Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 746 Two Powerful Forces
Before boarding the ship, Jia Lian received a telegram from China.

The gist of it is that His Highness the Crown Prince's reform of the bureaucracy started off in a frenzied manner.

This was something Jia Lian hadn't expected, since the Crown Prince had always acted quite mildly.

With the imperial edict in hand, the Crown Prince mobilized the Imperial Guards and arrested more than 300 people in one go, all of whom were important figures from the imperial clan and maternal relatives.

The crackdown primarily targets the banking and commercial sectors, with the most severe impact on distribution channels for essential consumer goods.

All of these actions were clearly premeditated and carried out smoothly without causing much fluctuation in the market.

This matter truly broadened Jia Lian's horizons. He had little contact with the Crown Prince before and didn't really understand him.

There weren't many members of the Jia family in officialdom to begin with. Jia Yin first went to Henan and then to Guangdong, so he was almost completely unaffected.

From a governance perspective, when peace and prosperity last for a long time, the most important thing for rulers to pay attention to is the governance of officials. In the absence of external enemies for a long period of time, widespread and serious corruption will inevitably breed.

Jia Lian thought the Crown Prince had done a good job, at least the beginning was very good.

The British side naturally gave Jia Lian the highest level of hospitality for his visit. After all, he had been treated with great respect throughout the trip, and if he were to be sloppy, wouldn't that offend people?

Most importantly, the situation in India was agreed upon during Jalil's administration, and decades later, there have been no major problems.

Despite numerous minor issues, a formal war was never declared. This demonstrates the restraint of both sides, or more specifically, the restraint of Jia Lian and the emperor at the time.

Britain was well aware of its domestic problems: with a small land area and a limited population, even with colonies all over the world, it would be difficult to become a large and powerful country like the Middle Kingdom.

Knowing its own shortcomings, Britain was destined to maintain good relations with the Middle Kingdom. Being in Europe and facing strong competition throughout the continent, Britain also wanted to be the country that led Europe against the Eastern Empire.

It's clear that Britain is only thinking about it; they know it's not going to happen. A conflict between France and Prussia seems imminent.

The Victorian era is considered the best of times for Britain, but frankly, for ordinary people, it wasn't a particularly good era. It simply offered more opportunities for ordinary people. For those who lacked the skills or were unwilling to take risks, this era couldn't compare to later ones. The sight of three- to five-year-old children clearing chimneys would be astounding in any era.

There is no doubt that Victorian Britain was a powerful nation overall.

In this timeline, Britain's power was significantly diminished. It had lost reparations and markets in the East, and could no longer steal tea trees to cultivate in Bangladesh. Therefore, Britain was still in its rise, but Germany was about to emerge and challenge its position. Theoretically, the East was the most powerful country in the world, but it was too far away; the military deployment capabilities of that era were limited. Therefore, the idea of ​​Spain organizing a fleet to attack the Ming Dynasty seems like a joke.

The Qing Dynasty was utterly defeated by European powers because industrial civilization replaced agrarian society, not because of any system or race.

Of course, the problems of the Qing Dynasty stemmed from a deep-seated issue that was incurable. To consolidate its rule, it was necessary to enslave the people and implement a policy of keeping them ignorant.

Just as Emperor Qianlong, upon learning of the French Revolution, immediately suppressed the White Lotus Rebellion within China.

Therefore, the key issue is industrialization, which determines the progress of productivity.

Queen Victoria hosted a banquet for Jia Lian, and the lobster soldiers wearing furry hats were quite a spectacle.

The banquet itself was nothing special, just incredibly extravagant. All of Britain's top aristocracy were present to accompany them.

The real test came during Jia Lian's meeting with the Prime Minister.

Jia Lian immediately told the other party that, after this period of visits, he had sensed that the situation in Europe was dire, on the verge of war. Jia Lian believed that Britain should take action and assume the responsibility of a great power, and could not allow war to break out. This was how he seized the moral high ground.

The British Prime Minister was quite annoyed by this. He thought, "This whole thing was orchestrated by us behind the scenes. How can we balance Europe if these two don't fight? Isn't what you did in Turkey the same tactic? We're trying to maintain an offshore balance, you're trying to maintain an Eurasian balance—it's all the same thing." He couldn't directly confront Jia Lian, as he was someone he couldn't afford to offend, and he absolutely couldn't let India or even South Africa be implicated.

