There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 415 The True Rhyme of Xinghua (Part 1)
The British mission ultimately agreed to the Han Dynasty's demands. They had no choice but to agree, as they were an East India Company mission and had not even received the governor's support.

However, the East India Company delegation still engaged in some bargaining, arguing that 1000 Marvar horses a year was too many, especially since they were a breed that could not be castrated.

It should be noted that although this warhorse originated in India, its endurance, stamina, speed, and adaptability are all superior to any existing warhorse.

Marvars were even more popular in Europe than Nie Yu had imagined, to the point that they were almost driven to extinction by the British before modern times.

If tanks hadn't appeared so quickly and gradually replaced cavalry, the Marvarma would have been gone long ago.

After several rounds of negotiations between the Chinese and British sides, the British East India Company agreed to transport 650 warhorses annually, with 800 warhorses to be delivered this year, and a discount would be offered.

Furthermore, the Great Han will issue a clear prohibition on all overseas merchant ships from the future, forbidding customs from sending any ships carrying **.

**Trade in China will now include prohibited goods. Those caught this year will not be punished for ignorance; they will only be fined and have their goods confiscated.

Anyone who commits the same offense again next year, whether a foreign or Chinese merchant, will be sentenced to death.

After their attempts to protest failed, the British mission also chose to give in.

The East India Company's trade list wasn't initially about trading goods; it was purely a response to the Qing Dynasty's policy of isolationism and restrictions on foreign trade. The British, in order to minimize their trade deficit,...

At the same time, to prevent a recurrence of the "Boston Tea Crisis," they launched a large-scale trade in tea.

This stuff is indeed incredibly profitable with no investment. Selling a box costs at most a few taels of silver, but can bring in hundreds of taels of silver in revenue.

However, the Han Dynasty now forbids British merchants from doing such things. Circumstances dictate that the East India Company has no choice but to submit. It's better than the previous policy of isolationism. If free trade is possible, there's no need to sell drugs.

As for launching a war to force open the gates of the Han Dynasty?

Don't be ridiculous. The Governor-General of India might go crazy, but the East India Company merchants wouldn't do such a losing business.

Knowing full well that they might not be able to win, they still launched a war. The key point is that once a war breaks out, it's always the company that loses money.

As the East India Company expanded its colonies in India, it fought wars everywhere, resulting in financial deficits for the company.

Although the royal family helped cover the debts, they demanded the company's power and control over the colonies. In other words, the company gained nothing and only lost money in the colonies, while the royal family became extremely wealthy.

The British mission had essentially achieved its objectives and was preparing to sail back to its headquarters in India to report to the company and the governor on the signing of the alliance agreement.

After seeing off the British delegation, the officials of the Court of State Ceremonial then approached the envoys from Lanfang and Daiyan and informed them that His Majesty the Emperor had agreed to the submission of Lanfang and Daiyan to the country.

The Great Han will then send envoys to both countries to reside there permanently, and will allow both countries to fly the Great Han flag thereafter.

The flags of the Great Han Dynasty are currently mainly red with Chinese characters, and are still relatively simple in design.

Nie Yu is instructing the Ministry of Rites to find painters and Confucian scholars to design and produce a national flag that truly represents the Han Dynasty and can be flown on Han ships and in cities.

This will be a long-term project that requires collaboration between renowned scholars and painters, as well as extensive public discussion.

The Portuguese delegation in Macau had already returned home.

They were all commoners of the Han Dynasty. The main purpose of bringing them to Nanjing was to establish the ethnic identity of the Portuguese in Macau within the Han Dynasty, and at the same time to intimidate the delegations from Britain, Lanfang, and Daiyan, and to put on a show.

Not long after the delegation left Nanjing, Nie Yu summoned the cabinet ministers to the imperial palace. Nie Yu slowly put down the memorial in his hand and said, "This is a new memorial submitted by the Ministry of Rites, requesting my permission to compile the 'Xinghua Zhengyun' for our Great Han Dynasty?"

"Xinghua Zhengyun" was the official rhyme book of the Han Dynasty that the Ministry of Rites was preparing to draft.

Throughout history, the founding of any dynasty involved establishing the official language of the court, compiling its own official rhyme book, and standardizing the accents of the common people.

