Yanzhou Mansion. Qufu County.

Located in the middle of the county, the Confucian Mansion has not yet recovered from the riots more than a month ago, and the collapsed courtyard and blackened walls all show that this thousand-year-old family is now in decline.

A long convoy stopped at the gate of the Confucian Mansion, and the coachmen looked at the collapsed courtyard with sad expressions on their faces.

Although they all knew that this was deliberately done by the Confucian government, they deliberately did not repair these courtyards, showing the situation of the Confucian family being bullied, but they swallowed their anger, so as to show the world the image of the Confucian family as a weak person today.

But seeing this scene in front of them, all the Kong family members still couldn't let go.

They are saints, why are they facing the bullying they are facing now!

At this time, led by Kong Yanjin, dozens of elders of the Kong family followed him neatly, and everyone's expressions were solemn.

They lined up in a neat line, silently and silently left the Confucian Mansion, and then came to the Confucian Temple not far from the west side of the Confucian Mansion.

Today's Confucian temple gate is opened, the people who are responsible for cleaning will clean up here, and the hall everywhere burns incense and lights candles, adding a dusty scenery here.

This is not only the ancestral temple of their Confucian family, but also a symbol of the entire Confucian culture.

Therefore, unlike the Confucian family, the cost here has always been borne by the imperial court, and there are government officials stationed there.

Even the riots of more than a month ago were not damaged in the slightest, and the mob did not dare to storm this place.

After the direct descendants of the family temple were sacrificed next to each other, they were all relieved when they left the Confucian Temple.

Kong Yanjin looked at the convoy waiting at the door, sighed, turned around and bowed and said, "This is going to the capital, the future is uncertain, everything is left to your uncles." ”

Kong Gongzhuo squeezed out a smile and said: "The courtiers can rest assured, the clan has our own care." ”

After saying goodbye, Kong Yanjin got into a brand-new four-wheeled carriage instead of the original Yansheng bus.

The old-fashioned Yansheng bus is just a two-wheeled car, with no springs, no bearings, no shock absorption, just a kind of goods.

Now that the title has been cut, Kong Yanjin is now guilty of a crime, and he does not dare to publicize it, so he naturally changed to an ordinary carriage and went to the canal, and from the canal to the capital.

Sitting in the carriage with him were the two Confucian of the Kong family, and a butler, and the four of them got into the carriage, and the butler greeted him, and the carriage shook, and then started slowly.

Kong Yanjin said goodbye to everyone through the window, and when the car drove out of Qufu County, he turned around and sat in the seat, leaning on the partition, his face gloomy.

The housekeeper is a side branch of the fifty-sixth generation of the Kong family, two generations taller than Kong Yanjin, and he can't help but face Kong Yanjin, he still looks extremely humble.

"The courtier, according to the letter from the capital, although His Royal Highness the prince is very strict, he is a reasonable person, and although he will suffer some grievances when he goes to the capital, it is also a good opportunity to re-establish a relationship with His Royal Highness. You are of the same age, as long as you put down your face, you may not be able to save the Kong family. ”

Kong Yanjin looked at the two elders sitting opposite him, and exhaled a breath and said, "I'm not afraid that I will be humiliated when I arrive in the capital, but I am unwilling." Why didn't I do all these things, but I had to bear all this! ”

The eldest Kong Yan said: "The gentleman, as the head of the family, the glory is yours, and you are naturally in front of the board." However, you are only twenty years old this year, and His Royal Highness must know that these things are not your doing......

Kong Yanjin said with a long sigh: "Uncle, you have a lot of old friends in the court, and I have to bother you when I go to the capital." ”

"The gentry don't have to be like this, as a descendant of the Confucian family, they should naturally contribute to the Confucian family. Gongzhuo is also afraid, you have to be considerate. ”

Another Su Confucian Kong Yi said: "Although you have been cut down by the Holy Father, you are still the head of the Kong family. Gongzhuo has no public position, and there is no name protection from the head of the family, if he goes to Beijing, I am afraid it will be difficult to get out. ”

Seeing that the elders of the family were still speaking for the clan uncle, Kong Yanjin felt even more depressed. Almost none of the wrong things the Kong family has done over the years have been done by him, most of them are done by the clan uncle Kong Gongzhuo and other elders in the clan.

