Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 606 An Attitude is Essential
After the establishment of the special tax bureau in Southeast Asia, it achieved remarkable results in three years, reaching an annual revenue of 20 million, which is quite astonishing.

Li Yuan meant that the Nanyang government could pay 10 million yuan in taxes every year, indicating that this was the duty of a subject, not something to share the burden of the country.

Jia Lian certainly showed some appreciation for Li Yuan's frankness, but not much. He simply offered a casual reminder that the accounts of the Nanyang Tax Bureau should still be audited by a trusted person.

Jia Lian discovered that Li Yuan had a problem: he was too trusting of his subordinates and therefore lacked necessary oversight.

When the Nanyang Tax Bureau was first established, it was nominally under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Revenue, but in reality, the Ministry of Revenue didn't manage it at all. The staff and personnel were all recruited by Li Yuan. These people did work very hard in Nanyang, so it was understandable that they would take some benefits, but whether they took too much was up to Li Yuan's tolerance.

Li Yuan's core objective is still to compete for the throne in the capital, so it's not hard to guess how he will choose.

Over the years, Li Yuan has finally come to understand one thing: the emperor needs two prerequisites for his ministers. First, they must be loyal, and second, they must be capable of doing their job.

As for the personal morality of his officials, the emperor didn't care. If an official was too clean, it would be difficult to remove him in the future.

From Li Yuan's perspective, was Jia Lian honest and upright? Of course not. He simply had many ways to make money and didn't exploit the common people at the bottom of society.

During his regency, Li Yuan saw many things more clearly. Why were commoners so easily exploited? Of course, it was because commoners were easy to exploit, so local officials and landlords naturally took the opportunity to exploit them.

As the largest group in this country, they bear everything for the nation, yet they are still bullied and exploited. Now Li Yuan can say that he understands the Tao Te Ching.

At the same time, Li Yuan also began to understand Jia Lian a little better. While both were trying to make money, Jia Lian never targeted the common people at the bottom of society. To put it bluntly, he treated the common people as human beings, not as beasts of burden.

Li Yuan was still willing to be close to Jia Lian, not simply for the sake of the throne, but because he had learned a lot from Jia Lian.

For example, when it comes to public opinion, ordinary people at the bottom of society have no channels to voice their opinions, so as the largest group, their voices cannot reach the upper levels.

Li Yuan, who aspired to be a wise ruler, understood that if he wanted to gain genuine popular support, he could not rely on the officials around him.

At all times, the emperor must be wary of his officials; he should employ them, but not completely trust them. Otherwise, he will inevitably be led astray by them.

Previously, those around Li Yuan always tried to influence him through words, seeking personal gain from him. During his time with Jia Lian, Li Yuan experienced a different kind of influence: Jia Lian influenced him through actions. He would present a situation to Li Yuan, allowing him to observe and draw his own conclusions. After several years in Southeast Asia, Li Yuan gained considerable experience in governance, which, combined with his previous education, gradually matured.

When dealing with a subject, don't look at what he says, look at what he does. Don't listen to what he says to your face, listen to what he says behind your back.

Li Yuan had also sent people to investigate Jia Lian, and unexpectedly discovered that he was the high-ranking official in the capital who disliked forming cliques and social circles the most, which was quite unexpected.

It was common for officials to interact and help each other. Jia Lian was completely different. Even so, Jia Lian enjoyed a high reputation among officials, for a simple reason: he was extremely capable.

He truly rose to a high position by accumulating political achievements little by little.

Of course, Li Yuan also heard a lot of negative comments about Jia Lian and deeply understood that doing things inevitably offends people and leads to being slandered.

The affairs of the imperial court cannot be left undone, hence the popular saying in official circles: "The more you do, the more mistakes you make; the less you do, the fewer mistakes you make; and if you do nothing, you make no mistakes."

Who are the truly influential people in this country, the ones whose words carry far?
The answer should be immediately clear, right?

The two memorials were sent to Rehe, and according to procedure, they were sent to the cabinet through the Office of Transmission. Because the matters in question involved finance, the Office of Transmission sent them directly to Li Qing.

Li Qing first read Li Yuan's memorial. After finishing it, he felt conflicted. The establishment of a dedicated tax bureau in Southeast Asia, instead of relying on local government offices for tax collection, had greatly improved efficiency. This indicated the tax bureau's effectiveness. Should this be immediately extended to the mainland? Li Qing hesitated for a long time, then added a note to the appendix: "Regarding the establishment of a dedicated tax bureau, a three-year trial in one inland province is recommended. We'll decide based on the results!"

The memorial was written by Li Yuan, so there was no stopping him. He couldn't refuse to give his opinion, otherwise, what right did he have to sit in the cabinet? What was he even there for? But this matter had too much influence. Li Yuan didn't dare to immediately promote it across the mainland, so he had to delay it for a few years. As for Li Yuan's mention of tax collection, that was never the main point. On the contrary, the tax bureau's affairs were unavoidable.

