Red Mansion Royal Cat

Chapter 592 The Man Who Wants to Become the Sea King

Chapter 592 The Man Who Wants to Become the Sea King

Ji Chengming was going crazy. He clearly told me to just stand back and watch the fun, so why was he the one who got hurt in the end?

In front of them was the blood-thirsty White Lotus Sect. Jia She, who was supposed to stand in front, had already retreated to the side in an orderly manner and was methodically encircling the two groups that were fighting each other.

boom!

The sudden loud noise from behind woke up Ji Chengming who was in confusion and unwillingness. He no longer cared about the White Lotus Sect who were ready to kill him at all costs. Looking back, he saw a ship of his own on the sea caught fire.

The flag with the character "Ji" on the mast of the flagship ship had been replaced with a large flag with a red background and a golden dragon. If he still couldn't figure out what had happened at this point, he would be really stupid.

"Shameless Jia She, you lied to me!"

Mixed with grief and indignation, Ji Chengming felt angry and ashamed after being fooled. He even wanted to rush over and kill Master She who was grinning and laughing at him from afar.

But even if Master She drove away all his personal soldiers and generals, the people of the White Lotus Sect would have to be willing to let him go.

With a "puff", Ji Chengming, whose face was flushed with anger, suddenly felt a pain in his waist. When he looked down, he saw blood gushing out of his waist...

"Damned traitor, return the lives of my brothers in the Holy Church!"

The sudden change not only made Ji Chengming finally realize the "sinister intentions" of Master She, but also made him realize his own stupidity.

More importantly, the Maitreya followers who followed him were caught in a panic and had their last line of defense torn apart by the blood-thirsty White Lotus Sect who had no way to retreat.

On the contrary, Master She, who was hiding far away on the periphery, was a little unsure whether to save people or not.

Of course, Master She's purpose in saving people was definitely not to develop a real relationship with this guy. His main purpose was to try again to see if he could get some other useful information from Ji Chengming.

But this man’s kidney was pierced, and the medicinal materials are so precious, it’s better for him to die!

Anyway, as long as we can investigate the case, we can just use Old Thirteen!

"Old Nine, the show is over, prepare to clear the scene, and make sure to leave a few people alive. Take away all the wealth that the White Lotus Sect has accumulated over the years and bring it back. Brothers, you must gain something after going out to sea... Be quick, don't let others get you there first."

He had already seen from afar two fleets approaching with clear flags.

As expected, they are government troops. They come here to clean up the mess after the battle, right?

The Songjiang Navy hurried forward and arrived near Sanmushan Island when the battle on the shore was coming to an end.

In addition to the Lin family members who were searching for the remaining bandits on the ship, there were many people eyeing the spoils on the island.

……

"Master Thirteen, you can start now."

Jia Cong looked at the news his father sent back from the sea, and began to check what was mentioned in the letter, marking each one on the list on his desk.

"General Liu Ming, General Liu Cai, Pingjiang Bosun Benji, Hangzhou Textile Factory Cheng Yanbing... all of them have very good relationships with Ji Chengming. Let's arrest them first. After all, Ji Chengming is one of the main leaders of the Maitreya Cult and must be investigated strictly."

No one dares to take the horror of cults lightly.

God knows whether Ji Chengming brainwashed these people and brought them into his camp when he was on friendly terms with the dignitaries in Jiangnan.

It's okay for royal wastes like Liu Ming and Liu Cai, but Pingjiang Bosun Benji also serves as the commander of Hangzhou Guard. Cheng Yanbing is one of the three major manufacturers in Jiangnan, controlling nearly one-fifth of the silk tribute business in the dynasty.

There are many people on the list, including no less than a hundred officials of all ranks.

These were all deliberately thrown out by Ji Chengming to demonstrate his strength in order to get Master She to join his gang.

It's a pity that Master She is indeed greedy for money and lustful, and he truly hates those evil cults such as the White Lotus Sect, Maitreya Sect, and Zoroastrianism.

Ji Chengming would never understand the relationship between Master She and the late crown prince. "General Stable" had once jumped up and down in the East Courtyard and made indirect accusations every time he drank for the late crown prince.

Do you really think that the old dandy is just an old dandy...

When Liu Ke heard that there was a job to do, he immediately jumped over from the stove with great energy, snatched the list from Jia Cong's hand, and hurriedly wanted to arrest people.

"Don't worry, Cong. I'll bring the artillery with me this time and I'll definitely capture everyone for you in the shortest possible time!"

Jia Cong had to hold him back: "No, please, Master Thirteen, it's only been two months, two months, and the capital has received a roomful of impeachment memorials against us. This time when we go to Hangzhou, please be kind and let's follow the system and process and do what needs to be done. I will send a letter to the Zhejiang Provincial Governor, asking him to take the lead, and you can just sit in the center."

