Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 709 Never change your original intention
Jia Lian left after sitting with Madam You for half an hour; no one knows what they talked about.

Jia Shi soon received a transfer order from the Ministry of the Army to serve as the Chief of Staff of the Anxi Military Region, and led a division to Anxi for rotation.

After the holiday, Jia Lian returned to work. Following Li Yuan's instructions, he first met with the cabinet ministers, and then with the ministers of various departments, the Right Vice Censor-in-Chief, the Chief Justice of the Court of Judicial Review, and other officials.

This move was intended to give advance notice and gauge the reactions from both the court and the public. The ministers' attitudes were ambiguous; after all, there was a narrow path ahead called "entering the cabinet," and no one was willing to give up the opportunity or take the risk.

The cabinet's stance is clear: the cabinet ministers who have already taken office generally hold a conservative attitude. This is understandable, as those in these positions hope that nothing will change.

The heads of other departments also held conservative views, believing there was no need for adjustments or changes. Naturally, the other departments couldn't object; who wouldn't want to be promoted without effort?
This is very characteristic of the East: whether or not reforms are needed depends mainly on the emperor's willingness. Reforms must be top-down.

Li Yuan's past life in Southeast Asia instilled in him a sense of crisis, and even as the emperor, he still recognized and supported reform.

Li Yuan convened an expanded meeting of the cabinet, which was attended by ministers, vice ministers, and other officials in addition to the alternate cabinet ministers.

The meeting was chaired by Li Yuan, and Jia Lian spoke for an hour, explaining in detail how industrialization had brought about changes in the country, leading to many disharmonies in the old system, thus necessitating reform.

Everyone understands the changes brought about by industry. The most striking change is the surge in tax revenue, which is four times higher than during the reign of the previous emperor. According to data from the Ministry of Revenue, this year's tax revenue will reach 500 million silver dollars.

Of course, there were advantages and disadvantages, namely the rise in prices. This rise was caused by the massive influx of silver coins and copper ingots from outside the country.

The influx of large quantities of copper ingots from South America did not lead to a situation where copper was expensive and silver was cheap, but it did result in a situation where both silver and copper coins depreciated.

If the cabinet hadn't consistently paid close attention to domestic grain prices and regulated them through external imports and storage, grain prices would have skyrocketed long ago, instead of fluctuating between five and ten copper coins per kilogram of rice. Of course, under the current system, the level of grain prices has little to do with farmers.

While grain prices were being released to the market, the prices of various types of meat actually decreased. This trend was concentrated in major coastal and riverside cities, with meat prices even lower in the Northwest and grain prices lower in the Southwest.

After discussing so many changes, Jia Lian concluded that in order to cope with the drastically changing domestic and international situation, it is necessary to reform the existing system.

After Jia Lian spoke, the officials present expressed their opinions one after another. Li Yuan had been paying close attention to the officials' attitudes. Surprisingly, the opponents were in the majority, while the supporters were in the minority.

The officials present had differing opinions, so naturally there was going to be some debate. At the beginning, the attitudes of all parties were relatively mild and not so heated.

After a day of meetings, Li Yuan remained silent, while the other leaders spoke freely, each holding their own opinion.

The meeting yielded no results, and Li Yuan adjourned it, announcing that it would continue the next day.

At the meeting the following day, both sides spoke with a hint of anger, especially several new departments, such as the Research and Development Department, the Railway Bureau, the Statistics Bureau, the Audit Bureau, and the Central Bank. These departments had long been at the vice-ministerial level and naturally had an urgent desire to be promoted to the top, otherwise they would always feel inferior and would not speak with any authority.

Therefore, when the heads of these departments spoke, their tone was not so pleasant. For example, Liu Chuan, the vice minister of the railway bureau, sarcastically remarked that the railway bureau deserved to be treated like cattle and horses, and were inferior to others.

The vice minister of the research and development department also said that we can build weapons to defeat foreign enemies and provide the country with a lot of profits and tax revenue, but we cannot hold our heads high internally.

Those who opposed the idea were all cultured individuals, citing classical texts and offering various rebuttals. Their argument was roughly this: how could a group of master craftsmen have the audacity to sit on equal footing with scholar-officials? Since ancient times, the social hierarchy has been scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants; scholars could not have been ranked first. Wasn't this a reversal of order? Did they really expect merchants to be on equal footing with scholar-officials?

The supporters immediately seized on this statement and countered, "Scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants—who in this court is a farmer? According to this logic, there should be a Ministry of Agriculture, and farmers should be appointed as officials."

