The next day, His Majesty the Emperor was accompanied by his uncle and nephew from the Kong family, Shen Yi, local official Zhang Jian and others. We arrived at the Confucius Temple and prepared to worship the saint.
At this time, the Confucius Temple has been basically repaired and restored to its original appearance.
The craftsmen even deliberately made it older to make the Confucius Temple look more primitive and grand again.
At this time, Kong Zhenying and Kong Shangzhen's uncle and nephew were on the emperor's left side, and Shen Yi and Zhang Jian were on the emperor's right side.
The two brothers walked in tandem, Zhang Jian followed Shen Yi, raised his head and looked at His Majesty the Emperor who had changed into military uniforms in front of him, and then looked at the Confucius Temple directly in front of him, and couldn't help but sigh: "Tuo Ziheng It’s your blessing that I can accompany you in the sacrifice.”
Shen Yi is now at the third level, while Zhang Jian is at the fourth level.
Shen Yi, a third-rank official, is a Beijing official, and is theoretically two levels higher than a local official. He is almost equivalent to a local governor of the second rank or even a first-rank governor.
Compared with Zhang Jian, it is much more expensive.
But even so, neither Shen Yi nor Zhang Jian was qualified to accompany the sacrifice.
Because in theory, when the emperor worships heaven and ancestors, he needs the prime minister to accompany him!
Finally, it was the Minister of Rites who came to do this job.
At this time, the emperor's sacrifice to Confucius in Qufu may not be as high as the sacrifice to heaven or ancestors in Jiankang, but the actual significance is far better than the sacrifice to heaven and ancestors.
However, none of the five prime ministers of Zhongshu and the Minister of Rites followed.
In the final analysis, it was because they opposed the emperor's tour and were engaged in silent resistance.
After all, there had been no sacrifice to Confucius for seventy years, and no one knew the specific specifications of the ceremony. The absence of several prime ministers did not hinder the etiquette.
It is for this reason that Shen Yi and Zhang Jian were able to accompany the emperor to pay homage to Confucius.
As for the two uncles and nephews of the Kong family, they are regarded as two "quasi-sage saints". With them accompanying them, this memorial ceremony for Confucius can be regarded as more formal.
Moreover, this time of worshiping Confucius is destined to go down in history.
Of course, the premise is that Chen wins the next war and at least maintains or maintains his rule over Qufu for a period of time. Otherwise, this sacrifice to Confucius will become an out-and-out joke. Hong Emperor De's face will be completely lost.
The Kong family, especially Kong Shangzhen, Duke Yansheng of the Northern Qi Dynasty, had experienced sacrifices to Confucius countless times, and even received the emperor more than once.
Of course, the person he received was not the emperor of Dachen, but Emperor Yongping of Northern Qi.
But no matter what, he was still familiar with the process of offering sacrifices to Confucius. Under his guidance, His Majesty the Emperor successfully completed the offering of sacrifices to Confucius and respectfully bowed to the old master.
Near noon, this grand event of worshiping Confucius was finally completed. After His Majesty the Emperor stood up, everyone else knelt on the ground and worshiped Emperor Hongde. Long live the mountain.
The emperor first helped Shen Yi up, then stepped forward to support the Kong family's uncle and nephew, and said with a smile: "It has been almost a month since I arrived in Shandong, and you uncle and nephew have been getting along for the same amount of time."
"After such a long time, have you discussed how to deal with family affairs?"
These words made the uncle and nephew's expressions suddenly change at the same time.
Kong Zhenying lowered his head and said, "Your Majesty, I have nothing to do with..."
"What are you discussing with Shang Zhen?"
"Family affairs are also the affairs of the imperial court. What I mean is that they all depend on the imperial court's arrangements."
The emperor looked at "Yanshenggong" Kong Shangzhen with a smile and asked, "Where are you, Mr. Kong?"
Kong Shangzhen's face turned pale, and he lowered his head slightly and said, "Uncle is right, everything depends on your Majesty's arrangements."
The emperor touched his chin and said thoughtfully: "It is difficult for me to arrange this matter. I will discuss it slowly with the ministers in the court after returning to Jiankang."
After saying this, he smiled and asked: "Will Mr. Kong go back to Jiankang with me, or will he stay in Qufu?"
Kong Shangzhen is the current head of the Kong family.
Theoretically, he should stay in Qufu.
However, after hearing the emperor's words, Kong Shangzhen stood there and was silent for a long time before bowing his head respectfully and saying: "I have been in Hu for a long time and have become a little ignorant. I am about to boldly plead with your majesty to let me live in Jiankang for a while. Take a holy bath to purify yourself."
After hearing his words, His Majesty the Emperor had no reaction. Master Shen, who was not far away, glanced back at Zhang Jian and laughed in a low voice: "This guy is thick-skinned."
Zhang Fuzun was startled by Mr. Shen's sudden whisper. He coughed and tried to lower his voice.
"Zi Heng, don't talk nonsense and let him listen to it again..."
