As the saying goes, a good man will be bullied by others, and a good horse will be ridden by others.
Therefore, because the emperor of the Zhu family was too good to the Confucian family, the Confucian family, which had always been the most deferential to those in power, became unwilling to be submissive.
The Kong family really decided not to change the memorial tablets.
However, a few days later, what Duke Yansheng Kong Shangxian did not expect was that the minister Kong Zhenrui and others brought a group of people from the lower classes of the Kong family to the Kong mansion, shouting to see him.
Kong Shangxian, Kong Shangtan and other direct descendants of the Beizong Kong Mansion did not see these people, and only sent the steward Kong Gui to deal with the matter.
As soon as Kong Gui came out, he arrogantly asked Kong Zhenrui and the others: "What did you do to see our master?"
"We demand that the rent be reduced and we be allowed to leave the house!"
At this time, Kong Zhenrui said.
Kong Gui chuckled: "Not to mention our master will not agree to such a request, even I will not agree to it!"
Then, Kong Gui said again: "Also, Mr. Kong, I'm not talking about you. You are leading them to fool around when you have nothing to do. Don't forget that you can become Mr. Kong because of the kindness of our master. Not only do you not know how to be grateful, but you also lead them to misbehave." Let them cause trouble!"
"Why don't you agree? The fields we farm and the bones belong to us!"
"You are just relying on the fact that the magistrate of Qufu is yours, so you can force us to rent our rent, and charge the rent so high. If we don't rent and want to escape, you will accuse us of betraying the clan and abandoning our ancestors, being unfaithful and unfilial. , execute us according to the patriarchal law!"
"Now we know that the imperial court has long issued an order not to allow you to use the clan system to kill people, or to abide by the new etiquette and modify the clan system. You should follow the order and reduce the rent for us. Otherwise, we will not pay the rent!"
"As for kindness, I only know that what I have today is the kindness of Your Majesty and the kindness of my ancestors. It has nothing to do with them!"
"If you don't agree, we will go to Beijing to file a complaint! I don't know whose face we will be embarrassed by then!"
Kong Zhenrui said at this time.
"That's right, otherwise we won't pay the rent and will go to Beijing to complain!"
"If it doesn't decrease, we will enter Beijing!"
“The rent must be reduced!”
…
The people of Qufu who came here responded loudly.
Seeing this, Kong Gui did not dare to do anything. He only ordered: "Wait until I go and report to the gentlemen."
After Kong Gui reported to Kong Shangxian, Kong Shangtan and others, Kong Shangxian's face darkened and said: "Why are you here to report? How can it be possible to reduce the rent? We will never allow such illegal situations to occur. Fight out all these troublemakers." , beat them to death! Then report it to your old parents, the Fifth Master, and ask him to report that these people who were beaten to death were treasonous bandits who intended to attack Qufu and disturb the land of the saints, but they have now been wiped out by him."
Kong Gui cupped his hands and said yes.
Kong Shangtan echoed here: "Brother, you are right to do this. These cunning and cunning people have always been tough and not soft, so they should do this. Now I have killed a few, just in time to kill Wei Feng."
Kong Shangxian just smiled faintly: "Although this incident came out of the blue and these people suddenly made a fuss, the following crimes are indeed intolerable! Otherwise, the entire Kong Mansion and even the entire Qufu will be in chaos."
"That's what my brother said."
Kong Shangli also echoed.
According to the Ming system, the magistrate of Qufu County was elected by the heads of each house of the Beizong Kong family.
Therefore, Qufu is actually equivalent to an independent kingdom of the Confucius family.
Therefore, it was not a problem for Kong Shangxian to kill some people belonging to his own clan, unlike in history when Kong Hongxu killed people with foreign surnames.
In order to facilitate the enslavement of tenants, the Kong family often forcibly turned the homesteaders in Qufu into their own Kong family, or when they recruited refugees to come to Qufu to reclaim wasteland, they asked them to change their surnames, and then used the name of the clan to force these people to accept their rule, which was equivalent to The land in Qufu was annexed.
It is precisely because of this that many people in Qufu also have the surname Kong.
Of course, there are also some Confucius family members who are not direct relatives and belong to distant branches, but they have also become low-level tenants who are wantonly exploited by the Confucius family.
In short, on the surface, it seems that the Kong family is just absorbing the blood of their own family members, and because of this, the foreign surname does not seem to think that the Kong family is very hateful.
This seems to be the norm in Confucian society, that is, it may appear to be moderate and docile to the outside world, but those who are most oppressed by it are the lower-class people within the family.
After Kong Shangxian gave such instructions, Kong Gui brought people from the Kong family to come with sticks to beat Kong Zhenrui and other Kong people who were causing trouble.
"ah!"
Kong Zhenrui himself was the first to suffer a bunch of blows, and he was immediately disgraced.
Then, other civilians were also beaten, many of them bleeding on the spot.
Kong Gui put his hands on his hips and said: "Hit! Beat me hard! I have spoken, not to mention beating them to death! Just treat them like disorderly bandits and beat them to death!"
As a result, the people of the Kong family who were caught off guard were beaten by more and more servants of the Kong family with sticks. Many of them fled and some were beaten to death on the spot.
After a long time, the fight ended.
At this time, Kong Gui pointed to a group of people who were beaten to death and said: "Drag them out of the city and feed them to wild dogs!"
"yes!"
