Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 672 Funds for Public Welfare Projects
In the spring of the fourth year of the Qianzheng reign, the Longhai Railway was officially launched. As another trunk line in the north, the construction process adopted for the first time a plan to set up factories in various provinces along the route to provide cement and other building materials.

This move greatly reduced project costs and also left some basic factories in the provinces along the route.

Also in that year, after listening to Hu Min's report at the beginning of the year, Li Yuan learned that the imperial treasury had accumulated 100 million yuan, and thus conceived the idea of ​​building a palace.

Therefore, at the Imperial Cabinet meeting, Li Yuan took the initiative to propose to resume tribute and repair the Beidaihe Palace.

In the past, when the emperor wanted to undertake large-scale infrastructure projects, he would definitely be opposed by his ministers. However, this cabinet meeting was unexpectedly unusual. No one objected, and no one supported it. Everyone chose to remain silent.

Seeing the tense atmosphere, Li Yuan was also a little frightened. This was too abnormal. He should at least try to calm things down.

"Don't any of you have anything to say?" Li Yuan took the initiative to break the silence.

"Your Majesty, where will the funds for the reconstruction of the palace and the Beidaihe Imperial Palace come from?" Li Qing had no choice but to ask, lest he be surrounded and beaten by his ministers when he went out.

This custom does exist in Confucian culture: a subject should dare to offer advice, especially when the monarch is wrong.

Among the so-called mistakes was extravagance and lavish construction. After all, this is one of the lessons history has left for future generations; whenever an emperor started doing this, it was always the common people who suffered.

The consequences of neglecting the people's well-being are severe; dynasties that favored large-scale projects rarely fared well. The most typical example is Emperor Yang of Sui, who has been criticized for over a thousand years for building the Grand Canal. Although it was later proven that the Grand Canal did indeed play a significant role, given the circumstances at the time, Emperor Yang's ambition and penchant for extravagance during its construction cannot be erased from the label of harming the people's livelihood.

"How about the Ministry of Revenue and the Imperial Treasury each pay half of the required expenses?" Li Yuan hesitated for a moment, then revealed his thoughts without keeping anyone in suspense.

Li Qing immediately breathed a sigh of relief and turned to ask Xiong Fang, the Minister of Revenue, "Lord Xiong, is the Ministry of Revenue facing any difficulties?"

Xiong Fang didn't say it aloud, but in his heart he cursed Li Qing's ancestors for eighteen generations. How could he shirk responsibility like that? How could he ask such a question?

"Reporting to Prime Minister Li, although the court's annual revenue increases every year, so do its expenses. The specific difficulties depend on the costs incurred in repairing palaces and temporary residences." Xiong Fang was not one to be trifled with. Don't think that just because you're in charge of the Ministry of Revenue, you can use the emperor to pressure me, the Minister of Revenue, and take the opportunity to shirk responsibility. Therefore, he gave a vague answer, ensuring he had room to maneuver.

Li Yuan was secretly displeased upon hearing Xiong Fang's words. What was wrong with Xiong Fang? I strongly supported the appointment of a cabinet candidate to an important position to check and balance the cabinet, and this is how you repay me?
Thinking this to himself, Xiong Fang's gaze towards Xiong Fang became less pleasant. Xiong Fang secretly lamented that he had been tricked by Li Qing again.

Ultimately, Xiong Fang wasn't someone Li Qing promoted, so naturally he couldn't be of one mind with Li Qing. He would never follow Li Qing's ambiguous arrangements that skirted the edges of the rules.

Li Qing was in charge of the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Rites. Since his subordinates could not be commanded as easily as he would his own arms, he naturally had to give them a nudge from time to time.

Today's move can be considered a case of using someone else to do the dirty work.

Jia Lian saw this clearly and gave Fang Song a look. Fang Song immediately stood up and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, why don't we wait until the budget is completed? If the Ministry of Revenue is not doing well this year, we can wait until next year."

When Li Yuan saw Fang Song stand up, he thought he was going to object, but unexpectedly, Fang Song asked for a budget first. Thinking about it, it made sense; without a budget, the Ministry of Revenue would indeed be unable to act effectively.

Then he turned to Jia Lian and asked, "Minister Jia, how long will it take for the Ministry of Works to prepare the budget?"

Jia Lian stood up and said, "Your Majesty, this matter requires on-site investigation, and I cannot give a specific date. I can only estimate that it will take about a month."

Seeing that there was still no objection, Li Yuan felt much better and quickly said, "Then arrange for personnel to conduct an on-site survey as soon as possible and come up with a figure as soon as possible."

Jia Lian accepted the decree and sat down expressionlessly. Li Yuan, however, felt something was amiss with this action.

After the meeting, Li Yuan felt increasingly uneasy and asked Hu Min to invite Jia Lian.

Although Jia Lian is ranked last in the cabinet, in reality, all the civil and military officials, and even the emperor, have decided that Jia Lian will definitely become the chief minister; it's just a matter of time.

