The First Gongsheng of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 312
Early this morning, outside the Meridian Gate, all the ministers waited for the Meridian Gate to open before entering the palace gate to discuss matters.

This is actually the morning after Zhang Zhou predicted the incident.

However, because the date was not specified in the rumors, many ministers thought that the incident did not happen, and everyone talked about it, talking about the Kong family.

Kong Hongtai was not there.

Because it was just Zhang Zhou's "prophecy", the ministers present seemed to be indifferent, and they were still brooding in their hearts when they wanted to enter the palace silently after the palace gate opened.

Court meeting.

At the beginning, Zhu Youtang took the initiative to open the topic, and mentioned Zhang Zhou's prophecy about the Kong family.

"...I didn't take it seriously at all. The so-called will of God mostly comes from the guidance of heaven, or there may be some signs left behind, and most of the human affairs are determined by people's hearts. How can right and wrong be easily swayed by people? In the past When Bing Kuan prophesied, he also emphasized this point more, that is, people's hearts are unpredictable."

The ministers thought to themselves, Your Majesty, you are quite open-minded. Does this mean that you don't believe in those ghosts and gods?

If you don't believe it, how did Zhang Zhou get to where he is today?

Zhu Youtang said: "But since he said it, I can't pretend that I didn't hear it, so I told the story in advance, so that if it didn't happen, he missed, and the Ming Dynasty was stable and the monarch and ministers were in harmony, everything will be fine." That's what I've considered."

Xu Qiong, Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites, came out and said, "Your Majesty, neither can you believe such prophecies. Even if the things did not happen, it cannot be said that the things that were prophesied did not happen because they were leaked in advance. You cannot convict people for things that did not happen. .”

"That's what I mean."

Between Zhu Youtang's words, it seemed that he wanted to help Kong Hongxu, the boss of the Kong family.

Some ministers with bad brains were thinking.

Or is it because our emperor's benevolence and righteousness made that kid Zhang Bingkuan like to sow discord when he has nothing to do, isn't he dumbfounded?After His Majesty learned about it, he didn't hide it at all. He told the matter and leaked it in advance. No matter how stupid Kong Hongxu was, he wouldn't have done something that violated the national law, right?
Tu Yu, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, came out and said, "Your Majesty, I don't know how Zhang Zhou mentioned this matter?"

This is also what the ministers present are concerned about.

Everyone knew that Zhang Zhou predicted that Kong Hongxu would commit a crime, but how he committed the crime, no one except the cabinet and the supervisor of rituals knew.

Many people think that Kong Hongxu will do rape and robbery again, which is why the public opinion is so big this time. Even without this incident, many people still don't know Kong Hongxu's past, and it is equivalent to being found out all of a sudden. old account.

Zhu Youtang said: "Bing Kuan said that Shenggong Qianyan, the eldest son of the Kong family, would set fire to the Xuansheng Temple."

Tu Yu was a little annoyed when he heard it, and he hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, such nonsense is a slander to the courtiers of the Ming Dynasty, and should be punished!"

really.

Many ministers are pondering again.

Your Majesty, have you made a mistake?
Tell us about this in advance, and let the people of the Kong family take precautions, so that it will not happen. Isn't Zhang Zhou's prophecy a slander made out of nothing?This is a great crime of defamation!

This has fallen into our hands!
Zhu Youtang asked calmly: "Tu Qing's family, have you ever thought that with Bingkuan's current status and status, do you think it is necessary for him to slander a Duke Yan Sheng who has been deprived of his title? What good will it do him? ?”

"Ahem..." Tu Yu was out of breath for a while and coughed.

Zhang Mao, who was next to him, smiled and said, "Zhang Zhitai's status is outstanding now, even if he is really slandering, the target is only a commoner, and he is not guilty, right?"

The ministers present listened.

This sounds like a forcible justification, but it makes sense when you think about it carefully.

Zhang Zhou has so many official titles now, and he is still in control of military affairs in the northwest. He is about to be made the Duke of Lai, so what's wrong with slandering an ordinary person?You, Kong Hongxu, a commoner, are honored by Zhang Zhou!
Zhu Youtang sighed and said: "I know that this will damage the reputation of the Confucian family and the dignity of the literati, but Bingkuan has always been upright and outspoken. What I think is that as long as there is no such fire in Xuansheng Temple, Whether it's Bingkuan's out-of-the-box slander, or someone restrained it after it was made public in advance... I don't want to pursue it. I don't want to change Bingkuan's outspoken temperament because of this, what do you think?"

