Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 717: Both soft and hard tactics
Donghua King Li Heng is at a new peak in his life. After arriving in Donghua, although the territory is not large, he can do whatever he wants.

Looking back now, coming to Donghua Kingdom was the right decision. That feeling of homesickness I had back then has long since vanished.

If one had to find something to be unhappy about, it would probably be the two provinces in the central and northern parts of the country, which are superior to the southern provinces in terms of both economy and development speed.

There's not much that can be done. Before I even arrived, the area was already effectively divided. I was able to quickly carve out my own territory thanks to their help.

But to be honest, I'm still a little annoyed, since he's only the nominal king. Right now, there's still a vast space for him to develop, but who knows what will happen when that space is gone?

Pingyuan City is indeed a good place, but it is too close to the central region. If the central army attacks, they can reach the city within half a day after crossing the provincial border.

Jia Zhi and Xue Fang never expected that Li Heng would show up to pick them up at the station, which made things very complicated.

The two looked at each other. One was an old fox, the other a young fox. Was the one below a man-eating wolf?
When you treat others with courtesy, you must ask for something.

Having figured this out, Xue Fang and Jia Zhi lowered their posture considerably, stepped forward to formally greet the king, and said, "Greetings, Your Majesty!"

This reaction was within Li Heng's expectations; those who treat others as fools are often the fools themselves.

Li Heng continued to radiate enthusiasm with a beaming smile, and after inviting the two into the carriage, he showered them with compliments without restraint.

The cheapest thing in the world is praise. Li Heng kept praising the rapid development of the Northern Province and how wonderful the Central Province was over the past five years.

The more this was the case, the more certain Jia Zhi and Xue Fang became that this guy had his eye on something of theirs, and that he absolutely had to get it.

After careful consideration, the only option left is the fifty ships of arms that have recently arrived.

Fifty ships carrying munitions is a lot? Nowadays, sailing ships can only carry a maximum of 300 tons per ship after landing. That's 15,000 tons, which seems like a lot, but it's actually a year's worth of cargo.

This transport route mainly carries immigrants each year, with weapons being a minority. If they want weapons from China again, they'll have to wait until next year.

And most importantly, the weapons delivered this time are all the latest model rifles, the kind that Li Heng couldn't buy even with money. This explanation makes sense.

The new rifles cannot be manufactured in Donghua for the time being. Even if they can reverse engineer them, it will take a while, not to mention ammunition.

Every rifle is made from ammunition. Without bullets, a rifle is no better than a stick.

Jia Zhi and Xue Fang underestimated Li Heng's appetite. At the banquet that day, Li Heng remained calm and did not make any demands.

However, at the formal meeting the next morning, Li Heng said in front of his ministers: "In preparation for the next stage of development, I have decided to move the capital to Texas. The planning for the new capital project has been completed, and construction will officially begin next spring, with an estimated completion time of three years. I will be coexisting with you all thousands of miles away from my homeland, and I hope you will provide your full support. I have decided to expand the army by 30,000, and I request the assistance of Lords Jia and Xue in providing the necessary military supplies."

With just one sentence, Jia Zhi and Xue Fang were put in a difficult position. Apart from Li Heng's men, only Xue Fang and Jia Zhi were outsiders present.

Although they had anticipated this, they had not expected Li Heng to have such a large appetite.

Xue Fang and Jia Zhi were not made of clay; they had made all the necessary preparations before coming. If you dare to ask for an exorbitant amount, I'll pretend to be ignorant.

"Helping is definitely possible, but we must act within our means. The Central Province is willing to sponsor a thousand rifles and one million in cash." It's impossible for them to refuse outright, but they can't be completely refused either.

Jia Zhi chimed in, saying expressionlessly, "The Northern Province shares the same sentiment."

After the two finished speaking, the atmosphere suddenly cooled down. Li Heng's smile disappeared, and his eyes turned cold.

But Xue Fang and Jia Zhi were not afraid of him at all. "You, the disciple of the King of Donghua, don't you have any self-awareness? Haven't the two provinces given you enough sponsorship over the years?"

Facing Li Heng's gaze, the young Jia Zhi returned it with neither arrogance nor servility.

Li Heng's expression was feigned; he wasn't actually angry, and his choice of Jia Zhi wasn't out of a desire to take advantage of his youth.

"Haha, my dear nephew, there's no need to be nervous. Your father, Lord Jia, and I were once very close friends. Back in the capital, I received hundreds of thousands of yuan from the Jia family every year. Now that your uncle is in trouble, I hope you will be generous and give me as much as you can." Li Heng's face changed quickly; if being tough didn't work, he would immediately switch to being soft.

