Emperor Ning Kang spoke so quickly that Jia Lian didn't even react.
It wasn't until the eunuch in charge was ordered to go down and prepare to draft the imperial edict that Jia Lian realized the surprise and immediately took Daiyu's place to thank the emperor for his kindness.
It is different from the status of Gaoming, which can only be obtained by being attached to a man.
County monarch is also a very noble status for women, or it is called "female title".
However, a woman's title cannot be hereditary. Over time, everyone has come to accept that it is just a symbol of personal identity.
The reason why it is said to be noble is naturally because this status is extremely rare. It can even be said that, except for the noble daughters of the clan, every woman who has a special status is lucky!
Putting aside the concubines inside and outside, they are queens, noble concubines, first-class imperial concubines, etc. The status of the most noble woman in the world can be divided into these levels from top to bottom.
Eldest princess, princess, princess, county lord...
These are all of the first rank or even higher, and they are statuses that are basically impossible for others to obtain except for royal women.
These identities are suffixed with "lord", which means clearly that they are masters.
The next best thing is the title "Jun", a title often used for rewards in ancient times, which is "Chen".
Lord of the county, Lord of the county, Lord of the township.
From top to bottom, they are the second grade, the third grade, and the fourth grade.
Even though Xiangjun is only the lowest rank of the fourth rank, this is a title independent of men and for women!
Every one of them, except for the women from the clan, is rare. Even among the girls from the clan, not every one can get the title of "Jun".
Those noble daughters of the clan who did not have titles were collectively called "clan daughters" and could only rely on the status of their parents and elder brothers.
Perhaps in the eyes of those people, being able to get a title, even the lowest "village king", would be a dream.
After all, Lin Ruhai was just a civil servant, and he had not reached the top yet, he was only a second-level official.
With an official position of the second rank, his daughter was given the title of a fourth-rank rural monarch. It was just right. It not only showed the emperor's favor, but also did not make people jealous.
This is Emperor Ningkang, a monarch who has the city in mind and knows the scale of rewards and punishments very well.
Seeing Jia Lian's expression of gratitude for bathing in the emperor's favor, Emperor Ning Kang snorted softly. From Jia Lian's reaction, he knew that he must have liked the daughter of the Lin family very much.
He likes such ministers who know their own interests and can rule them easily. He doesn't like ministers who are too deep in the city.
"No more gossip. How much do you know about the Jiangnan salt administration?"
"Reporting to Your Majesty, I have also heard about it."
"Huh, Lin Ruhai made a petition before his death and recommended you to me as an imperial envoy to go to the south of the Yangtze River to investigate the salt administration and investigate An Siyuan's death. Are you willing?"
Jia Lian immediately knelt down and said: "If I can serve the imperial court and be loyal to Your Majesty, I will do my best to serve you as a minor minister and I am willing to be at your Majesty's disposal!"
"Very good. In that case, I will appoint you as the inspector and imperial envoy. You will have to investigate this case within a time limit of three months... Well, do you have any doubts?"
While Emperor Ning Kang was speaking, he saw Jia Lian frowning and asked with some displeasure.
"No, I just think that only three months is a little short. Moreover, even though I am stupid, I also know that matters related to salt politics are extremely complicated, and I am crude.
People, I’m afraid they won’t be able to figure it out in a short period of time…”
"What are you afraid of? I didn't ask you to go down and take charge of the salt administration. Three months is not enough?
As for the tangled roots... How many officials are there in the entire Yangzhou Prefecture who are above the fifth rank? How can you, the majestic Marquis of Zhenyuan, still be afraid of those local snakes?"
Emperor Ningkang said, deliberately showing a bit of disappointment. In fact, of course he knew that the salt policy involved a wide range of things. After all, the salt policy was a behemoth that accounted for 20 million taels of silver into the national treasury every year!
Of course, this number was not reached this year due to a major accident in the most important Jiangnan salt policy.
If not, he wouldn't have carefully selected the imperial envoys to inspect. He couldn't make up his mind for a long time. In the end, he felt that Lin Ruhai's suggestion was good.
Lin Ruhai said that he knew a lot about the salt government, so his help was a secondary reason. Jia Lian's newly promoted military general had the spirit of daring to kill and fight, which was what he valued most. Moreover, Jia Lian was born in the Duke's palace, so he obviously had the same relationship with this person.
The people involved in the matter are all unrelated, and they are indeed suitable to help him handle this matter.
Jia Lian couldn't stand the stimulation of Emperor Ning Kang. He looked grim and said loudly: "Since your Majesty said so, I will naturally not be afraid of those so-called local snakes. But as the saying goes, the king of hell is easy to provoke, but the devil is difficult to deal with.
