The Overlord of the Red Mansion

Chapter 142: Ministry of Industry Jia Family
In Ningguo Mansion, Jia Rong led people to demolish the wall in the backyard.

Jia Zheng and Jia Rong stood in a clean place nearby and watched the workers at work.

Not only Jia Zheng was there, but Qin Ye was also there.

As Jia Rong's father-in-law, these two adults behaved very politely and stood on both sides of Jia Rong like followers and servants.

Qin Ye's official position is higher than Jia Rong's. He is now a third-rank assistant minister of the Ministry of Works, which is a high position.

But official position does not represent everything. Whether or not one is valued by the emperor is also crucial.

The most important thing is character.

Jia Rong's character is stronger than Qin Ye's, so he appears very humble when they are together.

Qin Ye did not feel humbled. Although he had not seen his daughter for many years, his relationship with Jia Rong had always been stable.

The reason why he was able to get promoted steadily over the years and move from a lowly official of the fifth or sixth rank to the position of Vice Minister of Works was mostly because of Jia Rong.

The marriage brought huge benefits, and the unpromising son was also reformed by Jia Rong.

In Qin Ye's opinion, it is certain that Jia Rong has done a favor to their family.

Jia Zheng looked at the fortifications in front of him. A small part of the west wall of Ning Mansion and the east wall of Rong Mansion had been demolished to serve as a passage, and the alley between the two courtyard walls had also been blocked and occupied.

From now on, the two palaces are connected, and no one can pass through the middle aisle anymore.

Jia Zheng was a little worried.

"The Ning Mansion was already quite large, and now the two mansions have been connected to become one. It's not easy to live in such a large place. After all, our family is not a wealthy family, so it's better to let the house be abandoned than to live in it."

Jia Zheng really didn't want to live in Rong Mansion. It wasn't that he didn't want to, but he was scared when he saw that Jia Rong was going to turn the two Duke's Mansions into one super-large Duke's Mansion.

How bold people are and how productive they are.

Jia Zheng was a timid man, and he felt that the original garden of the Lai family was too big for him to live in, let alone when he saw that Jia Rong was going to combine the two into one and turn the Duke's Mansion into a royal property.

In the face of Jia Zheng's worries, Jia Rong showed an indifferent and mocking expression.

"What is there to worry about? The two places combined are not as big as the palace. Besides, it's not me who has to spend money to build a garden and a house. Other families have been doing this for years. The emperor asked me to fix up my house. Maybe he will receive him in the future. What's wrong with making it better?"

Jia Zheng originally thought that Jia Rong had been demoted and demoted for some unknown mistake, so it would be better for him to keep a low profile. However, he became nervous after hearing what Jia Rong said.

"To meet you?"

Qin Ye and Jia Zheng both looked at Jia Rong.

Jia Rong was talking nonsense and he didn't want the emperor to come to his house.

"Don't mention anything that's uncertain. Anyway, it's all right. It was indeed the emperor who ordered the garden to be built. The people from the Ministry of Works have already been notified. They are here to work for me. It's like they are following orders."

Jia Rong took advantage of the Ministry of Works' labor for free, but he still had to pay them wages, treat them to meals, and give them some money after they finished their work.

Qin Ye smiled and said, "Don't worry, Mr. Zheng, the Shangshu has instructed us to help Mr. Jia repair the garden."

Seeing this, Jia Zheng had no choice but to agree.

The architectural drawings had been designed long ago. A few years ago, when other families were building gardens, the Rong Mansion also followed suit and built a garden. The Ning Mansion also did the same.

What we are doing now is to connect the two gardens into one garden, and then transform the repeated buildings according to Feng Shui and layout to form symmetrical garden areas with their own characteristics.

Jia Rong said to Qin Ye, "Use cement to build a building and a granary to test cement's waterproof, rat-proof and weight-bearing capabilities. If it works, promote it. In the future, you can save a lot of wood when building cities and houses, and you won't have to use up all the wood in and outside the capital."

Qin Ye nodded and said, "Yes, this thing is not only useful when it is needed, but it is also insect-proof and rat-proof. If it catches fire, we don't have to worry about it all being burned. After the house is built, we can report it to the emperor!"

Jia Rong didn't like talking about these things with the emperor, and he didn't want the emperor to pay attention to these things.

"Let's talk about it after it's done." Jia Rong said, "Build the house higher so that more people can live in it. There's no need to make it too extravagant. I designed a four-story building myself, so you can build it according to my design when the time comes."

Jia Rong built an ordinary four-story building for himself, just like the old teaching buildings in the countryside. A school can accommodate one or two thousand people for study, and can also accommodate several hundred people.

The construction cost is not high, for Jia Rong now. With the strength of the Ministry of Works, one of the six ministries, he can easily build a building.

Jia Rong has many capable people under him. Jia Zheng and Qin Ye are both very capable, serious and responsible.

