The Overlord of the Red Mansion

Chapter 306: Still Feeling Sad and Wanting to Cry
Originally, he was supposed to attend a meeting in court, but there was really nothing to do. Jia Rong had nothing to do when he returned home, so a group of his subordinates began to sing praises.

"Your Majesty's achievements in civil and military affairs are unprecedented in history!"

The Minister of Rites took the lead and set a good example. His hair and beard were all white, but at this moment his face was glowing.

"Since Your Majesty ascended the throne, you have expanded the territory and educated the people. Our great cause has extended to Fusang in the east, Rome in the west, Australia in the south, and the ice sheet in the north. Even the Qin Emperor and Han Wudi could not match even a fraction of your achievements!"

Jia Rong leaned on the dragon throne with a bored look on his face, thinking about what to eat for lunch.

He didn't like to walk around when he was thinking about something, so even though he heard what the Minister of Rites said, he didn't take it seriously.

"Master Yan is right!" The Minister of Works quickly replied, "The Emperor is not only a man of both civil and military talents, but also pays more attention to people's livelihood!"

"Since your majesty established the Ministry of Industry, new looms, water wheels, and farm tools have emerged one after another, and the people have lived and worked in peace and contentment. Especially the Iron Horse Harvester, it is simply ingenious! I, your humble servant, cannot imagine how your majesty came up with such an ingenious thing."

Jia Rong ignored this thing.

This guy and the old man from the Ministry of Rites should not be in the same group. He is obviously in charge of the artisan industry, but he has learned to flatter in just a few years.

It turns out that there is no difference between civil servants, military officers, scientific researchers, and officials. They will know everything they need to know.

Even if you don't know how to do it, you will learn it slowly.

"Your Majesty is wise!" The Minister of Finance, Lord Zhang, was unwilling to lag behind. "Since Your Majesty implemented the new policy, the treasury has been full and the people are prosperous. Last year's tax revenue increased more than twenty times compared to ten years ago. What's even more rare is that Your Majesty cares about the people and reduces taxes, making the people grateful for His Majesty's grace. Whenever I and others inspect the local areas, the people all praise Your Majesty's benevolence."

"Your Majesty!" A young and unfamiliar voice sounded. Everyone looked and found that it was the new Zongzheng.

This man was able to hold a high position at a young age, relying on the inheritance of his father's business. Jia Rong gave the position of Zong Zheng to the son of Zong Zheng who died suddenly.

This position is held by members of the royal family, and it is precisely blood relationship that matters.

Jia Rong had no relatives of his own and was too lazy to bother with this position, so he casually gave it to the 30-year-old son of Zong Zheng.

The new Zongzheng used to be on guard in the imperial palace as a royal guard, and this was the time when he was most needed to perform.

"I have read history books recently and feel that the emperor's achievements are unprecedented and will never be surpassed! The emperor not only unified the country, but also created an unprecedented prosperous era! I dare to suggest that you should be given the title of 'Saint Ancestor' to highlight your great achievements!"

It turns out that only newcomers are willing to put in the effort to flatter others, and they are even more shameless.

The posthumous title is given by others after death, while the honorific title can be used while in office, but it must be suggested by people below you. If you give it casually, you will be laughed at.

Jia Rong is certainly not the kind of person who is not afraid of being laughed at. He has long regarded himself as the Holy Emperor.

Unfortunately, all the civil and military officials in the court thought that Jia Rong was a man of reputation. They thought that Jia Rong had only changed the reign title, but did not take an honorific title, nor did he confer a title on himself.

The Minister of Rites was overjoyed and said, "What Zongzheng said is right! Your Majesty is a man of great talent, both in civil and military affairs, unprecedented and unrivaled. You deserve to be the Holy Ancestor!"

The Minister of Industry was Jia Rong's lackey, so he naturally shouted decisively: "I second the motion!"

"I think what you said makes sense!"

"Your Majesty deserves the title of Holy Ancestor!"

"Now the world is at peace, people from all directions come to pay homage, and all nations submit to you. Your Majesty is truly the wisest ruler of all time!"

"In ancient times, there was the First Emperor. Now, there is the Holy Emperor!"

……

The hall soon became a speech venue, and a group of people began to try hard to come up with all kinds of colorful words to describe Jia Rong's greatness.

Jia Rong glanced at the ministers in the hall. They all lowered their heads and had fawning smiles on their faces.

Jia Rong couldn't help but think back to ten years ago. At that time... at that time these people were not there yet.

Most of that group of people were taken away by the emperor.

The smallpox of the retired emperor caused many ministers in the court to be buried with him. This is also the reason why many people are disgusted with the retired emperor and the previous emperor's family.

If Jia Rong had not ascended the throne due to his loyalty and filial piety, and had not been legally considered the heir to the retired emperor, the civil and military officials in the court would have actually wanted to give the retired emperor the posthumous title of Emperor Lingzong Ai.

The posthumous title represents the evaluation of his merits and demerits during his lifetime by later generations, such as Emperor Wen, Emperor Wu, and Emperor Cheng. Those with these posthumous titles are all wise rulers.

