Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 496 Disparity
The Chen brothers were the most sober people at the scene, so their reactions were the most intense.

The reason is simple. All the officials in Huizhou were taken away by Long Jinwei. How can the eggs in an overturned nest remain intact?
Chen Dong was still thinking of saving himself in other ways. After all, Jia Lian had not completely overturned the table, and he was still harboring illusions. But Chen Ding was different. He believed more in his own strength to save himself.

Facing the sharp blade, Jia Lian was not panicked at all, but showed surprise. He really didn't expect Chen Ding to have such courage, and he also looked up to Chen Ding. Instead of asking how dare you?
“Bang, bang, bang...!” Seven consecutive explosions were deafening, and the pungent smoke filled the house.

Chen Ding's momentum of rushing forward was interrupted, and then he retreated. After the gunfire stopped, his eyes widened with disbelief, and he fell on his back.

Zhuzi blew the smoke from the muzzle of the gun in a pretentious manner, and then was pulled away by Jia Lian behind him, almost cursing. [You are trying to show off my power? ]

Chen Ding was lying on the wooden floor, twitching constantly, blood oozing from his mouth and nose. The sharp blade was still tightly held in his hand, but he was unable to swing it.

Within seven steps, the gun was fast and accurate. Jia Lian didn't even have the chance to say this line. He felt like there was something stuck in his throat and wanted to kick the pillar to death.

Chen Dong also opened his eyes. In addition to shock, there was also fear in his eyes, fear of the unknown.

How far is five steps? It would take only one second to reach the front, but Chen Ding couldn't even reach that distance in just one second.

Finally, why not seven shots? Because a round was loaded in advance.

There were seven or eight local gentry at the scene, all slumped in their chairs, with water dripping from under some of the chairs.

This kind of people are usually very bad-looking, but when they are in danger, they become even worse.

Chen Dong closed his eyes again, this time his face was full of pain, not because of Chen Ding's death, but because the life he believed to exist was cut off by Chen Ding.

In fact, he had already seen clearly that this drama was performed by Jia Lian and Wei Da together.

At the beginning, they were targeting Huizhou. If they could take down all the officials, what about the gentry?

"Governor Jia, I admit that I have not been negligent." Chen Dong spoke, still trying his best to save himself, he was unwilling to give up.

Jia Lian smiled and motioned for someone to come in and move Chen Ding's body away. Even though he was not completely dead yet, the strong smell of blood made people feel a little nauseous.

"Mr. Chen naturally did not neglect me, but you neglected His Majesty." Jia Lian answered with a smile, and his consistent character must be maintained.

Chen Ding naturally thought that his bad luck was due to the silver coin incident and had nothing to do with other things. In fact, his bad luck was not only due to the silver coin, but also other things, but the silver coin was brought up.

"Chen is willing to offer all his property, just to save the Chen family." Chen Dong was still struggling, but he overlooked one thing. Why did Chen Ding want to achieve his goal with his mouth when he couldn't even use a knife? It's like two countries at war, and the losing party in the negotiation wants to gain some benefits with his mouth. Isn't this funny?

"Mr. Chen, it is not much harder for me to crush Chen to death than to crush an ant. Do you understand what I mean?" Jia Lian still had a smile on his face, and Chen Dong was completely defeated.

"Jia, you will die a miserable death!" Chen Dong cursed loudly, rushed to the window and stopped. He climbed a few times, slid down slowly, and finally turned around and leaned against the wall, slowly collapsed to the ground, his eyes dull.

"Tsk!" Jia Lian said with disdain, "You don't even have the courage to jump off the building, so why are you negotiating terms with me?"
People who can really negotiate conditions usually don't waste time talking and draw a line that even the most powerful country in the world dare not cross.

This is really awesome!
"Boring!" Jia Lian complained directly. This situation was really boring. The power gap between the two sides was too big, not to mention that the other party did not have the courage to fight to the death.

In fact, Jia Lian did not hide the news of arresting Manager Qin because he wanted to wait for the Chen brothers to fight to the death, but unfortunately they did not.

"Sir!" The captain leading the troops came in and saluted with his arms crossed.

Jia Lian hummed, and the captain said, "The Chen family's manors have been completely controlled. We are just waiting for the order from the lord to start the confiscation of property."

Jia Lian looked at Chen Dong and said calmly, "Let's start. Starting with the Chen family, all those who benefit from the profit sharing and prohibition of silver coins from circulating will be taken down."

Why did the Dragon Guards have to be involved in this case? Jia Lian clearly had enough power to handle it.

