"Which three?"
Kong Yinzhi sighed, and his expression changed for a while, as if he was making a major decision.
"The first is to give up the title of Duke Yan, give up most or even all of the Confucian family property, dismiss most of the disciples, and retain only a few people in the most direct lineage.
From then on, the Confucius family was just the person in front of the imperial court who gathered scholars from all over the world. Everything obeyed the emperor's arrangements.
Perhaps the title of Yan Shenggong can still be retained, and the glory of Kong Sheng can continue! "
"Clan leader, you..."
Just as one person was about to refute, Kong Yinzhi waved his hand: "Don't rush to refute, think about why the emperor wants to suppress us?"
"It's nothing more than fear of our Confucian family's appeal to the world's scholars!"
"Maybe they are greedy for the property that our Confucius family has saved for thousands of years. If we take over our property, the imperial court will not be short of money for at least a few years.
With this money, the imperial court may be able to completely restore its vitality! "
"It's possible that the Confucian government blocked the imperial edict, such as returning Shaanxi to the people, but in the end we couldn't get around it.
Only by killing us can we not only obtain a large amount of land, but also scare other aristocratic families! "
"Perhaps it is to stabilize the imperial power. After all, there are rumors that the imperial power does not reach Qufu. The new emperor is young and has great ambitions. He wants to attack us!"
"Last year, the Imperial College students made trouble, and the emperor wanted to abolish the privileges granted by Taizu to scholars. Although he finally dissuaded him, he still abolished the legal privileges.
I guess the emperor wants to completely abolish it, and there is a hurdle we can’t avoid! "
…
At this moment, everyone in the lobby fully demonstrated the wisdom of the descendants of Confucius and Sheng, and clearly analyzed the pros and cons.
"With the Ming Dynasty in such a situation, it will either continue to decline until the Jian Nu invade Shanhaiguan and destroy the Ming Dynasty.
Either the internal people revolted and swept across the Ming Dynasty, turning the entire Ming Dynasty into chaos and reappearing the situation of separatism among the heroes.
Either break it completely, reshape the rules, and renew hope!
Or, seek change in decline, seek development through change, change when you are poor, become general through change, and be connected to everything. Which one do you think it is now? "
Everyone immediately thought of the last possibility.
Looking at the nearly one year since the new emperor ascended the throne, he got rid of the eunuchs, replaced six ministers and nine ministers in the cabinet, uprooted the eight major locust merchants and the king of Jin, returned the land to the people, and rectified the military and political affairs.
No matter which one it is, it can be seen that the emperor is seeking change and reform.
Especially in Shaanxi, it is a proper weapon to return the land to the people.
Even if the imperial court is defeated externally, the eight million people in Shaanxi will stand on the emperor's side, and the people who hope to be allocated land will stand on the emperor's side.
Shaanxi is so large and easy to defend but difficult to attack. There are only a few channels through which large armies can quickly enter Shaanxi.
Such as Hangu Pass in the northeast, Tongguan in the east, Wuguan in the southeast, and Dashan Pass in the southwest.
Holding these passes, even a small army entering Shaanxi will only end up destroyed.
Xi'an was originally the ancient capital of several dynasties. It has four military towns including Yansui Town (Yulin), Ningxia Town, Guyuan Town, and Gansu Town.
It has a vast area, lots of land, support from the people, and is easy to defend and difficult to attack. This means that it has a foundation. Even if something goes wrong, it can retreat to Shaanxi and wait for the opportunity to counterattack.
If Chongzhen heard the discussion of everyone in the Confucius Mansion, he would definitely scold: Niang Xipi, are you the roundworms in my belly?
Chongzhen had this plan when he came through time travel. If the reform failed and Beijing could not defend itself if the slaves invaded, he would go to Shaanxi in an attempt to make a comeback.
As for going to the south, go to hell, Ziguan Dongzhi won’t go to the south.
