There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 381 National Title and Era Name
"The name of the country is Han Dynasty."

Nie Yu looked at the memorial submitted by the cabinet proposing the name of the country, but he wasn't too surprised.

The decision of the nation's name is a major matter that cannot be decided by a few people in a simple small meeting; it's not like the days when we were kings.

Ascending to the throne and becoming emperor requires utmost caution. Even for those self-made emperors in history, the origins of their dynasty names can generally be traced back to specific sources.

Nie Yu and the cabinet only discussed and decided on a few alternative names for the country, and then distributed these alternative names to the officials, allowing them to cast their own secret ballots.

The memorial in Nie Yu's hand also detailed the number of votes for each country's name: "Han Dynasty 27 votes, Chu Dynasty 25 votes, Ming Dynasty 17 votes, Zhou Dynasty 10 votes, Dahe Dynasty..."

Judging solely by the number of votes, the two national titles, Great Han and Great Chu, were the most popular, with Great Chu even trailing Great Han by only two votes.

This is to be expected. The Han Dynasty originated from the Huguang region, and many of its high-ranking officials came from Huguang. Therefore, they had a strong sense of belonging to both the name of their hometown, the Great Chu, and the name of the Great Han, which had been firmly established over five years.

Even so, the Ming Dynasty still managed to get 17 votes, which shows that its political influence during the Qing Dynasty was indeed not to be underestimated.

No wonder that even though Zhu San Taizi was over seventy years old, he could still terrify Kang Mazi to the point of death. Even after Kang Mazi finally managed to kill him, new Zhu San Taizi kept "resurrecting" afterward.

Nie Yu looked back specifically and saw neither the "Da Qian" national title proposed by Deng Xianhe, nor the "Chinese Empire" that he had specifically requested to try.

As expected, the officials selectively ignored these two names of the country. They had no choice but to ignore them, as these two names were simply more absurd than the other to the officials of the Han Dynasty.

The country's name is "Da Qian". The character "Qian" means heaven and earth. Is it reasonable to take heaven and earth as the country's name?
The Chinese Empire—not to mention the officials, even the cabinet thought it was outrageous. How could Your Majesty have come up with such a name for the country?
The word "中华" originally meant "China," and its conception dates back to very early times, as early as the Han Dynasty.

During the Song Dynasty, the country was surrounded by powerful enemies, and the military and ethnic pressures were immense. A scholar named Shi Jie wrote a treatise on China, which clearly proposed the concept that China is the Chinese nation or the Huaxia people.

To put it simply, China is China. You Khitan and Tangut barbarians shouldn't think that just because you've occupied a few pieces of Chinese territory, you can call yourselves Chinese.

Nie Yu's decision to use the Chinese Empire as the name of his country is essentially like a merchant making a cotton-padded coat and then naming it "Cotton" when he sells it.

After reading the vote count for the new name of the country in the memorial, Nie Yu felt a rare sense of relief. After all the twists and turns, the Great Han Dynasty had come full circle back to the Great Han Dynasty. This banner, which was originally set to oppose the Qing Dynasty, had become the official name of the Great Han Dynasty.

To be honest, when Nie Yu decided to hold a secret ballot to select the name of the country, he was really afraid that the officials would choose the Ming Dynasty, the Hegemony, or even the Qian Dynasty, which made him uneasy.

The Ming Dynasty has been extinct for over a hundred years, and it was indeed time for it to fall. The only bad thing is that the puppet Qing Dynasty benefited from it. It's better not to have a posthumous corpse, as that would only ruin the Ming Dynasty's last shred of dignity.

In comparison, the Han Dynasty was different. Although the Han Dynasty was also very early, dating back more than two thousand years, it was not simply a name for a country, much like the Roman Empire.

The name "Great Han" has evolved from the original name of the Han Dynasty over more than two thousand years into a synonym for the Han people. The name "Great Han" does not necessarily mean the restoration of the Han Dynasty, but it can also mean the restoration of the Han Dynasty's rule.

After all, Nie Yu was not surnamed Liu, but he was a Han Chinese, and most of the people under his rule were Han Chinese, so it was justified for him to establish the Han Dynasty.

Gu Jing, the Minister of Rites who came to report, asked at the opportune moment, "Your Majesty, the name of the new dynasty has been decided, but what about the reign title?"

With a national title, there must also be an era name.

The auspicious day of His Majesty's ascension to the throne is approaching, so let's set it together with the name of the country, and the Ministry of Rites can make preparations in advance.

"Does the Ministry of Rites have any proposed reign titles?" Nie Yu asked.

Gu Jing said, “How about Xianfeng? Xian means all, and the reign title implies all the people of the world. Feng means abundance and prosperity. Together, it means the people are happy and the harvest is plentiful.”

"Cough cough!"

Upon hearing this, Nie Yu coughed violently a few times.

Why do his ministers all like to use reign titles that are so easy for him to misunderstand?
No, Emperor Xianfeng is not yet in power. Even his grandfather, Emperor Jiaqing, had only recently come to power, so there seems to be no problem with that.

The reign title of Emperor Xianfeng was given by Han Chinese officials and scholars in history, not by Emperor Xianfeng himself. Moreover, the meaning was indeed to fit the war period of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, when the country was in turmoil and he wanted the national treasury to be full and the people to have a good harvest.

The reign titles all had auspicious meanings, but Nie Yu just couldn't quite hold back.

