There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 281 Establishing Rules
Ancient wars mostly broke out in the autumn.

Because spring plowing is needed, the army and civilians cannot be spared. Summer is too hot and winter is too cold. The logistical pressure of conscripting soldiers in summer and winter is too great. For the grassland tribes who are used to invading and fighting in winter and summer, this is a considerable pressure.

Autumn is the most suitable season, with its mild and pleasant climate, and the harvest has just been completed, making it the perfect time for farmers to gather troops and launch military campaigns.

The Sima Fa states: "The reason why the army should not be mobilized in winter and summer is to show love to the people... The feudal lords should prepare their troops in spring and train their soldiers in autumn so that they will not forget war."

Of course, the most direct and familiar one is probably Xin Qiji's "Autumn Review of Troops on the Battlefield".

Including the Qing Dynasty, in order not to interfere with local agricultural production, they all adopted the Mulan Autumn Examination, and only held military assembly and training in the Mulan Hunting Ground in the autumn.

The Huguang granary had been lost for more than two years, and the Qing Dynasty's national granary was already stretched thin, relying entirely on grain imports from Jiangnan, Guangdong and Guangxi, and overseas vassal states.

Although Heshen was greedy, he was indeed a man of good ideas.

Since we can't defeat the Han traitors in a short time, we should prioritize dealing with the White Lotus sect in Henan, restore stability in the Central Plains, and at the same time purchase large quantities of grain and rice from overseas vassal states.

Siam, Annam, and Korea were not only tributary states of the Qing Dynasty, but also major rice exporters.

Before the Qing army entered the pass, they had long been extorting grain from Korea.

It can be said that Huang Taiji was, to some extent, raised by Korea.

They are simply reviving their old Qing Dynasty traditions, and Siamese and Annam rice is nothing new.

As early as the Yongzheng period, the Qing Dynasty was already importing rice from Siam and Annam, and introduced a series of policies to encourage merchants to buy rice from these countries.

Don't be surprised, after all, it was Emperor Yongzheng. He was one of only two people in the pseudo-Qing dynasty who could be considered emperors, the other being Huang Taiji.

These two really want to be emperors of China, not chieftains of the Manchu Eight Banners!
With the support of rice from Korea, Siam, and Annam, Heshen had already begun to suppress the White Lotus Rebellion in Henan.

Liu Zhixie, who claims to be the Grand Master of the White Lotus Sect and who just formed an alliance with the Han Dynasty last year and even wants to establish a "Vacuum Homeland" with the King of Han, is now in deep trouble.

……

Jingzhou, the Prince of Han's Palace.

Nie Yu was carefully reviewing the memorials on his desk when he casually picked up a memorial from the Ministry of Works. The memorial stated: "It has been nearly a year since the Great Han Dynasty changed its era name and established a new dynasty, yet the Prince of Han is still confined to the old General's Mansion. This is neither proper nor lawful. I respectfully request that the Ministry of Revenue allocate funds and the Ministry of Works construct a temporary palace for the Prince of Han!"

After quickly reading it, Nie Yu picked up his pen and wrote in red ink without thinking: "Not allowed."

Upon seeing this memorial, Nie Yu also felt somewhat helpless; this was not the first time he had received such a memorial.

Prior to this, many Han Dynasty officials, including Yao Hongyi, the Grand Secretary and Minister of Works, had submitted memorials advising him to order the construction of a temporary palace for the King of Han to reside in.

The Han Dynasty was indeed very poor, with almost all of its finances going to the military and civil administration. But this did not allow the dignified King of Han, the sovereign and father of the Han Dynasty, to be embarrassed and confined to the old General's Mansion.

This is really unreasonable!

Nie Yu knew, of course, that most of these people were speaking out of public interest, but he also had his own considerations.

The most straightforward reason is that, setting aside the issue of the depletion of manpower, the construction of the Great Han Palace in Jingzhou would inevitably lead to a wave of negative influences within the Great Han.

