Chapter 257: Dog Thief

The Dengwen drum sounded.

The emperor must summon all the civil and military officials to publicly try the case.

Based on the fact that the last time the Marquis of Zhongshan sounded the Dengwen drum, and it was not long ago, the civil and military officials in the court had some experience. When they heard the drum, they immediately put down everything at hand and rushed to attend the court meeting.

However, when they arrived, they were dumbfounded one after another.

Because the person who sounded the Dengwen drum this time was still that damned lunatic and reckless man, the Marquis of Zhongshan of the Ming Dynasty!

Aren’t you sick?

Are you playing with the Dengwen drum for no reason?

This Dengwen drum can only be sounded when the enemy soldiers come to besiege the city, the prince dies, and other major events. Otherwise, the person who beats this drum will be beaten with thirty sticks in the court!

Even if you, the Marquis of Zhongshan, are in good health, you can’t play with it every day, right?

When the ministers saw the bloodstained Marquis of Zhongshan of the Ming Dynasty, they all felt bad.

If they had a choice, they would have wanted to stab this bastard who was making trouble to death!

Last time, this lunatic and reckless man rang the drum for the news, and then revealed the collusion between the cabinet chief minister Li Dongyang and the powerful eunuch Liu Jin, causing Li Dongyang to instantly become the target of public criticism. Not to mention continuing to be the cabinet chief minister, he now enjoys the same treatment as Liu Daxia. Although he has retired, he cannot return home and is always waiting for the emperor's reckoning!

What does this lunatic and reckless man want to do this time?

The court officials present were all old foxes who had been up and down in the officialdom for more than ten or twenty years, and none of them were simple goods.

They naturally saw that this lunatic and reckless man was going to make trouble again, otherwise, would the thirty court canes be taken for nothing?

Tang Hao walked into the hall covered in blood, and the pungent smell of blood made the officials frown instinctively.

Seeing this, Zhu Houzhao immediately shouted angrily: "Zhongshan Hou, what's wrong with you? Why are you beating the report drum again?"

Tang Hao knelt on the ground and said with grief and indignation: "Your Majesty, I have been working hard since I was ordered to suppress the rebels!"

"However, these rebels are extremely cunning. They know that their combat power cannot match that of our Beijing army, so they have been fleeing and making trouble everywhere. I am worried about state affairs and dare not indulge them. I have been trying to wipe them out. Unfortunately, people do not fulfill their wishes. These damn rebels have actually fled into Shandong."

"Of course, I guessed the purpose of this group of rebels. They wanted to attack Qufu and then use it as a threat to force me and others to withdraw. Therefore, I led the army to Qufu day and night, but who would have thought... who would have thought... that the Kong family would take the initiative to open the city and surrender in the face of the threat of the rebels, Your Majesty!"

As soon as these words came out, the whole court was in an uproar!

The ministers immediately talked about it and could not believe this fact!

After all, they are the descendants of the saints, the Kong family!

They are the leaders of the literary world and the role models of the gentry. How can they surrender to the rebels directly?

For a time, the whole hall was noisy, and some even raised doubts.

"Zhongshan Hou, this is just your one-sided statement!"

Min Gui, the Minister of Punishment, shouted coldly: "The Kong family is the descendant of the saints, has always abided by the law, and is deeply respected by the gentry of the world. How could they do such a thing..."

Before Min Gui finished speaking, Tang Hao pointed his spearhead at the Minister of Punishment.

"Min Shangshu, do you dare to talk nonsense in front of your majesty after beating the drum of hearing the news?"

"The Kong family surrendered and opened the city to surrender. This is what the rebels witnessed with their own eyes. Moreover, this marquis has a letter. This is a handwritten secret letter from Yanshenggong Kong Wenshao and others. He ordered this marquis to withdraw his troops immediately and let these rebels escape!"

As soon as the voice fell, Tang Hao took out the secret letter from his arms and handed it to Zhang Yong who came to take the letter.

After Zhu Houzhao finished reading the secret letter, his face immediately darkened.

He did not say much, but directly asked Zhang Yong to hand the secret letter to Yang Tinghe and others.

After reading it, Yang Tinghe could not help but sigh.

He knew very well that Zhongshan Hou Tang Hao was doing this today just to torture the Kong family to death. Not only did he want to slaughter them, but he also wanted them to bear the infamy for all eternity!

From then on, the Kong family was just an ordinary gentry, and there would be no more halo of the bloodline of the saint.

What saintly bloodline?

Is there such a despicable, shameless, mean and disgusting saintly bloodline?

