"This Holy Lord Kong Yan is really cruel enough. Do you think I will let it go because of this?"

Zhu Houzhao put down the memorial of Kong Yan Shenggong. He knew that now that Kong Yan Shenggong did this would mean that he could no longer blame the sins that Kong Wenyun had done on him. By the way, he would pay 300,000 stones of grain. He felt like he was bribed himself in the name of donating and spent money to ask himself, the emperor for forgiveness.

However, Zhu Houzhao didn't want to forgive this Holy Lord Kong Yan so easily.

There were many powerful people in the Ming Dynasty, and the Holy Lord Kong Yan was just one of them.

Although Zhu Houzhao knew that these powerful people were parasites that were attached to the people of the Ming Dynasty and were the culprits that aggravated social conflicts.

The more ruthless Zhu Houzhao is to these powerful people, the more beneficial it is to his own country.

After all, now is not the time to conquer the world, and I no longer need the support of these powerful people.

But Zhu Houzhao also knew that he could not attack these powerful people casually, at least he could not attack these powerful people without reason. First, many powerful people did because their ancestors made contributions to the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, and second, once the powerful people were forced to the dead end, they would support their new masters.

What's more, many powerful people are their own confidants and their own reliance on effectively governing the Ming Dynasty.

But Kong Yan Shenggong and Zhu Houzhao must move.

First of all, Gong Kong Yan was not his confidant, so there was no need to keep him as his lackey.

What's more, Zhu Houzhao also knew that the Lord Kong Yan could not be a loyal lackey, but was only suitable for being a fence-bearer. He relied on the reputation of his ancestor Confucius to shake his tail and beg for mercy to the rulers of various dynasties to gain a respectful position.

Secondly, Gong Yan Shenggong did not abide by the rules.

As for whether other gentry and powerful people can do evil, such as annexing land, lending and profit, manipulating the officialdom, Zhu Houzhao still doesn't know, but at least what Zhu Houzhao can be sure of now is that the people from the Gong Yan Shenggong Mansion were involved in manipulating the grain prices in the capital.

A military military honors family who is not his confidant and has made meritorious contributions to the Ming Dynasty, now that he has committed a crime, his emperor will naturally be able to move.

Of course, Zhu Houzhao also knew that he would really hinder himself from the Gong Yan Shenggong's Mansion, some so-called Neo-Confucian ministers in the court. In their eyes, Yan Shenggong, who became a powerful man because of Confucius' academic and ideological status, was even more noble than the martial arts honors who became a powerful man by conquering the country back then.

After all, respecting the status of Holy Lord Kong Yan is equal to respecting Confucianism, and also maintaining the status of these Neo-Confucian ministers.

Of course, Zhu Houzhao also knew that in addition to himself, the emperor possessed by time travelers, emperors of all dynasties would also respect the status of Holy Duke Kong Yan.

After all, emperors also need to maintain Confucian status to ensure stability in their own rule and to enslave the people of the entire empire for a longer period of time.

What Zhu Houzhao wanted was to get Daming out of the civilized agricultural society under the rule of Confucianism, rather than just wanting to be the largest slave owner in the world. Therefore, this destined that he could not tolerate the Kong family having such a high status.

"I sent an edict to the Ministry of Rites. Kong Wenshao was unable to restrain his tribe, which almost caused turmoil in the capital, which disappointed me very much. He removed his hereditary title of Yan Shenggong and demoted him to a commoner!"

As soon as Zhu Houzhao spoke, even the inner minister Liu Jin opened his mouth in surprise. He thought that the Holy Duke Kong Yan asked Kong Wenyun's father to hang himself, and then compensated 300,000 stones of grain to relieve His Majesty the Emperor, but he did not expect that His Majesty the Emperor would actually remove the hereditary title of Holy Duke Kong Yan.

"Abide by the order!"

Liu Jin did not dare to resist Zhu Houzhao's decision, and as an instructor, he did not have such a great protection for the Kong family.