He is only twenty years old this year, and he has not really taken over the power of the family, but now he is about to be put on the board, but he has been pushed to the front.

He was now eager to arrive in the capital as soon as possible and make all this clear to that grandson.

But on the surface, he still has to pretend that he doesn't care and take everything on the table.

Passing through Yanzhou, the prefect Fang Cheng personally greeted him on the official road and toasted Kong Yanjin with a glass of wine. There was no progress in the convoy, the two sides just saluted on the side of the road, and Fang Cheng sent Kong Yanjin to the carriage again.

Later in the evening, the convoy arrived in Jining. This time, because the relationship between Zhao Huai, the prefect of Jining, and the Kong family was not good, no one was arranged to greet Kong Yanjin and his party.

However, the Kong family also has branches in Jining, and they have a large area of land in Jining, and they also have a large warehouse in the canal.

In the evening, they rested in a large mansion by the Jining Canal, although they were tired from the trip, they did not sleep.

Because they had just arrived in Jining, they received the news. Kong Gongdao and Kong Gongde, who were sent by the imperial court, are now escorted to the north through the canal and will be able to arrive in Jining tomorrow.

Although Zhu Zhanji wanted to deal with the Kong family, he couldn't show too much force.

Now Kong Yanjin and his entourage just received an order from the imperial court to go to the capital to explain why the Kong family had made so many mistakes over the years, waiting for the follow-up case review.

Therefore, Kong Yanjin and his entourage are not prisoners, as long as they arrive in the capital within the specified time.

The Confucian Mansion itself also had a boat, which stopped by the Jining Canal.

After some discussion, they decided to stay for one more day, meet Kong Gongdao and the two of them tomorrow, and then set off for the south.

Since ancient times, their Confucian family has not been limited to Shandong, and a few years ago, a branch migrated to North Korea at the invitation of the king of Joseon to settle down.

Therefore, Kong Gongdao and the two of them were sent to Beihai to herd sheep, which is nothing, the Kong family has a big business, as long as the family supports them, they can develop anywhere.

Now that the two of them have been wronged, they naturally want to be appeased, needless to say, this will cost a lot of money.

In Yingtianfu Nanhua Temple, which is a small town only twenty miles away from the capital, it has been three days since Yan Shutong, who had been released from the Criminal Department, returned home.

Although in the entire imperial court, his seven-rank county order is nothing at all. But in the Flower Temple, he, a criminal official who once served as a county magistrate, can still be regarded as a big man.

It's just that he has changed from a county order to a guilty body, and after he returned home, he didn't show up at all in a low-key manner, and even many neighbors didn't know about his homecoming.

Others didn't know that he was going home, but the elders of the Yan clan wouldn't know about it. As the most outstanding young man in the Yan family, he not only pinned the hope of his deceased father, but also the hope of the entire family.

But after only a few years, he fell to the dust, and now he is going to be sent to the barren land of Nanyang.

Although the imperial court has been promoting the wealth of Nanyang now, most people are skeptical. If it's really that good there, how can it be that there is still a miasma everywhere now?

However, everyone knows that it is true that Nanyang is rich in grain, and when you arrive in Nanyang, as long as you are not lazy, it is not a problem to eat a full stomach.

Uncle Yan served as the county magistrate in Qufu at the same time, and the relatives in the clan also went with him several times, and they all arranged errands in the county office, and he was escorted back to Beijing, and these relatives naturally returned to Yingtianfu.

Because of the constraints of the family, no one dared to covet his family property, and brought back all the family assets he had saved in the past few years.

Of course, when he returned to Yingtianfu, these family assets had to pay a tribute of 30% to the clan, so that they could buy ten acres of clan land, but Uncle Yan still left a few hundred taels of silver here.

Because he was sentenced to exile in Luzon, Nanyang, if he did not bring his family with him, he could be exonerated if he served as a school official for five years.

