Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 636 Taking advantage of the topic
Britain was powerful at this stage, but had not yet reached its historical peak. Modern Europe was a collection of monarchies, busy trying to strangle the French Republic.

Jia Lian would not disrupt the European encirclement of France; he would only engage in petty actions against the Ottomans on the sidelines.

In terms of time, cooperation with the Ottomans had been fully launched, with the focus still on military cooperation, particularly in training troops.

The reason why Britain failed in India was quite simple: it wasn't that the British government intervened directly, but rather that the East India Company was responsible for colonization.

Although India was fragmented and incredibly weak, its sheer size and large population made up for it. With its focus on Britain, India couldn't afford to pay much attention to the East India Company for the time being.

"What did the British mention?" Jia Lian wasn't in a hurry. Sending troops to India might not be a big deal, but seizing a fortune and making a fortune back wouldn't be a problem.

"The British said they could hire an army to fight at a high price, not too many, three to five thousand would do." Xue Pan paused as he spoke, and Jia Lian looked at him strangely: "That's it?"

Xue Pan said, "That's the only requirement in terms of military matters. As for business, the British are wary of us. I guess they can guess where the Turkic King got his guns from."

Jia Lian laughed and said, "Is there any need to guess? Forget about hiring an army. We could do some cotton business, though. India is a good place to grow cotton."

The British textile industry initially relied primarily on cotton production in the American South. Southern plantation owners even fought one of the most devastating civil wars in American history with the North due to tariff issues.

If Jia Lian hadn't intervened in the American Revolutionary War, he probably wouldn't have survived until the Civil War. However, it wasn't like he couldn't cause trouble for the Americans.

"Alright, I'll go back and explain things to my men! The British have a bad reputation; they promised to crack down on opium traffickers, but nothing has come of it. I hear that Sassoon is doing quite well in India."

Xue Pan didn't have a good impression of the British either, and couldn't help but complain.

From a business perspective, the businesspeople from the two countries are simply not on the same wavelength.

The so-called spirit of contract actually depends on the interests involved. If the interests are big enough, one can even sell the rope that hangs oneself, let alone tear up a contract.

People who boast about the spirit of contracts mostly have a problem with their understanding.

In contrast, domestic merchants during this period placed great importance on reputation. This was not because they were kind, but because merchants had low social status, and if their reputation was ruined, they could not do business.

In China, those who do business must be honest to grow their businesses; even if they have to pretend, they must cultivate a reputation for honesty.

The saying "no merchant is honest" is not entirely unfounded; our ancestors weren't exaggerating. The reason why agrarian societies prioritized agriculture and suppressed commerce is simple: if everyone was in business and making money, who would farm? Without farming, there would be no food, people would starve, and how could the court maintain its rule?

Of course, things are a different story once you go abroad.

"Brother Lian, why are you unwilling to rent troops?" Xue Pan asked curiously. After all, there was profit to be made, and the price offered by the British was not low, so he was somewhat tempted.

"The British have no good intentions. Since they're mercenaries, they're paid to follow orders. Once on the battlefield, they'll do all the dirty work, leaving us to fend for ourselves when it's time to make money, and becoming cannon fodder when it's time to die. Our people aren't that cheap. Even immigrants went through a lot of hardship and expense to get there. The price for the new army is even higher. You can tell them that if we can't hold on any longer, we can send troops to help, but they won't be under our command. The price has to be satisfactory to us, otherwise, there's no point in talking."

Jia Lian drew a line to prevent Xue Pan from being blinded by greed.

Thinking of the situation in India, Xue Pan said with great envy, "Brother Lian, the people in India are either extremely poor or incredibly rich. The homes of those Indian kings are magnificent and opulent. Several of my managers have considered robbing them."

"Foolish! Robbery is a one-off deal, it doesn't last. The Xue family business employs so many people, so naturally it needs a steady stream of income. Otherwise, without business partners, everyone would be unemployed. It's easy to dismiss people, but difficult to gather them back. Now that the business has a base in Yangon, doing business is much more convenient. Why are you always thinking about becoming a bandit to make quick money? What good is the Xue family business's wealth? The foundation of survival has never been how much money you have, but how many people listen to you and are willing to risk their lives for you. Think about it carefully, isn't that the truth?"

Upon hearing this, Xue Pan fell silent, pondering the implications.

Thinking about it, it's true. Xue Pan doesn't even know how many people the Xue Family Trading Company employs. He only knows that in Guangzhou alone, there are probably tens of thousands who rely on the Xue Family Trading Company for their livelihood. Along the Su Songning route, the Xue Family Trading Company has recovered to its former scale, with several thousand people working for the Xue family. Thinking about it this way, the truly important thing is Australia. In that place, whoever becomes the prefect is entirely up to the Xue Family Trading Company.

