Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 644 Like Winning
The Northeast is indeed quite wild at present, but it is really rich in resources.

If the Prince of Dongping doesn't rebel and focuses on developing the Northeast, he can build up his power in a hundred years. It's good for him to be able to guard the Far East.

In this sense, Emperor Chenghui was indeed a wise ruler, but unfortunately he had too many limitations and was rather soft on domestic matters.

Of course, internal issues are always the most complex and the most difficult to handle.

They are all ruling classes, and the relationships between them are intricate and impossible to fathom. Often, problems can only be addressed after they have already surfaced, which is considered legitimate.

Jia Lian tossed aside the visiting card from the heir of the Prince of Dongping. He could return the gift, but a meeting was out of the question.

Opening the next gift list, it turned out to be from Jia Yucun, expressing his sincere desire to remain as close as ever. Jia Lian just smiled and put it aside, not taking it too seriously.

The gifts on the list weren't cheap; they were all gold or jade, showing great sincerity.

In reality, Jia Lian didn't care much about money. That's how gift-giving works; you have to give something that the recipient truly appreciates.

Jia Yucun's real gift was a letter attached, in which he politely stated that he would personally submit a memorial to His Majesty suggesting that the government organize a practical learning journal to serve as supplementary teaching material for the Imperial Academy.

After reading the letter, Jia Lian smiled. This Jia Yucun was quite a character. After returning to the capital, he frequently colluded with Lin Ruhai, while slightly distancing himself from the Jia family. However, he never missed sending New Year's gifts, making him quite a shrewd and worldly man. It was only because he was currying favor with Lin Ruhai that Jia Lian had any reason to deal with him if it were any other cabinet minister.

In order to promote practical learning, Jia Lian was still willing to unite more people. As long as it did not violate his principles, it was always better to have one more friend than one more enemy.

Jia Lian did not reply to the letter, but instead personally wrote a list of gifts in response. After all, in principle, high-ranking officials of the third rank and above should not associate with other officials in private, as this would be suspected of forming cliques.

Later, Jia Lian personally wrote reply slips for the gift lists of Lin Ping and Li Dong. He also personally wrote reply slips for his subordinates with whom he had a good relationship.

This way, the person who receives the receipt will know exactly what's going on at a glance.

More gift lists and receipts should be left to Lin Zhixiao to handle. There are certain gifts that Jia Lian absolutely cannot accept, and Lin Zhixiao is well aware of this.

For example, if the gift was sent by someone from Shanxi or Jiangnan, Lin Zhixiao would return it directly. Jia Lian had given prior instructions to avoid any mistakes.

Finally, Jia Lian specifically instructed Wang Xifeng that when sending gifts to the palace, no one should be overlooked, especially Yuan Chun in the palace and Li Heng in Luoyang, who were absolutely not to be neglected.

As for what others think about Jia Lian not forgetting to send New Year's gifts to Li Heng, Jia Lian doesn't care at all.

Li Yuan's end of the year was also not easy, especially with a bunch of gift lists and letters from relatives, as well as female relatives coming to the palace to build relationships, curry favor with the Empress Dowager and the Empress, and speak well of them.

These past few days, Li Yuanzhen has been having a lot to say. Every day when he pays his respects to Empress Dowager Zhou, and every evening when he returns to Kunning Palace, he is particularly talkative.

This greatly displeased Li Yuan. He recalled that before the Royal Coal and Iron Group's IPO in the latter half of the year, he had given these relatives some benefits, a fair share of the spoils. Now that the stock price had tripled, these people were still not satisfied. Relying on their kinship ties, they demanded both official positions and money.

To be honest, it wasn't that Li Yuan didn't give these relatives opportunities, but the key was that they didn't seize them. Every time he gave them a chance, the process and the result were always the same. Once they had a little power, they immediately thought about pocketing the benefits, without any thought of doing their jobs well, as if they thought they'd miss this opportunity forever.

This greatly disappointed Li Yuan, who lost all faith in these relatives and resolved to marginalize them from now on, giving them cushy jobs to keep them afloat.

It's not that he's stopped training his own people, but rather that he's sending them to school. The Imperial Academy, the Royal Military Academy, the Engineering Academy—as long as they're willing to study, Li Yuan will provide opportunities and cover all expenses.

Li Yuan would give several chances to anyone who could stand out or even graduate successfully.

He didn't expect them to be exceptionally outstanding; as long as they didn't embarrass him, Li Yuan was patient enough to nurture them gradually. After all, he himself hadn't achieved success overnight; he had suffered countless setbacks along the way.

After several days of this, Li Yuan couldn't take it anymore and simply hid in the Qianqing Palace, refusing to go anywhere else.

Sleeping alone at night is great!
In short, apart from visiting the Empress Dowager every day, he was not given any other opportunity to meet with other women alone, lest they chatter incessantly.