However, if you are willing to take your family to take the initiative to move to Nanyang and take root there, you can be directly exempted, and you can even continue to manage a county there as a county commander.

Uncle Yan is only thirty this year, so he is naturally full of ambitions, so he tends to choose the latter.

And her mother also strongly agrees with this, her husband is dead, and she, an old woman, has only one son to rely on. How could she be willing to let her son suffer alone in Nanyang, it was better for the whole family to migrate together.

Being able to continue to retain the position of county commander, although it is in Nanyang, the Yan clan is still very happy.

There is a clansman who can go to Nanyang to serve as a county commander, and Nanyang is now vigorously cultivating the famine, and their Yan family is just a big surname of a village in Daming, and it is nothing except for the village.

If you can really develop a branch in Luzon, you will be worthy of the ancestors of the Yan family.

Therefore, in the past few days when Uncle Yan returned home, in addition to enjoying family fun with his wife and children, he also discussed with his clansmen the arrangements for going to Luzon.

But Yan Shutong can't leave now, although he has been released, but he is still involved in the Kong family's case. Therefore, before the complete trial of the Kong family's case, he could not leave Ying Tianfu.

However, he has already made it clear that he wants to transfer his private land among the clan, and the whole family will move to Luzon and develop well there.

As an official of the imperial court, he knew the situation in Luzon better than the common people, and he was very sure of the future development there.

The climate there is hot, three crops a year, the land is fertile, there is no shortage of water, the only thing is that there is too much miasma, the climate is hot, and there is too much malaria.

However, he went to the county order, so he would not be like ordinary people, easy to face all kinds of problems.

However, if the affairs of the Kong family are not resolved, he can only stay in Yingtianfu and cannot go anywhere.

By mid-April, the family's fields, including the house, had been disposed of.

There are families, and these lands and houses are taken over by the clansmen, and the prices given are relatively fair.

He is now a criminal official, and when he goes to Nanyang, he is the county order, and the Yan family is just a small family, and he will be expected to soar in the future, and he will not be treated harshly because of this.

On this day, Uncle Yan was at the patriarch's house, and he was still discussing with him who he would take with him to Nanyang this time. His attendant, who was also a nephew in the clan, rushed in directly.

Yan Yan accompanied Uncle Yan's classmates, and his personality has gradually stabilized over the years. Seeing his panicked appearance, Uncle Yan moved in one heart and asked, "But the news has arrived in Beijing?" ”

"Sixth uncle, it's the chamberlain who came to deliver the decree, why did this matter still alarm the palace!"

Yan Shutong frowned, he didn't think that his small county order could alarm the palace, but now it was the inner servant who came to deliver the decree, which made his heart rise.

The patriarch was timid and did not dare to be sloppy, so he immediately said: "Go back quickly to meet the decree, and don't slack off the angels." ”

Uncle Yan returned to the two-entry courtyard that still belongs to his own house, and eight horses were tied outside the gate of the courtyard.

In the courtyard, the mother was standing in the courtyard, arranging for a few juniors to put out an incense case, waiting for the order. Faced with such a situation for the first time, everyone seemed a little scared.

Seeing Uncle Yan come in, his mother hurriedly greeted him and grabbed his arm with some concern. said in a trembling voice: "Tong'er...... This angel ......"

Uncle Yan smiled comfortingly: "Mother doesn't have to worry, it shouldn't be a bad thing, if it's a bad thing, she will directly detain the child, why bother passing the decree...... I'll go in and ask. ”

In the main room, a red-clothed waiter, two green-clothed waiters, and four guards were drinking tea, and when they saw Uncle Yan coming in, they all looked over.

Uncle Yan shook his head to the ground and said loudly: "Uncle Yan, the criminal officer, has seen angels. But I wondered in my heart, how could seven people have eight horses?

The leading eunuch smiled: "It's a talent, but why did you get so close to the Kong family at the beginning, you can't distinguish between right and wrong!" It's a pity. ”

When the words fell, he took out a folded official document from his arms and said, "Our family came to pass the decree, and by the way, I also brought you the order of the Criminal Department." The will will be said later, you can take a look at the official document of the Criminal Department first! ”

The order passed to him by the Criminal Department said: Kong Yanjin, the head of the Confucian family, has arrived in the capital, and the trial will officially start on April 16, and he should go to Dali Temple on April 16 to hear the trial and testify.

