Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 577 Jia Sprayer

"If you don't want to take the imperial examination, then go find a job. You've already got a family and a career, so it's not good for you to just sit around at home doing nothing."

In front of Lady Jia and Mrs. Wang, Jia Lian spoke very rudely. Baoyu, who was standing opposite him, lowered his head and said nothing. Anyone could see that he was not convinced.

"I don't want to work in the government office." Baoyu lowered his head and gave a rebellious answer loudly.

Jia Lian looked at him calmly, stood up and said loudly: "It's okay if you don't want to work in the government office. After all, we have enough food and clothes at home. You just need to take care of your expenses when you go out."

After saying this, without even looking at Baoyu, he turned around and left, heading straight to the East Palace.

When he met Qin Keqing, Jia Lian was also very rude: "Your brother Qin Zhong always hangs out with Baoyu, and sooner or later he will become a waste. I will arrange an errand for him and send him to Tianjin."

Qin Keqing smiled after being told that. She walked behind him, pushed him to sit on the chair, leaned over and hugged his neck, and whispered, "It's been a month since I last had my period. Is this what you're talking about when we meet?"

This woman is really difficult to deal with. She has mastered the art of making steel as soft as silk.

After paying a huge price, Jia Lian finally achieved his goal of sending Qin Zhong to Tianjin.

After Jia Lian left, Qin Keqing went to find Jia Rong in high spirits and told him what Jia Lian had said.

When Jia Rong saw Qin Keqing, he could always think of Jia Zhen's annoying face. He waved his hand impatiently, "I know. I'll make the arrangements."

In fact, Qin Keqing could not understand Jia Rong's mentality. Since things had come to this, she might as well try to have another child, both with the surname Jia, as long as the Jia family did not suffer any loss.

In fact, Jia Rong has disliked Qin Zhong and Baoyu for a long time, but he has not taken any action for the sake of Jia Lian's face.

So, Jia Rong's men found Qin Zhong in the brothel, dragged him out, gagged him, threw him on a carriage, and sent him to Tongzhou before dark.

Someone was watching them all the way, and Qin Zhong was scared to death when he thought that even the thugs from the brothel didn't dare to stop him, and he felt that he was doomed this time.

The next morning, Qin Zhong was thrown onto the ship and locked directly into the cabin. There was a bowl of water and two dry and hard steamed buns at the door.

Qin Zhong lost his appetite after just one look and continued to lean against the cabin wall. He didn't dare to shout as he was afraid that these vicious monsters would kill him.

They arrived in Tianjin before dark. Qin Zhong, who had been hungry for a day and a night, didn't care about anything. He picked up the steamed bun and started to eat it. He found it surprisingly delicious, and it was nice to have a piece of pickled vegetable.

Jia Rong had already given instructions on how to deal with Qin Zhong. In short, just don't let him return to the capital, don't let him starve, and don't let him have money to squander.

Baoyu's side was more troublesome. Although Qin Zhong was not around, he still went out alone with the servant.

However, I soon realized the fickleness of human nature and the cruelty of the world.

There was no money, Miss Pingping, who looked 70% like Daiyu, was not seen, and the old man said some unpleasant things. Baoyu was so angry that he shouted downstairs, hoping that the considerate Miss Pingping would hear him and come out to take him in.

But there was no movement, and the servant who accompanied him dragged him back alive. It was too embarrassing for the Jia family to leave him there.

His face was as wilted as a leaf hit by frost. Baoyu returned home, acted coquettishly to Lady Jia, and asked for fifty silver dollars.

When he went there again the next day and showed the silver, the madam came down to stop him and told him not to come again and that she would not do business with him anymore.

Baoyu was so angry that he wanted to rush in, but was stopped by the thugs. The servants came forward to protect their master, but were all knocked to the ground. The thugs dragged Baoyu out of the door.

Baoyu, who still had some dignity, was so ashamed that he went back in a daze and rushed to Jia Lian's yard to demand an explanation.

"It's you, it was you who arranged it, right? I just ask you, why do you care about me?" Baoyu, who was dirty and had not even changed his clothes, roared loudly at Jia Lian.

Without saying a word, Jia Lian stepped forward, grabbed him by the throat, dragged him out of the door, threw him hard, and made him roll three times on the ground.

"You're not convinced, are you? Which of the food, clothes, and daily necessities you use did you earn by yourself? Go back and think about this question clearly, then come back and talk to me."

Baoyu, unable to resist, sat on the ground and pounded the floor hard, gnawing his gums.

Only after Jia Lian walked away did the servants dare to step forward and help him up.

After this matter spread in the Jia Mansion, Grandmother Jia and Mrs. Wang said nothing. Only Baoyu's wife specially thanked Jia Lian to Wang Xifeng.

