not a big deal. Five thousand copies were sold in Beijing, and pirated copies must have sold even more nationwide. As long as more people see it, it's good news."

When Jia Rong heard this, he did not argue and said, "In this case, the total sales volume can be increased several times."

Books in this era are very valuable. If you buy them, you will really read them. To put it more tragically, there are too few channels to obtain knowledge.

(End of this chapter)