The *Qieyun* of the Sui Dynasty, the *Tangyun* of the Tang Dynasty, the *Guangyun* of the Song Dynasty, the *Pingshuiyun* of the Jin Dynasty, and the *Hongwu Zhengyun* of the Ming Dynasty... all established the Mandarin accent of the country.

The reason why the Ministry of Rites of the Han Dynasty inquired about revising the official rhyme scheme was that the common official language used by the pseudo-Qing Dynasty was the Beijing dialect, which is the Northern dialect.

However, the Han Dynasty's current territory is entirely in the south, and they still speak the Beijing dialect of the pseudo-Qing Dynasty.

It was somewhat awkward to talk about it, and the common people were also very reluctant to talk about it or learn about it.

Therefore, the Ministry of Rites believed that now that the new Han Dynasty had been established, it was time to determine the official ranks of the state.

Nie Yu did not object to this, so he convened the cabinet for a collective discussion.

Gu Jing said, "Since ancient times, when a country is founded, it is basically necessary to determine the official language of the court and unify the local dialects. Otherwise, it would be too chaotic. The local dialects are complicated. For example, during the reign of Emperor Yongzheng of the pseudo-Qing dynasty, there was a time when officials from Guangdong came to Beijing to report on their duties, but Emperor Yongzheng could not understand the Guangdong dialect at all."

This was no secret, because Emperor Yongzheng was so angry that he issued an edict throughout the country requiring all officials to learn Mandarin before coming to the capital, or else they would have to resign and return to their hometowns.

If this is the case with officials, how much more so with interactions between ordinary people?
Lu Zhihong continued, "That's right. Other places are fine, but the Cantonese dialect is very different from other dialects. Take last year when our Great Han Dynasty recovered eastern Guangdong, many of the officials sent there couldn't understand Cantonese at all. If they wanted to get things done, they had to find local staff to act as Cantonese translators."

Wang Ruoyu said, "Our Han army is making slow progress in eastern Guangdong. Besides the fact that there are too many people in eastern Guangdong and that the area is mountainous, there is also the serious language barrier. Our army cannot even communicate without obstacles with the Heaven and Earth Society rebels. We even have to rely on the Yao army of the Eight Yao tribes as translators between the soldiers."

More than half a year has passed since last year, but the Han army still has not been able to fully digest eastern Guangdong. Although they have occupied the territory, the language barrier has slowed the army's progress, and a lot of troops must be reserved for military management.

In contrast, Zhu Wu, the Marquis of Chaozhou of the Han Dynasty, made great strides in his campaigns in Chaozhou and Jiaying.

Because these two areas are close to Fujian, there are too many Hakka people there. Zhu Wu had been ruling over southern Jiangxi for the past few years, and there are also many Hakka people in southern Jiangxi. He can speak Hakka fluently, so there are no obstacles to communication.

It's kind of funny, though. Chaozhou is supposed to be the capital of Guangdong province, but the Hakka people from Chaozhou speak a language that people from Guangdong can't understand, while people from Fujian can understand quite a bit of it.

Even traveling from Xiamen to Chaoshan is cheaper than traveling from Chaoshan to Guangzhou. Although the two places are similar, they are not the same family. The Hakka people of Chaozhou consider themselves to be from Guangdong, not Fujian.

Listening to the advice of several important officials, Nie Zi, who was not opposed to it in the first place, made a decision and said: "Since that's the case, let's compile it! Compile a 'Xinghua Zhengyun' for our Great Han Dynasty to standardize the official rhymes of various regions. This matter will be entrusted to the Ministry of Rites to select officials for compilation. Luo Dian will be appointed as the chief editor of the rhyme book compilation, and Yuan Shu will be the vice president of compilation."

"The minister obeys the order."

Upon hearing this, Gu Jing couldn't help but feel a little regretful. He actually wanted to be the president, but after thinking about the two presidents and vice presidents, he realized that...

Luo Dian was the headmaster of Yuelu Academy and the only Jinshi (successful candidate in the highest imperial examination) from the puppet Qing dynasty accepted by the Han side. In literary terms, he was the most outstanding Confucian scholar in the Han dynasty.

Another Yuan Shu, this guy is the former prefect of Nanjing and the brother of the great Confucian scholar Yuan Mei, also holds a significant position as vice president.

Gu Jing then asked, "Your Majesty, now that the Xinghua Zhengyun has been established, how should we standardize elegant speech and pronunciation, as well as the reading pronunciation and local dialects in different regions?"

(End of this chapter)