Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 594 Benchmark
There was a permanent envoy from the vassal state in the Honglu Temple. After the Honglu Temple Minister returned, he immediately called the person over and questioned him in person.

The envoy was also caught in an unprovoked disaster. After hearing the news, he immediately protested his innocence and said he was completely unaware of the incident.

After some communication, the Honglu Temple sent the person away and then reported to Jia Lian.

Jia Lian did not immediately express his opinion on this. After listening to the whole story, he said, "Send someone to Edo to ask the shogun in person whether any daimyo in Japan are targeting the Great Zhou in the near future. Well, by the way, remind them that the daimyo below may raise the banner of [Respect the King and Repel the Zhou]."

The Minister of the Ministry of Rites was confused: "Sir, which king are you honoring?"

Jia Lian glared at the Minister of the Honglu Temple with dissatisfaction and said, "How do you do your job? Is this the level of your personal work? You don't even understand the political system of Japan? Go back and make up for it before you talk."

The Minister of the Ministry of Rites was so ashamed that he covered his face with his sleeves and left.

To be honest, the people of the Great Zhou have always regarded themselves as the Celestial Empire and do not really care about the smaller countries around them. Even if there are vassal states coming, they do not have much interest in understanding the internal situation of those countries.

This temple minister was somewhat incompetent, but Jia Lian had no intention of replacing him. As long as he obeyed, it would be fine. This was originally a government office with little work.

That is to say, now, in the past, the monthly funds had to be requested from the Ministry of Revenue before they could be delayed. After Jia Lian took charge, the Ministry of Revenue immediately became honest, not only disbursing funds on time, but also 10% more than before. The government offices in the court were also divided into different levels. Although it was one of the six ministries and nine officials, the Honglu Temple was really not looked down upon.

It's the same with people in society. If you are a little more friendly, some people will take advantage of you.

Jia Lian was the kind of person that no one dared to offend in the court, and his military achievements were too brilliant. It was good enough for such a person not to bully others.

In fact, Jia Lian never intended to bully anyone, but some people were ignorant and insisted on provoking him, so naturally he had to teach them a lesson so that they would remember it deeply and would not dare to provoke him again.

Jia Lian always had a blank expression on his face in the government office. He was not trying to maintain his dignity, but was trying to keep a distance. As a boss, it was enough to ensure the interests of his subordinates.

On the contrary, Jia Lian was very kind to those low-level clerks and did not act like a superior.

In fact, these are all knowledge. The higher the level of a person, the more humble he is when facing the lower level people. How a person treats the lower level determines his personal height.

If a person becomes a minor official and is domineering towards his subordinates, he will be hated by everyone after a long time. How much can he achieve?
Another thing is that you have to be good enough to the people around you, because these people know your every move, and for individuals, these are core secrets.

Don't underestimate the heroes of the world. Others can roughly analyze a person's specific situation through your daily habits. In today's society, this is a subject.

Jia Lian never dared to look down on the ancients. Their IQs were not low at all, they just lacked knowledge. Especially in the Confucian cultural circle, the essence of education was to train officials, and there were many experts who could read people's expressions.

The reason why Jia Lian can still thrive like a fish in water is not because he is much better than others, but because others do not understand him and are not as knowledgeable as he is.

However, this advantage in knowledge gradually disappeared over time.

After clarifying the concept of respecting the king, the Minister of the Ministry of Rites hurried back to report and selected a suitable official to go to Japan.

Jia Lian did not embarrass him. After all, the officials of the Great Zhou Dynasty at this stage were all similar. Subjectively, they did not understand the wishes of foreign countries. In a word, they were all barbarians.

To put it bluntly, it is arrogance.

To give a typical example, look at what European countries are like now. Most of their citizens are still immersed in the past 30 years.

This phenomenon did not form overnight. It is a cognitive barrier that has been formed bit by bit since the birth of racial theory in the 19th century. It is difficult to change it.

For hundreds of years, the noble ideals of white society have been deeply rooted in the hearts of people all over the world, except for the Chinese land. This is the advantage of cultural heritage!

Of course, there are also so-called colonists, Gaohua, and the kneeling people. These people can be found everywhere.

The current Great Zhou is the Celestial Empire, and there is nothing wrong with it. Not to mention the surrounding countries, even the European and American powers have to be cautious when dealing with the Great Zhou.

From the perspective of the high-level perceptions of European and American countries, this is the case. Tsarist Russia was stabbed in the back by the Zhou Empire because it did not properly handle its relationship with the Zhou Empire.

In the Sixth Russo-Turkish War, neither side was able to achieve a substantial victory because of the intervention of the Zhou Empire.

The country that is most worried about being stabbed in the back now is Britain, because India is too close. Also, the current situation in Europe means that Britain does not have much energy to invest in India.

