Chapter 292: Don't forget your roots

This is completely different from what Kong Shangqian envisioned.

In his mind, he should be wearing the dress that he would only wear during the Confucius Ceremony, and walked to the front of the dragon pattern throne of the Jinluan Hall with three bows and nine bows, and in front of His Majesty the Emperor, under the gaze of many first- and second-class officials, like his predecessor Dong Zhongshu, he dedicated a graceful woman to His Majesty.

But the current scene, how to say it, is worse than the treatment of people in their own family who get together to drink tea.

What good tea can be found at a tea stall on the street? It's a thick white porcelain teapot, and the inside is all burnt yellow over time. It seems that even without tea leaves, you can brew out a golden tea soup.

The stool is relatively low, as if sitting in the middle of the field. Zhu Youzhen is very tall, with two long legs on both sides. As if unintentionally, he asked:

"How? What do you think, what do you think? ”

"Your Majesty, our Acquisition Academy can also send out some gentlemen to support the imperial court's education plan."

Kong Shangqian felt that he had said it very clearly.

Your Majesty, if you talk about teaching and educating people, you are really a layman, just these things in the school now, how can you become a pillar of the country?

Writing official documents? Count some unclear topics?

This is the exemplary Mengxue in the mouth of the imperial court? Come on!

As he spoke, he became more and more disappointed in the emperor. What is the difference between an emperor who knows no etiquette and a barbarian.

"The grass people should also advise Your Majesty today, as the lord of man and the Son of Heaven, to take etiquette as the first priority. People don't know etiquette, how is China different from Siyi? ”

"Oh." Zhu Youzhen took a sip of tea with interest.

"Why should China be different from Siyi?"

"The four Yi, the West Rong and the East Yi and the South Barbarian and the North Qiang, there is no order between the young and the old, there is no civilization and humility, and the gentleman is not ashamed."

"Is the Kong family a gentleman?"

"Although I dare not say yes, I dare not forget to seek benevolence for a day."

"However, the Great Yuan Mongols invaded our Central Plains, and the Confucian family also called himself the emperor! The Kong family also only respects clothes and does not respect people? Or did the Confucian family feel that my knife was not as sharp as the Mongols? ”

Poof!

Kong Shangqian fell directly to his knees on the ground. This move frightened the old man of the tea stall next to him.

"You thought that businessmen, students, and officials could sit here and drink a cup of tea, and I didn't let you get up. I'm not going through old accounts, but since you're also a descendant of Sage Kong. I have some confusion about what your Confucian family has done today, and I would like to ask you to solve some confusion for me? ”

Zhu Youzhen didn't wait for Kong Shangqian to reply, but sat up straight, picked up the coarse porcelain bowl on the table and took a sip, and then asked:

"A pot of food and a pot of drink, people are unbearable, and they will not change their pleasures when they return, and they will be virtuous. Why is it that when it comes to you people, the descendants of the Kong family even think that the tea that the common people can drink and I can drink is an insult? ”

"Your Majesty, that's not what the grass people meant......" Kong Shangqian felt that the emperor was digging a pit for himself to jump. Zhu Youzhen didn't pay attention to his reaction at all, but continued to ask:

"You have learned the academy, and I also know that since the Zhengde Dynasty, there have been people in every imperial examination. But where your Confucian Southern Sect is located, why is there no more than 300 children in Quzhou who can study every year? Indoctrination, indoctrination, is this the way of the Confucian sage? ”

"Your Confucian family in Nanzong pays more attention to benevolence and righteousness, but I ask you, since your Confucian family Nanzong was able to worship ancestors in Quzhou in the Zhengde Dynasty, in addition to the 5,000 mu of fiefdom of the imperial court, where did the remaining 30,000 mu of land come from?"

"Your Majesty! Nanzong is iron-clad! My Nanzong is far away from the mountains in the Great Yuan Dynasty, and there is no more than one out of ten men in the family. Your Majesty! Namjong ......"

When he said this, Zhu Youzhen also eased his tone.

During the Yuan Dynasty, the Confucian family was divided into two branches, the eldest son of the descendant line went to Quzhou, and the second son stayed in Qubu to guard the mausoleum.

When the Yuan Dynasty fought the Southern Song Dynasty, those who were unwilling to surrender jumped into the sea.

Nankong's large army also jumped into the sea with him, leaving only a small number of people to flee to the deep mountains and forests with the wooden statue of Confucius.

Because the Yuan Dynasty valued the influence of Confucius, Kublai Khan found this part of the lineage.

