Red Mansion Royal Cat

Chapter 612: Statement
Since the Mid-Autumn Festival, people in Kaifeng City have been dragged to the execution platform every day and either tortured to death or beheaded in front of the people of the city.

Every time, Jia Cong personally sat on the execution platform. The golden mace for beating the king, which was originally placed in the sword box, had been held in Jia Shiyi's arms against his chest for more than ten days.

It seemed to be telling everyone that the law is majestic, and that everyone who commits a crime will be punished without exception, from clan members to ordinary people.

Even Mr. Hai Gangfeng was stunned by Jia Cong's iron-blooded approach.

After all the people on the list he handed over to Jia Cong were severely punished according to the law, the Jinxiang Guards actually brought nearly three hundred lawless gentry to Kaifeng City.

"Marquis Yongfeng, these people are..."

"Old Master, you don't think that only those nobles and those illegal officials can accomplish such a 'big thing', right?"

Jia Cong rummaged around on the table for a while and brought back a thick stack of case files.

"These are accomplices who assisted Liu Si and others in replacing river management materials and laundering the money for river management, or directly participated in digging the embankment and destroying evidence. Every one of them is a beast with black hearts who does not treat the people as human beings!"

The Henan gentry group must be involved behind this major case.

Hai Gangfeng was also aware of this matter, but he originally planned to wait until Jia Cong was sent away before slowly investigating and dealing with the matter himself. He did not expect that Jia Cong had already started planning the investigation when he was arresting Liu Si and others.

Perhaps it was because the knife fell too quickly, scaring off many of the escaped fish hiding in the dark. Before the Dragon Guards could investigate, someone who was not deeply involved in the case could not help but secretly run to Jia Cong to plead guilty.

"There are 278 people in total, 121 of them are sentenced to death, and the rest should be sent to the army as slaves at the lightest. You don't need to worry about it, old man. I will deal with them all at once."

what?
"Do you want to kill more?"

Jia Cong looked at the sword case on the table and said, "Of course, this time I want to let the world see clearly that the lives of ordinary people are also lives, and someone cares about them!"

The blood on the execution platform had not yet dried when a white notice was posted on the city's bulletin board.

When Jia Cong sat on the execution platform again, his expression became even more solemn and indifferent.

"The Marquis of Yongfeng County, who holds the golden mace and is loyal to the emperor, hereby announces to the world that if a prince breaks the law, he will be punished just like a commoner. Anyone who breaks the law will be punished according to the law..."

"The time has come for execution!"

Under the sword of punishment, the saying that no doctor shall be punished has become a thing of the past.

Jia Cong used tough measures to portray himself as a staunch defender and executor of the law in Kaifeng Prefecture.

The Golden Mace was passed from Duke Wen Zheng of Wei to him, and it has changed from a weapon used to monitor officials and stabilize the government to a protective weapon for the people of the world.

By the time the news reached the capital, the entire court seemed to be silent, and there was not even a memorial impeaching Jia Cong.

Seeing that his son-in-law was privately labeled as "butcher" and "killing god", Lin Ruhai was not worried. Instead, he wrote a letter and sent it to Kaifeng Prefecture.

He was a lone minister in his youth and began to build up his own power in middle age. This is Jia Cong's unique way of being an official.

This was Lin Ruhai's idea, but not Jia Cong's idea.

Jia Cong was very clear about his thoughts. This time he used iron-blooded methods to shock the world only because he had a different view on human life from the people in this world and he couldn't stand anyone treating human life as worthless.

……

The snow came a little later this year. After the flood receded, Jia Cong took a full three months to travel through four counties including Yucheng and Xiayi.

With the continuous support of money, food and manpower from the imperial court, post-disaster reconstruction proceeded in an orderly manner.

Although the main city could not be perfectly rebuilt yet, with the manpower sent by the Ministry of Works and the planning map drawn by Jia Cong himself, everything was moving steadily towards the better.

On Laba Festival, Jia Cong distributed Laba porridge to the people in the resettlement camp and quietly boarded the official ship back to Beijing at night.

Even Dai Ting didn't know that Jia Cong had left. It was estimated that he would only discover that Yongfeng Hou's barracks was empty after he saw the letter on his desk tomorrow.

"This time when I go back, I want to have a good rest for a while."

"Young Master San should have a good rest for a while. These days, Young Master San has only slept for three hours a day. His official duties are so heavy that even a strong body can't stand it!"

Jia Shiyi burned the stove a little more vigorously to make the cabin warmer.

Jia Cong was lying on the bed, wrapped tightly in a quilt. The unhealthy redness on his face revealed that he was sick.

"If the young lady knew that Third Master didn't take his body seriously, she would probably pull your ears again."

Jia Cong gave a wry smile, took the medicine handed to him by Jia Shiyi, frowned, and gulped it down.

