There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 211 Go and Talk in Person
Lan Jinlong, the Yao King of Baoqing, is indeed quite bold. When he saw Xu Sanlang leading his army into Baoqing Prefecture, he actually dared to gather troops to defend the city and resist the advance of the Han army.

As expected, this guy suffered a crushing defeat and died in Wugang Prefecture.

He died a very hasty death, killed by the personal guards of the Huayao people around him, his head being given to the Han army as a pledge of surrender.

It's true that the Yao people are very united, but King Lan Jinlong is a fool. Being the king for a year has made him stupid. He actually chose to play to his weaknesses and avoid his strengths. Instead of going to the mountains to fight guerrilla warfare with the Han army, he forcibly defended Wugang Prefecture.

The Han army did nothing but besiege the city for half a month, which successfully drove the Hua Yao people in the city to the brink of despair. They killed Lan Jinlong and wanted to return to their hometown mountain stronghold.

At this point, everything seemed to be going smoothly.

With King Yao gone, and no fools leading the resistance against the Han Dynasty, governance should be much easier.

But the reality was quite the opposite. After the Yao King was gone, some of these Yao people chose to retreat into the mountains and never come out. Others, under the policies of the Baoqing government, were willing to go down the mountain to settle down, but they were determined not to settle down. Only a very small number of them were truly willing to go down the mountain to settle down and register as households.

Following the previously established policy towards the Huayao people, the Baoqing government did not force them to move down the mountain and settle down. Instead, it imposed strict mountain closures and reduced tax breaks for the Huayao people, thus forcing them to move down the mountain.

Then, Hua Yao exploded.

These Huayao people are too united. If the land distribution officials and town leaders want to distribute land to them and reduce their taxes, that's no problem. But the farmers' associations are all guarded against by the various mountain villages and are not allowed to be built. Town leaders and land distribution officials can't even enter the Huayao mountain villages; if they do, they are kicked out.

All the Yao people only listen to the Yao elders of their own village and completely disregard any village chief appointed by the government.

Moreover, these village chiefs appointed by the government were mostly Yao people who had moved down from the mountains to settle down. They were simply regarded by the Yao people in the local mountain villages as traitors who had abandoned the Yao people.

Prefect Yu Zhao of Baoqing is now in a state of utter chaos. He killed the restless Yao King Lan Jinlong, and the Han army won another great victory, severely damaging the Hua Yao rebels. Through economic blockade and sowing discord among the Yao people, the Hua Yao were quickly pacified, but then things became awkward – they couldn't control them!

The Hua Yao people have their own dialect for communication. Coupled with their independence and isolation, the harsh mountain environment makes them very united both internally and externally.

The Yao King forbade them to return to their mountain stronghold, so they killed him. Now the Han government wants them to come down the mountain and sets up a peasant association for them, but they don't know what a peasant association is and have no need for one.

The Huayao people mostly live in the mountains and forests, which are essentially uncivilized areas. They are not directly controlled by the Qing government and are not governed by any chieftains.

The Hua Yao people are organized entirely around social structures such as "Yilang," "Kuanhui," and "Conghui," and internally they practice (relatively) democratic elections based on kinship ties and mountain villages.

Because the Huayao people have a small population and generally live in poverty, with very few resources and benefits available for distribution, their democratic elections are truly quite democratic.

The elected Yao elders in the mountain villages are generally able to do their best for the village and are neither corrupt nor abusive of their power.

What's so great about embezzling a few bundles of firewood and a few baskets of wild fruit?
This is why Lan Jinlong was defeated so quickly; it was because his self-proclaimed title of Yao King caused dissatisfaction among the Yao people of Huayao.

They disliked having the Yao King above them, and they also resisted the Han King's control over them. In their view, the peasant association was completely superfluous, a tool used by the Han King and his army to control and oppress them.

After listening, Nie Yu could understand the difficulties faced by Yu Zhao, the prefect of Baoqing. Xu Sanlang was alright; military officers only needed to obey orders and fight. If they couldn't fight, they would send a telegram to request orders. They didn't have to act arbitrarily in everything. But the prefect couldn't do that!

