Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 652 It’s not over yet
The people of Suzhou and Songjiang, the two most powerful prefectures in Jiangnan Province, were weeping under Jia Lian's tyrannical rule, while the people of the other prefectures trembled in fear.

The front page of the Beijing-based newspaper "Minyi Bao" reported on Jia Lian's actions in Jiangnan Province. The above is the editor's note.

You can't run a newspaper without capital. There are more than ten newspapers of various sizes in the capital, and even if you have the capital to run one, you still need to get approved by the Ministry of Rites.

Recently, most newspapers in Beijing have been criticizing Jia Lian's trip to Jiangnan. It's not that they don't want to criticize him, but they simply dare not.

Being able to say a few sarcastic remarks is already a great favor to the client.

The City Life Daily, on the other hand, stood out by constantly issuing exclusive reports on the imperial envoy's crackdown on the Jiangnan merchant tax case.

Regarding the incidents in Suzhou and Songjiang prefectures, the newspaper reported as follows: "Relevant individuals reported numerous wrongful convictions in the prisons and criminal justice systems of Suzhou and Songjiang. An imperial envoy took this matter seriously. As the investigation deepened, it was discovered that several gentry in Suzhou and Songjiang prefectures, relying on their wealth and connections to officials in the court, were bullying men and women and abusing their power through extrajudicial means. The government officials were either in cahoots or were effectively controlled; such actions of establishing independent mini-kingdoms were tantamount to treason. After ascertaining the truth, Imperial Envoy Jia urgently mobilized military forces and entered Suzhou and Songjiang prefectures. Jia's actions were intended to advocate for the people and deter local wrongdoing."

Despite the lively reports in the newspapers, the court was very quiet, and the cabinet was also very calm.

This unusual atmosphere made officials in the capital unconsciously more cautious in their words and actions, and more careful about what they said.

Local officials from the Jiangnan region submitted memorials requesting the court to restrain Jia Lian. However, these memorials were ignored and remained unanswered.

It's not surprising that the cabinet kept quiet; Jia Lian's "Investigation Report on Criminal Cases in Suzhou and Songjiang" was sent to the cabinet and placed before the cabinet ministers.

As is customary, a copy of this report would also be presented to the emperor.

This criminal report's timeline covers the official reports from the past five years. How many of these reports were not recorded is something I cannot and dare not think about.

Within the two prefectures, there were over 20,000 criminal cases involving conflicts between commoners and gentry, with the commoners failing to prevail in any of them. These cases primarily involved land disputes, property disputes, and commercial disputes.

Based on Jia Lian's report, it was decided to reopen these old cases, and a land survey report was attached. According to this report, the number of self-cultivating farmers in the Suzhou and Songjiang prefectures had decreased by more than 3,000 households in the past five years.

The report also pointed out that officials, gentry, and banks colluded to annex 200,000 mu of farmland within five years.

The report also includes a very special one: a compilation of disputes between factory owners and workers. There are only a few of these cases, about a thousand of which are documented.

In closing, Jia Lian emphasized the importance of cracking down on local organized crime and believed that the more economically developed a region is, the more important it is to persist in such crackdowns over the long term.

The cabinet leaders had mixed feelings when they saw the report. They all knew that Jia Lian was incorrigible, and the cabinet had suggested to Emperor Li Yuan that the commercial tax case be put to rest and Jia Lian be transferred back to the capital.

Li Yuan's response to such suggestions was always the same: Wait a little longer.

The problem is, the emperor can wait, but others can't. Jia Lian had the power to act first and report later.

If achieving the goal of collecting back taxes was the first stage of Jia Lian's trip, then now we are entering the second stage, triggered by widespread injustices in local prisons.

Jia Lian submitted a memorial impeaching 75 officials of various ranks in one fell swoop, demanding the immediate dismissal of 60 of them, while the remaining cases were still under investigation due to their seriousness. These 75 officials included the three provincial administrations of Jiangnan Province and the prefectures of Suzhou and Songjiang. It was clear to anyone with discernment that Jia Lian was targeting Suzhou and Songjiang prefectures. The reason was simple: officials in these two places had disobeyed and failed to execute the imperial envoy's orders during the first phase of the commercial tax case. This had earned them Jia Lian's frenzied retaliation—a form of political persecution.

The cabinet was well aware that, given the actions of officials in Suzhou and Songjiang, Li Yuan couldn't be happier if Jia Lian were to be even more ruthless.

This memorial meant that the future of seventy-five officials in Jiangnan Province was ruined, and they even faced imprisonment.

Faced with this memorial and its hundreds of pages of appendices, the cabinet simply chose to ignore it and forwarded it directly to the emperor.