After finishing Li Yuan's memorial, Li Qing, feeling a bit of a headache, continued reading Jia Lian's memorial.

To be honest, every time Li Qing saw Jia Lian's memorial, he felt like he was facing a formidable enemy.

This time was no exception; after all, Jia Lian's memorials always concerned matters, and none of them were trivial.

Many ministers criticized Jia Lian's memorial as lacking in literary merit and unworthy of his status as the top scholar in the imperial examination. However, Li Qing knew very well that this was an official document, a document for handling government affairs.

Since it's an official document, it should be simple and straightforward, clearly stating the matter and making the suggestions clear, without any ambiguity. If an official document is written vaguely, who are you trying to make things difficult for?

During Emperor Chenghui's reign, the so-called literary quality of official documents suffered repeated setbacks. While the officials below him initially restrained themselves somewhat, there have been signs of a resurgence in the last two years.

Upon opening Jia Lian's memorial, Li Qing's face turned green after reading it. The problem was the same old one, just unresolved. After the cabinet's decrees were issued, lower-level officials refused to cooperate in their implementation. What could be done?

This is a very real problem!

Li Qing has grassroots experience, and it can be said that over the years, the routines of most grassroots officials in doing things have not changed.

For a county magistrate to accomplish his duties and achieve political success, the most important task has always been collecting taxes, and then everything else.

This leads to a problem: the easiest way for a county magistrate to increase tax revenue is through the gentry and minor officials who hold power at the grassroots level. Although the magistrate is supposed to be a people-friendly official, he is actually separated from the gentry and minor officials by a layer of bureaucracy; his instructions need to be implemented through them. If he cannot satisfy the gentry and minor officials, the magistrate's efforts become extremely difficult.

From the perspective of the power structure, it is not that the county magistrate has no way to bypass the gentry if he wants to exercise his own power, but that would be very difficult and tiring, and he would appear very out of place within the entire circle of officials.

An outlier, he finds it very difficult to get promoted within the officialdom. This alone is enough to stump most officials across the country.

Furthermore, when doing things, everyone is willing to take shortcuts. If you want to take shortcuts, there will always be shortcuts you can take. So the question arises: as a county magistrate, should you fight against those troublesome gentry and petty officials to achieve your goal, or cooperate with them, bully and exploit the common people at the bottom of society, and easily achieve your goal?

Between the two, which would you choose?
Why was Hai Rui so great? Wasn't it because he was willing to grow his own vegetables, have his wife weave cloth, and eat only vegetables and tofu every day, all to get rid of the former Grand Secretary Xu Jie? To clear the fields, he even rolled up his trousers and went to the fields himself.

The matter is quite clear: Jia Lian's memorial was entirely true, and he even offered a solution to the problem.

That is to strictly investigate whether local officials are using immigration as a pretext for personal gain, while encouraging private businessmen to participate in the immigration cause.

Jia Lian's meaning was clear: since lower-level officials were not cooperating with or implementing the cabinet's immigration policy, the cabinet should investigate whether they were using the immigration decree as a pretext for corruption. At the same time, the policy should continue to be implemented, and private businesspeople could be encouraged to participate. Otherwise, where would the cabinet's authority lie?
A few years earlier, this memorial wouldn't have carried much weight, and certainly wouldn't have received much attention. But things are different now. In recent years, Emperor Chenghui has significantly delegated power to the cabinet. As long as it doesn't involve major military matters or the appointment of officials above the rank of minister, Emperor Chenghui basically doesn't interfere, leaving it all to the cabinet. In this respect, the Great Zhou Dynasty didn't follow the Ming Dynasty's example of establishing a red-robed Directorate of Ceremonial to decentralize power.

This can be considered as drawing on the experience of the Ming Dynasty, where the inner court was absolutely not allowed to interfere in politics.

After reading the memorial, Li Qing knew that it was absolutely impossible not to express his opinion on this matter, nor was it possible not to offer any advice. This was Jia Lian's memorial, and if he dared to stop him, Jia Lian would come knocking on his door.

Left with no other option, I could only issue a single statement: I recommend that the Inspectorate send personnel to investigate! I neither encourage nor oppose private immigration.

Well, Li Qing would absolutely not support encouraging private businessmen to participate in this, because there's no benefit to it.

Just look at who the maritime traders are now. The largest number of maritime traders are from Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, and Zhejiang. These four provinces also have the largest number of private immigrants. Since the benefits don't go to their own people, they naturally have no motivation.

Because the memorial was quite important, Li Qing reviewed it and then had it forwarded to Lin Ruhai. He wouldn't send it directly to the emperor, otherwise Lin Ruhai would definitely cause trouble if he found out.