The reason is actually very simple, it's about dividing the pie. The Huizhou silver coin case was handed over to Long Jinwei at the official level, one because it was legitimate, and the other because the proceeds from the confiscation of property were mostly for the inner treasury. Jia Lian was in charge of handling the local gentry, and the proceeds from the confiscation of property could be used to supplement military funds. Although Jia Lian is not short of money now, he will be very short of money in the future, and it is not cheap to maintain a navy.

Another point is to deter local governments. Since Jia Lian took office, local governments have mainly resisted his policies and mostly pretended to obey but secretly disobeyed them.

Some people are like maggots in a cesspool, they are scared to death, but they still wriggle desperately. They are extremely dirty, but they want to appear clean and white.

Again, Jia Lian did not intend to follow the example of Wang Anshi and Zhang Juzheng, who chose to redistribute the cake, and everyone saw the result. In fact, it was a failure.

Jia Lian chose to make the cake bigger, and the advantage of doing so is that there is less resistance, at least from the emperor.

Jia Lian has some good points. He knows himself well. He will never do something like a time traveler who travels through time and space to deal with Li Shimin.

Not to mention Li Shimin, who was such a powerful man, in any relatively stable era, the imperial court always had the absolute upper hand.

The reason is very simple: resources from all over the country can be mobilized.

Of course, there is another very important factor. It has not reached the stage of rebellion. Emperor Chenghui is working very hard to refresh the country and rectify the internal affairs, although the effect is not significant. The external development is rapid. Let's put it this way. At present, the northwest and northeast regions can absorb tens of millions of people, which can greatly ease the internal contradiction between people and land.

Internal conflicts have been eased, but Jia Lian is still making small moves, using huge benefits to attract more people to join his camp. The essence of many things is actually very simple, it all depends on whether the strength is there.

We have all learned Marxism-Leninism, which teaches that matter determines consciousness and the material base determines the superstructure.

When that stage really comes, endogenous forces will drive social change.

Many things are not that complicated. To put it bluntly, it can be summed up in four words: interests.

Many people fail to see that it’s not that they are stupid, but that their cognition is limited.

It is very difficult for people to break out of the limitations of cognition. No ruling class in history will tell you the nature of human society in textbooks.

Sadly, the truth is right in front of us, but most people ignore it. It really fits the saying that people can never teach people, but things can teach people once and for all.

Jia Lian didn't have the energy to care about what happened next. He turned around and went downstairs listlessly, humming a little tune as he walked back.

The streets were very quiet and deserted at this moment. The only things you could see were patrolling soldiers and the sound of footsteps.

The subsequent matters were carried out by his subordinates. Jia Lian only had to wait for a result and then report it.

After returning to the residence, Jia Lian asked someone to bring the shopkeeper Qin San over and politely gave him a cup of tea.

Qin San, the shopkeeper who had seen many storms, was not calm at this moment, and was even a little nervous. The reason was simple, the status of the two people was very different.

"Tomorrow morning, I will let you go back. Don't even think about surrendering. I will show the way to the Dragon King of the Sea. Leave this sea and develop in Southeast Asia. In the next few years, I will definitely lead my troops south. By then, as long as the Dragon King of the Sea can cooperate, you will have a place to settle down in Southeast Asia. Otherwise, there is only one way to go, and that is death." Jia Lian's attitude was very clear. You are not worthy of surrendering.

Of course, Shopkeeper Qin San would not give up so easily. He tried hard and said, "Is it not possible to spend money?"

Jia Lian shook his head: "You guys are bandits, and you are naturally opposed to the government. If an official says he can accept you, he must be treating you as toilet paper and throwing you away when your value is exhausted. This governor has always been upright and honest, and he doesn't cheat people. The court has reached an agreement with the two Western powers, England and France, that Southeast Asia is the court's sphere of influence. This is your only chance to contribute to the court. If you do a good job, you can return to the mainland when you retire in the future. But don't worry about the main family business. Speaking of which, this governor has been very tolerant."

Shopkeeper Qin San asked in confusion, "Why can General Wang acknowledge our existence, but the Governor cannot?"

Jia Lian heard this question and smiled, "It's a good question. The biggest difference between me and Wang Taiwei is that I pursue my own interests, the interests of my family. I pursue the interests of the court. In a broader sense, the world is for the public! We strive for a larger living space for the Chinese nation. Well, you don't understand these things! Just understand your value. If you have no integrity to the court, I will naturally send troops to destroy you. If I don't destroy you, it will cause trouble for my goal."

