There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 382 System
There's nothing surprising about female officials replacing eunuchs.

Don't assume that eunuchs are absolutely safe just because the tradition of eunuchs has a long history. The destructive power of eunuchs when they get out of control is no less than that of civil and military officials causing chaos.

Putting aside everything else, just take the eunuchs of the Tang Dynasty. They slaughtered civil officials and frequently deposed and murdered emperors as easily as eating and drinking.

After the An Lushan Rebellion, the Tang emperor entrusted power to eunuchs, believing that eunuchs were rootless people who could only rely on the emperor and would not betray him. However, he never considered that eunuchs were indeed rootless people, meaning they had no weaknesses or vulnerabilities.

No matter how powerful a civil official is, he still has a family, a wife and children. These are the vulnerabilities of normal people. Eunuchs, however, are not normal people, and naturally, they do not have the vulnerabilities that normal people have.

Not only do they have no weaknesses, but eunuchs have also become childless, making it almost impossible for them to be without desires. They are even more greedy and indulge in pleasure and corruption than normal officials.

Emperors of all dynasties favored eunuchs simply because they believed eunuchs had no offspring and thus could be trusted. They also used eunuchs to compete for power with civil officials.

To put it bluntly, if an emperor had to rely on eunuchs to compete for power with civil officials, then the emperor's authority and ability were indeed not very good. Even with the help of eunuchs, he would most likely not be able to defeat the civil officials, and might even be betrayed by the eunuchs.

Conversely, if the emperor is very powerful and can use eunuchs to suppress civil officials, then there is no need to use eunuchs. He can directly control the civil officials himself and bypass the eunuchs, who are corrupt intermediaries in the power struggle.

The eunuchs and female officials were not the main focus; the key was the allocation of power and responsibility between the inner and outer courts.

The high-ranking officials from various cabinet departments who came to the meeting, as civil officials and officials of the outer court, certainly did not like eunuchs, but the complete absence of eunuchs was something they found hard to accept.

However, the King of Han was used to making decisions arbitrarily, and once he made a decision, they could not persuade him to change it.

Having finished his business, Gu Jing had no choice but to ask, "Your Majesty, if the inner court uses female officials and abolishes eunuchs, what should be done with the female official system?"

Nie Yu said, "The duties of female officials in the inner court are similar to those of the previous eunuchs. Except that they are not allowed to interfere in the affairs of the outer court, they have all the duties they are entitled to, except that eunuchs will no longer be used. Female officials will be selected from among the palace maids, but it must be stipulated that those selected as female officials cannot enter the inner palace. In addition, apart from those selected as female officials, ordinary palace maids must leave the palace and be given a salary when they reach the age of twenty-five."

Palace maids were allowed to leave the palace at the age of 25. This was a custom that existed even in the pseudo-Qing dynasty. Emperor Kangxi stipulated that palace maids could be released at the age of 30, while Emperor Yongzheng lowered it to 25.

Moreover, not only were they released, but they were also given silver based on their years of service, which was equivalent to a pension for the palace maids who had spent their years in the palace.

As for palace maids leaving the palace, will they leak palace secrets?

If you can think of these things, the ancients certainly could too. Before palace maids were released from the palace, they would be reminded by someone not to leak any information about the palace.

Even if no one reminds you, no one would be foolish enough to reveal it, because you were once a palace maid, and even after leaving the palace, local officials will still be watching you closely.

In ancient times, with underdeveloped transportation and strict management, your family tree and place of origin were all registered. You couldn't run away from them. If you accidentally leaked even the slightest information, your entire extended family would be wiped out.

Moreover, to put it somewhat loosely, sometimes palace maids were needed to leak some palace secrets; otherwise, those idle scholars would have used their imaginations to fabricate ridiculous historical accounts.

For example, Emperor Qianlong was Han Chinese, Huang Taiji was cuckolded, and Nurhaci sold his genitals...

Nie Yu simply established a system for selecting female officials and releasing palace maids. The main point was that female officials were not allowed to enter the inner palace, and those who entered the inner palace could not serve as female officials, thus ensuring that the inner court and the inner palace could not be connected.

The remaining details regarding the women's palace and the inner court are matters for the Ministry of Rites to consider. Nie Yu only needs to provide the general framework requirements, ensuring that the inner and outer courts are clearly distinct and do not interfere with each other.

Gu Jing then asked, "Should the system of the imperial harem be reformed?"

Nie Yu shook his head: "The harem should remain as it is. Just do things the way they always have. There's no need to change the rules."

Nie Yu didn't have any intention of changing the harem system because he was a normal man. If he really set any harem rules, even he himself might not be able to abide by them.

Since that's the case, let's just leave it as is, so that future generations won't try to find loopholes. But female officials are not allowed to enter the inner palace; this must be strictly prohibited and written into ancestral rules after the emperor ascends the throne.

