Although Yan Shutong was born in poverty, because he was smart since he was a child and supported by his family, he went all the way from a showman, to a lifter, to a jinshi.

Originally, he served as a county magistrate in a small county, but because of his outstanding officials, he was transferred to Qufu to serve as a county magistrate, and he has not taken a detour in his life.

In the first half of his life, he was always high-spirited and did not have time to settle down and summarize his life.

But when Qufu suffered the biggest setback in his life, especially during the months he was detained in prison, he also seriously reflected on his experience and summarized every mistake.

He also entered the officialdom with the lofty ideal of "establishing a heart for heaven and earth, establishing a life for the people, continuing to learn for the saints, and opening peace for all generations".

But after entering the officialdom, in order to adapt to the officialdom, he gradually changed from an idealist to a realist.

After the Confucian family was a saint, he was an official in the hometown of the sage, so he naturally attached great importance to the relationship with the Confucian family, and also violated his own ideals and provided too much convenience for the Confucian family.

It wasn't until he was imprisoned that he gradually figured out that he was an official of the imperial court, not an official of the Confucian family, and he crossed the line.

Seeing this, he naturally figured out why His Majesty went on the expedition, why he let Taisun supervise the country, and why Taisun had to deal with the Kong family.

This world is the world of the Zhu family, not the world of the Kong family.

Because of his closeness to Confucianism and the Confucian family, the prince even lost his position as a prisoner.

Now, he is already a criminal official, and there is no room for manoeuvre, and the most correct choice now is to follow the steps of the grandson, instead of thinking about the past friendship of the Kong family, let alone caring about the prince's thoughts.

Hearing Zhu Zhanji's question, he knelt down without hesitation, kowtowed to Zhu Zhanji three times before saying: "The criminal minister didn't understand it before, but now he has understood. A saint is a saint, and a saint is after a saint.

There can be ministers in the people's families, and there will be scum in the saints' families. The dynasties of the world have changed, and the former Wang Xie family is no longer heard of today. Since Emperor Qin, how many families in the world have been swept by the waves, and how many families have risen.

The sinner did not understand these things in the past, and was confused by the name of the saint, so he made a move that did not conform to the righteousness of the world, and regretted it. Now His Royal Highness is magnanimous, but he has only exiled the criminal ministers to Luzon, and the criminal ministers must abide by the righteousness and no longer be absurd. ”

Kong Yanjin's face turned pale when he heard this, and he looked at Yan Shutong, but he didn't know how to deal with it.

He knew very well that today's questioning was related to the future fate of the Kong family, and as for the triage of the three divisions in a few days, it was just a formality.

His Royal Highness Taisun's question directly dug the foundation of the Confucian family, without the protection of the name of the saint, there are not many people in the Confucian family who are officials in the court, even if there are students among the people, they are just rootless wanderers.

However, he couldn't say what Taisun asked, and Uncle Yan's words were wrong. If evaluated by the standard of a saint, there is indeed no one in the Confucian family today who can bear this name.

Moreover, he was now summoned alone, and there was not even one around him who could come up with an idea......

Suddenly, he suddenly realized that this was deliberately done by His Royal Highness Taisun, and he also gave himself a good opportunity to break his wrist by a strong man!

Yes, His Royal Highness Taisun is also a young man, and he knows very well that many things of the Kong family are not done by himself.

Now that he has been pushed out to protect himself from the wind and rain, His Royal Highness Taisun also has sympathy for himself.

However, he doesn't know if he guessed right, if he guessed wrong, he would be a sinner of the Kong family!

Zhu Zhanji listened to Yan Shutong's reply and couldn't help but look at him deeply. This county magistrate is a smart man, keep him, and the Kong family's secrets will never be able to cover up.

He suddenly thought of the officials who had served as chief officials in Qufu and Yanzhou before, and if they wanted to deal with the Kong family, they all had a role.

He smiled and asked Kong Yanjin, "The courtier thinks that the answer to the strict county order is wrong?" ”

Sweat oozed from Kong Yanjin's face, and he didn't know how to answer.