Well, after that day, Baoyu stopped going out and stayed at home in a daze all day.

After this incident, Baoyu deeply understood the extent to which Jia Lian would go to deal with him.

Two days later, after Jia Lian got off duty, Wang Xifeng came up to him and said, "Baoyu asked the old lady for permission to go out and study, and he wanted to stay in the ancestral home in Jinling for a while."

Jia Lian sneered, "You can go if you want, but give birth to an heir for the second house first. Inform the servants around him that if Baoyu can leave the house, they will not have their legs."

The reason why he was so cruel was very simple. He was afraid that the second house would become the weak point of the Jia family and the attack point of political enemies.

No matter what the relationship between Jia Lian and the second wife is, to outsiders they are a family.

As soon as Jia Lian gave the order, everyone, from the servants to the doormen, was notified that Baoyu was not allowed to go out. Anyone who went out under their supervision would bear the consequences.

The incompetent young master of the second branch of the Jia family had become a laughing stock in the capital, and even Yuanchun, who had gone to the Western Hills to escape the summer heat, had heard about it.

Yuanchun came to ask the emperor to grant Baoyu a favor.

Emperor Chenghui did not refuse immediately, but asked Yuanchun: "What can Baoyu do? What can he do?"

Yuanchun said, "He has studied, although he has not entered the school. If he doesn't know how to do things, he can learn."

Emperor Chenghui had a headache, mainly because he learned that Jia Lian was disciplining Baoyu. If he acted rashly, would it cause Jia Lian's dissatisfaction?

"My beloved concubine, why don't you write a letter and ask Buqi about this matter first?" Emperor Chenghui had no choice but to pass the buck.

Yuanchun knew Jia Lian's importance. If Jia Lian was willing to help, it would not be difficult to find a job for Baoyu. The difficult part was that Baoyu himself was unwilling to do it.

Helpless Yuanchun had to write two letters, one to Jia Lian and one to Baoyu.

The former thanks him for disciplining Baoyu and urging him to become a talent, while the latter gives earnest advice.

Jia Lian had no reaction after reading the letter, and Baoyu also had no reaction after reading it.

The difference is that Jia Lian was very busy and just told his subordinates to keep an eye on things, while Baoyu continued to act coquettishly towards Lady Jia and asked to go to Jiangnan.

Unfortunately, Grandmother Jia cannot make the decision now, and Baoyu can only continue to be trapped in the Jia Mansion.

Mrs. Wang tried to persuade him kindly, telling him to take care of himself, as it was just a baby, and he should go back and find a wife and work hard.

Mrs. Wang has lost her ambition now. If Jia Lian had not been slow to express his opinion, she would have moved out of the Central Courtyard long ago.

It can only be said that since Jia Lian took the initiative to move out of the central courtyard, the second house was like being put on the spot, and the same went for Grandmother Jia. She was too embarrassed to change back on her original arrangement.

It was not until the end of July that Emperor Chenghui left Xishan and returned to the palace.

There was another incentive for coming back this time, that was Li Yuan sent someone to the capital to report the good news.

So where does joy come from?
Naturally, gold mines were discovered in Australia. Li Yuan sent people to bring back a total of ten gold nuggets of various sizes, the largest of which weighed ten kilograms.

This incident naturally triggered a gold rush. The news spread to the four coastal provinces of Fujian, Zhejiang, Guangdong and Guangxi, and a large number of young people went out to sea to take risks in order to return home rich.

Jia Lian naturally knew about this matter in advance, and he secretly fanned the flames and made some operations. After the news came out, newspapers in the capital also reported it one after another. A gold mountain was discovered in the overseas territory of Australia.

Going to sea has always been an extremely risky activity for Chinese people. As long as they are not starving to death, they are unwilling to leave their homes.

In recent years, with the promotion of newspapers across the country, the customs of the people have gradually changed. Many young people from Jiangxi and Hunan provinces have gone south to make a living. With the development of maritime trade in Liangjiang Province, the dream of going out to sea to make a fortune has been spreading like a plague.

When people are so poor that they don’t know where their next meal is coming from, taking risks is never a difficult choice.

More and more young people with dreams choose to head for the sea. It is unknown how many will eventually come back, and how many will have their dreams come true. In short, in Jia Lian's view, it is not a bad thing.

With a hundred years of peace and the addition of sweet potatoes and corn, the population density of the Great Zhou continued to rise. Although no population census was conducted, according to the situation in the Qing Dynasty, the population was likely to be around 300 million.

After all, at this time and space, the area south of the Yangtze River was not devastated by the war, and Sichuan was also defended.

Don’t underestimate these 300 million people. Even in modern times, there are only a handful of countries with a population of 300 million.

