Qufu.
Several retainers from Duke Yansheng's Mansion flew straight into the Qufu Fortress. These retainers were all dressed as swordsmen who traveled around the world. They didn't ride horses, they all came on foot, and they were covered in dust and dirt. The reason why they are called retainers instead of retainers is because all of them have the surname Kong!
And it’s not a surname that was changed later, but an ancestral surname of Kong! Two of them were of the Xing generation, so they had to call Kong Yinzhi uncle. There is another person who is the same generation as Kong Yinzhi, so he can call Kong Yinzhi his brother.
However, they are not direct descendants, but are distant descendants of Kong Yinzhi.
Confucius has many descendants, as many as three million in later generations! Although there were not so many in the late Ming Dynasty, the population was prosperous. There were tens of thousands of male males alone, and most of them belonged to the northern branch, which was derived from the Kong family in Qufu.
But these days, even Zhu Ming's nobles are in danger, let alone the descendants of the Kong family? If the close relatives of Yan Shenggong can still take care of him, those distant sect members cannot take care of him. In the peaceful and prosperous times, these side branches of the Kong family could still catch a little bit of the shadow and live a life of farming and reading (that is, collecting rent and studying).
But in today's chaotic world, nothing can be done with a surname! The descendants of the old Kong family here in Shandong are even worthless. Not only was it worthless, but it also became the target of the evil Donglu who wanted to destroy it - didn't the Donglu want to defeat Confucius? If the ancestral graves cannot be saved, how can they, the filial sons and grandsons of the Kong family, have a good ending? So of course all the bloody people gathered in Qufu to defend their ancestors.
And this group of descendants of the Kong family who came to Qufu to defend their ancestors were quite popular with Yanshenggong Kong Yinzhi at the beginning - they were his own people after all, and they were at least more reliable than Shi Kefa's "legal thief" men, right?
Therefore, Kong Yinzhi tried his best to recruit these disciples of the Confucius family into Yanshenggong Mansion and Qufu Regiment for military training, hoping to use them to control some troops to restrain the "Shi Dafa thieves". But after two or three years, Kong Yinzhi was really disappointed with these relatives. Most of them were masters who could eat but not fight. They knew how to ask Kong Yinzhi for money, food and drink, and they were also difficult to control. The ancestors carried it out.
Over time, these Miao descendants of the Kong family gradually disappeared from military training in Qufu. Some of the descendants of the Kong family who still had a few net worth took their families to the southeast, while those who had nothing left were brought into the Duke Yansheng's mansion and became so-called "retainers".
However, some of these Kong family retainers were able to adapt to this chaotic world, and they became the most trusted confidants of Yanshenggong Kong Yinzhi.
Kong Yinzheng, who had just brought his two nephews into the city, was a child of the Kong family who was very able to adapt to troubled times. Although he is the same generation as Kong Yinzhi, he is much younger. He is only in his early twenties this year. He does not look like Kong. He is tall and burly, six feet tall, with a dark face and a messy beard like a steel needle. It grows on the cheeks, and at first glance it looks like a robber. If you bring two axes, you will be almost the same as Li Kui...
Not only does he not look like a descendant of the Confucius family, but he also doesn't like reading very much. He only remembers half of the Analects of Confucius, but he has a lot of strength. He likes to dance with guns and sticks, draw bows and shoot arrows, and has good martial arts skills. In a peaceful and prosperous time, his name would not be worthy of the surname Kong. But now Qufu has turned into a big fortress and is being beaten by Tatars every three days. Therefore, Kong Yinzhi looked down upon those relatives who knew the Four Books and Five Classics by heart, but promoted Kong Yinzhi to be a gun and stick instructor, and sometimes sent him out of the city to perform important tasks.
He left the city this time to perform a task specially assigned by Yan Shenggong - to watch the battle! Observe the battle between the Ming and Qing armies outside Qufu!
This was a battle related to the life and death of the Kong family in Qufu. Kong Yinzhi and several elders and dignitaries of the Kong family all raised their loyalty to their throats.
In the inner hall of Yanshenggong's mansion, several elders of the Kong family in Taoist robes and Confucian crowns, as well as Yanshenggong himself, finally received the fatal news today.
"Brother Shenggong!" Kong Yinzheng didn't even change his clothes. He came here covered in dust and dirt. When he saw Kong Yinzhi, he bowed his head. He also affectionately called Kong Yinzhi "Brother Shenggong" - why does it sound so much like the White Lotus Sect?
