Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 677 Li Yuan's Hesitation

Grandmother Jia enjoyed a lifetime of wealth and luxury, and passed away peacefully.

She managed to see Jia Min and Daiyu before leaving, which shows that she truly loved her daughter and granddaughter.

While Jia She was still keeping vigil for Grandmother Jia, he pulled Jia Lian aside and said, "Now that your grandmother is gone, it's time for the eldest son's family to return to its rightful place."

Jia Lian looked at him and sighed, saying, "This matter needs to be brought up by the second branch of the family, lest outsiders say that Father has lost the way of brotherly love and respect."

Perhaps due to his long period of leisure, or perhaps due to his advanced age, Jia She was truly incapable.

The reason Jia Lian wasn't angry was simply because he had let Jia She keep this pent-up anger for so many years, and he had given him enough face.

Jia She was completely obedient to Jia Lian, or to put it bluntly, somewhat afraid of him.

"Do as you say, really, my request is not excessive at all." Jia She muttered to himself as he left to continue keeping vigil.

As the eldest grandson, Jia Lian naturally had to ask for leave to stay home and keep vigil, as he would certainly have to endure the seven-day mourning period.

Out of affection for his mother, Jia Zheng proposed to observe the full 49-day mourning period. In front of Lin Ruhai, Jia She did not object, and Jia Lian was even less concerned.

Although the emperor did not specify who would succeed him as chief minister, Lin Ruhai retired, and Li Qing naturally assumed the role of acting chief minister temporarily until the emperor officially stepped down and confirmed it.

Li Yuan did not immediately issue an edict confirming Li Qing's appointment as Grand Secretary, which naturally caused Li Qing to secretly lament that things were not going well.

This clearly demonstrates that the emperor was dissatisfied with Li Qing and was therefore hesitant.

The funeral of Grandmother Jia was extremely grand. The Empress Dowager and Emperor Li Yuan both sent messengers to convey imperial edicts, bestowing upon her the highest honors.

Jia Lian dutifully observed the seven-day mourning period. Before he could return to work, Li Yuan sent someone to summon him to the palace that very night.

After Jia Lian paid his respects to the emperor, Li Yuan said impatiently, "I have observed that Li Rushui governs his subordinates with leniency and has won the hearts of the officials. With him as the chief minister, a smooth transition of government will naturally not be difficult."

After speaking, Li Yuan looked intently at the person opposite him, and Jia Lian smiled slightly and asked, "What is Your Majesty struggling with?"

Li Yuan said solemnly, “In Zhili and the surrounding areas of the capital, less than 30% of the population are self-employed. If this is the case even in the capital, what about the rest of the country? The fact that there are no starving people in the capital this winter is due to the favorable weather last year. However, the majority of the labor force is employed by government-run enterprises and various construction projects, which absorb most of the people. This ensures that the people have work and do not become homeless or freeze to death on the roads. I believe this is not a sustainable solution. Combating land annexation is of utmost urgency. As the Grand Secretary, I fear that Li Rushui may not be able to achieve my goals.”

Jia Lian understood Li Yuan's meaning, but didn't know how to respond. After a long silence, he said, "Your Majesty, I need time to think about it carefully."

Li Yuan understood the difficulty of this matter. The so-called "equalization of land tax and poll tax, with gentry paying taxes together" could not actually solve the fundamental problem. The imperial court could indeed collect the money, but the local landlords and officials would not obediently relinquish their profits; instead, they would exploit the people even more ruthlessly.

The very structure of this country dictates that combating land annexation is unrealistic and simply impossible. This is because all officials come from landlord backgrounds; Jia Lian is an extremely rare exception.

Even those officials who were allied with Jia Lian, while helping to suppress landlords and gentry, were only doing so to eliminate their political enemies and replace them.

Jia Lian's initial approach of rapidly developing industry could only ensure that the country did not fall behind the world's major powers; it could not fundamentally change the country's situation.

Without a massive social revolution like India's, it's difficult for an agricultural superpower to solve its fundamental problems; at best, it will be slightly better off than India after independence.

Another reason is the influence of imperial power. If the current emperor wants to crack down on mergers and acquisitions and promote reforms, can the next emperor ensure that he continues down this path?

Li Yuan was somewhat disappointed. He had hoped that Jia Lian would pat his chest and say, "Leave this matter to me," so that Li Yuan could immediately decide to appoint Jia Lian as the Grand Secretary.

"Sir, please go back. You have been observing mourning at home these past few days. It would have been rather impolite of me to summon you here. Please do not take offense!"

Jia Lian said solemnly, "Your Majesty's words are too much for me to accept. As a subject, it is my duty to share the burdens of my ruler."

