According to Wen Ruilin 's Lost History of the South ( Nanjiang Yishi , 南疆繹史 ) , prior to the Qing invasion of Nanjing Hu studied at the National University there , and whilst a student was employed by the Ministry of Rites to record official proclamations ; he produced the Imperial Promotion of Minor Learning ( Qin Ban Xiaoxue , 御頒小學 ) and the Record of Displayed Loyalty ( Biaozhong Ji , 表忠記 ) as part of this work . As a result , he was promoted to the Ministry of Personnel and gained admittance to the Hanlin Academy , but before he could take up this appointment , Beijing had fallen to the Manchu rebellion . Since contemporaneous biographies ( Wen 's work was not published until 1830 ) make no mention of these events , it has been suggested that they were fabricated after Hu 's death .