Because this involves the power dynamics of the inner court, the harem, and the outer court, even if future generations try every means to exploit loopholes, they cannot be allowed to have it too easy.

There have been far too many emperors in history who took palace maids and female officials as concubines. There were even emperors who took wet nurses who were twenty years older than them as imperial concubines. We must take precautions to prevent such a thing from happening.

Liu Jun suddenly said, "Your Majesty, with the establishment of the new dynasty, the Imperial Clan Court, the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, the Imperial Study, the Court of State Ceremonies, and the Court of Judicial Review should also be restored."

Of the five new departments—the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, the Imperial Study, the Court of Imperial Clan Affairs, the Court of State Ceremonies, and the Court of Judicial Review—only the Imperial Study and the Court of Imperial Clan Affairs originated from the puppet Qing dynasty; the other three were basically permanent institutions established in previous dynasties.

First, let's talk about the Court of State Ceremonies. The Court of State Ceremonies was in charge of foreign affairs and also oversaw some matters related to the imperial examinations. If it were not established, then all these responsibilities would have to be handled by the Ministry of Rites.

Not only will the Ministry of Rites become very busy and short-staffed, but its power will also expand, and it may even have a hand in the soon-to-be-opened customs.

The Dali Temple was part of the Three Judicial Offices, and previously the Ministry of Justice had concurrently held the powers and responsibilities of the Dali Temple.

Before the Han Dynasty established its imperial system, this approach wasn't a big problem. However, since the Han Dynasty was about to declare itself an empire, the Ministry of Justice and the Court of Judicial Review had to be separated.

The continued merger of the two powers would mean that the Ministry of Justice would simultaneously hold legislative, judicial, and review powers.

With the three powers merged, there was no one to check or balance them.

If the current situation is allowed to continue unchecked, the Ministry of Justice can handle cases without any scruples, because no one can review or overturn the cases it has decided. If it gets involved in partisan struggles or political battles, it will be almost invincible.

The Censorate alone could not control the powerful Ministry of Justice, so the Court of Judicial Review had to be established to form a three-way cyclical supervision system.

Triangle structures are stable; mathematics doesn't lie (doge.jpg).

The Imperial Clan Court, the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, and the Imperial Study are all related to the imperial family. The Imperial Clan Court, needless to say, was a special institution that managed the imperial family and their relatives. It originated during the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty and was continued by the Qing Dynasty.

The Court of Imperial Sacrifices and the Imperial Study should be considered as one department. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the Court of Imperial Sacrifices was first used as an educational institution for princes, then gradually developed into the core of the Eastern Palace, and later evolved into a place for the Hanlin Academy to transfer personnel.

The Imperial Study was a special institution established by the puppet Qing dynasty after it completed the transformation of the functions of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, in order to fill the gap in the education of princes by the Court of Imperial Sacrifices.

By assigning these two departments to Nie Yu, Liu Jun was essentially implying that Nie Yu should consider the education of the royal descendants after ascending the throne. The Nie family of royalty was small, consisting only of Nie Yu's lineage and a distant cousin, his uncle Nie Lin, who was serving as an official in Hunan.

His uncle truly won without lifting a finger. Apart from helping with some things in the early stages, he gradually and steadily rose through the ranks of local officials, eventually becoming a relative of the emperor.

Previously, Nie Yu was the King of Han, and he was in no hurry to bestow titles upon his ministers. At most, he granted Zhu Wu (King of Slaughter) and Zhang Zhengmo a title each, and Cai Qian the title of Marquis of Zhenhai.

The granting of titles to all three men was driven by clear political motives.

Within the Great Han Kingdom, no one has yet been granted a noble title, including Nie Yu's uncle, Nie Lin.

However, he was about to become emperor, and once he did, all the civil and military officials under his command who had made contributions would be granted titles and rewards. Even his uncle Nie Lin, who was still serving as a local official, would be given a title even without any merit.

Moreover, at the very least, the title should be hereditary. If no title is given, the people and officials will think that he is mean and ungrateful, that he is not even willing to give a title to his own family members after becoming emperor.

If this were applied to ordinary citizens and officials, wouldn't it be even more brutal?

Nie Yu pulled himself together and said, "The Imperial Clan Court can be established, but the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and the Imperial Study are unnecessary. Haven't I already established an academy system? It just so happens that the whole city is being demolished, and there should be quite a few vacant houses inside. We can select some to build the Imperial Academy."

"Imperial Academy?" Gu Jing asked, somewhat puzzled.

Nie Yu said, "Yes, the Imperial Academy will be located in the future Imperial City, and will be exclusively for the future princes and members of the imperial family to study."

(The Imperial City is not the Forbidden City, but a vast complex that includes the Forbidden City. It was also the location of the Manchu City in Nanjing. The six ministries and the five military governorates, which constituted the highest organs of state power, worked in the Imperial City, while the cabinet worked in the Forbidden City. The two did not interfere with each other.)
Liu Jun asked, "Princes and members of the imperial clan... do they include the Crown Prince?"