Zhu Gaochi said with a smile: "Zhanji, the head of the Kong family is three years younger than you, and he has never come out to preside over affairs, even if there are some people in the Kong family who have the name of a saint, it is no wonder that he is not a saint." ”

"So ......" Zhu Zhanji looked at Kong Yanjin and said: "Lone is an enlightened person, this injustice has a head, the debt has a master, whoever does it, will come out and take responsibility." Don't think that having a family to protect you and having an innocent person like you to shield yourself from the wind and rain is like escaping accountability. It should be your responsibility, of course Lone wants to find your business, it is not your responsibility, and you should not take it on yourself. ”

Kong Yanjin was frightened and surprised. He was pushed out to the capital to deal with the lawsuit, but he was very reluctant.

He didn't do any of the things in the Kong family, just because he was the head of the family, so he had to take responsibility, who did he reason with?

Now, Zhu Zhanji's meaning is very clear. It didn't work for him to come to the capital, and if he found out who did what was illegal, he must be held personally responsible, rather than making the entire Kong family responsible.

In this way, there is no need to worry that the Kong family will be uprooted, and those old forces can be taken down in one go, and he, the head of the family, can only be justified in the future.

Therefore, he gave up resistance, stood up and said: "Everything is in accordance with the will of His Highness, and the Kong family admits defeat and accepts punishment." ”

Zhu Gaochi was stunned for a moment, looked at Kong Yanjin, and then looked back at Zhu Zhanji, he didn't understand, why didn't Kong Yanjin directly resist? Didn't he know that this would be a big loss to the Confucian family?

Although he is not out of the door now, he will not step out of the second door, but the news that Zhu Zhanji wants him to know, he will not be unaware.

In the past two months, the illegal incidents done by the Kong family have been revealed one after another, and it is a big crime to accommodate nearly 100,000 hidden households alone.

The Ming Dynasty's taxes relied on the people, and the Confucian family guard of honor did not pay taxes, absorbing nearly 100,000 hidden households, these people did not register with the government, and naturally did not have to pay taxes.

Although there are historical problems in this, but this incident alone, the Kong family will not be able to end well.

There are also low-cost land requisition, digging people's ancestral graves, each of which will not be easily closed, and the Kong family will lose a layer of skin.

Zhu Zhanji said at this time: "The courtier is also twenty years old this year, can he be famous?" ”

Kong Yanjin didn't understand what Zhu Zhanji meant, although he wanted to participate in the Autumn Festival, but he didn't dare to agree easily.

Being a petty official through Qiu Yu is far better than being a free and easy head of the family!

Kong Yanjin sighed and said: "I can't help myself, these things still have to be discussed with the clan elders." ”

Zhu Zhanji nodded and said: "In the future, the imperial court will treat anyone equally, and if you don't pass the scientific examination, you can only enter the office by improving your skills, and the Confucian family will also have the time to become self-reliant." ”

Kong Yanjin hadn't answered yet, and Zhu Gaochi couldn't help but say: "Nonsense, those strange skills and tricks can enter the office, what's the use of taking the scripture paper?" ”

Zhu Zhanji nodded and said, "Father is right, the scripture examination paper is useless. ”

Zhu Gaochi and Kong Yanjin both showed surprised expressions at once, even Yan Shutong, who was still kneeling there.

Since the Sui and Tang dynasties suppressed the family and canceled the recommendation to enter the office, scientific research has gradually become an important channel for ordinary people to rise.

Although the Tang Dynasty also divided various assessments, it gradually became the Ming Jing Branch, and in the Ming Dynasty, it was changed to Baguwen.

And now, as the grandson of the prison country, it is useless to say this!

Zhu Gaochi was speechless all of a sudden, but Kong Yanjin and Yan Shutong didn't dare to answer.

Zhu Zhanji glanced at Yan Shutong and said, "Get up, come and sit down." You have served as the county magistrate for five years, this is the most basic official of the Ming Dynasty, tell Gu, can the scriptures and meanings you learned during your study be used to improve the lives of the people? Is it possible to count the population and acres of land in the jurisdiction? Is it possible to build water conservancy? Is it possible to build roads and bridges? Can the economy be developed? ”

Uncle Yan was pardoned, got up and slowly came to the last position on the right hand side and sat down, and then said: "But Your Highness, learning the Ming Sutra can open up the wisdom of the people!" ”

Zhu Zhanji nodded and said, "Indeed, this is the biggest effect." ”

Seeing that Zhu Zhanji was not blindly resisting Confucianism, the three of them breathed a sigh of relief.

