There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 210 Next Year's Plans (Two Chapters Combined)

The 24th day of the twelfth lunar month.

It's the Little New Year celebration in the South.

Every household cleans and sweeps their houses, preparing to buy New Year's goods. Even the poorest families will buy some meat in advance and prepare some new clothes for their children for the New Year.

Nie Yu was able to return home early for a rare occasion, and had a family dinner with Queen Chen Huilan and Princess Liu, which marked the end of the Little New Year celebrations.

After finishing her meal, Liu returned to her own courtyard, while Nie Yu accompanied Chen Huilan to the back garden of the Prince's Mansion for a stroll. Although it was called the Prince's Mansion Garden, it was actually just a small courtyard that could be explored in just a few minutes.

The Prince of Han was too poor. His palace was just a renovated version of the former General's Palace, with a portion of it also used as government offices. It was already quite good that he had a garden to stroll around in.

After spending some time with Chen Huilan and chatting for a while, Nie Yu did not stay overnight in the Queen's courtyard, but instead went to Liu's side courtyard to rest.

Chen Huilan is currently pregnant, at least seven or eight months along, and gets tired easily from walking around, so staying overnight in the courtyard is naturally out of the question.

As the King of Han, if Nie Yu were to stay in the Queen's courtyard for an extended period, neglecting the Queen, all the officials would have to submit memorials to impeach him... and impeach the Queen's family.

The King of Han is their great king, the monarch of the country, and the monarch is certainly not wrong. As the mother of the nation, the queen, even if she is wrong, cannot openly admit it. Family scandals cannot be aired in public, and the monarch's family scandals are national scandals, which cannot be spread. Therefore, the only option is to drag the queen's family members out to take the blame.

In fact, since the Queen became pregnant, the year's foreign wars have almost ended. Nie Yu has been receiving several memorials from time to time, all of which are subtle suggestions to him to take more concubines and enrich his harem.

For a king to have only one queen and one concubine in his harem is far too meager. So meager that even the civil and military officials under the King of Han dare not take concubines casually.

Your Majesty only has two consorts. How can you, as a subject, have three or four wives and concubines?
Of course, these are just the surface reasons; the deeper reason lies in the need for political marriages.

The reason why local powerful families could tolerate the Han Dynasty dividing their land, prohibiting them from keeping slaves, and carrying out new tax reforms was twofold: firstly, the Han Dynasty held the reins of power, and secondly, they believed that the Han Dynasty was indeed capable of succeeding.

If the Han dynasty succeeds, Nie Yu can sit on the dragon throne, which is the highest honor in the land. As the earliest group of local gentry who joined the Han dynasty, it would be too difficult for them to become founding fathers. However, it would be possible to send their daughters into the palace to seize the wealth and status of the next generation.

This has become the norm for political marriages. The truly powerful and wealthy families seek political marriages to gamble on the immense wealth and status of becoming relatives of the emperor, and perhaps even have the chance to give birth to a prince to compete for the throne.

Under the pseudo-Qing regime, forget about it. The imperial concubines were all absorbed within the Eight Banners, and Han Chinese were not allowed to interfere at all. At most, they were just Han Eight Banners members.

This may explain why there are so many rumors, some of which have even been made into TV dramas, claiming that Emperor Qianlong was actually the illegitimate son of a Han Chinese official.

The most outrageous thing is that two versions have emerged, and the two versions show that Qianlong's "Han biological father" is actually an uncle-nephew relationship, which mainly promotes the spiritual victory method of a Han scholar-official.

However, Emperor Renzong of Qing, Jiaqing, was the one who truly had half Han Chinese blood, because his birth mother's ancestors were Han bannermen who had surrendered.

Nie Zi refuted all the memorials urging him to take concubines, but his wording was not particularly harsh; rather, it was rather mild, and the reasons he gave were irrefutable.
"The world is not yet at peace, and the puppet Qing dynasty has not been subdued. How can I indulge in personal pleasures and neglect the great cause of overthrowing the Qing and restoring the Han? The matter of taking a concubine can be discussed later!"

……

He stayed overnight in the princess's secluded courtyard.

The next day, morning.

Liu reluctantly saw Nie Yu off as he got up and left. Before leaving, Nie Yu deliberately fiddled with Liu's small hand a few times, and only left with a hearty laugh after Liu looked back at him.

Arriving at the Prince's office, I prepared to begin my work for the day.

There was no way around it; once a king was established, things became incredibly demanding. From the King of Han down to the officials in various departments, everyone basically worked year-round without a break.

Even a day of slackness could lead to a major blunder on the front lines, resulting in utter ruin.

