On the first day of July in the seventeenth year of Chongzhen's reign in the Ming Dynasty, a group of people in python robes and black gauze had gathered at the east gate of Yanzhou. Inside and outside the gate, there were soldiers wearing mandarin duck jackets, holding spears and swords, and they were heavily guarded.

There were many events in the official circles of the Ming Dynasty, but such a big scene today was extremely rare even in Yanzhou, the big city where Prince Lu's Mansion was located. The person who came was obviously a big shot!

Because there has been no peace in Shandong recently, people with some wealth are running to big cities. Yanzhou City, which is closest to Nanzhili and close to the canal, is the best place for Shandong gentry to avoid disasters. Even in the fifteenth year of Chongzhen Emperor

In the 17th year of Chongzhen, Yanzhou City was attacked by the Qing army who invaded and looted, and was slaughtered. Even the king of Lu'an, Zhu Yipai, could not escape. However, in the 17th year of Chongzhen, when the situation was even more chaotic, there were still people gathering in Yanzhou City.

There were many officials and gentry who fled from Jinan Prefecture, Dongchang Prefecture, Qingzhou Prefecture and even Northern Zhili and Henan.

Most of the officials and gentry who gathered in Yanzhou had made up their minds to become second ministers and third ministers, but they did not expect that the Ming Dynasty would actually have a crown prince who was "the reincarnation of Taizu". It was hard to say whether he would be revived or not, but his life extension was certain.

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Moreover, Shi Kefa, Minister of War in Nanjing, also summoned King Qin's army and marched to Yanzhou in a mighty manner, showing that the Ming Dynasty was still very powerful.

Since the Ming Dynasty is still very powerful, everyone should stop being the second minister and the third minister for the time being, and think about how to curry favor with the high officials gathered in Yanzhou.

That's why Yanzhou Dongguan opened its doors, and well-informed fleeing officials and gentry swarmed in, crowded on both sides of the official road, and started talking to each other.

"Look, look, Shi Bu Tang is here! Shi Bu Tang is still laughing, it's not easy! Who are we going to pick up today? It can't be the Holy Lord and Qiantose Master who have arrived, right?"

"No, where can the Holy Lord and Master Qiantose arrive at the city gate to greet them? Then why don't they go thirty miles out of the city to greet them?"

"Could it be that His Highness King Lu is back?"

"No, no, King Lu lost his feudal vassal and fled. He must first plead with the Holy One and get the will before he can come back."

"Then that elder is here."

"Mr. Ge must be here, I don't know who it is?"

Among these fleeing officials and gentry, there were some who were rather thick-skinned and did not care about chatting with vulgar warriors, so they approached to build friendship and asked in a low voice: "Which pavilion elder are you welcoming?"

The military attache who was asked didn't hide anything. He smiled and said: "Who is Mr. Ge? It's the saint from Qufu who has come."

"The saint of Qufu? Ah, it's Duke Yan!"

"No, why did I hear that Duke Yansheng surrendered to the bandits?"

"Your news is out of date a long time ago. Duke Yansheng surrendered to Donglu in May, and now he is Duke Yansheng of Donglu."

"So today is a welcome, or a battle?"

"I don't know. Maybe after an order is issued, we will fight!"

The man who came turned out to be the 64th grandson of Confucius, Kong Yinzhi, the great sage of the Qing Dynasty.

Qufu, the hometown of Confucius, is located on the ground of Yanzhou Prefecture, very close to Ziyang, the capital of Yanzhou Prefecture. However, it is its own world and is not under the jurisdiction of Yanzhou Prefecture. Since the Yuan Dynasty, the county magistrate of Qufu has been governed by Confucius for generations.

The family served as a county in Qufu, which actually became the fiefdom of Duke Yansheng!

Compared with King Lu in Yanzhou City, King De in Jinan City and King Heng in Qingzhou, Duke Yan Sheng of Qufu is more like a real vassal king. Not only does he have a high status and cannot be offended, he also controls the land of a county and tens of thousands of people.

Moreover, the Yanshenggong family also owned a solid city built in the Zhengde period. The original Qufu City was not strong enough and was captured by a peasant uprising army in the sixth year of Zhengde. Therefore, Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty ordered the governor of Shandong to be located southwest of the old city of Lu.

With the Confucius Temple as the center, a Qufu city was rebuilt.

The project of rebuilding Qufu City was very huge. It took two emperors and more than ten years to complete the construction at a cost of thirty-six thousand taels of silver. The city is about ten miles in circumference, more than two feet and three feet high, and more than one foot and one foot thick. The city has five

Each gate has an urn. There is a moat outside the city, which is more than ten feet wide and deep.

