Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 532 Thunderous Means
Jia Lian asked someone to call Qi Yun over. The general had been living a very comfortable life recently and had a new concubine who was only sixteen years old.

When Jia Zhitai opened the office, Qi Yun naturally visited him in time. Everything was normal at that time, at least he didn't feel anything wrong.

After receiving the message, Qi Yun immediately went to the governor's office, secretly complaining in his heart that Lord Jia was acting as the governor-general, but he had been working at the governor's office instead of going to the governor's office. Others were governors-general and governors-general at the same time, but Lord Jia was the opposite, really wanting it all.

After Jia Lian and Qi Yun greeted each other, he went straight to the point and asked, "What is your relationship with the Xiangshan Guard?"

Qi Yun looked around to see that there was no one around, so he stepped forward and whispered, "Master Governor, the garrison commander of Xiangshan Guard is quite respectful, and he keeps paying respects to us during festivals. If he did something wrong, I will definitely teach him a lesson."

Jia Lian sneered, "Western smuggling ships were anchored right under his nose, but he never reported it! Tell me what he did wrong. I asked you to manage the coastal guards and patrol camps, and this is how you manage them? You don't know anything about the things below, and you are having a great time as a general."

Qi Yun's back was soaked with cold sweat after hearing this. He kept saying, "Master Governor, please calm down. I really don't know. Can you allow me to investigate and make a decision?"

"Wait for you to check it out. Haha! I think I'm very lenient to you. I usually turn a blind eye to your little tricks. You should know my bottom line. Gambling dens and brothels are a livelihood. Have you ever seen me make things difficult for you? You are so good that you even smuggle opium with the Western barbarians. Do you really think that my knife is not sharp?" Jia Lian said the chilling words calmly. Qi Yun couldn't stand steadily at that time and knelt down: "I really didn't know anything! It's just for the sake of our old brother that we had some contact in the past."

"Humph, when the Nanhai Guards committed a crime, I did not implicate them, but you all thought I was lenient. You are the ones who caused the trouble, don't blame me for being ruthless." Jia Lian's words were harsh, but his tone and expression were a little relaxed. Seeing this, Qi Yun quickly saved himself: "Don't worry, Lord Governor, I will definitely deal with those guys when I return."

"Hmph, the Western barbarians are smuggling, and the nearby Xiangshan Guard turned a blind eye to it, and the Patrol Battalion didn't say anything. If you say that the two sides are not in cahoots, then you are insulting the intelligence of this governor. Don't say that this governor won't give you a chance. The governor's standard-bearer has already gone to Xiangshan Guard. You take people to capture the deputy general in charge of the Patrol Battalion." Jia Lian gave the order directly, and Qi Yun said without hesitation that he would carry it out resolutely.

Before leaving, Jia Lian said again: "Don't say that I didn't warn you. If you give in to personal feelings, losing your job is the least of your worries!"

Qi Yun repeatedly assured that he would never show favoritism.

After leaving the governor's office, Qi Yun gritted his teeth in anger and cursed his old brothers in his heart.

Although the governor did not let these old brothers lead the new army, their treatment was not bad. The functions of the coastal guards remained unchanged, and the salaries were paid according to the roster, and there was no investigation of those who were not paid without work. In addition to maintaining public order, the patrol camp also had the power to investigate smuggling. It was much fatter than before, but these old brothers were still not satisfied. Not only did they not do their job well, but they also participated in the smuggling of opium. Isn't this going to kill Qi Yun?

Qi Yun returned to the general's office and immediately selected five hundred guards (householders). After giving instructions on the deployment, he asked someone to invite the deputy general to discuss military affairs.

As soon as the deputy general entered the yamen, Qi Yun immediately turned hostile and shouted, "Catch him!" The servants who were hiding behind the screen rushed forward, held down Deputy General Peng, and tied him up.

Deputy General Peng was immediately panicked and shouted, "General, what have I done wrong? Have someone arrest me."

"Old Peng, don't blame me for being ruthless. If I let you go today, I'll be done. If you want to explain, go and explain to the governor." After saying that, Qi Yun waved his hand, and the servant blocked the deputy general's mouth with a cloth and threw him into the carriage.

Zhuzi was ordered to lead 200 standard bearers of the governor to Xiangshan Guard. These were the only cavalry under Jia Lian. They had no use for their skills on weekdays, but they were treated the best. This time he had found an opportunity to repay his service.

The two hundred cavalrymen, each riding two horses, rode non-stop all the way, changing horses halfway, and arrived at Xiangshanwei before dusk.