This matter was studied internally in Britain. The Middle Kingdom had established an exclave in the Persian Gulf, a strategically important location. It served as a springboard for intercepting British reinforcements if they wanted to attack India, and a springboard for attacking South Africa. Despite the Middle Kingdom's repeated assertions that it would not enter Africa or intervene in Europe, it actually did intervene in European affairs. Back in Napoleon's time, it sold weapons.

Unfortunately, after Napoleon's defeat, all the good stuff went to Tsarist Russia, which was incredibly arrogant at the time.

Fortunately, Tsarist Russia's industrialization was late, and it can only be considered a partially industrialized country at present, posing little threat to Britain. Furthermore, some young military officers within Tsarist Russia have been causing trouble in recent years. The Tsar is busy governing internally and doesn't have much energy for outward expansion. In fact, even if he wanted to expand outward, it would only be a thought; to the east lies the Anxi Military District of the Central Empire, and to the west lies Turkey, which has been strengthened by the Central Empire. Neither is a formidable opponent now, and it's unclear why the Central Empire values ​​Tsarist Russia so much, insisting on containing it from both east and west.

Jia Lian was well aware of this. Without the United States, Tsarist Russia was the only country with the potential to threaten the Central Empire. Wouldn't it be foolish not to take advantage of its weakness to weaken and suppress it?
The fact that the two countries share a land border is unavoidable. Theoretically, whichever country becomes powerful will be a potential threat to the other.

The British Prime Minister gave a very official response: European countries should respect each other's sovereignty and interests, and ultimately, the affairs of Prussia and France should be decided by themselves.

After his high-sounding speech, Jia Lian turned his attention to the real issues, mainly pointing out several smuggling cases. What were they smuggling? Soybeans!

This was a policy implemented during Jia Lian's administration: soybean seeds were not allowed to be exported; only soybean meal could be exported. Northeast China is a major soybean producing region, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences had already begun cultivating cold- and drought-resistant soybeans.

There's a reason why we value soybeans so much. When we generously give away soybean seeds, it's actually when they dig a hole for us.

With China's population growing rapidly, soybean oil extraction has become a crucial source of edible oil. Limited arable land means that feeding such a large population, especially before the fertilizer industry reaches a significant scale, relies on bird droppings. What about inland areas where bird droppings are unavailable? Crop rotation! This year, grain is planted on the land; next year, soybeans are planted. Soybean roots fertilize the soil, and their importance is undeniable in northern regions with low rainfall.

To be honest, when it comes to arable land, our country is far behind, even lagging behind India.

Jia Lian was indeed planning ahead. He's leaving things as they are for now, but who knows what will happen in the future? Who knows if there will be any spendthrifts who will betray the country for their own selfish gain?

To prevent such incidents from happening, the most important thing is to ensure the strength of the country, especially its military strength, so that other countries will have something to fear.

From the perspective of globalization, such things are inevitable; we can only postpone them one day at a time.

British merchants did smuggle soybeans on several occasions; they were arrested, fined, and sentenced to several years in prison. Those in China who assisted in the smuggling were all exiled after being arrested.

Even today, Europe's livestock industry and some chemical industries still rely on soybean meal from Northeast China. Surprisingly, in modern history, Germany imported large quantities of soybeans and soybean meal from Northeast China every year. Soybean meal is a high-quality feed; regardless of the type of livestock, it's indispensable for animal feed production.

Don't assume that the country imports so many soybeans every year just to make tofu and extract oil. Everything in this industrial chain is handled clearly and efficiently, with nothing wasted.

Faced with Jalin's questioning, the British Prime Minister could only stammer and give vague answers, saying things like "it was a personal matter" and "please don't bring it up to state relations."

Basically, you say the city gate tower, he says the hip bone and elbow, they're definitely not on the same line.

Jia Lian then brought up the matter of apprehending opium traffickers. Many years have passed, and although the British promised to cooperate back then, they still haven't caught them.

The British Prime Minister could only explain that, according to his country's laws, the other party had not broken the law, and since there was no violation, arrests could not be made. Furthermore, there was no cooperation between the two countries regarding transnational crime, so there was nothing more they could do.

The current British Prime Minister wouldn't dare touch squid even if he had a hundred lives. Although squid is generally disliked in other European countries, it has always fared quite well in modern Britain.

Didn't expect?

Even the British Prime Minister couldn't understand it. It was just a little opium smuggling, so why bring it up again and again for so many years? He would bring it up almost every time a minister came to take office.