What a fucking pain!
"I discovered a problem. In the past, I always tried to solve the problems in the court from the perspective of system and law."

After rinsing his mouth, he chattered to Jia Shiyi: "During this trip to Henan, I found that if I want to truly solve those bad policies, it seems that only reforming the system and laws can only solve the surface problems. The deeper problem seems to be the backwardness of thinking."

Jia Shiyi shook his head: "I don't understand what Third Master said. I guess only Young Madam can understand Third Master's thoughts."

Isn't it embarrassing for you to say all this to a knife-wielding person like me?

Jia Shiyi rolled his eyes and stuffed his Third Master back into the bed: "Third Master should have a good rest first. When we return to Beijing, we can talk to the young lady about this."

This is quite...

Jia Cong also realized that he was really confused, and closed his eyes to feel the ups and downs of the ship.

It was like exploring in the ocean of thoughts and slowly falling asleep.

The journey back to Beijing was smooth sailing.

The official ship flying the banner of Marquis Yongfeng sailed freely, and no one dared to mess with the "God of Killing" or "Man-Butcher".

The twenty-third day of the twelfth lunar month is the small year.

The snow in the capital was not heavy. When it was getting dark, Er Gouzi rubbed his eyes in disbelief when he saw Jia Shiyi and his personal soldiers escorting a carriage appear at the intersection.

"Oh, the Third Master is back!"

"Hurry up and send a message to the mansion. Our Third Master is back!"

……

The old lady's eyesight seemed to be more blurry, but her body was still strong.

He touched Jia Cong's head, helped him up, and then pinched and touched him here and there.

"You monkey, you've been gone for so long. Look at you, you've lost so much weight!"

Jia Cong helped the old lady sit down again and said with a smile: "It doesn't matter if you are thin. This time, your grandson has accumulated great merit for our family. Millions of people in Henan were saved from floods because of your decision. Your grandson uses this great merit to exchange for your grandmother's longevity and well-being. At least you have to live a hundred years."

The wrinkles on the old lady's face were all covered with a smile, and she gently patted the back of Jia Cong's hand: "A hundred years old? Wouldn't I be an old monster? I'll be satisfied as long as you live well."

Stay, stay~
The Qilin child in Daiyu's arms suddenly shouted "Da, Da" to Jia Cong, which made the old lady laugh out loud.

"Look, I thought he would be shy, but I didn't expect that the father and son are really connected. Qilin actually knows that this black monkey is his father."

Jia Cong took his son's chubby hand from Daiyu, gave him a kiss on the cheek and laughed.

"It seems that this child is as smart as my grandson. He is so young, but he can already call me dad."

Daiyu scolded, "I don't know whether my son is smart or not, I only know that he will call anything in the house with a Qilin carved on it daddy."

what……

Jia Cong looked down at the golden unicorn embroidered on his official robe, and kissed his son on the face again.

"My son is really smart. He really inherited this from his father!"

……

After Jia Cong returned to Beijing this time, he soon discovered that the capital seemed to have become much quieter.

The court and the people, who had been arguing over the dispute over etiquette and law before leaving Beijing, seemed to have become much more harmonious all of a sudden.

The Crown Prince was already busy with the affairs of regulating the country, and the new policies were being implemented in an orderly manner. After submitting the imperial edict in the palace, he also made a special trip to the various departments in the imperial city.

It was not until Mr. Lin had some free time and talked about this with Jia Cong that he realized that he had killed too many people in Henan and frightened the civil and military officials as well as the gentry and scholars in the capital.

"I didn't expect this iron-blooded method to have such an effect..."

When Jia Cong returned home, he told Daiyu about this incident. Daiyu said, "Your killing reminded them of our great grandfather. It was with this iron-blooded method that almost no one dared to cause trouble in the court for decades. But this is only temporary. No one knows how long the bloodshed in Kaifeng City will be remembered."

Jia Cong held his son in his arms and let Qilin play happily on his belly.

He smiled and said, "It's okay, just for now. I don't think that relying on iron-blooded means can really achieve clean government and peace and prosperity."

"Uncle Eleven said you were acting stupid again on the way back to Beijing? Every day you were either in a daze in the cabin or mumbling something about ideological construction."

Daiyu discovered that her husband seemed to have changed completely after he came back this time.

It’s not about the change in appearance, but the feeling that Jia Cong gave her as a whole.

He seems a bit like the old man Wei back then, and the old man Zhou Jiong who lectured at the Imperial College some time ago.

Although he is just a young man, he has the temperament of a great scholar.

When Jia Cong heard Daiyu asking this, he also became interested.

Just as Jia Shiyi said, if there is anyone in this world who can synchronize his thoughts with himself, it seems that it is only Sister Lin.

Even his father-in-law couldn't keep up with his thinking.

