The Overlord of the Red Mansion

Chapter 272 Something big happened
Soon the three years of the Holy Dynasty in chaos and confusion came to an end.

On May 1st of the third year of the Shengchao period, Jia Rong had officially been on the throne for four years, and it was also Jia Rong’s 30th birthday.

"Your Majesty, good news has been received from all over the country. Now, excluding Beijing Zhili and Nanzhili, there are 56 provinces."

"Your Majesty, Mengxi has been pacified, hundreds of thousands of prisoners of war have been captured, and millions of cattle and sheep have been captured. Please grant me a name, Your Majesty!"

Jia Rong was in a pretty good mood today.

"Let's call it Central Asia Province. Once the railway and communication facilities are built, we can move to West Asia."

"According to the order!"

Jia Rong already ruled over fifty-seven provincial capitals and two Zhili provinces, and his territory was now unprecedentedly vast.

It extends from Japan in the east to Persia in the west, from the uninhabited Siberian permafrost in the north to Luzon in the south, from India in the southwest to Rakshasa in the northwest.

Some countries chose to surrender directly, while others were conquered.

Although he did a lot of things, Jia Rong did not feel much substance, as if his subordinates were just talking casually.

Of course, beauties from various countries were still presented as tribute, but Jia Rong didn't care about it.

Jia Rong smiled and said, "Today I have something important to say."

The ministers sat in their seats and listened, and they always felt that the big thing Jia Rong talked about was not a big deal.

Whenever everyone thought something was a big deal, Jia Rong always handled it casually.

Jia Rong thought it was a big deal, but everyone else thought it was a small matter.

Seeing that no one paid attention to him, Jia Rong felt somewhat bored.

"I have been on the throne for several years. I am not young anymore. I have decided to change the name of the country to Sheng, the "Sheng" in "Shengchao". What do you think, my dear ministers?"

When the ministers heard about this, they were soon relieved.

"Your Majesty is wise! Long live the Emperor, long live the Emperor, long, long live the Emperor!"

Not to mention changing the country's name, even changing back to the original surname doesn't matter.

Now that the reign title is Sheng Chao, it makes no difference to change the country's name to Sheng Guo. It's just a name anyway.

Jia Rong has always been a rebellious and rule-breaking person.

It is sheer wishful thinking to expect feudal etiquette to restrain this person.

It's been so many years, it's time to wake up.

Now, no one dares to make trouble about him marrying a woman with the same surname. Even if he takes the empress and concubines of the previous dynasty into his harem, others will just pretend not to know.

The decision to change the country's name was made very easily, without any difficulty at all.

There are quite a lot of difficult parts, and all official documents and seals will have to be changed accordingly.

It will indeed trouble a lot of people, but everyone understands.

After Jia Rong's affairs were settled, he asked, "My dear ministers, do you have anything else to say? If you have nothing else, I will dismiss the court."

The envoy of the Inspectorate quickly said, "Your Majesty, the King of Zhou privately purchased 200 guns, 10 bronze cannons, 10,000 bullets, and 200 shells. He also sent letters to the King of Shu, the King of Liao, and the King of Zhenxi with the intention of treason. The letters have been seized. The prefect of Luoyang and the generals guarding the city have surrounded the King of Zhou's mansion. Please order the execution of the thieves."

Jia Rong showed a helpless expression, "What can we do with these guns and ammunition..."

The left prime minister quickly said, "Your Majesty, I have read those letters, and they are indeed written by King Zhou."

Zong Zheng also stood up and said, "Your Majesty, the Zhou family has not given up the intention of rebellion. They have been secretly plotting rebellion for many years and have said many disrespectful words to Your Majesty."

Jia Rong asked curiously, "What did you say?"

Zong Zheng quickly said awkwardly: "It is difficult for me to say it."

Jia Rong became even more curious. "It doesn't matter. Just tell me. If it's true, I'll admit it. If it's false, I'll just say it for fun."