When the civil servant heard this theory, he felt very uncomfortable.

But it's not what it used to be.

At first Zhang Zhou said that there would be an earthquake, and when the Tartars would violate the border, everyone laughed at it, thinking that Zhang Zhou was challenging the IQ of the emperor and ministers of the Ming Dynasty and looking for trouble.

But now...

Zhang Zhou suddenly said that Kong Hongxu might set fire to the Xuansheng Temple. The first thought of all the adults was not that this was so nonsense, but that it was about to happen. Everyone wanted to see how the matter would turn out, and whether they would really be hit by Zhang Zhou. And I want to see how the emperor dealt with this matter afterwards.

In other words, every minister has been inclined to believe in Zhang Zhou's prophecy.

Not only the ministers, but even ordinary people who knew about this matter, and even ordinary literati who admired the Confucian family very much, only asked a few questions, and did not even attack Zhang Zhou.

Because... Zhang Zhou's mouth has indeed been opened, and it is unusual for Zhang Zhou to slander a duke Yan Shenggong who has been confiscated. Everyone also thinks that Zhang Zhou has nothing to do for himself.

"Your Majesty is wise."

When Zhang Mao saw that the civil servants didn't want to come out to challenge, he came out to take the lead first, which could be regarded as setting the tone for Wu Xun's side.

Suppressing the Kong family will indirectly affect the status of civil servants in the court, which is a good thing for our oppressed Wu Xun.

Zhang Zhou is doing things on behalf of us Wu Xun. If we don't come out to support him at this time, who will support him?
Zhu Youtang said with a complaining look on his face: "In fact, I also feel that Bingkuan did not think carefully about this matter. He is a Confucian scholar and the number one scholar of Ming Dynasty. Wouldn't he be making enemies of scholars all over the world by doing so?"

The ministers present were all sullen, only Xie Qian couldn't help laughing, but he didn't laugh out loud.

Is Zhang Zhou afraid of making enemies of scholars?
If that kid was a timid master, he wouldn't have asked Zhu Feng Shangzuo to treat the little princess in Nanjing from the very beginning!
Before and after he entered the court, he would not talk about God's will every day, frighten the emperor for a while, and sing against us every day.

But think about it again, if Zhang Zhou was the same as us civil servants in everything, and he was with our civil servants, the emperor would not trust him so much... From the perspective of the king's strategy, the emperor originally wanted to see the courtiers interact with each other. There is a heart of contention between you and me.

There was none before, but now that Zhang Zhou is here, the emperor really treats him like a treasure!
"However, I thought about it again. Since he was willing to say that Daming's stability must be the first priority, otherwise he would cause trouble for himself and bring uneasiness to the court. Why did he say it in advance? He didn't It seems that he has some bad intentions, otherwise he can just pretend that there is no such thing."

Zhu Youtang's every word seems to be penetrating.

Even though many ministers present were annoyed that Zhang Zhou was slandering the Confucian family, after hearing what the emperor said, they were even more upset.

What do you think... Zhang Zhou has no reason to do this.

What is he drawing?
If Zhang Zhou was at the scene this time, he might tell the ministers present that I wanted to wait and see the excitement afterwards, but if I didn’t say it in advance, how could I bribe Li Dongyang, and how could I turn Kong Hongxu’s arson into an iron case?Kong Hongxu's arson in history ended up being nothing.

It is precisely because I, Zhang, is there that Kong Hongxu cannot escape the crime of arson.

Zhu Youtang said: "Okay, gentlemen, you don't have to worry about these things anymore, let the past be the past. Now let's start discussing court affairs..."

Only Li Dongyang and the others understood that the emperor felt that things had stabilized.

There is no need to talk now, but to settle accounts with Kong Hongxu later.

The emperor chose himself cleanly, as if he was more considerate of the Kong family, and put himself on the moral high ground first, and then... just waited to see the Kong family's jokes.

……

……

Kong Hongtai was in the capital, and he also learned about what the emperor said in the court hall from the ministers who left the palace.

The person who told him was Tu Yu who was leaving the palace to return to the official office.