Zhu Houzhao wanted to dismiss Kong Wen Shao and the decree of the hereditary title of the Holy Lord of Confucius came to the cabinet. Liu Yu, the chief assistant of the cabinet, was also shocked when he saw this. However, he was the chief assistant who only followed the emperor's orders, and knew that he did not need to disobey the emperor for the sake of the Kong family, so naturally he did not raise any objections and had to accept the order.

Zhu Houzhao could also imagine that although some civil officials in the court had shelter or respect for the Kong family, and even believed that the existence of the Duke of Yansheng was a Taoist tradition, these civil officials who were self-protection dared not explicitly resist the emperor's will.

Therefore, in this way, the deposed title of Holy Holy Gong was abolished became a certain fact.

"I will receive the order!"

When Kong Wenshao received this imperial edict, he was ashamed. He did not expect that his family's hereditary duke would be gone. He naturally had complaints about Emperor Zhu Houzhao in his heart, but he also knew that the Ming Dynasty was the emperor's greatest, and his status as the Kong family was originally given by the emperor. Now that the emperor wants to take it back, he cannot have any complaints.

Kong Wenshao could only hope in his heart that the new emperor would restore his Kong family's title when he ascended the throne. He couldn't help but say in his heart: "Now that His Majesty this emperor does not value Confucianism and even hates him. Naturally, he will not allow his Kong family to make any mistakes. He is also Wenyun, and he has to do business and make profits when this tyrant is in power!"

Zhu Houzhao knew that he did not leave any kindness to the Kong family. The Kong family and many Neo-Confucian ministers would be very dissatisfied with him, but he was the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty. Even if the Kong family was dissatisfied with many Neo-Confucian ministers, he could only be dissatisfied in his heart and could not do anything to himself.

However.

Before Zhu Houzhao could end it, two million stones of grain were burned by Kong Wenyun, the descendants of the Kong family, and others, which almost caused turmoil in the entire capital due to the grain shortage, which also caused a lot of losses to the Ming Dynasty court. Even the sweet potatoes that he had eaten for a long time could not just let it go just because the Kong family sent 300,000 stones of grain.

"Issuing the order! Although the family where Kong Wenyun is located has been expelled from the genealogy by his father, Kong Wenyun was still a descendant of the Confucius family in the Northern Zong when he burned two million stones of grain. And because of the incident in Kong Wenyun, his family could expel him from the genealogy and escape punishment!

The two million stones of grain burned by Kong Wenyun were the emergency food of the capital, but it was burned by Kong Wenyun, which almost led to turmoil in the capital and destroyed our Ming Dynasty. The consequences were very serious. Although it did not happen, it should be severely punished! The Kong family compensated 7 million silver dollars, of which 6 million yuan was calculated according to the price of grain in the capital at that time. One million was the interest that Kong family did not compensate in time after Kong Wenyun burned the grain! The 300,000 stones of grain he donated was happily accepted by the court!"

Zhu Houzhao's decree was issued to Kong Wenshao, but Kong Wenshao almost fainted.

He thought the emperor would spare his Kong family easily, but he did not expect that Emperor Zhu Houzhao not only eliminated the hereditary duke of his Kong family, but now he also has to compensate his Kong family for seven million silver dollars!

Kong Wenshao could not say that the title was dismissed, nor could he object, after all, the title was given by Emperor Zhu Houzhao.

But Kong Wenshao couldn't accept it and didn't want to accept it if he wanted to make his Kong family compensate the court for seven million silver dollars!

Because seven million silver dollars can be regarded as an astronomical figure for the Kong family.

If he really pays 7 million silver dollars, it means that the land obtained by the Kong family's annexation over the years will be sold, and the male and female servants in the family who have been transformed into slaves and grown-up workers will be dismissed, and the shops that he has seized by his own tricks in Qufu will be sold, which means that the Kong family will completely become an ordinary family.

