Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 585 Railway Fever

All Chinese people have a sense of family and country, but because of their different positions, the choices they make are also different.

Jia Lian has come to this day, and naturally he is unwilling to be forgotten in the long river of history. Since he is here, why not leave a mark in the history books?

Emperor Chenghui was slack, but his mind was still clear. Young Jia Lian was full of energy, so let him do his job.

The Zhou Empire was like a car that needed a major overhaul. After a period of internal reform and external expansion, it was like a car with a changed oil after the overhaul and was now speeding on the highway.

In the short term, many contradictions are concealed by development.

As long as it is human society, there will be internal contradictions. Often, new contradictions emerge before the old ones are resolved, and finally multiple contradictions converge and erupt.

Jia Lian knew he had no choice but to try his best to increase the health bar of the empire so that if a conflict really broke out one day, the health bar could last longer.

Jia Lian is not worried about the future of civilization, as he believes there will always be people of integrity and ambition who stand up.

It’s hard to say about other ethnic groups, but on this land there are plenty of scripts of strong men falling from the sky waiting to be performed.

There is no need to worry about future generations.

The value of the three words "great unification" has been repeatedly proven in history.

The current Great Zhou is undoubtedly at the forefront of the world, and there is no need to worry. The key is that the territory must be large enough and the health bar must be long enough.

The success of the Beijing-Tianjin Railway brought huge profits, making everyone in Beijing jealous.

Unfortunately, at present, both the ability and qualifications for building the railway are in Jia Lian's hands, and others can only watch.

Are you jealous? Of course I am jealous. Is there anything I can do? Sorry, there is really no way. The Research and Development Department is one of the government offices of the imperial court. This is a very special department in the Zhou Empire. It is a government office, but it also operates. It is a government-run business, but it is also a clear institution of the imperial court.

After trying many times and failing, the civil and military dignitaries could only temporarily stop and wait for the next suitable opportunity to launch again.

The news that Jia Lian was going to build a railway to Liaodong spread from the palace, instantly setting off an uproar among the powerful circles in the capital.

This road must be repaired. They don't have to pay for it anyway. Once it's repaired, they must use it first.

If you think about it carefully, with so many good things produced in Liaodong and transported out by train, that would be wealth, inexhaustible wealth.

Many people are already thinking about whether to enclose some land and forests.

Land is easy to deal with. From Liaodong to the north, there is no shortage of wasteland, but what is lacking is the manpower to cultivate it. As for forests and mines, a new law recently introduced by the court once again clarified the ownership of forests and mines.

In a word, forests and mines belonged to the imperial court, and no private person was allowed to mine without permission. Private mining required a mining license, and they had to report to the government every year and pay rent.

This new law was originally proposed by Jia Lian, so grassroots officials across the world have complicated views of Jia Lian.

You say he is one of us, but he was the first to support the gentry paying taxes together, and he also levied a large commercial tax in a wicked way. You say he is an enemy, but he can really bring benefits to the officials.

In short, it is very contradictory, but the officials are all clear in their minds that Jia Lian is indeed a good official in the traditional sense.

The problem is, you should be a good official and not hinder everyone from making money.

The reforms in recent years have had some effect in improving administration of officials. At least the term "good official" is not so eye-catching anymore.

As more and more officials have been dismissed, the officials below have at least become more restrained and are no longer as unscrupulous as before.

Emperor Chenghui was the first to be annoyed. Many of them were always asking for audiences with his in-laws, hoping to get a piece of the pie.

Emperor Chenghui simply refused to meet any of them. When he asked you to support the reform, you all stayed away from him. But now that there are benefits, you all come like flies smelling fishy smell.

Jia Lian was called to the cabinet. He could give face to others but he had to give face to Lin Ruhai.

"What can I say about you? You are a candidate for the cabinet, but you never attend cabinet meetings. You only care about making trouble in your own territory. Others would think that the cabinet is ostracizing you."

Lin Ruhai spoke in a bad mood as soon as he came up, and the four cabinet ministers beside him all had interesting expressions.

Especially Fang Song, as a close friend of Jia, he looked around as if he was trying to find some clues to use as material for biting next time.

In comparison, the most open-minded person in the cabinet was Pan Jixun. One reason was that he was old, and the other was that after Jia Lian took over the Ministry of Works, he was very respectful and rarely interfered in internal affairs.