Since Your Majesty has a time limit of three months to settle this matter, when I do things, I will inevitably have to cut through the mess quickly and use violence. If trouble occurs, Your Majesty will have to protect me."
Jia Lian's words made Emperor Ningkang look speechless. However, he also expected that Jia Lian's daring to raise doubts was a sign of serious thought. In this way, he believed that Jia Lian could handle this job well, so he waved his hand and said: "
You don’t need to tell me, I will also give you the Shangfang Sword. All officials involved in the state government will be under your control and dispatch.
If you encounter someone who deserves to be killed, or someone who obstructs your work, just kill him, and I will bear all the consequences for you!"
What Jia Lian wanted was this last sentence, so he laughed, kowtowed and said, "In that case, I will definitely live up to your majesty's trust."
"Hmph, then you go back and make preparations. I will ask the staff and the military department to make arrangements for the accompanying escorts, etc., and we will set off in three days. Do you still have any doubts?"
"Wei Chen accepts the decree."
…
"Lin Xiangjun, what a nice title."
After coming out of the Daming Palace, Jia Lian was about to return to the Lin family quickly to tell Daiyu the good news, but he saw a carriage with an eight-treasure canopy, slowly driving towards the Daming Palace.
Jia Lian recognized him as the prince's chariot, so he stood by the roadside and bowed to salute when the ceremonial guard passed by.
I didn't want to hold the ceremony, but I was told to stop, and then the car curtain opened, revealing the smiling face of the prince.
"Why is Marquis Zhenyuan here?"
"I was summoned by His Majesty and just came out of the south study."
"I see... I heard that my father intends to send Marquis Zhenyuan to the south of the Yangtze River to supervise the salt administration?"
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Jia Lian's heart skipped a beat. Although it took a while to wait for Emperor Ningkang's decree to canonize Daiyu, the prince unexpectedly received the news so quickly. If it were said that the prince did not care about this matter
, he himself didn’t believe it.
"Reporting to the prince, this is indeed the case."
When the prince heard this, the smile on his face became even wider, and he asked in a seemingly casual conversation: "Oh, I wonder what Marquis Zhenyuan thinks of this salt policy?"
"I can't speak of opinions. I have just been entrusted by His Majesty and am about to set off to Jiangnan for inspection. I will only dare to speak after investigating all the results."
"That's what Marquis Zhenyuan said."
The prince smiled and seemed very close to Jia Lian.
Indeed. Since Jia Lian first met the prince in the prince's courtyard, because Jia Lian inadvertently saved the queen mother, he did the prince a big favor, so in the next few meetings, the prince tried to win over him intentionally or unintentionally.
Although he didn't take it seriously, as the crown prince, he could still give Jia Lian face.
But even the prince didn't expect that Jia Lian would rise so quickly. After returning from Oala, the world could see clearly how much Emperor Ning Kang had favored Jia Lian.
Because of this, he couldn't help but feel a little regretful that he didn't win over Jia Lian as early as possible.
With Jia Lian's current status, it will be difficult to subdue him in the future.
But he was not worried because he knew that compared to him, Jia Lian was even less likely to vote for the third prince.
For one thing, if the third prince wanted to make friends with Qingliu, a lucky minister like Jia Lian, he would definitely be out of place there.
Secondly, he heard from his servants that the several meetings between Jia Lian and the third prince did not seem to be particularly pleasant.
This made him very happy.
He is the crown prince, and as long as Jia Lian does not fall in love with the third prince, he can be regarded as his minister.
Of course he did not hesitate to give Jia Lian a good attitude.
"The Marquis of Zhenyuan has already done several important things for the court at a young age, and each one was completed perfectly, which earned his father and the ministers in the court high praises.
After I heard about it, I also admired Marquis Zhenyuan very much.
It just so happens that I have been assisting my father in studying government affairs for some time, and I am also very concerned about the salt administration in Jiangnan. I wonder if the Marquis of Zhenyuan comes out with the results of his investigation, and maybe he can let me know so that I can better share the worries of your father?
"
The prince's smiling words shocked and surprised Jia Lian.
He seems to have lost his sight a bit...
Originally, he had a bad impression of the prince because of his kindness to the prince, who was a loser, and because the people in the prince's residence had embezzled two thousand silver from him.
I didn't expect that the prince would have such a palace.
First of all, the prince's attitude towards wooing him was clear, because the prince had calmly changed his self-identification from "this palace" to the more intimate "I".
Well, with the level of trust he currently enjoys around Emperor Ning Kang, it is easy to understand that the prince wants to make good friends with him.
The key is what the prince said later.
He said that he cared about the salt administration, and after he got the results, he also passed a copy to him.
