Kong Shangyi said it categorically, and it sounded like he was protecting the face of the title "Yanshenggong", but in fact, he was doing it entirely for himself.
Although he is the eldest master of his lineage, he is not considered a direct lineage like Kong Shangxian, who is currently in the capital, and he is not eligible to ascend the title of "Yanshenggong".
This man knew in his heart that as soon as Kong Shangxian died, Kong Yinzhi would immediately become Kong Shangxian's heir and wear the hat of Yanshenggong.
For this reason, Kong Shangyi increasingly wanted to take advantage of the moment when Kong Yinzhi was most obedient to him to forcefully suppress the Zhu family's ministers and clan members who came to ask for money.
Otherwise, if they really want to vomit some land and households, Kong Yinzhi will need them, uncles from the Kong family, to cut the flesh and blood first.
But after Kong Shangyi finished speaking harshly, he suddenly softened his tone, looked at a man from the same clan who was slightly older than himself and said: "Bo Xuan, your second son, isn't he the honored guest of Princess Lu Fan? Lun Lai , is the brother-in-law of General Zhenguo, can you ask your servant to go to Yanzhou quickly to ask your son to come back, and walk to General Zhenguo to see if there is any room for change?"
The man called "Bo Xuan" was also from the Shang generation, his name was Kong Shangxi, and he had many sons. In his early years, he sent his second most handsome son to marry Lu Fan.
At this moment, Kong Shangxi's face stiffened, and he said sarcastically: "Quinzi, he has some disputes with the general who governs the country. Let Quanzi come back as a lobbyist, I'm afraid it will make things worse."
Kong Shangyi glanced at Kong Yinzhi, who was above him, and pretended to be surprised and said: "Being a good son-in-law for the Zhu family is not a censor or a border general. He is not involved in civil and military affairs. He is just a free and easy son-in-law. How could Erlang offend the country?" General?"
Kong Shangxi never thought that Kong Shangyi, an old fox, was digging a hole for himself. He explained truthfully to the people in the clan: "The general of the country, relying on King Lu's respect, keeps an eye on Lu Fan's money going in and out at sky-high prices. Erlang, cough, you know , there was a cousin from his maternal grandfather's family who was engaged in the woman's hairpin jewelry business, Erlang introduced him to several princesses and county lords of Lu Fan as patrons, and everything was fine for many years. Who would have thought that last year At the beginning of autumn, Zhu Yi sent him to suddenly jump out and said that the jewelry of Lu Fan's clan were all imported from Xibei, and that Yibin colluded with outsiders to defraud Lu Fan of his annual beauty and powder money."
When he said this, he suddenly stopped because he saw Kong Yinzhi staring at him, which was quite unkind.
The old and young men of the Confucius family around him also woke up a little. One of them had a hot temper and said bluntly to Kong Shangxi: "So, Lu Fan's father-in-law, your Erlang, have you blackmailed Lu Fan?" ?”
The word "false" is very rude, but Kong Shangxi has no intention of falling out. On the contrary, he is more and more aware of the meaning of hesitation: "Hey, Wen Wu is the first, the same is true for women's jewelry, as long as the princess and the county master We like it. The price at which red paint is sold for coral cannot be said to be cheating, right..."
Before he finished speaking, there was only a "ding" sound. Kong Yinzhi covered the teacup heavily, his face covered with frost, and said word by word: "No wonder the general who governs the country is looking for bad luck in our Kong family. It's so big Momentum.”
"Good nephew, don't be anxious." Kong Shangyi on the other end advised in a deep voice.
In fact, Kong Shangyi had known for a long time that "Erlang" was not enough to eat Lu Fan's soft rice. He secretly used this and that business method to steal Lu Fan's wool.
In the past, Kong Shangyi hated himself for not giving birth to a son who looked as good as Pan An, and for not having the opportunity to give Lu Fan a son-in-law. But today, he just took the opportunity to be generous to others, solve the troubles in front of the Kong family, and breathe a sigh of relief.
Kong Shangyi said in a peacemaker's tone: "What Bo Xuan said is not really wrong. Well, no one is a god. Who could have expected that one day the imperial court would come to our Kong Mansion to ask for help?" Money? How about this? Don’t stab General Zhenguo with his firecracker basket yet. The two people from the capital, the eldest son’s eunuch and the female master, seem to be able to hold him. Old Zhu’s family My nose is gone. Let's just go and find out with some sincerity. How about, Boxuan, your family will pay for the ceremony money first? If there are still expenses later, we can take turns to pay for it, how about it? "
"According to what Third Uncle said," Kong Yinzhi was too lazy to talk nonsense and said directly, "I have also noticed that the father-in-law named Cao and the woman named Zheng have a Jinyiwei leader named Huang in their entourage. Come closer and listen to their instructions. There are people in Third Uncle's family. Tomorrow, I will go find the Jin Yiwei and try to find a way to give money, one thousand taels per person. Fifth Uncle, prepare two thousand taels of silver notes for Third Uncle's people."
"It's done, it's done." Kong Shangxi responded repeatedly.
No matter how bad he is at strategizing, he has figured it out now. Kong Shangyi has dug a hole into his family, but he cannot rely on his own son's good deeds. This time, the enemy is facing a formidable enemy. No matter how deep the hole is, in order not to offend the public, their family will have to do it. You have to dance with your eyes closed.
As for Kong Shangyi, I will settle the score with him later.