"The court has seized the title of my Kong family, and now it is going to take away the property of my Kong family. In this way, my Kong family will become a powerless commoner! Brother, you can't pay the 7 million silver dollars, even if you have to pay it, you can't pay so much! The Kong family in the Guan branch is fine, and it's still just planting their own fields, but we, the Kong family in the Kong family, have to farm even if we can't get it!"

Kong Wenshao's brother Kong Wenli also said excitedly at this moment.

"For the sake of the current plan, I can only find the Lord Futai to find a solution and quickly seal three thousand silver dollars!"

Kong Wenshao said that a few days later, he found Shandong Governor Pan Zhen: "Master Futai, you have to save our Kong family! Your Majesty actually asked us to pay 7 million silver dollars! Even if our Kong family was selling iron, they could not afford it. At that time, they could only sell temple property (Confucian Temple). But I really couldn't bear to sell temple property. The Lord was also a disciple of Confucius and Mencius. Can I bear to see that the most sages could not support sacrifices for my descendants? Woo woo!"

"Although you are not disciplined by the tribe, the court has done too much about this matter. I am afraid that it is caused by slandering the treacherous ministers. But no matter what, I will help you make a comment and talk about your love. After all, the most saint and the master have no faults!"

Pan Zhen received Kong Wenshao's silver dollars, but he didn't say he would not help Kong Wenshao.

Kong Wenshao couldn't help but be overjoyed when he saw this: "Thank you, Lord Futai. If you can waive compensation or reduce compensation, I will thank you very much!"

Pan Zhen did not say much, but only asked his master to write a memorial to Beijing according to his own wishes.

"I am the governor of Shandong Pan Zhen, and I heard that Your Majesty wants the Kong family to compensate for seven million silver dollars! But as far as I know, the Kong family cannot afford to compensate this huge sum. I am worried that if the Kong family compensates so much silver dollars, the Kong family's direct descendants may be guilty and should be punished for bankruptcy. However, the Kong family's common people are already common people in Qufu. If they lose all their money, I may damage Your Majesty's original intention of loving the people, and it will only increase the public's resentment, which may make Shandong uneasy. Therefore, I dare to give advice. Even if I am considerate of the people, can Your Majesty reduce the compensation by one or two silver dollars at the discretion?"

After taking care of Pan Zhen’s memorial, Zhu Hou thought that what Pan Zhen said was somewhat reasonable, and couldn’t help but say: “I have ignored the problem that Kong Wenshao would transfer the compensation of 7 million silver dollars to his commoners in the Kong family. This Shandong Pan Zhen has put the problem to the point!”

"What your Majesty mean is to agree to the advice of Shandong Governor Pan Zhen and reduce the compensation?"

The Grand Secretary of the Cabinet on duty asked, although he did not dare to persuade Zhu Houzhao to leniently spare the Kong family, but now he has the opportunity to reduce the punishment of the Kong family, and he did not forget to go down the road.

But Zhu Houzhao was not easily fooled by the emperor under the jurisdiction. He admitted that what Pan Zhen said made sense, but he would not really need to reduce the compensation, because from a legal perspective, the Kong family had to pay so much, and the emperor himself did not calculate much or less.

Therefore, Zhu Houzhao said directly:

"You have no joke! The imperial edict issued has been signed by your cabinet. How can you say that it will be reduced if it is withdrawn? You still have to pay for seven million yuan. If you delay one more day, you will add an additional one day of interest! Besides, asking the Kong family to compensate seven million silver dollars is in accordance with the law! How can the Kong family members will be implicated and the Ming Dynasty law will be handled leniently?!"

Kang Hai did not expect that His Majesty the Emperor was still unwilling to be lenient, so he had to nodded for a moment and said, "What Your Majesty said is that I am a little confused. How can the law be changed based on human feelings? It's just that the common people of the Kong family are just civilians in Qufu. If you really add taxes for these seven million silver dollars, it's not your Majesty's original intention."