The Huayao people were unruly and couldn't establish a farmers' association. The town mayor and land distribution officials that Yu Zhao brought were useless because they had no land to distribute at all.

All grain and mountain products were centrally distributed by the Yao elders. Their austere lives made them very united, but also very xenophobic, even more so than the Yao people in the plains.

As the prefect, Yu Zhao personally went to Longhui to talk to several nearby villages of the Hua Yao people. Due to the pressure from the Han army, they treated him with respect and courtesy. Unfortunately, they couldn't reach an agreement on specific issues such as farmers' associations and settling down in the mountains.

Yu Zhao devised a roundabout solution: he issued special licenses to the Hua Yao people who were willing to move down the mountain and settle down, allowing them to resell goods from the Hua Yao villages.

His original intention was to enable the Yao people who moved down the mountain to earn money, using incentives to attract other Yao people to follow suit. However, the Yao people on the mountain didn't care at all, and only a very small number were truly willing to move down.

Economic blockade, but it was all for naught.

The Huayao people are used to a hard life. Economic blockades and inducements have some effect on them, but the effect is too small to be significant.

"Does Yu Qing have any ideas?" Nie Yu asked.

Liu Jun said, "Currently, there's no way. Mr. Wang (Yi), who provided us with information about the Huayao people, has reached an agreement with the elders of several of the largest Huayao villages. They said they could talk to us, but only if the Prince of Han personally goes to negotiate. This is extremely rude. Mr. Wang is currently continuing his mediation. If negotiations fail, we will have no choice but to ask General Xu..."

“Then I’ll go myself!” Nie Yu said with a smile.

Before Liu Jun could finish speaking, he exclaimed in astonishment, "Your Majesty, you didn't need to put yourself in such danger..."

Nie Yu shook his head: "Since Hua Yao said that I should personally go and negotiate, then she is still willing to negotiate. The reason why we couldn't reach an agreement before was ultimately due to distrust of the government. Perhaps the Qing dynasty was partly to blame, but since my Han dynasty took Baoqing Prefecture, only my Han dynasty can take the blame."

Gu Jing then advised, "But Your Majesty, as the saying goes, a wise man does not stand under a crumbling wall..."

Nie Yu chuckled and said, "I am not a gentleman. Moreover, since I said I would treat all people of all races equally, and I didn't even dare to meet Hua Yao in person, how can I talk about treating them equally?"

Having said that, without waiting for further persuasion, he waved his hand and ordered, "Send a telegram to Yu Qing! Tell him that after the New Year, I will first go to Hunan to have a proper face-to-face talk with the Hua Yao people of Baoqing. Also, I will take the opportunity to meet with the Pingdi Yao people of Yongzhou and the Miao people of western Hunan. They are all subjects of our Han Dynasty and righteous people who oppose the Qing Dynasty. How can I not meet them in person and have a gathering with them!"

After saying this, Nie Yu had made up his mind to leave. Everyone in the cabinet knew the king's temperament. They could argue with him and even openly confront him when discussing matters.

But if the king has already made the decision unilaterally, then it is already decided, and they can only do their job.

……

Time flies, it's the last day before the New Year.

"Your subject Zuo Guanlan (Feng Xiuyong) pays his respects to Your Majesty!"

"Haha, Minister Zuo, Minister Feng, please don't stand on ceremony! Someone, bring us seats!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

"..."

Zuo Guanlan and Feng Xiuyong took their seats and looked at the living room of the Prince's Mansion in front of them, both of them looking somewhat dazed.

Nie Yu wasn't in a hurry to urge them. Instead, he had someone serve the tea first. After the two of them unconsciously raised their cups and drank, feeling the lingering warmth and aroma of the tea, they finally came to their senses.

"I have already decided on the reign title for next year: Xinghua Year 1, which means to revive China and drive out the barbarians."