The Xiangshan Guards were completely unprepared, and the sentries at the gate did not dare to stop them, allowing them to ride their horses into the camp.

Zhuzi grabbed a low-ranking officer and asked him about the location of the garrison. He left a hundred men to control the camp and immediately sent someone to lead the way to a house in the county town.

The soldiers who were preparing to close the county city gate saw a group of cavalry rushing towards them. They were so scared that they quickly dodged and allowed the group to rush into the city.

"We are following the orders of the governor to handle military affairs. There is no need to panic." Finally, a cavalryman was left behind and shouted a sentence to the guards. After repeating it three times, he rode his horse to catch up.

The county town was not big. More than a hundred cavalrymen quickly surrounded a house. After dismounting, they banged on the door fiercely. The old woman guarding the door trembled and opened it a crack: "What are you doing here, gentlemen? Can I report it?" Zhuzi twisted his mouth, and a subordinate beside him said: "Get out of the way, or you will die!"

The woman ran away in fear, and Zhuzi rushed into the yard with more than ten people. This house only had two entrances. After passing the central hall and rushing into the backyard, a pretty young woman came out and said in a panic, "My dear soldiers, there is something wrong." Zhuzi came in with a group of people and asked, "Where is Liu Hong?"

"Master Liu drank too much at noon and hasn't woken up yet." The young woman explained in a low voice. Zhuzi waved his hand and four subordinates rushed into the inner room.

Liu Hong, the Xiangshan Guard, who was sleeping soundly on the bed, was caught off guard and was pinned to the bed and tied up. After being awakened, he hurriedly asked, "Wait a minute, everyone. I can talk about any amount you want."

It was already dark, and several soldiers didn't waste any time. They tied up the man and carried him out. Liu Hong saw the pillar standing in the yard, and blinked several times to make sure he was not mistaken. His face immediately turned pale, and he collapsed completely.

Zhuzi looked at the guy with disdain: "Take him away!"

When Zhuzi took people to Xiangshanwei to do business, Deputy General Peng knelt in front of Jia Lian in the governor's office and confessed everything, not asking for being let go but only asking to spare his life.

Deputy General Peng also told several people under him, and Qi Yun's two lieutenant generals were also involved. Qi Yun quickly told Jia Lian that he would go and arrest them.

Jia Lian was so angry with this guy that he yelled, "Can't you interrogate them first and arrest all the people involved before sending them here? Now that we've alerted them, aren't you afraid they'll run away?"

Qi Yun looked bitter: "How could I have known that these people were involved."

Jia Lian was not willing to waste any more time, so he waved his hand and said, "Go ahead, I hope it's not too late."

Qi Yun led his men to arrest people everywhere. As Jia Lian expected, the capture of the deputy general had alerted a lieutenant general and six or seven of his garrisons. The group of people directly found a boat, took some gold and silver, and escaped. When Qi Yun arrived at the dock, the boat had already left for an hour.

After dark, Qi Yun's subordinates only brought back twelve officials involved in the case, including one lieutenant general, two garrisons, and the rest were low-ranking officers.

Jia Lian sent out the governor's standard-bearers to search the houses and take control of the families of those involved in the case.

From day to night, they continued to work until dawn, and finally the case was basically solved. It turned out that before Jia Lian came to Guangzhou, these people had contacts with Sassoon and were considered acquaintances.

After Jia Lian took office, even the Wang family was suppressed, and the opium business suffered a severe blow. As the saying goes, rare goods are valuable, and the more they are banned, the higher the price. Addicts don't care about that, as long as they can get the goods, they will sell their children to smoke a puff. Even though Jia Lian has cracked down severely in recent years, there are still people who take risks.

Sassoon was unwilling to lose the huge profits from smuggling opium, so he used Annan as a base and sent people to smuggle opium on a small scale. The Wang family also got involved in this matter, and through the Wang family, they contacted Qi Yun's subordinates. In just a few years, except for Qi Yun, the entire patrol camp had been bribed. Some family members in the city also got involved, and they privately provided places for people to smoke opium. The patrol camp used the power to manage public security to transport opium everywhere.

All in all, none of the more than one hundred officers in the patrol camp were spared, and dozens of officials and gentry sons in the city were also involved.

Jia Lian was really glad that he had kept the governor's model soldier and not taken him to Southeast Asia, otherwise he would have had no one to use and might even face backlash.

