Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 680 No Title

No matter how much the people below clamored, the emperor's will could not be reversed. Many memorials were submitted in opposition, but all of them were kept in the palace.

The official gazette publishes documents submitted by the cabinet, with the cabinet itself appearing at the top.

A major debate unfolded in the newspapers, but the two sides remained deadlocked, unable to convince each other. However, the articles from the debate, once published, spread throughout the country, expanding the influence of practical learning. From any perspective, the practical learning side benefited.

As for debating, it's not up to Jia Lian to do it himself; there are plenty of scholars willing to take on that task.

The imperial examination proceeded smoothly. Jia Lian did not get involved in this matter; what he valued was how to expand and promote practical education.

After the results were announced, there was a great deal of excitement. Those who passed were naturally overjoyed, while those who failed were heartbroken.

In the subsequent palace examination, Li Yuan went even further, with a very direct essay topic: "On Annexation."

The test takers who received the questions were all sweating profusely; these questions were absolutely terrifying.

Jia Lian was required to be present during the palace examination, but he did not personally participate in grading the papers; instead, he sat aside and waited.

Fang Song and Yan Li brought over the papers from the top ten students.

Jia Lian read them one by one. This question was indeed difficult for these candidates. No matter how eloquent the essays were, they did not touch on the essence.

Unfortunately, this topic is beyond the comprehension of people in this era. Even if a genius saw the essence of the problem, they might not dare to write it down.

Two candidates were particularly bold. One, whose paper ranked third, focused on how various dynasties dealt with land annexation in their essay. He pointed out that all methods of dealing with annexation were simply a process of dismantling feudal states to the present day, where individual landlords emerged one by one. He argued that completely eliminating annexation was unrealistic at its root, and the best solution was to start with the tax law, changing the poll tax to a land tax.

Another paper ranked fifth, using the late Ming Dynasty as an example, argued that the reason why the court could not collect taxes was the selfishness of the officials, who only cared about the interests of their own family and clan, and that the change of dynasties did not affect their continued status as gentry.

This exam paper is the most outrageous; it's practically asking, "Whose world is this?" The gentry would reply, "The world belongs to the gentry."

The solution proposed in this paper is more characteristic of the times. It suggests learning from Emperor Taizong of Tang and sending more imperial censors to inspect the country, discover cases of land annexation, and deal with them in a timely manner.

It's rather idealistic and doesn't have much practical value.

Nevertheless, Jia Lian still picked out these two papers and placed them first and second, for a simple reason: they touched on some essential points.

After the rankings were revised, Jia Lian, along with the cabinet ministers and Yan Li, went to see the emperor and presented the top ten papers for his review.

After reviewing the papers of the top ten, Li Yuan sighed and said, "If land sales are not prohibited in the countryside, how can land consolidation be curbed? Of the 150 people, not a single one mentioned this."

Jia Lian remained silent, and the officials behind him also kept quiet.

Li Yuan was just casually remarking that banning land sales was a joke; no dynasty could do that.

Perhaps on a whim, Li Yuan suddenly asked, "Jia Qing, what do you think of Fan Zhongyan?"

After a brief silence, Jia Lian replied, "The article is excellent!"

Li Yuan was speechless for a moment, then waved his hand and said, "Alright, let's proceed with the rankings."

The day after the palace examination, Fang Song seized an opportunity to ask, "What did His Majesty mean by asking Fan Zhongyan?"

Jia Lian said quietly, "Scholarship land!"

Fang Song was taken aback: "What's wrong with the fact that the land grants benefits the Fan clan?"

Jia Lian asked, "Is this a merger? How will future generations learn from it? Is the Fan family still a single family with one surname?"

Fang Song remained silent; the impact of the three consecutive questions was still quite strong.

This shows that Li Yuan saw the essence of the problem; even Fan Zhongyan could not escape the shackles of his family and clan.

Looking at the Zhou Empire today, which of those high-ranking ministers doesn't own vast fields?
There is no solution to land annexation; otherwise, there wouldn't be this cycle of order and chaos.

While the newly appointed scholars were enjoying their moment of glory, Jia Lian returned home, where Wang Xifeng greeted him: "Wu Anzhong has delivered a visiting card!"

As Jia Lian accepted the visiting card, Daiyu entered. Looking at the card, Jia Lian sighed, "Even Anzhong has become distant!"

Daiyu smiled and said, "As the chief minister, who would dare to be negligent towards you?"

Jia Lian did not respond. He put down the visiting card, wrote a reply in his own hand, and indicated that he would be waiting for him at any time after his shift ended.

Daiyu observed carefully and clicked her tongue, saying, "Both are chief ministers, but my father-in-law is not as good as my mentor. Alas!"

In front of Wang Xifeng, Jia Lian pressed Daiyu down on a stool and slapped her hard, saying, "Go and pay your respects to your father-in-law on your day off!"

