As a member of the "Four Sages and Three Sages" family, the Zeng family has an extremely long history.

The origin of the Zeng clan in Shandong is located in Lanshan County, the capital of Yizhou, Shandong, where the descendants of the Zeng surname who fled to the Lu State in the pre-Qin period became officials and gradually multiplied.

Because of its filial piety and the reputation of its ancestor Zeng Shen, the Zeng clan was valued by successive rulers, such as Zeng Shen's eldest son, Zeng Yuan's eighth grandson, Zeng Le, who was once named the capital of Shanyin County in the Western Han Dynasty.

And since the ninth year of Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty, Zeng Shen was renamed the sage Zengzi by the imperial court, the Zeng family's power in the court has become more and more powerful, and there is a tendency to compete with the Confucian and Mencian families, and today, everything will come to naught.

Late at night, the Zeng family's mansion.

Due to years of operation, most of the local land has fallen into the hands of the Zeng family, resulting in a huge area of the Zeng family's mansion.

Not only that, but there are also many lush greenery planted around the mansion, and two huge stone lions are placed at the door, with their mouths open and beads, which look quite majestic.

At this moment, Zeng Hong, the sixty-first patriarch of the Zeng family, woke up from his sleep violently, since he fell into a coma because of his anger and blood spitting in his mouth, after the doctor's treatment, he finally lucked to save his life.

However, correspondingly, his whole person's energy is not as good as before, and he gradually began to be powerless for many affairs of the Zeng family.

Because of this, there are many different voices within the Zeng family, and some people even want him to give up the position of patriarch as soon as possible and enjoy his old age in peace.

Because of this incident, the entire Zeng clan fell into a quarrel, and because of their different interests, they were clearly divided into two factions, one faction supported the current patriarch Zeng Hong, and the other faction wanted to support Zeng Wen as the sixty-second patriarch of the Zeng family!

The two factions quarreled over this, and even reached the point where they were incompatible.

When Zeng Hong sat up from the bed and looked at the night outside the window, he couldn't help but sigh.

"Alas, it's been an eventful time lately!"

"When has it been, and you are still fighting for the position of the patriarch of a district, the most important thing now is to think about how to get through the difficulties in front of you, cough cough cough!"

At this moment, the maidservant, who had been waiting outside the door, heard the sound of coughing coming from the room.

Out of concern for Zeng Hong's health, I saw two maidservants push open the door, walk in, and ask Zeng Hong.

"Master, are you okay, do you need to fry the side medicine for you?"

When Zeng Hong heard this, he just waved his hand and commanded in a deep voice.

"I'm fine, get out!"

The two maidservants did not dare to disobey Zeng Hong's order, so after saluting Zeng Hong respectfully, they turned around and left.

As they were leaving, the two maidservants also closed the door to the room.

After the two maidservants left, Zeng Hong withdrew his gaze and sighed helplessly.

Now he is quite worried about the future of the Zeng clan.

Because no matter what, the collusion between the Zeng clan and the White Lotus Sect is already a sure fact, and it can no longer be changed.

After all, the current attitude of the imperial court towards the White Lotus Sect and other people related to the White Lotus Sect has been very clear, that is, regardless of the reason, they will all be executed!

In addition, not long ago, he was full of hope and sent someone to Qufu, Shandong, to meet Kong Shangxian, the contemporary Yansheng Gong, and wanted to ask for help.

In the end, all he got was an illusory promise, and when he thought of this, Zeng Hong was angry.

"Hmph, what a fool, didn't this Kong Shangxian say before that someone in the DPRK and China would soon impeach this Hai Rui?"

"It's been so long, why haven't there been any movement, hmph, if something happens to my Zeng family, don't think about it!"

Just as Zeng Hong was still racking his brains to think about what measures should be taken next to save the Zeng clan from danger, a noisy sound from outside interrupted his thoughts.

"It's so late, who is making noise outside, could it be that they are arguing again because of the ownership of the patriarch's position?"

Zeng Hong thought so, and immediately pushed open the door, wanting to go out to see the situation.

With this idea in mind, as soon as Zeng Hong stepped out of the room, he saw a scene that he would never forget.