"This secret letter is real!"

"It is indeed from the hands of Yanshenggong Kong Wenshao!"

"If you don't believe it, you can come and verify it yourself!"

As soon as this was said, everyone was shocked!

Wang Ao, the Minister of Personnel, Zhang Sheng, the Minister of Rites, Min Gui, the Minister of Punishment, and others came forward and carefully checked the handwriting in the secret letter.

After all, Duke Yansheng Kong Wenshao was a great scholar and a great scholar in the literary world, so his works were numerous and you could easily find one to compare with the secret letter in front of you.

So no matter how unwilling the ministers were to accept it, they had to admit that this secret letter was indeed real and was indeed written by Duke Yansheng Kong Wenshao!

In other words, this contemporary Duke Yansheng helped the rebels to order the Marquis of Zhongshan to withdraw his troops in order to survive. Just this point alone is enough to make people sick!

You are also the contemporary Duke Yansheng and the leader of the literary world. Can't you have some backbone?

You do whatever the rebels ask you to do?

What about the loyalty to the emperor and the country, and sacrificing your life for justice that you advocate on a daily basis?

Did you eat it all?

For a while, the hall fell into a strange silence.

At this time, Min Gui put forward a different opinion.

"Is it possible that at this time, Duke Yansheng was threatened by the rebels, so he had no choice but to write this secret letter?"

Hearing this, the ministers immediately cheered up again.

Yes, this must be the reason!

The knife is on his neck, which means he has to bow his head due to the situation!

If this is the case, the behavior of Duke Yansheng Kong Wenshao can be understood. After all, everyone is afraid of death. Facing this situation, it is not unforgivable!

Tang Hao sneered. Although the sound was not loud, it resounded throughout the hall and instantly attracted the angry eyes of the ministers.

"Your Majesty, this secret letter was personally sent to the minister's camp by Kong Zhengan, the son of Duke Yansheng Kong Wenshao, so Kong Zhengan is also an eyewitness. He knows better than anyone what happened in Qufu City that day!"

Now that it has come to this, there is no need to complain. Just summon Kong Zhengan to the hall.

"Call Kong Zhengan to the palace!"

After a moment, Kong Zhengan walked into the hall like a zombie, and then knelt down to salute in a serious manner.

Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but twitch his mouth when he saw this. The wild dog really made him suffer a lot!

After they finalized the details yesterday, Kong Zhengan was thrown into the Jinyiwei prison. He was tortured severely. There was no need to say anything more. This kid immediately became scared.

So in today's evidence, the key witness Kong Zhengan actually stood on Tang Hao's side.

"Kong Zhengan, I am also very sorry for what happened to the Kong family."

"But now I need you to speak up and find out what happened in Qufu City that day!"

Qufu!

Kong Zhengan trembled when he heard these two words.

He seemed to recall something, and then blurted out with horror on his face.

"That day, the rebels surrounded Qufu City and ordered the Kong family to surrender within three hours. Qufu City had no soldiers to defend the city, so the elders of the Kong family proposed to surrender to the rebels in order to preserve the family heritage. Finally, the head of the family, Yansheng Gong Kong Wenshao, ordered the surrender of the rebels, and Qufu County Magistrate Kong Zongwen led the people to open the city gates and surrender..."

"But after the rebels entered the city, the imperial army immediately rushed over and surrounded Qufu County. The rebels asked Yansheng Gong Kong Wenshao to write a letter to Zhongshan Marquis, and I personally The letter he sent himself ordered the Marquis of Zhongshan to withdraw his troops immediately, but the Marquis of Zhongshan refused to surrender. He would rather bear the infamy for the sake of the Ming Dynasty and ordered a strong attack on Qufu..."

"Afterwards, the rebels saw that the letter from the Duke of Yansheng had no effect, and in anger they slaughtered the entire Kong family. When the Marquis of Zhongshan led his army into the city, the Kong family had been slaughtered by the rebels. The rebels also wanted to burn down the Confucius Temple and the Confucius Forest, but fortunately they were stopped by the Marquis of Zhongshan..."

Hearing these shocking words, all the court officials were stunned.

This time, even Min Gui was speechless.

It's not that he didn't suspect that what Kong Zhengan said was all lies, but what he said was too real, so real that combined with the daily behavior of the Kong family, it was obvious that it was true at a glance.

These Kong family members claim to be descendants of saints, and they are arrogant and domineering. They are the epitome of looking down on others!

Everyone who has dealt with the Kong family knows that this is a group of parasites who rely on the achievements of their ancestors!