You know what, this tactic actually worked a bit. Before Jia Zhi came, Jia Lian must have taught him about Li Heng. Back then, Jia Lian made many bets, but he actually favored Li Heng the most.

It's a pity that a person can change so drastically with their changing status; it's truly unimaginable. In the end, Li Heng lost his position and was completely defeated by Li Yuan, who had once been exiled to Southeast Asia.

Li Heng is now even more difficult to deal with; he uses both soft and hard tactics, employing sophisticated methods.

Considering that Li Heng holds the moral high ground, Jia Zhi cannot afford to turn against him under any circumstances, so he will have to suffer some losses this time.

"Since Your Highness has put it that way, Jia Zhi dares not be stingy. Here's what we'll do: two thousand rifles for two million yuan. This is the greatest sincerity the North can offer. Your Highness, please don't be upset. The United States to the east is constantly increasing its military presence on the border, and is poised to make a move. A major war could break out at any time. The Northern Province simply cannot offer any more assistance given its limited resources. Please forgive us, Your Highness."

After Jia Zhi spoke, Xue Fang secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He had been afraid that Jia Zhi would lose his temper and fall out with Li Heng. He dared not underestimate the importance of righteousness and legitimacy; the saying goes, "fight without breaking," and the difference in status meant he would inevitably suffer. After all, both the Jia and Xue families still had substantial businesses and numerous clansmen in the area.

To put it bluntly, as long as Li Heng doesn't declare himself emperor, Jia Zhi and Xue Fang can't do anything about him.

Li Heng was barely satisfied with the amount of weapons and money he had managed to swindle. He turned to Xue Fang, the old fox, and said, "Governor Xue, the central province is the richest. Even a little bit of it slipping through my fingers would be enough to make me rich."

Xue Fang smiled slightly and said, "It's easy. The Central Province will provide three thousand guns and three million coins."

After the meeting concluded, Xue Fang and Jia Zhi left directly, heading to the train station and boarding a train.

The Crown Prince Donghua, who came to deliver the message, asked anxiously, "Father, should we stop them?"

Li Heng looked at his eldest son speechlessly, his face filled with melancholy, and said, "Do you believe that if those two families join forces and send troops, it will only take two or three months to wipe me out?"

The Crown Prince of Donghua Kingdom has become a puppet; only his eyeballs can still move, but he doesn't look very smart.

Li Heng raised his hand and slapped his forehead in frustration: "I was able to become the King of Donghua because I gained their approval, not because they were so servile and willing to bow down and acknowledge me after I became king." The Crown Prince looked confused: "Isn't Father's birth the most important thing?"

Li Heng seemed genuinely fond of this son, patiently explaining, "Birth is indeed important, but it can also be a death warrant. They recognize me as king now because the heads of the Jia and Xue families are in their homeland. They recognized me first, and then the Xue and Jia families in Donghua Kingdom recognized me. The day the heads of the Xue and Jia families in their homeland are gone, the north and central regions could easily gain the strength to declare themselves independent, and could even turn around and accuse me of wanting to become emperor. In that case, they could legitimately send troops to destroy me."

The crown prince seemed to understand something: for the royal family of Donghua, so-called birth had both advantages and disadvantages.

On the train back, Xue Fang looked serious, and Jia Zhi was also staring out the window, lost in thought. Neither of them wanted to talk. Jia Zhi, in particular, had been on the train for three days, traveling a thousand kilometers, and was filled with resentment.

“It seems Li Heng has really encountered difficulties, otherwise he wouldn’t be like this.” Xue Fang said thoughtfully. Jia Zhi shook his head: “He is afraid, otherwise he wouldn’t have moved the capital.”

"Yushu (courtesy name), will we still have to pay taxes next year? Or should we write back to our homeland and ask the Grand Secretary?" Xue Fangcai was truly angry, which is why he asked this question.

Jia Zhi shook her head: "Let's keep things as usual for now. This is the last time. I won't go to Pingyuan City again. I'll write to my father to let him know. I won't ask for help. We're thousands of miles away. We'll wait for news from home for everything. Let's not do anything else."

In fact, Jia Zhi is more decisive than Xue Fang, which is evident. Although Xue Fang is much older, he still seems to be following Jia Zhi.

This is also determined by birth. Xue Fang was merely from a merchant family, while Jia Zhi was born into a proper ducal family. More importantly, Jia Lian was the Grand Secretary, and everything the Xue family had was thanks to the Jia family.

Xue Fang hesitated for a moment, then said in a low voice, "My cousin's eldest son has now established his own residence in Australia."

Jia Zhi's expression changed slightly upon hearing this, but she didn't say much, "My cousin is two years older than me; he should have started his own household long ago."

