Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 507 Li Qing's Changes

Braving the scorching heat of autumn, Li Qing traveled through the dusty road, crossed the Yellow River, traversed the Taihang Mountains, went out of the Yanmen Pass, and headed east. When he finally saw the capital, tears came to his eyes.

The biggest feeling in the past few years is being left out. As a former reformer, he was not as firm as Zhang Tingen in his stance and was able to protect himself a little, but now he has fallen behind by a large margin and has even been surpassed by Lin Ruhai. And Sun Huazhen, although he is not in the cabinet, his status is actually higher than Li Qing. If the position of the Governor-General of Liangjiang is given to someone else, the emperor will really be worried.

In order to be able to see the emperor as soon as he returned to Beijing, Li Qing planned the time very accurately. He entered the city at around nine in the morning, asked his followers to escort his family home first, and went to the palace gate with a few followers.

In order to hurry on his way, Li Qing spent the Mid-Autumn Festival on the road, which shows how anxious he was.

He is a normal man who always wants to achieve great things as long as there is an opportunity.

During these years in Chang'an, Li Qing spent a lot of time reflecting on himself and wondering what exactly caused him to fall behind.

Comparing Zhang Tingen and Sun Huazhen, it is not difficult to find that these two have one thing in common, which is that they keep a distance from the more active people from Fang Baiyi's group in the past.

From this detail, we can see how much the current emperor dislikes Fang Baiyi, and how he dislikes his indecisiveness at certain times.

Li Qing's self-reflection led him to the conclusion that he should not have become the leader of the so-called School of Mind, and he should not have started a factional dispute with Liang Daoyuan.

The reason is actually very simple. Once you become the leader of a faction, you will naturally be coerced by the people below to do things that you shouldn't do, because as a leader, you must fight for everyone's interests.

It is too late to say these things now. In fact, he is already the leader of the Xinxue school. The Xinxue school's base camp is in Liangjiang. Looking at what Sun Huazhen did in Liangjiang, and then looking at the emperor's attitude, it is too late to regret. Now that he has returned to the cabinet, it shows that His Majesty still trusts him, but he thinks that he is constrained by his status as the leader of Xinxue and chooses to be conservative in many things.

Over the years, the reform measures His Majesty has successively introduced have allowed Li Qing to see clearly what kind of cabinet ministers the emperor really needs.

"I learned the civil and martial arts and sold them to the emperor's family." Li Qing whispered to himself while waiting. The reality made him see clearly that what an official thinks is not important, what matters most is how the emperor sees you.

After waiting for an hour, Qiu Shian came out to greet us. His attitude was polite, that was all.

In the imperial study, the emperor was looking at a table full of dishes and waved at Li Qing: "Didn't you have lunch? Let's eat together."

Li Qing was stunned for a moment, lowered his head and thought quickly, raised his hand and rubbed his eyes vigorously. Emperor Chenghui saw that he did not move and could not help asking: "What's wrong with Li Qing?"

Li Qing sniffed hard, and his eyes were red when he looked up: "I am just sighing that Your Majesty has not changed. He is still the benevolent monarch who cares for his subjects."

Emperor Chenghui was stunned for a moment, and Li Qing had already knelt down and kowtowed: "Etiquette cannot be abolished. Your humble servant Li Qing kowtows to Your Majesty. Long live the emperor."

Realizing that his unreserved behavior had worked, Emperor Chenghui was secretly proud of himself, and slowly stood up and said, "My dear, please get up. I'm hungry and I'm waiting for you to eat."

Li Qing then got up and sat aside to eat with him. He didn't speak during the meal, because he was in the palace and was not allowed to talk while eating. He wanted to avoid the recorder to record that His Majesty and Li Rushui were talking while eating.

People at that time didn't mind it, but later people, if they were stubborn, might comment that it was "not polite."

This was the case in ancient times. The emperor held supreme power, and the ministers below would ask the emperor to do this and that, because power and responsibility were equal. The people below would stare at the emperor and find faults. Even if people at the time could do nothing about the emperor, later generations would make very impolite comments in history books, saying that XX was a tyrant and should be given a bad posthumous title.

This is the so-called posthumous reputation! It is also a manifestation of the emperor's responsibility to the country.

Only when rights and responsibilities are clearly defined can there be room to discuss interests.

This is probably the biggest institutional difference between the University of Tokyo and the West. You can always find someone responsible for everything.

As for the West, the real rights holders have been irresponsible when the institutional structure is established.

How will the attendant record this scene today?
[The emperor granted the three ministers Li Rushui food to eat together, and Li Rushui gave him a large gift to express his gratitude.]

The meal was eaten quickly. After wiping his mouth with a towel, Emperor Chenghui stood up and Li Qing followed him. The emperor and his minister paced in the hall.