Mr. Shen disagreed and said calmly: "Even if he listens, he should pretend not to hear."
His Majesty the Emperor seemed to have heard the conversation between the two people. He looked back at them and then smiled at Kong Shangzhen and said, "Well, Mr. Kong and I will go to Jiankang to grieve for a while."
After saying this, the emperor yawned and said: "Today's worship of the saint was finally completed smoothly. I am very happy."
"But I got up early today and I'm a little tired, so I'm going back home."
Kong Shangzhen lowered his head slightly and said: "Your Majesty, the people in Qufu City were very happy when they knew that Your Majesty was here, but they were also worried that there would be no one to take care of Your Majesty. In the past few days, they selected several girls from good families and prepared to send them to Come to His Majesty’s side and serve His Majesty personally.”
The emperor looked at him and asked with a smile: "Is your surname Kong?"
Kong Shangzhen was a little embarrassed when he heard this, but he still lowered his head and said, "Your Majesty, there are many people named Kong in Qufu City."
The emperor asked again: "Are you a member of your clan?"
Kong Shangzhen shook his head: "The fifth server has been removed."
"That works."
His Majesty the Emperor nodded lazily: "Just tell Gao Ming about this and let him look over it for me."
After saying this, the emperor got into his car and headed back home.
Shen Yi and Zhang Jian also followed back to the backyard of the Kong Mansion.
At this moment, there is no Kong family living in the Kong Mansion.
To be more precise, it should be said that only two Kong family members, Chongshenghou Kong Zhenying and his nephew Kong Shangzhen, lived here.
It can be regarded as a temporary visit to His Majesty the Emperor.
After entering the Confucius Mansion, the emperor directly called Shen Yi and Zhang Jian over in the living room. After seeing the courtesy of the emperor and his ministers, the emperor sat on the main seat and motioned for the two to take their seats.
After the two brothers sat down, the emperor looked at Shen Yi, rubbed his temples and said, "I will leave to return to Jiankang soon."
After saying that, before the two brothers could speak, the emperor sighed helplessly: "Actually, I want to stay outside for a few more days."
"It's just that the ministers in the court have urged me. My queen mother already writes two letters a day."
"I'm really worried that her old man will be angry."
Having said this, he looked at Shen Yi and Zhang Jian, and sighed again: "This Shandong battlefield will be left to you two."
Having said this, he took out the gold medal from his sleeve, pushed it in front of Shen Yi, and said, "I gave it to you last time, but you haven't used it much. I'll give it to you this time."
"Use it not to let you control Shandong, but to let you communicate with Pei Jun."
"With this sign in your hand, Pei Jun will respect your opinions as much as possible."
The most important thing in the Northern Expedition was that the two armies cooperated and communicated with each other, so this brand was undoubtedly an extremely useful thing.
Shen Yi was not polite, took the sign with both hands, and said with a smile: "Thank you, Your Majesty, for the reward."
The emperor smiled and did not answer, then looked at Zhang Jian and said: "Although I did not go to Yanzhou, I visited Xuzhou and Qufu. I did a good job. They have been occupied by the Qi people for so long. Now in It’s so organized.”
Emperor Hongde looked at Zhang Jian and praised: "He is quite like his ancestors."
This is undoubtedly the best compliment to Zhang Jian.
Because his grandfather was Zhang Jingxianggong who had held the country for more than ten years!
Zhang Fuzun stood up directly and knelt on the ground, his eyes were a little red.
"My lord, thank you for your compliment!"
The emperor was sitting on the main seat, looking lackluster. He looked at Shen Yi and asked, "Does Shen Qing want anything else? You can talk to me face to face while I'm here."
Shen Yi shook his head slightly: "Your Majesty, I don't want anything."
The emperor looked at Shen Yi, hesitated, and asked, "How about leaving all the 30,000 forbidden troops I carry with me to you?"
Shen Yi shook his head quickly: "Your Majesty, the current strength of the Huai'an Army is already a bit difficult for me to use. If there are more, I won't be able to bring it over."
The emperor smiled hoarsely: "That's it, I'll leave half of it for you."
Seeing that Shen Yi still wanted to speak, the emperor frowned and said, "If Shen Qing still doesn't want it, I will have to reward you elsewhere."
"After I return to Jiankang, how about I match the eldest daughter of the emperor to the eldest son of your family?"
Hearing this, Shen Yi nodded helplessly.
"Your Majesty, I still want half of the Imperial Army."
His Majesty the Emperor laughed and said, "If the Queen knew that you looked down on my eldest daughter, she would probably get angry with you."
"Your Majesty, it's not that I look down upon you, but I don't dare to reach for you."
After a few polite words, His Majesty the Emperor looked at Shen Yi and said with a smile: "I have been thinking about how to reward Shen Qing these days. It was only last night that I finally figured it out."
He patted Shen Yi on the shoulder and said seriously.
"When I return to Jiankang, I will ask the court to draft a document and grant you a title..."
"Governor of Shandong."
(End of chapter)