Nie Yu waved his hand: "Xianfeng is not quite right. Are there any others?"

Gu Jing wasn't the only one who came; other high-ranking officials from various ministries also accompanied him. Zhao Bingkuan, the Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, said, "Your Majesty, since Xianfeng was not good, what about Yongtai? Tai means peace and tranquility, and Yong means longevity. Together, it means peace under heaven." Lu Zhihong, the Minister of Personnel, also said, "Let's call it Xingwu! Our dynasty was founded on the principle of valuing martial prowess. Xingwu destroys the Qing, which is in line with our great Han's mission to expel the barbarians."

Minister of War Wang Ruoyu said, "How about calling him Xuantong? It proclaims the legitimacy of our great Han dynasty. The pseudo-Qing dynasty is nothing but a mere barbarian dynasty. How dare they presume to claim legitimacy?"

"How about the Shenwu era name?"

“Shenwu is not suitable. The reign title Shenwu is not appropriate. No dynasty that was called Shenwu lasted long. The word Shenwu is too heavy and should not be used as a reign title.”

"..."

The ministers and cabinet officials of the Han Dynasty began to debate fiercely over the issue of an era name, each with their own arguments. Even Gu Jing temporarily changed the era name.

Seeing these guys arguing fiercely over the reign title, and even coming up with bizarre "reign titles" that made Nie Yu lose his temper several times, he simply declared unilaterally: "Alright, stop arguing. I've already decided on the reign title for this new dynasty. We will continue to use the previous Xinghua reign title. There's no need to change it again. Frequent changes to the reign title are not good for the people. Moreover, now that the Han dynasty and China have fully recovered, the Xinghua reign title is in line with the intention of expelling the Qing invaders and reviving China. Or do you gentlemen have a better idea?"

With that said, the ministers had no objections left, and what the king said was indeed reasonable; frequent changes in reign titles and national names were not a good thing for the people.

This is also the main reason why the reign titles have remained basically unchanged since the Ming Dynasty. Otherwise, if the reign title were changed every year or two, would the people still be able to farm?
In ancient times, reign titles were linked to the calendar, which determined the farming seasons for the people.

That's why in TV dramas, Zhu Yuanzhang's founding of the Ming Dynasty was achieved by winning over the hearts of countless Han Chinese people in the north with just one book, the "Datong Calendar".

Because the new calendar means that people can now farm normally and no longer have to rely solely on the weather like in the chaotic past.

(After careful consideration, I realized that no matter what I decide, there will always be someone who is dissatisfied, so I'll just be straightforward and not change it.)
……

With the national title and era name decided, the Ministry of Rites could then return to handle other matters.

As the day of the enthronement ceremony drew near, the Ministry of Rites had to write the relevant sacrificial texts and prayers, and even the dragon robe and crown had to be made in advance.

The latter is already on the agenda and will be completed soon, so it certainly won't delay the King of Han's enthronement ceremony.

There is one downside: the issue of the imperial palace has not been resolved. To this day, the Prince of Han is still living in the Liangjiang Governor-General's Mansion (the Prince of Han's Mansion) of the puppet Qing dynasty. If nothing unexpected happens after he ascends the throne, it will become a temporary palace.

"Your Majesty, is it really necessary to expedite the construction of the palace?" Yao Hongyi asked again.

Lin Wenchang, who was in charge of the Ministry of Revenue, then said, "Your Majesty, if the palace is to be rebuilt, the Ministry of Revenue can allocate some funds and grain."

Although the Ministry of Revenue was always strapped for cash, repairing the imperial palace was a matter of national importance, and even with tight budgets, they had to squeeze out some money.

Nie Yu shook his head: "No need. It's not like I can't stay here. There's no rush to repair the palace. Let's tidy it up first, and rebuild it slowly when the national treasury is full. I'm in my prime now, so I can afford to wait."

Upon hearing this, Yao Hongyi couldn't help but sigh helplessly.

Their King of Han was probably the most impoverished founding emperor in history, as he didn't even have a proper palace after ascending the throne.

You should know that even those peasant rebels and pseudo-emperors throughout history would build themselves a palace when they were enjoying their time as emperors.

Including Wu Sangui, who lived relatively close by, this old traitor declared himself emperor before his death and even built a palace for himself in Hengzhou.

When the Han Dynasty captured Hengzhou Prefecture, they visited the ruins of the Hengzhou Imperial Palace and could see that even if the palace was not large, it was extremely luxurious.

Liu Jun suddenly asked, "Your Majesty, have you not yet given instructions regarding matters within the inner court?"

Although Nie Yu had long since declared himself king and now controlled half of the southeast, only lacking Fujian province, his Han King's Mansion had never used eunuchs, whether in Yuezhou, Jingzhou, or Nanjing.

It should be said that there hadn't been any eunuchs under the rule of the Han Dynasty for several years. Those who were responsible for castrating eunuchs in the common people either lost their jobs and changed careers, or they went to castrate animals.

It's normal. If ordinary people can eat their fill, who the hell would want to die childless and become a eunuch in the palace?

Nie Yu understood what Liu Jun was asking for instructions, and immediately stated clearly: "After I ascend the throne, the new dynasty will no longer employ eunuchs. Eunuchs are detrimental to the people's livelihood and daily life, and they also violate human ethics and nature. The inner court can be retained, but it will be changed to a system of female officials, and the inner court will not interfere in the affairs of the court in the future. This can be established as an ancestral rule."

(End of this chapter)