Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 543 Untitled
Daiyu got up early in the morning and tidied herself in front of the mirror.

When Jia Min came in, her face was full of doting and teasing. When Daiyu saw her mother in the mirror, she stood up and glared at Zijuan.

"As for you, your father will be so concerned when he sees you like this that you'll probably lose all interest in going to work." Jia Min teased with a smile. She knew her husband's thoughts best.

Daiyu then lowered her head shyly, holding Jia Min's hand and shaking her body, saying coquettishly: "At worst, I can just be an old maid."

Jia Min raised her hand and gently tapped Daiyu's forehead: "Go and coax your father to work."

Lin Ruhai sat alone at the dining table, holding a teacup in his hand, staring blankly ahead.

Daiyu came behind him and raised her hand to pinch his shoulders. Lin Ruhai smiled and said, "The message from the Second Prince arrived yesterday. The Dutch agreed to start negotiations, but they have to come to the capital to talk. Although it is a delaying tactic, as long as they are willing to talk, it is better than continuing to fight."

Daiyu couldn't help asking, "The foreigners are willing to negotiate only when they know they can't win. Why don't they just keep fighting?"

Lin Ruhai was very willing to talk about these things with Daiyu. After all, after getting married, being able to have ideological exchanges with Jia Lian was the long-term solution.

"The Guangzhou Maritime Customs intercepts 2 million yuan every year, and the Ministry of Revenue has been living a tight life these years. Besides, when the money passes through Jia Lian's hands, many people will be jealous."

After hearing this, Daiyu understood that the interests involved were too great.

The navy was burning too much money, and Jia Lian was in charge of Guangzhou, and there were too many people who wanted to replace him. Even if Jia Lian was not greedy, his annual income was no less than 200,000 yuan.

This also involves the trade of copper. The Great Zhou was short of copper, and Westerners used copper ingots as ballast. After they were shipped here, they were sold at one price, and when Jia Lian got them and made a pass on them, it was another price.

Westerners exchanged copper ingots for porcelain as ballast, which was a two-birds-with-one-stone move. Thanks to this move, the trade in Guangzhou Port has always been stable. If foreigners did not take the initiative to go north, officials in other ports could only watch.

Before Sun Huazhen got into trouble, many people had impeached Jia Lian for having his own army.

For the long term, Lin Ruhai still hoped that Jia Lian would be transferred from Guangzhou as soon as possible. They were both officials, but being in charge outside and being in front of the emperor in the capital were two completely different situations.

Daiyu has read a lot of books, so she naturally knows the difference.

Although he was very upset about his daughter's situation, Lin Ruhai still went to work as usual. The Chinese New Year was coming soon, and today was the last half day of work before the New Year. After that, he could have a holiday. The rotation during the Chinese New Year was another matter.

From this point of view, the Great Zhou Dynasty was very tolerant of civil officials. In the era of imperial power, the emperor would not leave the city easily, and the civil officials did not want to see the emperor leave the city. The emperor also did not accept the cabinet ministers to visit the local areas on behalf of the emperor. Therefore, the phenomenon in modern society that leaders have to visit the local areas to express their condolences during the Chinese New Year will not happen. Here, you can really take a holiday to rest during the Chinese New Year. The hardest-working people during the Chinese New Year are the Nine Gates Garrison, as well as the armed forces such as the Dragon Guard and the Shenji Town.

Not long after Lin Ruhai left, Jia Lian arrived, bringing with him a cart of gifts. The new four-wheeled carriage had a much greater carrying capacity than a two-wheeled carriage.

After hearing the news, Jia Min called Daiyu, who was still pretending to be reserved, to go out and greet her.

After getting off the carriage, he walked in through the side door and saw the mother and daughter already waiting there. Jia Lian stepped forward to greet them.

When facing Daiyu, Jia Lian had a loving face: "Sister, you have lost weight!" Daiyu looked at him affectionately: "Brother Lian, you have worked hard."

Jia Min, who was being fed, snorted. Daiyu quickly bowed and greeted him, but she no longer looked at him.

Jia Lian then hurried to present his treasures. The gifts he brought back included a box for Jia Min and a box for Daiyu. When they were opened, they were filled with precious items such as gemstones of various colors, tortoise shells, jade jewelry, etc. There was also a large box on the carriage, which was filled with ivory. Most of these things were robbed back from Manila by Jia Lian, and the jade was specially purchased by someone.

Just the contents of these two boxes would cost at least 500,000 taels in the capital, not counting the other gifts on the car.

"There aren't many precious and small items in Nanyang, and I'm afraid you won't like the vulgar gold and silver. If there's anything you like here, I'll have someone get some more."

Although she was born into a wealthy family, Jia Min was secretly shocked when she saw two boxes of valuables at once. She thought to herself, this Lian brother, maybe he brought all the good things he brought back from Nanyang? If Wang Xifeng knew about it, she would probably make trouble with him.

