There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 393 Overcorrection
Hangzhou, Qiantang County.

The area outside the county government office has been quite lively these past two days.

Those "lackeys" who gathered to petition, in order to show the Han government their determination to be slaves, simply called on their friends and knelt down on the street outside the county government office and refused to move.

At first, the magistrate of Qiantang County tried to dissuade them, saying that if they were going to petition, they should petition, but the new dynasty did not have the custom of kneeling in front of the county government. What was the point of such a group of people kneeling in front of the county government?

Unfortunately, despite several attempts to persuade them, they were completely unmoved. These "lackeys" felt that kneeling was the proper thing to do, and that as lackeys, they should kneel before officials.

Even if this is an official of the Han Dynasty, not a master of the Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty.

However, it wasn't entirely without benefit that such a large group of "lackeys" knelt at the entrance of the county government. Many vendors sensed a business opportunity and took the chance to come over and sell food.

Since the area in front of the county government office is official property and setting up stalls is not allowed, we set up our stalls further away.

If any "servant" wants to eat, they can call out to them, and the food will be delivered to them once it's prepared, but they'll have to pay an extra delivery fee.

Food delivery has been around for a long time; the painting "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" even depicts details of ancient food delivery.

Some of these petitioning "lackeys" knelt for a day, and some for two days. In any case, they were all dizzy and hungry from kneeling.

Upon seeing a food vendor, no matter how much money it cost, they would immediately order food to be delivered. At the same time, while eating, they would quickly adjust their kneeling posture to stretch their muscles and bones that were about to fall apart.

The surrounding area was filled with government officials, who were patrolling with grim faces.

Many of them should have been on leave these past two days, but because the yamen was short-staffed and there were too many "lackeys" kneeling and pleading, they were all forced to come back to guard the yamen's gate, so they were naturally not in a good mood.

Suddenly, a patrolling constable's eyes lit up. Pointing to the ground, he said, "The magistrate has been lenient, allowing you to eat in front of the yamen, but that doesn't mean you're allowed to spill soup everywhere and soil the yamen's cleanliness and appearance. Whoever did this will be fined thirty coins according to the law!"

The "servant" who was being reprimanded was furious to hear that he was being fined for simply spilling some soup. However, seeing the constable glaring at him, he ultimately didn't dare to get angry and obediently took out forty-five Qianlong Tongbao copper coins from his sleeve.

This isn't just local officials arbitrarily imposing fines. Throughout history, cities have always been very hygienic, and those who litter and pollute the city are generally punished with beatings and fines.

Take the Ming and Qing dynasties as an example. In the Ming dynasty, littering and damaging urban sanitation were punished with a fine of three taels of silver or a beating of forty fen. The Qing dynasty did not change this and followed the laws and regulations of the Ming dynasty.

Therefore, the Han dynasty only fined him thirty coins, without punishing him with a cane or arresting him, which was already very lenient.

Thirty coins is enough to make an average person feel the pinch, but it won't actually harm the people; it will teach them a lesson.

Under the rule of the Xin Dynasty of the Great Han Dynasty, the official copper coin was the Xinghua Tongbao copper coin. After five years of development, it had basically completed the recycling and exchange of coins in provinces such as Huguang and Jiangxi.

Since Zhejiang was newly occupied this year, most of the copper coins used are still Qianlong Tongbao. Qianlong Tongbao has too low copper content and too many impurities, so its exchange value with Xinghua Tongbao is very low.

On average, it takes three Qianlong Tongbao coins to exchange for two Xinghua Tongbao coins.

Even this was a favor granted by the new Han Dynasty. Although the new dynasty had already legislated to prohibit all copper coins from the previous dynasty, including those of the pseudo-Qing, it allowed the newly occupied provinces to continue using the old Tongbao steel coins this year. Government-run money shops could also exchange old coins for new ones, with the exchange rate calculated based on the steel's purity.

This will certainly reduce the wealth of poor farmers, but it is a necessary price to pay. The new dynasty cannot allow the use of old and inferior currency indefinitely.

Next year, the old currency will be completely banned in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces. However, government-run money shops will still allow the exchange of old currency for new currency. Furthermore, within three years, Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions will be allowed to pay taxes in grain instead of cash to prevent farmers from causing trouble due to their savings shrinking and being unable to pay taxes.

Returning to the "lackeys" at the yamen gate, they have been kneeling for two days. From initially acting impulsively and gathering to petition, they are now filled with fear and have no way to back down.

Many "lackeys" have already backed down, thinking it would be better to stay at home and be obedient subjects of the new dynasty, farming the land, and not to bother coming to join this frenzy.

Some of their "lackeys" wanted to sneak away, but the government's attitude was: you've all come here, you've even done things like signing petitions and kneeling before the government, and now you want to run away at the last minute? It's not that easy.
The county government directly assigned its yamen runners, who worked in two shifts carrying lanterns, to arrest anyone who dared to run away, with the charges already prepared: deliberately causing trouble and disrupting the government.

After a few rounds, more than a dozen people were arrested, and finally no one escaped.

But the remaining ones are even more afraid. Now they are all just gritting their teeth and persevering, hoping that the new emperor will not take them seriously. At worst, they can be fined, which they can accept.

Just as I was thinking this, there was a sudden "creak".

The county government gates opened.

Magistrate Liu of Qiantang County walked out with two groups of yamen runners, his deep gaze sweeping over the kneeling "lackeys" below. He then took out a document and read aloud: "His Majesty's decree!"

The "lackeys" below were all shocked, wondering what was going on. They had only been petitioning and kneeling for two days, and now the imperial edict had been issued so quickly?
The imperial edict has been issued. No matter what, just accept it obediently!
"This humble subject receives the imperial decree!"