So it is normal for the Kong family to do such a thing!

But these words should not come out of Kong Zhengan's mouth!

His words are tantamount to sentencing the Kong family to death!

Surrender to the rebels, obey the rebels, and order the government troops to withdraw?

You Kong family members are so proud!

Do you really think you are the master of the Ming Dynasty?

The old Zhu family is the master of the Ming Dynasty, the master of this country!

As expected, Emperor Zhengde was furious after hearing this, and he slammed the table in anger!

"It's really a bastard!"

"The court has always given preferential treatment to your Kong family in view of the great saint's achievements!"

"But you have done such a despicable and shameless thing, is the so-called literati's integrity all a joke?"

Kong Zhengan trembled, and hurriedly knelt on the ground to plead guilty.

The other court officials looked at each other, and finally sighed, and all chose to remain silent.

They are all children of the orthodox teachings, and they also have the obligation to protect these descendants of saints!

But now, how can we defend this?

Surrendering to the rebels and obeying the rebels is no different from treason!

If His Majesty is a little more ruthless and kills Kong Zhengan in front of him, the Kong family will really be exterminated!

At the critical moment, it depends on Yang Tinghe.

Well, he has already informed His Majesty, so he is not afraid now.

"Your Majesty! After all, the Kong family is the descendants of the most holy teacher. The court should not be too harsh on them, which will harm your majesty's reputation!" Yang Tinghe, the chief minister of the cabinet, immediately advised.

His reason was impeccable and instantly attracted the support of a group of court officials.

Everyone also understood that the Kong family would definitely fall this time, but there was still a lone seedling Kong Zhengan alive, so this lone seedling could not be blamed.

However, at this moment, a discordant voice emerged.

"It's just a huge joke!"

Zhongshan Hou Tang Hao sneered: "Just because the Kong family is the blood of the Great Saint Teacher, they can do whatever they want?"

"Then the achievements of my Ming Dynasty royal family, expelling the Tartars and restoring China, are they not better than the achievements of the Great Saint Teacher? If it weren't for Emperor Taizu Gao who expelled the Tartars and restored China, you would still be groaning and wailing under the iron hoofs of foreign races, and China would be in ruins, with blood everywhere!"

"Furthermore, when you advocated the achievements of the Kong family, have you ever considered the feelings of the people of Qufu? Has anyone ever upheld justice for the people of Qufu?"

The next time Tang Hao took out a memorial from his arms, he handed it to Zhang Yong who came to pick it up tacitly.

"After investigation, 60% of the fields in Yanzhou Prefecture belong to the Lu Palace, 20% belong to the Confucius Prefecture, and 15% are official fields and military villages. In other words, less than half of the fields really belong to the people!"

"And Qufu County, from the county magistrate to the county government to the fields, is all owned by the Kong family. The court cannot collect taxes from Qufu, and the people have all become tenants of the Kong family!"

"The Kong family is called princes in Qufu, and Qufu has become a state within the Ming Dynasty. The Kong family is corrupt and perverts the law, levies excessive taxes, withholds financial subsidies, seeks benefits for relatives and friends, keeps prostitutes, is addicted to gambling, and embezzles officials. Property, private use of public property, extensive land acquisition, buying and selling official documents, recommending nepotism, oppressing the people, occupying private property... have you ever asked about each of these?"

"Can a blood descendant of a saint do whatever he wants?"

"Can a blood descendant of a saint enslave the people?"

"Can a blood descendant of a saint join the rebels?"

"Why do you have the nerve to excuse this Kong family?"

Tang Hao was so domineering that he faced off all the gentry alone.

Zhu Houzhao never lags behind and directly targeted Min Gui, the Minister of Punishment.

"Min Gui!"

"In the seventeenth year of Hongzhi, people in Qufu sued Kong Lingjian, a member of the Kong clan, for raping his daughter. How did you judge?"

Min Gui trembled and fell to his knees, thinking about his defense.

However, Zhu Houzhao didn't give him a chance to fight back. He walked directly in front of him and threw the memorial into his face.

"It is precisely because of you bastards who claim to love the people that the Kong family dares to be so domineering!"

"Since you disciples of the famous religion are so protective of the Kong family, how about I give the Zen position to Kong Zhenqian right now? That's what you want!"

After that, Zhu Houzhao walked up to Kong Zhenqian and dragged Kong Zhenqian towards the dragon chair above the steps.

Seeing this scene, all civil and military officials in the court suddenly panicked.