I saw a group of murderous guards armed with torches, helmets and armor, and robes and belts rushing in, and all those who showed the intention of resisting in the middle were all killed, and those family members were already frightened and fled in all directions.

The entire Zeng family suddenly fell into chaos.

As early as when the team of guards poured into the house, Zeng Hong knew that the Zeng family was gone, and there would be no possibility of turning over.

Because without an order from the imperial court, it would have been absolutely impossible to mobilize these guards!

"Could it be that my Zeng family is going to perish here today?"

Zeng Hong looked at the guards who were pouring into his home, and he couldn't help but feel a sense of sadness in his heart.

Immediately, I saw Zeng Hong gather his mind, reluctantly take his eyes away from those family members who fell in a pool of blood, look at these guards who rushed in, and reprimanded loudly.

"Who are you who dare to trespass into my Zeng family without permission, not only that, but also dare to wantonly kill the people of my Zeng family, the old man will definitely report this matter to the Holy God and cure your crimes!"

After Zeng Hong finished speaking, he closed his eyes and said no more, what he originally wanted was to end his life in this way, so that he could avoid the pain of the next prison.

However, he closed his eyes and waited for a long time, and those guards did not mean to attack him, but went straight past him, holding their blades, and began to wantonly chase and kill those Zeng clansmen who wanted to escape.

At this moment, I saw a person dressed as an officer bring someone to Zeng Hong and asked in a deep voice.

"Is you Zeng Hong, the patriarch of the Zeng family?"

When Zeng Hong heard this, he slowly opened his eyes, and an expression of death appeared on his face, and he nodded quite firmly, and responded.

"That's right, the old man is the Zeng clan, the sixty-first patriarch, Zeng Hong!"

"Whose orders did you take, what are you going to do, wait for me to play the court and govern the ......"

Before Zeng Hong could finish his next words, he was impatiently interrupted by the officer.

"Old thing, where did you get so much nonsense, if it weren't for the name above to save your life, uncle, I would have stabbed you a long time ago!"

When the officer had finished speaking, he waved his hand sharply and commanded the soldiers around him in a deep voice.

"Come on, tie this old thing up for me!"

As soon as the officer's words fell, soon, the subordinates who received the order on the side controlled Zeng Hong and plugged him with strips of cloth.

With the increasing number of guards who poured into the Zeng family, soon, the entire Zeng family turned into a human purgatory, with cries and cries for help intertwined.

In addition, there was a sound of broken ceramics from time to time, and then a very rich smell of blood gradually spread, which was disgusting!

In this process, the entire Zeng family was also turned upside down, and all the property they owned was also rummaged out and registered.

And the current scene is being staged on the families on the list.

……

Since then, several days have passed, just as Hai Rui's side is still sending people, sleepless day and night, intensively counting the harvest.

In the evening, the Forbidden City, Qianqing Palace.

At this moment, Jiajing was sitting cross-legged on the futon, his eyes seemed to be closed, and at this moment, he had already fallen into a state of meditation.

After a while, I saw Lu Fang walking in with silent steps, and Jiajing seemed to have a feeling in his heart, and after exiting the meditation state, he slowly got up from the futon.

Seeing this, Lu Fang also came to Jiajing's side at the right time, leaned down, and reported respectfully.

"Your Majesty, the slaves and maids have investigated the things you asked the slaves and maids to investigate before!"

Hearing this, Jiajing glanced at Lu Fang, and then spoke in a voice without any emotion.

"Speak!"

"Your Majesty, the slave maid has found out that the officials who impeached Hai Rui earlier have an inexplicable relationship with those families!"

"Most of them are favored by it, and some people want to take this opportunity to take the initiative to curry favor with those families!"

When Lu Fang said this, he couldn't help but pause for a moment, and then, he saw him come back to his senses, lower his voice, and ask Jiajing.

"Your Majesty, look, what should be done with these people, slave and maid......"

Before Lu Fang's words were finished, he was interrupted impatiently by Jiajing waving his hand.

"Okay, you can look at this matter, hmph, it's really a bunch of things that eat inside and out!"

When Lu Fang heard Jiajing's words, his expression immediately turned grim, and he lowered his head and looked at the ground carelessly.

As early as when Jiajing used the words "inside and outside" to describe those people, Lu Fang already knew what Jiajing meant.