On the other side, Kong Shangyi, who had achieved his goal, also stood up and said: "Fortunately, Eunuch Cao said today that the eldest son of the emperor is tired from traveling. He will go to the Confucius Temple tomorrow at Si Zhong time. We have time to prepare."
…
On this night, Master Confucius, who was most particular about "serving the king with Tao, and having scholars aspire to Tao", if he had a spirit in heaven, saw that his descendants, in order to continue to live in the land of the Ming Dynasty only to plunder and not to give, would actually be While cursing and thinking about bribery, I wonder if Wenquxing will come down to earth and scold his descendants who are not only worthless but also have no shame.
Wenquxing did not descend to earth, but at the end of the morning, the cronies sent out by Kong Shangyi rushed back to the house in a hurry.
Kong Shangyi frowned and asked, "What? Kong Shangxi refuses to pay?"
"No, no, I got the fifth master's banknote half an hour ago," the confidant reported quickly, wiping the sweat from his forehead, "I didn't waste a moment and went to the Confucius Mansion where the prince was staying. But when passing by the Confucius Temple, I saw that the door was crowded with people. The royal guards from Beijing and the guards from Lu Fan were all there, watching a madman in a long robe howling to the sky. The younger one quickly looked for someone to ask, and it turned out that the madman , is actually the official of ritual and music brought by Lu Fan."
Kong Shangyi stared, his eyes slightly out of focus for a moment.
But he quickly forced himself to come to his senses and asked: "Is the eldest son of the emperor here? Is the general of Lu Fan there? Is there anyone from the Ministry of Rites?"
"Sir, when I ran back to report the news, I only saw the etiquette and music officer and a group of warriors."
"Hurry up and assign a few more people to inform Kong Yinzhi's house and other houses immediately. I will go directly to the Confucius Temple now."
"Yes, sir!"
When Kong Shangyi rushed to the Confucius Temple with new anger and panic in his head, Zhu Yuewen, the music and dance student of the Lu Mansion, had already used his good voice like a crane to sing Jiugao's refutation of Confucius' ritual music violation. Several rounds.
Different from Kong Shangyi's servant's slander, Zhu Yuewen's accusation is completely different from going out to mourn.
Zhu Yue's tattooed frame was not as tall as that of the warriors around him, but he wore a golden cicada crown and a floor-length robe to worship Confucius. He stood proudly in the sun, raised his head to the sky, and spoke eloquently. He was indeed more powerful than the important ministers of the previous dynasty. More upright.
The scholars of Qufu who came one after another to see the excitement soon understood.
It turns out that Yan Shenggong's Mansion went to Yanzhou Magistrate every year to ask for money from the court. He said that the ritual instruments for playing elegant music in the Confucius Temple were badly damaged, and the uniforms of the musicians and dancers were also in disgrace. The court should be like the Xuanzong period. Just like giving money to buy books for the Confucius Mansion, allocating funds to the Confucius Temple to buy new musical instruments and attire.
But today, this person who claimed to be the eldest disciple of Prince Zheng and the official of the music and dance department of Prince Lu pointed at the outfit he was wearing that was also used when offering sacrifices to Confucius. Taking the experience of ritual and music as an example, he angrily rebuked the frequency of asking for silver coins in the Confucius Mansion. If it corresponds to the ritual vessels in Dacheng Hall, Chongsheng Temple, etc. of the Confucius Temple, as well as the crowns and hats of the music and dancers, it can be inferred that the Confucius Temple held at least one event every year Only after forty or fifty rituals and music ceremonies would musical instruments and clothes be damaged so frequently.
Kong Shangyi stood outside the crowd. His face turned pale when he heard this. He was also afraid that the music official from Prince Lu's palace was the one he heard. He didn't dare to go up and stop him.
While he was in a state of panic, he saw another tall scribe emerging from the other end of the crowd, dragging two peasant men in tattered clothes, and walked quickly to the center of the field, standing beside Zhu Yuewen.
"Brother Zhu is worthy of being a loyal and loyal man under King Zheng. His thoughts are thoughtful and sharp, and his words are inspiring! You must also understand that in Yanshenggong's Mansion, either he violated the regulations and used the utensils and people that can only be used for sacrificial rituals. , used for daily banquets and enjoyment, or to deceive the emperor and make up the reasons for the damage of musical instruments and clothes to make money from the national treasury!"
A wave of discussion rolled by.
Zhu Yuewen turned to the scribe who was cooperating with him and asked, knowingly: "Can I ask you about the origin of your steps?"
"Brother Zhu, you're welcome. My surname is Zhang and my given name is Xisheng. I come from Wenzhou Prefecture. I was the chief assistant during the reign of Emperor Shizong, Zhang Gongcong, and is the ancestor of this junior generation."
As soon as he said this, the ordinary Qufu people present had no reaction, but Kong Shangyi took a breath of air.
Descendants of Zhang Cong?
Zhang Cong is their old enemy of Duke Yan Sheng’s Mansion!
Sure enough, this Zhang Xisheng began to take over from Zhu Yuewen and talked about the glorious deeds of his ancestors who reported to the emperor and banned the erection of Confucius statues across the country.
Kong Shangyi looked around, hoping to see Kong Yinzhi and the people from the Ministry of Rites rushing to the scene to end this farce that fell from the sky.
Kong Yinzhi and Chief Wang are indeed here.
Next to them, there were two people, Zhu Yuewen, the general of Lu Fan, and Zheng Haizhu, the female master of the emperor's eldest son.
