Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 572: Changing Times

Jia Lian did not think that the fact that the Ottoman Empire spent money on equipment was worth showing off. Even though a rifle cost one hundred yuan, Jia Lian was not too proud.

The key is that bullets are a one-time transaction, which is very helpless. Minié bullets are too easy to copy.

Under the guidance of the officials of the Honglu Temple, Muhammad met Emperor Chenghui and handed over the letter of credence.

When Jia Lian was leaving, Emperor Chenghui stopped him and asked him curiously, "Since you are a friendly country, why do you sell them a musket for 100 yuan and a cannon for 2,000 yuan? It's not fair to make a lot of money!"

Jia Lian replied: "Your Majesty, there are only two countries in my heart, one is my country, and the other is another country. Friendship is for making money through business, not for losing money. No matter which country it is, if it can't make me money, it is not a friendly country. Spain and the Netherlands were not friendly before, but now Spain has shipped a large number of copper and silver ingots from South America for business, and they are friendly again!"

This answer made Emperor Chenghui's eyes a little dull, but then he thought, it makes sense. There has been a debate about Chinese and barbarians since ancient times, and it is reasonable. The Ming Dynasty had the most painful understanding of the so-called tributary relationship. A gate-keeping emperor surrounded the capital by the Oirat, and the Ming Empire went from strong to weak. The Wanli Korean War wiped out the last bit of wealth accumulated by Zhang Juzheng in the treasury.

Although the surrounding countries are now embarrassed to change their vassal relationship, the new equal diplomatic policy promoted by Jia Lian can really bring benefits.

"That envoy proposed that the two countries form an alliance to jointly deal with Tsarist Russia. What do you think, my dear?" Emperor Chenghui got over the hurdle in his heart and no longer thought about his conscience.

"Your Majesty, don't listen to that guy's nonsense. The long-standing grudge between our country and Tsarist Russia has nothing to do with the current Russian-Turkish conflict. Tsarist Russia suffered a loss in our country, so it turned west to seek an outlet to the sea. In our Celestial Empire, when dealing with barbarians who refuse to obey the king, we first beat them up and then reason with them. Tsarist Russia has not provoked us, so why should we take advantage of the Ottomans? Let them fight, and we just do business."

After hearing these words, Emperor Chenghui saw through Jia Lian's mentality towards outsiders. If it's true that real money is brought out, everyone will be good friends. As for the life and death struggles between outsiders, what does it have to do with me?
"I'm fine now, you can go back now, my dear." Emperor Chenghui finally understood that the friendly countries were just lip service. I actually believed it!

After a few days, Muhammad did not receive any reply from the Honglu Temple and was very disappointed. The emperor of Zhou seemed very interested at that time, so why was there no follow-up?

Jia Lian delivered the arms as quickly as possible, and two months later, Ibrahim set out on his return journey.

On this day, Jia Lian went to Baochai's place after his shift. Not long after he sat down, Xue Pan appeared. This guy, as usual, avoided her eyes and said some nonsense, which showed that he had something wrong.

Baochai, who was becoming more and more plump, said to Xue Pan with disdain: "Brother, just say what you want to say. We are all family."

Xue Pan then whispered, "It's like this. When the British navy from India came to Burma for supplies, they proposed a deal that was so lucrative that I couldn't help but do it."

Jia Lian hummed, "What kind of business is it that you can't help but get out of it?"

"They traded rice and white slaves for tea. At first I thought I could give this trade a try, so I got some black tea and traded it for ten ships of rice and a hundred female slaves. When the goods were shipped to Songjiang, they were sold out in three days. Rice was not rare, but it was a little cheaper, so the local grain merchants bought it all. But the female slaves were so popular. One could earn three hundred silver dollars."

Xue Pan was really afraid of Jia Lian, so everything he said was true.

Jia Lian was immediately surprised when he heard this: "That's not right. When Wang Ziteng was buying Hu Ji, the price was not so outrageous. I heard that the most expensive one was only two hundred taels."

Xue Pan said: "That's different. That's a Hu Ji from the Western Regions. Mine is a top-quality item from Bohemia."

Jia Lian understood instantly. This is still the continuation of the triangular trade. When did Britain abolish slavery? I actually forgot.

You read it right, slave traders don’t care what your skin color is, as long as you can make money, you are green (pronounced: sai third tone) and they will buy you.