Although it seems... things have come to an end.

But as a party to the Confucian family, Kong Hongtai could clearly feel that there was still the biggest problem, that is, even if the emperor told the matter in advance, it seemed that it would be too late to stop his elder brother from burning down his ancestral temple.

"Dongzhuang, Your Majesty has already said that, we will find someone to inform elder brother Yu Ling of the matter in advance. Besides, these are just Zhang Zhou's nonsense, who in the world will believe it?"

Tu Yu smiled reassuringly.

In order to comfort Kong Hongtai, he lied.

The emperor only said to tell the matter in advance, but he didn't say when Zhang Zhou prophesied that the incident happened, nor did he say that he would send someone to inform the Kong family.

Tu Yu himself also felt that it was impossible for Zhang Zhou to hit everyone's hearts so accurately, and coupled with the emperor's attitude of wanting to calm things down, Tu Yu had already told Kong Hongtai "good news".

It is not only to stabilize Kong Hongtai, but also to get a gift from Kong Hongtai... In order to ensure that Kong Hongxu’s son, Kong Wenshao, can inherit the title of Lord Yansheng, the Kong family gave a very generous gift to the court officials when Kong Hongtai entered Beijing this time. .

Moreover, this kind of gift is close to a gift from a friend, and neither the emperor nor the court will check it.

Tu Yu himself liked to give gifts to Li Guang. Of course, he felt that such gifts were received in a fair manner, and the more the better.

Kong Hongtai asked eagerly: "Then, did your Majesty have...reply to the performance I gave to His Majesty earlier?"

"Have you ever played?"

Tu Yu frowned.

Kong Hongtai nodded to indicate that there was such a thing.

In order to explain the "innocence" of the Kong family to the emperor, Kong Hongtai worked harder. What he was afraid of was not that his elder brother committed a crime, but that the Kong family would regard him as an accomplice and accomplice after his elder brother committed a crime. The attitude of the Confucian family is one, so as to clarify the relationship with this matter.

"Then I don't know." Tu Yu said, "Otherwise, you can go to the cabinet and ask Binzhi when you have time. Or the bank..."

Kong Hongtai originally relied heavily on Tu Yu.

Now he knew that the Minister of the Ministry of Officials could not help at all in this matter, which was obviously beyond the scope of the Minister of the Ministry of Officials.

……

……

The gate of Zhang Zhou's mansion.

At this time, Zhang's mansion has changed the plaque, and it is already "Shangshu's mansion".

Zhang Zhou would not have been so high-profile originally, because he was awarded the position of Minister after he went to the northwest to win the Battle of Weininghai, but the plaque was sent by Dongchang, and the Zhang family had to hang it if he didn't.

In the past two days, Jiang Dezhong came here whenever he had nothing to do, and wanted to visit the mansion.

Because of the emperor's order, officials are not allowed to go to Zhang Zhou's mansion to harass casually, and even let Dongchang and Jinyiwei chase people away at the door... There are usually no idlers waiting to harass.

But Jiang Dezhong relied on that he was not an official, but Zhang Zhou's father-in-law, so he came here to give a gift or something, but every time he was politely blocked by Jin Yiwei's people.

Zhang Xianshi's old father-in-law...doesn't look at the monk's face and the Buddha's face, so it's probably inappropriate to directly hit people.

As long as the old man is not allowed to enter, they should just turn a blind eye to Jiang Dezhong who is always running around to bother him.

This day Jiang Dezhong came again, saying that he wanted someone from the Zhang family to send him a letter... Zhang Zhou is in the northwest, so anyone who wants to write to him can write a letter, unless he uses the name of "family letter" , take the letter to me...

Not surprisingly.

Even if he didn't intend to go into the mansion to disturb Zhang's family members, Jin Yiwei still didn't intend to pass on the letter to him.

"Master Jiang, please forgive me, this is the order of the governor of the East Factory. If we violate the prohibition, I'm afraid we will lose our job." Jin Yiwei politely made a gesture of please, which means that you should stay where you are cool, don't Bother us on errand.

"Don't even hand in the letter? This is for the little girl..."

Jiang Dezhong was very angry.

I was depressed and wanted to leave, but when I saw a carriage stopped, a person got out of the carriage and came forward, as if he was going to enter the mansion.

