I, Kangxi, am here to overthrow the Qing and restore the Ming!

"Song'etu".

Hong Xiguan stopped in front of Suo'etu.

This high-ranking official, a Grand Secretary, was bowing his head very low at that moment.

"These six characters you wrote in your folded paper are quite interesting: 'Beware of Han people more than foreigners'?"

Hong Xiguan gave a cold laugh, his voice echoing throughout the hall: "I led the Han people to defeat Wu Sangui and preserved the property of you bunch of good-for-nothings. Now you tell me you want to be wary of your savior?"

"Your Majesty... Your Majesty is also acting for the sake of your ancestors' legacy..."

"Is your ancestral legacy meant to keep the people of this world enslaved? To make our Great Qing Dynasty cower before the superior ships and cannons of the foreigners?"

Hong Xiguan took a deep breath, his tone turning icy and resolute: "Issue my decree!"

"Grand Secretary Suo'etu has falsely accused a meritorious official and disregarded national policy. He has been stripped of his position as Grand Secretary, dismissed from all posts, and sent back to his residence to await punishment. He is permanently barred from participating in cabinet affairs!"

"Wadai, the Commander-in-Chief of the Bordered Yellow Banner, has provoked trouble and assaulted a meritorious earl. He is hereby dismissed from his post, given fifty strokes of the cane, and fined three years' salary!"

"Nan Huairen, the director of the Imperial Observatory, was a troublemaker who was jealous of talent and ability. He was stripped of his title as Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works and expelled from the cannon foundry. From then on, he was only allowed to observe celestial phenomena at the Imperial Observatory and was not allowed to interfere in the manufacture of weapons!"

When Suo'etu was led out of the main hall, he looked as if his soul had been taken away.

His prized political acumen proved as fragile as a piece of waste paper in the face of the "darkened" Kangxi Emperor.

He never expected that the emperor would punish him like this for the sake of a Han official.

......

In the first month of the year, spring is cold and cold.

The snow in Beijing had only melted halfway, and the scent of ink in the Hanlin Academy was mixed with a nauseating stench of money and servility.

The Hanlin Academy was the heart of the Qing Dynasty's literary tradition, an ivory tower that scholars across the land dreamed of.

But now, at the very top of this ivory tower, sits a monster who can't even speak fluent Chinese, the head scholar Zhekune.

Zhekune, a genuine Manchu nobleman, rose to this prestigious second-rank position thanks to his family's influence and his qipao.

At this moment, the head scholar was sitting ostentatiously in the first seat, holding a copy of the "Collected Statutes of the Ming Dynasty" in his hand, his brows furrowed.

He struggled to read it; it felt like a primary school student who had just learned how to use a dictionary was trying to discuss quantum mechanics with a group of physics PhDs.

"This...this territory in the early Ming Dynasty was enormous!"

Zhekune spoke in a thick Mandarin accent, which made the temples of the Hanlin scholars below throb.

He pointed to the map of the early Ming Dynasty spread out on the table, his face full of displeasure: "The Ming Dynasty was established for fifty years, with a territory of tens of thousands of miles. But my Qing Dynasty has also been established for fifty years. Including our homeland outside the Great Wall and the eighteen provinces of Han China, it only covers a few thousand miles. This... this history book can't be written like this. It makes our Qing Dynasty look weak!"

(The Qing Dynasty's territory reached its peak during the Qianlong era. Before the 24th year of the Kangxi Emperor's reign, it was only about half the size of the Autumn Night Begonia, and its territory was far smaller than that of the early Ming Dynasty.)

The scholars below kept their heads down, and no one responded.

Everyone was internally grumbling: "Dude, the Ming Dynasty was won through real battles. Aside from the territory our Emperor just personally conquered, most of what we have now is scrap metal. If you think our territory is too small, go fight for it! What kind of skill is it to change maps like this? Isn't this typical 'Photoshop-based governance'?"

"We must weaken the Ming Dynasty!"

Zhekune slammed his hand on the table, making the brush on the brush holder shake a few times: "History is written by the victors. If we want to highlight the vastness of the Qing Dynasty, we should make the territory of the Ming Dynasty smaller. For example, the Mongolian Plateau and the Western Regions, we should say that the Ming Dynasty never went there. And the Yongle Emperor's voyages to the Western Ocean, we should delete them all and say that he was a refugee who drifted at sea."