Having achieved her goal, Daiyu got up and rubbed her bottom, saying, "It hurts so much! As expected, old age and faded beauty have made me unpopular."

Wang Xifeng silently took out a letter and handed it to Jia Lian: "Wang Yi has sent a letter!"

Jia Lian took the package, opened it, examined it carefully, and then tossed it aside: "The court may not stop the Marquis of Annan from expanding his territory, but Wang Yi wants the court to support his military supplies. How can he even ask for that?"

After Jia Lian finished speaking, he was about to leave. Wang Xifeng sighed and silently followed. Daiyu rolled her eyes and followed as well.

The three arrived at the study. Jia Lian ignored the person behind him, walked straight to the wall, opened the curtain, and revealed a huge map.

This map is extremely detailed, and it's a map of Southeast Asia. This shows that Jia Lian has been closely monitoring the changes in Annam; Annam has been anything but peaceful in recent years.

Since the Wang family halted its maritime development, it has fallen behind step by step, and it has no chance to rejoin the maritime competition. Annam's products simply cannot compete with those of other Southeast Asian countries domestically, and in turn, it has a strong demand for domestic industrial goods, forcing it to spend large sums of gold and silver on purchases.

Thanks to the Xue family's business patronage, the Wang family was able to purchase military supplies at prices that were not high, even 30% lower than market prices.

Even so, the Wang family's expansion was too rapid, and they were beginning to struggle to keep up. After looking at the map, Jia Lian recalled Wang Yi's words in the letter: the Wang family harbored ambitions to invade Siam.

Fighting those small Southeast Asian countries head-on isn't actually that difficult; the real challenge lies in the hidden dangers lurking everywhere in the jungle.

Putting aside everything else, malaria alone was enough to overwhelm the Wang family.

Expanding into those areas is easy; conquering them is easy. The key is how to achieve long-term stability and security.

The Wang family now occupies Annam. The north is relatively stable, as it is part of the Confucian cultural sphere. The central region has one culture, and the south has yet another.

At the official level, traditional culture can be eradicated, even resorting to violence like destroying temples to forcibly promote Confucianism. Judging from the results, it would be difficult to achieve this in less than one or two hundred years.

Therefore, the Wang family's attempt at cultural colonization was destined to be counterproductive.

Considering that the imperial court could not devote too much energy to the area surrounding Siam in the short term, Jia Lian decided to continue to tacitly approve of the royal family's expansion, but with a change in methods.

As he approached the desk, preparing his brush and ink, Daiyu preemptively poured water, ground the ink, and prepared paper and brush.

Sitting at his desk, Jia Lian felt a chill run down his spine as he thought of the jungles of Southeast Asia. Let alone Siam, even in northern Myanmar alone, the imperial court had few effective solutions. For the time being, they could only continue to maintain a policy of appeasement, though the sons of local tribal leaders had to be sent to Kunming for their studies. Within Myanmar, the region remained fragmented into numerous tribes, large and small. The Burmese king was merely a figurehead, holding a nominal authority near Yangon. Those former die-hards had been united with other tribes and, with the support of the imperial court, wiped out.

If such a vast empire treats its borders this way, what are the royal family thinking? Wouldn't it be better to peacefully develop and expand along the banks of the Mekong River? Why insist on venturing deep inland?
Jia Lian picked up his pen to write a reply to Wang Yi, but he still had to consider Wang Xifeng's feelings; if the mistress of the house lost face, how could she manage such a large household? In this respect, Daiyu would always respect Wang Xifeng.

Otherwise, the consequence would be unrest in the household, and Jia Lian would also be in a state of great distress.

It is evident that Wang Xifeng made significant contributions to the family; without her efforts, Jia Lian would not have been able to focus on his work outside the home.

In his letter, Jia Lian clearly told Wang Yi that the Wang family's expansion should proceed along rivers to ensure smooth logistics. Secondly, he advised against trying to achieve too much too quickly; instead, he suggested securing key positions in easily accessible locations, then implementing a policy of appeasement and division. He recommended influencing the local leadership culturally and leveraging their influence to achieve control. He cautioned against solely pursuing actual conquest, as conquest without substantial gains is unsustainable. He concluded by saying, "Take care."

Jia Lian completely ignored Wang Yi's pleas for help. After all, without Jia Lian's tacit approval, would the Xue family have provided you with cheap weapons all these years?
One should be content. If you want weapons, you should find a way to plunder the surrounding countries, make them pay tribute, and then purchase military supplies from them.

There's another issue Jia Lian didn't mention: the ports along the Siamese coast. Many Chinese merchants are now involved in maritime trade. Otherwise, who will buy the cotton cloth and tea produced in Jiangnan after the production capacity explodes?
It's important to know that tea trees are prohibited from leaving the country. Even Annam prohibits tea cultivation; you can't even plant them secretly. If discovered, the country will be destroyed by military force.

