There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 359 Forbidden Sugar (?)

Along the Yangtze River, the Han army camp.

Nie Yu paid no attention to the collusion between insiders in Nanjing. At this moment, he was looking at the battle reports and documents from Zhejiang and Anhui provinces.

Currently, the strategic plan of the Han Dynasty towards Jiangnan has been largely completed.

Huainan was almost completely defenseless. Wherever Bai Nan's army went, they were either accepting surrenders or on their way to accept surrenders.

The most troublesome place is Fengyang Prefecture, the last prefecture on the south bank of the Huai River. It is right next to the Huai River. If it is captured, the Han Dynasty will be able to completely control the entire Huai River basin within Anhui Province.

Li Yaodong, the prefect of Fengyang, was a tough guy. He was fearless in the face of the Han army's attack and even dared to recruit soldiers to defend the city.

This man was different from other officials of the puppet Qing dynasty; his reputation as a local official was excellent. Not only among the gentry and landlords, but also among ordinary people, everyone felt that this prefect was a rare and upright official.

During his tenure, he provided relief to tens of thousands of flood victims, repaired the river embankments in Fengyang Prefecture, and cracked down on smuggled salt transport by the canal gangs.

Bai Nan had no time to linger in Fengyang Prefecture, so he simply left a detachment there to confront them, while the rest of his troops marched east to Jiangsu to join forces with the Prince of Han's eastern army.

In comparison, the military advance in Zhejiang was much smoother.

Not only did they wipe out most of the Qing army in Zhejiang, but they also killed the Qing Zhejiang governor in battle and captured the Qing Zhejiang governor, Zhejiang provincial treasurer, Zhejiang provincial judge, and Zhejiang education commissioner alive. No official at any level, including the three provincial treasurers, could escape.

The fact that the Hangzhou general died suddenly on the battlefield can only be considered a relief for him; he didn't have to be beheaded in public, but it was close enough.

Just as Wu Jun led his army north to Huzhou, this guy's head had already been cut off from his corpse and hung on the Hangzhou city wall along with two thousand other Manchu heads.

It is expected that the remains will be left hanging for about another week before they are collected and burned or buried.

Of course, Nie Yu didn't care about the heads of these Eight Banners soldiers; the order to cut off their heads and hang them on the city wall was something he had already given before the expedition.

What Nie Yu was truly concerned about was the Zhejiang battlefield and some of the implicit issues described in the battle reports.

The two thousand Eight Banners soldiers in Hangzhou were all smoking tobacco.

The puppet Qing governor of Zhejiang, along with all the generals and even the lowest-ranking officers, were all corrupted by the vice of **.

The officialdom in Zhejiang is rotten!
It wasn't just the Zhejiang officialdom; according to the final interrogation results of the Han army, the source of the tobacco smoked by so many officials of the puppet Qing dynasty all pointed to Fujian merchants and Fujian-produced tobacco.

Nie Yu's expression had turned quite grim. He had previously considered that the use of [a type of wild animal] might have become somewhat rampant in Fujian and Guangdong. Otherwise, it wouldn't have spread to his Hunan province, where local officials would treat it as a source of income and encourage people to cultivate and promote it on a large scale.

But now, this is more than just rampant; it has spawned specialized Fujian sugar vendors who are even promoting Fujian's sugar products to Zhejiang.

Although it seems that only officials in Zhejiang are currently affected, this thing is like a virus; once one person develops symptoms, the whole circle is basically infected.

Nie Yu put down the Zhejiang military report, pondered for a while, and then asked Yuan Mingyao, his attendant, "Minister Yuan, what do you think I should do if I want to completely eradicate tobacco?"

Yuan Mingyao was taking notes when he suddenly heard the Prince of Han ask a question. The question wasn't about the military aspects of the current siege of Nanjing, but rather about tobacco.

The king has already lifted the ban on tobacco and even allowed its cultivation in the mountainous areas of Hunan and Jiangxi. Why is he suddenly going to ban it again?
Yuan Mingyao was puzzled, but did not ask directly. After thinking it over repeatedly, he replied: "If Your Majesty wants to ban tobacco, you should first use strict laws and punishments. First, you should formulate tobacco laws to prohibit tobacco planting. Only then will local officials have laws and reasons to follow in order to crack down on and ban tobacco."

Nie Yu shook his head: "But I clearly remember that the laws of the pseudo-Qing and the former Ming dynasties all made provisions against gambling and brothels, prohibiting gambling and prostitution. The former Ming dynasty even publicly emphasized this many times. So why are brothels and casinos still so prevalent in the end?"

Upon hearing this, Yuan Mingyao seemed to have some guesses in his mind. It seemed that the king did not want to ban tobacco, but rather wanted to subtly inquire about something else.

After thinking carefully for a moment, Yuan Mingyao replied: "Although the former Ming and the pseudo-Qing dynasties both had laws, they were only laws. The courts of the former Ming and the pseudo-Qing dynasties only had laws to follow, but no way to enforce them."

"For example, the Censorate of my Great Han Dynasty can monitor the corruption of all officials. Because of the strict supervision of the Censorate's censors and secret agents, local officials can abide by the law and dare not embezzle or bend the law. Only then can the laws and regulations in my Great Han Code concerning the punishment of corruption be truly effective."