"I will issue another order to only ask the members of the three-serving tribes of the Kong family to compensate. In addition, I will send the Jinyiwei to the Kong family to pursue compensation. First, check the Kong Wenyun clan. If it is not enough, check the Kong Wenshao and Kong Wenli clan. If it is not enough, check the Kong Wenshao and Kong Wenli clan. If it is not enough, I will escort Kong Wenshao, Kong Wenli and other three-servant tribes to serve in Mobei until they have enough money!"

After Zhu Houzhao said this, Kang Hai solemnly replied: "Your Majesty is wise." At the same time, he couldn't help but sigh in his heart: "Your Majesty is really cruel! Only scouting the tribe members within the three robbers of the Kong family means that no one of the direct descendants of the Kong family will be spared, and the common people of the Kong family will not be implicated. This will prevent the direct descendants of the Kong family from causing trouble by placing the Kong family by causing trouble by the court to ask all the Kong family members to compensate, and directly sending the Jinyiwei to avoid the government from secretly helping the Kong family."

Zhu Houzhao was indeed worried about the Shandong government, worried that if he asked the Shandong government to investigate the Kong family directly, he would be afraid that the Shandong government would hide the Kong family and send the Jinyiwei directly to him, so naturally there would be no need to worry about this problem.

Kong Wenshao was struggling. He thought that a Shandong governor could avoid bankruptcy by helping him, but what he did not expect was that Emperor Zhu Houzhao would never tolerate anyone who could shake the foundation of the Ming Dynasty. The compensation of seven million silver dollars was just a punishment for the Kong family to ignore national interests.

When the Jinyiwei appeared in Qufu City, Kong Wenshao really realized that he was completely finished.

Because Zhu Houzhao only asked the Kong people to compensate for the direct clan of the Confucius family, most of the Kong commoners in Qufu were not organized by Kong Wenshao. Of course, the appearance of the Jinyiwei was too sudden, which made Kong Wenshao unable to organize it. Moreover, the Kong commoners may not be willing to follow their direct clan to create a rebellion from the court.

Therefore, Kong Wenshao only invited the Jinyiwei into Kong's mansion with dejected expression.

The Jinyiwei was naturally not polite, and confiscated the property of Kong Wenshao, Kong Wenli, Kong Wenyun and other direct clan members at the fastest and most thorough speed. But what surprised the Jinyiwei was that the assets of the Kong Wenyun clan alone were no less than two million, and the assets of the two brothers Kong Wenshao and Kong Wenli had reached 8 million silver dollars.

Of course, these assets include all land deeds stores, etc.

Zhu Houzhao didn't expect that the Kong family could really find out so much wealth. He thought that seven million silver dollars could ruin the Kong family's fortunes and eventually became commoners, but he didn't expect that the family was so strong that the direct clan members had no less than eight million clan property! You should know that eight million silver dollars were not much different from more than six million taels of silver. This was more than three times the income of the treasury in the early years of Zhengde of the imperial court.

Shandong Governor Pan Zhen did not expect that his advice would ask His Majesty to change his way to ask the Kong family for compensation, and directly used the Jinyiwei and only searched the direct clan members.

This instantly means that although Pan Zhen, the governor of Shandong, took advantage of Kong Wenshao, did not help Kong Wenshao, and instead caused Kong Wenshao to suffer greater losses! He did not even have the chance to transfer the compensation to other tribesmen.

Of course, Shandong Governor Pan Zhen did not feel any guilt for this.

In his opinion, he, the governor, made a good suggestion, and he also collected 3,000 silver dollars. As for the Kong family being investigated, he naturally would not care too much, and he would sympathize at most. At the same time, he also regretted that the emperor did not ask him, the governor, to investigate the Kong Mansion, so that he could get more benefits through the investigation.