The Ryukyu prince arrived in the capital half a month later. When he saw Emperor Chenghui, he knelt on the ground and burst into tears.

This small country was equivalent to a county, with a population of only a few hundred thousand. It had no power to resist the Satsuma Domain.

Although small countries are small countries, they are still vassal states. The Great Zhou has to save its face and must provide assistance.

However, this Ryukyu prince was quite interesting. After receiving the personal promise of help from Emperor Chenghui, he knelt down and said, "Ryukyu is willing to be a county of the Great Zhou! Without this, there will be no long-term peace and stability."

This made Emperor Chenghui stunned, and he subconsciously looked at Jia Lian.

Jia Lian had no choice but to say, "There is no rush for this matter. We will see what he wants after we drive out the Japanese invaders, rescue the King of Ryukyu, and punish the disloyalty."

To be honest, Emperor Chenghui kind of disliked that shabby place, Ryukyu. It didn't produce anything good, there wasn't much arable land for farming, and the tens of thousands of people there might just be a burden.

When the time comes, the King of Ryukyu will abdicate, but he will have to be given a title and stay in the capital, which will cost money to support him, and will be another considerable expense.

The reason why many places have always been under tributary rule is not that the emperor does not want to expand the territory, but it is really unprofitable and taking them over would be a burden.

Jia Lian knew what the emperor was thinking, so he had to step in to protect him. What he was thinking in private was another matter.

Sure enough, after the Ryukyu prince left, Emperor Chenghui left Jia Lian with a question: "At the beginning of the founding of the country, Ryukyu had the intention of submitting to the country, and the ministers opposed it, but Emperor Taizu agreed. Now that the old matter is brought up again, what do you think?"

Jia Lian understood and nodded with a smile. "This is a different time. In the past, Ryukyu would have been a burden. Now our dynasty has the ambition to be a maritime country. Ryukyu and Taiyuan are like chains on the sea and must not fall into the hands of others." Emperor Chenghui did not understand the concept of the first island chain, and Jia Lian could not explain it clearly. He could only explain it this way. Emperor Chenghui did not understand it very well and asked in doubt: "I have seen the map. The so-called North America is thousands of miles overseas. Can we still fly across the ocean to take Ryukyu?"

Jia Lian patiently explained: "My humble opinion is that Ryukyu is neither too big nor too small and can be used as a benchmark."

This time Emperor Chenghui understood: "Oh, the locks you mentioned are for court officials, but for me and the cabinet, they are a benchmark. It is true that those who are sincere to me can be citizens. With this example, the natives in various parts of Southeast Asia will naturally have hope and be willing to obey."

Jia Lian... "Your Majesty is a man of natural talent. Although I have this intention, I cannot express it so clearly."

Emperor Chenghui was very happy to be praised. He pointed at Jia Lian and said with a smile: "You, you are trying to make me happy. I heard that you didn't give face even to Prime Minister Lin during the cabinet meeting. Be careful next time."

"When dealing with public officials, I dare not show favoritism." Jia Lian said with a righteous look on his face.

Emperor Chenghui knew his subtext, which was that he should do what he should do in private, which was understandable and human nature. Jia Lian insisted on not joining the cabinet, which was very considerate of the emperor.

After reporting on Japan's handling of the matter, Emperor Chenghui was quite satisfied. He felt that Japan, a mere country, should not dare to touch the tiger's whiskers, and that it was probably due to the greed of the daimyo below.

Emperor Chenghui didn't know much about the situation in Japan, so Jia Lian patiently explained it one by one.

Emperor Chenghui finally understood and even got a little angry and said, "How dare a mere three islands call themselves the emperor? How audacious! No wonder the shogunate has made them puppets. This is retribution. I want to issue an edict to take his title. What do you think?"

Jia Lian smiled and said, "I don't think it's necessary. It's embarrassing to keep it. The court should not attack their shogunate, but support it. In this way, the people's hearts cannot be unified, and the orders are not issued by one hole, so it is difficult to cause major troubles. If there are daimyo who rebel against the shogunate in the name of respecting the king, the court should help suppress them. Japan is not big, the land is small, there are many disasters, and the resources are scarce. Its people are influenced by our Confucianism, and they are hardworking and hardworking. They are the best laborers needed in overseas places. After immigration, they will be protected by our Chinese benevolent government and their hearts will definitely return."

"In that case, you will take the responsibility, and I will not ask any more questions. Once you have a conclusion on the Ryukyu issue, please report it to me."

Do you want that crappy place called Japan? Jia Lian thinks it is unnecessary. Not to mention Japan, he doesn't even want the Korean Peninsula.

To put it bluntly, apart from the population, everything else in that place is a burden.