Nie Yu began by saying, "Next spring, we will officially change the era name and abolish the Qianlong era name of the pseudo-Qing dynasty. At the same time, I have already made a resolution with the various ministries of the cabinet that we will officially launch an attack next spring, first attacking Xiangfan, then taking De'an. Within next year, we must unify Hubei and pave the way for the subsequent advance into Jiangnan."

Upon hearing this, Zuo Guanlan and Feng Xiuyong were first taken aback, then their faces lit up with joy.

The King is finally going to unify Hubei. Once Hubei is unified, together with Hunan, it will be the complete Huguang region, meaning the granary of the world will be in the hands of the Han Dynasty.

In this way, the Han Dynasty would have the fundamental resources to truly contend with the Qing Dynasty for supremacy.

Furthermore, and more importantly, they had been in Hunan for over a year. Although they both held official positions, they had been away from the central government for over a year, and it was inevitable that they would feel uneasy, as things had changed and people had grown distant. But now it seemed that the King treated them as before, trusting them greatly, and was still willing to discuss these important military and national affairs with them.

The two, who were initially quite tense, instantly relaxed considerably.

Feng Xiuyong said, "Xiangfan is not only an important town in Hubei, but also an important town in the whole country. If our Han Dynasty can capture Xiangfan, then the whole country can be conquered!"

Zuo Guanlan, being more practical, stood up, cupped his hands, and said, "Your Majesty is about to advance into Xiangfan. I returned in haste and was not prepared. I only brought back finished gold and silver products from Guiyang."

As he spoke, he called out to the outside, and immediately someone carried in two large boxes.

The boxes were opened, revealing their contents: one box was full of silver, and the other was full of gold.

The gold and silver are of very high quality, clearly newly cast, and still bear the inscriptions of Han Dynasty official minting.

"The Guiyang Silver Bureau has refined gold and silver?" Nie Yu asked, his eyes wide.

"Exactly."

Zuo Guanlan nodded: "Guiyang Silver Bureau has always been a major producer of silver, gold and copper. Although silver smelting has been going on here for many years, the actual silver reserves are still quite considerable. In addition, with the new smelting method given by the King, many silver ores that were discarded in the smelting process can be recycled and refined into silver."

This was within Nie Yu's expectations. He knew that Guiyang had many abandoned silver mines, and that modern silver refining methods could still produce a lot of silver.

Nie Yu reached out and picked up a silver ingot. A Chinese character was engraved on the bottom of the ingot, and it was quite heavy.

These are the official silver coins from the Han Dynasty!

However, the official silver coins currently in use are still in the traditional ingot shape, and the gold coins are also in the form of gold ingots.

Nie Yu didn't want to make silver coins, but the current smelting technology was not up to standard. Making silver coins was not as simple as just making them into the shape of coins. Silver was too soft, and it would be easy to break if it was made into the shape of a silver coin.

The 100 silver coins that Nie Yu had Zuo Guanlan mint in Guiyang all broke off accidentally and were unusable for normal circulation.

The plan to mint silver coins will be put on hold for now. The Han Dynasty currently has no demand for silver coins, and forcibly promoting their circulation would only cause trouble for the Han Dynasty's internal monetary economy, which would be counterproductive.

Nie Yu did not put the silver ingot back, but instead took a gold ingot and asked with a smile, "How about I keep these two gold and silver ingots?"

Zuo Guanlan quickly cupped his hands in greeting: "This gold and silver originally belonged to Your Majesty, and Your Majesty is free to use it."

Nie Yu shook his head: "No, this is not my gold and silver, but the gold and silver of my Great Han. I am only taking two ingots first, and I will put them in my private treasury!"

"Somebody come!"

"The minister is here."

"I took two ingots of gold and silver from the national treasury. I wrote this down. This was taken from the inner treasury. The national treasury's subsequent distribution can be deducted from the cost of these two ingots of gold and silver from the inner treasury."

"Yes."

The secretary on duty quickly took notes.