Zhu Zhanji also said: "Opening up the wisdom of the people and unifying the thinking is the credit of Confucianism, and of course Lone will not deny it. But Confucianism is only one of the hundred schools, can not replace the role of other disciplines, today's imperial court, isn't it still Confucianism as the inside, Legalism as the surface? In many ways, the role of Mohist is greater than that of Confucianism, as well as peasant families and miscellaneous families, all of which have their own roles, except for some that cannot be put on the table. ”

Until later generations, there was no discipline that could replace Confucianism. However, because of the role of Confucianism, all other disciplines cannot be suppressed, which is the main reason why the East has been constantly changing and circulating for thousands of years.

It has always relied on the smallholder peasant economy as the main body of the economy, and the social structure will never change.

Of course, the current social structure is in the early stage of great change, and with the change of the economic structure of society, many things of Confucianism must also change, otherwise they will be eliminated.

Kong Yanjin immediately realized this, and he had already decided to persuade the two clan elders to prepare to participate in the Autumn Festival when he went back.

Although he is a saint, if Qiu Yu does not do well in the exam, it will affect the image of a saint. But His Royal Highness Taisun has already made it so clear that he is still clinging to the past glory of the Confucian Mansion, and he will only become more and more depraved and passive.

On the contrary, he doesn't care about Yan Shutong's revelation of the Kong family's past illegal acts now, and he has no intention of exculpating them.

Since His Royal Highness Taisun has said that he will not be held responsible, but will only be judged by facts and held personally responsible, he has not done anything wrong, and he can't wait for His Highness to arrest all the clan elders.

Only then will he be able to take power in a short period of time.

Zhu Gaochi didn't understand this, he saw that Kong Yanjin had no intention of exculpating himself, so naturally he couldn't say anything.

He was just afraid that Zhu Zhanji would kill the Kong family, since he wouldn't now, Kong Yanjin didn't care, and he wouldn't know about the world if he got involved.

Yan Shutong and Kong Yanjin came out of the courtyard and went out of the gate, and when the family members of the Confucian Mansion and Yan Yan saw them coming out, they hurriedly drove the carriage over.

Only then did Kong Yanjin say to Uncle Yan and Changyi: "Parents, the situation has changed in the past few months, and it is my Kong family who has dragged you down. ”

Uncle Yan looked at Kong Yanjin with a gloomy face, and remembered that a few months ago, his face was still full of childishness. He sighed and replied, "I don't blame the Kong family, it's me who wanted to take a shortcut, so I lost my position." ”

Kong Yanjin shook his head and said: "Although my Kong family is known as a thousand-year-old family, it is precisely because of the lush branches and leaves that it is inevitable that there will be some dead branches and leaves. If you want to last a long time, you need to prune it. Yan's parents will now be uprooted from their hometown, and Jin once again wishes you a smooth journey and great ambitions. ”

They are all guilty bodies, and because they are implicated in a case, they have the opportunity to meet today when they are summoned by the grandson, and if they contact them in private, they will inevitably attract criticism.

So leaving aside today, it's not good to see each other in private again.

Yan Shutong's heart was full of feelings, but he couldn't blame the Kong family. After all, many things are helped by his resources, just like using court labor to build ditches and enclosures for the Kong family, without the support of Yan Shutong, it is impossible to carry it out.

He only hated himself for doing it himself, and in the face of Kong Yanjin, he really couldn't hate it.

Without saying a word all the way, I returned to the Temple of Flowers, and it was already dark at this time.

In addition to a few clan elders who were a little worried, they were still waiting for news at his house, and on the table in the main house, there was also a tray covered by red silk.

Mother Yan looked at Yan Shutong's face, a little worried, but she didn't know how to ask, she just sighed lightly and grabbed his hand. "It's good to be back."

