Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 572: Changes in the Confucius Mansion (End)

The censor was so frightened that his face turned pale. He quickly knelt on the ground and explained to Meng Jun that he had said it unintentionally.

Meng Jun knew that perhaps this sentence was really spoken unintentionally, but now he was in the court, and whether it was true or not, Meng Jun could not pretend that it had not happened.

After a moment's silence, Meng Jun said coldly, "He is talking nonsense and insulting the meritorious officials of the country. Now, dismiss him from office, drive him out of the court, and never employ him again!"

Everyone in the Qingliu clan was shocked. They were planning to impeach Wu Jinkun, but before they could do anything, one person was killed because of a single word.

Gao Jinku's words seemed to have torn off the fig leaf of Duke Yansheng, making public the things that the civil officials avoided talking about.

The sage said, "If it were not for Guan Zhong, I would have let my hair down and worn clothes with my clothes on the left side!" This means that if it were not for Guan Zhong, Confucius would have let his hair down and worn clothes like barbarians. However, more than 2,000 years later, his descendants took the lead in shaving their heads.

In the second year of Shunzhi, Dorgon issued an order to shave the hair. Kong Yinzhi led the prestigious members of his clan to shave their hair first, and submitted a "Head-shaving Memorial" to the Qing court. This incident had an extremely bad influence on scholars all over the world. During the Yuan Dynasty, some members of the Kong family followed the Song Dynasty to migrate south. However, in the late Ming Dynasty, when Hongguang ascended the throne, no one from the Kong family followed him.

The censors also knew that the matter could not be covered up. After all, it had only been more than ten years. The two documents, "The First Memorial" and "The Memorial on the Haircut", were still kept in the palace's library.

All the important officials in the court remained silent about the dispute in the palace, and these censors knew that the emperor had a very bad impression of the Kong family.

At this time, the Chief Censor Chen Zilong stood up and said to Meng Jun: "Your Majesty, the previous Duke of Yansheng had bad behavior. I ask Your Majesty to issue an imperial decree to strip Kong Yinzhi of his title of Duke of Yansheng and remove him from the Confucius Temple. However, as a descendant of the sage, I hope Your Majesty can be more considerate and let the scholars of the world understand that the court governs the world with benevolence. The court can deal with the many crimes of the Duke of Yansheng's mansion one by one, but I hope Your Majesty can keep the position of Duke of Yansheng and let him be responsible for the sacrifices!"

Hearing this, Meng Jun nodded with satisfaction and said, "Mr. Chen's words are very good. Declare that Kong Yinzhi has behaved inappropriately and deprive him of his title of Duke Yansheng and remove him from the Confucius Temple."

Afterwards, Meng Jun issued several imperial edicts in succession, prohibiting the Kong family's private laws and confiscating all of the Kong family's more than 800,000 acres of land to the court. However, the emperor remembered the sage's grace, so he gave Confucius' birthplace, Mount Ni, to the Kong family and ordered the Kong family members to support themselves. In addition, the hereditary position of the Qufu County magistrate by the Kong family during the previous Ming Dynasty was completely abolished and replaced by an exiled official sent by the court to rule the county.

As soon as the imperial edict was issued, there was a lot of discussion inside and outside the capital. Many ministers wrote to the court, saying that the order was too harsh. Although Kong Yinzhi was guilty, such a severe punishment might lose the support of the people.

So after two days of consideration, Meng Jun issued another edict, saying that the court would grant the Kong family 100 dan of grain, 100 pieces of silk, and 200 taels of silver every year for use in worshiping the sage, hoping to quell dissent.

However, even though Meng Jun did this, there were still people talking about it and making constant noises. Some said that this was an overreaction, that the emperor was biased, and that he ignored traditions and disregarded the sages.

Some say that such a change would disrespect the teachings of the sages and would damage the foundations and shake the country's basis. Others say that blindly innovating would sever the cultural heritage and would cause the country's virtue to fade and people's hearts to become unsettled.

