There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 477: The twelfth month
It was December, just after the Little New Year.

The winter chill in Nanjing has not yet faded. The bluestone pavement along the Qinhuai River is covered with a thin layer of frost, and the eaves of the houses still have unmelted snowflakes reflecting against the red lanterns.

The sweet aroma of cooking sugar mixed with the salty fragrance of cured meat wafted from the steamer of the teahouse at the alley entrance.

The vendors carried their wares on bamboo poles, calling out, "Sugar melon (a sweet treat for the Kitchen God during the Little New Year in Nanjing)! Sugar melon, the sweet melon that the Kitchen God will enjoy!"

A middle-aged woman dressed in coarse cloth was carrying newly bought Spring Festival couplets. Seeing a peddler carrying candied melons passing by, the woman called out to him: "Peddler, give me a piece of candied melon, and cut it for me so I can take it home for my child."

"okay!"

The vendor smiled and put down his load, took a piece of candied melon from his basket, skillfully cut it into small pieces, wrapped it in candy wrapper, and handed it to the woman.

Besides vendors selling candied melons, there are also snack vendors selling candied hawthorns, tea eggs, and other snacks, who hawk their wares along the street.

"Candied hawthorn berries, big and sweet candied hawthorn berries!"

"Tea eggs, delicious and inexpensive!"

"..."

The woman would stop every now and then to buy some sweets and snacks that the children liked.

Although the Han Dynasty had only been in control of Nanjing for two years, the city had already regained its vibrant atmosphere and was even more prosperous than before.

This is normal. Nanjing was the secondary capital of the Ming Dynasty, so after the Manchus took over Nanjing, they established the largest Manchu city in the south, directly separating it from the walls of the former Ming Forbidden City.

The Manchu people almost devoured most of Nanjing's fiscal revenue. Tens of thousands of Manchus were like parasitic termites. It was good enough that they didn't bankrupt Nanjing. How could Nanjing be expected to prosper?
What a joke!
Before the war, Nanjing was under the rule of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, with a population of around 100 million. Now, after the war, the Han Dynasty took over and made it the capital of the Qing Dynasty, and the population has grown to about 150 million in just two years. Most of them are immigrants, and many are even migrants from Hubei and Hunan provinces.

When Nanjing became the capital of the new dynasty, those wealthy and powerful families who were both capable and farsighted made preparations long ago. Before the Han Dynasty could split up their families, they took the initiative to separate some of their clansmen and bring their wealth to Nanjing to buy houses and properties.

The old trick of dividing the basket, commonly used by wealthy and powerful families, is just a tradition!
The Han Dynasty is now dividing the property of these powerful clans, which is also an old tradition of successive dynasties. The emperors and ministers of the dynasty are not fools. They know that if the clans become too powerful, it will definitely affect the rule and management of the court.

Even in the Song Dynasty, which insisted on employing scholars as prime ministers, local powerful clans were repeatedly dismantled, and the resulting Mongol populations were forcibly relocated to other areas.

The emperor's palace.

The people of Nanjing are already putting up Spring Festival couplets and preparing to welcome the New Year, while Nie Yu, the emperor of the Han Dynasty, is still leading the way in working overtime and competing fiercely.

We have to work overtime! We're too busy to keep up.

This year's territorial expansion has been too great. The Northern Expedition almost emptied the Han Dynasty's treasury. Nearly three provinces have been recovered, and everywhere there are government affairs that require his approval and decision-making as the emperor.

The cabinet, ministries, and even the military governor's office were all extremely busy.

Minister of Rites Gu Jing and Minister of War Wang Ruoyu each held a memorial in their hands as they came before the emperor to pay their respects.

"Your Majesty, this is a record of the battle achievements of the various armies in the Northern Expedition, drafted by the Ministry of War and the Military Governor's Office!"

"Your Majesty, this is the regulation drafted by the Ministry of Rites for this year's rewards, titles, and land grants!"

Nie Yu only hinted at the idea of ​​bestowing titles, and the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of War, and the Governor's Office worked around the clock to compile statistics on the Northern Expedition's achievements and determine the appropriate way to bestow titles.

"Um,"

Nie Yu nodded slightly, took the two memorials from the secretary, and began to look at the records of his military achievements first.

The records of military achievements are written in great detail, and the regulations in all aspects are very clear and strict. This is to prevent military commanders from killing innocent people and claiming credit for them.

This was not Nie Yu's doing; it was purely the wisdom of the ancients. The ancients were not fools; they knew what kind of people the army was like.

Take the Ming Dynasty as an example. In order to prevent border generals from massacring Han villagers and disguising themselves as Tartar heads to claim rewards, the court specially trained a group of officials to identify them.

They could determine whether a head belonged to a person disguised as a commoner or a real Tartar simply by touching the shape of the skull.

They even knew more about the style of the braids and the texture of the hair on the heads of the Tartars than the Tartars themselves did.

Of course, this was of little use, because many generals did indeed stop killing civilians. Instead, they bought real Tartar heads from the Tartars and used them to stop the Tartars from attacking other tribes.

He spent half an hour carefully reading through the records of the Northern Expedition's military achievements, which included detailed battle reports of each major campaign and the names of the commanders. Then he opened the regulations for bestowing titles and rewards drafted by the Ministry of Rites. Nie Yu glanced at them briefly, first nodding, then shaking his head.