Zhu Houzhao also knew that none of the officials were good people. He could guess that Shandong Governor Pan Zhen might have had any connection with the Kong family, but he could not provide evidence for the moment. Even if he was an emperor, he could not make the entire Ming officialdom as honest as water. Confucians used literature to disrupt the law, chivalrous and martial arts violated the ban. He could not use imperial power as a dictator. Before these officials showed their bad deeds, they were punished because of suspicion.

But Zhu Houzhao naturally won't forgive anyone who has already proved guilty, otherwise it would be enough to warn people who are dishonest.

Kong Wenyun was sentenced to Lingchi by Zhu Houzhao.

Other prisoners who followed Kong Wenyun to plan the case of manipulating grain prices and burning grains were also sentenced to Lingchi's sentence.

Even the Marquis of Yongchang was sentenced to be executed.

Zhu Houzhao did not let go of the Minister of Justice Nie Zhen, and directly criticized:

"As the Grand Secretariat of the Ming Dynasty, he was in charge of the law, but knew that the law was violated and murdered others in prison. He also intended to shelter the suspect, deceive the emperor and hide the crime, and then sentenced him to apart the car to split! His family was confiscated, and his parents, wife and children were all sealed off!"

"Your Majesty, Nie Zhen is an important official in the court. Although he is guilty, he should not be punished so strictly. I risk my life to plead for Mr. Nie and beg your Majesty to take back his life!"

Kang Hai crawled in front of Zhu Houzhao and replied, because in Kang Hai's opinion, it was normal for him to be punished. Even those who were extremely guilty would be abandoned and beheaded at most. After all, Nie Zhen was the Minister of Justice, and he was not a rebellion and tyrant, so it was harsh to directly break up!

At this time, Ouyang Dan, the Minister of Rites who came with Kang Hai to report on the affairs, also crawled down:

"Your Majesty, I risk my life to plead for Mr. Nie. Although he knows that the law is broken and deceives the emperor, he should not be so strict! Strict punishments and serious laws are not good policies for the country, your Majesty!"

"I originally intended to gradually reduce the harshness of the law and orders, and do not rule the country with severe punishments and laws. However, Nie Zhen's incident made me realize that the people's wisdom is not only the common people's wisdom is not only the common people's wisdom is not only the people's wisdom is not only the people's wisdom is not only the people's wisdom is not only the people's wisdom is not only the people's wisdom is not only the people's wisdom is not only the people's wisdom is not only the people's wisdom is not only the people's wisdom is not only the people's wisdom is not only the people's wisdom is not only the people's wisdom is not only the people's wisdom is not only the people's wisdom is not only the people's wisdom is not only the common people's wisdom is not only the common people's wisdom, but also the people's wisdom is not only the common people's wisdom is not only the common people's wisdom, but also the people's wisdom is not only the common people's wisdom is not only the common people'

Zhu Houzhao pointed at the ministers of the cabinet who were kneeling in front of him and shouted.

Kang Hai and Ouyang Dan had no choice but to stand up, not knowing why His Majesty said that the officials of the court were not yet enlightened.

"As the Minister of Justice, Nie Zhen should only know how to deal with it according to the law. It is precisely because of this that when he advised him to transfer the suspects such as Kong Wenyun to the Ministry of Justice according to the procedures, I agreed to him, but he relied on his position as the Minister of Justice, he assassinated the suspect, trying to hide the truth and cover up the Kong family! Is he a minister of the Ming Dynasty or a slave of the Kong family!"

"This kind of minister of the Ministry of Justice is that the people are not enlightened and they do not know the concept of governing the country by law! They do not know the concept of national interests supremacy! They only know how to maintain the Taoist system! In addition, why do you think you are an important minister of the court and then kneel down to plead with me? I should be greatly moved and be lenient to him and Nie Zhen?

You are already first-class officials. Is it difficult for me to stand up? I have to kneel down at any time. Could it be that you like to kneel down?!"
To be continued...