The newly built Qufu City is of a suitable size and has five barbicans to lean on, so it does not require too many troops to defend. The city wall is made of rammed earth wrapped with bricks, which is very strong. Moreover, there is about three feet between the city wall and the moat, leaving

There is room for further reinforcement.

In addition to his unattainable status and the strong city of Qufu, Yanshenggong's wealth is not inferior to that of any vassal king. The sacrificial land of the Confucius Temple alone amounts to hundreds of thousands of acres!

Moreover, in the past two hundred years, the Yanshenggong family also used their own privileges to annex or protect millions of acres of land through embezzlement and deceitful transfer. The Kong family farm spread all over Shandong.

He became the leading landowner in Shandong and even the Ming Dynasty!

And with its fiefdom, people, cities, farmland (wealth) and supreme and inviolable majesty, the Qufu Kong family seems to be an unbreakable force even in the current troubled times.

Not only did they not attack Qufu when the Qing Dynasty invaded Shandong, but even Li Zicheng, the Dashun who was about to seize the world, was unwilling to make enemies of the Kong family in Qufu. As for the local converts in Shandong, during the Great Famine in Shandong in the Thirteenth Year of Chongzhen

They once laid siege to Qufu City. However, they did not dare to fight at all. When Yanshenggong Kong Yinzhi himself came to the city, the besieged people kowtowed to him one after another and then left the siege!

Through this siege incident, the high prestige of the Qufu Kong family in Shandong can be seen.

However, Kong Yinzhi was also a very knowledgeable Yanshenggong. Although his family received countless benefits from the Ming Dynasty, they never thought of being loyal to the Ming Dynasty. Their family would survive for thousands of years. Not only did they rely on

Following the golden signboard of Confucius, they are unique in the world in their ability to turn from darkness to light in a time of great strife.

They invested in the Great Jin Dynasty, surrendered to the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty, gave Kublai Khan the title of Confucian Grand Master, and surrendered to the Ming Dynasty after Zhu Yuanzhang's troops invaded Shandong.

Basically, it’s one reduction at a time!

However, this generation of Yanshenggong Kong Yinzhi was not as good as his ancestors in surrendering. In April, he hurriedly surrendered the watch to Li Zicheng who had entered Beijing City, and also played a "Greetings" on Qufu City.

The flag of Suncheon soldiers.

Li Zicheng even made him Duke Yansheng of Dashun Dynasty!

It was originally a good thing, but no one expected that Dashun just went to Beijing for a tour, and in the blink of an eye, millions of heavenly soldiers were driven away by the Eight Banners heavenly soldiers, and even the city of Beijing changed hands.

But it doesn’t matter, anyway, the two ministers and the three ministers are not different! So after Yanshenggong Kong Yinzhi learned that Dashun was defeated, the Ming and Qing Dynasties went to war, and Beijing fell into the hands of the Qing Dynasty, he wrote again

A "Preliminary Entry Statement" was sent to Dorgon in Beijing to express his willingness to submit to the Qing Dynasty.

Without waiting for people from the Qing Dynasty to come, he had people take down the "Chuang" flag on the top of Qufu City, and then put up the "Qing" flag again.

But then something went wrong again!

Shi Kefa, the Minister of War in Nanjing during the Ming Dynasty, gathered more than 100,000 soldiers from four towns and marched to Yanzhou next door to Qufu. He also said that he would fight against the captives!

This scared the Holy Duke of Qingyan half to death! Now in Shandong, it is mainly the Ming Dynasty, and the Dashun two families are mixed. It seems that the only one who hangs the banner of the Qing Dynasty is Kong Yinzhi, the Holy Duke of Qingyan in Qufu!

Do you mean to resist the captives by sending troops to attack Qufu? This would be fatal!

Fortunately, what Yan Shenggong was worried about did not happen after all. Shi Kefa didn’t know what to do with Yan Shenggong of the Qing Dynasty. Moreover, when Kong Yinzhi heard that the Ming Dynasty was back, he changed the flag of the Qing Dynasty to that of the Qing Dynasty.

From April to now, Kong Yinzhi has changed the banner of the Ming Dynasty three times. I wonder if there will be a fourth time?

However, shortly after Kong Yinzhi announced that he was a loyal minister of the Ming Dynasty, an unexpected piece of bad news came from the Denglai Second Mansion.

Dengzhou Xingzai issued an order to confiscate part of the Kong family's farm on the ground of Denglai Second Mansion!

This is tens of thousands of acres of land! It was all confiscated with one decree, and the bandits are not that ruthless!

Moreover, the confiscation order was issued by the order of the Prince of Fujun. Will it be executed throughout Shandong in the future? Will all the land owned by Yan Shenggong be confiscated?

This is no joke!
Chapter completed!