What do you mean by passing it on to him? If he comes up with the results of his investigation and the results are passed back to the capital, the prince will naturally know about it.
I specifically explain that I have only one meaning.
Send him the results in advance...
Why should the results be communicated to him in advance? It's nothing more than that he really cares about this matter, or it has some interests in it.
Get the news in advance so that he can make corresponding arrangements!
Moreover, he also used this to test Jia Lian's loyalty. If Jia Lian agreed to him, it would naturally mean that from now on, Jia Lian would be his...
Just a few simple words gave Jia Lian a big problem! Moreover, the prince had not given him any reason.
After all, as a prince, it is very reasonable for him to care about the government affairs. The prince did not even explicitly ask him to send a message in advance.
On the contrary, most people who can sit in the position of prince are not stupid.
If the prince is like this, the third prince who dares to challenge the prince must not be a kind person.
No wonder grandpa would deliberately tell him not to get involved in the princely dispute.
"The prince's words are serious. I am under the emperor's order to do things for the court. But if there are any results, I should report them to the court as soon as possible. Naturally, I will not hide it from the prince."
The prince asked him in ambiguous words, so Jia Lian pretended not to understand.
The prince stared at Jia Lian for a few times, then suddenly raised his eyebrows and smiled: "So, the Marquis of Zhenyuan disdains to be close to me?"
Although the words are light, the relationship is important. Even Jia Lian does not dare to ignore it at this moment.
The prince is a prince, so what is a prince? In other words, whenever Emperor Ningkang dies, the prince is the legitimate lord of the world, and he is the one to whom he needs to be completely loyal.
Therefore, even if you don't surrender to the prince, you must not offend him.
At this time, the prince asked straight to the point: Are you unwilling to be loyal to Gu?
Naturally, Jia Lian did not dare to deal with it casually, so he raised his hand and said: "Your Highness, the Crown Prince, has learned from the truth. If I take the salary of the Wei Dynasty, I will become the minister of the Wei Dynasty."
Since he is a minister of the Wei Dynasty, he is also a minister of his majesty and the prince.
Therefore, I never dare to forget the kindness of your Majesty. I just want to do my job well for Your Majesty wholeheartedly. As for other matters, I am just a rough man and dare not interfere at will. Gai Yinchen knows that everything I do will be done.
It was obtained from His Majesty. You must not do anything to disappoint His Majesty.
In the same way, in the future, when His Highness is in control of the Nine Provinces, all the ministers will serve him with the same loyalty, and there will never be any second thoughts.
I believe that His Highness the Crown Prince will not want any ministers in the court to listen to others' orders.
I express my sincerity, and I hope the prince will learn from it."
Although Jia Lian's words were said tactfully and even a bit convoluted, the prince understood.
Jia Lian's meaning is very clear.
Although he is the crown prince, the one sitting on the throne now is Emperor Ning Kang.
Jia Lian must focus on Emperor Ningkang's will in everything he does and cannot do anything to make Emperor Ningkang suspicious of him.
Even fearing that he would be unhappy, he also meant that Emperor Ning Kang would be loyal to him with the same attitude a hundred years later.
Hahaha, he understands the truth. Because most of the smart and capable people in the court have the same attitude and will not blatantly fall to him.
However, Jia Lian was the first to tell him so clearly.
He couldn't help but laugh. Sure enough, to be able to gain the trust of his father so quickly is not a simple person. In the past, he had underestimated him.
"What Marquis Zhenyuan said is reasonable, but I don't know. If my incompetent third brother asks Marquis Zhenyuan like this in the future, will Marquis Zhenyuan still be able to give such a decisive answer?"
Jia Lian also smiled: "Although I have little education, I also understand the righteousness. I only know that I am loyal to the Supreme Emperor, loyal to His Majesty, and loyal to the Prince, but I don't know that as a minister, there is a fourth person who needs to be loyal."
The prince took a deep look at Jia Lian, lowered the car curtain, and ordered to drive off.
Jia Lian stood there, watching the prince Luan drive away, and then secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Accompanying you is like accompanying a tiger. The ancients never deceived me.
This is still just the prince, not the real emperor. But if he takes it seriously, he can put a lot of pressure on him. If he is like this, who cares about others?
He was able to persevere and not fall behind, not only because of his firm mind, but also because Emperor Ningkang himself was a smart and accomplished emperor. Only with this premise could he make a firm decision to be loyal to Emperor Ningkang.
If it were a foolish and incompetent monarch who couldn't even protect those loyal to him, even if it was just to protect themselves, the ministers would find a way out for themselves.
Therefore, since ancient times, there have been so many periods of chaos. There have also been so many people who, knowing the danger, still want to succeed in the dragon...
With a soft breath, Jia Lian turned around and left the Forbidden City.