Nie Yu took a sip of hot tea to moisten his throat, then called out, "Summon the cabinet to come for a meeting!"

"Yes!"

The secretary on duty outside hurriedly went to the Cabinet Office to call for someone.

Before long, the cabinet ministers were summoned to an audience.

"Meet the king!"

"Without courtesy, I will give you a seat."

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

"..."

After everyone was seated, Nie Yu took out the memorial previously submitted by the Ministry of Rites and said, "I have gathered you all here today for no other reason than to discuss the drafting of this reign title."

Although Nie Yu was not yet the emperor, but only the King of Han, he still needed to determine the reign title. The reign title was not only related to legitimacy, but also served as a reference time for the people to carry out agricultural activities in the four seasons.

Especially now, the Great Han is shouting the slogan of overthrowing the Qing and restoring the Han, but many people under the Great Han's rule are still using the Qianlong reign title of the pseudo-Qing.

Because there was really no other way, the Prince of Han's Palace had not determined a reign title, and they could not stop the people from using the Qianlong reign title, otherwise how were they supposed to farm?

This was over two hundred years ago, before the Gregorian calendar was in use today. Even after the Gregorian calendar was widely adopted, the lunar calendar was not abolished; instead, it was merged with the Gregorian calendar and used interchangeably.

This is why the date of the Spring Festival varies from year to year in later generations. There is a time difference between the lunar calendar and the Gregorian calendar. The Westerners solved the problem of the old calendar in a simple and crude way. They directly ordered, in the name of the Pope, to cancel the ten-day difference.

Well, it was cancelled, and it even made it into history books because it was so absurd. They cancelled ten days with just one order. They really think they're God's spokesperson.

Gu Jing said, “Your Majesty, the decision on the reign title is a major matter. If the reign title is not determined, then our Han Dynasty will ultimately be illegitimate and its name will not be legitimate. Even the common people will think that our Han Dynasty is still a rebel, and that the pseudo-Qing Tartars are the true rulers by using their reign title.”

The decision to determine the reign title was originally proposed by the Ministry of Rites, and it was also within the Ministry of Rites' responsibilities.

As the Minister of Rites and a key minister in the cabinet, Gu Jing was merely reiterating the political correctness and urgency of proposing a reign title.

Once the political correctness of the matter was established, other members of the cabinet began to speak one after another.

Liu Jun said, "The reign title should be decided sooner rather than later, preferably before the spring of next year. In this way, by the spring of next year, we can send a telegram to the entire Hubei and Hunan provinces to officially adopt the new reign title, thus establishing the legitimacy of our Han Dynasty. This will also be connected with our previous rejection of the peace talks with the puppet Qing Tartars, demonstrating to the world our Han Dynasty's determination to overthrow the Qing and restore the Han!"

Wang Ruoyu added, "Once the reign title is determined, the people will know that they are all subjects of our great Han Dynasty, and not some rebels. This is very important!"

……

The cabinet members took turns speaking in this manner.

After a brief discussion, it was decided that the proposed reign title should be finalized sooner rather than later, ideally by the beginning of next spring. This would allow it to coincide with the change of reign title in the Han Dynasty and the upcoming imperial examination, so that all candidates could feel the might of the Han Dynasty.

Once the time for deciding on the reign title is determined, the next step is to decide on the specifics of how to propose the reign title.

Nie Yu took out the memorial submitted by the Ministry of Rites, which was filled with several draft reign titles and the political implications behind them.

Martial Virtue: The Han Dynasty was full of martial virtue, driving out the Tartars and restoring China.

Yuanxing: The Han Dynasty began to prosper from this point onward.

Yongxing: The eternal prosperity of the Han Dynasty.

Yongchang: Destined by Heaven, may its life be long and prosperous.

Jianxing: Establishing a system to revitalize the country.

Jianwu: This was the reign title of Emperor Guangwu, Liu Xiu.

The Heavenly Seal: The jade seal bestowed upon the King of Han by Heaven; this is the Mandate of Heaven.

Yuan Xi:......

……

……

……

The reign titles used were quite varied, including some very new ones, some very retro ones, and some exaggerated ones that catered to Nie Yu, the King of Han.

What's even more outrageous is that Nie Yu even saw "Xuantong," a politically crude and straightforward declaration of the legitimacy of the Han dynasty.

There was nothing wrong with what he said, but Nie Yu ignored it completely, which made him feel uncomfortable and also very unlucky.