At this time, Yan Shutong was even more puzzled, because this matter did not need to alarm the grandson of the prison country at all, how could it lead to the edict of the inner servant.

But Uncle Yan didn't dare to be sloppy, this was the first time in the family to receive the order, others didn't understand the rules, and people were panicked, so he had to arrange it so that he wouldn't lose his manners.

He confessed, asked a few angels to sit down, arranged for incense, and asked his mother to take fourteen silver coins, and the others had two each, and the leader should be a long-term attendant, who should give at least four silver coins.

When everything was busy, the leading chamberlain took a copy of the Ming Huang Holy Decree from the entourage and announced it at the door of the main room.

This holy decree is extremely simple, just let Uncle Yan be ordered to go to the hot spring courtyard with the attendant to wait.

"The criminal minister receives the decree...... "Uncle Yan first helped up the old mother, and then stepped forward to take the holy decree, he turned his head and made a look, and hurriedly handed the wrapped silver coins to everyone's hands one by one.

They smiled and took the silver coin, and then Uncle Yan asked, "Angels, the sinners are lowly and low, and they are not very familiar with the situation in Beijing. I just don't know, why did His Highness summon the guilty minister to see him today? I also hope to inform one or two, and the criminal ministers should be fully prepared so as not to lose their honor in front of the emperor. ”

The leading chamberlain said with a smile: "Our family doesn't know much about the specific affairs, but I only know that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has always been very concerned about the affairs of the Kong family, and I know that the head of the Kong family has entered Beijing and wants to see him." His Royal Highness the Prince is a filial son, so naturally he will not disobey the opinion of His Royal Highness the Prince, so when our family came, it is said that the head of the Kong family had been summoned to the hot spring courtyard to see the driver. ”

At this moment, Uncle Yan understood a little.

It is the grandson who wants to deal with the Kong family, but the prince has some affection for the Kong family, so this time it can be regarded as a problem between the prince and the grandson.

He participated in many affairs of the Kong family, and he was also a key witness, so he was summoned to the other courtyard to see the driver.

In order to accept the order, Uncle Yan has already changed into an official uniform, but there is no need to change clothes at this time. He bowed down and said, "The sinner will go with the angel." ”

He instructed Yan to prepare a carriage and go to the hot spring annex to wait for him, so he got on the horse with several envoys and went to the hot spring annex first.

In the hot spring courtyard, Zhu Gaochi, who had recently regained a little vitality, was lying on a soft sofa. Zhu Zhanji sat on his left-hand side, and opposite him was Kong Yanjin, who had a white face.

Originally, he was very disgusted with the Kong family, because it carried the memory of his previous life.

In his heart, the Kong family is all moths, grass on the wall, and cunning people.

But when he saw the current head of the Kong family, this little white face who was three years younger than himself looked trembling, and he felt that he couldn't bear to punch elementary school students.

When he was only nine years old, his father died, so he inherited the title of Yansheng Gong, and he has been studying the Four Books and Five Classics under the teaching of the great Confucians in the clan.

When he was sixteen years old, he officially inherited the position of head of the family, and then wrote a "Mengyuan Tracing the True Record" under the bewitchment of someone with a heart.

In order to justify the name of his ancestors, he regarded Meng Yuan as orthodox.

As soon as this book came out, Zhu Di was furious and directly cut the title of Yan Shenggong.

A sixteen-year-old boy, when he was in high spirits, suffered such a big blow, and he was frightened all of a sudden, and in the past few years, he has been staying in the Confucian Mansion and rarely shows up.

But after all, he is the head of the Kong family, no matter what good things the Kong family does, he will bear this name, and if he does anything bad, he can't get away with it.

He is a little guy, who is the opponent of those old guys, and he has been pitted a lot in the past few years.

As far as the Kong family's crimes are concerned, most of them are not his responsibility, but if he wants to be held accountable, he can only come to the capital to be punished.

