There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 471 Human Heart
Nanjing.

The emperor has returned in triumph, and Nie Yu is currently working overtime to review the government documents that have been piling up since his personal campaign over the past few months.

In reality, there weren't many major events or important matters that required the emperor's personal handling and approval. Most miscellaneous and trivial matters could be decided directly by the cabinet and the secretariat.

Nie Yu pulled out a memorial book with the Ministry of Revenue's signature on it. He flipped through a few pages and found that the main contents were about the financial reports of the South this year, including the fluctuations and increases in grain prices and commodity prices in various regions.

This is normal. Although the major battles this year only lasted a few months, with most of the time spent on marching and taking over territory, and few places where major battles actually broke out, the expenditure on military spending was still alarmingly high.

Even though the Han Dynasty had begun to fully promote chemical fertilizers and increase grain production, grain prices in the south still inevitably fluctuated and rose.

The Ministry of Revenue was well-prepared and had ordered local governments to open their granaries and release grain. At the same time, it met with grain merchants to ensure that grain prices would stabilize and not rise too much, otherwise they would be severely punished.

Thanks to this swift response, the rise in grain prices in the south has been contained, and prices have now basically stabilized. They should gradually decline back to normal levels next year.

Nie Yu nodded slightly, picked up his brush, and wrote in vermilion ink: "Approved."

After reviewing the memorial from the Ministry of Revenue, he picked up another one, this time from the Ministry of Rites.

Upon closer inspection, it was the list of candidates who passed the provincial examination this year.

The list details the number of candidates admitted to the southern provincial examinations in August of this year, including the biography, hometown, and family background of the provincial champions.

The title of Jieyuan refers to the top scorer in the provincial examination, just like the title of Anshou refers to the top scorer in the provincial examination. The top scorer in the metropolitan examination is called Huiyuan.

Speaking of which, Chen Jichang, the last person in history to achieve the highest honors in all three levels of the imperial examinations, had his hometown of Guilin Prefecture recently captured by the Han army. The Guangxi governor, Xie Qikun, committed suicide after the city fell, and his life story has already been included in the "Records of Traitors," slated to be published in the next issue of the official gazette for widespread condemnation.

With the start of the imperial examinations in August of this year, the reform of the Han Dynasty's educational system has truly entered the right track. Except for newly occupied and relatively remote provinces such as Fujian and Guangdong, the county, prefectural, and provincial examinations in most places have been gradually abolished.

Once this imperial examination season ends, even Fujian and Guangdong will gradually abolish the concepts of county examination, prefectural examination, and provincial examination, and the title of "top scholar" will completely disappear from the historical stage.

Instead, a comprehensive academy system was implemented. From then on, regardless of whether one was an official or a commoner, anyone who wanted to enter officialdom had to study at an academy, completing at least three years of compulsory education and six years of academy education.

After completing nine years of study, one must successfully graduate and obtain a graduation certificate in order to be able to enter government departments for employment or obtain a ticket to take the imperial examination in the next session and enter officialdom.

In short, the Han Dynasty court has made up its mind to carry out the academy system to the end, and may even merge it with the imperial examination system. In the future, it may completely replace the imperial examination system and become the new legal system for selecting officials.

Nie Yu didn't glance at it, but instead carefully examined the lists of successful candidates from the provincial examinations sent by the Ministry of Rites: "Hmm, they're fairly evenly distributed."

The number of candidates who passed the provincial examinations in each province on the list was generally around 60 or 70, not much different.

Moreover, although the proportion of candidates admitted from each province was not balanced, almost every prefecture had someone on the list of successful candidates, so there was no situation where no one from a prefecture passed the exam.

Unfortunately, although the imperial examination was meant to select talent for the court, this year's examination was truly different. Not only was it conducted during the court's northern expedition, but it was also the first imperial examination held in a real sense since the formal founding of the Han Dynasty.

The previous imperial examination doesn't count because the emperor was only the Prince of Han at that time. If the emperor hadn't ascended the throne so quickly that the imperial examinations couldn't be held consecutively, there might have been an imperial examination for his ascension to the throne last year.

This year's imperial examination was essentially a special examination, with greater political significance. The selection of candidates was secondary, so the number and proportion of candidates admitted were strictly examined.

After looking through the list, Nie Yu suddenly noticed the Fujian candidates' list on the second-to-last page. One name caught his attention: "Eleventh on the Fujian list, Lin Zexu, a native of Houguan County, Fujian... Lin Zexu, Lin Zexu?"

Is this the Lin Zexu he remembers?

After a moment's thought, Nie Yu suddenly realized and smiled, "What difference does it make?"

The Great Han he established had already captured Shandong and Henan provinces in this Northern Expedition, destroyed 50,000 Manchu Eight Banners troops, and recruited 2,000 Solon soldiers.

The Manchus are now nothing but bones in a tomb, just waiting for the Han to come and destroy them.

Thinking of this, Nie Yu picked up a vermilion brush and drew a circle before Lin Zexu's name.

Although I don't know if it is the other person, since they have this name and are from Fujian, it should be pretty close. I'll circle them and observe them first.

It's worth noting that even Zeng Guofan, who was already studying in Hunan, had been thought of by Nie Yu. Zeng Guofan's reputation in later generations was indeed somewhat mixed, but that didn't diminish the fact that he was a truly talented man. If his future was promising and he could be put to good use, Nie Yu might as well give him a try.