In the streets and alleys, after meals, people talked about it. Some agreed, but there were also voices of sympathy. Meng Jun did not blame the people for their criticisms. However, once the Qingluan Guards collected evidence that someone had slandered the emperor, they would be demoted or dismissed.

In a serious case, an imperial censor, at a private banquet, cursed Meng Jun for severely punishing the Kong family, saying that the emperor had no intention of governing the world together with the literati and officials, and was a dictator and a traitor to the people, worse than the Qing court.

Meng Jun ordered this man to be beheaded and thrown into the streets. Seeing this, the ministers dared not say anything. Meng Jun said angrily: "I won the world by force, and now I want to rule the world with benevolence. This villain is deceiving me that my sword is not effective!"

There was unrest in the capital, and at the local level, Wu Jinkun was also shocked when he received the emperor's edict. In fact, Wu Jinkun did not intend to make the Kong family suffer so much.

Wu Jinkun thought that the best outcome would be to take back the post of Qufu County Magistrate from the Ministry of Personnel of the imperial court, to impose a tax on each acre of the Kong family's land, and to restrict the Kong family from annexing land. However, he never expected that the emperor would be so angry that he would wipe out the Kong family's accumulation of thousands of years in one day.

Wu Jinkun and Lu Ping sat opposite each other and drank. Wu Jinkun smiled and said, "Our original intention was just to control the Kong family and prevent them from being so rampant and taking human lives lightly. Who would have thought that the emperor's power was beyond imagination."

The two of them raised their glasses and drank together. Lu Ping curled his lips and said, "What's the big deal? The emperor is the founding emperor. Can't he do anything he wants to do to someone?"

Wu Jinkun shook his head and said, "I wanted to take it slow, but I didn't expect it to be so easy. After all, the Kong family's defeat was their own fault."

"Yeah." Lu Ping put down the wine cup and was about to say something, but at this moment, hurried footsteps suddenly came from outside. The footsteps came from far away and were heard by both of them. Wu Jinkun and Lu Ping stopped their conversation at the same time and restrained their smiles.

At this time, a Qingluan Guard messenger, exhausted, pushed open the door of the hall, and breathlessly handed a secret letter to Lu Ping. Lu Ping took a look at the cover of the secret letter and saw a sign of extreme urgency.

Lu Ping did not dare to neglect it and quickly opened the secret letter. He frowned involuntarily after reading it. Lu Ping looked up at Wu Jinkun and said in a deep voice: "Master Wu, we are still too optimistic!"

"What happened?"

Lu Ping slammed the letter on the table and said, "The head of the Kong family is Kong Yinzhi's wife, Tao. This woman is secretly plotting to incite the people in Qufu to resist the imperial decree. Although the Kong family is powerful and influential in Qufu, they have accumulated a lot of power over the past hundreds of years. If Tao incites the people of Qufu, it will not be something that Qingluan Guards can solve."

Wu Jinkun frowned when he heard this. He and Lu Ping exchanged a glance, both realizing the seriousness of the situation. Wu Jinkun said hastily, "Where is Bai Tongzhen?"

Lu Ping replied: "According to the news from the Qingluan Guards the day before yesterday, Guwu Town has already reached Dezhou and Ling County."

Wu Jinkun immediately ordered: "Quickly tell your subordinates to send a fast horse to report to Bai Tongzhen and have him go south as soon as possible."

Lu Ping nodded in agreement, stood up immediately and said, "I'll send someone right away and set off now."

Wu Jinkun also stood up and said with a heavy face: "Letting Guwu Town go south is to be prepared for any eventuality. Once we use troops against Qufu, it will definitely shake the world. I will rush to Qufu immediately to see if I can quell the civil unrest!"

Lu Ping frowned, and after a moment, he said in a serious tone: "Okay, Master Wu's courage, I admire it. I will send a team of Qingluan Guards to protect Master Wu's safety along the way!"