In the carriage returning home, Kong Taichang's expression was very solemn: "Alas..."
The son sitting nearby couldn't listen anymore, so he had to interrupt his father's sigh: "Dad, please stop sighing and think of a solution quickly."
"Whatever we can do, we can't resist the order." Kong Taichang was in a mess at the moment, his mind was in chaos, and he completely lost his usual calmness and wisdom.
"Dad, do you want to watch your little sister marry the king as a concubine?" Kong Yuanyan's father looked resigned and said in disbelief, "Do you want our Kong family to be involved in the struggle for imperial power? Will we be reviled by scholars all over the world again? Will we repeat the mistakes of the previous dynasty again? "
Kong Yuan's words deeply touched Kong Taichang's feelings, and his expression suddenly became solemn, "We in the Kong family must not repeat the mistakes of the previous dynasty, absolutely not!"
In the previous dynasty, the then head of the Kong family was obsessed with supporting King Yun, making him the first prince in the previous dynasty to be awarded the title of Eight Pearls. King Yun was not born to the queen, but the son of Concubine Lan, who doted on the harem. Concubine Lan was arrogant and domineering, and so was King Yun.
The Confucian family supported King Yun, which violated the Confucian rule of establishing heirs and elders. Not only that, King Yun at that time was very domineering and had no reputation at all. If the Kong family supports such a person to compete for the throne, how can it not make scholars all over the world angry?
With the support of the Kong family, King Yun became more and more powerful and became more authoritarian and domineering. King Yun did many ridiculous things, which made the people complain. Furthermore, many scholars were persecuted at that time, which made scholars all over the world hate the Confucius family. It was also at that time that the reputation of the Kong family was in disrepute.
After that, Emperor Xia Ling of the previous dynasty was ridiculous and extravagant, causing devastation to all living beings. The people could no longer bear it and revolted one after another. At that time, the late emperor was the most outstanding and the most benevolent among the many martyrs in the uprising.
The late emperor himself was born as a peasant and had been exploited by officials of the previous dynasty. He deeply understood the suffering and hardship of the people, so he always asked his soldiers to treat the people well. Wherever his army went, they never killed, burned or looted, but instead comforted and helped the people.
The people felt that the late emperor was a benevolent king and respected him very much. Everywhere the late emperor went, the people warmly welcomed him. At that time, the common people did not have much to eat, but they actively sent drinks and food to the late emperor.
Kong Taichang's father saw that the late emperor was well-known among the people and had a benevolent heart, so he decided to seek refuge with the late emperor and support him.
The late emperor himself had not read any books, but he knew the importance of reading. Kong Taichang's father's surrender made the late emperor very happy. The late emperor asked Kong Taichang's father to teach his children to read and also teach the soldiers how to read and write.
Kong Taichang's father was favored by the late emperor. Coupled with his own integrity and respect for virtuous people, the Kong family's reputation gradually recovered. Later, Kong Taichang's father, He Xiang, and others helped the late emperor establish the Great Zhou Dynasty, and also helped the late emperor formulate the laws and etiquette rules of the Great Zhou Dynasty.
At the beginning of the Great Zhou Dynasty, military generals were very popular and had high status, but the status of scholars plummeted. With the efforts of Kong Taichang's father, the late emperor began to attach great importance to Confucianism, which greatly improved the status of scholars and gradually became more important. Because of this incident, scholars all over the world no longer resent the Confucius family. After more than ten or twenty years, the Confucius family finally regained the respect of scholars all over the world. However, the status and reputation of the Kong family are still not as good as those of the Li family.
Before Kong Taichang's death, his father held his hand tightly and told him repeatedly that he must abide by the rules set by his ancestors and never do stupid things like the previous head of the family and ruin the Kong family.
Kong Taichang swore in front of his father that he would never let the Kong family make the same mistake again.
"Dad, we can't resist the decree, but if the younger sister can't marry the king, the emperor can't blame us, can he?"
Kong Taichang understood what his son meant, "Do you mean to ruin this marriage?"
Kong Yuan nodded and said: "This marriage must be destroyed."
"Yes, we have to destroy it, but we have to think carefully about how to destroy it without making the emperor angry."
"I just said that we should decide on the marriage before my little sister gets married. You and your mother said there was no rush, and you also said that you should take your time to choose. Now it's fine. The emperor will directly marry you to the acting king." Kong Yuan said, "If my sister decides, If we marry someone, we can refuse the emperor’s marriage today.”