Today, the largest consumer of black slaves is America’s southern plantations.

As for the white slaves in Bohemia, this was a criminal activity of the Ottoman Empire. It seems that there is real money to be made in this business.

It turns out that people cannot make money without a conscience.

"Yeah, go on." Jia Lian was a little absent-minded. The slave trade has always existed, and it still exists in modern society, which is so-called highly developed. It can be seen that civilization has nothing to do with technology.

"I asked around. The female slaves the British got were all captured by themselves, and the rice was also tribute from the Indians. It was a low-cost deal. The price they offered was low. I exchanged it for some old tea from last year. I think this is a good deal. The wealthy gentry in Jiangnan like these good goods that they don't usually see."

"Nonsense, it's nothing more than curiosity. If I were you, I would only send 20 to 30 at a time, and any more will be worthless. Scarcity makes things valuable! As for the rice, it can be shipped directly to Tianjin. No one will know whether it is rice from Jiangnan or from somewhere else."

As long as he can make money, Jia Lian really doesn't care. With such a big family, the daily expenses are really not small.

Xue Pan laughed when he heard Jia Lian say this: "Let me tell you something. The rice business of Jiaozhi Wang's family is no longer viable. The Second Prince's rice from Nanyang is in a severe market. Every shipload of rice is a loss. At the beginning of the year, the price of rice in Guangzhou was ten cents per bushel. All the grain merchants were jumping into the sea."

"This is the wholesale price. What is the market price?" Jia Lian knew this, of course. How could the wholesale price be the same as the retail price? It was normal for a watermelon that cost 20 cents a pound in the field to be sold for 2 yuan in the city.

"The price of rice in the grain store is less than 15 wen. If it is more expensive, it will not sell. I heard that the government is worried that the low grain price will hurt farmers, and is considering buying grain from the people at a high price. For this reason, the governor and the governor-general had a quarrel, and the three departments under them were also dragged into it. The governor said that the government should buy up all the grain imported from overseas and fill the Changping warehouse. The governor said that the price of rice in the city is still high. During the heyday of the Tang Dynasty, the price of rice was only 5 wen a dou, and it should not be lost to the ancients. He also said that in peaceful years, the most hateful are these grain merchants. If there is a natural disaster and the grain price soars, they make money without conscience."

Jia Lian bowed his head and said nothing. He knew the situation in Nanyang. When collecting taxes from the natives, they could not produce any precious metals, so they could only pay rice. Li Yuan transported grain back to China and exchanged it for tea and other hard currencies. He would come back the next time. The copper and silver ingots in South America were stored in the warehouse, so he did not expect to make money from the grain. Now Li Yuan's business is getting bigger and bigger, and he is fooling people in China to go to Nanyang to work hard.

"You do this. After carefully selecting the British white slaves, a small number will be sent back to the country, and the wealthy people in Jiangnan will be the scapegoats. The rest will be shipped to Southeast Asia, where the gender ratio is large and it will be easier to sell them. Remember, don't say they are female slaves, just say they are bought back to be your wives."

The whole world is doing this business, why can't I do it? Jia Lian is also conscienceless. As long as he doesn't do it himself, he will never accept the condemnation of his conscience.

The key is that it can solve the problem of the huge gap in the ratio of men to women.

Xue Pan nodded repeatedly. This guy has no conscience. There is no shortage of human trafficking in the country, so why should he feel guilty about selling foreigners?

"The jewelry business is good nowadays. The jadeite in Myanmar is really good. I can make at least 2 million yuan a year doing this."

Jia Lian nodded indifferently, because the real money was made from selling arms.

Xue Pan's business could bring back about 2.8 million yuan in dividends to the Jia family every year. Baochai kept 1 million yuan, Wang Xifeng gave 1 million yuan, and Jia Lian kept a small amount for his own use. According to Jia Lian's estimation, Xue Pan made about 2 million yuan a year. Jia Lian felt that he had done his best for the Xue family.

"There is another business that I am worried about whether to do." Xue Pan asked another question, and Jia Lian nodded: "Go ahead."

"The British bought cotton in India and spun it into cotton cloth made from machines back home. The price was 30% cheaper than the cotton cloth from Songjiang."

Jia Lian raised his hand to interrupt him: "Stop talking, I don't even dare to touch this business, you really dare to think about it. Cotton cloth must not be touched, but cotton business can be done."