Empress Dowager Zhou was kind enough to say a few words at the beginning, trying to secure some benefits for her family. Since Li Yuan hadn't treated them unfairly, Empress Dowager Zhou stopped talking.

Knowing that her family members were disappointing, and that Emperor Chenghui and Li Yuan had both given her opportunities but she hadn't been able to seize them, she simply stopped talking and would at most provide some subsidies privately.

In fact, Li Yuan now regrets being too easily swayed. He shouldn't have given away too many original shares; he should have given away less.

Having taken into account past events and fully realized the insatiable greed of his so-called "own people," Li Yuan was able to harden his heart.

The cabinet still hopes that Li Yuan can make a decision before the end of the year, at least to select the person from Shandong.

Shandong is currently lacking a governor and a provincial treasurer, and Li Yuan doesn't want to deal with it just by looking at the list. When it comes to personnel matters, the gentleman is the last person who wants to get involved.

Officials of the third rank and above were exclusively reserved for imperial power!

Li Yuan subconsciously took a liking to the list, and after reading it, he tossed it aside and asked Hu Min to bring him the most recent memorial from Li Dong, the prefect of Xuzhou.

Li Yuan remembered Li Dong; he was Jia Lian's classmate and a capable official. Wherever he went, he first rectified the criminal justice system and corrected corrupt practices, then focused on infrastructure development, building bridges, roads, and water conservancy projects, before finally addressing taxation and education. Now, Li Dong had submitted another memorial, mainly concerning the chaotic management of local mines by the government. Taking Xuzhou as an example, the vast Jiawang coal mine only collected five thousand taels of rent from the government annually; even so, his predecessor had proudly touted it as a remarkable achievement.

Li Dong submitted a memorial impeaching the former prefect, requesting the court to send an inspection team to investigate the former prefect's problems in mine management. He also strongly advocated that the Jiawang Coal Mine should be taken back into government control, and stated that the practice of privately operated coal mines should be rectified by the end of the year. He further suggested that the court give this matter sufficient attention and launch a nationwide crackdown.

After reading Li Dong's memorial, Li Yuan put it aside and asked Hu Min to find a memorial sent by the prefect of Dengzhou in October.

After Hu Min found it, Li Yuan carefully read it. It was a memorial to the throne about how local areas could develop industry and commerce and improve people's livelihoods in accordance with local conditions.

During his tenure as Prefect of Dengzhou, Lin Ping encouraged pig farming. The government provided the piglets, and the people were only responsible for raising them; if any pigs died, the people were not held liable, as the government would buy them back at the end of the year. Feed was also provided by state-run feed mills, using a mixture of fishmeal and soybean meal to significantly improve pig farming efficiency. During Lin Ping's five years in Dengzhou, tax revenue doubled, coming from two sources: encouragement of fishing and encouragement of aquaculture.

Prefect Lin Ping did an excellent job; his measures truly benefited the people. For example, in pig farming, the government provided piglets and feed to the people, and collected the pork at the end of the year at a price set by the government—very fair—ensuring that each pig brought in five yuan a year. Of course, this free provision only lasted the first year. After the industry prospered, only the first batch of cooperative farmers would continue to receive this free benefit. Later farmers who joined after seeing the benefits would not be able to take advantage of the system. During his tenure in Dengzhou, Lin Ping particularly emphasized good governance, providing rigorous training for officials and establishing comprehensive reward and punishment rules. A key innovation was providing officials with a fixed salary.

Both of them have one thing in common: they are young! Li Dong is three years older than Jia Lian, and Lin Ping is four years older than Jia Lian. They are both in the prime of their lives.

After some thought, Li Yuan picked up his pen and wrote down the appointments of the two men, then attached the cabinet list and asked Hu Min to send it back to the cabinet.

Li Yuan then waited to see how the cabinet would react. Strong opposition was one thing, but no opposition was another.

To be honest, Li Yuan's decision to reject the list provided by the cabinet and appoint two other officials in Shandong, who were both of the third rank, greatly shocked the cabinet.

In the past, even if the emperor was dissatisfied with similar appointments, he would choose one from the list provided by the cabinet.

Lin Ruhai convened a meeting of cabinet ministers to discuss the matter, and began with a powerful warning: "Gentlemen, His Majesty's reply has arrived. The selection for the Ministry of Personnel has not been finalized, but the selection for Shandong has been decided."

Everyone fell silent after reading it, their expressions not very good. The only one who seemed relaxed was Pan Jixun, who was now just waiting for his retirement next year.

Fang Song is in a better position; he is still young, and if His Majesty persuades him to stay next year, he can remain in office.

The real troublemakers in the Ministry of Personnel incident were actually the Grand Secretary and the Second Grand Secretary, since they were the mainstays of the cabinet.

The emperor's dissatisfaction with the Ministry of Personnel primarily put pressure on Lin Ruhai and Li Qing. After all, the previous lists were all drafted and submitted by the two of them.