As the saying goes, "What the superiors do, the subordinates will follow." If the King of Han himself takes the lead in enjoying these pleasures, then some of his officials will inevitably succumb to temptation and quickly become corrupt, even losing their ambition and thinking that it's not so bad for the Han Dynasty to remain a regional power.

Why is it that the King of Han can build a palace and enjoy himself, but his officials can't?
Moreover, from a practical point of view, the reason why Wu Sangui was ultimately trapped and died in the southwest during the Rebellion of the Three Feudatories was precisely because he lost his ambition and wanted to experience being an emperor before he died.

If even Wu Sangui thought this way, his civil and military officials who fought against the Qing Dynasty with him would naturally follow suit and become corrupt and degenerate.

The most outrageous example is the political marriage arranged by Wu Sangui for his grandson Wu Shifan. Relying on the fact that his son-in-law was the "Wu Zhou" emperor, Wu Shifan was placed under house arrest and prevented from going to Hengyang to ascend the throne. Instead, he claimed that Wu Shifan should defend Yunnan to the death and establish a separatist regime, which would be another "Yelang Kingdom".

Nie Yu was also afraid of this situation. In the early stages of conquering the world, there was no shortage of ambitious people who wanted to become founding heroes, nor was there a shortage of fools who wanted to lie down and enjoy life.

When the puppet Qing dynasty came to negotiate peace, they managed to trick a number of people into supporting the peace talks and surrendering.

Nie Yu didn't punish these people; he simply rejected all their requests and wrote them down in his notebook.

If these people behave themselves, then of course there will be no problem. The King of Han, being so dignified, still has that much magnanimity.

But what if it's embezzlement or other crimes...

Nie Yu thought for a moment, then took out the Ministry of Revenue's financial reports that he had already reviewed, and added a red annotation: "Ministry of Revenue Reform Regulations: From now on, the Ministry of Revenue's financial taxes can be divided into the inner treasury and the outer treasury. The outer treasury is for the state, and the inner treasury is for the monarch..."

The content is extensive and lengthy, and it is mostly copied from the inner and outer treasury rules of the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Nie Yu has already declared himself king, essentially turning back the clock of history, so he must clean up this mess beforehand. He can't let his descendants run rampant after his death, destroying all the achievements of his hard-won reforms.

The first step is to formally define the detailed rules for the allocation of national finances.

The Ming Dynasty serves as a good real-world example. To prevent his descendants from squandering money and depleting the nation's resources, Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang strictly separated the national treasury from the imperial treasury. The national treasury was only responsible for major national affairs, while the imperial treasury was solely for the emperor's private expenses, and the two did not interfere with each other.

For example, the weddings and funerals of Ming Dynasty emperors, although private matters of the emperor, were still national ceremonies, so the national treasury had to pay for them, while the imperial treasury did not have to contribute a single penny.

Because of this, Ming Dynasty emperors often had financial conflicts with officials outside the court.

When Emperor Wuzong of Ming got married, he ordered the Ministry of Revenue to transport a large amount of gold and silver. The Ministry of Revenue first transported 300,000 taels of silver, but Emperor Wuzong felt it was not enough. The Ministry of Revenue, the Supervising Secretary, and the Censor all stepped in to persuade Emperor Wuzong to spend less money, saying that it was unnecessary to spend so much silver on a wedding.

As a result of this dispute, the Ministry of Revenue gritted its teeth and sent another 400,000 taels of silver.

There was no way around it; Emperor Wuzong of Ming was too powerful, and the Ministry of Revenue couldn't compete with him. Moreover, the emperor's wedding was a grand national ceremony, which required the national treasury to cover the costs.

Even during the weddings of Emperor Jiajing and Emperor Wanli, the Ministry of Revenue complained of being poor, but they could not go against the emperor's wishes and had to obediently pay the money.

While state affairs such as weddings and funerals could not be refused, the Ministry of Revenue could justifiably refuse the emperor's personal hobbies, such as building palaces.