Kong Taichang also regretted in his heart: "I never knew that the emperor would marry your little sister to the king. If I had known this, I would have arranged a marriage for your little sister a few years ago, and I will marry your little sister when she is old enough." The youngest daughter is He and his wife's old daughter is talented, well-behaved and cute. He and his wife have always doted on her, but there is no way they would let her get married early. He and his wife plan to keep their youngest daughter for another two years and slowly choose a good husband for their little daughter during these two years. Unexpectedly, the emperor would suddenly grant a marriage to his youngest daughter, and she would marry the king as a concubine.
"When the late emperor was here, he did not allow our daughters of the Kong family to enter the palace as concubines. In the years since the emperor ascended the throne, he did not allow our daughters of the Kong family to enter the palace as concubines." Kong Taichang's face was full of confusion, "Back then, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and When His Highness Dai Wang got married, the Emperor did not allow our daughter of the Kong family to marry His Highness the Crown Prince and His Highness Dai Wang. What happened today that the Emperor suddenly gave your little sister a marriage to Dai Wang? "
"It's very simple. The emperor wants our Kong family to support His Highness the King of Dai, so that in the future His Highness the King of Dai can legitimately become..." When Kong Yuan said this, he suddenly stopped and did not say any more.
Kong Taichang's expression suddenly became heavy again, "Your Majesty, this is..." He wanted to know how the Emperor could do such a stupid thing.
"Dad, our Kong family cannot support Dai Wang!"
"This is natural!" Kong Taichang said sternly, "Even if you resist the decree, we can't let your little sister marry the king!" The reputation of the Kong family cannot be ruined anymore, otherwise they will really have no face to meet their ancestors.
"We have to discuss this matter carefully."
Kong Taichang and the others haven't returned home yet, and everyone in the mansion knows about the marriage.
Mrs. Kong and Miss Kong were anxiously waiting for Kong Taichang and his companions to return. Seeing them coming back, I quickly asked them what was going on with the marriage.
Kong Taichang then told his wife and little daughter what happened in the morning. After saying that, seeing the panic on the faces of the madam and the youngest daughter, he quickly comforted them and said, "Madam, don't worry, I will never let Yao'er marry the king as a concubine."
"The emperor has granted me a marriage, how can we refuse it? Master, do you want to resist the decree?"
"In addition to resisting the decree, there are other ways, but you have to wrong Yao'er."
Kong Yao saw Mrs. Kong looking at her with guilty eyes, and smiled sweetly at him: "Dad, I am aggrieved by marrying the Daiwang as his concubine. As long as I can avoid marrying the Daiwang, I will not be aggrieved. "
"Yao'er, from today on, you will pretend to be sick."
"Pretending to be sick?" Kong Yao said in shock, "Dad, the emperor just granted me the marriage, and I fell ill. This is too obvious, the emperor will definitely be suspicious."
"Then I'll tell you that you were frightened by this marriage offer." On the way back home, Kong Taichang and his son had already thought of several ways to reject this marriage offer. "If pretending to be sick doesn't work, then pretend to be crazy. I don't believe it. If you are crazy, the emperor will let you marry the king..." Before he could finish speaking, his arm was twisted hard by the lady.
"What bad idea did you come up with?"
But Kong Yao thought this idea was a good one: "Dad, let's do it this way. Pretending to be sick won't work, so I'll pretend to be crazy." She would rather pretend to be crazy than marry the king as a concubine.
"Try pretending to be sick first." Kong Taichang said, "Tomorrow I will plead guilty to the emperor and test his attitude."
Kong Yuan on the side said: "Fortunately, my little sister hasn't got hairpins yet, so you don't have to worry about me getting married as soon as the king comes back."
When Mrs. Kong heard what her husband and son said, she said in surprise: "You really want to do this?"
"Actually, there is another way, which is to let the little sister destroy her own reputation, but this is not good for the little sister." Kong Yuan said, "Currently, the best way we can think of is to pretend to be sick or crazy."
"Dad, brother, it doesn't matter if my reputation is ruined, but the reputation of our Kong family must not be ruined again."
Seeing that his little daughter was so sensible, Kong Taichang was very pleased: "Tomorrow, I will talk to the emperor carefully and hope that the emperor can take back his life."
"Why did the emperor suddenly grant a marriage?" Mrs. Kong asked in confusion, "Does the emperor want to destroy our Kong family?" Mrs. Kong also understood the real purpose behind this decree of marriage. The emperor is destroying the Kong family by asking them to support the king.