Kublai Khan wanted this part of the hidden descendants to inherit the Yan Shenggong, but they didn't do it, and told Kublai Khan to let the side line of Shandong Qubu inherit it, anyway, they should not be Yan Shenggong. In desperation, Kublai Khan could only give the title of Yan Shenggong to the Confucian family in Shandong. The side line has become authentic in the eyes of the world.

Until the Zhengde period of the Ming Dynasty, during the reign of Zhu Houzhao, this part of the descendants was found. But at that time, Yan Shenggong was Beikong, and people didn't give this title anymore. Zhu Houzhao had no choice, so he gave the Confucian family a doctor of the Five Classics, and he could worship Confucius openly in Quzhou.

But even so, the Southern Sect of the Confucian family, which began to recover from the Zhengde Dynasty, soon changed. They also began to encroach on the fields, amass money, and engage in elite education, just like Qufu.

But when he thought of the later generations, after he hung himself on the southeast branch, the Confucian family Nanzong was still an important force to resist the Houjin, and Zhu Youzhen was also a little soft-hearted.

He walked over, helped Kong Shangqian up from the ground, and said warmly:

"If it weren't for the fact that I felt that you Nanzong still had some backbones, I wouldn't have summoned you from Quzhou from afar."

Kong Shangqian was about to kneel again, but Zhu Youzhen stretched out his hand to stop him.

"Don't kneel, I'll give you time and opportunity this time. I am not a saint, but I and Confucius have the same wishes. I want to use my life's work to truly make the ideals of the saints come true in the Ming Dynasty. ”

"Every Ming child must know how to read! Reading and literacy cannot be the exclusive preserve of the rich and powerful. ”

"I will make it clear in front of you today, I don't mind that there is no successor to the Confucius family, what I mind is that there is no successor to Confucius!"

In a word, it was like Huang Zhong Da Lu exploding in Kong Shangqian's ears, and he couldn't hear what His Majesty the Emperor said later. It seemed that Xia Yunyi stood up and respectfully saluted His Majesty the Emperor. It also seemed that he heard His Majesty the Emperor say more proudly:

"Gong Yu, I just don't believe it, give me ten years, when I have hundreds of gentlemen who are willing to teach knowledge, which one of these people is not the descendant of Confucius, and which one is not the heir of Confucius?"

When Kong Shangqian woke up from his fantasy, he found that he had left the tea stall next to Mengxue, but instead of returning to the Four Seas Inn, he was sitting in a prison cell.

The emperor and Xia Yunyi are gone, and Wang Chengen, who is still dressed in green clothes, is still beside him.

"Father-in-law!"

At this time, Kong Shangqian, who knew His Majesty the Emperor's bottom line, was even more humble, and he asked:

"I don't know where it is?"

"This is the prison of the Jinyi Guard."

As soon as he heard the three words Jin Yiwei, Kong Shangqian's heart suddenly shrank in half.

"Am I finally locked up for angering the Emperor? This is the cell of the world-famous brocade guard! A place in legend that makes life worse than death. ”

He looked around a little sluggishly.

The cells were clean, and there was a little bit of sunlight streaming in through the high windows. There was only a boxy table and four chairs. There were no beds, and the places where the beds were made were piled with golden straw.

However, I could not see the appalling torture instruments of the legend, nor did I hear the sound of the prisoners wailing and crying.

I watched him stare at the straw all the time. Wang Chengen also kindly explained:

"A beaten prisoner can't lie on the bed, and it's even worse to cover the wound. This wheat straw is the most suitable. ”

"Oh." Kong Shangqian said a little mechanically.

"Qufu Kong Xiangxi has committed an accident in the capital, Your Majesty has arranged for you to meet him here, and someone will send him and the files related to him to you in a while. If you're done, just rattle the bell. Our family went back to the palace to resume our lives. ”

"Oh." As soon as he thought that he was going to spend the rest of his life here, Kong Shangqian was absent-minded.

When Wang Chengen was far away, he reacted.

"What? Father-in-law? ”

As if things weren't what they thought they were?

Just thinking about it, a fan pushed a chair with two wheels, and sitting on it was Kong Xiangxi, the third elder of the Kong family in Qufu. His eyes were open, but he could not speak, he could not move, and saliva flowed from his mouth from time to time.

"Mr. Kong, I will leave the prisoner here for you."

At this time, from Fanzi's kind tone, Kong Shangqian knew that he was not a prisoner.

"These documents and letters are all placed here, you can read them slowly."

Another fanzi put the paperwork more than a foot thick on the square table, and enthusiastically lit an oil lamp for him, and put down a pot of water and a copper bell.

Although Kong Xiangxi couldn't move, he was still firmly tied to the chair by Fanzi with five three-finger-wide belts, and was pushed in front of Kong Shangqian.