"My master is in trouble, something is seriously wrong with him..."
Upon hearing this, Kong Yinzhi suddenly trembled with fright. In his sleep, he had dreamed of such a scene.
Kong Dali's face also turned pale, and he was obviously frightened by the shout.
It is true that although he is the magistrate of Qufu, let alone Qufu, the entire Yanzhou Prefecture is almost within the sphere of influence of the Kong family. If he is the magistrate of Qufu, who will cause trouble for him.
Therefore, what Kong Dali has experienced is actually just a little better than Kong Yinzhi.
At this time, it was the county magistrate who came to his senses. He came to his senses and shouted angrily: "What dog is barking? Do you believe that I will kill you?"
While he was talking, the messenger had already rolled into the lobby.
When Kong Daqi saw him, he recognized him as the steward of the outer courtyard of the mansion. He was usually a very steady person, but he was sweating profusely and had a look of fear on his face.
Suddenly, Kong Daqi felt cold sweat on his back. Because he knew that if it wasn't something particularly bad, it would be impossible to scare the steward of the outer courtyard into this.
Sure enough, I heard the steward of the outer court report with a look of panic: "There is urgent news from the capital. The court has decided to send Duke Xingguo to lead the army that had just returned from the grassland to suppress the civil uprising in Lu!"
"What?" When Kong Da Da heard this, he immediately fell down on his chair.
This situation was the worst-case scenario they had ever imagined. However, it is extremely unlikely. As a result, you are really afraid of what will happen!
Even if the court sends troops to suppress it, it is better for anyone in the court to lead the troops than Duke Xingguo to lead the troops. However, in the end Duke Xingguo came with his troops.
The steward of the outer courtyard obviously knew something about the situation, so after making a report, he quickly asked: "First Master, Fifth Master, Duke Xingguo will not be merciful to us. If he finds out..."
"Shut up!" Kong Daqi heard this and immediately yelled, telling him to get out. Then he turned around and looked at Kong Yinzhi, only to find that his face was so pale that there was no blood at all, like a dead face, and the hand holding the handle of the chair was still trembling slightly.
Seeing this situation, he knew that he couldn't expect anything from Duke Yansheng, so he quickly comforted him: "What are you worried about? Our Kong family has survived for a thousand years, how could Duke Xingguo be so bold and dare to risk the disapproval of the world? Are you going to take action against our Kong family?"
Hearing his words, Kong Yinzhi turned to look at him.
"Didn't we prepare a few people? If we are found, they will be able to take the blame!" Kong Dajia said, and immediately said with some confidence, "So, what are we afraid of?"
It may be that the fact that the Kong family has survived for thousands of years gave Kong Yinzhi confidence, or it may be that the arrangement of being guilty gave Kong Yinzhi confidence. In short, after listening to Kong Daxia's words, his hands finally stopped shaking. He ordered Kong Qia to say: "Go ahead and make arrangements, and make sure nothing goes wrong!"
Kong Da Da did not dare to be careless about this, so he quickly agreed and left in a hurry. Kong Yinzhi was left alone in the lobby for a long time.
………………
The Kong family received news from the capital. Naturally, other powerful locals in Shandong also received news from the capital.
Suddenly, everyone in the family panicked.
Not to mention Duke Xingguo leading elite soldiers and horses to Lu Di, even ordinary troops, as long as the court is determined to suppress rather than appease, many of them will not dare to truly rebel and fight the court to the end.
Therefore, on the first day after hearing the news, the scale of the civil uprising in Shandong was almost reduced by one level.
Most of the rebel thieves who have not dispersed are also panic-stricken and a little afraid of what will happen next.
On December 20, the 16th year of Chongzhen, Duke Xingguo led the cavalry into Shandong, which immediately triggered a new round of panic.
When Zhang Mingwei led his troops to Jinan Prefecture, the capital of Shandong, Zuo Maodi, the governor-general of Xinzheng and the censor of Zuodu, quickly led the officials of Jinan Prefecture and welcomed him out of the city three miles away.
Under Zuo Maodi, there were also the highest military and political officials in the area such as the Inspector General. When they saw the billowing dust brought by the cavalry, they all hurriedly arranged their clothes again, fearing that there would be some small problem.
The vanguard cavalry was led by Li Guo.
According to Duke Xingguo's instructions in advance, he did not give these officials any face at all. After seeing the officials greeting them in the distance, he instead increased his horse speed until he could slow down not far away.
The cavalry is inherently more intimidating than the infantry, especially when the number of cavalry is large. Not to mention, this cavalry army is an elite. It was originally an elite bandit who fought in the north and south, and returned from sweeping the grassland. Therefore, it is not to mention the momentum of this cavalry army.
Zuo Maodi and other civil and military officials who were innocent were lucky. Those officials who had ulterior motives, regardless of whether they were civil or military, turned frighteningly pale when they saw such a powerful cavalry.
If in normal times, one dares to be so rude to the military, kicking up the dust and making local military and political officials like them disgraced, then the leading generals will definitely be impeached. If you have the power to dispose of it, believe it or not, you can take it down immediately.
Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, this kind of use of force to violate civil society has been extremely rare.
However, today is different from the past. The leader of this army is the powerful Duke Xingguo. Even among the vanguard, alongside the leading generals, there were the Imperial Guards and Supervisors in flying fish uniforms.
Facing Duke Xingguo and Jin Yiwei, no matter whether they are civil or military, no one has the backbone to be strong enough.
In fact, they also knew that such an unprecedented move by this army would never have happened without the instruction of Duke Xingguo behind it.
They can probably guess why Duke Xingguo gave such an instruction. The scale of the Shandong civil uprising is so large that they, the local officials in Shandong, absolutely cannot escape responsibility.
However, who caused this civil uprising to be caused by the Kong family in Qufu. These civil servants in charge of Shandong simply did not have the courage to act vigorously and resolutely to suppress the popular uprising immediately.
Just like that, one cavalry army after another, with shocking power and thunderous hooves, drove towards Jinan City one after another.
About an hour later, Xing Guogong's Chinese army flag finally appeared.
Therefore, Zuo Maodi and Shandong civil and military officials hurriedly welcomed Duke Xingguo.
Speaking of which, Zhang Mingwei didn't have any objections to Zuo Maodi. In his actions, he did not mean to give Zuo Maodi a look. But whoever lets him lead these Shandong local officials will naturally bring disaster to Chi Yu.
Therefore, as compensation, Zhang Mingwei talked amiably to Zuo Maodi, but he ignored other civil and military officials at all.
He and Zhu Yuluo, the princess of Kunxing, did not enter the city. They met the officials in the tent set up by the forward and began to discuss matters.
"I heard that the Duke of Lu came to Lu with his troops. Now the civil uprising in Lu has dispersed in three places. According to the express reports from various places, the scale of the uprising has been reduced by more than half." Zuo Maodi, as the highest official, first reported Zhang Mingwei introduced the situation.
After a pause, he added with a smile and a little compliment: "As soon as the Duke arrives, the chaos in Lu will be put down overnight!"
After hearing this, other local officials in Shandong immediately agreed.
"The Duke of Guo fought in the north and south, won many battles and won many victories, and has a great reputation. Now that I see him, he is indeed worthy of his reputation!"
"There is a saying in the art of war that one can subjugate the enemy without fighting. Nowadays, the bandits only hear about the reputation of the Duke, and then they are defeated. This is something I have never seen before in my life!"
"..."
Listening to these flattery sounds, Zhang Mingwei did not smile, but just coughed.
Upon hearing his cough, these Shandong officials who were trying to flatter him immediately fell silent, not daring to make any more noise.
When there was no movement, Zhang Mingwei continued to look at Zuo Maodi, and said with a more serious expression: "The previous report said that Shandong New Deal officials were either killed or fled back to the provincial capital. What is the specific situation now?"
Upon hearing this, Zuo Maodi did not dare to neglect and quickly reported it.
Zhang Mingwei frowned as he listened.
Shandong's New Deal was basically abolished due to this civil uprising, no matter how far away it was from Qufu. The best thing is that progress has stalled and implementation cannot continue. Because New Deal officials were afraid that if they continued to push, they would trigger a popular uprising.
In short, civil commotion is a very sensitive word in Shandong today. Just like if you are not careful, a civil uprising will happen immediately.
After hearing the news, Zhang Mingwei asked seriously: "What is the specific situation of civil unrest in various parts of Shandong now?"
After Zuo Maodi heard this, he immediately explained to him the latest situation of the civil uprising in detail.
Generally speaking, because Jinan Prefecture is the provincial capital and where Zuo Maodi is personally in charge, the situation is relatively better. At the beginning, there were indeed some signs of civil unrest, but they were suppressed by Zuo Maodi's pressure on the local army.
However, in other places, they are rising one after another with great momentum. The most powerful one is Yanzhou Prefecture. At the worst time of the riot, nearly 150,000 rebels surrounded Yanzhou City.
After hearing that the emperor sent elite soldiers and horses led by Duke Xingguo to suppress it, nearly 70,000 to 80,000 soldiers dispersed, while another 70,000 to 80,000 horses continued to surround Yanzhou Mansion. As for other places, the number of rebels is far less numerous.
When Zuo Maodi said this, he took out a text from his sleeve and handed it to Zhang Mingwei. At the same time, he explained: "This is a public memorial sent by Yan Shenggong to be forwarded to the capital. It is said to be the Yanzhou Rebellion, but in fact it is The officials forced the people to rebel, and the people in the civil uprising really had no choice but to suffer. I hope that the court will punish the corrupt officials who caused the civil uprising and give justice to the people of the world!"
After hearing this, the Shandong Inspector also quickly reported: "My lord, Yanzhou is the place where the sage Confucius lived, and his literary style was at its peak. If he hadn't been...forced to do so, this would never have happened. The lower official thought... "
He originally wanted to say that he was forced by the factory guards, but he immediately remembered that the Duke Xingguo in front of him was still the commander of the Jinyi Guards, so he immediately changed his mind. However, as he was talking, he saw a sneer on the corner of Xingguo Gong's lips, and he couldn't continue.