While it was still daybreak and the city gates were not yet open, Jia Lian immediately ordered the standard bearers to go out, close the city gates and military camps, and blockade the docks.

The once prosperous city of Guangzhou became unusually deserted because of a martial law order. Soldiers could be seen everywhere on the streets, constantly smashing down doors and rushing in to arrest people.

During the operation, the governor's model soldiers showed their prowess, but if there were any resisters, they would be shot directly, either killing or injuring them.

After seeing the blood, the operation became smooth.

On the other hand, Qi Yun was ordered to pacify and reorganize the patrol camp. Those grassroots soldiers who participated in the incident and took the initiative to testify would not be dealt with.

With Qi Yun's intervention, there was no trouble at the patrol camp, only dozens of people escaped.

Zhuzi returned to Guangzhou at dawn, and after a night's journey, he brought back Liu Hong, the garrison commander of Xiangshan, and the entire chain of evidence was complete. Jia Lian immediately wrote a memorial and sent it to the capital by express boat, and asked the Honglu Temple to strongly protest to Wayne, saying that if the British government could not restrain Sassoon's smuggling, severe countermeasures would be taken. After a memorial was sent to the capital, Jia Lian went to the governor's headquarters, and Wang Ziteng had been in a "recuperation" state. It was undoubtedly a wise move for the Marquis of Annan to stay in Guangzhou. It is true that Annan is a fiefdom, but Wang Ziteng still regards himself as a minister of Zhou, which is very important. Otherwise, the court's attitude towards many things would be completely different.

At this stage, Annan cannot do without the blood transfusion from the mainland. Funds are one aspect, and population is another. Without Zhou Chen's identity, it would be difficult to suppress the dissatisfaction in Annan.

Military means can only have a temporary effect. Wang Ziteng sees this very clearly, which shows his talent.

Faced with Jia Lian's visit, Wang Ziteng lowered his attitude and went out to greet him in person.

After Jia Lian entered and sat down, he got straight to the point and explained his purpose: "I have no control over what business my uncle wants Sassoon to do in Annan. But in Guangdong and Guangxi, selling opium is a serious crime."

Wang Ziteng remained silent after hearing this. How could he not know Jia Lian's attitude? However, Wang Yi had already told him in detail that Sassoon was selling opium in Annan, and taxes were one of the major sources of fiscal revenue.

"Uncle, listen to my advice. Capture Sassoon, force him to hand over a large sum of money, and then expel him from the country. From now on, put an end to this unscrupulous business. If you value temporary gains, you will cause endless harm." Jia Lian persuaded Wang Ziteng with the utmost patience, hoping that he could cooperate with him.

Wang Ziteng pondered for a long time before saying, "If there is no Sassoon, there are other Sassoons. We can't catch them all or kill them all with violence."

Jia Lian stood up, his face as cold as ice: "Then I'll kill whoever I catch! Goodbye!" After saying that, he strode forward. When he walked out of the door and into the yard, Wang Ziteng said behind him: "Wait a minute!"

Jia Lian stopped and looked back, looking at them coldly. Wang Ziteng sighed and said, "Well, I will write a letter to Wang Yi and ask him to do as you said. After all, we are family."

Jia Lian nodded with a half-smile, and said calmly: "I hope so! Goodbye!"

When they returned to the yamen, they found Wei Da had arrived. Jia Lian greeted him and served him tea, then sat down.

"Mr. Jia made such a big fuss..." Wei Da asked in confusion. Didn't they agree to wait for the reply from the capital and then return to the capital to report on their work? Why did they make such a big fuss?

Jia Lian sighed and said, "Mr. Wei, when you see a cockroach at home, there are already countless cockroaches in invisible places. Now it seems that only the surrounding areas of Guangzhou are doing such shady things. There are 20,000 miles of coastline in our dynasty, and I don't know how many places are doing such shady things. I will use thundering methods and an iron fist to deter the villains. If you are here to plead for someone, please go back."

Without saying anything, Wei Da stood up and folded his hands: "I've been here, goodbye."

Seeing that he was leaving so abruptly, Jia Lian did not see him off. This old eunuch had been in Guangzhou for a long time and knew many people. Jia Lian had arrested dozens of officials and gentry's children, and those people asked Wei Da to intercede for him. This old eunuch probably took the money from others, but did not guarantee that he would do it. Judging from this situation, he had anticipated the result long ago, so he left so abruptly.

What happened next was that after a notice was posted, the city of Guangzhou and its surrounding areas were shaken violently.