Li Qing and Yue Qi are in an awkward situation. It cannot be said that they passively stood against Jia Lian. There are largely subjective factors involved.

How can one compete with Jia Lian without any conflict of interest and without any ambition?
The higher you go, the harder it becomes. Any potential competitor must be actively suppressed, regardless of whether there is a real conflict of interest.

The conflict has not intensified, not because both sides are considering the overall situation, but because there is no particularly sharp conflict of interest for the time being.

It cannot be said that there is no conflict of interest. Jia Lian controls the most lucrative government office. Not only does he not make money himself, but he also stops others from making money. He is a public enemy.

As a cabinet minister, who doesn't have a group of people who want to make progress? If a leader cannot bring benefits to his subordinates, can he still be called a leader?

"Minister Lin is wrong. You are in charge of the government and lead the overall situation. I am just a pawn, doing the work. I am not qualified to be in such a high-level place as the cabinet meeting."

Jia Lian's words seemed to be self-deprecating, but in fact they were sarcastic. What do you mean by unworthy? Where is your face? When you were still a fourth-rank official, you frequently attended cabinet meetings.

"Okay, stop talking nonsense. The R&D Department wants to build a railway to Liaodong. Doesn't the cabinet deserve to know about it? I saw it in the newspaper." Lin Ruhai seemed to be expressing dissatisfaction, but in fact he was giving Jia Lian a way out. You are too disrespectful to the cabinet.

Jia Lian took the opportunity to back off: "What Prime Minister Lin said is that the construction of the Liaodong Railway is just a long-term plan. The matter was instigated by the Prince of Dongping. The Research and Development Department has not even prepared a preliminary report on its intentions. What can it submit to the Cabinet? The Cabinet cannot just believe everything it hears and embarrass its subordinate offices for no reason, right?"

"Why are you shouting so loudly? Don't you see where we are? This is the cabinet, the central government. Please speak politely." Fang Song understood the sarcasm, so he cooperated well.

Jia Lian immediately showed a fearful expression, looked at Fang Song in horror, and continued to act: "Lord Fang, please forgive me, I was unable to suppress my anger for a moment, it is all my fault."

These two people sang the same tune, which made Li Qing and Yue Qi sick. Today's summons was indeed initiated by them. The reason was that the cabinet should have the right to know about such a huge investment.

Speaking of which, I don't know how many times the Ministry of Revenue has said that the money in the Research and Development Department's account should be included in the national treasury for unified allocation and use, and should not be used as a personal piggy bank.

The cabinet was fed up and submitted a memorial, which Emperor Chenghui kept. It was a similar scenario in the past, and the Ministry of Revenue was still diligent and repeatedly submitted memorials.

There's no way. There's too much money. Who wouldn't be jealous? I don't have to give it all, but at least some of it will be good.

Bringing Jia Lian to the cabinet for questioning today might be an attempt.

After all, the emperor is not as strong as before, so it wouldn't hurt to give it a try.

"Okay! Since the letter of intent hasn't come out yet, let's wait until it comes out. Dismissed, Jia Lian stay." Lin Ruhai decisively interrupted the questioning. If he continued, he really didn't know how Jia Lian would play it. Maybe they would fall out. Lin Ruhai couldn't accept this situation anyway. The Prime Minister seemed to be in a high position, but in fact he was just a cook, responsible for the seasoning of the cabinet. At the same time, he was the driver of the empire's train, ensuring that the empire was running safely on the track and would not derail due to accidents.

Fang Song was the first to stand up: "Let's go!" The others went out one after another, leaving the father-in-law and son-in-law behind.

As for why Fang Song wants to help Jia Lian, it is also very simple, it is due to interests. Not only political interests, but also economic interests.

The Fang family didn't get involved in the railway business, but they did get involved in other things, such as tea. The Fang family owned many tea trees, which were the most sought-after black tea in foreign trade.

There is no such thing as the British growing tea in India now, and the Fang family's tea is selling well. You have to know that for foreign trade tea, you can't just sell it if you have tea. You need channels!

What a coincidence, Fang Song gave a hint and Jia Lian asked Xue's Business to help open up channels for selling tea.

Anyway, Xue's Business sells a large amount of tea every year, so it doesn't matter who it sells to.