If he has a spirit, then he is definitely a tyrant.

"allow."

Jia Rong agreed indifferently, without any sign of happiness.

It is really hard to understand these people. They changed the name of the Holy Dynasty so early.

How come you only realized it today? I forgot about it myself, but you just realized it?
It's really impossible to discuss state affairs with these people.

"Anything else?"

Jia Rong wanted to go back to eat, but after thinking for a long time he couldn't think of what he wanted to eat.

Jia Rong wasted a hundred times more time on the issue of what to eat for lunch than on arranging military logistics and other matters.

The Right Prime Minister stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, when the county magistrate of Yuezhong County was checking the people's fields, he discovered many hidden fields. Because they were clan fields, the people were resentful. The censor impeached this man for doing things without rules and disturbing the people." Jia Rong did not say anything, still thinking about what to eat for lunch.

He didn't speak, and others didn't dare to speak either.

After a minute, Jia Rong still couldn't decide what to eat.

Never mind, just eat whatever you want.

Jia Rong stopped thinking about eating, feeling that it was meaningless to waste time on such things.

"Send someone to investigate." Jia Rong said casually, "The court has its own loyal officials, and there is no shortage of those who are unwilling to go along with the corrupt and just want to do something."

"We can't always talk about reason and consideration for everything. Taxation has always been a national issue. Some people always want to make trouble over this kind of thing. Their agricultural tax is already low enough, so why are they hiding it? Are they rebelling?"

"Some things are not even four ounces if they are not weighed, but they cannot be weighed down if they are weighed."

"Send an imperial envoy to investigate this matter thoroughly! Give them ten days to confess before the investigation. Otherwise, if it is found that they have hidden more than ten acres of land in ten days, no one in the family can be an official, join the army, or engage in business. They will be farmers for generations!"

Collecting taxes has always been a major issue that Jia Rong attaches great importance to, especially the taxes from those places in the south, which must be paid.

If you have difficulties, you can be exempted from taxes, or even allocated funds to solve the problem, but if your attitude is wrong, that won’t work. Concealing things and not reporting them is a problem of attitude and ability.

Two months later, when the March spring breeze blew to the capital, it brought very bad news.

"Your Majesty, long live the Emperor!"

Jia Rong said nothing and his expression was very solemn.

After a few seconds, Jia Rong said slowly: "The imperial envoy I sent to Guangdong died in the post house, and the seven servants who accompanied him were all dead. The local government officials in the post house are nowhere to be found."

The ministers soon realized that Jia Rong was angry this time.

Any emperor would be angry.

If it was an emperor with real power like the retired emperor, there would have been a river of blood.

"The Ministry of Internal Affairs will handle the funeral affairs and bury him with the ceremony of a marquis."

Jia Rong said quietly, "Go and check it out. No matter if they were the perpetrators or the helpers, all of them will be killed. Men will be slaves for generations, and women will be prostitutes for generations. They will not be allowed to redeem themselves. The leader of the bandits and those who committed the crime will be beheaded in public."

This time, it was definitely not an imperial envoy who was sent, but an army.

Instead of even using local troops, they directly mobilized cavalry from the Beijing Camp and Jizhou to join the musket battalion.

In the era of expanding territory, it is very dangerous if you cannot control your subordinates.

We can't control them at home, so it will be even more difficult to control them once they go out to make achievements and become kings.

These people don't give the Holy Emperor face, so the Holy Emperor certainly doesn't need to show mercy.

Jia Rong quickly cancelled the military and school enrollment quotas for everyone in a county, not targeting the local area, but everyone with local household registration.

Because of this incident, the officials of the holy dynasty changed from external expansion to internal governance.

The problem now is that it is impossible to manage such a large territory. It takes more than a month just to travel from Beijing to Guangdong Province, not to mention the border areas.

Jia Rong quickly expanded the Jinyiwei and used the Jinyiwei who conducted secret investigations and the inspectors in various places to curb corrupt officials and local tyrants.

After being an emperor for a long time, he became very unhappy and felt that life was so boring.

I feel uncomfortable and want to cry.

After Jia Rong returned home, he lay down with his eyes closed, drinking milk.

I still feel sad and want to cry.

In fact, being a good person doesn’t necessarily mean you have to stop doing what you like. After all, you haven’t done anything bad over the years, right?

Everyone says I'm a good person...

Jia Rong frowned and thought about things while drinking milk.

Go and investigate the corrupt officials, and then severely punish the women in their families who enjoy the people's wealth together with them.

Isn't this what the emperor should do?
Things like corruption and bribery can definitely be uncovered if we investigate.

Jia Rong's family is full of such people, and many of his subordinates also eat and drink excessively and take advantage of the court.

Therefore, Jia Rong absolutely believed that as long as he checked, he would find that they were being scraped off in large areas.

Who should I start looking at...

There are so many targets that I don’t know where to start.

Jia Rong quickly thought of a good direction.

Start with your own Ministry of Internal Affairs, check the treasury and tributes sent from all over the country, and see how many corrupt officials you can find! !
(End of this chapter)