The Overlord of the Red Mansion

Chapter 277 Busy Jia Rong

The third year of the Holy Dynasty, June 6th.

Jia Rong has been in seclusion for a month, and official documents from all over the country are gathering in the capital like snowflakes.

The State Council Building is a special product that combines all the architectural technologies of the era and integrates several wonderful ideas proposed by Jia Rong.

The first is heat protection, which is a necessary function for Jia Rong.

To protect against heat, it must be large enough, but it cannot be exposed to sunlight over a large area, so uneven stones are specially pasted on the walls to block out the light.

The building is large and magnificent, warm in winter and cool in summer.

However, with the improvement of steel technology, as well as the increase in building materials and personnel, this early office building was no longer sufficient.

In the Cabinet Office, the left and right prime ministers and others are discussing various matters.

The Minister of Works smiled and said, "The blueprint for the new imperial palace has been designed. I'll show it to the emperor when he comes out. The entrance alone is 365 meters long. When the court is in session, it will occupy a larger area, and there will be more office space inside than now."

The left prime minister asked curiously, "Where do you plan to build it? Outside the palace or inside?"

The Minister of Works said casually: "There is plenty of space outside. The palaces and shops near the imperial palace have all been razed to the ground. You can use them as you like."

The Minister of Revenue smiled and said, "I have received quite a few memorials in the past few days. A lot of money has been found in the Buddhist temples in the capital alone. It is almost as much as the annual national tax."

The rest of the people are aware of this.

During this month, we have mainly investigated monks, Taoist priests, and some folk shamans who performed magic tricks on ghosts, sorcerers, and plague witches.

Zong Zheng asked, "Have all the temples been checked?"

Some things don't need to be stated too clearly, everyone sitting here is a wise person.

In ancient times, all officials and noble families could set up ancestral temples to worship their ancestors.

After the two Dukes Ning and Rong were granted titles, they also built their own family temples.

However, this temple, which was originally built to protect his family, was directly razed to the ground by the order of Jia Rong, the direct grandson, and all the land was confiscated by the public.

The commander of the five armies replied, "The Jia family temple has been demolished. The emperor wants to build a house for future generations to live in, and no longer use it as a temple."

"The rest of the ancestral temples can remain intact, but the nearby farmland will be treated as normal farmland and taxes must be paid, and they are not allowed to accept sacrifices and incense from people other than their own clan."

The others nodded and approved of this arrangement.

Since it is a family temple, it should not accept sacrifices and incense offerings from outsiders.

The emperor has shown his grace to allow the construction of a family temple so that descendants can worship their ancestors and remember this honor, not so that you can make money from the family temple.

The Right Prime Minister said: "According to reports from the Meteorological Bureau and local officials, the drought continues throughout the Central Plains, and many places may have no harvest."

The Minister of Revenue nodded, saying that he was in charge of this matter.

"Then open the warehouses to release the grain. It seems that there is still too much grain to store this year. We can directly mobilize the grain from the south of the Yangtze River and transport it there. This year, the north will only need the grain from the four regions of the northeast to store it."

The Minister of Rites asked curiously, "Has the northeast been taken?"

The Minister of War smiled and said, "It's almost time. Those foreign tribes relied on the natural defenses of the city to hide and refused to come out. After the artillery fire shattered the city walls, they all became obedient."

"The emperor's intention is to prevent future rebellions. We should fight as long as possible and kill all the leaders of the rebellion to prevent them from resurrecting."

Zuo Xiang showed a helpless expression.

"It's time to take a break after conquering. We've expanded a lot in the past few years, and the people also need to recuperate for a few years."

The Left Prime Minister did not support war, nor did he aspire to be crowned king or become a general or prime minister.

I have indeed thought about it, but I feel that I am not young anymore and I don’t know how to fight, so I don’t pursue these things.

Since he himself does not pursue it, he naturally opposes others and thinks that other people attach too much importance to these things.