With the help of the Nanyang New Army and the Nanyang Fleet, the Xue family's trading company was also very successful in Borneo and Java. Although the trading company did not intervene in the government, its economic influence was very significant.

Roughly calculated, in Southeast Asia alone, the number of men under Jia Lian's command was no less than ten million. Only after grasping this concept did Xue Pan truly understand just how astonishing Jia Lian's power was.

Xue Pan then brought up another matter: "Our people have established a small colony in North America, located here." As he spoke, Xue Pan took out a map and pointed to the location.

Jia Lian glanced at it and realized it was near San Francisco. Wasn't this destiny on his side?
"It's quite difficult to increase the number of immigrants in our group right now, it's just too far, we can only make one trip a year. Each time we go, we can only transport 3,000 people with ten ships at most. The manager who came back last time made a request to establish a good friendship with the local natives through trade, which helped them repel attacks from neighboring tribes. Later, we provided them with a batch of weapons so they could annex other tribes. These natives are good at fighting, but the problem is that they are not good at farming, and our people have to be responsible for teaching them how to farm."

Hearing Xue Pan say this, Jia Lian felt quite helpless. It's over 10,000 kilometers; a round trip would take at least a year, and if you're unlucky, it could take two or three years.

"Yes, we can increase the amount of cargo we can carry in the future. There's no rush to expand the colony. We should maintain good relations with the natives and help them learn to farm and grow stronger."

Jia Lian had no other choice but to do this; otherwise, the natives would be no match for the Americans' westward expansion. Now, as long as the natives were provided with enough weapons and helped to establish a basic government, anything could happen, and the Americans' westward expansion might even fail.

Xue Pan meant that the immigration process should be accelerated, but not for Chinese citizens, but for Japanese and Koreans.

To be honest, the Japanese and Koreans were really obedient and worked very hard.

Jia Lian didn't have a good solution either, so he could only remind Xue Pan to do his best to unite with the natives, help them, form alliances, and fight side by side.

After drinking with Xue Pan, Jia Lian stayed overnight at Baochai's place. Feeling slightly tipsy, he lay down and fell asleep immediately.

When she woke up in the middle of the night, she startled Baochai, who was beside her. She called Ying'er to help her come back to the toilet. Baochai's eyes showed a hint of hunger.

"I'm tired, I don't want to move!"

Baochai transformed into a knight, giving it her all in one go, but her momentum waned, and she was exhausted in the third.

Jia Lian ultimately couldn't escape a difficult ordeal.

The next day, during his day off, Jia Lian stayed behind to consolidate his gains, so as to avoid Baochai's resentful gaze following him.

My vacation is over, time to go back to work.

When Jia Lian arrived at the classroom, he listened to the report from below. The second railway school was being built in Tianjin, and the person in charge there hoped that Mr. Jia would come and provide guidance.

Due to its advantageous geographical location, Tianjin has developed rapidly in recent years, with wool and cotton mills springing up everywhere. Wool fabric production has become monopolized nationwide. While some new wool mills have opened in Shanxi, their numbers are negligible. Jia Lian was well aware of this situation; it was simply a matter of leaked wool textile technology, and there was nothing he could do about it—someone would always take risks for profit. Fortunately, the research and development department prioritized technological advancement, constantly innovating and improving techniques, maintaining a significant leading position.

It's fine as long as Jia Lian is around, but now that he's gone, there's no way to take care of him.

Jia Lian, who was listening to a report, was interrupted by a knock on the door. He glanced at his adjutant, Fan Ping, who had entered.

The official who was giving the report tactfully withdrew, and Fan Ping stepped forward and whispered, "Bi Dingguo, the Director of the Selection Department, is ill, and the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel is also ill. Neither of them can perform their duties, and they have submitted a memorial requesting to retire."

Upon hearing this, Jia Lian knew it was Lin Ruhai's doing; no one else could have done it.

If Lin Ruhai weren't the Grand Secretary and also Jia Lian's father-in-law, Jia Lian would definitely have overthrown him.

The current situation is that Li Yuan is fully aware of the problems facing the court. The next step is to see what Li Yuan does and whether Jia Lian needs to push things along.

Lin Ruhai's actions seemed to indicate that the Ministry of Personnel had backed down, but in reality, they failed to address the root cause.

Upon learning this, Li Yuan was not satisfied. From a self-interested perspective, those who paid taxes to the state were on the emperor's side; from a political perspective, officials assisted the emperor in handling state affairs.

When another meeting of the Imperial Cabinet was held, Li Yuan took the initiative to speak.

"The cabinet is too lenient with its officials. If problems aren't dealt with seriously, how can it maintain strict standards in the future? This is still the capital; what will happen to the provinces below?"