Uncle Yan bowed down and said, "Mother don't worry, everything will wait for the court to have its own laws, the child has been tried, and there will be no more accidents." ”

He looked at the tray and asked, "Have you ever had a guest in the house?" ”

The patriarch answered: "Just before you returned, the Confucian Mansion sent someone to send two hundred silver coins, and he did not leave a sip of tea, but only said that it was sent to Cheng Yi, and left. ”

Uncle Yan was silent for a long time before he said to his mother: "Although this silver is a bit much, more than Cheng Yi, let's take it." Now the child is still guilty, and he can't talk about taking bribes. ”

This is not only Cheng Yi, but also the Kong family's desire to make him merciful in the future and save face for the Kong family.

Of course he won't talk nonsense, after all, the Kong family is still a saint family in the hearts of scholars.

In the courtyard, by the hot spring, Zhu Zhanji and Zhu Gaochi, father and son, sat opposite each other, beside them, only Yang Shiqi was the companion, and several internal supervisors stood far away where they could be seen.

Through Yan Shutong's mouth, Kong Yanjin did not deny that Zhu Gaochi knew a lot of the Kong family's private interests.

Originally, he was skeptical of many of the cases in the case file, but now, he can't help but disbelieve it.

This also made him extremely depressed and unable to keep up.

He wants to indulge himself now, but the Zhang family is now in the other courtyard and takes care of him strictly. Don't talk about women, even the drinks are under his control.

Although his body has gradually improved these days, he can't bear the loneliness anymore.

"Go back to the palace today, and you will take your mother and grandson back. There are many socials in the capital, and there are rewards every month. Now that Concubine Zhang Guifei is in the harem, she can't do without them. ”

Zhu Zhanji didn't expect that Zhu Gaochi couldn't hold back a little, and it was indeed a little inconvenient for Zhang and Sun Xian to stay in the other courtyard.

Zhu Zhanji received foreign ministers and rewarded officials, basically all of them were rewarded together with their female dependents. And the reward of the female dependents, these need to be presented by the Zhang family or Sun Xian.

"I'll take it back today, and when I'm ready tomorrow, I'll take my mother back."

"What is there to prepare? Prepare the carriage and go back in an hour. ”

Zhu Zhanji had no choice but to ask Li Liang to inform them to return to the palace.

Waiting for Zhu Zhanji and them to leave, that night, Zhu Gaochi couldn't help but call a pot of wine, poured himself a small half pot.

Of course, he knew his body, so he just drank a small half pot, and after drinking, he took advantage of the wine to be fortunate to his beloved Concubine Guo.

Without Zhang's presence, he was respected alone in the other courtyard, and no one dared to stop him.

However, information about him reached the palace early the next morning.

Looking at the information that came, Zhu Zhanji was also a little crying and laughing, this Zhu Gaochi suffered a little blow, he wanted to escape from reality, and his psychological endurance was too poor.

And his body is already weak, and now he can't control himself, and he can't take care of it as a son, so he can only let him.

What's more, in Zhu Zhanji's heart, he was already a little tired of Zhu Gaochi making demon moths all day long, as long as he didn't cause trouble, it didn't matter how he was.

At the court meeting on April 15, after the work court of various ministries, Chen Xuan, the governor of Daming Bank, did not keep a low profile.

In Wang Yan's voice of "play when there is something to do, and retreat from the court if there is nothing to do", he stood in the center of the court. "Your Royal Highness, the minister has officially taken over the post of governor of Daming Bank since the fifteenth year, because of the money involved, he has trembled in recent years, and he does not dare to slack off. However, banking affairs are not the minister's specialty, and now both development banks and commercial banks are in deficit, and the ministers are terrified and will not give up. Today, I plead to His Highness, and I only hope that His Highness will give the old minister a way out. ”

As soon as Chen Xuan's words fell, there was no noise in the entire hall, and it was quiet for a while, and even a needle could be heard falling.

Zhu Zhanji sat up straight on the dragon chair, his tiger eyes narrowed slightly, and his eyes swept around the faces of the ministers. He said: "Fourteen years of preparation for the establishment of the bank, one is that the Ming Dynasty will no longer have to worry about the lack of money in the future, and the other is to develop the private economy. However, in just over three years, the governor of Lone was able to force the governor of Gu to take the blame and confess himself, which obviously did not take the governor of Gu seriously.

Governor Chen, now is not the time for you to plead guilty, only you know how much the bank is missing, and if you don't calculate the accounts clearly, it will be difficult for you to get out.