Xue Fang's words revealed that the Xue family's main base would be in Australia from now on, and Xue Pan's only son had already opened a dental clinic and established a mansion there.

The Xue family had been operating in Australia for many years and had long since gained control over everything there. The imperial court, with its limited reach, had always treated the Xue family as simply a matter of paying taxes. Of course, it was fine for a member of the Xue family to become a high-ranking official, but they shouldn't try to become kings; that would only necessitate sending troops to suppress the rebels.

In contrast, Borneo and Java were gradually being brought under official control, especially Penang, which had always had a government military presence. Naval squadrons were also stationed in Java and Borneo. The Xue family's real interests in Southeast Asia were primarily commercial; their official influence wasn't particularly strong. After all, Li Yuan had once been the Prime Minister of Southeast Asia, which made a significant difference.

Xue Fang and Jia Zhi were not pushovers; they naturally provided the promised guns and money, but there weren't a single new-style rifle. They were all breech-loading paper-cased rifles, and there was only one basic supply of ammunition.

This reaction was within Li Heng's expectations, and he had no choice but to accept it. After all, Texas was too lucrative, and he had to keep it under his control, which was why he had to extort money from the two of them.

Fortunately, after Li Heng obtained these weapons, he immediately sold some to Mexico and Peru in exchange for a large amount of money and copper ingots, which he then transported back to China, with a clear demand to purchase the latest weapons.

It can only be said that Li Heng was really lucky. In Jia Lian's mind, the United States had always been the potential number one adversary.

Li Heng's fleet is still adrift on the southern Pacific coast, while aid from home to Donghua has already set sail.

The six new cruisers, which were supposed to be delivered to the navy, were given to Donghua State. However, not all of them were given to Li Heng; instead, two were given to each of the three provinces, and money had to be paid for them.

Accompanying them was a fleet of sixty armed merchant ships, with each merchant providing twenty ships of munitions, which also required payment. However, there were differences among the three merchants: Jia Zhi received all heavy weapons, Xue Fang received everything except 75 mortars, and Li Heng received only rifles and mortars.

This was probably also a bit of Jia Lian's personal bias; his own son was different after all.

Jia Lian even considered retiring to Donghua Kingdom to live out his retirement.

Having just finished dealing with matters in Donghua Kingdom, news arrived from Anxi. Jia Shi's letter was very detailed, expressing an urgent desire to expedite the construction of the Anxi Railway.

Jia Lian couldn't help but feel a headache coming on. The Anxi railway network was indeed very important, but the problem was that in the short term, Anxi was a losing proposition. Speaking of which, Anxi had a large number of oil fields; it was time to develop them.

With this in mind, Jia Lian wrote a proposal to the Ministry of Science and Technology, hoping they would send an exploration team to Anxi to find oil fields.

To be honest, finding oil fields in China is really difficult, mainly because the current technology isn't advanced enough. Jia Lian knows where there are oil fields, but he's unwilling to say. Let's just keep the domestic oil fields.

The oil fields currently being developed are still in Java. The refined kerosene is shipped domestically. Although it doesn't smell good, the price is really low, and the lighting effect is much better.

The development of oil has brought benefits such as the large-scale use of asphalt for road paving, and the ongoing research and development of internal combustion engines.

Shuntian Prefecture in Beijing is already planning a city that never sleeps.

The so-called "city that never sleeps" simply means installing more streetlights and using kerosene lamps for lighting.

The reason for this plan is that the economy has developed, and various entertainment activities in the capital have exploded, with nightlife gradually rising and showing signs of becoming rampant.

This is unstoppable, and it has also led to some public security incidents.

After being repeatedly questioned, Shuntian Prefecture finally got desperate and proposed to learn from Bianliang, the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, and create a city that never sleeps.

The plan was met with strong opposition from the Ministry of Revenue, who launched a tirade at the budget meeting, accusing the Shuntian Prefecture of incompetence and ineffective governance, and demanding that all officials be dismissed.

Don't blame the Ministry of Revenue for breaching the defenses. The Shuntian Prefecture's plan was to spend ten million yuan on streetlights and oil storage tanks, and then burn two million yuan worth of lamp oil every year.

This budget is outrageous. The entire population of Beijing is five million, and the annual sales of lamp oil are only two million yuan.

The Shuntian Prefecture is robbing people, not doing anything.

However, when it comes to the budget, they'll definitely try to get more money. The Shuntian Prefecture even said that this plan would create a thousand jobs in the capital, and paying those many people's salaries will cost money.

They always argued about the budget every year, and Jia Lian was used to it. He would just sit there with his eyes closed, pretending nothing had happened.

Budget meetings typically begin with three days of heated debate each year, and it's not uncommon for all parties to expose each other's dirty laundry.

(End of this chapter)