Kong Mingde nodded: "Yes, even Kong Sheng said that people are precious! The learning of the saints is certainly important, but what is important is the saint's principles, not a book composed of a few pieces of paper!"
"The Four Books and Five Classics, among all of you sitting here today, including me and Xiangdong, who doesn't know them by heart? Even if these books are gone, as long as we are still alive, we can record them again!"
"We can talk about these Confucian classics and engrave them on stone walls, furs, bamboo slips, and even turtle shells and animal bones! As long as we live, the teachings of saints will not perish! On the contrary..."
"If we die, and all the prisoners who have been exiled here freeze to death tonight, then will there be any sage's learning in this barbaric land? No! In that case, Confucius's Taoism will be It’s a true complete severance!”
The more Kong Mingde spoke, the more intense he became, and the more he spoke, the more superior he became.
Everyone, including Yan Xiangdong, was silent, but they still held the scroll tightly and did not make any move.
Seeing this, Kong Mingde took a step forward, held up the Spring and Autumn Annotations in his hand, and said loudly: "Today, burning books to keep warm is what I, Kong Mingde, say. If the ancestors are blamed, I, the head of the family, will bear the responsibility and burn it!"
After Kong Mingde finished speaking, he was the first to throw the book into the fire!
boom!
The bonfire, which was almost extinguished, received something to fuel it, and a new flame suddenly burst out.
The warm feeling briefly brought comfort to people, but soon, the book was about to burn out and the temperature was about to drop again.
Seeing this, everyone couldn't care less and hurriedly threw the books in their hands into the bonfire!
Yan Xiangdong stared blankly at the annotations on the Analects of Confucius in his hand, constantly rubbing the outer cover, finally gritting his teeth and closing his eyes, and threw it into the bonfire.
As of now, that's all it can do.
As the Confucian classics burned slowly, the fire became brighter and brighter, the temperature became higher and higher, and the comfort became stronger and stronger, but the confusion on their faces also increased.
At the edge of the port, Ming's fleet is still parked here.
Hu Dahai was in the cabin of the coach's ship, cooking mutton hot pot with big mouthfuls, and a large pot of rice wine on hand.
The wind and snow were roaring outside, but here it was steaming hot and there was plenty of food. It was in sharp contrast to the Nankong people who were struggling to survive in the woods at the moment.
Just when Hu Dahai was having a great time eating and drinking, suddenly a deputy general boarded the cabin despite the wind and snow.
Hu Dahai grinned when he saw it: "I'm back. Sit down quickly and have a drink with me!"
The lieutenant thanked him quickly, sat down at the bottom, picked up the wine glass, poured himself a glass of wine, and drank it all in one gulp.
General Hu Dahai felt warm in his body, and then he asked about the business: "How is it? Is there any news about the spies who went to investigate these prisoners?"
It turned out that Hu Dahai did not ignore them after the thousands of people who had been exiled here were scattered.
This person is thick on the outside and thin on the inside. When he arrived, Zhu Han specifically told Hu Dahai that these ten thousand people were of great use and should not be wasted.
Therefore, Hu Dahai took it to heart. On the boat, he saw that the ten thousand people were divided into hundreds of small groups and separated. He also dispersed hundreds of spies, followed these people from a distance, and reported their situation at any time. Come report.
The deputy general picked up the kuaizi and was about to fill it with slices of meat. Hearing Hu Dahai's question, he quickly replied: "Back to the governor, the spies have bitten the hundreds of criminals' family files, and they all bit them half an hour ago." The message has been sent back!”
Hu Dahai suddenly became interested, drank the wine in one gulp, and asked curiously: "Let's talk about it!"
The lieutenant general replied: "These convicts are either going to the depths of the mainland as a single family, or several families are joining together and starting to look for a place to camp and rest..."
"Some of them have died of cold and starvation, and some have become feuding and fighting among themselves, fighting each other for the only supplies..."
Before the general finished speaking, he saw Hu Dahai slamming the wine glass on the table with a gloomy face.
"Hmph! These unsatisfactory people came to the Yinzhou Continent at this time of year. Instead of joining forces to keep each other warm and helping each other, they started fighting among themselves. It was a waste of His Majesty's benevolent heart!"
Looking at the furious Hu Dahai, the deputy general was extremely frightened. He was afraid that he would suffer a disaster, so he racked his brains to divert Hu Dahai's attention from this matter.
Suddenly, a light flashed in his mind, and he remembered something interesting, and he quickly said: "To the Governor, those spies also reported something interesting."