Just as he was still thinking about what measures should be taken to deal with those people next, Jiajing's slightly puzzled voice sounded in Lu Fang's ears.

"By the way, Lu Fang, it's been a few days, why hasn't Hai Rui delivered any news yet?"

When Lu Fang heard Jiajing's words, after thinking for a while, he immediately responded.

"Your Majesty, the slave maid thinks that Hai Rui's side should be delayed because of something!"

"You might as well think about it, the wealth accumulated by those families over the years is simply immeasurable, and it is not too much to describe it as rich and rivaling the country, the slave maid thinks that the property of those families adds up, I am afraid it will be counted in hundreds of millions!"

"With so many properties, even if you don't sleep and count them day and night, I'm afraid it will take a lot of time to complete the inventory thoroughly!"

After listening to Lu Fang's explanation, Jiajing also felt quite reasonable, so he nodded and said slowly.

"Well, that makes sense, I'd better wait!"

After Jiajing finished speaking, he looked at the sky outside the Qianqing Palace, and couldn't help but feel in a good mood, so he turned his gaze to Lu Fang and commanded.

"It's a good day outside, Lu Fang, let's go out for a walk with me!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

When the words fell, I saw Lu Fang follow Jiajing's steps step by step, and left the Qianqing Palace, and the afterglow of the setting sun sprinkled down, enveloping Jiajing and Lu Fang.

……

Shandong Qufu, Confucian family.

Since learning that the imperial court sent guards to raid the rest of the families of the "Four Sages and Three Sages", Kong Shangxian has fallen into a state of panic.

At this moment, in the room, Kong Shangxian was sitting on the top, eagerly listening to the report from the housekeeper.

"Master, everything has been investigated, about three days ago, the Meng family, the Zeng family, the Yan family, the Bu family, the Min family, and the Ran family were all sent by the government to collude with the White Lotus Sect, and all the soldiers from the guard station were raided, and there was also definite news that in the whole matter, there were also Jinyi guards involved!"

"And those guards and soldiers, the property confiscated from these houses is said to be nearly 80 million taels, and the rest are like antiques, house deeds, title deeds, etc., and there are countless of them!"

"And the one in charge of the whole thing is the left deputy capital Yu Shi Hairui who was sent by the imperial court to investigate the case earlier!"

"Master, what should we do next, in case that Hai Rui ...... then?"

After the butler finished speaking, he couldn't help but put his eyes on Kong Shangxian, who was sitting at the top, with a panicked look on his face.

After listening to the housekeeper's report, Kong Shangxian's face was also full of fear, and at this moment, his heart was full of remorse.

He hated that he shouldn't have taken this Hai Rui lightly in the first place, which led to the irreversible situation that has led to today.

You must know that although there is a slight friction in the interests of their families, on the whole, they have always been in the same spirit, one is prosperous, and the other is lost!

And now it seems that the other six families except himself have all been liquidated by the imperial court, and from now on, even if his Kong family can survive, its power will be greatly reduced, and it will never be able to regain its former glory.

At this moment, I saw that the housekeeper on the side was carefully considering the language before turning his gaze to Kong Shangxian and asked.

"Old ...... Master, do you think we have to keep a low profile recently, avoid the limelight, and as for the land rent, is it appropriate to reduce or reduce it......"

Originally, Kong Shangxian was in a very bad mood, and after listening to the housekeeper's words, he suddenly became furious, and immediately, he saw his eyes red, panting, picking up the teacup on the table, throwing it at the housekeeper, and scolding angrily.

"What a waste, why, do you have to ask me about such a trivial matter? What do you do to eat from my Kong family! ”

In the face of the teacup flying towards him, the housekeeper did not dare to dodge at all, so he had to grit his teeth and endure it silently.

When the teacup touched the body, a dull sound sounded, and then the hot tea poured out, and a hot pain gradually spread from the butler's hand that was splashed by the hot tea.

At this moment, I saw a rapid knock on the door, and after a while, I saw a slave of the Kong family running into the room and reporting to Kong Shangxian breathlessly.

"Old ...... Sir, no...... Oh no, there are a lot of soldiers out there all of a sudden! ”

(End of chapter)