Nie Yu nodded: "Since it is the Imperial Academy, the Crown Prince should naturally treat everyone equally. The first batch of students can be selected and assessed to include some clever and bright students of the same age who will study with the Crown Prince and other princes."

Gu Jing understood: "The Crown Prince's study companion!"

Nie Yu added, "These princes' companions should only be freely selected and assessed by my generation. In the future, powerful and wealthy people will try every means to seize their places. Therefore, I must add two more rules: the Imperial Academy will only allow 50 students to enter each year, and there will be a major exam once a year. Those who are ranked at the bottom will have to repeat a year. If they cannot advance after repeating a year, they will be forced to drop out and be replaced by new students."

The new rules that Nie Yu added to the Imperial Academy were essentially a bottom-ranking elimination system.

Since he couldn't prevent the powerful and wealthy from taking advantage of loopholes in later generations, he decided to make sure all the sons of the powerful and wealthy were implicated.

If you want to be the prince's study companion, how can you do it without mastering your skills?
As long as these sons of powerful nobles can be involved, even if the princes are dull-witted, they can still learn about the basic situation of the country through them.

It's impossible for someone to graduate from university after several years of study and still be completely clueless and know nothing.

Gu Jing nodded in agreement: "If this system is implemented, then even if the imperial academies are full of children of nobles, they will still have to study hard to avoid being eliminated. In addition, ten people will be eliminated every year, so the remaining forty people will have to work even harder. After nine years of continuous elimination, the princes will definitely be surrounded by pillars of the nation."

It can only be a gathering of pillars of society. Loyalty and goodness are things that cannot be taught in academia, nor can they be discerned from people. In the future, children and grandchildren will have their own blessings.

If one can distinguish between them, then he is a wise and virtuous ruler; if one cannot, then he is a foolish and treacherous ruler.

Lu Zhihong then asked, "How are the entrance examinations arranged for the Imperial Academy? Are graduates of the academy assigned to government positions, like those from other local academies?"

Nie Yu thought for a moment and said, "The examination standards of the Imperial Academy are the same as those of the Imperial Examination. Graduates cannot directly become officials, but they can enter local government as clerks. If they want to become officials, they can participate in the Imperial Examination, automatically skipping the provincial examination and directly participating in the metropolitan examination. However, officials who pass the metropolitan examination are treated the same as those who passed the imperial examination in the same year, and they are not given any preferential treatment."

The entrance examination was on par with the imperial examination, and its rigor far surpassed that of local schools. Crucially, graduates could not directly enter the officialdom like those from local schools.

However, it must be said that this approach does indeed attract truly valuable talent.

Throughout history, the imperial examinations have always been of paramount importance, making it extremely difficult for problems to arise. When problems do occur, they are always major issues, inevitably indicating widespread corruption within the bureaucratic system.

Therefore, barring any unforeseen circumstances, the entrance examinations for the Imperial Academy will remain stable for at least a hundred or two hundred years. Whether someone will try to exploit loopholes later on is not something Nie Yu should worry about.

Anyway, he was already dead by then, so there was nothing I could do about it.

Graduating from the Imperial Academy allowed one to skip the provincial examination, which could be considered a form of preferential treatment.

Skipping the provincial examination is equivalent to graduating from the Imperial Academy and automatically obtaining the title of Juren.

Although it may not be of much use, the graduates from this system are bound to be top students, given the intense competition of the imperial examination system and the elimination of the bottom performers.

If you go to participate in the imperial examinations, you're almost guaranteed to succeed, if not nine out of ten.

Moreover, the imperial examinations were difficult and had long intervals between exams, so the official ranks and positions obtained through the examinations were already higher than those obtained through academies.

This is the price to pay for the parallel system of academies and imperial examinations. It is easier to become an official after graduating from academies, but the starting point must be low, otherwise it would be unfair.

After graduating from the Imperial Academy, one can then take the imperial examination to become an official. Nie Yu said that everyone should be treated equally, but as long as one passes the exam, there will definitely be special treatment.

These were all the princes' study companions. As long as their political performance wasn't too bad, they could be given a promotion based on merit if they performed reasonably well in the Ministry of Personnel's selection and evaluation process.

Of course, it's also unlikely that they'll perform very poorly. Under the bottom-ranking elimination system, there will be no mediocre talents, only bad talents.

The ministers understood that this Imperial Academy would not only become the premier academy under the new system, but would also serve as a place for future emperors of the new dynasty to cultivate and select trusted ministers.

Gu Jing then said, "Please, Your Majesty, name the Imperial Academy."

Nie Yu smiled and said, "Let's call it the Chinese Academy!"

……

(End of this chapter)