Red Mansion: Bastards rule the roost

Fang Ji sneered, "Your Majesty asked me to supervise the Imperial Guards, and I said I would release them. What? Captain Zhuang is not obeying the Emperor's order?"

Zhuang Qing said: "I dare not refute what you said, sir. But I can talk, but I can't let him go."

"You!" Fang Ji was so angry that smoke came out of his head after being rudely pushed back by him. He shouted angrily: "Come here, Zhuang Qing is disrespectful to his superiors and speaks rudely, arrest him!"

"Order!"

His men just agreed, but before they could take any action, they were captured by the captains of the Southern Division.

"You want to rebel!" Fang Ji gritted his teeth.

Zhuang Qing said calmly: "Your Excellency's words are too serious. Please forgive me for not releasing the wanted criminal privately.

If you want to release the person, please ask Wen Zhenfu to issue a warrant. This is the rule of the Southern Division.

If you feel that I am not qualified for this position, please find someone more capable. I am willing to step down and let someone more competent take over."

"Well, you have no respect for your superiors, you disobey military orders, and you commit treason. Do you know the consequences?" Fang Ji was extremely angry and said in a sinister tone.

As the chief of the criminal department, Zhuang Qing would never be accused of anything, so he said calmly, "My lord, please be careful with your words. I am only following the rules of the Southern Division and have no intention of offending my superiors."

"Alas, Lord Fang's arrival was not welcomed. This is truly my fault." Wen Zhen heard the commotion and hurried over to bow and say with a smile.

Fang Ji glared at Wen Zhen sullenly, but considering that they had been colleagues for many years, he reluctantly softened his expression and said, "Old Wen, your subordinates are so arrogant that they don't even take me, the seal officer, seriously and only recognize your warrant."

Wen Zhen was a fox that had already become a spirit. Hearing this, he bowed and smiled apologetically, "Your Excellency is too kind. How dare anyone in the Southern Division be rude to you?

It is only because Brother Zhuang is upright, abides by the rules and is capable that he was promoted by the admiral. This is his advantage.

There are two sides to everything. Brother Zhuang is sometimes inflexible and has offended the adults. I hope you will forgive me."

Fang Ji wanted to give Wen Zhen some face, so he waved his hand unhappily and said, "Forget it, now that you are here, it's good. Release the person and bring him back to me, and I will not pursue this matter."

Wen Zhen glanced at Jiang Yuhan, his face showing embarrassment, and said: "Your Excellency, you don't know. If it was an ordinary criminal, even if he killed officials and rebelled, I would have let him go with your words. But this person... is unusual, and cannot be let off lightly."

Fang Ji laughed angrily and said, "Old Wen, you want to do the same to me?"

Wen Zhen hurriedly said, "I have no such intention. Please excuse me for a moment. I have something to report."

Fang Ji followed him to the corner and said coldly: "Tell me what's going on."

Wen Zhen whispered, "Jiang Yuhan brutally killed a close friend of the Shao Bao. The Shao Bao personally ordered that he be tortured to death. How dare I let him go?

If the Grand Guardian blames us... I'm afraid that no one in the Southern Division can afford it. If you really want to rescue him, why don't you talk to the Grand Guardian first? After getting his instructions, we will release him immediately. How do you think?

Otherwise, please show mercy and dismiss me from my post. I will not interfere in matters that are not my responsibility, so as to avoid being punished by the Grand Tutor."

Fang Ji was secretly shocked. It turned out that there was such a thing. No wonder the people in the Southern Division dared not speak up. However, he was unwilling to put out his first fire as a new official, so he said: "Although Shao Bao has this intention, we should put the overall situation first and personal grudges lightly.

This person is the one that Prime Minister Dai and Prince Beijing want. If we don't give him to you, how can we have a good life in the future?
Besides, he has been tortured for a long time, and he will be useless if he is released. I think the guard should be venting his anger. Let him go first, and I will go to the guard to talk to him myself. "

Wen Zhen said with a fake smile: "What you said makes sense, sir, and I deeply agree with it.

Why don't you go and ask for the imperial edict from the Grand Guardian first? That way, we can follow the instructions, the Grand Guardian will feel relieved, and you won't be known as someone who turned against his old boss. Wouldn't that be good for all three parties?"