When there was no one else in the room, Lin Ruhai spoke gently, "No news from Daiyu yet?"

Jia Lian certainly understood the direction of this news, and replied implicitly: "I will try my best!"

Lin Ruhai didn't say anything like "you have too many women" or something like that. He himself had been through the same thing. When he was young, he was even more excessive than Jia Lian and went to brothels a lot. Jia Lian didn't go to brothels anyway. "Leave some room for everything! Don't make things too awkward!" Lin Ruhai advised politely. Jia Lian is no longer the same as he was before. To put it bluntly, Jia Lian's weight in front of the emperor is even more important.

"Everything else can be given up except the Research and Development Department. This place is too important. It is related to the lifeblood of the country. Once it is given up, it will definitely rot away completely. To put it bluntly, the entire Great Zhou is rotten. As long as the Research and Development Department is not rotten, other powerful countries in the world will not dare to covet the Great Zhou." Jia Lian's words were very stern, and Lin Ruhai could only remain silent after hearing them.

He knew the current situation of the Great Zhou better than anyone else. Once the reform stopped, it would return to its old state in three to five years at most.

Lin Ruhai was able to become the Prime Minister because he had always been adhering to the policies left by Zhang Tingen and strictly enforcing the administration of officials.

The so-called strictness also has a limit. Probably, it is okay to be greedy, but it should not affect the serious business.

Don't let a situation occur where taxes cannot be collected and disasters occur, leading to large-scale deaths.

The emperor knew the importance of the common people, but the officials who helped with management were naturally more important.

In a word, don't try too hard. If something goes wrong, you will be held accountable.

Some government offices were known to be severely affected by corruption because of Lin Ruhai's personal resume, but they were not touched.

I'm talking about the Salt Administration Office. After the restoration of the opening policy in the northwest, there has been not much movement.

This is often the case, we cannot get to the bottom of things, otherwise we would find a big problem.

This is how the world works. We don’t investigate because something has happened, but because we all know that it has always been like this, and we have to investigate when something has happened.

In modern society, with the development of the Internet, people only need to investigate whoever is in trouble and give a reasonable explanation. How much more so in ancient times when information was blocked?
The issue of the Liaodong Railway did not just pass away, but instead became increasingly popular.

This was really not something that Jia Lian said everywhere, but it was the Prince of Dongping who was shouting all over the world that he had secured an opportunity for everyone to invest in railways.

The Research and Development Department has repeatedly published statements in newspapers saying that the project has not yet been launched and that there is no such thing. Please don't believe it.

If it falls into the eyes of someone with ulterior motives, it will be like you are trying to deceive fools. Who will believe you? Your attempt to cover up only makes it more obvious, right?
Especially after the revenue report of Beijing-Tianjin Railway was submitted in the first half of the year, the popularity has skyrocketed.

After the opening of the Beijing-Tianjin Railway, the half-year revenue was 800,000 yuan, and after deducting various expenses, the net profit was 600,000 yuan.

Based on this profit, with a profit of 1.2 million yuan a year and an investment of 10 million yuan, the investment can be recovered in less than ten years.

Those who think they have the ability to get involved are going crazy after seeing this report. Nowadays, if you have some spare money, how can you get such a high return except by lending at high interest rates?
Don’t think that the profit is less, this is already a highly profitable business.

Since railways were making so much money, the powerful and wealthy quickly united, put aside their previous conflicts, and decided to cut a piece of the railway cake so that the Jia family would not have to eat it all alone.

A large number of memorials flooded into the cabinet, and officials from various provinces submitted memorials requesting that railways be built in their provinces.

They didn’t think about whether there was a demand for road construction in the province, how to make a profit, etc. Anyway, they just wanted to build roads.

It is normal for officials to do this. After all, it is a system of retaining officials. Officials who will not work in one place until death will complain. The road was built during my term, so I can make a fortune and leave.

The people clamoring the loudest right now are Liangjiang and Huguang, both of whom are clamoring to build railways to their hometowns.

The gentry in these two places signed a petition of 10,000 people, requesting the construction of a railway, and they were willing to invest and subscribe for shares.

As a result of all this trouble, the issue of Liaodong Railway was suppressed.

Why do the gentry in these two places care so much? Is it because they love their hometown?

It's really not.