Back home, Jia Lian hid in his study, racking his brains for a solution. He realized that the only way to prevent land annexation was to overthrow all the landlords and nationalize the land.

But if we do this, officials across the country will probably not agree. Without enough officials to implement the policy, it's just empty talk.

Li Yuan's determination to curb land annexation was commendable, and he recognized the crux of the problem. The key issue was that the emperor was the largest landowner; should cracking down on annexation be accompanied by a rebellion?
In short, Jia Lian's view was to proceed gradually and not rush things. By supporting capital to deal with landlords, the quantitative change would naturally lead to a qualitative change when the time was right.

Jia Lian believed that the landlords would definitely want to invest their money in more profitable industries.

After thinking for a long time, Jia Lian finally went to sleep in the middle of the night. The next day, he went to the mourning hall to offer incense to Grandmother Jia, and then went to the palace to request an audience.

Li Yuan immediately summoned Jia Lian, who then told him what he had thought of and emphasized: "In the past, the late emperor wanted to implement the policy of 'equalizing land tax and poll tax' so that gentry and commoners would pay taxes together. However, the plan was halted midway, which I did not understand at first. But after thinking about it again, I realized that all officials in the country came from the gentry and commoners..."

After Jia Lian finished speaking, Li Yuan nodded slightly and sighed, "Father's leadership is so profound that I am no match for it."

Jia Lian then proposed two points: firstly, while supporting industry and commerce in policy, increase the scale of immigration, taking full advantage of natural disasters, with the court intervening to force migration. Secondly, the law must be clearly defined: when the court develops projects, landowners must comply with the land requisition, otherwise they will be severely punished. This point utilizes the advantages of centralized power; it cannot be like India, the largest democracy, where road construction can take more than ten years with little progress, making a huge fool of itself in front of the world.

Centralization is essential for any country to achieve industrialization; otherwise, relying on capitalists and landlords for slow-to-result heavy industries would be a joke.

Therefore, we must unswervingly adhere to the state-led industrial model with government-owned enterprises as the mainstay, and industries that are of national strategic importance must absolutely not fall into private hands.

This clause should also be explicitly written into the law.

Private capital can only profit by participating in the stock market.

Li Yuan could not see through Jia Lian's sinister nature, nor could he foresee what the future Zhou Empire would look like with such a bizarre policy.

What Li Yuan can do is draw on previous successful experiences, and when encountering natural disasters, he can move the disaster victims away to alleviate the conflict between people and land.

There is no other way.

"However, if this happens, Li Rushui becoming the Grand Secretary might be detrimental to you, sir," Li Yuan kindly offered this reminder.

Jia Lian smiled and said, "With Your Majesty here, what do I have to worry about? Besides, I am still willing to do some practical things. Moreover, maintaining stability in the court is the top priority, no matter what."

It wasn't that Jia Lian didn't want to be the Grand Secretary, but rather that there was no need to rush into it. While becoming the Grand Secretary would certainly bring greater power, it would also mean being confined to the capital.

For development to occur, a favorable social environment is essential, and stability is therefore crucial.

After seeing Jia Lian off, Li Yuan made up his mind. Since there was no rush to crack down on land annexation, making Li Qing the chief minister was the safest option.

Nowadays, not only the gentry of the land, but also many officials inside and outside the court are worried that if Jia Lian becomes the Grand Secretary, he will initiate policies targeting the gentry.

Li Qing arrived by imperial decree. After exchanging greetings, he stood nervously opposite.

Li Yuan asked him directly, "What do you think of the administration?"

Li Qing's heart trembled violently. It took him a long time to calm himself down. After taking steady breaths, he said in a low voice, "Everyone has selfish desires, and officials are no exception. Therefore, there are three things that need to be sought in governance: first, to promote integrity; second, to be diligent in government; and third, to supervise officials."

Li Yuan nodded slightly and said, "Please explain in detail, my dear minister."

"Those who advocate integrity, as the name suggests, believe that integrity breeds public service, and public service breeds authority. Therefore, the court promotes it. Those who advocate diligence have laws and regulations in place, and officials are selected based on merit. Those who advocate supervision have censors who consider it shameful to impeach even the most trivial matters, and take pride in fighting corruption. Only by taking multiple measures together can we achieve results."

These words are somewhat reminiscent of following the old ways. This is exactly what Lin Ruhai did when he first took office: if he couldn't crack down on mergers and acquisitions, then he would rectify officialdom, improve efficiency, and crack down on a small number of corrupt officials as a warning to others.