For women, there is no clear distinction between spiritual and material sustenance.

Many women on the Internet make this and that demands on their boyfriends. In fact, they have been poisoned by some chicken soup vendors on the Internet and cannot see themselves clearly.

She wants economic benefits and emotional value. She wants both.

In reality, the proportion of high-value men is very small, and some women who cannot see themselves clearly will just delay it.

As adults, you pay for your own choices.

(PS: I was really inspired by this, as I have a daughter at home.)
Jia Min and Daiyu could both feel Jia Lian's importance to them. The Lin family was not short of money, and they would not need to get a box of these treasures for each person.

Jia Min and Daiyu asked Jia Lian to sit down and talk. During the conversation, Daiyu mainly asked him about things in Nanyang. In fact, they had mentioned them in their monthly correspondence, but it was not as detailed as talking in person.

Jia Lian is a good speaker, and he gives a clear and coherent account of the war in Southeast Asia. He won't talk about the bloody things, but will just talk about the general situation and the principles of using troops.

Jia Min was concerned about whether Jia Lian had fallen ill from malaria while in Southeast Asia.

Generally speaking, there are two main causes of malaria. One is "acclimatization" as described in traditional Chinese medicine, and the other is malaria.

Jia Lian's army strictly prohibited drinking raw water, which greatly reduced the impact of acclimatization, but there was no way to prevent malaria, as mosquitoes would fly. All they could do was to kill and prevent mosquitoes as much as possible.

Well, it is impossible to eradicate them. The further south you go, the more mosquitoes there are. One reason is that there is more water, and the other is that the temperature is high, so mosquitoes breed all year round.

After talking about things in Nanyang, Daiyu asked about things in Jiangnan, so Jia Lian had to continue.

Other women might not like to hear this, but Jia Min and Daiyu listened very seriously. When talking about Jia Lian's rectification of the gentry in Suzhou, Daiyu couldn't help asking: "Jiangnan is a tax-heavy area, and the tax pressure is originally high. Isn't it normal for the people to resist?"

Jia Lian was not unhappy after hearing this, but thought to himself: Daiyu is also a master of keyboard politics now.

"Sister, what you said is right, but it's not comprehensive." Jia Lian was happy that Daiyu liked to talk about these things, but Wang Xifeng didn't like to talk about them.

Jia Lian doesn't think it's a bad thing that the women in the backyard have a broader vision.

"Brother, please tell me in detail." Daiyu also became interested. She has always been interested in history and politics.

Well, Jia Lian pondered for a moment, thinking about how to explain it simply without offending anyone. He couldn't talk about class conflict.

"The root of Jiangnan's prosperity lies in the rich products brought by the geographical environment. The premise for local gentry to enjoy a prosperous life is the stability of the government. My sister has read history books and knows what a miserable situation it is in troubled times. Once the world is in chaos, the wealthy land of Jiangnan will be surrounded by wolves. When the world is in chaos, the gentry of Jiangnan may be the fattest meat. The people of Jiangnan enjoy the stable environment provided by the court, and they have the obligation to assume the necessary responsibilities. People are selfish, and the gentry of Jiangnan are the most typical representatives who enjoy the benefits but are unwilling to take responsibility. Looking at the problem from today's perspective, no matter what, the people of Jiangnan live a much more comfortable life than the people of the north."

The most honest period for Jiangnan gentry in history was during the Qing Dynasty, because the Qing Dynasty really killed people and carried out literary inquisition.

Jia Lian believes that the emperor of this dynasty was too tolerant of Jiangnan. When the wealth of the gentry in Jiangnan accumulated to a certain level, they would use their wealth to trade for power.

Anyone who has read history books knows very well what it means to have wealth without power.

This is also why many capitalists will seek to improve their social status after accumulating wealth.

The clever Daiyu understood what Jia Lian meant and nodded slightly subconsciously.

"The industrial and commercial tax system of this dynasty is extremely imperfect and has many loopholes. If these loopholes can be filled, fiscal revenue will reach a higher level. During my time in Guangzhou, I have been trying to solve this problem and have achieved certain results in foreign trade."

Jia Lian's so-called attempt is actually just two words: "transparency". Through the trading hall, everything is put in the open. It is not like before, when foreign merchants came to trade, how much tax to pay was completely decided by the Maritime Customs. Jia Lian knew too well how greedy the people in the Ministry of Internal Affairs were. To be honest, it was only Jia Lian who dared not touch the interests of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

He destroyed people's wealth and killed their parents; Jia Lian had offended few people just in the Maritime Customs.

But what can I say? With the emperor's trust and a substantial increase in tax revenue, Jia Lian, who holds military power, is not afraid of those people at all.

The current Emperor Chenghui is still too lenient. When Jia Lian enters the cabinet, the first thing he should do is to severely rectify the administration of officials instead of just enforcing the performance evaluation system as it is now.