This shows that the carrying capacity of agricultural civilization is far superior to its rivals of the same period.

When Jia Lian was summoned into the palace, Emperor Chenghui and a group of cabinet ministers and secretaries of various ministries were circling around the gold nugget on the table, admiring the gift of nature.

"Buqi is here, and I've been waiting for you to talk about Nanyang. It was you who advocated going to Nanyang in the beginning, and now the second brother is doing well in Nanyang, and you have contributed a lot."

Emperor Chenghui's proactive words naturally had a reason. Before Jia Lian came, the bigwigs discussed the affairs of Nanyang.

The main point of contention is that Nanyang has an independent tax collection department. Judging from the results, the tax figures in various parts of Nanyang reached 10 million yuan in the first year of the official implementation of tax independence.

This number is scary, no wonder it's a topic of discussion.

It is hard to say whether Li Yuan deliberately came up with this number, but it is definitely not a bad thing, and Jia Lian is happy to see it happen.

As long as there are huge economic benefits, the imperial court cannot help but pay attention to it. Nanyang only has a three-year tax exemption period, after which half of the tax revenue must be turned over to the country.

During the controversy, some even suggested that it would be better to hand over half of the tax starting next year.

Jia Lian smiled and bowed first, then stepped forward to take a look at the pile of gold.

"Although there are malaria hazards in Nanyang, as long as you take good precautions, kill mosquitoes more often, and drink boiled water, the risk will be greatly reduced. Nanyang has a hot climate, rice can be harvested three times a year, and there are high-yield cassava and other foods to fill the stomach. As long as people are diligent, no one will starve to death. Our dynasty has been peaceful for a long time, the population has increased dramatically, and the contradiction between people and land has reached the edge of intensification. The court should encourage people to go out to sea. If there are fewer people farming, the landlords will be kind."

After Jia Lian spoke with a smile, the officials in the hall all looked unhappy.

Especially the last sentence, which is sarcastic and ironic. Who doesn’t have a few thousand acres of land?

Even Jia Lian's fiefdom has recruited a large number of Koreans to farm the land. In the future, when coal mining is needed, farmers can be transferred to other jobs locally.

"In recent years, many people from Hebei and Shandong have gone out to seek a living, and many people from Henan and Shanxi have gone west to Guanzhong and Hetao. The contradiction between people and land has been alleviated a lot. There is no need to exaggerate."

Li Qing made a neutral rebuttal, but Jia Lian said nothing, just looked at him coldly with a smile.

Li Qing pretended to be calm and looked back. Jia Lian waited for a while before asking, "Li Xiang is the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu. How many starving people are there? How many have been rescued? Henan has a population of more than ten million. How many people have entered Qinguan from the west?"

"How do I know this? I haven't calculated it carefully." As a cabinet minister, Li Qing had to answer this question. You were the one who took the initiative to provoke him in front of the emperor and his colleagues.

"Speaking of which, I am not as indifferent as Prime Minister Li. When I was in Guangdong and Guangxi, the number of people going out to sea was counted every year. Take Guangdong as an example. In the past six years, more than one million people have gone out to sea. I don't know if there are statistics in Fujian and Zhejiang, but I estimate that the two provinces combined are about the same. Let's add up the population to two million. At the beginning of the country, the population was nearly 100 million. A hundred years later, if we count a little less, there must be at least 300 million people. Let me ask Prime Minister Li, do you still think that the contradiction between people and land in the country has eased?" Jia Lian spoke directly with numbers.

Li Qin was speechless when asked. He knew a little about agriculture. No matter how carefully the land was cultivated, the output was limited. Even with crop rotation, the output would still decrease year by year.

When it comes to the overall national situation, the most convincing thing is to use numbers to speak. Not to mention the long-term, after the full implementation of the land tax, the number of hidden farmlands found was tens of millions of acres.

Even so, there is no guarantee that all of them have been found out. Jia Lian has reason to suspect that the amount of hidden fields that have not been found is equal to the number that has been found out.

Now Jia Lian is no longer in charge of the government, let alone a cabinet minister. Sooner or later he will have to settle the accounts with the landlords.

Everyone thought that Emperor Chenghui was protecting Jia Lian from being rampant, so they had to endure and wait for the new emperor to come to power before settling accounts with Jia Lian. The actual situation was that Emperor Chenghui was suppressing Jia Lian. When a new emperor came to power, Jia Lian would really be unscrupulous. No matter whether Li Heng or Li Yuan came to power, Jia Lian was fully confident that he could hold power and rule the world.

The one who is truly enduring now is Jia Lian, not those insects.