Li Yuan listened to his unoriginal remarks and looked coldly at Li Qing, inwardly reluctant to appoint him as Grand Secretary. Li Yuan knew that if Li Qing became Grand Secretary, his so-called reform of officialdom would mostly be a means of eliminating political enemies. After all, all officials in the land were corrupt, and eliminating political enemies would be killing two birds with one stone, a plausible explanation to both superiors and subordinates.

The prejudice was too deep. Li Yuan looked at Li Qing, and his original thought that Li Qing would be a good successor to the position of Grand Secretary disappeared.

"You may go now," Li Yuan waved his hand, signaling Li Qing to leave.

Li Yuan is actually a fairly decisive person, but the position of Grand Secretary is too important, which is why he hesitates so much.

Jia Lian showed no interest in competing, which inevitably disappointed Li Yuan. In his mind, Jia Lian was the most suitable candidate.

Li Yuan hesitated, and the matter was thus delayed.

With the New Year fast approaching, Li Yuan had no time to think about it and decided to just enjoy the holiday in peace.

In New Washington, where the Lunar New Year was also approaching, Li Heng was in a good mood. Over the past year, thanks to the cooperation of his subordinates, Li Heng's ideas had been largely implemented.

The colonies of the three prefectures have grown even larger, with a population of nearly six million. Even more encouraging is that, through a combination of force and persuasion, the local natives have increasingly chosen to submit to him, the new Chinese king.

With the support of the Chinese, most of the indigenous people successfully settled in one place, and in the central region of North America, hundreds of tribes of all sizes gathered, with a population of nearly one million, spanning multiple states in modern society.

Once the indigenous people learned to farm and settled down, they naturally stopped choosing to migrate. They had no choice before, but now they've become somewhat dependent on the Chinese.

They could satisfy their food needs by growing their own crops, and they could grow cotton to trade for cloth from the Chinese. The Chinese also provided farm tools, and they were willing to teach the indigenous people how to brew the most popular beverage, alcohol.

There were two main reasons why Li Heng was able to do this: one was Jia Lian's established policy, and the other was that the colonists had actually sent people across the continent to the white colonies to fully understand the population and power disparities between the two sides. They couldn't place their hopes for security on the disunity of the white population; absorbing the indigenous people was the fastest way to increase their own strength.

As for whether the natives would retaliate, no one was certain. However, based on previous observations, the New Washington officials, led by Li Heng, judged that the two sides had deep-seated hatred and that reconciliation would not be easy.

White settlers seized the most habitable areas, leaving the indigenous people with very little space to live. If they didn't resist, they faced extinction.

The natives aren't stupid; they know right from wrong.

Of course, it wasn't that the indigenous people didn't understand that both sides were colonizers, and objectively, both sides were squeezing the indigenous people's living space.

Li Heng's biggest problem now is the diverse origins of the population in Pingyuan Prefecture. A large number of Mexicans have chosen to go north to seek refuge due to the unrest.

Li Heng, greedy for population, indiscriminately absorbed people, which led to security problems in Pingyuan Prefecture.

After the New Year, Li Heng discussed with everyone and decided to establish a new country named Xinhua.

Legally speaking, Li Heng is the rightful King of Xinhua, and neither Xin Jinshan nor Kaiyuan Prefecture has any reason to object.

The first thing he did after the founding of the nation was to submit a memorial to the emperor in the homeland, reaffirming that the new China was a vassal state of the Zhou Empire, and to send an envoy back to the capital to present a ton of gold as tribute.

Of course, this was not a free tribute. Li Heng made many demands, among which he emphasized the need for a large number of qualified craftsmen.

Secondly, Li Heng announced for the first time the national policy of equality among scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants, as well as preferential treatment for soldiers.

Judging from these policies, Li Heng had given them considerable thought and tried every means to win everyone's support.

Xinhua also established six ministries, with its capital at Pingyuan Prefecture, and reorganized the guards of each prefecture, unifying their designations as the First, Second, and Third Armies of Xinhua.

It must be said that Li Heng was quite clever; he didn't resort to the method of forcibly seizing power, but instead adopted the strategy of first establishing a legitimate and justifiable position.

Ultimately, their aim is to gradually erode the power of Xinjinshan and Kaiyuan Prefecture, even though they are currently in a state of de facto division.

Having secured a legitimate claim, Li Heng at least gained some power regarding the allocation of immigrants.

Unlike before, the Xue brothers could no longer be assigned immigrants without prior notification. Moreover, Li Yuan could mobilize the troops of two prefectures when necessary.

Even if they stop obeying orders, your troops will still come, unlike when they first arrived and couldn't be mobilized at all.

Of course, Li Heng also realized that his subordinates were willing to cooperate, as long as he didn't go too far.

In the capital, after a month-long delay, Li Yuan finally made up his mind to determine the candidate for Grand Secretary.

(End of this chapter)