Within the cabinet, Jia Lian was a minister who was extremely busy with practical affairs and rarely needed to perform his duties. He did not challenge the power of other ministers and was relatively respectful to Lin Ruhai and Li Qing.

If one had to name the person in the cabinet who was most at odds with Jia Lian, it would actually be Yue Qi. As a cabinet minister in charge of the Ministry of War, Yue Qi believed that Jia Lian was secretly sabotaging the military reforms, which had yet to be initiated.

Jia Lian was summoned to an audience by imperial decree. After exchanging greetings, Li Yuan offered him a seat.

"Sir, why do the cabinet ministers not stop me from building palaces and temporary residences? I have read in history books that whenever a monarch wants to start a construction project, his ministers always oppose it on the grounds that it will burden the people and waste money."

Li Yuan asked the question directly without any pretense, which made Jia Lian secretly chuckle to himself. It seemed that Li Yuan knew what was going on.

Jia Lian smiled and said, "As long as Your Majesty does not impose corvée labor, I have no reason to object. So, may I ask Your Majesty, is it necessary to impose corvée labor?"

Li Yuan immediately understood that over the years, both the research and development department and the railway bureau had undertaken so many large-scale projects, all of which were carried out through hiring. The advantage of doing so was obvious: it did not harm the manpower of the people.

The conscription of laborers did not mean that the people had to bring their own food, but there was a drawback in the process of implementation: local officials manipulated the system.

In contrast, by adopting a subcontracting strategy, private merchants would take on projects and organize their own construction teams to do the work. The government would only need to inspect the quality of the projects and ensure that the merchants treated the workers well.

Of course, the most important thing is not to delay payment for construction projects; otherwise, it would be better to impose corvée labor. During the reign of Emperor Chenghui, there was no legal prohibition against corvée labor, but in fact, the court no longer imposed corvée labor on major construction projects.

This raises another question: what form should local officials take when undertaking water conservancy projects or similar initiatives to govern their areas?

The debate has raged for years, but generally speaking, with county-level water conservancy projects becoming one of the performance evaluation criteria for officials, counties have consistently resorted to conscripting laborers during the winter off-season. It's not that the government doesn't want to hire them; they simply don't have the funds. This raises another issue: the distribution of annual tax revenue between the central and local governments.

During the reign of Emperor Chenghui, the central government took the lion's share of the provincial tax revenue, about 70%. While the revenue going into the Ministry of Revenue's account was somewhat manageable due to the large annual expenditures, the revenue going into the imperial treasury accounted for a relatively small amount of expenditure.

Especially after Li Yuan ascended the throne, he basically did not spend much on the imperial treasury.

Jia Lian's rhetorical question instantly triggered a flood of memories in Li Yuan's mind, which he then pieced together. Looking at the court's annual expenditures, it was clear that the South had indeed paid more taxes, which were then used to subsidize the North.

So it turns out that the emperor's handling of state affairs truly involves a domino effect. It's like the whole country is a chessboard. "I observe that the imperial treasury holds considerable funds, and thus I wish to make some use of them. After listening to your words, I realize that a ruler's every word and action has a profound impact. He must set an example for all his subjects. You once taught me that money left idle is just dead matter. I would like to ask you, sir, how to spend the imperial treasury's money in a way that can be considered truly productive?"

Li Yuan was deeply moved and shared his thoughts.

"Your Majesty, in my opinion, as long as the methods for renovating palaces and imperial residences are appropriate and avoids wasting resources and causing hardship to the people, simply spending the money is already an achievement. If Your Majesty can not only spend money when using the imperial treasury, but also stimulate other industries, then that would be a great achievement," Jia Lian said with a smile, guiding the discussion step by step.

Li Yuan became interested and sat up straight, asking, "Please explain in detail, sir."

"During the reign of the late emperor, the roads throughout the capital were repaired, and the road and drainage systems were improved. Now that Your Majesty wishes to make some progress with the imperial treasury, you may follow this path." Jia Lian continued to explain calmly, while Li Yuan remained silent, listening attentively.

Jia Lian continued, "When the late emperor built the inner city, Your Majesty could start with the outer city. The planning and construction should be unified, with the core principle being to improve the housing conditions of the people. Take the northern part of the city as an example; most of the residents live in makeshift shacks built privately. Your Majesty can certainly intervene and renovate them. However, in the process, it is crucial to ensure the interests of the people in the north while also recovering the costs. Otherwise, a well-intentioned renovation project will become a scheme where local officials line their own pockets and harm the people."

Upon hearing this, Li Yuan couldn't help but wonder: "Can the costs be recovered from demolishing and renovating shantytowns?"

Jia Lian smiled and said, "As long as it's managed well, it's certainly possible."

Jia Lian had accumulated a wealth of experience in handling demolition and construction projects over many years as a grassroots official. However, these types of projects were often the most troublesome.

