Time goes back to 7 days ago, the third day of June in the 6th year of Chongzhen.
When the troops stationed in Qufu received the order to retreat. A dark shadow entered the Kong family's secret room.
After half a stick of incense, a bucket of gruel was brought in.
Then I saw a few servants opening the mouths of the eight men in black and pouring the gruel directly into them.
"Cough, cough" accompanied by several fierce coughs, eight men in black woke up one after another.
"Give me something to eat, give me something to eat." Eight men in black went crazy and grabbed the gruel.
I saw a man in black accidentally knocking over the porridge bucket.
Others, see this. He squatted down like crazy, grabbed rice grains with his hands and stuffed them into his mouth quickly.
No one knows how they survived.
The Ming Dynasty's army came too quickly and blocked the eight people in the Kong family. In order to avoid being discovered by the court, the eight people had to hide in the secret room again.
Fortunately, the Kong family's secret room was hidden enough, and the Ming army only briefly searched it. Eight people were lucky enough to escape.
But the following days were the real purgatory on earth for the eight people.
In order to prevent anyone from hiding in the Kong family, the Kong family except pregnant women and infant babies.
The rest of the people were all gathered together while eating.
After eating, they had to read the Analects of Confucius for half an hour under the supervision of the army.
Although there are many members of the Kong family, few know about the secret room, and even fewer know that there is someone in the secret room.
And although everyone didn't know what Kong Yinzhi was talking to those people in the secret room, everyone was not stupid and could guess with their toes that what was discussed in the secret room was definitely not a good thing.
In order to prevent the eight people in the secret room from jumping over the wall and threatening the Kong family, the Kong family knew that there was someone in the secret room and locked the secret room directly from the outside.
At the beginning, there were candles, tea, fruits and snacks in the secret room, and the eight people lived well.
After all, in the eyes of the eight people, the Kong family is the descendant of Kong Sheng after all. Even if Zhu Youjian is lawless, he must think twice when facing the literati all over the world.
Therefore, it was impossible for the army to stay at the Kong family for a long time. However, as time went by, especially when the eight people were tortured by the feces and urine around them, they wanted to go out for some air and found that the secret room had been locked. Not to mention how uncomfortable it was.
As time went by, the supplies in the secret room were almost consumed, and the eight people became completely desperate.
During this period, all the men in black thought about killing someone and eating them to survive, but in the end they didn’t know why. Maybe they were worried about being discovered by the court and being called cannibals after their death, or maybe they didn’t want to. Stay away from being the one who stands out.
So the most of the 8 people fainted from hunger.
"Several adults, please suffer. The imperial court discovered this secret room before. For the safety of your family and property, we can only watch helplessly as the imperial court locked up this secret room.
Now my Kong family is in great trouble. I can no longer help a few people openly. But my Kong family will definitely not swallow this breath in vain. We will definitely teach Chongzhen a lesson.
But now that Chongzhen's children are powerful, we still need to take a long-term approach.
This is a bearer note of 80,000 taels from the Qiming Chamber of Commerce. My lords, laugh at that.
If you adults go out, you should first go back to your hiding place and rest for a few days before leaving. You must not go out directly. After all, no one can guarantee whether the imperial army will fight back. "
The leader of the Kong family said.
As a descendant of Confucius, he has always been above others.
Even the emperor did not dare to use force against the Kong family at will, but the little emperor was too unruly.
Actually, under the banner of Kong Sheng, he went directly to the Kong family.
He couldn't help but extort more than 3 million taels of silver from the Kong family. They also want to turn the Kong family into a dog of the imperial court, which is something that no one in the Kong family can bear.
The reason why the Confucius family has been able to stand for thousands of years is that apart from the banner of Confucius, the most important thing is to kneel down.
As long as I kneel down quickly enough, in order to stabilize the world as soon as possible, you can't touch me.
Now the Kong family has been directly turned into the court's dogs. The life and death of the Kong family can all depend on the court's thoughts.
The Ming Dynasty has been in existence for more than two hundred years. Over the past two hundred years, various forces have become numerous, and the Ming Dynasty has become a terminally ill country.
The dynasty only lasts 300 years. Even if the emperor is powerful, can all the stubborn diseases be cured?
If the Kong family wants to continue to live, they can't be the court's dogs. Otherwise, the rest of the people will secretly tear the Kong family apart in troubled times.
"We will accept the money. We will stay in Qufu for 5 days. After we are sure that the imperial army will not turn back, we will return to Jiangnan and give the imperial court a hard blow."
A man in black said.
"The imperial court has blocked it, I believe you.
I am old, but not stupid.
If the court knew that I was in the secret room, they would dig me out even if they were absolutely 8 feet tall.
It's obviously your Kong family who is greedy for life and afraid of death, so you have to frame it on the little emperor. You really treat me as a fool.
If it weren't for the sake of Yinzi and to get out alive, I would tear you apart right now. "
"I don't know what you are going to do. If you need help from our Kong family, please ask as much as possible."
"Salt." The man in black said.
If people do not eat salt for a long time, they will suffer from loss of appetite, dizziness, and weakness in the limbs. In severe cases, nausea, vomiting, blurred vision, reflexes, and weakened anorexia may occur.
It can be said without mercy that salt can greatly affect people's health. Affects the life and death of the country.
Daming salt is mainly divided into pool salt and sea salt.
Damingchi salt is mainly produced in the "salt lakes" in the northwest region, and is mainly distributed in Shanxi, Shaanxi, Ningxia and other places.
Due to production and transportation problems, Daming’s pool salt can only ensure the safety of nearby table salt.
Although there are salt fields in other areas, they still need to be transported from other places by the court.
Zhu Youjian's salt policy reform greatly increased the production and quality of salt. In order to allow more people to eat cheap salt, Zhu Youjian ordered relevant personnel to design corresponding transportation channels.
In order to reduce transportation costs, the imperial army would regularly deliver salt to designated locations in each province via waterways, and then the salt would be escorted to each government by local garrisons.
The counties will then be assigned.
This seems to be beneficial to the country and the people. The people can eat cheaper salt, and the country has also received enough taxes. But it did touch the cake of many people.
The court's low-priced salt was even cheaper than the private salt sold there, which affected the interests of countless private salt sellers.
You know, whoever dares to sell illegal salt does not have seven or eight people under his command who dare to fight?
Although the imperial court had recruited and dispatched troops to clean up the teams selling illegal salt, the centipede was still alive. How could the illegal salt channels that had existed for hundreds of years be solved in five or six years?