"I really don't understand the governor's grand goal. I have remembered what you said, sir, and will report it truthfully." Shopkeeper Qin San gave up. There was no other way. The power disparity was too great.

That's right, Jia Lian couldn't wipe out Hai Longtou in a short time, but if he had three to five years, even though this sea area was huge, Jia Lian could really do it. Let's not talk about anything else, just talk about Hai Longtou's internal situation, is it difficult to bribe a few people? As long as there is a certain target and the whereabouts are known, is it difficult to wipe them out? In fact, Wang Ziteng can do it, but he thinks they are still useful and assumes their existence.

In fact, there is another thing that Shopkeeper Qin San finds very mysterious. He doesn't know why he is not humble when facing Jia Lian. This is completely different from when he faced Wang Ziteng before.

Oh, he didn't even meet Wang Ziteng at the beginning. The person he met was a staff member below, who was not even an official, so he sent him away. You know, he paid 100,000 taels for that meeting.

Jia Lian didn't ask for even a tael of silver. Not only did he meet the woman, he also spoke to her in an equal manner. At least that was the impression given to others.

How to describe it? Shopkeeper Qin's personal feeling is that Jia Lian treats him as a person, while Wang Ziteng, the aide, treats him as an object, an object for passing messages.

"There is one more thing that must be told to Hai Longtou." Jia Lian suddenly remembered and added.

"Please give your instructions, Governor!" Shopkeeper Qin San accepted it respectfully.

"The opium trade is too unscrupulous. It is no longer allowed, at least not within the Chinese community. Otherwise, if this governor finds out, I will kill him anyway."

Jia Lian could still tolerate other things, but he really couldn't tolerate this.

Shopkeeper Qin San didn't expect this. He opened his mouth to explain, but no words came out. This was a warning, not a discussion, and he knew it very well.

"I've made note of this!" Shopkeeper Qin San lowered his waist a little again because he felt the murderous aura.

People who have seen blood are more sensitive to murderous intent. He can also feel that Jia Lian is not an ordinary civil servant, but a ruthless man with blood on his hands.

"Okay, go down. It's getting late. The governor will chop off a few heads tomorrow. You can watch before you leave."

The day passed like this. The reason why Jia Lian was in a bad mood was simple: there was no difficulty.

With his status and within his sphere of influence, it was really easy for him to target a few gentry and people like Manager Qin.

Let me put it this way, if you step on an ant to death while walking, will you feel a sense of accomplishment?
The shopkeeper Qin San and several of his companions were released the next morning. Jia Lian kept his word. Lai San and his family, who were also hidden in the military camp, learned the next morning that the situation in Huizhou had changed last night.

When Shopkeeper Qin San walked out the door, he saw Lai San who was also going out. The two looked at each other without saying a word.

Shopkeeper Qin San and others left the military camp with numb expressions. Their belongings were not searched away, so they did not have to worry about going hungry when they went out.

Lai San walked in another direction. He was summoned to see Jia Lian.

"I'm Lai San, a commoner, and I'd like to pay my respects to the Governor!" Lai San was much more tactful than the shopkeeper Qin San and the others. When he saw Jia Lian, he would kneel down and talk to him.

Jia Lian raised his hand and said, "Forget it. Stand up and talk. I don't like others talking on their knees."

Lai San,..., you didn’t say this when I was kneeling before.

"The governor has summoned me. What can I do for you?" Lai San knew that the future of his family depended on this man. If he had no value, he would probably have no future.

Therefore, he must seize every opportunity to show his value. However, Lai San knew very well that he really had no value, and the time when he was valuable had passed.

The sober ones are the most miserable.

But what can I say? As the pillar of a family, Lai San dare not be confused. He can only struggle with all his might and seize every opportunity.

"I called you here to fulfill my promise. I'll give you two choices. One is to move your whole family to Guangzhou. I'll arrange a job for you in the Maritime Customs Office, which will be enough for your family to live on. The other is that I don't have enough understanding of the local people's sentiments. I used to rely on the information channels of the Dragon Guards. Now I want to create my own channels. If you are willing, you can do it. Don't rush to agree. In the future, when you work for me, you need to go to Southeast Asia, which has certain risks. Think it over before agreeing."

Jia Lian made the offer casually. Lai San was a relatively active person, and could barely be considered a capable person. Jia Lian used Lai San not for local information, but to lay out his plans for Southeast Asia.

Lai San knelt down and kowtowed without any hesitation: "Thank you for taking me in, sir. I am willing to be your running dog."

You see, this is a smart person!
(End of this chapter)