Today, Lone is here to make a promise, this bank is set up to revitalize the economy of the Ming Dynasty, no matter who it is, it cannot occupy a single penny. Today, April 15, Lone will leave you half a month to fill the shortfall, if there is still no one to fill the gap on the first day of the fifth month, thoroughly investigate to the end. ”

Everyone knows that Zhu Zhanji is acting, as early as more than two months ago, Zhu Zhanji said at Zhang Fu's birthday banquet that he wanted those nobles to fill the gap.

It's just that because Zhu Di hasn't left yet, Zhu Zhanji didn't want to make too much trouble.

These days, some nobles have made up for their debts, but there are still more than half of them who have not yet repaid their debts.

It's not that many of them don't have the money to pay back, but they don't want to pay it back when they see that others haven't paid it back.

There is also more than half of it, because it is now in the South Seas trade, just shipped out, and now the payment has not returned.

Zhu Zhanji chose this time to make trouble because of the fact that the ship has returned from trading with Dongying and North Korea, and those who trade with Nanyang will also return by May at the latest.

At this time, it was the time when they all had money in their hands, so he was going to start asking for debts.

The honorable generals never expected that they had waited for a long time and did not wait for Zhu Zhanji's new official to take office with three fires, but now that they had arrived, the first fire had burned on themselves.

They are all supporters of His Royal Highness, why didn't they deal with those ministers first, but pointed their guns at their own people?

The civil servants were excited, His Royal Highness had been paying attention to the Shandong case some time ago, so that they were not people inside and outside, and in the end not only disposed of dozens of civil officials, but also tossed the Kong family enough.

Until now, the Kong family's case has not been concluded.

Now His Highness wants to use his sword against the noble generals, and they are simply cheering.

It cannot be said that there are no civil servants who borrow money in banks, but most of them are not in the habit of doing business themselves, and at most they support some merchants.

Unlike Xungui, they let their families go into battle in person and trade with overseas.

Zhu Zhanji asked Chen Xuan again: "Since the bank is in deficit, your head office has the responsibility of supervision, can you submit the accounts?" ”

Chen Xuan immediately took out a book of folds and offered it with both hands. "All deficits are recorded, and the minister does not dare to be negligent."

Li Liang walked down quickly, took the booklet from Chen Xuan's hand, and walked back quickly, first checking whether it was soaked in poison before handing it over to Zhu Zhanji.

As soon as Zhu Zhanji opened it, he slapped the mahogany table in front of him. The mahogany table seemed to be made of paper, and it shattered into several pieces with a thud.

All the ministers looked at the "angry" Zhu Zhanji in amazement, thinking about what the result would be if this slap was on him!

Zhu Zhanji stood up, kicked the case table in front of him to the side, stood in front of the white marble railing and said angrily: "Uncle Wang, who is lonely, he can borrow 500,000 silver coins from the Development Bank alone? And the first one has not been repaid, and the second one has been borrowed? Guo Zi, how did you become a commander? ”

Guo Zi, the admiral of the Daming Development Bank, stepped out of the ranks and knelt in the center of the hall. "Death to the minister!"

Zhu Zhanji snorted and said, "Just a sentence of ten thousand deaths, you want to shirk responsibility?" It's impossible! When Gu first prepared the bank, he made it clear to you that the bank was for the court, not for that person, and you had to help Gu take care of the money bag. It's good now, others use the lonely silver to buy land, do business, and earn silver, and now they don't even pay back the capital! ”

Guo Zi secretly complained, where is the outsider, it's your own uncle!

But he had to say something about it. "The minister is willing to go to Zhangde Mansion to ask for silver."

Zhu Zhanji said sharply: "I don't need you to go to Zhangde Mansion for this amount of money, I want you to list all the people who owe silver, not only the principal, but also the interest. ”

Everyone's hearts froze, and Zhu Zhanji turned his head again and said, "Liu Wan! ”

"The slave is here."

"Alone you go to Zhangde Mansion and ask my money-loving uncle for silver, if you miss a penny, you can mobilize the local garrison and detain him for me back to Beijing, I will see if he wants silver or life!"

Even his uncle was going to fight and kill, which made the ministers even more awe-inspiring, and those nobles who owed money now wanted to pay back the money quickly.