At this time, the attendant did not follow, so Emperor Chenghui spoke: "How are Shaanxi and Gansu? How is Ning Qing?"

This question was very implicit. Li Qing, who had prepared in advance, gave a very good answer: "Since your majesty took office, all the laws have won the hearts of the people and have been implemented smoothly. The people of Shaanxi and Gansu all praise you for your holy king. Lord Ning came to Chang'an without any complaints, but repeatedly expressed that your majesty's benevolence far exceeds that of previous benevolent kings, and I have no way to repay your kindness."

After hearing this, Emperor Chenghui simply skipped the previous paragraph. After all, he could clearly understand the so-called public opinion.

"Ning Qing is a loyal person, but he has too many concerns. I am confident that you can be the governor of a region." Emperor Chenghui's words were very subtle. Ning Ke was not qualified to be a cabinet minister.

Why? Because they care too much about the power they have and their reputation.

How can we talk about reputation? Whoever has the right to speak can define reputation. Who has the right to speak in today's world?

Officially, the emperor naturally controlled the direction of public opinion, but what about the people? The right to speak was still in the hands of the gentry.

The loyal ministers in the eyes of the emperor may be treacherous ministers among the people. As for the common people, how can they have a say?
Li Qing’s understanding is that Ning Ke’s loyalty is fine, but he is too selfish.

"I will definitely remember your majesty's teachings! I will put state affairs first and assist your majesty to achieve a prosperous era that surpasses the Han and Tang dynasties." Li Qing immediately responded in a sonorous and powerful voice.

Emperor Chenghui nodded with satisfaction and let Li Qing go back to rest.

On the way home, Li Qing kept reviewing the situation, and only heaved a sigh of relief when he found that there was no problem. Thirteen years after entering Chenghui, a series of events in the political arena were dazzling. It reached a climax a while ago. Who could have thought that Fang Song was fine, Jia Lian was fine, and Ning Ke was sent out.

Was it really Ning Ke's fault? Li Qing thought not. Ning Ke just had the incident of the three sons being beaten at an inappropriate time and handled it improperly.

This gave Li Qing the opportunity to return to Beijing. If Ning Ke had punished the child first instead of going to the two cabinet leaders to argue, the emperor would not have used him as an example to the officials and gentry of the world.

It's really time and fate!
It can be said that Emperor Chenghui’s prestige has reached its peak. Anyone who wants to obstruct the emperor’s reforms at this time will certainly suffer bad consequences.

Didn’t the gentry make a fuss before? When Sun Huazhen of Liangjiang raised his butcher knife, did he show any mercy?

The key is that the emperor has capable people under him, otherwise Li Ni might have succeeded when the emperor was still alive. In fact, he almost succeeded, but he didn't expect Jia Lian to show up. Later, Li Ni led the Hu cavalry into the pass, which was considered difficult to solve at the time. It was Jia Lian who led the troops to defeat the Hu cavalry.

As for whether Emperor Chenghui was a ruthless ruler, officials knew best. During Emperor Chenghui's reign, there were a series of major official corruption cases, but in the end, few people were executed.

Didn't they forgive Li Ni later? They just asked him to stay in Beihai. It was a bit hard, but it was better than being remembered. If you don't know, the army might come to attack you one day.

Didn't the Prince of Dongping and the Prince of Xining also give them a chance? Didn't the Prince of Nan'an and the Prince of Beijing also live comfortably in the capital?
If this is not considered a benevolent monarch, then who else is a benevolent monarch?

Now there is an opportunity in front of us, that is the policy of equalizing the land tax. No one has taken the initiative to propose it yet, so I will propose it. If you miss this opportunity, it will be difficult to quickly secure the position of one of the Three Assistants.

When Li Qing returned home, he looked at the old servant who stayed behind and saw everything familiar. He couldn't help but feel a sore nose: "I'm back again!"

Emperor Chenghui gave Li Qing three days of vacation, but Li Qing was unwilling to wait even a moment. He went straight into the study, spread out paper and pen, and started writing furiously.

People in and out of the government originally thought that the policy of equalizing the land tax would be delayed for a while, but Li Qing, who returned to Beijing, submitted a memorial the next day to prove the necessity of this matter.

At the beginning of the memorial, he talked about his feelings as an official outside, and clearly pointed out the drawbacks of the capitation tax and the opportunities it gave to lower-level officials to manipulate the situation. Therefore, it is imperative to implement the capitation tax based on the amount of land. Not only should the capitation tax be implemented, but also the phenomenon of hidden land in the country should be strictly investigated. If Fang Song had thrown an atomic bomb before, Li Qing's memorial was a hydrogen bomb.