The British also couldn't understand why, in this country, cases involving opium were considered serious crimes.

Not only in the mainland, but also in the surrounding vassal states, they were under strict guard. Even in Donghua, the situation was the same.

The British Prime Minister was not simply taking the beating; he also retaliated, mainly targeting Donghua, because it was the support of the Central Empire that allowed Donghua to launch such a reckless war.

Jia Lian coldly retorted, "Are you trying to get involved in North American affairs? Wouldn't it be better to just manage Canada properly? Isn't there enough land there for the British to cultivate?"

In fact, due to the war, a large number of people from North America fled to Canada, and Britain was actually a beneficiary.

The British Prime Minister quickly backed down, stating that he only said that because of security concerns about the Canadian colonies, and that it had nothing to do with the Americas.

In fact, Britain had no shortage of colonies in the Americas, with British bases throughout Latin America. During World War II, they even replaced fifty destroyers, albeit old, mothballs.

Jia Lian was being relatively polite. At this stage, the British weren't having an easy time in Latin America and South America either. The reason was simple: the existence of the Union of the Americas restricted Britain's actions in many countries, most importantly Peru. Britain was heavily reliant on Peru's nitrates and copper mines, and now had to import them at high prices, no longer daring to plunder them. Also, some Pacific island nations that sold guano were now entering the East's sphere of influence—a blatant provocation.

The relationship between the two countries is very delicate. If the Central Empire had not exercised restraint, they could have gone to war over the Afghan issue.

Britain took direct action, while the Middle Kingdom sabotaged it covertly. As the leading power in Europe, Britain had enormous colonial ambitions and genuinely wanted to become the world's superpower.

But for now, we can only dream about it; for the time being, let's just be the leader in Europe.

Jia Lian continued his questioning, this time focusing on the currency. The Central Empire, being a silver-based nation, was at a disadvantage in this trade. The British pound, on the gold standard, had seen its silver price steadily decline in recent years due to the discovery of large silver mines. To protect its own interests, the Central Empire's government intervened in the currency's value.

The British were dissatisfied with this, arguing that why should they pay a discount when they trade silver ingots, and why should the price of silver coins increase when they trade with pounds sterling.

The Central Empire ignored them, so the British began smuggling silver to obtain supplies. After all, catching smuggling ships on the high seas was extremely difficult, especially with so many traitors within their ranks.

In response, the Central Empire repeatedly emphasized that its currency was fiat currency and its value was not affected by silver production. This was one of the root causes of the conflict between the two sides.

Trading directly with silver on the market is illegal. This is a law that was established when the coins were first minted, and it's not something Jia Lian is talking nonsense about.

Why not abandon silver coins and switch to fiat currency? It's too difficult. This country has absorbed far too much of the world's silver. Trying to change it, if done poorly, could lead to a catastrophic financial disaster.

From a certain perspective, Dongda has always been at a disadvantage in foreign trade throughout history, since silver is something that can't be eaten or drunk, and its production volume is high.

The main reason for this is that Tokyo itself is not a silver-producing country, and for a considerable period of time, the price of silver was very high.

Until modern times, Europeans transported massive amounts of silver to Tokyo in exchange for the three traditional commodities, with both sides feeling they had made a huge profit.

Isn't that right? Tea leaves are made from tree leaves, porcelain is made from clay, and silk is made from silkworm silk—all of these can be produced repeatedly.

Of course, silver itself still has some value.

The British Prime Minister, of course, denied this, stating that the main silver-producing areas are now under the control of Donghua, and that he should contact Donghua to ask them to reduce the amount of silver they mine.

The two sides entered a back-and-forth phase, picking at each other's flaws; in jargon, it was a deep and frank exchange.

One side was adamant in its attitude, and the other was firm in its stance, so nothing new was discussed; they were still stuck in the old framework.

The British also demanded that the Central Empire crack down on smuggling, especially since smuggling was rampant in Donghua.

Jia Lian stated that Donghua's smuggling was also smuggling to the United States, so what did it have to do with the Central Empire?

The British Prime Minister was furious and almost said, "You're all in cahoots."

They might have been hurling insults at each other at the negotiating table, but once they got off the table and had a meal together, things were a completely different story.

Work is work and life is life.

Jia Lian said being the British Prime Minister is no easy job, right?
The Prime Minister complained, "Damn the civil service team! I want coffee, and they decide how much milk to add."

(End of this chapter)