During the Wanli era, a fire broke out in the three main halls of the imperial palace. Wanli demanded that the national treasury pay for the repairs, while the Ministry of Revenue required Wanli to pay for them himself from the imperial treasury.

Unable to do anything else, Emperor Wanli had no choice but to open the Imperial Treasury himself.

Because the imperial palace was the emperor's private property, the maintenance of the palaces, the wages and rewards of the eunuchs and palace maids, and the food and expenses of the emperor's entire family were all paid for by the imperial treasury. This dual-track system operated stably for over a hundred years in the Ming Dynasty, only gradually collapsing in the mid-to-late Ming period.

The reason why Emperor Chongzhen was so poor at the end of the Ming Dynasty was that whenever the country suffered a major disaster, the Ministry of Revenue would ask Chongzhen to use money from the imperial treasury to help the national treasury with disaster relief.

Why isn't the national treasury disbursing funds?
Of course, it was because Wanli Emperor squeezed the national treasury dry, leaving it unable to pay out any money.

However, over a hundred years of stability is already quite remarkable.

Nie Yu could not possibly arrange everything for future generations. Even if he did, systems are not static, and those who implement them cannot always maintain their original intentions.

I don't care about what happens after I die; I can only say that my children and grandchildren have their own blessings to offer!
Nie Yu annotated his prepared plan and included it in the Ministry of Revenue's financial statements before placing it on the table.

Then, another book was randomly selected, which was a memorial submitted by the Jingzhou government.

Since Jingzhou Prefecture was the temporary capital of the Han Dynasty, the Prefect of Jingzhou, although still holding the official title of Prefect, was basically regarded as the "Prefectural Governor of Jingzhou" on the Han side.

The Prefectural Governor is not the same as the Prefectural Governor. Although their official titles may seem similar, their power is vastly different.

There was only one prefectural governor under the puppet Qing dynasty, namely the Shuntian Prefectural Governor of Beijing. His power was almost equivalent to that of the Censorate, the Commander of the Nine Gates, and the Governor-General of Zhili. He was also qualified to handle criminal cases from all over the country, which was equivalent to a mini-Ministry of Justice.

Moreover, although the Shuntian Prefectural Governor did not hold a high official rank and had almost no final decision-making power, he could directly enter the palace to meet the emperor.

Upon opening the memorial, one finds it is the prefect of Jingzhou reporting on the already commenced debate on classics in the official gazette.

Although the debate on classics in the official gazette was bait thrown out by Nie Yu to attract attention, it doesn't mean that Nie Yu wasn't paying attention to it.

On the contrary, it was extremely rare to see so many scholars and literati under the rule of the Han Dynasty, including some obscure local Confucian scholars, openly engaging in literary battles, and this scene was of great political propaganda significance.

The Jingzhou government has already listed and highlighted several valuable articles, which are then submitted along with the memorial to the emperor for the emperor's quick review.

After reading it a few times, Nie Yu couldn't help but laugh and said, "Sure enough, once this battle starts, right and wrong become irrelevant, and the reason for the argument also becomes irrelevant."

Zuo Guanlan, who was attending him, couldn't help but glance at it, but quickly looked away. The king didn't want him to look, so he didn't need to. He just needed to do his job as his personal secretary.

Nie Yu saw through Zuo Guanlan's thoughts. In a rather good mood, he handed over a few articles to him. Anyway, they weren't confidential documents; he could just go out and buy a copy of the official gazette to see them.

Zuo Guanlan took the articles and read them carefully before he understood what the King of Han meant.

The articles span a wide range of time and content. The earliest ones revolved around the debate on female chastity and shame, and also touched on whether foot binding should be banned.

Although the Han Dynasty was secretly promoting the abolition of foot binding for women in rural towns under the guise of debating scriptures, and even arranged for Luo Dian, a retired old academy master, to personally write articles supporting the abolition of foot binding, there were simply too many opposing scholars. Even a great Confucian scholar like Luo Dian was somewhat outnumbered.

Moreover, the issue of foot binding for women has become a secondary topic; the real focus of the debate is on the interpretation of the Three Cardinal Guides and Five Constant Virtues in the new examples of the "Admonitions for Women".