Nie Yu nodded slightly: "Does Yuan Qing mean that our Great Han also needs to establish a supporting tobacco regulatory department in order to regulate and control tobacco, so that the law is not enacted but becomes a mere decoration because no one enforces it?"

“Exactly.” Yuan Mingyao cupped his hands in greeting.

Nie Yu waved his hand, and Yuan Mingyao immediately retreated to continue his note-taking work.

This is pretty much all he has to do for the next month or two. Once this battle is over and his term in the central government is up, he can be transferred to a local area as a county magistrate.

Moreover, he will be appointed to an official position in one of the three newly established counties this year: Hefeng, Longhui (Baoqing), and Fenghuang (Xiangxi).

As the top scholar in the special imperial examination, Yuan Mingyao decisively chose Fenghuang County. He had heard that it used to be part of western Hunan, a place known for its poverty, harshness, and difficulty in governance.

The runner-up, Wei Fubang, chose Longhui County. He was originally from Shaoyang, Baoqing, and the location of the selection was only a few dozen miles away from Longhui County.

Longhui County is inhabited by the Hua Yao people, who are extremely xenophobic and closed off, much like the Yao people of Guangdong.

The Han dynasty had to beat them first and then strike them down. They beat the Yao king of Hua Yao to death and then beat several waves of resistance before finally managing to subdue the Hua Yao people and get them to listen to them a little and stop rebelling.

Wei Fubang took a considerable risk when he became the magistrate of Longhui County.

The Hua Yao are fierce, and they might suddenly fall out over something trivial at any time.

Deng Xianhe, the third-ranked scholar, went to Hefeng County.

Compared to the other three places, this place is actually the safest, because the Tu Miao people of Hefeng County have formed a de facto political alliance with the Han people, and no matter what the Tu Miao people of Hefeng do, they will not think of rebelling.

Deng Xianhe also wanted to make a name for himself and achieve political success in the most dangerous places, but since he was the third-ranked scholar, he didn't have the right to choose first!

He ranked among the top three in the imperial examination, observed government affairs in the cabinet for a year, and was then assigned to a county magistrate position as his first post.

The official position may seem small, and it is indeed not high, even compared to previous dynasties, it is rather stingy, but the real power of the county magistrate in the Han Dynasty is quite great!

Moreover, these three counties were newly established. Although they were poor, as long as they could achieve some political success, or even just be mediocre and passable, they could be promoted very quickly.

This is the first imperial examination of the Han Dynasty, and the top three in the first special imperial examination, so they definitely need to set an example.

The premise is that they do not engage in corruption or bribery, and do not arbitrarily take sides or participate in factional struggles.

……

After Nie Yu asked Yuan Mingyao and got the answer he wanted, he immediately began to write a draft for the establishment of the new department.

The new department doesn't have a name yet, but Nie Yu has already figured out its main functions. It highly overlaps with the **departments of later generations, but there are also subtle differences.

It's no wonder Nie Yu was too hasty. The problem of ** in Fujian and Guangdong has become quite serious. They even treat ** as a common crop and think that ** is more profitable than common crops.

Fujian, Guangdong, as well as Yunnan, which is currently under the control of the puppet Qing dynasty, and western Guizhou are all on the verge of being overrun by this thing.

You old dog, Emperor Qianlong, you truly deserve to die!
If Emperor Qianlong had not deliberately ignored or even condoned the rampant spread of terrorism along the coast during his sixty-year reign, the spread of terrorism in China would not have reached the point of needing to wage a war of terrorism in just a few decades.

This is not an exaggeration; we have evidence. The Siku Quanshu, compiled by Emperor Qianlong, includes records by Zhao Xuemin, a medical scientist from Zhejiang, clearly demonstrating the widespread dissemination of ** in Fujian and Guangdong during the Qianlong era.

Furthermore, during the Qianlong era, British imports of drugs skyrocketed year after year. Records can be deceiving, and data can be deceiving, but the rampant drug trade throughout the country in the short forty years following the "Qianlong Prosperity" cannot be faked.

During the mid-Jiaqing period, an imperial edict was even issued to strictly prohibit it, not only for officials, gentry, and common people, but also specifically emphasizing that eunuchs were not allowed to smoke.

Eunuchs in the Qing Dynasty were not allowed to leave the capital...

Think about it carefully!

Nie Yu was busy trying to find solutions to the problems in Fujian, Zhejiang, and Guangdong, as well as the unresolved issues in Yunnan and Guizhou.

News of the Han army's siege of Nanjing finally reached Huai'an and Xuzhou.

Huai'an Prefecture was the residence of Tie Bao, the Grand Canal Transport Commissioner.

Xuzhou Prefecture was the residence of Kang Jitian, the Governor-General of the Jiangnan Waterways.

Although one governor was in charge of the Grand Canal and the other was in charge of the waterways in Jiangnan, their goals were the same: to ensure the Grand Canal's operation and prevent it from drying up.

Unfortunately, both men were overly cautious during their tenure and dared not take any risks. When General Fu Chang of Jiangning asked them for help, they refused to send troops, citing the need to protect the canal transport.

Well, that's it. They were unwilling to send troops before, but now something has finally happened in Jiangning Prefecture.

(End of this chapter)