"Isn't this title a bit too low?" Nie Yu asked, putting down the memorial from the Ministry of Rites.

Gu Jing said, "The title of nobility is indeed a bit low, but it should be lower. Although our Han Dynasty has the momentum to unify the world, the world is still not settled and the Manchu invaders have not been defeated. If we directly confer a duke title now, how should we bestow titles after the world is unified?"

That makes sense. Before the world is unified, the titles of nobility should not be set too high.

Otherwise, what if you get granted the title of Duke all at once, and then there's no one left to grant the title of Duke to?
After all, since the Tang Dynasty, no Han Chinese dynasty has ever granted titles to non-Han princes. Even the few non-Han princes of the Ming Dynasty were posthumously granted titles and could not be inherited.

Dukes were basically the highest rank that civil and military officials could obtain; at most, they would receive additional titles beyond the rank of duke.

Even the Manchu Qing dynasty, which was not a Han Chinese dynasty, only initially enfeoffed a few non-Han princes, and they couldn't wait for Wu Sangui and other non-Han princes to die of old age before they were eager to reduce the power of the princes.

After thinking for a moment, Nie Yu added, "The title of Earl is too low. This is a great achievement for the recovery of three provinces, and there are also my General He and others. They can't have followed me since the beginning of the war and only received the title of Earl, can they? I am not a heartless person who can only share hardships but not wealth. Let's raise the title of Earl and make them all Marquises!"

"Yes."

Gu Jing did not object; he had deliberately set the price exceptionally low to give the emperor a limit to his actions.

At the same time, it also allows His Majesty to bestow favors upon the military generals, thus securing the loyalty of the army and the generals.

Otherwise, if the Ministry of Rites requests a title of nobility, should the military general thank the Ministry of Rites or the emperor?
The emperor felt that granting him a title of nobility was neither acceptable nor acceptable, leaving him in a dilemma. Could he, as the Minister of Rites, still retain the emperor's favor?

However, Gu Jing's vision was still somewhat narrow, or rather, he still viewed the world through the lens of China.

Now we'll confer titles of nobility upon military officers. Once all the titles are conferred, the world will be unified, the Manchu Qing dynasty will be destroyed, and then we'll confer titles of dukes upon them. Everything will be just right.

A harmonious relationship between ruler and subject ensures a good beginning and a good end!
However, Nie Yu was not a local. He had the perspective and ability of later generations. How could he only overthrow the Qing Dynasty and unify China?
If he doesn't expand China's territory significantly, then his trip will have been in vain!
To inspire the pioneering spirit of the civil and military officials, Nie Yu had already planned everything out: first, he would grant them the title of marquis, and then grant them the title of duke after unification.

Then, they immediately spread the word about bestowing titles of nobility upon the civil and military officials, using these titles as an incentive to lead them to expand their territory abroad.

After the Tang Dynasty, there were no more kings of different surnames. This was because the country was too small, and after unification, the population was basically absorbed internally, and external expansion ceased.

If a king of a different surname is an unstable element, and he doesn't engage in war or expansion within the country, then problems are bound to arise.

However, if the instability of a king of a different surname is transferred to foreign wars, then all the instability can be transformed into combat power.

It was only the beginning of the modern era; the First Opium War hadn't even started, and British global colonization had only just begun. Their strength wasn't as formidable as one might imagine.

Even the United States has only been established for a few decades, the Civil War has not yet started, and it still uses slavery and confederation (a relatively loose union in contrast to federalism).

The only superpower in Europe right now is France. Although Napoleon has just come to power, his lifespan was short!

Napoleon had a family history of stomach cancer and wouldn't live long. If he tried to outlive Nie Yu, he wouldn't survive.

As for Asia, it goes without saying that there isn't a single country that can fight back. Japan just entered a period of comprehensive decline a few years ago.

To what extent has it declined? Take Empress Dowager Cixi as an example. The current Japanese shogunate is more extravagant and wasteful than Cixi, yet it lacks Cixi's ruthless heart in suppressing uprisings, and it is more timid and fearful in the face of Western powers than Cixi.

The situation is similar in neighboring North Korea. Having just emerged from the chaos of factional strife, it is about to face a long period of interference in politics by the maternal relatives, or more precisely, a dictatorship by the maternal relatives, with the king becoming a complete puppet.

Annam, the small tyrant of Southeast Asia, is still embroiled in a civil war between the north and south, and the Tay Son Army is on the verge of collapse.

However, the Great Han was already preparing to provide military support to the Xishan army through Nanning Prefecture. The envoy sent by the King of Xishan and his letter of submission were already on their way to Nanjing.

After reviewing the Ministry of Rites' regulations on nobility, Nie Yu discussed some additional details with two other people, and then decided to formally reward those who had rendered meritorious service after the New Year.

Not only should military generals be rewarded, but civil officials should also be rewarded. It's not just the military generals who contribute to the war; the civil officials system is also busy with logistics.

The Han Dynasty has just been founded, and it is not yet time for civil and military officials to compete and undermine each other.

Even if it meant sabotaging the country, it wouldn't happen in front of the founding emperor.

(End of this chapter)