The performance evaluation system actually has a lot of problems because it only looks at the results. In order to get promoted and achieve good results, the lower-level officials will definitely plunder the local government.

It's not that there aren't good officials with a conscience, they're just rare. This really has nothing to do with the system, it's simply determined by the personal moral standards of the officials.

(PS: One of the most important crises in the country right now is debt repayment. How did it come about? Anyone who pays a little attention to current affairs news rather than gossip will know clearly. Speaking of debt repayment, it is unknown how long the 36 trillion yuan debt of Dengta can last. It is estimated that we will see it in our lifetime.)
The two were chatting enthusiastically, so Jia Min quietly left to create an environment for the two to get along well.

If she were a normal girl from a wealthy family, she would never allow men and women to interact like this. Daiyu had no other choice, and Jia Min and Lin Ruhai could only accept it.

Lin Ruhai was absent-minded thinking about Jia Lian's visit. After the last cabinet meeting before the New Year, he arranged his duties and was about to go on vacation.

Emperor Chenghui also noticed that everyone's minds were distracted. When he was about to announce the adjournment of the meeting, Zhang Tingen suddenly brought up a topic: "Everyone has read the report of the Second Prince. The envoy of the Ottoman Empire has arrived in Southeast Asia and will arrive in the first month of the year. The Netherlands is willing to negotiate on the ownership of Java, and the representative will also arrive in the first month of the year. In addition, there is news from the King of Xining that the envoy of the Russian Kingdom has arrived in Dihua and will arrive in the capital in two months at most. How to negotiate with the three countries requires a minister who is familiar with Western affairs. In order to avoid being in a hurry at that time, it is better to determine the candidate as soon as possible."

Is this urgent? Not really. After all, once the people have arrived, they will have to stay at the border for half a month to prevent any of them from being infected with the disease. In total, the earliest we can start negotiations is February.

The New Year hasn’t even arrived yet, so there’s still plenty of time.

So Zhang Tingen must have a specific purpose when he brought up this matter at this time.

Emperor Chenghui showed obvious surprise, which showed that Zhang Tingen had not communicated with him beforehand. Well, it was also early to say it now.

Emperor Chenghui didn't think too much about this issue. Wasn't it aimed at Jia Lian? In the past few years, what Jia Lian did was actually what Emperor Chenghui wanted to do.

When Zhang Tingen mentioned this at this time, he was actually hinting to the emperor that it was time to transfer the person back.

Emperor Chenghui did not speak. He did not intend to make the decision for Jia Lian. He still hoped to hear Jia Lian's opinion. The Nanyang affairs seemed to have been settled, but in fact there were still many things to be done.

"The Dutch are coming to the capital to negotiate, and the Second Prince should not agree. This is a delaying tactic." Li Qing pointed out the crux of the problem very clearly. Although his attitude was not clear before, it was certain that he was more inclined to Li Yuan. After all, there was no civil official who didn't like a gentle and wise king. The current situation has changed significantly. Li Yuan has gone to Southeast Asia, and it is difficult for him to come back. This statement seemed to be directed at Li Yuan, but in fact it was meant to stop Jia Lian from coming back. After all, Jia Lian has always been in charge of the Nanyang mess. If Sun Huazhen had not had a stroke, Jia Lian would still be in Borneo.

There was another thing that the cabinet was collectively dissatisfied with the emperor. He secretly transferred Jia Lian back to the country to Jiangnan without leaking any information in advance. The cabinet did not know about it until Jia Lian returned to Guangzhou.

"Prime Minister Li is right. Jia Buqi is still the acting governor of Guangdong and Guangxi. He came back to Beijing to report on his work. He can't just leave like that." Lin Ruhai said this for a reason. He couldn't openly support Jia Lian to stay. This was against procedure.

In fact, Emperor Chenghui has not considered this issue yet. It would be simple to keep Jia Lian, but the emperor is not very reassured to leave Nanyang to Li Yuan.

When Guo Yan saw that Lin Ruhai had spoken, he immediately took over and said, "Your Majesty, Jia Buqi is indeed a capable minister, but we can't expect him to do everything alone, right?"

Pan Jixun said nothing. He would definitely not get involved in this matter. What if he offended Jia Lian?

Lin Ruhai is not afraid of offending Jia Lian, nor is Li Qing. Guo Yan has a bad relationship with Jia Lian, but they don't care. However, the same cannot be said for Pan Jixun.

After a moment of hesitation, Emperor Chenghui said calmly, "Let's talk about it after the New Year. There's no need to rush."

Zhang Ting'en didn't expect an immediate decision, but he just mentioned it to let the emperor have an impression. He also had his own selfish motives. After the failure of the land tax system, the implementation of the performance evaluation system was affected. The prestige of the cabinet cannot be shaken. If one wants to establish the prestige of the cabinet, letting Jia Lian take action is the best choice.

(End of this chapter)