Sure enough, Hu Dahai was attracted: "Huh? Something interesting? Tell me and listen."
The deputy general secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and immediately cheered up: "Does the Commander-in-Chief ever remember Nan Kong Kong Mingde?"
Hu Dahai patted his thigh: "Of course I remember, I almost didn't recognize him during the day."
"The Nankong clan is now camping in an old forest fifteen miles away from where we landed. Now in order to keep warm, they have begun to burn books. What they burned are all Confucian classics annotated by their ancestors. !”
Hu Dahai was dumbfounded, and then he started laughing. The laughter got louder and louder. He was out of breath from laughing, his stomach hurt from laughing, and he burst into tears.
"Hahahaha... Nan Kong... Haha... Nan Kong and this bunch of rotten scholars actually started to burn their own books. It's no longer possible, it's no longer possible, this bunch of rotten scholars are here to stay!"
The lieutenant general was also very happy: "This group of rotten scholars, during the Ming Dynasty, spoke strictly and blocked the emperor and His Royal Highness from reforming the imperial examination system. But once they really faced life and death, they immediately took away the books of their own saints. Burn it to keep warm..."
Having said this, the deputy general shook his head.
At this time, Hu Dahai also recovered, and saw him smiling and waving his hands: "Hey, this is a good thing! If they are willing to burn books to keep warm, it shows that they are not pedantic enough, and they know that the world is big and the biggest thing in life..."
"If they are really so pedantic that they would rather freeze to death than burn books, then wouldn't it be a waste of His Majesty's efforts to get them to Yinzhou?"
At this point, Hu Dahai changed the topic again and asked: "Are there any indigenous people around here who are unwilling to surrender to the Tomorrow's Army?"
Hearing this, the deputy general's face also darkened: "Many! There are about seven or eight tribes. Some of these tribes have hundreds of people, and some of them have about two or three thousand!"
The so-called indigenous people are the Indians. The Indians have already vaguely formed the prototype and consciousness of a country at this time, but these are just the beginning, so it is quite difficult to conquer them.
Hu Dahai nodded: "Later, ask someone to bring hundreds of swords and spears that are no longer needed on this ship. Send them to Nankong tomorrow, and then instruct them to pick a small tribe and annihilate them!"
After hearing this, the deputy general hesitated for a while, and couldn't help but ask: "Nankong's gang are all nerds who have been ignorant of their studies. Do you really want them to go and suppress the Yinzhou natives?"
Hu Dahai suddenly stared: "They don't want to go, so they let you go?"
The deputy general suddenly smiled.
Fighting the natives was a real chore.
It's not that the indigenous people are very powerful in fighting, it's just that this job is too disgusting.
First, these natives were familiar with the local terrain. When the Ming army clashed, they saw that the momentum was not right, so they turned around and ran into the dense forests and mountains. I don't know how much effort the Ming army would have to spend if they wanted to defeat this kind of place.
Secondly, even if they spend great efforts to wipe out these tribes, they can't catch anything decent, not even big animals, they can only pull carts of cocoa beans, corn cobs and the like.
But what can the Ming army do with these things?
Over time, the Ming army turned a blind eye to these indigenous people. This was really a loss-making business.
In this way, the Ming army stationed in the Americas and the local indigenous people have a strange balance relationship. If you don't seek death, I won't cause trouble for you.
Of course, if these natives overestimate their capabilities and take the initiative to come to the door, the Ming army will not mind dealing with them.
But if the Ming army wants to digest this large area of land in America, it will not work without exterminating the indigenous people.
Therefore, Hu Dahai set his sights on these exiled criminal officials. Of course, this was also Zhu Han's intention.
"This matter has been settled. You go back and make preparations... By the way, the other members of the review team can't relax and inquire. Pick some guys who are equipped with weapons and give them more weapons!"
…
The north wind was strong all night, and it just passed.
In the early morning of the next day, Yan Xiangdong woke up in the dazzling white light and cold, and the other Kong clan members also got up one after another.
Although this night was difficult, I finally got through it by burning books to keep warm.
When he thought of burning books, Yan Xiangdong's mood dropped, and then he burst into a self-deprecating wry smile.
He was shouting that he wanted to revive and spread Confucianism in Yinzhou overseas, but he burned the saint's books to keep warm that night. What's this?
Looking at the other Kong clan members, they were also in a low mood. It was probably because of what happened last night, and the psychological impact it had on them has not passed yet.