Jia Rong was very relieved when they were doing things.

The construction of the garden went smoothly. After half a month, when it was almost completed, Jia Rong, who was working for himself at home, was disturbed again.

"My Lord, the Emperor has summoned you to the palace."

Jia Rong had no choice but to hand the matter over to his clansmen and go to the palace to see the emperor himself.

When he was riding into the palace, he happened to meet Prince Zhongshun who was entering the palace in a sedan chair.

The two met when they were walking down.

Prince Zhongshun asked politely, "How is Duke Ningguo these days?"

Jia Rong said, "Very good. Your Majesty doesn't look very well. Is there something bothering you recently?"

Prince Zhongshun sighed and said, "It's not the court's business. There have been many problems in the court in the past few years, and many people have died. In just a few years, the thirty-one princes have been reduced to twenty-three, and the twelve dukes are now reduced to two."

The group of four kings and eight dukes that the Jia family used to be associated with has fallen, and even the dukes newly promoted by the emperor himself were mostly ruined by him.

Jia Rong smiled and said, "When the princes come of age and are given fiefs, there will be more princes. I remember there are more than 200 county princes now."

What King Zhongshun actually lamented was that the emperor had been too murderous in recent years and had killed too many people.

Although the emperor did not target his own princes, he still got rid of eight princes within a few years for various reasons.

Especially this year, three heavyweight and powerful princes died.

Although he could still find someone to inherit from his descendants, Prince Zhongshun felt that it was not a good idea for the emperor to continue like this.

Not only the prince, but also the dukes and ministers were killed in battle or tortured to death.

The house of Duke Rong was raided, and Duke Ning was demoted less than a year after taking office.

One or two people could be blamed on others, but in recent years, the powerful groups have lost a lot of members, regardless of whether they are royal relatives or not. This must be the emperor's fault.

Prince Zhongshun should not get too close to Jia Rong. As a prince, if he gets too close to a powerful official, he will easily arouse suspicion from the emperor.

Besides, someone once wrote the words "I want to rebel" outside the wall of Prince Zhongshun's courtyard. Now he dares not get too close to powerful officials, especially those who lead troops.

It was for this reason that he stopped interacting with Jia Rong some time ago. Now that Jia Rong is a minor official in the Ministry of Works and is in charge of the Imperial Medical Service, they started chatting again.

The two soon arrived at the imperial study.

The desk in the imperial study was replaced with a new one. When Jia Rong came in, the emperor had gone somewhere unknown, so everyone chatted in the study first.

Those here are all high-ranking officials of the imperial court, and any one of them is a pillar of the country.

Jia Rong and Prince Zhongshun stood separately, waiting quietly when a middle-aged man came over. The Dali Temple official whispered to Jia Rong, "The emperor has gone to rest. He was just discussing the confiscation of Lord Sun's property after his death. The emperor ordered me to take charge of this matter."

Jia Rong looked at the big shot in the court who was in charge of the trial of criminal cases across the country and said, "Thank you, Lord Ling, for telling me. However, my current duties are to deal with the Ministry of Works and the Imperial Hospital, and I don't care about anything else."

Lord Ling said nothing more and stood quietly aside.

The others talked in low voices, discussing what to do next.

Half an hour later, the emperor came back from the toilet.

"The Emperor has arrived!" the eunuch shouted.

Everyone quickly knelt down and bowed their heads, "Welcome to the Emperor!"

His walking posture was somewhat uncoordinated and not as natural as that of a normal person.

No one watched this, for fear of being implicated again.

Jia Rong lowered his head, becoming more and more certain that even if he slept with the empress or the imperial concubine, the other eunuchs and palace maids and guards would not dare to reveal the news.

There is no need to bribe those people.

Who dares to say such a thing?
It turns out that the best way to bribe others is to drag them into the water.

Only those who have been in the same dirty water with you are trustworthy.

"Flat body."

The emperor's voice was not good. He sounded weak and unhappy.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Jia Rong and others stood up, still lowering their heads tacitly.

The emperor looked at everyone.

"Three days ago, there was an earthquake in the King of Zhou's fiefdom. Countless people were killed and injured. The King of Zhou and the Duke of Zhou's family all died in the ruins. I mourn deeply."

It turned out that there was an earthquake somewhere and many people died.

The emperor quickly mobilized materials from the national treasury to alleviate the people's suffering, and ordered the Ministry of Revenue and imperial envoys to provide relief to the victims.

Calling a few princes over was to discuss what to do if another prince died.

It’s easy to deal with the prince. After he dies, his son can take over.

There are only a few dukes left now. Of the eight dukes from the early days, none is left now, and all of them have lost their title of duke.

The wars fought in the past few years were all won through bitter struggles, and those who survived were punished for various reasons. Adding to various problems, there were ten duke's mansions in the capital, but only one duke.