Kong Zhenqian was so frightened that his liver and gallbladder split apart, and he knelt down crazily to beg for mercy.

"Get out of here!"

"Don't you, the Kong family, claim to be the best in the world?"

"Then I will fulfill your wishes today, and the wishes of you gentry and gentry!"

Seeing this, Yang Tinghe rushed out and knelt down in front of Kong Zhenqian.

"Your Majesty, please calm down. Your Majesty, please calm down!"

"I will admit my guilt!"

The chief minister of the cabinet apologized, and then the ministers finally came to their senses.

One after another, they knelt on the ground to plead guilty, fearing that the Zhengde Emperor would do something shocking again.

crazy!

He is really crazy!

If Kong Zhenqian dared to step even half a step up the stairs, not only would the whole of Qufu be razed to the ground, but all of them, the civil servants and gentry, would all be accused of bullying the young master!

Min Gui finally realized the seriousness of the problem and touched his head to the ground with a pale face.

"Your Majesty, please calm down. I deserve death for my crime. I deserve death for my crime!"

After Zhu Houzhao heard this, he retracted his hand and sneered: "Of course you deserve to die. If it weren't for your status as a veteran of three dynasties, I would kill you today!"

"Come here, remove all Min Gui's official positions and titles, expel him from the capital, and ban him from employment forever!"

As soon as these words came out, Min Gui felt as if he was struck by lightning, and all the officials turned pale and found it difficult to accept it.

This punishment is too harsh.

Get rid of all official positions!

Get rid of all fame!

This also means that Min Gui is useless in this life.

He could not live out his old age with his official status after serving as an official and returning home. He could not even call himself a scholar!

However, this time no one dared to question it.

Because His Majesty the Emperor is forcing them to express their stance.

Are you the ministers of the old Zhu family, or the ministers of the Kong family?

Can Min Gui express his position?

he can not!

Ever since he defended the Kong family and persecuted the people, the outcome was already doomed!

Therefore, Min Gui could only kneel down mechanically to thank him, then stood up tremblingly, and left the court sadly!

This time, both he and Kong will be nailed to the pillar of shame in history!

"Kong Zhenqian!"

"I can give you the title of Duke of Yansheng!"

Zhu Houzhao looked at Kong Zhenqian and sneered: "Don't say that I treated the Kong family badly!"

"However, you are enjoying these preferential treatment, so you'd better do more personnel work. If I hear that the Kong clan dares to enslave and exploit the people of Qufu, I will let you know who is the best in the world!"

Kong Zhenqian was so frightened that he trembled when he heard these malicious words.

He hurriedly knelt down to thank him, not daring to say any words.

Seeing this scene, Zhu Houzhao waved his hand impatiently.

"Go back to Qufu!"

"Except for offering sacrifices to Saint Kong, don't cause any more trouble!"

Kong Zhenqian left the hall in a hurry, leaving behind the melancholy civil servants and gentry.

With such an ugly appearance, is he worthy of being a leader in the literary world and a gentleman setting an example?

It’s really your own fault!

Zhu Houzhao still felt unsatisfied after finishing dealing with a Kong family.

He looked at Tang Hao, the Marquis of Zhongshan, and asked, "Marquis of Zhongshan, why are you beating the Dengwen drum?"

Here comes the topic!

Tang Hao replied loudly: "Your Majesty, after conquering Qufu, I learned from the rebels that they started the rebellion this time because someone secretly provided weapons and armor!"

"After I investigated, I caught a suspect. After many verifications, I found that this person was not a businessman at all, nor was he a demon from the White Lotus Sect, but a famous... Jiangnan gentry!"

Hearing this, Yang Tinghe's expression changed drastically, and the officials were also shocked and angry.

Jiangnan gentry started this rebellion?

What do these damn things want?

"Where is this person?"

"Outside the hall!"

"Xuan!"

Tang Hao looked at Zhu Houzhao with a smile on his face.

When Yang Tinghe's eyes came, Tang Hao acted as if he hadn't seen him.

You want me to stop without paying a price, why?

Are you the chief minister of the cabinet?

Liu Jian is not worthy!

Not to mention you Yang Tinghe!

Yang Tinghe stared at Tang Hao sharply.

It wasn't until Fan Wencheng walked into the hall that he made up his mind.

This damn Marquis of Zhongshan is really a bastard!

I earned a favor for nothing, but I still want to take the opportunity to suppress the Jiangnan gentry!

Then didn't Yang Tinghe's plea for mercy go in vain?

What a thief! This is it!