Next, two large chests of gold and silver produced in Guiyang were carried away, ready to be sent to the Ministry of Revenue to be added to the national treasury of the Han Dynasty.

Feng Xiuyong sincerely flattered, "Your Majesty distinguishes between public and private matters and does not take a single penny from the national treasury. This is truly a blessing for our Great Han and a blessing for the world!"

Throughout history, although many emperors have claimed to separate the national treasury from the imperial treasury, it was mostly just lip service. Take, for example, the Qianlong Emperor, the current emperor of the puppet Qing dynasty. He didn't distinguish between the national treasury and the imperial treasury. The money in the national treasury was his money, the money in the imperial treasury was his money, and the money of his ministers, merchants, and the common people was also his money.

Even someone as discerning as the King of Han would meticulously record the acquisition of just two ingots of gold and silver in his accounts, deducting the amount from the allocation to the inner treasury later.

Feng Xiuyong didn't think this was a political show put on by the Prince of Han, because there were only the three of them now, so there was no point in putting on a show.

Furthermore, this was the case even when the King of Han was a Grand General; he only kept one hundred mu of land for himself when allocating land, and that was specifically for paying taxes. The remaining tens of thousands of mu of land were all awarded to meritorious soldiers as military land, not for the Grand General's private enjoyment.

This is setting an example and establishing rules and regulations; only with rules and regulations can great things be accomplished.

Why was the bureaucracy of the pseudo-Qing dynasty so corrupt?
On the one hand, the Qing dynasty itself had flawed political system, and on the other hand, it was all Emperor Qianlong's fault. The emperor himself led the way in corruption and acted arbitrarily, doing whatever he pleased. No matter what, Qianlong's face was the most important thing. So what if thousands of people died for Qianlong's face?
Even after all this, some people in later generations still shamelessly claim that Qianlong's achievements rank among the top three of all emperors in history...

Ha ha.

Nie Yu placed the two gold and silver ingots on the table. He didn't intend to embezzle them; he simply wanted to see if the mall would recognize the gold and silver he had privately minted.

Nie Yu said to Feng Xiuyong, "Next spring, Hubei will be unified, and Hunan cannot be left behind. I have decided to make a southern tour of Hunan next year to negotiate with the Hua Yao people first, and then take a look at the Yao people in Yongzhou and the Miao people in western Hunan. Feng Qing, you have been stationed in Changsha for a year. Now that Hubei has a governor, Hunan should also have a governor. So, Feng Qing, you should take on the role! You must handle all the affairs of Hunan well for me."

Nie Yu emphasized the last sentence, and his expression was extremely solemn.

Feng Xiuyong had been flattering the Prince of Han, seemingly playing the perfect straight man, but in reality, he was filled with trepidation. He didn't know how the Prince of Han would treat him now that he had returned after more than a year.

After all, the official positions in the various departments of the central cabinet have already been determined. As the chief strategist who initially followed the emperor, if the official position he was given was too low, he would definitely have reservations. But if the position was too high, not only would there be no vacancies, but it would also cause other officials to have reservations.

After thinking about it repeatedly, Feng Xiuyong couldn't help but feel uneasy and resentful.

Now, the Prince of Han has appointed him as the Governor of Hunan, which is quite a prestigious position.

The governorship seems to be lower than the Grand Secretary, but how much territory does the Han Dynasty actually have now?

It was only a province and a half, yet he was given the position of Governor of Hunan. A province and a half in itself—that's definitely the title of a powerful regional official.

Moreover, this was not a reluctant compromise reward. Although it seemed to be far from the political center of Hubei, the Han Dynasty was going to advance into the seven provinces south of the Yangtze River in the future.

Hubei is a key location for military operations, and Hunan will definitely need to mobilize troops as well. The targets will be strategic strongholds like Guangdong, Guangxi, and Jiangxi.

These are all great places to earn merit!
"Zuo Qing."

"The minister is here."

"You shouldn't go back yet. I will send a new official to Guiyang. You can stay by my side and serve as my regular secretary!"

"Yes."

……

(End of this chapter)