"It seems His Majesty is not satisfied with the previous list of officials for the Ministry of Personnel. Therefore, we will draft another list, expanding the number of candidates to give His Majesty more options. As for the appointments in Shandong, since His Majesty has other plans, I have nothing to say." Lin Ruhai clearly stated his position, waiting to see how the others would react.

Legally, the cabinet can reject appointments, leading to repeated back-and-forth between the cabinet and the emperor. It all depends on whether the cabinet is willing to exercise this right.

When the cabinet is powerful, it can force the emperor to bow his head and accept the cabinet's opinions.

It is clear that the current cabinet, due to the transitional period and Li Yuanshun's extension of the late emperor's decentralization, is in a relatively strong position, but not particularly powerful. The root cause is that it lacks military power and cannot exert control over the new emperor's finances. The cabinet members are also well aware that the appointments in Shandong are a trial balloon by the new emperor.

The biggest problem in the cabinet right now is disunity, especially as Lin Ruhai faces the delicate moment of his five-year term coming to an end next year.

Li Qing certainly hoped that Lin Ruhai would lead the opposition to the appointment and initiate a rebuttal. Only in this way would he have a chance to remove Lin Ruhai.

Unfortunately, Lin Ruhai didn't give him a chance, immediately expressing his agreement. He even gave his opinion on the next step, the list of candidates for the Ministry of Personnel.

Faced with Lin Ruhai's airtight measures, Li Qing, as the second-in-command, was truly at the mercy of his rank and could only passively wait for Lin Ruhai to make a mistake.

“I have no objection!” Pan Jixun was the most easygoing and was the first to second the motion.

Fang Song was the most quick-witted. His eyes darted around and he immediately chimed in, "I second that!" Since he had no chance of becoming the Grand Secretary anyway, he might as well agree and curry favor with the Emperor and the Grand Secretary, thus indirectly currying favor with Jia Lian.

Don't be fooled by the fact that this father-in-law and son-in-law don't get along. Hehehe, who knows if they're just putting on a show for others?

Even if Bi Dingguo and his group succeeded and seized the lucrative positions controlled by Jia Lian, such as the R&D department, railway bureau, and stock exchange, could they really drive him out of the court?
Fang Song still can't understand why those people aren't afraid of Jia Lian's furious retaliation? They might even already be retaliating, but no one has noticed yet.

After the majority of the three agreed, Lin Ruhai didn't need to consider Li Qing and Yue Qi's attitudes anymore. He didn't give them a chance to speak and directly made the decision: "Pass! Draft the appointment and submit it to the Emperor."

After the meeting, Li Qing and Yue Qi returned to their office in low spirits. Because they hesitated for a moment and tried to find the right words, they didn't even get a chance to speak.

That Lin Ruhai is really wicked.

Li Yuan quickly obtained the appointment letter from the cabinet, promptly affixed the seal, and sent it back to the cabinet, requesting its prompt delivery.

The following day, at the last cabinet meeting before the new year, Li Yuan did not cause any trouble. Regarding the latest list of officials for the Ministry of Personnel provided by the cabinet, Li Yuan still did not immediately express his opinion. Instead, at the imperial meeting, after excluding candidates from Shanxi and Jiangnan for the three positions, he asked the cabinet to vote on the other candidates one by one by raising their hands.

Finally, before the end of the year, the appointments for the three main vacancies in the Ministry of Personnel were finalized, and the matter was considered to be over.

So, did the cabinet compromise? No. Did the emperor compromise? Still no.

Yes, a win-win situation! Or perhaps, a win-win situation!
The details of this incident eventually got out, and the new emperor's special regard for officials from Shanxi and Jiangnan, which was initially a guess, became a fact.

One interesting detail is that during the vote on the appointment of the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, Li Yuan pointed to Jia Yucun's name on the list and said, "Let's start with Jia Yucun!"

The result was three to two, and Jia Yucun passed the vote smoothly. Keep in mind, Jia Yucun was ranked last on the new list—it's unbelievable!

Li Yuanming could have simply appointed them from the list, but he insisted on holding a cabinet meeting for a vote. His hypocritical attitude is reminiscent of the late Emperor Chenghui.

As the year draws to a close, the capital city becomes more and more bustling each day, with markets packed with people buying New Year's goods.

The busiest time for the Five Cities Military Command has arrived. After targeted crackdowns on various criminal and illegal forces, there haven't been any major incidents before the New Year, and public security has greatly improved.

The cunning and corrupt officials who frequented the capital city knew best that with the year-end approaching, the Five City Garrison Command continued the practices of the time when Jia Lian was in charge.

Many socially unstable factors chose to seek a living elsewhere before the end of the year to avoid being targeted as a scapegoat.

Once the storm passes and things return to normal, life can go on.

(End of this chapter)