Xuantong ascended the throne at the age of three and abdicated at the age of six. What kind of eight-year reign title is this?
After reading through the more than ten proposed reign titles in the memorial, Nie Yu felt that none of them were quite right. After thinking for a moment, he asked, "Does this reign title have to be two characters? Could we use 'Restore China' as the reign title?"

Upon hearing this, not only Gu Jing, the Minister of Rites, but also the other cabinet ministers were somewhat bewildered. Wait, restore the reign title to Zhonghua?

Is there no culture left?

Gu Jing realized what was happening and quickly said, "Your Majesty, although reign titles are not limited to two characters, four-character reign titles were gradually abandoned as early as the Song Dynasty, so this reign title for restoring China is really..."

It was said in a very tactful way, but the subtext was that this reign title was too straightforward and lacked cultural refinement; if it were said out loud, it would truly be laughed at by the world.

Nie Yu felt a little regretful, but he didn't insist. After looking at the more than ten reign titles on the memorial, he pondered and selected for a long time before saying, "If 'Restore China' can't be used, then let's call it 'Xinghua'! It takes the meaning of 'reviving China and driving out the Tartars' and will be designated as the first year of Xinghua next spring. The two characters 'Xinghua' are simple and easy for the people to remember."

"Your Majesty is wise!"

Upon hearing this, the cabinet members immediately bowed.

Gu Jing was somewhat helpless. The Ministry of Rites had spent several days drafting more than a dozen reign titles, taking into account the actual situation of the Han Dynasty, the current state of the Han Dynasty, and the Han King's own preferences. However, none of them were adopted.

When it comes to civil officials proposing reign titles, the emperor generally does not refuse. At most, he may make slight modifications to the characters to reflect the authority of the new emperor's ascension to the throne.

All of these were rejected. Choosing one's own reign title was not impossible, but it was extremely rare, and it also made the Ministry of Rites lose face.

Oh well, so be it. If I lose face, I lose face!
If you follow a great and powerful ruler who establishes a new dynasty, you should be lucky to live a peaceful life until you are rewarded and retired in your old age. Why would you want dignity and face?
After Xiao Ji finalized the reign title, Nie Yu casually set aside the memorial and continued with his plans for next year: "The year is drawing to a close, and in a few days it will be the New Year. After the New Year, it will be the first year of Xinghua in our Great Han Dynasty, which corresponds to the third year of Jiaqing in the pseudo-Qing Dynasty, or the sixty-third year of Qianlong..."

At this point, Nie paused deliberately, a strange smile appearing on his face.

The cabinet members below also had strange expressions upon hearing this. The king had just decided on the reign title for the coming year with a single word, and then mentioned the reign title of the pseudo-Qing dynasty. It was hard to say that he hadn't brought it up intentionally.

Indeed, it is true that the reign title of the Qing dynasty is truly difficult to understand. The emperor has been changed for almost three years, but many places are still using the reign title of Qianlong. It has been used for almost the sixty-fourth year of Qianlong's reign, and many people do not even know that the emperor has been changed.

During the Jiaqing era, Korean envoys who came to pay tribute to the Qing Dynasty were recorded as having been received by Emperor Qianlong in his capacity as emperor. They were still referred to as "朕" (Zhen, the imperial "I"), and Emperor Qianlong even issued an imperial edict to bestow rewards upon them.

Nie Yu continued, "This year, our Great Han has already captured Wuchang, Hanyang, Anlu, Jingmen, and parts of Yichang. Including Jingzhou, that's roughly half of Hubei. Next spring, when the weather warms up, we should regroup and take the remaining half. The first battle will be Xiangyang!"

The plan to attack Xiangyang next year is a strategic plan that has been decided within the Han Dynasty for some time. Even the Grand Commandery has been making strategic deployments for several months in advance.

Lin Wenchang did not object. He had basically adapted to it. Being the Minister of Revenue of the Han Dynasty meant facing long-term pressure and the problem of lack of money.

Warfare costs money, construction costs money, immigration costs money, and land redistribution and town establishment also cost money; in short, everything requires silver and grain.

Money and provisions will never be enough; no matter how much we save, it will never be enough. We can only try to spend every penny of money and provisions wisely.

It can be said that the Ministry of Revenue deserves much of the credit for the incorruptibility of officials in the Han Dynasty. Because the Ministry of Revenue was constantly monitoring whether anyone was embezzling, and anyone who did was causing trouble for their work. In such cases, it was a good excuse to confiscate their property and exterminate their entire family; the confiscated assets were better than nothing.

Under the supervision of the Ministry of Revenue, the Censorate of the Han Dynasty was almost out of work. The crowd that looked at the account books every day to see if you had embezzled was more professional than the laymen of the Censorate.