After suppressing Li Qing, Jia Lian continued loudly: "Within five years, 10 million people will be immigrated to Southeast Asia. I think this is a task that must be completed. The court cannot just encourage verbally, but must spend real money to encourage the people to go to sea to make a living. Let them know that if they continue to stay in the country, there will be starvation everywhere whenever there is a natural disaster or man-made disaster. Jia is not exaggerating, and you all know the reason."

"Enough! All these dignitaries are useless. How can you show off your ability?" Lin Ruhai interrupted Jia Lian and told him to shut up and stop talking.

After being scolded, Jia Lian smiled, clasped his hands in apology, and left consciously.

Zhang Tingen walked out slowly and said, "We are lucky this year. There are no disaster reports nationwide. No natural disasters are rare, and natural disasters are the norm. In previous years, we relied on the granaries in various places and the relief of the court to prevent natural disasters. In the future, we can add a rule to encourage the people to go to sea to make a living. The court will provide money and food to escort them to sea. This money can be paid by Nanyang and the coastal provinces that benefit from it."

Jia Lian immediately retorted, "I cannot agree with Prime Minister Zhang's words. The inability of local governments to provide relief to victims of natural disasters is a manifestation of incompetence. In the Southeast Asia and coastal provinces, it is a favor to be willing to help, and it is a duty not to be willing to help. Can the court let these places go when collecting taxes?"

"That's wrong. The inland is vast, and each province has different conditions. Some provinces do have bad environments, and it's hard for them to save themselves in times of disaster. When one province is in trouble, all other provinces will come to its aid. How can we talk about our duty and affection?"

It's rare to see Jia Lian and Zhang Tingen confront each other, so Yue Qi naturally has to come out and add fuel to the fire.

Jia Lian naturally did not indulge his bad habits, and directly refuted: "It is normal for local areas to have natural disasters. May I ask Prime Minister Yue, when there is a disaster in a local area, do the local gentry use their stored grain to provide relief? What do the local grain merchants do? Let's not talk about the distant past. What was the grain price in the capital five years ago? How much has it been in the past two years? If it were not for sea transportation, when the Jining Rebellion broke out and the grain transportation was cut off, the grain price in the capital doubled, what about the gentry and grain merchants? What did they do? Answer me!"

Yue Qi immediately stammered, "I can't argue with you, hum!" Then he retreated! His old face was so red that it was unbearable to look at.

"The former fierce general of the frontier army has become the most hated person in the past after entering the capital city. Therefore, what Yue Xiang hates is not those meat eaters, but the meat eaters are not himself."

Jia Lian stabbed him again, and Yue Qi turned his head away.

"If you are not a good person, then forgive others when you can!" Li Qing came out to ease the situation and give everyone a way out.

"Shut up, you're not a good person either. It's not your family that's starving due to natural disasters and man-made disasters, you don't feel anything, right? When Jia went to the battlefield to quell the rebellion, he was able to use military rations to help the victims. When Li Xiang was the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, was he willing to save a meal from his teeth? No, not only can you not do it, but you also have to have wine and meat every meal, otherwise you will feel uncomfortable all over. Cultivate yourself, manage your family, govern the country and bring peace to the world. When natural disasters and man-made disasters occur, talk to the hungry people. See how they answer you!"

Li Qing also retreated in astonishment, speechless after being criticized.

Jia Lian turned around and looked at everyone and continued, "Over the years, Jia has made a lot of money from the R&D Department. Why didn't he pocket the money? Instead, he started large-scale projects? Isn't it just to give the people another place to make money? When Jia cleaned up the R&D Department, there were 783 irrelevant people eating idle meals. All the important officials of the court, you know best what you have done."

"Okay!" Seeing that the fight was about to escalate, Emperor Chenghui spoke up and interrupted Jia Penzi.

Jia Lian clasped his hands to Emperor Chenghui and said, "I am sorry for my rude behavior. I will take my leave." After saying this, without waiting for Emperor Chenghui's approval, he clasped his hands and retreated to the door of the hall, where he turned around and left.

Emperor Chenghui looked at Jia Lian helplessly and did not keep him. This minister had such a strong personality.

He used to be very restrained in his speech, but now he speaks without giving anyone any face. Even Zhang Tingen was criticized.

The hall fell into dead silence. Jia Lian opened fire indiscriminately, killing no one innocent.

The way of man is to reduce the surplus and make up for the deficiency. We have all read Tao Te Ching and know that no one gets rich by hard work.

How can the master get rich if the common people are not hardworking?
This is the serious truth.

Emperor Chenghui could sense that this was a total outburst of Jia Lian's inner dissatisfaction since the last time the gentry paid taxes together.

Today I really feel like giving up. It's obvious that if you don't like me, just get rid of me.

(End of this chapter)