The group of people in the south are more difficult to deal with than establishing slaves. They are most likely to be puppets. Hongguang and Longwu illustrate the problem.
The faces of everyone in the hall were very ugly, even more ugly than watching the disciples being hacked and the plaques smashed outside the Confucius Mansion.
If they choose this path, all their money, fame and fortune will have nothing to do with them.
It is easy to go from frugality to luxury, but it is difficult to go from luxury to frugality. Even if they are descendants of Confucius and Sheng and have a lot of knowledge, this is human nature.
"Clan leader, what's the second way?"
"The second way is to incite the world's scholars, put pressure on the emperor, and force the emperor to stop!"
Everyone nodded, and then shook their heads. They mentioned this just now, but now that the Kong Mansion is closed, they can't do it even if they want to go out and incite.
Even if the news here is spread, they will probably be attracted by the evil deeds of the disciples of Confucius and choose to wait and see.
What's more, it's not impossible to kill the Kong family directly if the emperor is forced to do anything.
Whether this is feasible or not remains to be discussed.
Looking at everyone's expressions, Kong Yinzhi hesitated for a moment and said with difficulty: "The third way is to contact Jiannu or the Mongolian tribes to strive for external forces to suppress the imperial court and gain opportunities!"
Everyone's expressions changed drastically, and their eyes were full of incredulity.
"No, absolutely not. I would rather die than be a dog to the slaves!"
"Patriarch, although our Kong family has surrendered to the Jin, Meng, Yuan, and Ming dynasties, it was only when the imperial court came to an end and the new dynasty was born.
We are just aristocratic families and literati. We cannot fight against the army, nor can we turn the tide. This is understandable.
But now, although the situation in the court is turbulent, it is still relatively stable. If we contact each other at this moment, once the news leaks out, everyone in the Kong Mansion will really be a rat crossing the street. "
"I agree, we can contact you, but definitely not now!"
"Clan leader, contact Jiannu. Doesn't this confirm that the Holy Son is collaborating with the enemy?
Before the Jiannu invaded, the imperial court would destroy us first. The Tianxiong army brought by Lu Xiangsheng outside Qufu City could easily wipe out the Confucius! "
"Patriarch, I'm more worried about the conjecture you just mentioned about the Holy Son. Since the Ming Dynasty is afraid of us, shouldn't Jiannu be afraid of us?
If they couldn't take action, wouldn't they disguise themselves as bandits, violent bandits, or angry people and massacre the Confucius family?
After the war, the wealth we accumulated was exactly what they needed. "
"Clan leader, think twice!"
…
Everyone objected one after another, not against contacting Jiannu, but because it was the wrong time to contact him now.
No matter what, in their hearts they still regard the Kong family as an ironclad and flowing dynasty!
Of the three paths, only the first one could be taken, but they were unwilling to do so.
"Clan, clan leader, something happened!"
A scream sounded, and Kong Yantai, who immediately went out to notify the offending disciples to assemble, rushed into the lobby.
Before Kong Yinzhi could speak, Kong Yantai quickly repeated it.
"Clan Chief, there is an edict posted outside, which is a battle report from Zunhua.
The general meaning is that the 65,000 coalition forces of Jiannu were besieged and killed by the Ming army. The Ming Dynasty only killed more than 100,000 soldiers, including Amin, Mang Gurtai, etc...
A slave was rewarded with twenty taels of silver on his head, and those who died in battle were provided with three years of salary and five dou of grain every month thereafter... Both the silver reward and the pension have been distributed in Hanerzhuang City. "
"That's nonsense, Fourth Brother, what are you talking about?"
"What? How is this possible?"
"All the slave-building coalition forces died in the battle?"
"Only Huang Taiji, Hauge, and Duduo escaped?"
…
Everyone stood up suddenly and exclaimed, their eyes full of disbelief.
Kong Yinzhi also stood up. Although his face was calm, his hands were shaking.
"Are you sure it's an edict from the imperial court?"
