In the spring of March, the ice and snow in the south of the Yangtze River melted and gradually regained its vitality.

Belin rode a fast horse, followed by twenty soldiers of the 3,000 battalion, and rushed to Quzhou.

Here, too, there is a Confucian temple.

"Parable!"

Kong Mingbo didn't dare to slack off, and he had already taken the whole family out to greet him.

"Kong Mingbo, the head of the Kong family, welcome the holy parable!"

Belin stepped forward and said, "The emperor said, there is no need to mobilize the people, tell them all to go down, I will tell you alone." ”

Kong Mingbo hurriedly replied: "Yes! ”

Belin looked around, the courtyard was not big, and the population was not large, compared to the Qufu Kong family, it was simply heaven and earth.

"Take me to the Temple of Confucius first."

"Yes, my lord, please!"

Kong Mingbo personally took Belin to the Confucian Temple, a plaque at the door said "Silu Pavilion" three big characters, after walking in, I saw the wooden statue of Confucius and his wife enshrined in the center inside.

Belin came to the statue of Confucius and paid respectful respects.

Kong Mingbo stood aside and introduced: "Lord Qiyu, these two wooden statues are the two most important disciples of the Holy Master, Zisi and Zigong are carved out, that year, after the death of the Holy Master, the disciples were grieved, and they guarded the tomb in front of the Holy Master for three years before they were reluctant to say goodbye with tears. However, Zisi and Zigong still couldn't bear to leave, and set up a hut in front of the tomb and continued to guard it for three years. During this period, the two often recalled the words, deeds and smiles of the Holy Ancestor before his death, so they cut the wood, thought about it, and carved out the portraits of the Holy Master and the wife of the official. ”

Belin nodded and said, "Since it's so precious, why didn't you stay in Qufu?" ”

Kong Mingbo shook his head lightly and said: "At the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, Kong Duanyou, the forty-eighth generation of Yanshenggong, brought the statue south to avoid the invasion of the Jin people and settled in Quzhou, and since then it has been placed on the Silu Pavilion of the Confucian Temple for worship. ”

Speaking of this, Kong Mingbo seemed to be interested, and continued to introduce:

"At that time, Yan Shenggong carried two ancestral statues, led the people to cross to the south, and the boat traveled to Zhenjiang Wharf, everyone was hungry and tired, so they went ashore for a short rest. At this time, they suddenly encountered the attack of the golden soldiers, and saw that the Kaimu Icon would be captured by the golden soldiers, and everyone was anxious and helpless, when a sudden gust of wind blew and a huge wave came, overturning the ship. When Jin Bing saw this scene, he thought that most of the ship had been swept away by the huge waves, so he returned to his horse and collected his troops.

Just as Yan Shenggong was in a hurry to salvage the Kaimu statue, I saw three gods on the river, stepping on the clouds, hugging the Kaimu statue, approaching the shore. Yan Shenggong and others immediately rushed up, carefully escorted the icon ashore, and burned incense and prayed to the gods on the shore. At this time, the words 'Lufu Mountain God' appeared in the cigarettes of the birds, and it was the four mountain gods of Qufu that saved the statue from plunder.

Belin couldn't help nodding yes, and then asked, "Haven't you thought about letting Sage Kong return to Qufu?" ”

"Don't joke about ...... adults"

Kong Mingbo's face was a little embarrassed, and he secretly said in his heart, there is a Yan Shenggong in Qufu, what am I doing here?

Doesn't that hurt my heart!

"No kidding!"

Belin was serious and said, "Parable! ”

Kong Mingbo hurriedly leaned down and bowed: "Grass people Kong Mingbo, welcome the holy parable!" ”

"The emperor said, you don't have to salute, stand and listen!"

"Yes!"

Kong Mingbo got up slowly, but buried his head low.

Belin smiled lightly and said: "Actually, what I said was to help the emperor ask, the Jin people and the Mongols withdrew from the Central Plains one after another, but why did the Yan Shenggong never move back to Qufu?" ”

Kong Mingbo's face was full of helplessness, and he said: "Since the Yan Holy Father Kong Duanyou crossed to the south, the Jin people canonized his younger brother Kong Duancao as the Yan Holy Prince, and the main worship was offered to the Confucius Temple in Qufu, so that there was a situation where the two sects of the south and the north stood side by side. Subsequently, the Mongols occupied Qufu and established all the branches of the Kong clan as the Yan Holy Prince, which means that there were three Yan Holy Princes in the world. ”

After the Mongols unified the Central Plains and established the Yuan Dynasty, some people suggested that there should be only one Yan Shenggong in the world, and Yuan Shizu issued an order to order the Confucian clan of Quzhou to move back to Qufu, Shandong Province to worship. At the beginning, Kong Zhu, the sixth generation of the Confucian family in Quzhou, entered Beijing and resigned to the ancestor of the Yuan dynasty, saying that his six generations of ancestors had been buried in Quzhou, and there was also a family temple, so he could not bear to give up and was willing to give up the title of Duke of Yansheng to the Kong family of Qufu. Then he returned to Quzhou as a commoner, and never again cared about the affairs of the court. ”

Belin said, "If I told you that now is the opportunity for you to lead your clan back to Qufu and succeed to the title of Duke of Yansheng, would you be willing?" ”

Kong Mingbo looked a little stunned, but he still didn't believe that there was such a possibility, so he said: "The grass people only want to live in Quzhou in peace, and don't think about it. ”

Belin sighed silently and said, "Mr. Kong......"

Kong Mingbo hurriedly said: "The adults can just call the grass people by their names!" ”

Belin insisted: "Mr. Kong, I am also a scholar, it is not an exaggeration to call me Mr., what I want to tell you is that Fang Cai's words and deeds are the emperor's intentions, I will ask again seriously, do you really want to return to Qufu?" ”

Kong Mingbo was stunned, as if he still didn't want to believe it.

Because the Confucian family in Qufu is like the sun in the sky, the head of the world's scholars, stomp on the foot, the entire Central Plains will be shaken three times.

And himself, since the ancestor Kong Zhu was given up the title, he has become a common man, although he has no worries about food and clothing, and lives a leisurely life without fighting with the world every day, but he is destined to have no chance with the court.

If the Qufu Confucius family wants the statue of the Holy Master and his wife, it is understandable, what do they want to do?

Will they be willing to give up the title of Duke Yansheng?

How can it be......

Belin seemed to see through his thoughts, so she said: "Last year, the emperor drove a personal expedition to completely unify Mobei, you know? ”

"Such an extraordinary feat, the grass people naturally know!"

"The emperor drove the expedition in person, the army was magnificent, devastating, and the Mongols were defeated one after another, so that many things were not taken away, and later, Jinyiwei discovered these ......"

Belin handed over something, a few letters, which looked like they were some years old.

Kong Mingbo didn't know why, so after taking it, he opened it and looked at it......

However, at this glance, his brows suddenly furrowed, and his expression became more and more nervous.

"This ...... How can it be? ”

Belin said: "At this time, it was found in the old nest of the Tatar Ministry, and as for its authenticity, you can judge for yourself. ”

The more Kong Mingbo looked at it, the more frightened he became.

These letters are the secret letters between the Holy Duke of Qufu Yan and the Northern Yuan Dynasty.

The content of the letter is all about the same thing, which is roughly that the Northern Yuan Dynasty asked the Confucian family to respond in the Central Plains and help them re-enter the Central Plains.

However, the content of Yan Shenggong's reply is very strange.

Although he didn't agree, he didn't refuse, just kept perfunctory, prevaricating, and typical of him.

That's intriguing!