Wanli Xinming

Chapter 423 Southern Tour ()

In the fifth year of Zhengde's reign in the Ming Dynasty, the Liu Liu and Liu Qi uprising broke out. After conquering Jining, the rebel army rushed into southwest Shandong and conquered ten counties, including Qufu County. The rebel army also carried out massive destruction to Queli (Note: Confucius' former residence, referring to Confucius' mansion) ten miles away from Qufu County.

After the uprising was suppressed, the imperial court, which was disgraced by the destruction of the saint's house, learned from the painful experience and moved Qufu City to the palace. The Confucius Mansion, which stood unobstructed in the middle of the rewarded land, was enclosed within the newly built masonry walls. Called the new city. The original town of Qufu County was called the Old City.

This is probably the story of a city being built to protect a non-royal family in Chinese history, which is unprecedented.

From the eighth year of Zhengde's reign until the 1930s, Qufu was almost synonymous with Confucius' Mansion, and Confucius' Mansion was equated with Qufu.

Since Kong Xu became the county magistrate of Qufu in the Xiantong year of Emperor Yizong of the Tang Dynasty, the county magistrate of Qufu City had only one surname. Occasionally, county magistrates resigned due to committing crimes, neglecting their duties and breaking the law. However, because the Duke Yansheng of the past dynasties recommended his family to serve as county magistrates, the court generally gave them face, and later this became a common practice.

Although the Qufu County Magistrate has been controlled by the Kong family for hundreds of years, the relationship between the County Magistrate and Yan Shenggong may not be good after the establishment of a routine - Yan Shenggong is in a tight situation, and the County Magistrate's performance evaluation cannot be completed.

It’s not okay for the county magistrate to just listen to Yan Shenggong for performance evaluation. If he completely listens to Yan Shenggong, who has no control over him, he will be accused of incompetent performance of his duties and covering up illegal activities.

At this time, the county magistrate Kong Zhenjiao was not from the same branch as Kong Shangxian. He was the county magistrate only because of his family. This guy was almost incompatible with Yan Shenggong Kong Shangxian.

During the Longqing period, because the county magistrate Kong Chenghou prevented Kong Shangxian, Duke Yansheng, from managing the new city, Duke Yansheng petitioned the court, saying that the establishment of a magistrate in Qufu was entirely due to redundant officials and redundant personnel: this meant that Qufu could be handed over to the Confucius Mansion. The post of county magistrate can be omitted.

As a generational duke, Kong Shangxian actually wanted to touch the bottom line that his relatives were not allowed to participate in politics, and almost stirred up a hornet's nest in the matter of all the censors and officials.

The court discussed it for a long time and gave Kong Shangxian half face. It was decided to select four people from Kong's Linshan students. After two examinations, one person was selected to be appointed magistrate of Qufu County and live in the old city.

This magistrate conducted assessments like other magistrates, and did not interfere with the government affairs of Confucius Mansion and Confucius Temple with Yan Shenggong. In this way, the jurisdiction of the county magistrate who managed civil affairs and the jurisdiction of Duke Yansheng were separated.

The two county magistrates after Kong Chenghou were Kong Hongsheng and Kong Zhenjiao. After Kong Hongsheng took over, he obeyed the advice of Duke Yan Sheng. When he was the county magistrate, the people in Kong Hongsheng's mansion were the local emperors in the old and new cities and the countryside.

When Kong Zhenjiao took over, Kong Hongsheng left him with nothing but chicken feathers. Not to mention that the old and new city walls were in disrepair for a long time, the tax revenue was managed by the Confucius government, and the office funds of the Confucius Church had to beg for money from the fingers of Duke Yansheng.

Who can bear this? Kong Zhenjiao still has to undergo the test of becoming a disciple. Therefore, the first thing he did after taking office was to deprive the Confucius government of collecting and managing Qufu's tax administration. Duke Yansheng was not polite and informed the landowners of the Kong family who paid taxes on hundreds of hectares of land that they all owed taxes. At the same time, for all tenants who rent land in Confucius Mansion, the dingyin can only be paid to Confucius Mansion, and the Confucius Mansion will pay it on behalf of them, and cannot be handed over to the old city.

After a back and forth, the two sides fought really hard, and Kong Shangxian, the Holy Duke of Yan, wrote another memorial to accuse Kong Zhenjiao. See his three major crimes of being unfilial and bullying the emperor. Judging from the crime, beheading by Kong Zhenjiao is a minor crime.

As mentioned above, the court had spoken first, and the powers of Duke Yansheng and the county magistrate were separated. Duke Yansheng was not allowed to participate in the performance of the magistrate of the old city, because this was the scope of authority of the Shandong Inspectorate or the Shandong Patrol Magistrate.

Kong Shangxian was taking advantage of his status. Of course there was no problem when the court respected the Kong family, but when he met Zhu Yijun, there was a problem.

The memorial left aside Zhu Yijun's severe rebuke to Kong Shangxian in the morning court. He scolded him for betraying Emperor Jiajing's love for him, and ordered him to only take care of the affairs of Confucius Mansion and Confucius Temple. If his order dared to go out of Confucius Mansion even an inch, Yanshenggong would have to be replaced.