As the number of overseas immigrants increases, it is hard to say whether there will be pressure on the domestic population, but the cost of immigration will definitely rise significantly.

Therefore, if you want to immigrate, you have to wait for a natural disaster to occur. At that time, immigrating will be like saving local officials, and there will be less resistance.

As for what happened in Huguang, it was a special case. As the saying goes, "When Huguang is prosperous, the rest of the world is prosperous." This is the most important grain-producing area in the country. When a flood occurred there, the officials and gentry colluded and first thought of annexing the land, and then trafficking in people. The local gentry were opposed to immigration. If the people were all relocated, who would farm the land?

Traditional farming and industrialization are naturally hostile.

But the cabinet did not care about all this. In order to prevent the victims from causing unrest, it introduced a policy to urge officials to emigrate. This was contrary to the interests of the gentry, so naturally it had to make some adjustments.

After all, the rebellion of the Chinese people is not the same as the rebellion of the European people.

When the people of Europe rebelled, they were not against the king or the bishop. It was unlike the rebellion of the peasants in ancient China, which was called an uprising.

Since Chen Sheng and Wu Guang, they have been aiming to change the dynasty. Replacing the old dynasty is not just talk, it is real work.

That's why Song Jiang is hated! Li Kui knew that he had entered Tokyo and seized the throne. But he wanted to surrender. The weakness of the petty intellectuals was fully exposed.

Emperor Chenghui was obviously tired, and Jia Lian respectfully saw him off before leaving the palace.

After leaving the palace, we had to return to the capital. This trip was quite tiring, but fortunately the weather was much cooler.

The Xishan Town was still responsible for the security of the emperor's summer vacation. The commander had a general relationship with Jia Lian, just an acquaintance. However, many middle and low-level officers greeted Jia Lian and addressed him as "sir". Most of these people graduated from the Royal Military Academy. Jia Lian was an instructor for a while and was also an advocate of the Royal Military Academy. With this relationship, it was much easier to win them over. The key is that Jia Lian is young and a benchmark figure in the army. Young officers all take Jia Lian as an example and yearn for him.

Among the middle and low-level officers in the four towns of the Beijing Army, Jia Lian's influence is simply unmatched by ordinary people. When mentioning Jia Lian, young military school students all call themselves his disciples and respect him as a teacher.

Jia Lian was humble when facing these officers. He asked people to get a few sheep to be roasted whole and some wine to entertain the guests. He asked those officers who were not on duty to come and eat and drink.

The commanders and assistant commanders above would not care even if they knew about it, and would even help cover it up. Jia Lian was a person who could not be befriended, but certainly could not be offended.

Moreover, the senior officers of the three towns of the Beijing camp were all newly replaced, which could be a heavy blow to Yue Qi. Li Heng was also implicated.

Anyone with a discerning eye knew who Yue Qi blamed for his misfortune. In the current cabinet, Yue Qi's ranking was even lower than Pan Jixun, who was about to retire.

After eating and drinking, Jia Lian went back to rest as he had to return to Beijing early the next morning.

Jia Lian was quite careful along the way. After all, he had too many enemies. A cavalry of three hundred men, a vanguard of fifty men, and an advance of twenty miles were the minimum requirements.

Only when they reached Zhangjiakou did Jia Lian feel relieved. He couldn't help wondering whether he should build a railway from Zhangjiakou to Rehe and then turn to Liaodong to form a loop.

The biggest advantage of the railway is that livestock and wool from outside the border can be quickly transported in. Also, there are plenty of coal mines on the grassland, even though there is nothing else.

At the end of August, Emperor Chenghui returned to Beijing, and Jia Lian also found out the situation in Japan. In order to show its sincerity, the Tokugawa shogunate specially sent an envoy to explain.

As Jia Lian guessed, the daimyo in Japan were dissatisfied with the economic decline. With the secret support of local merchants and monks, some daimyo were ready to make a move. Among them, the most unyielding to the shogun were the Choshu and Satsuma domains. Unfortunately, the shogunate army was not as strong as before and it was difficult to suppress the internal resistance, so the Satsuma domain took action without authorization.

Jia Lian immediately told the envoy that traitors should be punished by everyone. Well, the Great Zhou could provide a batch of weapons and food to the shogunate, which was considered a loan. It had to be returned after the war, and it could be paid in installments if it could not be paid back at the moment.

At the same time, he also stated that since the Satsuma Domain had sent troops to Ryukyu without authorization, the Great Zhou must send troops to teach them a lesson, and asked the shogunate not to misunderstand.

The shogunate envoy was overjoyed and hurriedly thanked the Celestial Empire on behalf of Tokugawa, and repeatedly expressed his willingness to serve.

(End of this chapter)