Liu Jun nodded and said, "It's time to attack Xiangyang. If we don't take Xiangyang, our Han Dynasty won't be able to sit securely in Hubei, and we won't be able to truly feel at ease attacking Jiangnan. Once the pseudo-Qing loses Jiangnan, having lost two major strongholds of wealth and granary in succession, then the pseudo-Qing will truly be in its final days, and the country will perish!"

Wang Ruoyu said, "There are spies of our Han Dynasty in Xiangyang City, and most of the civil and military officials of the puppet Qing Dynasty have been turned to the side by our Han Dynasty. Next spring, our Han Dynasty will only need to send out a troop and set fire to take Xiangyang. But taking Xiangyang is easy, how to govern it is the troublesome thing. Not only Xiangyang, but also Wuchang, Hanyang, Anlu and other local prefectures and counties are in a similar situation."

What Wang Ruoyu was referring to was the current predicament of the Han Dynasty in Hubei: the army was expanding too rapidly, and the officials and clerks could not keep up with the pace of military expansion.

Furthermore, the rapid expansion of the Han Dynasty led to its repeated defeats of the Qing army's Green Standard Army and Eight Banners, which directly boosted the confidence of peasant uprising armies in other regions.

Of the vast territory occupied by the Han army in Hubei, only a small portion was actually captured by the Han army. The rest was entirely due to local peasant uprisings where officials were killed and rebelled. After capturing the county seat, the Han army raised the flag.

When these peasant rebels first heard that the Han Dynasty wanted to take them in, apart from a small number of those from remote areas who had ulterior motives, a considerable number were willing to submit and obey orders.

However, the condition for their submission to the Han Dynasty was that the tens of thousands of acres of land they seized through their rebellion by killing officials and landlords would all be divided up by the land distribution officials sent by the Han Dynasty, and the land would be distributed to their tenant farmers.

As a result, several counties immediately broke down the banners of the Han Dynasty, drove away the land distribution officials sent by the Han Dynasty, forcibly dissolved the newly formed local peasant associations, and raised their own banners of righteous army.

After finishing these shady deeds, these guys, fearing the Han army's wrath, immediately sent a scholar to write a letter to Chen Xinghuai, the Han governor of Hubei, saying they were willing to continue to respect the Han as the supreme leader of the righteous army, and that both sides would keep to themselves and not expand the Han's territory.

Anyway, after reading it, Chen Xinghuai said nothing and immediately telegraphed Jingzhou: "Your subject requests troops to suppress the bandits!"

Wang Ruoyu said, "Xiangyang is in ruins, so taking it will be easy. The key is how to govern and restore it. As for the local counties including Hanyang and Wuchang, some of them obediently surrendered, some surrendered and then rebelled again, and some have clearly rebelled again but still hope to continue to be on good terms with our Great Han. We should take advantage of the opportunity to send troops to Xiangyang next year to punish them all. Although they once flew the banner of our Great Han, now that they have rebelled, they must be dealt with swiftly."

After reading the telegram, Nie Yu sneered, "The reason these rebels surrendered and then rebelled again is because their leaders have broken away from the peasantry and become new landlords. So naturally, they are unwilling to let the land officials divide their land. But their reason tells them that they can't win in a fight, so they can only submit. But how can they submit after rebelling again? They can only be fierce in appearance but weak in reality, wagging their tails and begging for mercy!"

Lü Zhihong couldn't help but sigh: "People die for wealth, birds die for food. Not everyone has the magnanimity of Your Majesty, who can distribute all the land to the people, and even keep none for yourself, only a hundred acres for paying taxes."

This was clearly flattery, but it was genuine flattery.

Including Lü Zhihong, these cabinet ministers genuinely believed that the King of Han was a great ruler who was neither greedy for money nor lustful, and who was always single-mindedly focused on his career.

To be able to assist such a wise and powerful ruler, achieve great things, bring glory to one's ancestors, and be remembered in history is already a certainty.

Nie Yu didn't offer much explanation. It was true that he distributed land to the people, but to say that he wasn't greedy or lustful was an overestimation of his abilities.

No man is immune to greed and lust; he simply has higher aspirations. Compared to making China great again, greed and lust are far too superficial.

Nie Yu said, "These leaders of the civilian army who surrendered and then rebelled again should be dealt with by Yang Fang. We should also send a telegram to Wuchang Prefecture to tell Chen Xinghuai, the governor of Hubei, to be prepared."