The faces of the Han officials turned ashen.

To alter the territory of a previous dynasty is not only shameless, it is to dig up the ancestral graves of our culture.

"Master Tetsu."

A clear and magnetic voice rang out in the deathly silent hall.

Everyone looked in the direction of the voice and saw that it was Miao Tong, a scholar of the Hanlin Academy, who was speaking.

Miao Tong, the top scholar in the imperial examination of the sixth year of the Kangxi Emperor's reign, was an anomaly in the Qing Dynasty's officialdom.

He was born with sword-like eyebrows and bright eyes, and he did not have the pedantry of a scholar. Instead, he exuded a ruggedness that came from having experienced the baptism of war.

When the Three Feudatories were quelled, he accompanied the emperor and witnessed how Hong Xiguan killed people along the way.

"What brilliant idea does Scholar Miao have?" Zhekune asked, glancing at him sideways.

"I wouldn't call it a brilliant insight, but I feel that the adults seem to have a misunderstanding of the word 'time'."

Miao Tong stood up, calmly brushing the dust off his sleeves: "When the Ming Dynasty was established fifty years ago, thanks to the diligent governance of Emperors Hongwu and Yongle, it expanded its territory to a vast expanse. Although our Qing Dynasty has been established for fifty years (counting from the Later Jin), His Majesty is in his prime, wise and powerful. The Three Feudatories have just been pacified, and Dongning has just returned. In the coming decades, wherever His Majesty goes, it will become part of our territory. Your Excellency is now so eager to smear the previous dynasty. Do you think His Majesty will never surpass the Ming Dynasty in his lifetime?"

The room fell silent upon hearing this.

That hat is way too big.

Zhekune opened his mouth, his face turning a deep purplish-red.

He couldn't very well say, "Yes, I think the Emperor is inferior to Zhu Di," could he? Otherwise, he could go to Ningguta tomorrow to collect his long-term rental apartment.

"You...you're just being unreasonable!" Zhekune finally blurted out after a long pause.

Miao Tong ignored him and picked up a volume of the Yongle Encyclopedia to read.

Seeing that he could not gain any advantage in terms of territory, Zhekune's eyes lit up and he thought of another topic that could demonstrate the majesty of the Qing Dynasty.

He cleared his throat and adopted a compassionate expression.

"Let's set aside the issue of territorial boundaries for now. The core of our discussion today is the legitimacy of the Qing Dynasty."

Zhekune surveyed his surroundings, his tone laced with arrogance: "Throughout history, none has rightfully gained power more than our Great Qing!"

Miao Tong was amused.

Honestly, he couldn't help himself. It felt like a robber who had stolen his neighbor's house was sitting in their living room, lecturing their descendants about the law and fairness.

"I'd like to hear the details." Miao Tong cupped her hands in greeting, a mocking smile playing on her lips.

Zhekune got excited and started counting on his fingers: "Look, the founding emperors of the Han, Tang, Song, and Ming dynasties were all officials of the previous dynasties. Liu Bang was a village head in the Qin Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang was a bald monk in the Yuan Dynasty... cough, monk, what's that called? That's called 'insubordination,' that's treason! Their empires were not legitimately obtained!"

He paused, then his tone became impassioned: "What about my Great Qing? My Great Qing rose from Changbai Mountain, and was originally a neighboring country to the Ming Dynasty. We were equals. We entered the Central Plains not to rebel, but to avenge Emperor Chongzhen! To punish that traitor Li Zicheng! We helped the Ming Dynasty avenge itself, and then incidentally established our rule in the Central Plains. Therefore, my Great Qing's acquisition of the country was the most legitimate!"

Miao Tong stared at him as if he were an idiot, and after a long while, she slowly spoke.

"Lord Zhe, I have a few old files here. I don't know if you've seen them before."

Miao Tong walked to the desk, her slender fingers pulling out a few files from a pile of documents, casually flipping through them: "During the Wanli era, Emperor Taizu was conferred the title of 'Dragon and Tiger General' by the Ming court and appointed 'Commander of Jianzhou Guard.' Every year, he was required to go to Beijing to pay tribute and receive rewards from the Ming Dynasty. You just said 'not his subordinate,' so could it be that Emperor Taizu bought this general's seal and commander's robe from a roadside stall?"

Zhekuner's face twitched.

This is a fatal flaw, a dark chapter in the history that the Manchu rulers most wanted to erase.