I was really frightened by this gentleman. As Xu Jinglong's case was exposed by his son Xu Youwen, dozens of Jinling nobles and civil and military officials were implicated, and all the soldiers above the fifth rank in the Jiangnan camp were wiped out.

Old Thirteen has been living out his life as a judge these days. Not only has he used his three guillotines, namely the dragon, tiger and dog, which he always carries with him, he has also pulled a tiger-gun cannon and broken into doors one by one to arrest people.

For several days, the sound of artillery fire in Nanjing City never stopped, followed by "warnings" sent continuously from the capital.

The "reprimand" in the palace was just that. The prince fined Jia Cong one year's salary on the grounds that his handling methods were rough and disturbed the local peace. Then he rewarded him with countless gold and silver for his contributions in rectifying the administration and stabilizing the local area.

As for Prince Zhongshun, who was actually pulling cannons to capture people in the city, the emperor was ill again, and the prince, being a young man, could not issue an edict to reprimand his uncle.

Therefore, the cabinet issued an imperial decree, reminding Prince Zhongshun to be gentle when handling cases and pay attention to the impact...

Incidentally, the cabinet also agreed on a plan to request an imperial decree to appoint King Zhongshun Liu Ke as the executive vice president of the Supervisory Yuan, specifically to inspect various places and be responsible for the supervision, investigation, and punishment of local officials.

The professional match made Old Thirteen's smile stretch from head to neck.

After hearing Jia Cong's persuasion and instructions, the Thirteenth Brother responded repeatedly but refused to change.

While Master She was still joining forces with the Songjiang Navy and the Lin family fleets to suppress bandits and fire cannons at sea, Old Thirteen cooperated with him and began to sweep southward from Zhejiang, pushing the "front line" continuously southward.

On New Year's Eve, when he and Daiyu were celebrating the New Year at the Lin family's old house in Suzhou, they received a letter from Quanzhou.

The two old dandies of the Guo Dynasty joined forces in victory and tricked Lin Ao again.

"How could Fifth Uncle Lin believe Father and Thirteenth Master so easily? When these two masters agree on something good, you must not believe them!"

Even though he was his biological father, why did Lin Ao believe in their lies and spend all the money he had saved with great difficulty...

Daiyu smiled and said, "Not necessarily. I think my father-in-law's idea is a good one. It is difficult to expand the sphere of influence to America in a short period of time if we rely closely on the imperial court. Although several families have sent ships and troops to compete with the Western Barbarians for territory, they are all small-scale fights. If the civilian forces unite and have the endorsement of the imperial court, it will be different."

How did the Age of Discovery come about?

It would have been impossible for the so-called adventurers to cross the ocean with their manpower and material resources without the support of Western countries behind the scenes.

If the Western barbarians can do this, why can't our Celestial Empire do it?

Moreover, Master She was really tired of playing on land. Now that everything was stable at home, he became completely addicted after firing a few shots at sea. He was trying to persuade Old Thirteen to go out to sea with him.

Just when Jia Cong's letter to the capital was sent out, several letters arrived from Quanzhou again.

One of them was addressed to him and Daiyu, and the others were secret letters from Master She and Old Thirteen to be sent to the capital.

Since it was a secret letter, Jia Cong naturally would not open it to read. He and Daiyu only read the letter from his father to them.

As soon as they read the beginning of the letter, Jia Cong and Daiyu both took a deep breath.

"It's over, my father-in-law is going out to sea!"

"It's over. My ambition to be the King of the Sea has been taken over by my father!"

……

The spring of the fourteenth year of Yuanyou was peaceful and tranquil, and all the beauty seemed to spread over the entire summer in March.

Crown Prince Liu Hong became more and more familiar with government affairs. With the assistance of the cabinet, the new laws were steadily implemented one by one. Young and ambitious censors went out of the capital for inspection and brought back the most accurate and true reports.

The three railways from Beijing to Jinzhou, Beijing to Anbei, and Beijing to Kaifeng have been completed. They will be officially opened to traffic after the trial operation is over, and construction will continue to extend to the east, north, and west.

According to the plan, the next step is to build railways from Kaifeng to Xi'an Prefecture and then to Lanzhou, from Tongzhou south to Jinling, and from Jinling to Guangzhou Prefecture.

If there had not been any breakthrough in the technology of plateau railways so far, those crazy people in the Ministry of Industry would not have dared to push the steam locomotive to U-Tsang.

The first steam-powered ship had been launched at the Jiangnan Shipyard. Jia Cong, who was still traveling in Jiangnan, personally boarded the first steam-powered wooden ship of the Qing Dynasty to experience it.

Although it still needs to be optimized and improved, it is much faster and more comfortable than the old-fashioned ships that use sailing oars.

With Lord She and Old Thirteen, one chasing down smugglers in the southeastern waters and the other pulling a cannon on shore to rectify the administration of officials and punish illegal judges and businessmen, the administration of officials in Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong provinces underwent earth-shaking changes within three months.