If the outer court were to handle this, it would be much more difficult. Now that Jia Lian is doing it through Li Yuan, the difficulty will undoubtedly be greatly reduced.

"First, we need to mobilize public opinion. This is a people-benefiting project funded by His Majesty's private funds. Only after all the people understand this can the subsequent demolition proceed smoothly. The project shouldn't be large-scale or rushed; it should be done step by step. Most of the people's houses are single-story bungalows. After demolition, the rebuilt houses can be high-rises. People can be relocated according to the demolished area, which will free up some building area for commercial and residential construction. Street-front shops can be rented out, and the extra housing can be sold. In this way, breaking even shouldn't be a problem. To achieve the transformation smoothly, the initial construction must be done well so that the people can see the benefits. If any troublemakers don't cooperate, the court cannot be lenient and must deal with them resolutely."

The last sentence undoubtedly reflects the characteristics of the era. Jia Lian adhered to the principle of reasoning whenever possible, and resolutely cracked down on unreasonable people who insisted on taking more than their fair share.

Well, the nature of the government in this era was different. In order to ensure the smooth progress of the project and benefit the majority of people, the government could resort to its iron fist when necessary.

In a way, modern Chinese people really have to thank publications like Yilin. The ideal world they depicted through fantasy, even though everything is achievable, is something the government has already done its best to achieve.

To put it bluntly, civilization is indeed built on a foundation of economic development.

Without a developed economy, many things are just castles in the air.

Li Yuan was moved by Jia Lian's words and had a long talk with Jia Lian, asking about all aspects of the matter. Jia Lian also tried his best to give his opinion.

The secretariat staff were sore from writing so much before the meeting about how to spend money finally came to an end.

In principle, Li Yuan wanted to spend a portion of the imperial treasury, and how to spend it meaningfully was Li Yuan's requirement.

Li Yuan's biggest selfish motive in this matter was to spend money to win the hearts of the people in the capital for a good life that was praised by all. Wasn't this much better than spending money to build palaces?
Of course, the palace and the imperial residence still needed to be built, as Jia Lian believed it was related to the face of the country.

When Li Yuan brought this up at the next cabinet meeting, all the cabinet ministers were stunned, except for Jia Lian, who remained unfazed.

The emperor's act of spending money to renovate shantytowns and improve people's livelihoods was simply unimaginable to the cabinet ministers.

Everyone was convinced that Jia Lian had instigated it, but it was truly a good thing. In any case, the emperor and the court would gain a good reputation.

In March of the fourth year of the Qianzheng reign, another very significant event occurred: Emperor Li Yuan initiated a tree-planting campaign.

The barrenness of the Yanshan Mountains is not a recent phenomenon; it has existed for a long time. Therefore, the stories in some novels about people from the capital going into the mountains to hunt are simply a joke.

You can look for some pictures from the Qing Dynasty; the mountains surrounding the Great Wall were all bare.

Each county surrounding Beijing had a tree-planting task, and the imperial court would send people every year to check and ensure that all the mountains in the Yanshan Mountains were covered with green trees again.

Jia Lian has been planting trees for over a decade. He's spent a considerable amount of money on it, and the forests belong to the Jia family.

After Li Yuan launched the tree-planting campaign, the hills that were re-greened naturally belonged to the government.

This was certainly a good policy, and the cabinet and court officials had no reason to oppose it. For this purpose, a special fund was allocated to all counties across the country. Whether it was used effectively is another matter.

While the Zhou Empire was preoccupied with domestic affairs, Europe was engulfed in fierce fighting.

Jia Lian's focus was not on Europe, since Napoleon was certain to win; what he cared about was the Russo-Turkish War.

Unlike previous battles where Turkey consistently suffered defeats, this time the fighting between Russia and Turkey was evenly matched. At sea, Britain and Tsarist Russia undoubtedly held sway. With its shipping lanes blocked, Turkey launched a resolute counterattack during the British and Russian amphibious landings, thwarting the British attempt to control the Egyptian coast.

When the two armies deployed and engaged in a fair and square field battle, the Russian army was subjected to a barrage of heavy artillery fire from the Turkish army. When they entered a firing exchange, the Russian army was also at a disadvantage.

After suffering defeats in the Balkans, the Russian army was forced to adopt a defensive posture, resulting in a stalemate thanks to its terrain advantage.

In the Caucasus region, the situation was reversed; the Turkish army suffered a defeat and went on the defensive.

The two sides were locked in a protracted stalemate, with military spending running out like water.

The Ottoman army's unexpected windfall came from its Black Sea Fleet. The newly acquired warships, purchased from the Zhou Empire, leveraged their superior range to achieve a minor victory against the Russian navy, thwarting Russia's attempt to blockade the Dardanelles. In 1807, the anti-French coalition took over, and a truce was reached.

During the lull in the ceasefire, both sides understood that the ceasefire was temporary and that the next war was just around the corner, so they had to make preparations for war as soon as possible.

(End of this chapter)