Li Yuan instructed the secretariat to expedite the process and review the attached documents to determine the appropriate charges against the relevant officials.

To this end, Li Yuan thoughtfully dispatched twenty literate eunuchs to assist the secretariat.

Three days later, the secretariat completed its review and determined that thirteen of them should be dismissed and the rest should be exiled.

Li Yuan decisively approved it: "Approved!"
The largest dismissal case in the history of Jiangnan's officialdom erupted, leaving the cabinet ministers who received the verdict terrified. They pretended not to see the bypassing of the Court of Judicial Review and directly approved the decision.

This move clearly illustrates that the cabinet is now hoping that Jia Lian will finish this quickly and return home, so that he won't cause any more trouble.

With the cabinet's five-year term coming to an end, Lin Ruhai and others realized that if their response was too strong this time, they probably wouldn't get another term.

I'm tired, I'm going to lie down and give up.

Based on past experience, once the cabinet gives the emperor whatever he wants, the officials below will definitely cause trouble, and it will escalate to a great extent, and public opinion will be one-sided.

But this time was different. With a large number of officials in Jiangnan being dismissed and the cabinet in disarray, the winds in the capital did not blow in one direction, but rather in multiple directions.

The most significant movement naturally occurred in the Ministry of Personnel. The seventy-five vacant official positions, ranging from Provincial Treasurer to County Magistrate and County Commandant, were all highly sought-after. It's important to understand that these were in Suzhou and Songjiang, the most prosperous cities in Jiangnan.

Countless incumbent officials and those awaiting selection displayed tremendous enthusiasm, racking their brains to curry favor with the Ministry of Personnel. Officials in the Selection Department, in particular, were truly surrounded by widespread enthusiasm.

In previous years, the officials of the Imperial Academy would have been overjoyed, but this year is different. The newly enthroned Emperor Li Yuan does not seem to be as benevolent as he appears on the surface.

The Ministry of Personnel had already experienced intense turmoil last year, so the newly appointed officials naturally cherished their positions. Considering that Jia Lian was still in Jiangnan, the Selection Department was extremely cautious in selecting officials, conducting repeated investigations and reviews, rather than simply looking at the rating reports submitted from various regions.

Besides being cautious, the Ministry of Personnel also demonstrated high efficiency this time. In the past, the selection of so many official positions would have taken at least a month to complete. Otherwise, how could they have waited for the best bidder and maximized their profits?
This time, it only took ten days to fill the positions of seventy-five officials and quickly submit the results to the cabinet.

After the disorganized cabinet numbly approved candidates of rank below the third grade, officials of rank above the third grade were submitted to the emperor for approval.

Public opinion was divided. One side opposed Jia Lian, believing his actions were cruel to the people and exploitative of the gentry, a heinous crime. The other side supported Jia Lian, believing he had reformed the officialdom in Jiangnan, clarified the criminal justice system, and restored justice to the people of Jiangnan. The cabinet submitted all the memorials from both sides to the emperor in a single package, indicating they could not handle them. Li Yuan was equally straightforward; since the imperial kitchen lacked ignition materials, he simply sent them over.

Both sides submitted numerous memorials, each sticking to their own version of events and attacking each other. The official disputes were relatively civilized, but the disputes among the common people were far less polite.

The two opposing viewpoints in the various newspapers set up their booths, clearly stated their opinions, and began to argue.

At first, they presented the facts and reasoned with each other, using relatively polite language. But as time went on, tempers flared, and during the newspaper exchanges, a slip of the hand led to the use of profanities. Then it spiraled out of control, with all sorts of dialects making their appearance: "You motherfucker," "Who is your mother?" "This one says 'that motherfucker,'" "That one says 'I want to sleep with your mother.'"

Of course, scholars should try to maintain elegance; how can such vulgar language reflect their level of knowledge?

The problem is, when everyone is in a panic, who cares about anything else? Especially the officials in Jiangnan, who are receiving absolutely no good news from Jiangnan.

Breaking news: Jia Lian has started killing people.

At first, they killed local bullies and the like, those with blood on their hands, and punished them severely after the investigation was completed.

Within three days, 188 people were killed in Suzhou Prefecture, and 330 people were killed in Songjiang Prefecture. The most serious case was in Shanghai County, because it had the busiest port. In the struggle for control of the port, local criminal gangs committed a large number of bloody crimes.

After news of the killing of over five hundred people reached the capital, the two sides, who had been fiercely exchanging barbs, suddenly fell silent. It was as if they had all vanished overnight. It was as if these people had never existed; in the past two weeks, those diligent "pen names" had disappeared. This left the other side quite unsettled, feeling a sharp pain in their backs.

