Outside the city of Qufu, hundreds of people gathered outside the city, there were people from Qufu, but they were even more scholars, and Li Dang personally led three thousand guards to guard the camp. At the gate of the city, a huge platform appeared next to the official road, and a towering tablet was located on the high platform, faintly visible on it with the appearance of "Dacheng Holy Master", which was the name of Confucius.

"I heard that no one came to Queli today, Your Majesty is sacrificing today, I'm afraid there is a lack of a worship officer." In the crowd, a scholar said with a slight regret: "I heard that Your Majesty is ready to take back the excess land of the Kong family. ”

"That's natural, I don't know how much land there is under the name of Yan Shenggong, at least more than sixty percent of the land in Qufu is already in the hands of the Kong family, and it is normal for Your Majesty to recover the land." Someone next to him immediately said.

"This activity of presiding over the sacrifice has always been the responsibility of the Holy Father, and it is against the Zhou rites for Your Majesty to sacrifice the Confucian saint like this! It's not appropriate, it's not appropriate. An old scholar looked around, although all levels of civil and military were gathered on the side, but the lack of worship officials made the sacrifice a little out of shape, which was not in line with the Zhou etiquette, so some people hesitated.

"Your Majesty's respect for Confucianism can be seen from this, Your Majesty respects the Confucian saints, not the Kong family, we are the disciples of the saints, not the disciples of the Kong family, as long as Your Majesty obeys the saints and loves us scholars, as for what the Kong family looks like, what does it have to do with us?" A young man in the crowd suddenly said loudly.

His words immediately aroused the approval of everyone, but most of the people who aroused the approval were young people, Li Jing created such a foundation at a young age, and was a role model for young people, in their opinion, as long as Li Jing sacrificed to the Confucian saint and respected the scholars, it was okay, unlike those old antiques, they only knew to abide by the weekly etiquette.

"Hey, the Kong family is here, it's Kong Duancao, the half-brother of Yan Shenggong." A young man suddenly pointed to the distance and said, everyone suddenly saw Kong Duancao leading his two sons over in the distance, Kong Duancao and Kong Xuan looked gloomy, I didn't expect Li Jing to really hold a sacrifice ceremony, and I didn't expect that the other party didn't even notify the Kong family, which was equivalent to a complete turnaround.

Kong Fan had a worried look on his face, his eyes wandered, sweeping around, for fear of seeing some terrible character, and even his whole body trembled a little, he already had a premonition that something big might happen today.

"Father, I didn't expect the Son of Hongwu to be so bold, and without the presence of Yan Shenggong, he actually sacrificed to the Confucian Saint, isn't he afraid of the world's jokes?" Kong Xuan looked at everything in front of him, the altar was hanging high, and the surrounding bells, drums, flags and other ceremonial music were the same as those of the Confucian Temple, and even the service of the people around him was the same, the only thing missing was Yan Shenggong, who presided over the sacrifice.

"He is the Son of Heaven, what's not to do, look at it, these surrounding officials, servants, and Zhong Le are all the same as Que Li, the only difference is people." Kong Duancao said coldly: "In fact, we shouldn't come at all today, you said that Li Jing canonized me as the Holy Duke of Yan at this time, should I accept it or not?" ”

Kong Xuan's two brothers' faces changed, the current situation is really possible, if this is the case, it is not good for Kong Duancao to take it, and it is not good not to take it. If you take it, you will offend Kong Duanyou, and if you don't accept it, it will be tantamount to offending Li Jing, and Li Jing has enough reasons to destroy the Kong clan in Queli.

"If that's the case, father, the child thinks it's better to take it, get over the current hurdle first, and then talk about the rest." Kong Xuan's eyes rolled, and he couldn't help but whisper. Even if he returns to Que Li and is ridiculed and excluded, his father is already Yan Shenggong, and more importantly, he is Kong Duancao's eldest son, after Kong Duan**, this Yan Shenggong will be his turn.