Not to mention those young censors who came from the capital, even Jia Cong himself did not expect that the most prosperous and wealthy places in the country would become the places with the most clean administration.

The merchants in Guangzhou even built a shrine for these two gentlemen, and four words were engraved on the stone tablet outside the gate: Living God of Wealth.

These two gentlemen investigated corrupt officials, clerks, wealthy families, and smuggling. The import and export volume of the Guangzhou Maritime Customs increased several times in just three months.

The people who feel the improvement in the business environment most clearly are those who do serious business.

In June, the Ministry of Revenue received the summer tax of the 14th year of Yuanyou from the local areas. The commercial tax in the three provinces of Nanzhili, Fujian and Guangdong increased by 30% compared with the same period of the previous year. At the same time, it also promoted the development of trade in agricultural and sideline products in neighboring prefectures and inland areas.

Not to mention anything else, the wool from the two major protectorates of Anbei and Beiting and the cotton from the Western Regions Protectorate became almost the raw materials of production that were fought over in all parts of the southeast.

What people inside the Great Wall need are raw materials, while what people outside the Great Wall need are food, salt, and even porcelain and exquisite silk, which were previously only available to nobles, have become daily necessities for people outside the Great Wall.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is the emperor's birthday. Although the old saint is still in mourning, it is still indispensable for governors and governors-general to send gifts to the capital.

Jia Cong did not plan to return to Beijing this year. His father-in-law's power was growing, and the implementation of the new law required his father-in-law to continue to centralize power. It would be better for him to stay away from him, so that people would not say that there were Yi and Huo followers in the court...

"Grandmother said she would leave Beijing on the first day of September and arrive in Jinling before the weather gets cold. Second uncle originally wanted Baoyu to accompany grandmother, but Baoyu has been busy discussing Buddhism and Taoism recently and cannot get away, so only fourth sister will go south with grandmother."

After reading the letters sent from the capital, Daiyu felt sad that her relatives were now scattered all over the place.

But there is no way around it. With the prosperity of the family, endless responsibilities will inevitably come.

For example, Master She was still wandering around the waters off Guangzhou in June. He received a letter on the Mid-Autumn Festival. He picked up Lao Shisan from Guangzhou to go out to sea. Together with Lin Ao, the three of them led a large fleet of 35 large and small ships and headed south towards Malacca.

If the old lady in the family had not been really old, Master She would have led the fleet to America long ago to compete with the Western barbarians for territory.

"Isn't Baoyu debating with the Neo-Confucianists? Why is he arguing with Buddhism and Taoism now? Let me see..."

Jia Cong took the letter handed to him by Daiyu. The handwriting was beautiful and there were several pictures attached. It was obviously written by Xichun.

One of the pictures is particularly interesting. The background should be the Imperial College's parade ground. On the high platform there is a young man with a precious jade on his chest, discussing Taoism with a monk with scars on his head. Another master in a Taoist robe is watching him covetously.

"It's interesting... Baoyu has actually reached this level."

After reading Xichun's story in the letter, Jia Cong's doubts were mostly gone.

"The mind has neither good nor evil, but it has good and evil intentions. Knowing good and evil is conscience, and doing good and eliminating evil is the study of things. Baoyu wants to study things and redefine the rules of etiquette. The first school he has to deal with is the Neo-Confucian school, which is still a popular school today, and the second is Buddhism and Taoism."

All I can say is that the Jia family has never lacked talents, they are just talents that have gone astray.

With a unique personality like Baoyu, as long as he gets rid of vulgar interests, he will soon be able to show his wisdom in some aspects.

Investigate things to acquire knowledge, and integrate knowledge and action. These are the words Jia Cong mentioned to Baoyu a long time ago.

Baoyu's dissatisfaction with the current Neo-Confucianism and those old conventions and customs will eventually give birth to his own unique Tao as he continues to practice and perfect what he thinks after entering the world.

Jia Cong only gave some simple guidance, but he didn't expect that Baoyu would develop the Daxia version of "Yangming's Philosophy of Mind". It is not known whether it is good or bad. This is a big deal and must be handled with caution.

"We have to ask Mr. Zhou to help. Baoyu's small body can't withstand the joint encirclement of Neo-Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism."

Thinking about how Baoyu was happily playing in the pile of rouge many years ago, the current Mr. Bao is really impressive.

Jia Cong couldn't help but smile bitterly. Was this considered asking for trouble?

There is a "master of Xinxue" in the family, and the biggest headache is not him as Baoyu's guide, right?

Thinking of this, Jia Cong sighed and said to the north: "Mr. Zhou, I have been editing books for two and a half years, it is time to officially come out!"

Monthly ticket recommendation ticket

　That’s all for tonight. We’ll continue tomorrow morning. Good night!

(End of this chapter)