"General Mao, are you still a Confucian?"
Lu Xiangsheng came back wrapped in the dust of the world, and he always shouted and asked questions when they met.
Mao Yuanyi knew why, but pretended not to know.
"So what if it is? So what if it's not?"
Lu Xiangsheng pointed to the east and cried blood.
"Now that animals from the Dongjiang River are ravaging the hometown of Confucius, the foundation of Confucianism has been poisoned, and thousands of years of orthodoxy have been destroyed, you just sit back and ignore it?"
Mao Yuanyi did not dare to bear this crime.
"Why do you say this, Mr. Lu? Don't you see that our army is ready to go?"
Lu Xiangsheng was stunned and looked outside.
Only then did we realize that the new army had already assembled and was lining up in formations heading east.
Lu Xiangsheng cupped his fists and apologized.
"I am being reckless. I also ask General Mao to use your troops quickly to save the saint from danger and save the continuation of Confucianism."
Mao Yuanyi also looked angry.
"The Dongjiang rebels dare to offend the majesty of the saint in the slightest, and I will fight them to the death."
This guarantee made Lu Xiangsheng somewhat relieved, and he followed Mao Yuanyi directly to Qufu without taking a rest.
How did he know that Mao Yuanyi had already obtained information about Qufu.
The county seat of Qufu was captured by the Dongjiang rebels yesterday. Hecheng was massacred from top to bottom, and not even one out of ten people survived.
The key is……
Less than half an hour after the new army set off, someone from the front came back to report.
"Commander, the reconnaissance company captured two people who were fleeing for their lives. They said they were servants of Duke Yansheng's Mansion, and it doesn't look like they were fake."
Before Mao Yuanyi could do anything, Lu Xiangsheng asked anxiously: "Where is he?"
Seeing this, Mao Yuanyi took advantage of the situation and said: "Bring the person here."
After a while, the soldier came closer with two extremely embarrassed people.
"Why are you here? Where is Mr. Yan?"
Seeing the visitor crying so hard, Lu Xiangsheng's heart couldn't help but tense up, and he had a vague premonition that something was not going to happen.
When he asked, the two people fell down and cried.
"The rebels came to attack, and the Holy Duke knew that he could not defend himself, so he took his family to Nishan for temporary refuge. Who would have thought of being rebellious and cunning, so he arranged an ambush in the dense forest east of the city in advance. I was the only one who escaped from the palace! "
Lu Xiangsheng was shaken for a while, dizzy, and almost fell off his horse.
"Mr. Xian...really...really in trouble?"
One of them kept nodding.
"The villain saw with his own eyes that the Holy Duke was beheaded by evil thieves."
Lu Xiangsheng was so weak that he didn't expect that even though he was running for his life, he would still fall short.
"Have you ever seen clearly who is the murderer?"
Another servant gritted his teeth and said: "Although I don't recognize them, those people all speak with Liaodong accents. Who else could they be besides Dongjiang thieves?"
At this point, Lu Xiangsheng had no doubts.
Liaodong accent, this evidence is enough to explain everything.
In a short period of time, Lu Xiangsheng's appearance changed drastically, like an angry lion.
He wrote a letter on the spot and gave it to his servant. He also said to the two servants of the Duke's Palace: "You two, let him go and rush to the capital to inform His Majesty of the incident in the Palace."
Yanshenggong's mansion suffered a rebellion and massacre, which caused chaos in the world.
Although Shandong is now occupied by Zuo Menggeng and others, in the eyes of the world, it is still Shandong of the Ming Dynasty.
Once the thousand-year-old saint collapsed, people all over the world would inevitably think of the imperial court.
Lu Xiangsheng clearly felt that the Ming Dynasty was becoming increasingly unstable.
Like him, Mao Yuanyi also quickly sent a letter to Linqing.
Confucius' hometown has encountered changes, and everyone must be cautious.
After the two men finished doing this, they marched eastward again.
That afternoon, in a village on the way, they encountered a section of the rebel army.
"Pass the word, take no prisoners."
Mao Yuanyi put on a furious posture and conveyed the harshest military order.
The following order was given to immediately start the most violent attack.
Although he was worried about the overall situation, Lu Xiangsheng was still frightened when he saw the fierce artillery fire of the New Army.
A mere village with only stone walls for defense could not stop the new army's offensive.
In just one stick of incense, the new army broke into the village and started killing the rebels.
More than four hundred corpses were placed in front of Lu Xiangsheng, which somewhat relieved him of his anger.
"No matter what, we must catch the evil thieves such as Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming, clarify the punishments, and tell the world, in order to make up for the crime of disturbing the saints."
Lu Xiangsheng thought that after arriving in Qufu, he could besiege the Dongjiang rebels.
However, when they arrived at Qufu, all they saw was the dilapidated city, and the Dongjiang rebels had already fled.
"Search for the living immediately and clean up the city. Anyone who commits adultery and violates the law will be executed on the spot."
Mao Yuanyi made a decision, but Lu Xiangsheng was very dissatisfied.
"General Mao, why don't you continue the pursuit? The Dongjiang rebels will definitely not be able to escape far. We can't let tigers cause trouble!"
Mao Yuanyi sighed deeply, pointed to the miserable situation in the world, and said sincerely: "Master Lu, no matter what happens to the Dongjiang rebels, from now on, this is my land in Shandong. The people here are also my people in Shandong. If you don't care about them, they will How will Fang survive a catastrophe? Don't worry, Dongjiang Rebel will not be far away."
Lu Xiangsheng was distracted, but Mao Yuanyi had already gone to take charge of military affairs. He was left alone to stare, helpless.
The Dongjiang rebels have completely transformed into beasts, and they have no scruples wherever they go.
The entire Qufu was burned, looted and reduced to ashes.
Looking across the entire county, not even a single intact house can be found. On the streets, ditches, and grass, there were massacred people everywhere.
After an afternoon of cleaning up, the number of living people finally found was minuscule compared to the original population of Qufu.
These people escaped by hiding in cellars, in the grass, or even in cesspools.
But seeing their home destroyed like this, what's the difference between them being alive and dead?
Under the protection of the new army, they cried and collected the corpses of their relatives, trying hard to search for anything that was still alive, not knowing what to do in the days to come.
On the morning of the second day, Zuo Mengeng, Liu Zongzhou, Jiang Cai, Jiang Gai and others came in a hurry.
"I'm going to see the saint's tomb."
Liu Zongzhou was so distraught that he didn't care about anything but whether Confucius's cemetery was damaged.
Jiang Cai and Jiang Gai accompanied him.
Looking at Zuo Mengeng, who was cheering in front of him and surrounded by others, Lu Xiangsheng felt as if he was from another world, and it was difficult to connect him with the young general from before.
"Qufu must be rebuilt."
Zuo Menggeng set the tone, summoned the surviving people of Qufu, and introduced another person.
The man was not afraid of the stage and said loudly: "I am Huang Zongyan. From now on, I will be appointed as the magistrate of Qufu County. My dear fellow villagers, the deceased is gone, and those of us who are still alive must look forward. Please rest assured, in the future With the support of the administrative committee, Qufu will definitely get better again."
In order to stabilize this important place, Zuo Mengeng carefully selected Huang Zongyan to be the county magistrate.
He was a great Confucian and a righteous man, and his reputation shocked the world. He was the right person to be the county magistrate.