Xue Pan was reluctant to hear this and said, "This will really make the Indians suffer. Those who grow cotton will have nothing to wear, and those who grow grain will have nothing to eat. It's too tragic!"

Jia Lian was amused by these words. You still have compassion for the world. Why don’t you suffer for them?
Forget it, since he works so hard, I won’t discourage him.

As for the so-called Bohemian slaves, Jia Lian even suspected that they were slaves captured from India. There was no psychological pressure in bringing the British to do this kind of business that would cut off their lineage.

As long as it is not smuggling opium and poisoning the people of the country, Jia Lian can turn a blind eye. The last time the Sihai Guild Hall was destroyed, what really made Jia Lian angry was the appearance of opium.

For this reason, Jia Lian instructed the Wucheng Military Command to crack down on the smuggling of opium. The people were not allowed to grow it either. The Imperial Hospital grew it for medicinal purposes, but Jia Lian didn't care. After sending Xue Pan away, Jia Lian saw Baochai's eyes moving, and secretly rubbed his waist.

He can't hide away, Baochai won't let him go.

Jia Lian can now truly understand the emperor's laziness. If he were in the same situation, he would feel the same way. The land of tenderness is truly soul-stirring.

After the cleanup of the R&D Department was completed, Jia Lian did not touch the subsequent Honglu Temple or the Ministry of Works. Even as the Minister of Works, he rarely went to work.

This spring, Jia Lian organized a tree planting activity. Tens of thousands of people went to the mountains to plant trees. Although many people secretly mocked Jia Lian for planting trees that would not grow big and would be stolen by ignorant people for firewood, Jia Lian did not care at all. Some officials also reported that Jia Lian used the money from the R&D Department to plant trees in order to gain personal reputation.

Although Emperor Chenghui kept the money and did not send it out, Jia Lian still submitted a memorial to explain why he wanted to plant trees.

Emperor Chenghui specially included this memorial in the palace report. Of course, he did not forget to call Jia Lian to ask him.

"If the superior likes something, the subordinates will like it even more. Although this move is well-intentioned, I am worried that the officials below will have another excuse to enrich themselves."

Jia Lian smiled and said, "Your Majesty, this matter cannot be forced. Which government office claims to have done this? Send someone to check whether it has been planted. Never mind the tree. No matter whose mountain it is planted on, it is still a tree on this land. What I want to say is that the upper reaches of the Yellow River are the place where more trees should be planted. Once these trees are planted, they can block the sandstorms from blowing into the capital in spring and winter, and they can also reduce the mud in the Yellow River."

Emperor Chenghui just nodded to indicate that he heard it, but did not give a clear answer.

After this incident, Jia Lian sent people to buy some barren hills in the suburbs and hired people to plant trees and protect the forests.

Jia Lian will insist on doing anything useful, and he doesn't care what others say or think.

The most important thing at the moment is the research and development of the steam locomotive's front end, which has finally produced results.

The risk caused by air pressure that troubled engineers (a new job title for craftsmen) was successfully solved. The solution is also very simple, which is to add a valve. When the air pressure exceeds a threshold, the valve opens. It is said that Jia Lian is a liberal arts monk and does not know these principles, otherwise the engineers would have solved it long ago.

It was decided that the locomotive would be sent to Tianjin for assembly, and Jia Lian personally went to the site to oversee it.

It took half a month to assemble a train locomotive. When it appeared on the track, Jia Lian was so excited that he could hardly contain his emotions.

Black smoke billowed out of the chimney, making the front of the train look like a ferocious beast. The steam locomotive was about to depart, and the whistle sounded, marking the first cry of the machine spirit on this land.

Cool, cool, cool. What’s more, what’s more, what’s more. The huge wheels moved slowly, slowly forward, pushing the front of the car forward firmly.

The first test drive was 10 kilometers, with an average speed of 15 kilometers per hour and a maximum speed of 20 kilometers per hour. And this was without a carriage.

Despite this, Jia Lian still raised his arms and shouted: "Success!"

Three days later, when the locomotive made its second trial run, pulling three carriages at a time and transporting 100 tons of coal from the Kailuan Coal Mine at a speed of ten kilometers per hour, Jia Lian knew that the world had changed.

"The front of the locomotive needs to be improved. The current horsepower is too small. We can't stop. We must build a better locomotive." Jia Lian put forward clear requirements at the meeting to reward meritorious personnel.