Yan Xiangdong subconsciously glanced at the large wooden box behind Kong Mingde, and saw only a shallow layer of books inside.
Even if I burn the remaining books and the big wooden box tonight, I'm afraid I won't be able to survive the cold tonight!
Just when Yan Xiangdong was worried about how to spend the night, he heard Kong Mingde gathering everyone together.
Kong Mingde didn't waste any time: "Everyone, I got through last night, but what should I do today? Do you have any countermeasures?"
As soon as these words came out, the Kong clan members immediately looked at me and me, staring with big eyes and small eyes without saying a word.
On weekdays at home, they were the masters who stayed away from the sun. Now they were suddenly asked to survive in the wild. If they could survive last night, they would have exhausted all their strength.
The "topic" that Kong Mingde is now throwing out is really difficult for them to correct.
Seeing that no one spoke for a long time, Yan Xiangdong sighed secretly, and then coughed lightly: "The most important thing now is to keep warm and hungry!"
As soon as Yan Xiangdong said this, everyone immediately looked at him with hope. It was obvious that Nankong now put all his hopes on him.
Yan Xiangdong was so helpless that he had to go with them. Otherwise, it was hard to say whether Nankong and the others could survive.
Kong Mingde also saw the embarrassment in this, coughed and said: "Xiangdong, if you have any plans, just tell me. These young men are at your disposal."
At this point, Yan Xiangdong was not polite and directly assigned three tasks: "The first is to collect firewood. You can ask the old and the weak to go to the forest and pick up as many dead branches and leaves as possible. There should be a lot in the forest!"
"The second is to get water. Yesterday, Na Hu Dahai said that there is a river nearby, and Nvjuan can go to the river to get some drinkable water."
"The third is hunting. Let me wait for the young men to go deep into the dense forest to hunt some deer, hare, pheasant and other prey to satisfy our hunger. After all, there is not much dry food, so we won't be able to survive for a long time."
Yan Xiangdong was talking eloquently, and the Kong clan members around him seemed to have found a backbone. They all moved closer to him and listened carefully to everything he said.
Soon, Yan Xiangdong finished his opinions, and then looked at Kong Mingde with some embarrassment.
He is the head of the Kong family, so what does it mean that he is shouting and drinking from behind?
Unexpectedly, Kong Mingde nodded in agreement: "Xiangdong is right, everyone should do as he said!"
With Kong Mingde's support, things will naturally be much easier to handle.
Soon, the more than 300 Kong clan members were divided into three parts.
Some people went to collect branches, some went to fetch water, and the last young ones went hunting deep in the dense forest. Yan Xiangdong and Kong Mingde were also in this team.
If you want to go hunting, you will naturally use the spears and broadswords distributed in front of you.
But none of us has ever hunted in the old forest, and now we are blind again.
Everyone subconsciously turned their attention to Yan Xiangdong...
This Yan Sheng always has a lot of ideas, so now of course we have to count on him to come up with a good idea.
Even Kong Mingde cast an expectant look at Yan Xiangdong.
For a moment, Yan Xiangdong felt his scalp numb.
Yes, he does have a poor family background.
But no matter how bad you are, you can still make a living by selling calligraphy and painting, and being a teacher. At most, you can only do housework at home. When have you ever done farming, fishing and hunting?
But now that he was forced into a corner, he could only rack his brains to think of countermeasures.
Suddenly, his eyes lit up. Although he didn't know how to hunt, he remembered that there were many hunters in his village.
Sometimes after buying some game from those hunters, I would also listen to them tell some interesting stories about hunting, and of course there were also tips on how to hunt.
After thinking for a moment, Yan Xiangdong finally made a decision.
He led everyone to the depths of the dense forest. He first dug a large pit, and then inserted two spears and three steel knives with their sharp edges facing upwards.
Then some branches were used to build a shelf at the entrance of the pit, then covered with withered leaves, and finally sprinkled with a layer of white snow. It was as if this huge pit had never appeared before.
Everyone who was still a little confused at first, no matter how stupid they were, now knew Yan Xiangdong's intentions, and they couldn't help but praise him for his cleverness.
Yan Xiangdong smiled bitterly and said: "The trap has been made, but whether it can trap the prey or not is still a question!"
As soon as these words came out, everyone's originally high emotions dropped again. Kong Mingde frowned and said loudly: "Xiangdong has solved the most troublesome issue for us. What else are you dissatisfied with?"