He turned over and sat up, holding his son in his arms, and said to Daiyu: "I do have an immature idea. Sister Lin, please help me with some advice..."

It is recorded in the Book of Rites that when the great way is practiced, the world will be shared by all.

This is the path that Jia Cong has been constantly searching for and gradually perfecting through his experiences over the years.

"The most important thing is to establish virtue, the next is to establish merit, and the next is to establish words. Even if they are not abandoned for a long time, this is called immortality. Cong'er, establishing words requires great perseverance and great knowledge. Have you really thought it through?"

After listening to Jia Cong's story, Daiyu's eyes showed admiration, admiration, excitement, pride, but also worry and heartache.

The worry is that this act of making a statement will certainly be questioned by the entire scholarly community. It can even be said that a hundred or a thousand years later, it may be met with mixed reviews.

At the same time, she also felt sorry for Jia Cong. Jia Cong now had the idea of ​​establishing his own name because he had experienced too many things, and they were major events that constantly impacted his thinking.

Especially this trip to Henan, the executions one after another, and the filth behind each case, were like a heavy hammer, constantly beating Jia Cong's mind.

The rebound under heavy pressure prompted Jia Cong's thoughts to constantly change and sublimate.

"Have you really thought it through? This is not an easy thing."

"Well, I think I've figured it out."

Jia Cong nodded seriously and replied firmly: "If the disease is in the skin, it can be treated with hot water and ironing. If it is in the skin, it can be treated with acupuncture and moxibustion. If it is in the intestines and stomach, it can be treated with fire and qi. If it is in the bone marrow, it is under the control of the God of Life, and there is nothing we can do about it. Governing a country is like governing a person. If a person's disease is deep in the bone marrow, even a miracle doctor cannot save him. The same is true for the country's disease. Now the country's disease is still in the intestines and stomach, and I want to try to find this fire and qi method."

"Then let me help you!"

Daiyu held Jia Cong's hand, and the couple smiled at each other.

The two have known each other since childhood, and have gone through many things together. They have long been in sync with each other. How could they let Jia Cong go alone this time?

Jia Cong held Daiyu's hand and said with a smile: "With Sister Lin by my side, what do I have to fear even if I become enemies with the whole world?"

……

Jia Cong, Marquis of Yongfeng, killed so many people in Henan that the city of Kaifeng was washed with blood.

The civil and military officials in the court originally thought that this young master's return to the capital would cause unrest in the court, but they did not expect that the Ministry of Public Security had actually received Jia Cong's leave request.

"Indefinite leave of absence?"

The prince is numb!

"You're going to leave me alone too?"

Looking at the piles of memorials on the table, Liu Hong looked at Jia Cong with more and more resentment.

"During this trip to Henan, I realized that all our previous methods were just pasting layer after layer of paper on the imperial court. When the inner part is completely rotten, no matter how solid and beautiful the outer layer of paper is, it will collapse."

It was the first time that Liu Hong saw Jia Cong's solemn expression. He couldn't help but sit up straight, listening to Jia Cong's explanation as if he was listening to a lecture from a few masters.

"Cultivate oneself, manage the family, govern the country, and bring peace to the world. Fourth brother, the word "cultivate oneself" comes first. But what exactly is this self-cultivation? Is it the so-called loyalty, filial piety, benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness? These seven words are too general."

"In my opinion, self-cultivation is about cultivating one's thoughts, just like Confucius, benevolence, and benevolence love others, etc. This is the Confucian and Taoist thought represented by Confucius. What I want to talk about now is the thought that is unique to our time."

"Fourth brother, what do you think of the officials of our dynasty? In other words, what kind of ideas did the officials of all dynasties hold when they became officials?"

"Before Liu Si died, I went to the trial in person. At that time, I was wondering, why did these people dare to embezzle the money for river management? How dare they dig up the Luo River embankment?"

"Later, I discovered that these people all have one thing in common, which is that they think they are superior to others and don't care about the lives of ordinary people."

"This won't work. If there are too many people like this, even if the country has a strong army and advanced weapons, it will eventually rot from the root and be overthrown by the people who can no longer tolerate bullying and oppression."

"I think we have always had a misunderstanding. We have been constantly improving the system and the laws, but have never thought about strengthening the ideological construction of court officials..."

This was something Liu Hong had never thought about before, and he didn't fully understand it until Jia Cong finished speaking.

"Brother Cong is saying that you want to write a book about the way to be an official?"

Jia Cong shook his head: "It's not about being an official, nor about writing a book. I don't have that much ability. I just want to stand on the shoulders of giants, integrate the thoughts of the sages, absorb the essence, and make some innovations to try to strengthen the will of the officials of the country to serve the country and the people, and arm the Great Xia Dynasty ideologically!"

(End of this chapter)