All the people who participated in this event and the main responsible persons were promoted one level, and the people below also gained something. Even a handyman received a bonus of 100 yuan.

When the good news was announced in the palace, Emperor Chenghui also exclaimed: "Can you pull 200,000 kilograms at a time?"

Jia Lian answered very seriously: "This is only the most basic stage, and it will be able to carry more in the future. In the future, this train will not only be able to carry things, but also people. You must know that as long as it keeps burning coal and adding water, it can keep running without rest. Even if it breaks down, it can be repaired by replacing a part. Your Majesty, this is the power of industry."

Emperor Chenghui nodded frequently as he listened, and Jia Lian described a future for him: "If a railway could be built from Jinling to the capital, at the current speed, it would take three days to travel between the two places. With the advancement of technology in the future, it would even take one day to travel between the two places."

Emperor Chenghui was also excited immediately, because he knew the benefits of this. This country is so big, and transportation is the biggest problem. If there is a disaster or chaos in a certain place, and there is a railway to transport food and soldiers, it would be a pleasant surprise if it could be reached in three days, let alone one day.

"It is said that trains are like man-eating beasts and make terrifying noises. Is this true?" Emperor Chenghui asked curiously.

Jia Lian laughed and said, "Fools are ignorant and mistakenly think it is a monster. It is hard to accept at first, but after a long time, they will get used to it."

Emperor Chenghui nodded, indicating that he understood and was not surprised by anything.

"What are your plans for the next step, my dear minister?" Emperor Chenghui was excited by the news, as if he had regained his original determination to reform.

"First, build a road to connect Shijingshan with the capital. One is for people going to the mines to work along the way, and the other is for locomotives to transport coking coal, iron ore, and finished steel. In the past, coal from Kailuan was transported to Beijing by water, which was too slow. Build a railway to connect Beijing and Tianjin. This is the third step. Speaking of which, when the steam engine first appeared, many people said it was too noisy and had various shortcomings. Now, haven't people accepted it? I think that if you want to do something, just do it. You can't stop doing what you think is right because of other people's comments."

Emperor Chenghui was not sure if this guy was playing tricks on him. After all, the policy of taxation for all gentry and officials had already encountered the strongest resistance from the bigwigs before it was introduced. It was not the gentry, but the relatives, nobles, and royal family. Their excuse was simple: should the imperial farm pay taxes? Although I thought this was absurd, you have to say that it made sense. Moreover, Emperor Chenghui himself was not firm, so he dragged his feet.

Recently, Zhang Tingen and the emperor had argued several times over the issue of the gentry paying taxes together. Their faces turned red and they were very unhappy.

At this moment, Emperor Chenghui said with some shame: "I think the country is not short of money now, so I am thinking about whether to slow down some things."

Jia Lian just smiled and said nothing. Emperor Chenghui didn't point it out, and Jia Lian didn't point it out either.

"Your humble servant has only come to report the good news!" Jia Lian did not mention this, not because he did not support it, but because whether he supported it or not could not change the emperor's determination.

Unless Jia Lian is now the Prime Minister, he must have brought soldiers and used bayonets to force the gentry to pay taxes. In short, not paying taxes is absolutely not an option. If you are not satisfied, you can rebel.

In order to facilitate the smooth operation of the first railway, the R&D Department set up a locomotive factory in Tianjin. The new locomotive was named after the emperor himself: Shengshihao.

It seems that the emperor still has an obsession in his heart, an obsession about a prosperous age. Although he believes that it is already a prosperous age now, it does not prevent him from pushing for the prosperous age to last a little longer.

After receiving the emperor's personal letter, the next day, Emperor Chenghui announced at a cabinet meeting that the emperor would take the lead in paying taxes, and even the output from the imperial farm had to pay taxes according to regulations.

When this incident happened, the whole world was shocked.

This shows that the current emperor's determination to promote the unified tax payment by gentry is unshakable!
Afterwards, the opposition from the royal family, relatives by marriage, and nobles disappeared.

Jia Lian once again demonstrated the role model of a favored and loyal minister by personally going to the Ministry of Revenue to report the output of Jia's farm outside the capital and Liaodong Manor, and setting the amount of tax to be paid each year.

Afterwards, Jia Lian said in public: "How much money can you make from farming? I don't care!"

(End of this chapter)