Kong Shangxian disappeared since then, but Kong Zhenjiao became arrogant because of the emperor's support. In recent years, people in Kong's family were cautious, fearing that he would catch him in the wrong place. Before Zhu Yijun came to power and carried out major reforms, the bureaucracy of the Ming Dynasty was very interesting and cannot be understood with the thinking of later generations.

According to the understanding of later generations, the governor is in charge of the prefect, and the prefect is in charge of the county magistrate. Each level is responsible for the next level, and the central court acts like an arm and a finger.

In fact, this is not the case. For each county jurisdiction, apart from the emperor, the county magistrate is the largest - because the power source of the county magistrate and the governor are the same, they are personally appointed by the emperor. The so-called difference is only in the division of labor and there is no level of official position. This is a reality that the Ming Dynasty officialdom must consider when handling government affairs. Otherwise, even the elders of the seventh rank would not be afraid of him.

The prefect has only the power to coordinate and guide the county government and has no actual jurisdiction. From the perspective that officials are only responsible for the source of power, if the county magistrate does not listen to the prefect, the prefect has no good solution. At most, he would submit a petition to impeach the county magistrate, and the emperor would listen or not - completely different from the way that later county magistrates were elected and resigned through the municipal committee.

Smarter emperors generally support those with higher officials. Of course there are exceptions, and this is the essential reason why there are so many strengths.

After the reform, the "returning fire consumption to the public" was implemented, which strengthened the power of the governor and prefect from the perspective of financial rights. In addition, higher-level officials can toss the county magistrate on judicial cases, and the obstacles to the issuance of government orders are reduced to an acceptable level.

In short, in places where the county magistrate can be established, a duke like Yan Shenggong must also be under the jurisdiction of the county magistrate - this is the institutional reason for the emergence of the "county magistrate who broke the family". Kong Zhenjiao received the support of the imperial court, and Yan Shenggong was much more honest.

Therefore, the emperor's order to visit Qufu was made in duplicate, and Kong Zhenjiao and Yan Shenggong each received one - making their division of labor clear. Within the Confucius Mansion, it falls under the jurisdiction of Yanshenggong Mansion; outside the Confucius Mansion, it falls under the jurisdiction of Qufu County.

For the Confucius Church in Qufu City, this matter is a bit stressful but not too big - the old city of Qufu is not much to see, and apart from the Confucius Mansion and the Confucius Temple in the new city, how can the emperor have leisurely strolls in other places? Just repair the road and make some superficial remarks along the way.

After receiving the decree, Duke Yansheng also thought of this festival and hurriedly convened a meeting of officials of Duke Yansheng's mansion. Yan Shenggong said at the meeting: "Since Taizu of this dynasty, the treatment we have received from Queli has been the same, and it has become more and more generous. The emperor is touring the south. Dezhou is five hundred miles away from Qufu, and the next stop, Liaocheng, is also a few miles away from Qufu. Four hundred miles away, we still have to come to worship the saint, which shows that the legacy of the ancestors and saints will be preserved for eternity. This time, the emperor and his family will visit the mansion and temple. Everyone must prepare from today on."

His cousin Kong Shangtan heard this and said, "Where did you get the money to take over?"

Kong Shangxian's face turned dark when he heard this. Although the Confucius family is known as the largest family in the world, its expenses are also high and there is no money to save. Not to mention the many sacrifices in the family, the emperor also sent people to offer sacrifices during various festivals. Imperial missions were expensive, and all kinds of honors also required money.

Because in the sage's court, the posture must be maintained, and merchants are at the bottom of the four peoples. The Confucius family's business is not good-looking or good-looking. Although there is a lot of land, how much money can be dug out of the dirt? If the tax revenue of Qufu City was in charge, Yan Guo could still be diverted, but the emperor supported the county magistrate, and Duke Yan Sheng could not do anything.

At this time, he had no choice but to grit his teeth and said: "We have to squeeze in. Let's make a line first and pay the big money. We need to paint the mansion and the temple, which costs eight or nine hundred taels, or a thousand taels if it's more generous. Now that the spring is warm and the flowers are blooming, we need to put them everywhere. Flower pots, pile up some patterns, this item costs five hundred taels; buy some new ones for the red felt used to pave the way in the mansion, four or five hundred is enough, and use old ones to scrub the side hall."

"This is the first time I have offered sacrifices to Confucius since I ascended the throne. How can I make do with it?"

Duke Yan Sheng stumbled and heard Kong Shang say frankly: "This time the emperor was on tour, and he brought the queen, the prince, and the whole family. Where is the palace located? It is generally decorated according to regulations. There are no more than 1,800 in this item." I can’t come down. If I stay for two days, all the services and entertainment will cost several thousand. How can two or three thousand be enough? Even ten thousand taels are expensive.”

Duke Yansheng had a toothache after hearing this.

　Happy Chinese New Year to all readers of Laomo! All the best! Regarding the long interruption of updates, Lao Mo has no excuse. He can only say that there are always trade-offs between work and life. Fortunately, Lao Mo has been promoted. I hope to have time to continue updating in the near future.

　　(End of this chapter)