Jia Lian, who had always behaved mildly, clearly stated on the notice that there were 13 officials and gentry children involved in the incident, the main culprits. Jia Lian, who held the imperial sword, exercised his right to execute first and report later for the first time. And he wanted to chop off 13 heads at a time.

The scene inside the city is one thing, and the scene in the foreign consulates and post stations near the dock is another.

It turned out that Jia Lian sent troops to surround the Guanyi District and seized eight merchant ships of the British East India Company at the dock.

The governor was ordered to meet with White, the representative of the East India Company, and demanded that they hand over all the opium they had hidden, otherwise they would bear the consequences.

White, the representative of the East India Company, was quite respectful to the governor, saying that he was not aware of the situation and that the merchant ships on the dock were doing legitimate business and were not ships smuggling opium. As for Sassoon, he was just one of the shareholders of the East India Company and could not represent everyone.

The governor ignored Walter's explanation and said that he had said everything he needed to say and asked him to get out!

Walter, who had been met with a cold shoulder, hurried to ask for an audience with Jia Lian, but this time he was turned away and was driven away. He only heard one sentence: "I don't care about the organizational structure of the East India Company, I just know that the East India Company is smuggling opium into the country."

White left the governor's office and saw a crowd of people surging from afar. He wanted to see what was happening, but was stopped by the guards and escorted back to the foreign merchants' post area.

Later, he learned from the servants working in the post house that what White saw that day was the acting governor and governor Jia who killed people and chopped off thirteen heads in one go. The crime was smuggling opium!

Killing was only the first step. The families involved received a severe warning from Jia Lian, as well as a fine notice ranging from 50,000 to 10,000 yuan. Except for the 13 people who were beheaded, the others were sentenced to exile.

The place of exile this time was not Annan, but Borneo. Moreover, the scale of this exile was not small, and the families of the people involved were implicated and exiled as a whole.

The case lasted for half a month. When the reply from the capital arrived in Guangzhou, Jia Lian's memorial on the case had just been sent out.

The local gentry in Guangzhou had deep resentment towards Jia Lian, but due to his tyranny, no one dared to stand up and resist.

If we say that there were many undercurrents in the local area when Jia Lian was arresting people, after Jia Lian killed and exiled more than a thousand people in one breath, all kinds of voices in the whole Guangzhou area were like autumn cicadas entering winter.

No one dared to speak up for the opium dealers anymore. All the rumors disappeared overnight.

After the reorganization of the patrol camp, a group of officers were promoted from the various guards below to strengthen the garrison. The positions of deputy general, lieutenant general, and general-level officers were temporarily vacant.

Qi Yun, who escaped the disaster, did not dare to be negligent and was always cautious, for fear that Jia Lian would use him as a target.

Fortunately, Jia Lian did not do so. Not only that, he had to leave Guangzhou and return to Beijing to report on his work.

Well, Emperor Chenghui agreed to Jia Lian's plan to return to Beijing to report on his work, and asked Wei Da to cooperate fully.

Wei Da received the news and came to ask when to set off and how to cooperate.

Jia Lian told Wei Da that there were still some follow-up matters in Guangzhou, and they would set off immediately after they were dealt with.

Later, Jia Lian called Qi Yun and told him to guard the place well. If anyone dared to cause trouble, he would arrest them directly and deal with them when he came back. At the same time, Jia Lian arranged for several family generals to enter the patrol camp and temporarily take over the positions of officers at all levels. He said that they were to help Qi Yun and manage the patrol camp. Qi Yun did not intend to resist at all.

Afterwards, Jia Lian handed over the local government affairs and subsequent support for Borneo to the governor. After all, he had done it before and was familiar with it.

The governor was most worried about the British businessmen. After all, it was a foreign-related incident and he was afraid of being blamed if something went wrong.

Jia Lian directly gave him a handwritten warrant, stating that everything the governor did was to carry out Jia Lian's orders, and he would not be blamed if anything went wrong.

After dealing with the aftermath, Jia Lian selected a thousand standard bearers and twenty large and small warships and returned to Beijing to report on his work.

This action shocked Wei Da, and he asked him quickly, were you going back to Beijing to report on your work?

Only then did Jia Lian realize that Emperor Chenghui had never told him the truth. He couldn't help but feel sorry for Wei Da, as he was not as trusted as Xia Shouzhong.

Jia Lian comforted Wei Da and told him to stay calm and just watch the fun. If anything went wrong, Jia Lian would be solely responsible.

Only then did Wei Da realize that he was just here to serve as a background.

(End of this chapter)