This is the result of repeated orders from the imperial court. Thanks to the tea trade, half of the Zhou Empire has benefited. If you plant tea in Annam, you are digging up the root of the imperial court's tea trade, which is absolutely intolerable.

All we can say is that all the hard work of conquering the entire Southeast Asia and turning this area into the Zhou Empire's sphere of influence was just to find a market for the rapidly developing industry and commerce.
Not to mention Annam, even in Borneo and Java, the imperial court did not allow the planting of a single tea tree; if discovered, it would be considered treason.

This is what we call strict defense!

Jia Lian absolutely could not allow any mistakes to be made in the advantageous position of the tea trade.

China has never been a silver-producing country, so how did it become the only major country in the world with a silver standard currency? Isn't it simply because it absorbed precious metals from all over the world by relying on its core products such as tea and porcelain?

How do we understand this concept? We can think of it as a modern, cutting-edge chip!

However, under Jia Lian's meddling, the Zhou Empire developed a complete industrial chain that was based on cutting-edge technology from this time and space.

Given such a favorable situation, Jia Lian naturally tried his best to delay the spillover of related technologies. In the long run, spillover was inevitable, because there will always be people who take risks for profit.

After dealing with the Wang family's affairs, Wang Xifeng made an excuse to leave first, while Daiyu stayed behind, smiling as she looked at Jia Lian without saying a word.

The couple still had a good understanding; Jia Lian raised his hand and touched his face, which was still smooth and delicate.

"When spring arrives and flowers bloom, Father will be returning to Suzhou." Daiyu was in low spirits because their differing political views had strained the relationship between Jia and Lin, and Daiyu was indeed implicated.

However, seeing how Jia Lian treats the Wang family, Daiyu can understand Jia Lian and even feels a little sorry for him.

"The Lin family has been the leading merchants in Suzhou for only a little over ten years. I'm afraid it's difficult for them to continue now," Jia Lian casually reminded him.

Daiyu curled her lip and said disdainfully, "The Lin family has already made enough! Besides, a married daughter is like water spilled from a bowl; I won't say a word for the Lin family."

Jia Lian laughed and said, "You can't say that. You are, after all, the eldest aunt of the Lin family of Suzhou."

Upon hearing this, Daiyu revealed a resolute look in her eyes, raised her hand and gently tapped Jia Lian, saying, "This year, two of Lin's disciples came to take the imperial examination, but they failed and want to study at the Imperial Academy. Father asked me to look after them, but I refused. When you send them off, my husband must not give in. Lin is doing quite well now; we can't let her get any more arrogant."

Jia Lian nodded: "The Lin family members are indeed disappointing. They have such a great opportunity in front of them. If even one of them had made it, I wouldn't look down on the Lin family so much."

Daiyu immediately sneered, "With the Grand Secretary as their backer, they can sit back and collect money comfortably in Suzhou. Why risk going out to sea? If it weren't for Lian-ge forcibly exiling one branch of the Lin family to Java, I'm afraid every member of the Lin clan would be willing to go out and make their way in the world. The Xue family can also make money from home, but they dare to venture out. Now that the Xue family is in such a good position, I can't even hold my head up in front of Baochai."

Jia Lian was taken aback for a moment, but upon reflection, it made sense. In any other family, Daiyu would have the upper hand, but in the Jia family, it was the exact opposite.

"Let the Lin family stay in Suzhou peacefully. As long as I am here, the Lin family will naturally be at peace. If the Lin family cannot produce talented people, its decline is only a matter of time." Jia Lian said this, naturally wanting to use Daiyu's words to convey Lin Ruhai's attitude.

"I'll go see tomorrow." Daiyu didn't press the matter further, spoke softly, and then left.

Jia Lian sat at his desk, silent for a long time, until he heard footsteps beside him. He turned his head and saw Xiren cautiously entering.

As his official rank rose, those around him became less at ease, especially Xiren and Yuanyang, who grew increasingly subservient. The only one who remained unchanged was Xiangling.

"What is it?" Jia Lian asked with a smile. Xi Ren stepped forward and stood respectfully. Jia Lian was both amused and annoyed, and beckoned for her to come closer to speak.

"My younger brother is getting married and asked if I could go back to support him."

Xi Ren's younger brother, unable to excel in his studies, also went into business, working for Jia Rong. The Jia family's businesses were primarily concentrated in the cultural industry; they were giants in the printing and newspaper industries in the capital. While their cigarette business was also a major player in the north, it wasn't as prominent. Their steel industry outside the Great Wall, focusing solely on the Korean, Japanese, and Far Eastern markets, had little presence domestically.

"Ask your younger brother if he'd be willing to go beyond the Great Wall after the wedding and become a manager there," Jia Lian asked. Xi Ren blinked in surprise and said, "Isn't Master Rong's man in charge of things in Anshan?"

Jia Lian laughed in exasperation: "Are you stupid? That's my fiefdom. Logically speaking, when I retire, I should go there to stay."

(End of this chapter)