It’s not Jia Rong, it’s the emperor’s uncle, the queen’s brother.

This person has no special abilities, and he must be getting scared now.

He is the only duke in the world, how could he not be afraid?

But not everyone has the courage like Jia Rong to enjoy it. Some people will be afraid when they find that they are the only one sitting in the only high position.

Especially since everyone else in this position has died or fallen.

The meeting in the Imperial Study ended quickly. The Emperor might really be in poor health, so he quickly promoted officials from the Crown Prince's side, but did not give Jia Rong any power position.

After the meeting, Jia Rong felt very bored.

"The Emperor called me over just to show me how nice he is to others and make me nervous and jealous? What kind of little girl's mentality is this? Did he awaken the female in his heart after losing his eggs?"

Instead of feeling scared or terrified, Jia Rong felt that the emperor was a clown.

The emperor did not insist for a long time, and when Jia Rong was about to leave the palace on his horse, he was hurriedly stopped by the eunuch.

"Master Jia, the emperor ordered you to bring medicine to the Qianqing Palace immediately! He said that an old injury has flared up!"

Jia Rong knew that he was in trouble, so he went to the Imperial Hospital without rushing to call a few imperial doctors, and got some medicine from the imperial pharmacy before going over.

At this time, the emperor was lying on the bed, sweating profusely.

Jia Rong shouted respectfully: "Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you!"

The emperor suppressed his voice and shouted: "Hurry! I am in so much pain!"

Jia Rong quickly used an anesthetic needle to relieve his pain, and instructed several imperial doctors to apply medicine to the wound.

The emperor lay on the bed, looking at Jia Rong who was standing nearby.

"Why doesn't Lord Jia do it himself?"

Jia Rong said, "I have a heavy responsibility on my shoulders. I am worried that one day I will encounter an assassin or a natural disaster or man-made disaster that will make it difficult for me to overcome. There are still many imperial doctors in the palace who can help the emperor cure diseases and relieve pain. Therefore, I dare not be proud of my achievements. I should help the emperor select talents and train good doctors. This is my responsibility as the head of the Imperial Hospital and the Imperial Pharmacy."

In fact, I don't want to touch this person's dirty stuff.

The emperor was deeply moved when he heard this.

"Others become unruly when they have the ability, and some are always self-righteous when they have talent and ability. Only Lord Jia thinks of me and takes the initiative to give me any good things he has, and never hides what he should say."

The emperor was moved and said, "I just demoted you a while ago. It would be a bit ridiculous to promote you back now. I also suspended your title and salary for three years before. Do you blame me?"

"No complaints." Jia Rong said seriously, "Your Majesty, you don't know that because of your kindness over the years, I have saved up a lot of private money. I am not as poor as your Majesty thinks. It is not a problem to eat for three years."

There was indeed no blame. Jia Rong was so happy when he left the imperial study that day that he walked out smiling.

The emperor knew that Jia Rong had accepted money, but he never cared about it.

"That's good." The emperor closed his eyes and said with a smile, "The post of Jiedushi is still vacant. Does Lord Jia have anyone to recommend?"

Jia Rong said, "I don't know many people, and even fewer who are capable. They are usually busy in the Ministry of Works and the Imperial Hospital. The Ministry of War is full of people who just want to hang around with me. If those people were to hold high positions, it would not be a good thing for the country or the emperor."

The emperor asked, "How is your father-in-law Jia Zheng? His father is Jia Daishan, the Duke of Rong. He should be quite capable."

Jia Rong replied, "My father-in-law is an ordinary scholar with a strong scholarly spirit. Just like his name, he is a little too serious. He is not good at making friends and does not understand the affairs of the Ministry of War. If he is appointed as a high-ranking official, it will only cause discord between the upper and lower levels. Besides, my father-in-law and I are currently building a house at home."

The emperor smiled and said, "Okay, I will appoint Jia Zheng as a doctor in the Ministry of Works."

Jia Rong's father-in-law Qin Ye is now a third-rank assistant minister of the Ministry of Works, and his other father-in-law has become a fifth-rank doctor of the Ministry of Works, while Jia Rong is the fifth-rank deputy minister of the Ministry of Works, below the two of them.

The three members of the family all hold real power in a department. It can be said that the Ministry of Works has been tacitly approved by the emperor to be managed by Jia Rong.

Although Jia Rong still did not receive any reward and lost his position as the military governor of the Jia family, from the fact that both of his two fathers-in-law were in the Ministry of Works, everyone knew that Jia Rong was still enjoying the emperor's favor.

In this era when officials are insecure about their positions, people like Jia Rong, who are considered to be close to the emperor, can obviously better protect their lives and property.

Compared with the dangerous Ministry of War, the Ministry of Works is more stable, which is obviously intended to protect the Jia family.

(End of this chapter)