Fang Ji sneered when he heard this, and glanced at Wen Zhen from the side. He knew that everyone in the Southern Division was Jia Cong's confidant, and that it would be impossible for him to get what he wanted today, so he said slowly: "Old Wen, you really have a way. No wonder the young guard trusts you so much."

Wen Zhen bowed his hands with deep fear and trepidation and said, "Your Excellency is too kind. I will serve any superior the same way. I will only do my work with sincerity and respect, and will never act arbitrarily."

When he made a small report to Jia Cong that day, he had anticipated today, so he was not panicked at all and behaved politely.

Now that the chips have been placed on Jia Cong, there is no way that the other party will continue to be hypocritical. Even if the current emperor is behind him, the worst that can happen is that he will be dismissed from his post. As long as the Grand Tutor does not fall, he will be reinstated one day.

With his many years of experience and cold observation, he knew that the post of Jinyiwei Changtang seemed to have great power in the court, but without a deep foundation and background, it would be difficult to have a good ending.

Fang Ji, a young man from a poor family, is nothing more than cannon fodder, and will be thrown away by the Emperor and Chief Steward Dai after they have used him.

Fang Ji was pushed back by him neither softly nor hard. He was angry and resentful, but he did not want to humiliate himself anymore. He sneered and said, "It is I who have been reckless. Farewell." After saying that, he turned away, and the people he brought with him hurriedly followed him.

"Please take care, sir. Next time if you need any instructions, just send someone to pass on the message. I will do my bidding. There is no need for you to go through all the trouble." Wen Zhen bowed and smiled from behind.

Zhuang Qing smiled and said, "Old ginger is still spicy."

Wen Zhen waved his hand and smiled, "It's the job of the cat to catch the mouse and the dog to guard the door."

"Best regards, my lord."

Fang Ji was filled with rage and went straight back to the Northern Division, thinking to himself that now everyone in the guard was Jia Cong's men, and if he wanted to establish his authority and enforce orders, a major change was necessary.

After racking his brains, he initially decided on several idle thousand-household positions within the guards, called them in, encouraged them, conferred titles on them and made promises to them.

Everyone was not expecting such good news, so they were naturally delighted and expressed their willingness to follow Fang Tongzhi wholeheartedly to pursue his career.

Fang Ji finally got the feeling of being the chief officer, and he filled out several people's official documents in person, stamped them, and dismissed all the powerful thousand households and deputy thousand households in the Southern Division at once, replacing them with his own people. He ordered someone to send them to the Experience Division for filing immediately.

The "newcomers" smiled at each other, celebrated, and knelt down in haste to express their gratitude.

Fang Ji smiled and said, "You all have a lot of experience and are capable in your work. You should be promoted and given important positions. From now on, we will advance and retreat together and serve the emperor together."

"Your Excellency has been so kind to us that we have been reborn. I am willing to serve you like a dog or a horse."

"Okay, we'll be brothers from now on. We'll share weal and woe, life and death together." Fang Ji smiled and helped everyone up, and then they drank tea for a long time.

Just as I was imagining the future of entering the port, a captain came hurriedly with an embarrassed look on his face.

Fang Ji said, "What's the matter?"

"Your Excellency, the Experience Office will not register it and will not issue a license." The captain whispered.

"What?" Everyone was shocked. When did the Experience Department dare to not give face to the chief officer? They couldn't help but look at Fang Ji. Your seal is useless.

However, they did not know that Jia Cong had already greatly strengthened the authority of the Experience Bureau. All personnel appointments, promotions, transfers, rewards and punishments were invalid without the approval of the Experience Bureau, the seal of the bureau, and the issuance of a license.

That is to say, although everyone had the appointment documents given by Fang Ji, which also had the bright red Jinyiwei seal on them, they could not take up the office because they lacked the formalities of the Experience Office.

Fang Ji was filled with shock and anger, and he slammed the table and shouted, "How dare the Experience Department do this?!"

The captain bowed and said, "Your Excellency, the governor of the Experience Department said that this is a turtle's ass rule."

Fang was so angry that he shouted, "Who made the rules?" "They said...the commander made the rules."

