Red Mansion: Seizing Jiangdong, starting with pirates

Chapter 118: Wang Lun Meets the Emperor

"Brother, are you serious?"

Jia Lian asked.

He really found it hard to believe.

The prefect of a place is a local official with real power. He is in charge of the government orders of the prefecture and is in charge of all the counties under its jurisdiction. His lowest rank is fourth grade. How can such a position be obtained easily?
To put it bluntly, although Mr. Zheng's position as the Deputy Director of the Ministry of Works is a Beijing official, in reality he may not have as much power as the prefect.

He had no academic achievements and no merits at all. He just donated money to become a minor official of Tongzhi. He was born into a noble family and had no connection with the civil service group. With this kind of attitude, how could he directly become a prefect of a place?
Li Ni said:
"Brother Lian, don't worry about your career, just answer it and let me take care of it."

After hearing this, Jia Lian immediately wanted to agree.

But when the words came to his lips, he held them back.

Although he didn't like reading and had many bad habits, he was at least not stupid. He was even considered a smart and capable person in the entire Jia family. There was no such thing as a good thing that came to your doorstep. Jia Lian looked at Li Ni and became cautious.

"If that's the case, it would be great. But I haven't asked in detail, what business are you talking about? It's nothing else, but I'm afraid that I'm not talented enough to manage the affairs of a prefecture, and it would be bad if I ruined your big plan."

Li Ni said:
"Brother Lian, don't worry too much. It's basically the same as before, with some new horses added. Lord She also knows about it."

Jia Lian understood and thought that they were just some ordinary goods such as weapons, armor, and some horses, which were nothing special.

I heard that the Ministry of Works has recently been secretly transporting the retired emperor's golden coffin to sell. Compared with them, he is just helping to transport some small goods. What's that count for?

However, to be cautious, Jia Lian still wanted to talk to Jia She first before agreeing to this matter.

"This is such a big deal, brother, would you allow me to report it to my father first?"

Li Ni said: "It should be so."

Naturally, Jia She had already been bribed by Li Ni. After Jia Lian asked about it, he got a positive answer and thus the matter was finalized.

The next night, the memorial from the Ministry of Personnel was delivered to the Qianqing Palace.

As Emperor Longqing smoked incense, he felt more and more drowsy.

He has been too busy these days. Shanxi and other places have been wreaked havoc by the Jin bandits, and the management system has completely collapsed. A large number of officials are urgently needed to fill the gaps, and various urgent matters are numerous.

There were unusual movements on the grassland. The Xilin tribe was annexed by the Kahe tribe. The Liaodong border troops observed that the grassland troops seemed to be gathering.

The matter of the Huaiyin bandits in Shandong had been discussed for many days, with civil and military officials arguing endlessly and unable to make a decision.

Now he heard that the envoy of the Huaiyin bandits had arrived at the capital's inn, but he had not yet figured out how to deal with it.

The large amount of affairs made Emperor Longqing overwhelmed. Now it was already early morning, and he was still forcing himself to stay awake and review various memorials.

He opened a memorial, which was a list of appointments of Shanxi officials by the Ministry of Personnel.

Emperor Longqing saw Jia Lian's name in it.

It contains Jia Lian's name, hometown, resume and various political achievements.

For example, Jia Lian once assisted an official in solving a headless case; assisted an official in catching thieves; participated in solving a major case of collecting life experience; lived frugally and donated his salary for the war against Shanxi; donated 20 taels of silver to the people in the suburbs of Beijing to subsidize their families during the severe winter; was a simple and frugal person, and was truly filial...

Emperor Longqing took a quick look at it and seeing that there were basically no problems, he directly approved it with his red ink.

He was too tired to bother about such trivial matters.

Moreover, this list of appointments had already been reviewed by multiple parties before it was submitted. All the reviewers were pillars of the country and would never allow despicable people to sneak in, so he did not need to check it too carefully.

After a while, Dai Quan came in with a food box.