Yang Fang has already achieved great merit in capturing Wuchang and Hanyang, and it is not advisable for him to claim too much credit in a short period of time. These civilian troops who have become corrupt internally can be handed over to him to deal with, allowing him to calm down and reflect, which can be considered a form of political protection for him.

Once these rebel armies are dealt with, Xiangyang Prefecture in the north will probably have already been captured, and Yang Fang will be able to accumulate enough merit to be promoted to division commander.

After discussing Hubei's major strategy for next year, Nie Yu asked, "How are the Yao people in Hunan doing?"

Liu Jun said, "The counties of Yongzhou Prefecture have basically submitted to the Han government. The Yao people here were forced into rebellion by the officials and all they asked for was a way to survive. Since our Han government can grant them a way to survive, the Yao people are naturally unwilling to continue their rebellion. However, the Yao people are willing to submit to the Han government and trust our Han government. But the work of the town chiefs and land distribution officials sent over has encountered difficulties."

"What predicament?" Nie Yu asked.

Liu Jun replied, “The language barrier is a problem. Although the Yao people here are plain Yao and can speak and read Chinese, they still use their own Yao dialect and script within their villages. The plain Yao people in Yongzhou seem to get along well with the Han people and even intermarry, but intermarriage is rare. Most of them still live in their own villages, which are clearly separated from the Han people’s areas.”

To put it bluntly, it's the same old story: xenophobia!
Han Chinese people would send their own people to form groups, and those with the same surname and from the same hometown would band together, let alone the Yao people.

Even if the Yao people of the plains can get along well with the Han people, there are still differences in customs, language and writing between the two sides, which is an unchangeable barrier.

The former land allocation officials and town chiefs of the Han Dynasty had gained the trust of the Yao people through long-term contact. But even with that trust, when the Yao people returned to their own villages, they started speaking Yao, which the former land allocation officials and town chiefs could not understand!
Upon learning this, Xu Minwen, the prefect of Yongzhou, immediately took the lead in learning the Yao language and ordered his subordinates to also learn the Yao language before going to work in the Yao villages.

The idea is good, but the reality is awkward.

After studying for a month or two, almost none of the officials in Yongzhou were able to learn it. Even Xu Minwen, the prefect, could only stammer out a few words, and his pronunciation was very awkward.

Yao language is difficult to learn, it's really too difficult!

Although the Yao people have a unified ancestor (except for the Hua Yao) Pan Wang, the Yao language they use is divided into four major categories, and they cannot communicate with each other and can only use Chinese to convert between them.

Learning the Yao language is no easier than learning English.

Most of those who could become land allocation officials or town mayors were not exceptionally talented; they relied entirely on their diligence and responsibility in their work.

Being conscientious and responsible does not mean you can master a new language in a short time. This cannot be said to be asking too much of anyone; it can only be said that these land distribution officials and town mayors really know everything.

Nie Yu was somewhat helpless upon hearing this. He hadn't expected that the first obstacle in the assimilation of the Yao people would be the language barrier, which prevented the land distribution officials from carrying out their work. He said, "If the Yao people of Yongzhou are willing to submit, then they are also subjects of the Han Dynasty. Since they are subjects of the Han Dynasty, there's no need to rush them. Send a telegram to Xu Minwen, the prefect of Yongzhou. The officials of Yongzhou can start working on the land distribution and town establishment in the northern counties first, while the Yao people in the south can be dealt with slowly. Let the land distribution officials and town heads learn the Yao language and be able to read simple Yao characters before proceeding."

"I will give them a year to learn the Yao language and be able to read the Yao script. They will also have a year to distribute the land, during which they are allowed to seek assistance from local people or Yao people who speak Han language. Those who feel they cannot do it can apply for a transfer in advance to start over in another prefecture or county. I will not blame them!"

"However, those who can learn the Yao language and handle the land distribution will be promoted to town mayor at the very least after the land distribution is completed in a year!"

The officials couldn't learn it; one reason was their lack of talent, but another was their lack of motivation.

As soon as Nie Yu, the King of Han, spoke, he directly promised them a promotion. As long as they could learn the Yao language and help the Yao people distribute the land, they would be granted official positions.

The title of "field distribution official" sounds prestigious, but in essence, it is still a minor official position. The title of "town mayor" sounds less prestigious, but the official rank is ninth grade, which is a qualitative leap.

In the context of the Qing dynasty, this was unthinkable; even if you were a clerk for your entire life, you would still be a clerk.

Want to be an official? Keep dreaming!

Nie Yu then asked, "What about the Hua Yao people from Baoqing Prefecture?"

Liu Jun shook his head: "Hua Yao has it even harder!"

(End of this chapter)