Sima from the Ministry of War smiled and said that he couldn't get along with this man.

The left prime minister soon started talking about other things.

Today, the country is peaceful and the people are safe. Even if natural disasters occur, there is enough food, manpower and material resources to solve the problem. Whether it is military or national strength and territory, it has reached the highest level in history. The only thing to worry about is whether future generations can maintain it.

On the contrary, Jia Rong doesn't really need to deal with national affairs, after all, it's the same things that happen over and over again every year.

Drought, flood, snowstorm, plague, storm, or corruption and bribery that ruined things, or uprisings and killings of officials somewhere.

Apart from appointing a crown prince, there is basically nothing that Jia Rong must do.

But the emperor cannot do without Jia Rong.

Without this emperor, the empire would not be able to survive and would fall apart in a few years.

When the meeting was about to end, a eunuch walked in.

Jia Rong didn't like to use eunuchs, but there were so many eunuchs in the palace that he didn't dismiss them. They still did what they were supposed to do, and his life became much easier.

"Manager Zhang." Everyone bowed politely.

Steward Zhang also politely returned the gift. He did not have that much power and was mostly just a eunuch who delivered messages.

"My Lords, the Emperor has heard that you have been busy with state affairs and have no children in the past one or two years, so he has ordered you to send your wives and concubines to the palace in the next few days. The Emperor will diagnose the cause. Young women should be preferred, preferably between eighteen and thirty years old."

Everyone said in unison: "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your consideration!"

In the eyes of everyone, the emperor was not a lecherous person, and he was indeed proficient in medicine, so no one thought too much about it.

What's the point of thinking...

It's not that I haven't thought about some things, I've just accepted them.

The Right Prime Minister asked, "Zhang Zongguan, is the Emperor still in seclusion?"

Zhang Zongguan replied, "I don't know what's going on in the palace, but just now the emperor took the concubines on a boat tour in the inner ring river to inspect the speed of steamboats and yachts."

In fact, it was a yacht party. The women on the boat were all hard-working women who had taken birth control pills. On the contrary, the wives and concubines at home who had children were not so hardworking.

Jia Rong had fun for the whole afternoon, and when he returned home in the evening he started busying himself with extracting adrenaline from the goats.

Some things make you tired of them in just one afternoon, while some things make you worry about them day and night for three days and three nights.

***
The left prime minister's beautiful concubine returned home soon.

It was already past six o'clock when Zuo Xiang came back from get off work in the evening.

The left prime minister and his first wife were eating, with their concubine standing beside them to serve them.

After dinner, his wife said, "The emperor examined the patient today and gave him another prescription for the master to drink. He said that he would recover after one or two years of rest. I think the medicine in the prescription is not a rare one. I asked someone to buy some more. I will try it later."

The yellow-faced woman kept nagging there, but Zuo Xiang, like most men, chose to ignore her and think seriously about his own affairs.

Treat the concubine but give medicine to the man.

Any normal person would find it strange, but Zuo Xiang heaved a sigh of relief.

The left prime minister's expression remained unchanged, and he nodded slightly, "The emperor's grace is great, and our family is not without children, but it would be better if there were more."

It seems to be a misunderstanding, but it is indeed a real medical consultation.

Besides, there are so many women in the emperor's family, how could he look down on these ordinary women in his family?

If you get pregnant one or two months after seeing the doctor, you will really be unable to sleep or eat.

But if it means resting for a year or two, then it naturally has nothing to do with the emperor.

No matter how smart the left prime minister is, even if Zhuge Liang were here, he would never have thought that Jia Rong would give contraceptive pills to all the civil and military officials in the court...

Now, fearing that his deeds would be exposed and arouse suspicion, Jia Rong began to urgently find a solution to the problem.

You are responsible for solving your own troubles. It seems that this has been the case for more than ten years, and it takes several days of hard work every time.

(End of this chapter)