Fang Ji could no longer hold back after hearing this, and sneered, "Well, well, it seems that the emperor's personal army has the surname Jia. I will go to the palace to see the emperor and ask for an imperial decree to transfer the East Factory troops to help reorganize our guards. Let's see if that turtle's butt is bigger than the imperial decree!"

After saying that, he walked out angrily. As soon as he reached the door, he ran into Fan Ming.

"Hey, where are you going, Lord Fang?" Fan Ming bowed.

Fang Ji snorted coldly and said, "I feel guilty towards the Emperor. I am unable to supervise this guard, so I come to the palace to apologize. I wonder if Captain Fan has any advice for me?"

Fan Ming said hurriedly, "Your Excellency is too kind. Since you are going to see the emperor, you might as well report this urgent matter to him so that I can report to him."

Fang Ji looked at the account book in his hand, was slightly stunned, and asked: "What's the matter?"

"Please take a seat, sir. I will report to you in detail."

Fang Ji had no choice but to go in and sit down again.

Fan Ming said: "Your Excellency, this month, the monthly salary expenses of the Commander's Office, the North and South Departments, and the various offices in the capital total 156834 taels of silver, plus the salary expenses for the garrisons in the poor provinces, totaling more than 20 taels of silver, a total of more than 36 silver.

Now the treasury is running out of money, please tell me where to transfer the money." Then he handed over the account book.

Fang Ji was shocked and said, "I have always been rich and wealthy, how come Curry is suddenly broke?"

Fan Ming said with a bitter face: "My Lord, we had more than 2 million silver in deposit a few days ago, but the troops in the Western Regions were deployed, and the Shao Bao was withdrawn and all the money was allocated to the Western Region Guard. Zhou Zhenfu and Sha Qianhu were ordered to rebuild the Western Region Guard, so there is no money in the guard.

The salary for the previous two months was paid out by borrowing from banks, and the current debt is proof of this.”

Fang Ji took the IOU and looked at it. It was indeed signed by Jia Cong, and was stamped with the seal of the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the seal of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

He forced himself to calm down and asked, "If Shao Bao was still alive, how would this debt be paid?"

Fan Ming said: "It was agreed that the repayment would be in three months, but what was involved was the illegal interest earned by our cooperation with various wealthy merchants.

It will be repaid this month. In this case, the total expenditure this month will be 150 million taels. I am really powerless to do anything. Please give me your instructions, sir."

Fang Ji felt a headache after hearing this. Jia Cong, this bastard, had left such a mess for him!
Not only did he spend more than 30 taels a month, but he also owed three months' worth of money!

However, he could hardly complain, because after Jia Cong took office, he greatly improved the treatment of officers and soldiers at all levels of the Jinyiwei, so he could be considered a vested interest.

Even the lowest-level strongmen can receive a monthly salary of 5 taels of silver, and this is the basic salary, not counting the rewards and bonuses during festivals and holidays. This has really improved everyone's sense of professional honor.

The only disadvantage is that it causes a sharp increase in the expenditure of the Ministry of Health. Once the funds cannot be turned over, food will be cut off.

After a brief calculation, Fang Ji decided that reducing salaries was not an option. It was already unpopular, and if he cut the pay further, not only the generals but even the ordinary captains would poke him in the back.

Thinking of this, I can't help but miss the hard days of the Jinyiwei. With only 20,000 to 30,000 silver coins per month as expenses, didn't everyone still have to work hard?
It is true that it is easy to go from frugality to luxury, but difficult to go from luxury to frugality. Now that we are used to eating delicious food, who can bear to go back to eating bran and vegetables?
Suddenly he remembered something and said, "I remember that the house was confiscated many times, and there are still many gold and jade utensils, antiques, calligraphy and paintings, houses and fields stored in the warehouse..."

Fan Ming praised him, "Your Excellency has a good memory. There were originally quite a few of these stubborn things, but they were almost all sold in the past one or two years. The rest were also pledged and exchanged for silver, which was either allocated to remote garrisons, or to new inspection offices, or invested in the Western Regions. It was all spent long ago."

Fang Ji was not willing to believe it, and frowned, "How could millions of silver be spent so quickly?"

Fan Ming hurriedly said, "Your Excellency, I have clearly recorded the source and destination of all the funds in the account book, without any mistakes or omissions. If you don't believe me, you can send someone to check the account or to the warehouse to check.