At this point, these "lackeys" no longer dared to call themselves lackeys, but instead called themselves "commoners."

"A scoundrel is indeed a scoundrel!" Magistrate Liu saw through it all and continued reading with a cold laugh: "By the grace of His Majesty, by the mandate of Heaven, the Emperor decrees: I have heard that recently some slaves in Hangzhou have petitioned to have their household registrations reinstated and their status as bondservants restored... Therefore, I hereby grant that all slaves and bondservants of Hangzhou may re-register in their household registrations, cancel their Han Chinese household registrations, and change their registrations to bondservant status... All bondservants shall not enjoy the tax reduction benefits of the new policies for Han Chinese, and the land they cultivate shall be subject to an additional 20% tax... Bondservants must perform unpaid government labor services, and shall not be allowed to take the imperial examinations, become officials, or serve as clerks... Bondservants are forbidden from wearing Han clothing and are forbidden from leaving their registered residence in the provincial capital... This is the imperial decree!"

Despite being called an imperial edict, it was written entirely in plain, easy-to-understand language. To ensure that all these "lackeys" could hear it clearly, Magistrate Liu had the clerks in the yamen read it aloud repeatedly after he finished reading it. He also posted the contents as an imperial edict notice.

Now, whether they were kneeling to listen, sitting to listen, or sneaking over to watch, the "lackeys" were all dumbfounded.

The new emperor in Nanjing did agree to their petition and allowed them to return to their original status as bondservants, but at the same time, he imposed a great deal of policy restrictions on bondservants, which could even be described as discrimination.

Yes, it's discrimination, the kind that's not even an act.

Once you become a bondservant, you can't get tax reductions, you can't wear Hanfu (traditional Han clothing), you can't leave the province, you have to pay extra taxes when you pay taxes, and you can't take the imperial examinations to become an official. You can't even be a lowly servant.

This whole set of policy measures is practically telling them outright that His Majesty the Emperor discriminates against you bondservants.

The imperial edict explicitly referred to them as "Hangzhou slaves." What does "slave" mean?

The Han Dynasty did not have a slave system, so the term "slave" did not refer to their social status, but rather to the emperor's discrimination and mockery of them.

Upon hearing the contents of the imperial edict, everyone's faces turned extremely ugly. They did indeed want to return to being bondservants, but they wanted to be bondservants of superiors, not to be subjected to the blatant discrimination and oppression of the new dynasty.

If you become a slave and your treatment is worse than that of an ordinary commoner, then what's the point of being a slave? They're not really that despicable!
These kneeling "lackeys"... no, they should be called bondservants now. They hurriedly shouted and cried, begging the court to rescind its order, to stop petitioning, and even offered to pay the fine for disturbing the government office and to accept the government's punishment of imprisonment.

Unfortunately, it was no use!

It's too late to regret it when you're about to get into trouble!

The emperor's words are law; once an edict has been issued, there is no reason for it to be taken back lightly.

Magistrate Liu seemed to have anticipated this outcome, and immediately waved his hand: "Arrest people... no, arrest the bondservant, arrest the servant!"

At his command, the three shifts of constables who had come out with Magistrate Liu immediately rushed forward to arrest the man.

The vendors who were still hawking their wares nearby, seeing that things were not going well, packed up their loads and left.

Although the government wouldn't make things difficult for them if they didn't leave, if they stayed, they might inevitably be harassed and their stalls destroyed by desperate bondservant servants.

The vendors ran incredibly fast, but the servants weren't nearly as quick. They had all been kneeling for two days, and their legs were already numb. Just being able to stand up without falling was a testament to their impressive physical abilities, let alone their ability to escape.

Three shifts of yamen runners were dispatched, and in less than half an hour, they had arrested all the more than one hundred bondservants who were petitioning at the yamen gate.

Arresting these slaves is not enough. The emperor's decree is to establish a bondservant clan. How can we do this without enough bondservants?

The Hangzhou government directly mobilized local Han soldiers to begin arresting people from house to house, following the household registration records.

Regardless of whether they participated in the petition, anyone whose previous status was that of a bondservant, or even just a Manchu bannerman, was forcibly changed to a bondservant.

For a time, cries of agony could be heard throughout Hangzhou. Countless servants who had been forced to change their household registrations by soldiers cried out that they were wronged, and some even cursed their fellow servants who went to the government office to plead for justice.

Although it was the emperor's decree to forcibly change their household registration and make them return to being bondservants, no matter how wronged they felt, no one dared to openly insult the emperor.

There's no other way; sometimes you have to go to extremes to correct a wrong!

Nie Yu knew that his actions would inevitably implicate some innocent people, but in order to completely eradicate the servile mentality left to the Han people by the pseudo-Qing dynasty, he had no choice but to sacrifice them.

It wasn't just the lackeys in Hangzhou, but also the lackeys in Nanjing and Guangzhou. Wherever there were lackeys, they all had to do it this way.

Even Jingzhou Prefecture, which had been completely transformed five years ago, was exposed by the new laws and policies, and all of them had to be converted back to bondservants.

The new Han Dynasty had just been established when the emperor initiated this major case, and what's more, not a single civil or military official objected.

The officials' thinking was simple: "We've worked so hard, risking our lives to rebel, so that you can stand up and be treated like human beings again."

You all want to continue being slaves? Then you'll all be slaves for generations to come, serving as bondservants!

The new Han dynasty has abolished the slave system, but these bondservants will be the last group of slaves after the abolition of slavery in the new dynasty.

(End of this chapter)