This view was even shared by some people, because the traditional Three Cardinal Guides and Five Constant Virtues were too deeply ingrained in people's minds. They believed that women should know propriety, righteousness, integrity, and shame, and should stay at home to support their husbands and raise their children, and should not show their faces in public or have casual contact with men outside the home.

But soon, a group of uninvited guests joined the battle; they were not the debaters and scholars officially assigned by the Han Dynasty.

They weren't even great Confucian scholars. These people first wrote articles supporting the Han Dynasty's abolition of foot binding, and then quickly joined the debate about whether women should follow the Three Cardinal Guides and Five Constant Virtues.

Up to this point, everything was still relatively normal. However, both sides had received off-stage assistance. But these new "debaters" knew they weren't up to par, so they decided to take a different approach and shift the topic from whether women should follow the Three Cardinal Guides and Five Constant Virtues to the essence of the Three Cardinal Guides and Five Constant Virtues.

Hey, here comes the opportunist!
Because chaos had already arrived, even though the Qing dynasty tried its best to cover it up, the people of the world were not blind.

Not only the scholars of the Han Dynasty, but all the scholars in the world were secretly reflecting on why a perfectly prosperous era would suddenly turn into a state of decline.
Historically, similar intellectual enlightenment movements occurred twice during the Ming and Qing dynasties.

The first instance was in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. As the Ming dynasty's control over the south gradually weakened, the gentry in the south rose up and began to think about why the country was declining. This led to the development of a terrifying bureaucratic capitalist monster centered on a "figurehead monarch".

The Qing dynasty was terrified after entering the pass and ruthlessly suppressed dissent through literary inquisitions.

The second one is probably now. The successive outbreaks of the White Lotus Rebellion and the Opium War severely damaged the vitality of the Qing central government, rapidly weakening its control over local areas. It gradually lost the ability to suppress the rise of the southern gentry and the resurgence of new ideas.

Among them, Wang Fuzhi (Master Chuanshan) of the Ming Dynasty was the main figure, and his ideas were inherited by Zeng Guofan, Tan Sitong, and Zhang Taiyan. Even great men praised him, saying, "In the West there is Hegel, and in the East there is Wang Chuanshan."

After carefully reading several articles, Zuo Guanlan asked, "Your Majesty, isn't this debate a bit off-topic?"

Nie Yu put down the remaining few papers in his hand and laughed, "It doesn't matter. So what if we go off-topic? Anyway, once this battle starts, our Great Han can get things done properly. Let them keep arguing!"

Nie Yu was quite satisfied with the current situation; it remained to be seen how far these guys would argue.

Although the Confucian school appears to be a single school of thought, it has been constantly embroiled in open and covert struggles since the Han Dynasty, and its internal affairs have never been peaceful.

Nie Yu's current actions are merely removing the shackles imposed on them by the pseudo-Qing dynasty, only to add fuel to the fire.

This debate over the classics, reported by the imperial court, is likely to continue for some time, while the abolition of foot binding, promoted by the Han Dynasty in towns and villages across the country, has been largely implemented.

No one stood up to oppose it because everyone was at risk of losing their lives. This King of Han was someone who would only listen to reason and not force. You could go to Jingzhou to debate the classics and advise the King of Han, but you couldn't openly obstruct the government from implementing the new laws.

Nie Yu put down the article and continued to review the memorials submitted to the emperor as usual.

After reviewing several major memorials, the remaining ones were mostly memorials from local prefects and magistrates.

The prefect of Yongzhou reported: "The Yao people in the plains have been fully assimilated, and the Yao People's Association is being steadily promoted."

Nie Yu wrote in the imperial edict: "Read. Continue your efforts."

The Prefect of Baoqing reported: "Eighty percent of the Huayao people have already moved down the mountain and settled down; the remaining twenty percent are no longer a concern."

Nie Yu wrote in vermilion ink: "Read."

……

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(End of this chapter)