The second day, tempers flared more. At first, they tried to reason with each other, but later they simply exchanged friendly greetings and escalated into personal attacks.

Don't be fooled by the small number of opposition members; their voice is powerful enough, after all, they are the departments that truly create a lot of value. In contrast, other departments are just people who get paid without working.

The meeting ended without a result, and Li Yuan still did not express his opinion. He then adjourned the meeting and announced that it would continue the next day.

The third day started off with a barrage of personal attacks, beginning with statements like "So-and-so is a lazy bum who only eats and doesn't work," and then moving on to the point where people were saying that if everyone was like this, those who did the work would be suppressed by those who didn't, and who would be willing to work in the future?

The opposition countered, "How are we not working? Without us maintaining the country's stability, it would have been in chaos long ago. If the country were in chaos, how could you work? You should be grateful for the environment we created for you. Go ask the nobles, are they supportive or opposed?"

Noble family...?
We are not qualified to attend the meeting!
Indeed, the nobility is no longer effective. Only Yue Qi, a cabinet minister from the military, attended this meeting; the others were not notified.

Yue Qi was old and slept during the meeting. When the topic of nobles came up, he slightly raised his eyelids before continuing to sleep. This cabinet minister, nominally the Chief of the General Staff, was in reality sidelined by the younger generation. He relied solely on his seniority, stubbornly refusing to retire. Neither the emperor nor the cabinet pressured him; they simply ignored him.

Several more days passed, but still no results. Fortunately, they were all respectable people and didn't openly insult each other's female relatives.

Official and unofficial newspapers alike have published extensive reports on the contents of this cabinet meeting. It's either that the secrecy measures were inadequate, or someone deliberately leaked the information.

On the tenth day of the meeting, Jia Lian, who had been silent all along, spoke up. After summarizing the demands of all parties, he put forward a point of view: under the current international and domestic situation, the work should have a focus.

Domestically, the focus is undoubtedly on accelerating industrialization. This development will lead to the emergence of more new technologies and greater economic benefits, much like the three pillar products of past foreign trade – all long-term benefits derived from technological advantages. Externally, the focus is mainly on diplomacy and military displays. Both aim to maintain a peaceful external environment. Diplomacy is about reasoning, while military force is about deterrence.

It's not that other jobs aren't important, it's just that we need to prioritize certain tasks at this stage.

Finally, Jia Lian reiterated that reform was necessary and urged his colleagues to consider it carefully, rather than focusing solely on the interests of their own small sphere of influence.

After Jia Lian spoke, Li Yuan finally spoke, first affirming the consideration of the participants for the overall interests of the country, and also affirming Jia Lian's views on the new situation.

At the last moment, Li Yuan stated that the current status of the Court of State Ceremonies and the Research and Development Department was no longer suitable for the development of the current international situation, and it was necessary to upgrade their level. He asked all his ministers to go back and consider it carefully, and to vote on it tomorrow.

This expanded cabinet meeting had a significant impact domestically, making people realize, upon looking around, how enormous the changes around them were. When did this begin?
The debate in the newspapers, which initially favored conservatives, gradually shifted towards a majority of reformers.

The reality is staring us in the face, especially the research and development department, which has a huge impact on the country's changes.

Where did the cement roads we walk on every day come from? Where did the horse-drawn carriages we ride in every day come from? Where did the railway network that connects the whole country come from? Where did the army's successive victories, both domestically and internationally, come from?

The conservatives cursed the new changes, but were powerless to do anything about it; they were far inferior to the newspaper industry in terms of both manpower and wealth. The reformers not only had money, but were also willing to spend it, and naturally had a strong following among the people.

During this major debate, some strange voices have also emerged, with articles appearing almost daily advocating for giving representatives of the business community the status they deserve.

This voice was not loud and did not cause much of a stir. After all, similar voices had been repeatedly appearing in newspapers for the past few years, but the imperial court had never paid any attention to them.

After the labor dispute in Jiangnan, things calmed down for a while, but recently it has resurfaced.

The eyes of the masses are discerning. The treatment of employees in state-owned enterprises under the R&D department is, if not drastically different, much better than that of employees in private enterprises.

There's never a shortage of curses directed at private factory and mine owners in the streets. That's why, in the capital, right under the emperor's nose, they dare not go too far.

Of course, articles that speak for businessmen also have an excuse: state-owned enterprises obtained new technologies from the research and development department and engaged in the most profitable and exclusive businesses, so naturally they received high salaries.

Private merchants mostly engage in low-profit industries like textiles, so how can they compare to state-owned enterprises in terms of treatment? The laws promulgated by the imperial court must be obeyed by the people, and they have already made concessions.