Speaking of the other side, there is undoubtedly the so-called "Jia Party". The Jia Party is also quite unique in that its characteristics are not obvious.

These people do not form large-scale factions within the system; rather, they appear very loosely organized. Their unity in public opinion stems from shared ideals.

This truly embodies the principle that a gentleman seeks harmony without uniformity.

If killing local criminal gangs was just the beginning, then Jia Lian would next start killing gentry and minor officials.

Starting in Suzhou Prefecture, thirty-six gentry members, acting as masterminds, colluded with officials to murder for profit, resulting in the deaths of over four hundred people in five years. Fifty-five minor officials, whether accomplices of the gentry, lackeys of officials, or acting for personal gain, directly or indirectly caused the deaths of over eight hundred people, committing heinous crimes deserving of death.

To uphold justice, Jia Lian appeared at this execution site, holding the imperial will and presiding over the execution.

This time it wasn't so bloody; instead of beheading, it was execution by firing squad, leaving these people with a complete corpse.

During this period, successive officials arrived in Jiangnan. After learning that Jia Lian had begun killing people, they all tacitly chose to stay in Jinling and not cause trouble for Jia Lian.

After the killings in Suzhou, Jia Lian went to Songjiang and announced the death sentences of fifty more gentry and officials, to be carried out immediately.

After the murders, the government began to clear out and compensate the victims for their property and land. The vast majority of the victims received compensation from the government.

For a time, the common people of Suzhou and Songjiang hailed Jia Qingtian (Jia the Upright Official), and many people set up memorial tablets for him.

The entire Jiangnan commercial tax case gradually came to an end with the commencement of the refund process. The officials who had been hiding in Nanjing finally mustered the courage to take office one after another.

Everyone felt that the matter should be over, and the atmosphere gradually relaxed.

As new officials took office and took over local government affairs, Jia Lian told everyone that the matter was not over yet.

Although people were killed, their immediate family members were accomplices and beneficiaries of the evildoers. The newly appointed officials immediately received new instructions from the imperial envoy to organize local officials and cooperate with the soldiers of Shenji Town to carry out the next wave of punishment.

This punitive action targets the criminal's immediate family members and related stakeholders.

This time, Jia Lian didn't kill anyone; instead, he was exiled.

In Suzhou and Songjiang prefectures, a total of more than 13,000 people were sentenced to exile. In fact, Jia Lian was quite merciful this time.

The so-called exile gave the exiled person two choices.

One option is to prepare your own boat, organize your own trip, and choose your own destination. You can go to Java, Borneo, Australia, or New South Wales (North America).

For this type of person, the time allotted is relatively generous, with a three-month preparation period, after which they must set off.

The other option is that the government will take care of sending you away, and you won't have a say in where you go. The preparation period is also relatively short, only ten days.

Of course, you can also refuse the verdict and choose to abandon everything and run away.

Everyone who received the verdict understood that this was not exile, but rather a forced emigration.

Of course, one could also refuse immigration, which would truly be exile.

It wasn't that no one chose to run away, but Jia Lian didn't care. Only a minority of people would abandon their families and businesses to run away. The vast majority of people quietly began to prepare. Three months was still quite enough time. It was just immigration, which was better than having everything confiscated and being forcibly exiled.

After three months, the vast majority of people eventually immigrated. They even received a thoughtful reminder that supplies were scarce in Southeast Asia, so bringing money with them was not very useful. Instead, they suggested hiring more ships to purchase weapons, ironware, porcelain, tea, and other supplies from Jiangnan and sending people to transport them to their destination in advance to prepare for their needs after landing.

Many people were disgusted, but there was nothing they could do. Facing the army's bayonets, they had no choice but to back down, as they had families to support.

Jia Lian was very kind; he not only reminded everyone but also didn't ask for their thanks.

Of course, what these people didn't know was that they only discovered upon arriving in Southeast Asia that this godforsaken place was within Jia's sphere of influence. It was a relatively large settlement, home to retired officers and soldiers of the Southeast Asian New Army.

These officers and soldiers in Southeast Asia held power from the lowest to the middle ranks, and also controlled a large number of civilian armed forces.

After this wave of immigration ended, the last batch of officials were exiled. Although Jia killed many gentry, petty officials, and local bullies, he did not kill a single official.

Privately, Jia Lian stated in his report to the emperor that officials are those who govern the people for Your Majesty, and their life and death decisions can only be made by Your Majesty, not by any subject.

Silence fell, and everyone thought the matter was over, and the dark clouds in the Jiangnan sky should finally drift away.

Jia Lian, however, told the whole world, "No, it's not over yet!"

(End of this chapter)