Kong Yinzhi stopped arguing with this vulgar person and just kept asking: "How was it? Who won?"
Kong Yinzheng said: "The Donglu won! The emperor was defeated, and many cannons were surrendered... Brother Shenggong, hurry up and deploy the defense of the city!"
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty has been defeated?" Kong Yinzhi asked nervously, "Have you, have you..."
"Brother Shenggong is asking whether the emperor was beaten to death by Donglu?"
Kong Yinzhi's eyes widened and he nodded.
"I don't know!" Kong Yinzheng just shook his head, "I watched the battle in Daiyang on Beili Mountain on the north bank of the Dawen River. I was more than ten miles away from the battlefield. Even with a telescope, I couldn't find the emperor."
"Then how do you know that the emperor is on the battlefield?" asked an old man who was senior to Kong Yinzhi and Kong Yinzheng.
"There are twelve banners of the Emperor and the reincarnation banner of Emperor Taizu Gao... I recognize all these flags!"
Didn't Zhu Cixi lend out his banner to call Shi Kefa's bluff? In fact, Dorgon was not fooled - he did not see the model division or the armored cavalry regiment, but only saw a group of coolies "pulling carts". Of course, he knew that Zhu Cihong was not on the front line.
But Kong Yinzheng didn't know that. He thought it was Zhu Cixiang himself who was defeated by Donglu.
"It's over, it's over..." Kong Yinzhi shook his head repeatedly, with tears streaming down his face, "Qufu can't be defended anymore, and the burial place of our ancestors can't be defended anymore..."
"This, there's nothing we can do?"
"Donglu didn't really dig up Kong Lin, right?"
"Isn't that true? That would be an enemy of all the scholars in the world..."
Several elders of the Kong family still don't believe that Dorgon will come to dig up Kong Lin... In fact, Kong Yinzhi doesn't believe it either. This matter is simply a frame-up!
But he still didn't dare to stay in Qufu and wait for Emperor Ama of the Qing Dynasty, because wasn't it him, Duke Yan, who came forward to frame and slander him?
At that time, he was caught by Zhu Cixiang and could be beheaded. In order to survive, he would do anything Zhu Cixiong said.
Well now, the Tatar Emperor Ama is coming... Kong Lin can't dig, but he can dig a hole to bury Kong Yinzhi, the Duke of Yansheng.
"No, we can't stay in Qufu City, we have to leave immediately..." Kong Yinzhi gritted his teeth, "Keep the green hills here, don't worry about running out of firewood!"
"What?"
"We can't leave!"
"Qufu City is our home..."
"Once we leave, Qufu won't be able to hold on!"
"Brother Shenggong!"
Kong Yinzheng and several seniors were stunned by Kong Yinzhi's words.
Qufu Grand Fort is the fundamental place that the Kong family and Shi Kefa have been running for many years! The city was impregnable. No matter what kind of red cannon or small red cannon Dorgon used, he could not break down the city wall of Qufu.
Moreover, there are many Hongyi cannons placed on the walls of Qufu, so they are not afraid of artillery battles at all!
In addition, although the main force of Qufu's army training has left the city, there are still many strong men in the city, and the artillery guarding the city is still there.
Dorgon really wanted to attack Qufu. Even if he could defeat it, the casualties of 10,000 to 20,000 people and a few months would be inevitable no matter what.
And if Yanshenggong, the backbone of Qufu City, runs away, the people in Qufu City will definitely be dispersed, and the good castle will belong to Donglu!
Kong Lin might be dug up!
"Stop talking!" Kong Yinzhi roared, and glanced around the inner hall coldly, "The blood of the saint cannot be cut off here, so I must leave Qufu for the sake of my ancestors. Preserving the bloodline is the duty of Duke Yansheng!"
Several Kong family members in the inner hall were shocked by Kong Yinzhi's shamelessness!
The last thing Confucius lacked was descendants of blood! And...you, Kong Yinzhi, have a son! If you want to preserve the bloodline, it's your son Kong Heung-seop's job to preserve it. You're an old man, can you still do it?
"Gongyong," Kong Yinzhi stopped talking nonsense with a few old men and directly gave an order to his black brother, "I will appoint you as the head of the Kong family! You go and summon the young men immediately... Tonight Let’s go and join His Highness King Lu in Yidu!”