This wasn't something he could handle directly without reporting it. Li Qing understood this very clearly.

Lin Ruhai received two memorials, but instead of immediately reading Li Qing's comments, he read them both first and then looked at Li Qing's comments. After thinking for a moment, he took the memorials and went to find Li Qing.

"Brother Rushui, let's discuss this." Yes, this is the norm for the cabinet in handling government affairs: communicate privately first, reach an agreement, and then submit a memorial.

Li Qing did not respond immediately, but instead asked in a questioning tone: "Should we invite Prime Minister Fang along?"

Lin Ruhai hesitated for a moment before saying, "That's very good! We do need to communicate with Buqi about his memorial first. I will second the Second Prince's memorial."

Soon Fang Song was also summoned, and the three of them went to Lin Ruhai's office. After discussing Jia Lian's memorial, they quickly reached a conclusion.

The cabinet won't hold rank-and-file officials accountable for resisting immigration policies due to their own political responsibilities; after all, they all came from the grassroots and understand the difficulties of getting things done at the grassroots level. However, if they use cabinet policies to enrich themselves while the cabinet bears the blame, that's absolutely unacceptable. It's necessary to use this opportunity to discipline a small group of grassroots officials and establish the cabinet's authority.

All three of them could see that Emperor Chenghui had to relinquish power due to his health condition. If they didn't take this opportunity to establish the authority of the cabinet, when would they?

The tug-of-war between imperial power and ministerial power has never ceased; in the struggle between advancing and retreating, what must be fought for must be fought for.

Another matter, which the cabinet ministers also clearly understood, was that Emperor Chenghui, drawing on the experience of the retired emperor, had become even stricter with his sons. Apart from the two legitimate sons who had a chance to inherit the throne, the power of the other princes was severely restricted. Currently, only Li Yuan and Li Heng wielded real power. Even after Li Heng made a mistake, he was still able to oversee the central government's affairs, and the power of the Imperial Clan Court was confiscated. Li Yuan briefly held the power of guarding the Nine Gates and the Shuntian Prefecture. Later, he resolutely resigned from the position of guarding the Nine Gates, which reassured the cabinet ministers.

While not entirely at ease, Li Yuan essentially held the reins of power, while Li Heng oversaw the Imperial Clan Court and the central bank. The newly established Banking Regulatory Commission, however, was also under the control of Li Yuan, who was temporarily in charge of the reins. The struggle between the two princes was intensifying daily.

The cabinet ministers finally understood: Emperor Chenghui had never made a decision. Fortunately, he did not allow the princes to touch military power, which was the most gratifying thing for the cabinet ministers.

After experiencing so much, the cabinet members have realized that they must never get involved in the struggle for the throne, otherwise the emperor will definitely get rid of them.

After reaching a consensus, Lin Ruhai and Li Qing went together to see the emperor.

Emperor Chenghui, who was enjoying the Ottoman dancers' performance, reluctantly signaled for a pause and came out to meet the two cabinet ministers.

Emperor Chenghui knew very well that, unless it was a major matter, the cabinet was currently happy for the emperor to rest more and interfere less. Thinking of this, Emperor Chenghui couldn't help but frown secretly; delegating power was easy, but taking it back was difficult.

If the cabinet has too much power, it might become another Zhang Juzheng of the Ming Dynasty, or Fang Baiyi of this dynasty.

Fortunately, both of the emperor's legitimate sons have come of age, which is the most gratifying thing.

Emperor Chenghui did consider abdicating, but ultimately gave up the idea; power is something too hard to relinquish.

When they met to discuss matters, Emperor Chenghui did not look at the memorials first, but asked the two cabinet ministers to speak first.

Li Qing presented Li Yuan's memorial and offered his own opinion, which Lin Ruhai seconded. Emperor Chenghui hummed in agreement, tacitly acknowledging the cabinet's opinion.

Li Qing added, "We can first select one of the four provinces of Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, and Zhejiang to try it out."

Emperor Chenghui then asked, "In your opinion, which province is most suitable?"

This was an opportunity for Li Qing to prove himself. To be honest, the reason Li Qing failed to become the Grand Secretary wasn't because Lin Ruhai was much better than him. The main reason was that Li Qing made mistakes, and also because Li Qing didn't have a son-in-law named Jia Lian.

In principle, if Li Qing wants to become the Grand Secretary, he can only rely on his physical condition. If Li Qing is still in good health after Lin Ruhai's ten-year term as Grand Secretary expires, then he can be promoted further.

If someone falls ill and collapses first, then there's nothing more to discuss. As for Lin Ruhai, after his ten-year term, if he's still in good health, then it depends on the emperor's decision—whether he stays in office or is sent to a post outside the capital is possible.

However, judging from the trend, Emperor Chenghui is likely to be the first to fall.

(End of this chapter)