"Your Majesty, Concubine Zhou has endured it for you..." Dai Quan's voice stopped abruptly.

"Huh, huh..."

There was a slight breathing sound. It turned out that the emperor had fallen asleep.

……

At the next morning court session, the Shandong issue, which had been controversial for a long time, suddenly took a turn for the better.

For unknown reasons, King Chungsun, who had always been a pro-war faction, suddenly changed sides and joined the peace faction.

Guo Bai, who had been silently supporting the Kong faction, also became ambiguous, with a tendency to speak for the peace faction.

This change directly allowed the peace faction to gain the upper hand in the court.

Emperor Longqing asked Prince Zhongshun with some confusion, "Brother, why did you talk about war before, but now you talk about peace?"

King Zhongshun said respectfully:
"Your Majesty, I went to a restaurant for a banquet yesterday. Suddenly I remembered your admonitions in the past, so I left the restaurant and went to the people to learn about their livelihoods. I saw that the people were living in hardship. Every family ate bran and vegetables. The children were weak and the elderly were hungry. When I asked why, I learned that it was all because of the court's wars, constant wars, and heavy taxes. The sage said that the people are the most important. How can I bear to see such a miserable situation? Therefore, today I agree to peace talks."

Emperor Longqing was deeply moved after hearing this and said:

"My brother, you personally visited the people and understood their sentiments. I am not as good as you!"

Loyalty and obedience to the kingly way:

"Your Majesty is busy with state affairs and has no time to come in person. I have a lot of free time on weekdays and have nothing to do, so I have time to visit the people."

Emperor Longqing said: "This is true, but in the end..."

The two of them started to praise each other.

The officials of the Kong faction among the officials curled their lips in disdain. Don’t they know what kind of person Prince Zhongshun is?
When the Jin bandits were about to break into the capital, King Zhongshun only donated 2500 taels to serve the country, which was not even as much as the change he spent on buying the top-grade goods at Juxian Tower a few days ago. Now he talks about understanding the people's sentiments, which is simply ridiculous.

But despite this, officials from the Kong faction did not dare to step forward to expose the truth, because they were afraid that after Prince Zhongshun was exposed, he would become desperate and reveal the truth about Shandong.

No matter what, Prince Chungshun is also a prince.

As long as he does not commit the crime of treason, he can be spared from death no matter how absurd his behavior is.

And they can...

After talking about King Zhongshun, Emperor Longqing asked Guo Bai again.

Guo Bai and King Zhongshun made similar statements, both saying that they supported peace talks because they saw the hardships of the people.

At the same time, Guo Bai also mentioned that he heard that the Huaiyin bandits had sent envoys to submit to Daxi and sincerely seek peace. Now that they have arrived at the inn, why not summon them?
Emperor Longqing thought it made sense.

He then ordered people to make preparations and decided to summon the Huaiyin envoy during a grand court meeting in the near future.

Not long after, the day of the grand court meeting arrived, and all civil and military officials came to attend. Yin Li took Wang Lun to the throne.

Yin Li walked with his head held high, looking calm and composed.

As an artist who once used contemporary technology to paint ancient calligraphy and paintings, it is absolutely impossible to do without a good mentality.

Moreover, Yin Li had experienced many battles with the Huaiyin army and had also served as an envoy to persuade people to surrender. He was knowledgeable and experienced, so he was not very afraid.

But Wang Lun was very different.

Wang Lun had been staying in Hongze Water Fort and had never seen the world. Now he suddenly entered the Golden Palace to meet the emperor, and he couldn't help but feel very nervous.

Especially since he is still the elder brother of the traitor Fang Yong...

The two men walked forward, surrounded by civil and military officials, all dressed in court robes, looking mighty and majestic. Wang Lun lowered his head and glanced upward quietly.

Emperor Longqing was seen wearing a dragon robe, sitting high up on it. His features were blocked by the tassels of his crown, so it was hard to see clearly. He looked quite majestic, though.

(End of this chapter)