The Manchus were Tartars, and Zeng Guofan, under their control, was Zeng the Barber, who ruthlessly slaughtered the Taiping Army and Han Chinese civilians. But when it came to their own hands, they no longer needed Zeng to kill the Taiping Army.

After carefully reviewing the entire list, apart from Lin Zexu, whom I recognized, the rest were mostly unfamiliar names.

Nie Yu stopped paying attention. Whether there were any talented individuals among them would be determined by the later provincial and palace examinations. Even if those who passed both examinations were exceptionally gifted, whether they could be put to practical use and benefit the people would have to be tested over time.

At the end of the list of memorials, the Ministry of Rites specifically inquired: "Now that Jiangbei has been restored, should we follow the example of the special imperial examination and grant Jiangbei scholars the privilege of setting up examination halls for supplementary examinations?"

After pondering for a moment, Nie Yu picked up his brush and wrote in vermilion ink: "No need. The imperial examination is a matter of national importance and cannot be taken lightly. The special examination and make-up examination is already an extra favor and not a regular occurrence. It can be done once but not twice."

After reviewing the memorials submitted by the Ministry of Rites, the subsequent reviews mainly consisted of miscellaneous administrative matters.

The Cabinet and the Secretariat had already prepared the draft proposals, which were included in the document, along with the handling opinions given by various departments. Nie Yu's review of them was not too troublesome, but it was somewhat boring and tedious.

Fortunately, the new Han dynasty was no longer the Qing dynasty. In order to maintain its control over Han officials and gentry, the Qing dynasty created the abstract and cumbersome system of memorials for greetings.

Offering too many greetings will be punished, offering too few greetings will also be punished, offering greetings without reason will be scolded, and not offering greetings without reason will also be punished.

The Han Dynasty wasn't so rigid in its rules and regulations. Local officials weren't required to pay their respects once a day or every three or four days. As long as they regularly submitted reports on local grain prices, commodity prices, and rainfall, ensuring that the central government wasn't completely in the dark about the local situation, it wasn't considered a dereliction of duty by the local government.

After reviewing memorials all day, just as he was about to go home to rest, a cabinet minister hurriedly requested an audience, accompanied by the Minister of War.

“Your Majesty,” Liu Jun said, bowing, “an urgent telegram has arrived from the north. The puppet Qing army is withdrawing its troops in full force. They have already retreated to Baoding and Tianjin, and it seems that all the southern prefectures have been abandoned.”

Nie Yu was taken aback, clearly surprised: "Retreating this far? Is it a real retreat, or are they luring the enemy deeper?"

The Han Dynasty had conducted a sand table simulation of the Manchu Qing's next strategic deployment and formulated several countermeasures. The possibility of the Manchu Qing retreating was also within the Han Dynasty's expectations, but they did not expect the other side to retreat so far.

They almost abandoned half of Hebei province at once, and retreated all the way back to Beijing.

Wang Ruoyu said, "We don't know yet whether the Qing army is luring us in, but according to the reports from the spies in the prefectures that have already retreated, the Qing army withdrew directly without taking anything with them except for a small amount of food. They didn't even loot or kill. Even the puppet Qing officials in those prefectures and counties, as long as their families are from Shuntian Prefecture, have all fled. Now, many counties and prefectures in the north no longer have government offices; they are being maintained by local gentry and their subordinates."

Hearing this, Nie Yu roughly understood that the Manchus had truly retreated.

The officials all fled, and they dared not take too much grain with them. They also dared not engage in arson, murder, or looting, for fear of being entangled by the local people and gentry during their retreat!

Plans can't keep up with changes. The original plan of the Qing Dynasty was indeed to retreat to Baoding and then use it to lure the enemy deeper into the territory. Even if they couldn't attract the Han army, they could still leave a strategic buffer zone.

But they forgot to consider the reality of the people's hearts. The Manchus had just suffered two major defeats in Shandong and Henan, with 50,000 Eight Banner troops wiped out, even the elite Solon Battalion surrendered, and two high-ranking officials died.

The military and political impacts are enormous, and now they've launched a full-scale retreat, heading all the way back to Baoding Prefecture.

This was tantamount to telling the officials and nobles of the Qing Dynasty that the Qing Dynasty was doomed and that those who could run away should run away as soon as possible!

Therefore, this retreat was less a strategic shift and more a chaotic and desperate rout.

Once the rout begins, it cannot be stopped; retreating to Baoding Prefecture was just the beginning.

Liu Jun said directly, "Your Majesty, since the Qing dynasty has been defeated, our army can take advantage of the situation and march north to capture the prefectures and counties abandoned by the Qing."

After a moment of careful consideration, Nie Yu said, "The great battle has just ended, and it is winter. It is really not advisable to launch another large-scale military campaign. Let the generals at the front decide for themselves how much territory they can occupy. If they encounter a counterattack from the Qing army, they should not engage in large-scale conflict with them."

The great battle had just ended, and Emperor Nie Yu had already returned in triumph. Moreover, winter had arrived, so it was indeed not suitable to launch another large-scale northern expedition.

If the Manchus retreat, then let them continue to retreat. The Han army should first make a small-scale northward advance and take as much as they can.

Trying to do too much at once will only lead to failure; swallowing too much at once will also make it difficult for officials to govern the region.

(End of this chapter)