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

After eliminating Ao Bai and taking power himself, Hong Xiguan was in high spirits and put on an unconventional "dress-up show" in the Southern Study.

Cao Yin walked in carrying a large, dusty mahogany box.

As soon as the lid was opened, a musty smell of camphor balls wafted out.

Inside lay a bright yellow dragon robe, not the tight-fitting horseshoe-sleeved cheongsam of the Qing Dynasty, but a wide-sleeved dragon robe of the Ming Dynasty with intricate embroidery!

These are relics left behind by the former Ming Dynasty Emperor Chongzhen.

It is said that when Emperor Shunzhi was a teenager, he secretly wore this outfit and spent a long time looking at himself in the mirror, asking the eunuch beside him, "Do I look like the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty?"

The eunuch was so frightened he almost wet his pants, but somehow he kept the dragon robe.

"Come, help me undress!"

Hong Xiguan opened his arms wide, his face beaming with excitement.

She took off the tight-fitting Manchu dress and put on this loose and flowing Han Chinese attire.

Although the hem of the robe was worn and the gold thread had faded due to its age, Hong Xiguan felt his soul relax the moment he put it on.

He walked to a full-length Western-style mirror, which was as tall as a person, and turned around twice.

"How is it, Yinzi? Am I handsome?"

Cao Yin looked at the emperor in front of him, who was wearing a Ming Dynasty dragon robe, and his lips twitched twice, his expression very strange.

"Your Majesty, the clothes are fine, and the person is... a good person, but this hairstyle, paired with this winged crown and dragon robe, isn't it a bit too... inappropriate?"

It really feels out of place.

The wide robes and sleeves emphasize the high crown and wide belt, with the hair tied up and the crown added, exuding the elegance and refinement of Han Chinese attire.

But now Hong Xiguan has a shiny forehead (in the early Qing Dynasty, people had a bald head with a rat's tail, so shiny that it could be used as a mirror), and a thin braid that looks like a rat's tail trails behind him.

Wearing this solemn Ming Dynasty dragon robe, he doesn't look like an emperor, but rather like a clown on a stage who has stolen his master's clothes, or some kind of incongruous zombie Taoist priest.

"Tsk!"

Hong Xiguan looked at himself in the mirror, and his good mood instantly deflated like a punctured balloon.

He reached out and grabbed the braid, shaking it in his hand with a look of utter disgust: "This thing is an absolute disaster in the history of human aesthetics. I just don't understand why the Manchus kept this tail. Was it so they could be grabbed by the head and slammed against a wall?"

Startled, Cao Yin quickly looked around and lowered his voice, saying, "Your Majesty, please be careful what you say! This is an ancestral rule..."

"Ancestral rules? What a load of rubbish about ancestral rules."

Hong Xiguan sneered: "Sooner or later, I will issue an edict that will not be 'keep your head, lose your hair,' but 'keep your queue, lose your head!' I will make all the men in the world grow their hair back and restore the dignity of my Han dynasty!"

Cao Yin broke out in a cold sweat upon hearing this.

If this gets out, even if Ao Bai is dead, the Eight Banners princes will be in an uproar, and there might even be another mutiny tonight.

At the same time, he really couldn't understand why the emperor, as a member of the Manchu royal family, disliked Manchu customs so much, yet preferred Han culture.

"Alright, stop trembling!"

Looking at Cao Yin's expression, which seemed ready to atone with his death at any moment, Hong Xiguan waved his hand dismissively: "I was just venting. If we were to cut off this pig's tail now, we'd probably be chopped into mincemeat by those Manchu nobles immediately."

Reluctantly, she took off the loose and comfortable dragon robe and changed back into the tight-fitting cheongsam.

"These clothes are no human being to wear."

Hong Xiguan tugged at his collar, looking displeased: "The sleeves are as narrow as foot bindings, and the collar is as stiff as a collar. This isn't clothing; it's clearly a torture device."

After dressing properly, he looked at himself in the mirror, who had transformed back into the "Manchu Emperor," with a somewhat gloomy expression.

Since the braid on his head can't be touched for the time being, he'll vent his anger elsewhere.

Stepping out of the South Study, the sunlight outside was somewhat dazzling.

Hong Xiguan squinted, stretched, and casually fixed his gaze on the magnificent palace directly in front of him.