Zong Zheng immediately knelt on the ground, "I dare not! The intention of the King of Zhou to rebel is obvious. Not only me and the princes of the royal family, but also the capital, Jizhou Prefecture, and Luoyang Prefecture know about this. I guarantee with my own head that there is absolutely no injustice!"

Jia Rong thought it was quite boring, so he said casually, "Well, it's nothing but those cheap things. Anyway, when you want to slander someone, you must start from what everyone believes."

"Demote the Zhou royal family to civilian status, confiscate all their assets, and give each of them 100 taels of silver to fend for themselves. The Zhou royal palace's assets will be confiscated and converted into an office building for the future 10,000 officials in the city to work in."

"There is no need to send people to monitor him, and there is no need to care about him. From now on, if he breaks the law, he will be treated as a civilian. He can take the imperial examination and join the army normally."

The punishment was as light as ever.

Zong Zheng knelt down and thanked: "Your Majesty is wise!"

Such a big matter as King Zhou's rebellion was quickly resolved, and soon the right prime minister continued to report the situation.

"Your Majesty, the Jiangnan Inspector General has impeached Jia Baoyu, the son of Jia Zheng, the Jiangning Textile Master!"

Jia Rong became interested. This kind of thing was not announced in the morning newspaper in advance and was an unexpected event.

The left prime minister and the people from the Inspectorate also looked displeased.

The Censorate should be managed by the Inspectorate, but I don’t know how he bypassed the level and got to the Right Prime Minister.

The current right prime minister is Wang Ziteng's successor. He comes from the Ministry of Personnel, which is in charge of personnel appointments and dismissals and promotions of officials.

Jia Rong asked curiously, "What did Jia Baoyu do?"

The Right Prime Minister said: "Jia Baoyu has been hanging out with the girls from the Jiaofang Bureau for many years, and he also interfered with the operation of the Jiaofang Bureau, secretly expelled the girls from the Jiaofang Bureau, and changed the girls who were deported by the emperor into girls from decent families. He has committed the capital crime of treason!"

Jia Rong thought about this matter and it was indeed something that Jia Baoyu would do.

Jia Zheng came from the Ministry of Works, but at this time the people in the Ministry of Works did not dare to plead for him.

Everyone in the Jiaofangsi is a sinner, especially the women who have the potential to kill the king.

Privately changing the status of a group of criminals who hated the emperor from slaves to commoners is almost the same as treason.

This is a serious matter, not just a simple change of household registration. Any official who does this can be said to be seeking his own death and will be unacceptable to others.

Even the princes in various places cannot do such a thing. A slave class is a slave class. The emperor has stipulated that they are slaves, and no one except the emperor can help change their fate.

Some powers belong to the emperor, and anyone else who encounters them will die.

Helping the criminal girl change her place of origin was something that could be done with just a word from Jia Rong, but Jia Baoyu did it without telling Jia Rong, which was courting death.

Jia Rong thought for a few seconds.

"Does Jia Zheng know about this?"

Jia Rong directly said Jia Zheng's name without any need for a honorific title.

The right prime minister replied, "It is not mentioned in the letter, but Jia Baoyu and the people from the Jiaofang Bureau were involved in this matter. In total, they changed the place of origin of 16 women from being slaves to being members of the Jia family. They were all registered under the name of the Jinling Jia family."

Jia Rong casually said, "Except for the person who reported this, all the men in Jinling Jiaofangsi who did nothing about it were killed, and Jia Baoyu was forced to become a monk."

After hearing this, the Minister of Personnel quickly said, "Your Majesty, how should those treacherous women be punished?"

Jia Rong said indifferently: "Just continue to be a prostitute. From now on, unless I allow it, the amnesty will not include those who are punished by my order."

