Volume 2: Soaring! The Overlord of the Region Chapter 249: Duke Yansheng is a great enemy
Among the remaining people, Cao Huachun mainly observed politics and studied in the Silijian. With the power of the Silijian weakened, he did not have much to do. Tian Ergeng was the head of intelligence, and he usually made routine reports to Zhu Youdong.
Zhang Shize is in charge of propaganda work.
"Your Highness, when are we going to take action against the Kong family in Qufu?"
"Why, you can't hold it back anymore?"
"How can I bear it, Your Highness! For last year's census, I personally followed the census team to several places in order to conduct in-depth reporting. This Qufu... Tsk tsk tsk, not only has the Kong family occupied almost all of the fertile land in Qufu, but the neighboring counties have not been spared either. Moreover, the Kong family's method of expanding their land... is simply no different from robbery and they do not hide it at all! Your Highness, if you check the population but not the Kong family, although my newspaper will try its best to suppress other voices, at least in Shandong, especially in Qufu, the people will not have any ! On the contrary, they will only look down on Your Highness!"
The Qufu Kong family that Zhang Shize mentioned is, of course, the descendants of Confucius. In the Northern Song Dynasty, this family was named Yanshenggong, and all dynasties after that recognized this title and continuously granted various privileges, which made this family continue to grow. In the Ming Dynasty, Yanshenggong was known as the head of civil officials, and became the spiritual totem of Confucian scholars in the Ming Dynasty, where the atmosphere of moral governance was morbidly strong!
However, as a time traveler, Zhu Youdong has always had three words for the Yansheng Duke's family: contempt!
The Northern Song Dynasty conferred the title of Duke of Yansheng on your family, but when the Jin people came, you surrendered to the Jin (at this time, some descendants of the Kong family followed the Zhao family to the south and were called the Southern Sect). When the Mongols came, you surrendered to the Yuan Dynasty (in order not to be a traitor, the Southern Sect voluntarily gave up the fight for the title of Duke of Yansheng and never returned to Qufu). When the Mongols attacked the Southern Song Dynasty, your family head actually took the initiative to join the army and follow the Mongolian Khan to conquer the "Southern Barbarians"... In terms of history, when the Qing Dynasty came, you took the lead in shaving your heads, when Yuan Shikai restored the monarchy, you rushed to send congratulatory messages, and when Wang Jingwei surrendered to Japan and established the "pseudo Republic of China", you sent congratulatory telegrams...
In the current Ming Dynasty, the so-called Duke's Mansion of these guys is as luxurious as or even better than the Imperial Palace, and the area of the mansion is not much different from that of the Imperial Palace. As for how much land the Kong family has and how many hidden households there are, no one actually knows!
With 200,000 acres of land, Gancaoguo's hometown is the largest registered landlord, but compared with this family, it is somewhat dwarfed.
If a country or a nation regards such a shameless, greedy and hypocritical family as its spiritual totem, then what is the national spirit of this country?
As the person in charge of propaganda, Zhang Shize keenly discovered the connection and problems here. Then, he became the vanguard of demanding the rectification of the Kong family.
"Your Highness, I understand why the Kong family was spared during the census. After all, the Kong family is so closely tied to the stability of the Ming Dynasty.
But! The Kong family's bad reputation is well known throughout Qufu and even the entire Shandong Province. Even among the scholars in the world, there are probably not many who don't know the Kong family's bad reputation. This creates a paradox. Everyone knows that the Kong family is extremely shameless, and what they do on weekdays is completely the behavior of village bandits and bullies. But they say that the Yansheng family is famous all over the world... Isn't this forcing all the scholars in my Ming Dynasty to become hypocrites? In this way, how can the country have loyal ministers? How can there be warriors who die for the country? How can there be good officials with both virtue and talent?
In short, it is okay to let the Kong family go temporarily. But the rectification of the Kong family must be carried out as soon as possible. And this time we must uproot them and cut the grass and eradicate them completely! Otherwise, the spirit of the country is in trouble. No matter how much money Your Highness makes or how many reforms are made in the system, it will not be able to reverse the decline of our Ming Dynasty! "
"You are right." After a long pause, Zhu Youdong said, "I have always been busy with the three major issues of people, money, and the military. I have indeed given less thought to the spiritual sustenance of the nation. However, if we disturb the Kong family, even if we are not careful, it will shake the earth and mountains."
"Your Highness, if we get rid of the Kong family, there will definitely be many hypocrites in the Ming Dynasty. But if we don't touch the Kong family, the number of Jinshi candidates in the Ming Dynasty will continue to increase!"
"…Okay, so, do you have any plans?"
"I have been preparing for this for more than half a year. Now I have a lot of evidence of the Kong Mansion occupying and seizing private land, and I have also quietly gathered and protected the relevant victims. In addition, the Kong Mansion can appoint low-level officials in Qufu on its own, and the jailers are all Kong family members. There are so many unjust, false and wrong cases here, and I have already obtained a lot of real evidence..."
"And then? You're going to charge forward relying on these things?"
"What else? Your Highness?"
"Oh, I'm really tired without Mr. Yuan around." Of course, he just thought about it in his heart. It would be too hurtful to say it in front of Zhang Shize.
"Shize, this won't work. After all, officials across the country are almost all seizing good farmland and oppressing the people. Just relying on this will only make people think that the Kong family is the same as us, and they will protect the Kong family to the death. Well, how about this, you go and be a tomb robber first."
"Ah? Your Highness, what does this mean?"
What Zhu Youdong meant can be roughly divided into several steps.
First of all, during the reign of Qin Shihuang, books were burned and scholars were buried alive. So, are the contents of the Confucian classics of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period different from those of today's Four Books and Five Classics? Are their core meanings also different? Of course they are.
If Zhang Shize had the original Confucian classics that survived from the pre-Qin or Western Han dynasties, he could have launched a nationwide discussion on the Confucian classics.
As for where to find such "original" classics, this is not a problem for Zhu Youdong. Before traveling through time, he had visited several famous museums built on the sites where Qin and Han bamboo slips were unearthed.
However, this was the Ming Dynasty, and there were tomb robbers for the tombs of the kings and nobles of all dynasties. However, it was not allowed to openly dig up these tombs in the name of the government for scientific archaeology. Therefore, Zhang Shize could only become a tomb robber.
"Here," Zhu Youdong pointed on the map, "outside Linyi City, Shandong, there is a mountain called Yinque Mountain. Its southwestern foot has always been regarded as a Feng Shui treasure land. Since the Qi State at that time, nobles have been buried there. You'd better ask two Feng Shui masters with better skills to open the tombs using the method of dividing gold and determining the location of the tomb. If my guess is correct, there are a large number of bamboo slips in these tombs, and the things inside are priceless.
There is also a Qin tomb here, in Huguang, Yunmeng County, Shuihudi. This tomb should contain a large number of Qin laws.
Finally, and most importantly, in Bajiaokuo Village, Ding County, Beizhili, there is a tomb from the pre-Han Dynasty, which contains at least three versions of the Analects. Fortunately, Fangshan Medical Laboratory has developed a formaldehyde solution, so there is a way to preserve these bamboo slips. Hmm? Shize, why are you staring at me like that? "
"Your Highness." Zhang Shize rudely but naturally put his hand under Zhu Youdong's nostrils. After confirming that the air exhaled here was hot, he breathed a sigh of relief: "Your Highness, are you really the reincarnation of the blue dragon and know everything?"
"Nonsense! There are so many things I don't know! Well, come closer, and after a big discussion has been launched across the country, we will do this and that, and this and that."