On the last day of the meeting, Jia Lian spoke first, making his point clear: arguing is about clarifying and thoroughly explaining the issues, and all debates are for the purpose of resolving problems, not for the sake of opposing for the sake of opposing.

If the debates within the court devolve into opposition for the sake of opposition, then that is factional strife.

Factional strife is absolutely unacceptable!
Why not? Because partisan strife means only considering personal interests, not whether the problem can be solved.

Anyone suspected of partisan strife will be immediately removed from office once verified.

History has provided painful lessons regarding the dangers of factional strife!

Do officials in the imperial court form factions? Absolutely, everyone, regardless of their social status, will form factions.

The key point is that the interests of one party must never affect the government's affairs.

Jia Lian's speech served as a strong warning to both sides!

A vote was then held to determine whether to support the upgrade of a specific department.

This is quite interesting. It's no longer about whether or not an upgrade should be made, but rather a different way of saying whether or not a certain department should be upgraded. It's like going in circles.

The vote was conducted anonymously. As a result, the four departments—Honglu Temple, Research and Development Bureau, Railway Bureau, and the People's Bank of China—received more than half of the votes and were officially upgraded to ministries.

The fact that other departments will not be upgraded for the time being does not mean that the reform has failed, but rather that it has not been thorough.

However, Li Yuan stated that the vote was reasonable and legal, and that the opinions of relevant departments had been fully solicited. It was also completely uncontroversial!

Jia Lian proposed that the Honglu Temple be renamed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Research and Development Bureau be renamed the Ministry of Science and Technology, and the Railway Bureau be renamed the Ministry of Railways.

The vote went smoothly, with all three members present and no one objecting.

Everyone seemed to have forgotten one thing: the emperor always retained a veto power.

After the meeting, news spread that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had added four new ministers, undoubtedly a major event. In addition to the new ministers, each department would also receive an additional vice-minister, bringing the total number of vice-ministers to four.

However, the final draft, after being discussed by the cabinet and submitted to the emperor for review and approval, surprised everyone.

First, the previous system of left and right vice ministers under the ministers of various ministries was changed to three vice ministers with no ranking order. Second, two county magistrates were added to the county-level grassroots positions, each in charge of a different area. One of these county magistrates was dispatched by the military to specifically handle military affairs. As a result of this position, each county established an armed platoon specifically to deal with major local disturbances. Finally, left and right vice ministers were appointed to departments such as the statistics bureau.

This reform is quite extensive, and it has paved the way for the upgrading of departments such as the National Bureau of Statistics. Everyone knows that the upgrading of these departments is only a matter of time.

The fervor surrounding this reform lasted for three months, but after the initial excitement subsided, a new event quickly became the focus of newspapers.

The Navy proposed that, in order to demonstrate national power and highlight the friendship between China and Turkey, a fleet should be formed to make a friendly visit to Türkiye and help the friendly country enhance its naval strength.

After the suggestion was submitted to the General Staff, it was put to the cabinet for discussion.

There wasn't much verbal sparring this time, since it wasn't a mission to start a war, and approval was quickly granted. After all, upgraded versions of the new cruisers were out, so it was indeed necessary to go out and test the waters.

There's one thing everyone's pretending not to know: selling warships is incredibly profitable. The Ottoman Turks did indeed make a request, demanding seven new cruisers at a price of one million silver dollars per ship, payable in cash, with no debts or loans. Such a lucrative deal was unthinkable; anyone who tried to stop them was doomed.

The navy also has its own plans. The upgrade speed of new warships is too fast, and they are already designing new steam-powered warships without sails.

After the cabinet meeting, Jia Lian immediately went to the palace and had a private conversation with Li Yuan. The two of them then left the palace in plain clothes and went directly to a research institute located at the foot of Xishan Mountain.

When Li Yuan arrived, his first impression was that the security was tight. After entering, he was led by Jia Lian to a room where he saw a strange device.

Jia Lian asked Li Yuan to write something down, which was then given to the operator. The operator then pressed the button on the device, which made a beeping sound.

"His Majesty has left someone here to keep watch, and no one is allowed to leave this courtyard." Jia Lian said in a low voice with a smile. Li Yuan did not understand why, but he still trusted Jia Lian's judgment.

The two left the courtyard and returned to the city, arriving at a courtyard near Xizhimen. Jia Lian led Li Yuan inside, where the device they had seen before was also present, and the operator handed Jia Lian a slip of paper.

Jia Lian handed it to Li Yuan, who was immediately shocked after reading it.

(End of this chapter)