After saying that, Kong Gui smiled coldly and prepared to go back and report to his master.
But not long after, Kong Shen, a domestic servant sent by Kong Shangyuan, the magistrate of Qufu, came here and said to Kong Gui: "Tell the eldest sir quickly, the soldiers in our county office discovered that a large number of people on horseback were coming. It's like mountain bandits coming to attack the county town, please make preparations quickly!"
Because Yan Shenggong's government imposed brutal taxes on Qufu, there were indeed many people of the Kong family in Qufu who could not bear his oppression and would rather violate the patriarchal laws and flee to nearby mountains to become bandits.
"Bandits?"
"What kind of bandit dares to attack the county town?"
Kong Gui asked Kong Shen in disbelief.
Kong Shen said: "Who knows? According to Pu Bing who reported the letter, these bandits all rode very tall horses. Each one was as strong as a tower. They were not like ordinary bandits. They might have colluded with the nearby officers and soldiers. Now that they are here, Now, let the eldest master think of a way, whether to welcome him in first, give him some money to persuade him to leave, or resist as a whole family."
"Since they are bandits with many war horses, why resist? Of course they want to welcome them in!"
"Those who have permanent property have perseverance, and those who have no permanent property have no perseverance. Bandits are real bandits. They are not the Fengyang Zhu family who have already taken over the country. If they are in a hurry, they may actually do something like a bandit. We welcome them in first and follow them. Let’s talk to the boss.”
"This is a method taught by our ancestors and cannot be changed!"
Shortly after.
Kong Shangxian learned about this from Kong Gui and Kong Shen, and then immediately made up his mind, and even said a few more words to let the men in his house know the reason for doing this.
These days, whoever has cavalry is just like whoever has chariots and tanks in later generations, which often means that the force is not weak.
Therefore, Kong Shangxian and others thought that this group of bandits was unusual because they heard that they were bandits with many war horses.
Kong Shangtan did agree and said, "What my brother is saying is that we would rather welcome the bandits in now, and then ask soldiers and soldiers to suppress them. We cannot directly offend the bandits."
"That's right! You have to follow the methods of your ancestors to be foolproof. As long as you come to Qufu to worship the saint, we have to welcome everyone, regardless of Huayi!"
Kong Shangli echoed.
Kong Shangxian also said: "Tell the clerk to write a surrender form quickly! Burn it after the bandits leave!"
"yes!"
This way.
Kong Shangxian and the other men of the Kong family really showed no resistance and marched into the county seat. They knelt down on the road to greet him and offered him surrender.
"Kong Shangxian, the sixty-fourth generation grandson of the saint, together with all the men in the palace, respectfully welcome Master Wang!"
Kong Shangxian also shouted loudly and lowered his head when these horse teams appeared.
Kong Shangtan and others also lowered their heads, so they didn't even see what the people who came looked like.
After hearing this, the leader of the cavalry was also stunned. Then he got off the horse and took the surrender form from Kong Shangxian's hand. He said: "This is my brother's fault. If it hadn't been for my brother's request, we would have to come in plainclothes." , and to prevent the situation from alerting the enemy, I believe Yan Shenggong would not do such a thing."
Zhang Maoxiu said with a smile while looking at the watch in his hand.
Kong Shangxian felt something was wrong after hearing what Zhang Maoxiu said. He looked up suddenly and saw Zhang Maoxiu taking down the wooden sign from his arms and showing it to Kong Shangxian: "We are Jin Yiwei, not some new dynasty royal master."
After Zhang Maoxiu said this, Kong Shangxian rolled his eyes and fainted on the spot.
Kong Shangtan, Kong Shangli and others were also beside them.
At this time, a young Confucian named Kong Shangxi couldn't help but said frankly to Kong Shangxi: "Second uncle, our ancestors' methods sometimes don't work!"
"Come here! Arrest all the Kong family members and leave them to your majesty!"
Zhang Maoxiu shouted at this time.
But at this time, Kong Shangtan came back to his senses and shouted: "Wait a minute!"
Zhang Maoxiu then looked at him: "What do you have to say?"
Kong Shang said frankly: "Please help me cover up this matter. After all, this matter involves the glory of the saint and the dignity of the entire Confucian school."
"You also know that this matter will make the Confucians lose face and the saints will be humiliated, right?"
"Now that you know it, why do you still do it?"
Zhang Maoxiu asked Kong Shangtan a few questions.
Kong Shangtan was silent for a moment, and then said: "We are not trying to save the lives of the entire clan and the entire saint's bloodline. Is this Tianchai really willing to see a real bandit slaughter all the saint's bloodline and leave the saint without an heir?!"
Zhang Maoxiu ignored him and just rode into the city.
Kong Shangli looked at Kong Shantan at this time and whispered: "This time our Kong family seems to have been really embarrassed."
"What's the matter? The court will understand us, and even if it doesn't understand, it has to be understood! Is it possible that they really want to destroy our clan and kill the descendants of the saint?!"
Kong Shantan said with a sneer.
Kong Shangli nodded after hearing this: "Yes!"
Kong Shangxian had also woken up at this time, and stood up and said: "In any case, with that surrender, it is a bit embarrassing after all. I have to confess my sin to His Majesty!"
Kong Shangxian said loudly: "Prepare the car!"
But at this time, Kong Gui walked over quickly and said: "Master, we can't prepare the car. Our house is surrounded by Jinyi guards!" (End of this chapter)