The blue plaque with gold lettering gleamed in the sunlight, bearing three large characters in both Manchu and Chinese: Baohe Hall.

Hong Xiguan's originally pleasant mood turned sour the moment he saw those three words, as if he had swallowed a fly.

"Baohe Hall..."

He pondered those three words, then suddenly cursed, "Protect the peace, protect your mother!"

The chief eunuch behind him, Liang Jiugong, shuddered and almost dropped the whisk in his hand. He hurriedly lowered his head and pretended to be deaf.

His Majesty's words have become increasingly wild lately; perhaps this is... the Emperor's might?

Hong Xiguan pointed to the three main halls that symbolized the pinnacle of imperial power, then turned to Cao Yin and said, "Go and convey the imperial decree to the Ministry of Works: replace all the plaques on these three main halls for me!"

"From now on, the Hall of Supreme Harmony will be renamed the Hall of Respect for Heaven, the Hall of Central Harmony will be renamed the Hall of Imperial Canopy, and the Hall of Preserving Harmony will be renamed the Hall of Prudence!"

Cao Yin's eyelids twitched as he listened, and he felt utterly miserable.

These three names are known to anyone who has even a little education; they were used during the reign of Zhu Yuanzhang in the Ming Dynasty!

When the Manchus entered the Central Plains, in order to appease the people and embody the idea of ​​"Manchus and Hans as one family, and harmony under heaven," they deliberately changed the menacing "Fengtian" to the mild "Taihe," meaning that everyone should stop fighting and live peacefully together.

But now, does the Emperor want to change the name back?

"By the mandate of Heaven" means to receive the mandate of Heaven!

The name is barbed, carrying the toughness and domineering spirit of the Han dynasty in "expelling the barbarians".

"Your Majesty..." Cao Yin lowered his voice. As a trusted confidant, he felt obligated to rein in this runaway horse: "This matter... the Ministry of Rites is bound to be in an uproar. You must give us a reason, right?"

"reason?"

Hong Xiguan sneered and strode out, his back view appearing exceptionally arrogant.

"The reason is simply that I don't like those few characters! This Forbidden City was originally built by the Ming Dynasty. Using someone else's building and then changing their name—aren't you ashamed? Change it back; it sounds pleasing to the ear, and I can sleep soundly!"

That's just being unreasonable.

Cao Yin looked helpless. "You're the emperor, of course you don't need to reason with people."

But he was different; he would have to face the spittle of those old scholars from the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Rites later.

Liang Jiugong was a seasoned servant, and seeing that the emperor had made up his mind, he immediately responded and turned to deliver the decree.

"Wait!"

Hong Xiguan suddenly stopped.

He stroked his chin, feeling that although his words had been satisfying, they had indeed been a bit too "tyrannical."

As a man aspiring to be the greatest emperor of all time, he still needs to maintain a certain level of sophistication.

"Simply saying I don't like the look of it makes me seem uncultured."

Hong Xiguan turned around, his face bearing a profound and inscrutable expression, and his tone became solemn and dignified:

"The reason is that the Fengtian Hall signifies receiving the mandate of Heaven! I think it's excellent! Now that our Great Qing has entered the Central Plains, it must uphold the orthodoxy of Chinese civilization and appease the hearts of the Manchu and Han people! Reverting to the old name is to use the system of rites to govern the country more stably!"

See, this is the art of speaking.

What was clearly "I want to be a Han Chinese" was transformed into "for the eternal stability of the Qing Dynasty"—in an instant, it rose from personal preference to national strategy.

Cao Yin was stunned for a moment, then mentally gave a thumbs up. The Emperor's skill in deceiving people was becoming more and more refined.

"Your Majesty is wise!"

Liang Jiugong quickly offered a flattering remark, then, with a glint in his eye, suggested, "Since this is a matter of great importance concerning etiquette, the reasoning must be crafted elegantly. This servant suggests that we invite Lord Xiong Cilu to draft this edict?"

Xiong Cilu?

Hong Xiguan's eyes lit up.

This old man was a famous Confucian scholar and minister, as well as my teacher. He was most skilled at quoting classical texts and could turn black into white and the dead into the living. Having him "clean up" my mess was the perfect solution.

"Granted! Have him draft an edict immediately, the more elaborate the better, so that those Manchu princes can't understand it and can only shout 'Long live the Emperor!'"

……