The gentry in these two places are rich, especially in Liangjiang. Many of them have their silver buried underground.

This money is buried in the ground, and it can't grow new money. It's not that I don't want to invest, but there is no opportunity. Now that the opportunity has appeared, shouldn't I pay attention to it?
More importantly, the person in charge was Jia Lian. Liangjiang was really worried. Jia Lian, whose ancestral home was in Liangjiang, was unwilling to build this road because of his old grudges with the gentry in Liangjiang. What? Jia Lian has a plan to build a road, and you believe him? Do you think the Yellow River is a decoration, or that the Yangtze River does not exist?
Compared with the Yangtze River and the Yellow River, other rivers are just small streams.

In addition, the Prince of Dongping had caused quite a stir, so the officials and gentry in these two places naturally became even more worried and had to fight for it.

I can only say that the report from the Beijing-Tianjin Railway came at a very timely moment.

The fishing nest made by Jia Lian is so tempting.

The key is that once this share is acquired, it can be passed down.

The market response was so enthusiastic that the cabinet could not suppress it and had to report it to the higher authorities.

Emperor Chenghui was having a headache seeing this. How did the whole country become turbulent after they had agreed to build the Liaodong Railway?

"You are the one who caused this trouble. I am going to escape the summer heat. You can do whatever you want." Emperor Chenghui threw the cabinet's summary of opinions to Jia Lian, patted his butt and went to escape the summer heat. This time he ran farther, directly to Rehe. This year, the person who stayed behind to supervise the country was not King Zhongshun, but the emperor called Li Yuan and Li Heng and asked the two brothers to draw lots. Whoever drew the right number would stay behind to supervise the country.

Jia Lian was so angry at the thought of such carelessness.

As a result of the draw, Li Yuan got the opportunity to be regent.

If Qiu Shian hadn't given him a hint, Jia Lian would have really thought that this was a fair draw.

The rules of drawing lots were as follows: both lots had "Regent" written on them, and Li Yuan was older, so he drew first.

After the emperor drew the lottery, he immediately looked at it and said, "Oh, Li Yuan won the lottery."

The older Emperor Chenghui gets, the more abstract his games become, and Jia Lian doesn't know how to evaluate them.

Anyway, after knowing the truth, I felt that their outrageousness was just opening the door to outrageousness, which was outrageous to the extreme.

The summer of the nineteenth year of Chenghui was exceptionally hot.

Jia Lian, who was in the capital, wanted to go to Rehe to escape the summer heat and get some peace and quiet, but the emperor did not allow it and asked him to stay and come up with a plan for a new railway as soon as possible.

Jia Lian returned to the yamen in a rage and sneered at the map. It was impossible to cross the Yellow River in a short time, and repairing to Jinan was the limit for the time being.

There is a solution. We can build the railway first instead of the bridge.

In the face of the popularity of railways, one government office was very embarrassed, that is, the Governor's Office of Rivers. The previous Governor's Office of Water Transport was not abolished, but was renamed the Governor's Office of Rivers, which was in charge of the rivers of the country.

The key point is that with the completion of the railway, the role of the canal has been further reduced. In the past, the canal workers on both sides of the canal left in large numbers and went south to find new livelihoods. The canal business was not doing well, but the transportation on the Yangtze River was still very active. They had to find another way to survive. At worst, they went to Fujian and Guangdong in the south and tried their luck at sea to find a way to make a living.

The governor of the river submitted a memorial about the difficulties of the canal. The court had no choice but to let things take their own course.

As for the river governor, he can only try his best to maintain and dredge the busier sections of the river, and he cannot take care of the other less busy sections.

The cabinet followed them to Rehe, and the regent Li Yuan said he knew nothing and was still familiar with the situation.

Jia Lian became the focus of the siege.

Officials come to visit every day to lobby for opportunities for new railways on behalf of their fellow townspeople.

Since the other person came to his house politely, Jia Lian couldn't get angry, so he simply hid himself.

Where can I hide? I can’t stay in the city anymore, so I’ll go outside the city.

Mantou Temple is in the mountains. The surrounding forests are well preserved. It is relatively cool in the summer and there is no shortage of ice reserves. You can hide here.

Jia Lian, with a dozen followers, came directly from the city and explained his purpose. Miaoyu, who had become the actual owner, had no choice but to make room for him.

(End of this chapter)