This was a direct criticism of the cabinet. Upon hearing it, Lin Ruhai sighed silently, rose and stepped forward, saying, "Your humble servant is guilty!" The others followed suit.

Li Yuan, with a stern face, continued, "My father once said that the key to governing a country lies in the governance of its officials. If the officials are corrupt, the country is not far from ruin. You gentlemen are all my father's loyal ministers, and I still trust you. I hope you will live up to my trust."

These words, which served as the opening remarks of this cabinet meeting, quickly spread throughout all government offices in the capital.

Li Yuan's attitude was very clear: I don't care about all that. If the emperor doesn't mess with the officials, who else should he mess with?

The meeting continued, and the original agenda items had to give way to Li Yuan. How to strengthen the governance of the bureaucracy became the theme of today's Imperial Cabinet meeting.

It was obvious that Li Yuan was using this as an excuse to make a fuss. After his opening remarks at the cabinet meeting, he stopped talking and just listened quietly.

Following Lin Ruhai's suggestion, Fang Song took the initiative to bring up the issues concerning the Ministry of Personnel, acknowledging that the Ministry did indeed have many shortcomings in its work.

Because of Li Yuan's attitude, the Minister of Personnel, who was originally the most promising candidate for the cabinet, has now stumbled.

It's not that there are many people from Shanxi and Jiangnan, and they all hold high positions, so let them be transferred, or beg for retirement.

Lin Ruhai was forced to step forward and make a statement: the Minister of Personnel would retire, the two Vice Ministers would retire, and all the other officials who were from Shanxi or Jiangnan would be transferred.

The cabinet collectively agreed that, as one of the most important government departments, the Ministry of Personnel should avoid favoritism in future personnel appointments. Ministers, Vice Ministers, and Secretaries should, as far as possible, be from different provinces.

Because Li Yuan made no attempt to conceal his attitude, the cabinet had no choice but to reluctantly accept it, since Li Yuan had not made any major personnel changes since ascending the throne.

The meeting's outcome satisfied Li Yuan. At the end, Li Yuan reiterated: "The lack of clean governance is not only my responsibility, but also the responsibility of the cabinet. The task of achieving clean governance is arduous and long-term, and the cabinet cannot slacken its efforts."

The meeting's outcome caused a huge shock to the officialdom in Beijing; it was like a major earthquake.

The reactions from all sides were naturally different. Officials from provinces other than Shanxi and Jiangnan believed that the emperor was too lenient, only ordering them to retire without thoroughly investigating the backgrounds of the officials in the Ministry of Personnel.

Furthermore, it is believed that these key officials of the Ministry of Personnel have amassed enough wealth over the years, and now that they have either retired or been transferred, it is considered a peaceful end for them.

Officials from Shanxi and Jiangnan were naturally very unhappy about being targeted by officials in the capital and even across the country, and many of them cursed in private.

It wasn't that no opportunists jumped out to join the bandwagon effect; before the memorials impeaching officials in Shanxi and Jiangnan even reached the emperor, the censors began to target the opportunists.

Then they investigated, but it couldn't withstand scrutiny at all. After three or five speculators set an example, the officials realized that the cabinet was still the cabinet and the bigwigs were still the bigwigs.

Anyone with eyes to see has long realized that this cabinet is simply carrying out the emperor's orders, and no amount of impeachment will touch the cabinet leaders.

The key issue is that none of us are clean, and none of us can withstand scrutiny.

The efforts to improve governance, which had become somewhat lax in the later years of Emperor Chenghui's reign, were once again brought to a close.

On the first day of the tenth month of the first year of the Qianzheng era, the special imperial examination began. After a month of work, more than one hundred people were admitted.

During the final palace examination, the candidates discovered that this year's examination was different; it wasn't the usual policy essay format. Instead, the eunuchs directly distributed the papers, and the exam content was entirely based on practical knowledge.

This dealt a heavy blow to the candidates. While candidates across the country were frowning in despair, only those from Guangdong and Guangxi were secretly overjoyed.

As pilot areas, Guangdong and Guangxi added practical knowledge content to the provincial examinations ahead of schedule, which was exactly what the candidates from Guangdong and Guangxi encountered.

Unfortunately, the candidates from Guangdong and Guangxi provinces did not perform well this time, with only three passing the provincial examination.

Nevertheless, when the final results of the palace examination were announced, the capital city was once again thrown into turmoil, as if by an earthquake.

The top two scorers in the imperial examination were from Guangdong and Guangxi respectively, the third-place winner was from Jiangnan, and the top scorer in the second-tier examination was also from Guangdong.

The most astonishing result was the outcome of the palace examination. For candidates from various regions who had not studied practical learning much, the results were appalling, with nearly half of them scoring in the single digits.

Li Yuan, through the questions in the special imperial examination, once again sent a strong signal.

(End of this chapter)