Your Excellency doesn't know that the Admiral comes from a wealthy family and has never taken money seriously. You only think he can make money, but in fact, he is even more ruthless when it comes to spending money."

Fang Ji waved his hands feebly, not bothering to look at the thick account book. He knew that Fan Ming must have some reason to say so, so he said, "If that's the case, then borrow more money. I'll pay you back when I get more money."

Fan Ming sighed, "This method was originally feasible, but now there is a difficulty."

Fang Ji said: "What's the difficulty?"

"That's right. The banks and money houses are willing to lend us money because of the governor's reputation. They all trust the governor's reputation and his ability to manage money.

Now that the Shao Bao is no longer in his position and the previous debts have not been paid off, I am afraid I may not be able to borrow money. This is one reason.

In addition, most of the wealthy businessmen and powerful families who cooperated with our company last year did so because of Shao Bao's financial support. When they heard that Shao Bao had resigned, they were worried and no longer dared to cooperate with us.

If this happens, our financial resources will be exhausted, and it will be even more difficult to borrow money. This is the second reason. "

When Fang Ji heard the words "financial resources dried up", he panicked and said hurriedly: "Explain to them clearly that Shao Bao is still the commander of this guard, so how can he resign?

Besides, our guard has been reorganized by the Shaobao, and has changed its ways a long time ago. Everything is done according to the rules, and it is no longer the same as before. The owner can rest assured."

Fan Ming smiled bitterly and said, "Excuse me, sir. I have just talked about this with several shopkeepers. They all said that the agreement was signed between each shop and the Shaobao, who then signed it with the Jinyiwei. Now that the Shaobao is no longer in charge, they dare not take the risk."

Fang Ji was stunned for a long while, thinking about the consequences of being cut off from food when he just took office as Jinyiwei, he was five parts horrified, three parts angry, and two parts helpless. It was easy to ask the emperor for permission to replace people, but what if he had no money? Who would do things for you if you had no money?
If he wanted to ask the emperor for money, he didn't have the guts to do so. Jia Cong had never asked for money, so how could he dare to ask for it? Wasn't that courting death?

Ask Feng Yuan for money? Fang Ji asked himself if he had the ability to do so. Moreover, with the relationship between Jia Cong and Feng Yuan, he would not be embarrassed if he asked.

Only then did he deeply understand the depth of Jia Cong's layout. From the beginning of his tenure, he had firmly controlled the personnel and financial lifeline of the Jinyiwei.

You can change the world, but the prerequisite is that you have to have the ability to raise the same amount of money to feed nearly 100,000 Jinyiwei brothers in the capital and other places.

Without money, even the imperial edict is useless!
He could only sigh dejectedly: "Given the current situation, I wonder if Captain Fan has any good plan?"

Fan Ming was prepared and smiled, "In my humble opinion, why don't you go to the Shao Bao's house and have a good talk with him, asking him to appease the families and reassure the wealthy merchants to renew the cooperation. Then, won't we have money?"

Fang Ji smiled bitterly and shook his head, feeling as sick as if he had eaten a dead fly. Only then did he understand Jia Cong's powerful methods. As long as he continued to ask him for money, he would not be able to touch his people.

In this way, he would be sidelined forever and serve as a figurehead official.

However, the situation was urgent and he had no other choice. Who could afford to spend more than 300,000 silver coins a month?
There are so many people under me who need to eat. If the food supply is cut off and they make trouble, I will be too ashamed to face anyone.

He did not dare to ask the emperor for money, nor did he dare to reduce his treatment, so he had to give in to Jia Cong and said, "Let's do it this way. I will go to your house in person some other day to ask Shao Bao to come out of retirement."

Fan Ming smiled and said, "In this case, I have nothing to worry about. I will take my leave."

"Sir..." The subordinates who had just been "promoted" looked at Fang Ji pitifully.

Fang Ji waved his hand and said, "We will discuss your matters later."

"Yes." Everyone had to retreat in disappointment. It was all for nothing. They still had to cling to the young guard. Fang Ji was just a silver-plated spear tip, useless.

Fang Ji sighed, and now he understood that the seal in the hands of the seal-holder was not only power, but also a heavy burden. If one could not shoulder the burden, the so-called power was just a mirage, a deception. (End of this chapter)