If he had the ability and hadn't encountered such a thing as now, maybe in a decade or two, he would have been able to gradually regain power.

But now, it's all in plain sight.

Zhu Gaochi, the bitter prince, vomited blood three times in a row, Zhu Zhanji was still worried that he would not be able to get through, who knew that after half a month, he would be a lot more energetic.

What he is most worried about now is that Zhu Zhanji will exterminate Confucianism, and he has always remembered the disposal of the Confucian family.

Most of those officials were given light sentences, and Zhu Zhanji also told him, but he was not satisfied, and wanted Zhu Zhanji to let the Kong family go.

In his heart, Zhu Zhanji was his son after all, and he didn't want to be scolded as a tyrant by the history books compiled by Confucianism because of Zhu Zhanji's deal with the Confucian family.

Zhu Zhanji also knew that he had good intentions, and he knew that he would never wipe out the Kong family.

In this era, the advantages of the existence of Confucianism outweigh the disadvantages, and the advantages of Confucianism are irreplaceable.

This is like the later generations, although Confucianism was defeated, but in just 40 years, the whole society became morally corrupt and humane disorder.

In the era that Zhu Zhanji traveled through, he picked up many things that had been knocked out of the dust again and filled in the lack of people's beliefs.

The Europeans, for example, never overthrew their religious beliefs, no matter how they developed.

Don't they know that religion is just fake? Doesn't there exist a god of faith?

Of course they know, but they need to have spiritual sustenance, they need to be afraid, and they need the human and social relationships established by religion.

Therefore, he deliberately called Kong Yanjin to let Zhu Gaochi meet. Of course, not only let him see the light hall on the surface, but also let Zhu Gaochi see how many dirty things the Kong family has done behind his back.

At the same time, it is also necessary to let the Confucian family know that the imperial court will never let them grow savagely, and everything they do must be within the scope of the imperial court's regulations.

Of course, this is only the first step, and when the development of science and technology industry is not enough to change the entire social structure, Zhu Zhanji will not dig into the foundation of Confucianism.

When the development of society can change the structure of the small farming economy of the Ming Dynasty, when social ethics enters a stage of freedom, then it is the time to truly change Confucianism.

Zhu Zhanji was very skeptical, maybe Confucianism would have taken the initiative to change by then, and he would no longer talk about industrial technological innovation, which was a strange skill.

Zhu Gaochi had a good impression of Kong Yanjin, and his image of a little white face was very consistent with the Confucian description of scholars.

When the two of them talked about the scriptures, Zhu Zhanji couldn't listen to them at all, but he could also know that Kong Yanjin was also a person with real talent and learning.

Facing Zhu Zhanji, Kong Yanjin had a huge psychological pressure, seeing Zhu Zhanji's face and feeling the momentum on his body, Kong Yanjin's heart was shocked.

"Your Highness, the original Qufu County ordered Uncle Yan to bring it with you."

The two of them, who were smiling and chatting, disappeared from the smile on their faces. The arrival of Yan Shutong also means that Zhu Zhanji will expose the filth under the glamorous appearance of the Kong family in front of them.

"Xuan ......"

"Xuanyuan Qufu County ordered Uncle Yan to see the same ......"

After a while, Yan Shutong, who was still wearing the uniform of the county magistrate, fell to his knees as soon as he entered the door. "Uncle Yan, the criminal minister, has seen His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, and has seen His Royal Highness the Prince."

Although the crown prince is older than Bi Sun, Zhu Zhanji is now the grandson of the prison state, so it is not wrong to put Zhu Zhanji in front.

"Flatten, come forward."

Uncle Yan got up together, lowered his head, walked to the middle of the side hall in small steps, and bowed again.

Zhu Zhanji said: "Raise your head. ”

Uncle Yan raised his head, he was almost thirty years old, and he looked upright, but he had done so many things with the Kong family.

Zhu Zhanji didn't save face for him, and asked directly: "You were born in poverty, you have read sage books since you were a child, and you have become a county order from the poor people. Tell me, this saint is the same body as the saint? ”