"Your Majesty has arrived!" Kong Duancao was about to speak, there was a shout in the distance, and then there was a burst of mountain shouts, and the people around the altar fell to the ground one after another, no matter what they thought in their hearts, at this time, they could only kneel on the ground, not daring to have any intention of resisting, even Kong Duancao was honestly kneeling on the ground.

"Get up!" A moment later, Li Jing's gentle voice came from above everyone's heads, and everyone stood up one after another, only to see Li Jing dressed in a gown, wearing a crown on his head, and his momentum was majestic, and everyone was infinitely afraid in their hearts.

"The Holy Master of Dacheng is the ancestor of Confucianism, and its civilization has spread throughout the three mountains and five mountains. Li Jing's gaze swept over everyone, and swept over the faces of Kong Duancao's father and son, and a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

"Your Majesty, the grass people have something to say." Kong Duancao's face turned red, and he couldn't help but come out of the crowd, bowed to the ground, and said loudly: "Your Majesty, the sacrifice to the Holy Master of Dacheng has always been presided over by the Holy Duke of Yan, and he is the official of the enshrinement. As soon as Kong Duancao's voice fell, there was a burst of discussion around him.

"Yan Shenggong? Zhao Qing, have I ever canonized such dukes? A smile appeared on the corner of Li Jing's mouth, and his voice was very calm, looking at Zhao Ding and saying.

Zhao Ding smiled bitterly, didn't dare to slack off, hurriedly came out of the crowd, and said: "At the beginning of Your Majesty's accession to the throne, there were two kings, eighteen dukes, twenty-two marquises, and thirty-six uncles. ”

Zhao Ding's voice came out, and there was a sudden uproar around, Kong Duancao heard Li Jing's words, his face suddenly changed, and his eyes flashed with panic, the title of Yansheng Gong has always been owned by the Kong family, and it has been in all dynasties, but Kong Duancao forgot an important thing, now it is the Tang Dynasty, not the Great Song Dynasty, and the Tang Dynasty has never canonized Kong as the Yan Shenggong, that is to say, Kong Duanyou's Yansheng Duke title is illegal, at most it was canonized by Zhao Song. Although it is logically correct, it is illegal in legal terms, and it is embarrassing.

"Since this dynasty does not have the title of Yan Sheng Gong, how did this Yan Sheng Gong come from in your mouth? Could it be that he is pretending, let alone saying, your Kong family set up another court and conspired to usurp the throne? Li Jing's face was gloomy, and he looked at Kong Duancao coldly, and a trace of murderous intent flashed in his eyes. The people around the audience didn't even dare to come out of the atmosphere. At this time, I remembered that the Confucian family's Yan Shenggong had not yet been recognized by the Tang Dynasty.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, the grass people, the grass people lost their words, please, please punish Your Majesty." Kong Duancao hurriedly said loudly, no matter which crime it is, Li Jing can destroy the nine clans of the Kong family. He was covered in sweat at this time, and his heart was filled with infinite regret. Kong Xuan behind him was trembling, his face was pale, and he didn't know what to do.

"Your Majesty, the Son of Heaven sacrifices to the Holy Master, according to reason, it is necessary for the Holy Duke to preside, and the minister thinks that since this is the case, it is better to canonize the Holy Duke of Yan immediately and let the Holy Duke of Yan preside over it." Seeing this, Zhao Ding immediately knew that the heat was almost over, and hurriedly said.

"Well, you have a point." Li Jing glanced at Kong Duancao's father and son, and said lightly: "The three of you are from the Kong family, so you must be familiar with Zhou Li?" ”

"Familiar, familiar, courtier." Kong Duancao hadn't spoken yet, Kong Xuan hurriedly said, his face showed a look of hope, listening to Li Jing's tone, it was clear that he wanted to canonize Kong Duancao as the new Yan Shenggong, which meant that he was the next Yan Shenggong.

"That's very good, Kong Fan, from today onwards, you will be the new Yan Shenggong, come up and preside over the sacrificial ceremony!" Li Jing nodded and said to Kong Fan.

"Ahh Kong Fan definitely didn't expect that joy would descend from the sky, and the title of Yan Shenggong would actually fall on him.