"Go to the Dali Temple to check who helped Jia Baoyu change his place of origin this time, and send their family members to the Jiaofangsi to receive guests, and change the status of all those involved in this incident to slaves. It just so happens that the Jiaofangsi is in need of some servants who understand poetry and can do accounting."

"When you help others with things in the future, think more about the consequences."

"I don't want to punish you for no reason, but you should not do something unthinkable to provoke me."

"This time, I helped those resentful sinners to become members of the Jia family. If I didn't know about it and summoned the Jia family, what would I do if they were secretly harmed by those women?"

"The deliberate planning of a treacherous minister is no match for the sudden inspiration of a fool."

"I don't want to see that Jia Baoyu anymore. I will exile Jia Baoyu to India. Anyone in the Jia family who helps him this time will be punished as well!"

Jia Rong quickly convicted Jia Baoyu.

Not only did Jia Baoyu get convicted, Jia Rong also sent the old lady back to Jinling to live out her retirement.

The old lady died halfway...

Jia Rong quickly allowed Jia Baoyu to observe mourning for seven days before setting out to become a monk.

***
It is the hottest time of the day in May, when the sun is at its highest.

Jia Yuanchun, Lin Daiyu, Tanchun, Yingchun, Shi Xiangyun and others held a small mourning meeting in the cottage where the old lady once lived, and cried sadly.

Jia Rong, holding the widow Miss Wang in his left hand and Hua Xiren in his right hand, was bathing and playing in the water in the indoor swimming pool to escape the summer heat.

Soon, Jia Rong felt comfortable and fell asleep on the big bed in the bedroom.

The groggy Jia Rong felt relaxed all over and before he knew it he had floated to a dazed place.

This place is like a paradise or a fairy palace. The buildings are all antique mahogany buildings. The roadside is lined with fairy-like white jade railings, and there are green streams and clear streams, without a trace of dust.

Jia Rong stood there with a strange expression on his face, and looked down at himself.

He was still wearing blue shorts because he didn't like gold shorts, so Jia Rong would just randomly match the colors of his clothes when he was at home and didn't like to wear the same color all the time.

I was not wearing shoes, and my bare feet seemed to be stepping on the somewhat cold floor.

Just when I was wondering, I heard singing coming from afar.

Not long after, a woman in palace dress who looked somewhat like Qin Keqing was seen approaching.

When Jia Rong saw her approaching him, he reached out and grabbed her.

"Ah~"

The wonderland dissipates!

Jia Rong quickly opened his eyes and found himself back in his original bedroom. The person in front of him was not Qin Keqing, but Yinglian, who looked like Qin Keqing.

Yinglian said quickly: "Your Majesty, I think you seem to have had a nightmare, so I want to wipe your sweat."

Jia Rong looked at Zhen Yinglian who was bending in front of him, quickly withdrew his hand, and frowned as he thought about something.

“Is this world abnormal?”

Jia Rong thought about it carefully and found that it was indeed abnormal.

First of all, I am not normal...

This is much more interesting!
Jia Rong quickly stood up and said, "Take a shower and eat! It's time for me to exercise!"

Seeing that Jia Rong was fine, Zhen Yinglian quickly helped him take a bath and have a meal.

Now Jia Rong has been emperor for four years, and the women in the harem have also had four years of good life.

The Twelve Beauties of Jinling also lived in the prosperous era of the holy dynasty and gathered together.

Jia Yuanchun, Jia Yingchun, Jia Tanchun and Jia Xichun, the four daughters of the Jia family.

Qin Keqing, Li Wan, Xue Baochai, and Wang Xifeng are the four daughters-in-law of the Jia family.

Lin Daiyu, Shi Xiangyun, Miaoyu, and Qiaojie, four people whose number I don’t know how to count.

Although he is not superstitious, Jia Rong does not deny that some strange things do exist.

Such as myself.

While Jia Rong was eating, he called the female messenger.

"Send someone to inform the ministers in the State Building to attend court tomorrow! I have something important to say!"

(End of this chapter)