The key is that Li Qing mentioned some specific cases in his memorial. Before passing the imperial examination, the gentry So-and-so was just a poor family with only a hundred acres of land. After passing the imperial examination, in just a few months, the land under his name reached thousands of acres. There is also the corruption of the corvée system. Petty officials in the folks used their power to cause countless middle and lower households to go bankrupt and profit from it. This kind of practice is to dig at the root of the court's taxation. There is no problem in the short term, but it is destined to cause a large number of small and medium households to go bankrupt in the long run, which is to force the people to rebel.

Why is the corvée system corrupt? It's very simple. For normal corvée, the government has to provide food, and people have to be well fed when doing heavy work. In reality, corvée is very scary to the people. Not only has the government never provided enough food, but some people who should perform corvée can pay someone else to do it for them. The current corvée has become a means for grassroots management to make profits. How to make profits? Not to mention corruption, collusion between officials and gentry to seize people's land is a common phenomenon. There is even a saying among the people that seven out of ten people who perform corvée are forced to return.

Therefore, after the land tax was equalized, corvée labor should also be included. In the future, when carrying out projects, the government will spend money to hire people to do the work, which will be more efficient and there will be less room for grassroots officials to manipulate. The common people at the bottom will be less oppressed and exploited because of the equalization of land tax.

Finally, Li Qing also emphasized that the inspection teams cannot stop. Not only that, the frequency of inspections must be increased, and the number of unannounced inspectors must be increased.

All of the above is to consolidate the achievements of your majesty's reform. We cannot let the trend pass and everything return to the way it was. We must always pay attention to the administration of officials! Otherwise, grassroots officials will easily go back to the old ways, causing the achievements of your majesty's reform to be destroyed.

The title of this memorial was "Rediscussing the Allocation of Land Tax", but in fact, any discerning person could see clearly that this was Li Qing's personal exposition of his policy program.

After seeing this memorial, many people cursed loudly: "Li Qing, the old villain, is always flattering his superiors and is shameless!"

Of course, these people don’t dare to curse in person, they curse behind my back.

Emperor Chenghui once again placed Li Qing's memorial in the official gazette and also had the Minsheng Daily reprint the full text.

After the court report was spread all over the country, local grassroots officials continued to speak obscenely in private, all directed at Li Qing. If there were to be an election for the most treacherous ministers now, Li Qing would definitely be ranked first, and Jia Lian would lose by three points.

This world is so absurd. When Fang Song submitted a memorial to the emperor suggesting that the land tax be distributed according to the land, half of the officials in the country were shouting for war and killing. No one spoke for him. Only Jia Lian stood up to attract the fire. When Jia Lian was targeted, at least half of the officials helped him, especially the young officials. When Li Qing brought it up again, the whole court was silent and no one stood up to openly oppose it.

If you think about it carefully, how could those ministers who really serve the country oppose the land tax? This is obviously a good thing that benefits the country and the people.

As for those who opposed in their hearts, after experiencing the incident between Fang Song and Jia Lian, they lost all their courage and dared only to curse in private.

This is human nature. This kind of people dare not stand in the sun. They can only sneakily move wealth from the country's treasury back home like rats.

Jia Lian must have known about what happened in the capital a little later, at least half a month later. He was already faster than before. In the past, when there were no clippers, it would take at least two months for news from the capital to reach Guangzhou. After all, it was impossible for the imperial report to travel 800 miles in an expedited manner.

In the farming era, this was the limit.

When the new report was delivered, Jia Lian did not go to see it immediately because he had received an important message that the Dutch delegation arrived in Macau instead of coming directly to Guangzhou.

I thought the Spanish delegation would arrive first, but unexpectedly it was the Dutch delegation that arrived first.

As for going to Macau first, it is easy to understand. They also need to obtain some intelligence to determine how to contact and negotiate next.

Well, the one who tipped off Jia Lian was none other than the Governor of Macau, Rio. Of course, this governor was named by the Portuguese themselves. The Zhou Empire did not recognize him and kept warning the other party not to violate local laws. If anyone smuggled and committed a crime, the consequences would be serious if they were caught.

Well, Wang Ziteng was very polite to Macau before. But after Jia Lian took office, he changed his attitude. In Jia Lian's words, it was good enough that we didn't send troops to conquer you.

Faced with such an obvious threat, the Macau officials were very cautious, fearing that they would anger Jia Lian, who was said to be young but extremely powerful.

"Mr. Oden, don't harbor illusions. Think about how to leave with dignity." Leo's tone was obviously impatient. The Dutch were really ignorant. Did they still think they were the coachmen of the sea? Even back then, your warships were beaten to a pulp by a group of pirates and you had to leave this sea in a mess.

(End of this chapter)