Even after delivering the invitation, Jin Yiwei was very polite: "Mr. Zhang is not in the house, so no one should bother him."

It was Kong Hongtai who came.

He had nowhere to turn for help, so he could only think of coming to Zhang Zhou's mansion to try his luck, maybe the people around Zhang Zhou could "give me some advice"?

What a coincidence...there is actually a "person next to Zhang Zhou" next to him.

Jiang Dezhong has always been very interested in the officials who came to visit Zhang's mansion, especially when he saw the luxurious carriage that Kong Hongtai was riding in, his interest doubled. He walked over and asked, "This... is also here to see my son-in-law ?”

When Kong Hongtai heard this, he felt admiration for the old man next to him with a philistine smile.

It really didn't take much effort to find a place without breaking through the iron shoes. I was just looking for someone around Zhang Zhou to give me some advice, and then I saw a real person.

"Old gentleman, who are you with Zhang Zhitai?"

"He is the old man's son-in-law, and the youngest daughter is his wife."

In order to show his identity, Jiang Dezhong must of course explain this point.

If it's a side room, I'm too embarrassed to mention it.

Kong Hongtai said in awe: "I don't know how to call the old man?"

"My surname is Jiang." Jiang Dezhong said proudly.

He obviously took Kong Hongtai as an ordinary person to curry favor with powerful officials.

Kong Hongtai said: "Mr., I have encountered an incident at home, and I have to ask Zhang Zhitai to come forward to help. Let's see if..."

"Oh, what's the matter? It's a pity that he is not at the house. He has gone to the northwest to lead troops. Didn't Dongchang and Jinyiwei have orders not to let anyone go in and disturb him? If you have something to do, you can tell me. See if I can unblock it for you."

Jiang Dezhong is purely looking for trouble for himself.

He knew that he didn't have the ability to help others, but in order to make more friends with powerful people, he did not hesitate to pretend to be coercive at the door of Zhang's house.

He was also thinking that when he saw an unattractive man before, he opened his mouth to call it a father-in-law.

I've even met the famous Wei Ninghou and the Duke of England... I, Jiang, are also people on the scene, who is afraid of whom?

Kong Hongtai looked puzzled: "My Kong family encountered a little emergency, because Zhang Zhitai detected a secret, saying that there will be disasters and catastrophes for my brother."

"The Kong family? Where is the Kong family?" Jiang Dezhong stared wide-eyed.

Kong Hongtai said: "Qufu."

Jiang Dezhong put away his contempt immediately when he heard it, among other things, he is also a scholar, of course he regards himself as a scholar, he said: "The Confucius family in Qufu is a noble family, a model of scholars in the world, especially It is from the lineage of Duke Yansheng, who is the leader of my great Ming literati. I don’t know your Excellency... how to call it?"

Kong Hongtai clasped his hands and said, "The next name is Dongzhuang, it is... the current Duke Yansheng."

"puff!"

Jiang Dezhong originally wanted to pretend to be aggressive at the door of Zhang's house, but when he heard this, his legs almost went limp.

When he first saw Wang Yue, he didn't think much of it, after all, he was a literati, and he didn't have much to do with Wu Xun himself.

But if it is Yan Shenggong...

This is a role model for scholars, and even the idol of scholars. He almost gave Kong Hongtai a knock.

"Then... the matter of your Kong family... I... I am old... I can't bear it, please forgive me...cough cough cough..."

Jiang Dezhong originally held the attitude that doing less is worse than doing more, but now that he knew that it was the Kong family who came to ask Zhang Zhou to do something, he thought he was unable to help, and he wanted to run away when he was staggering.

While watching the bustling Jinyiwei also found it interesting, a small flag on duty was still shouting: "Old Zunjun, don't you sit at the door?"

This means, it's so easy for you to run here without incident, do you know that there will be a big man you can't afford to mess with at this door?A Yan Shenggong scared you away?

Kong Hongtai looked at this posture.

Am I that scary?

Run when you see me?

Could it be that... Zhang Zhou's old father-in-law learned from Zhang Zhou that our Kong family was going to be unlucky, so he wanted to draw a line with us?
This is important news.

It seems that things... really cannot be undone.

……

……

Kong Hongtai returned to the mansion where he lived in a hurry.

Immediately called his nephew Kong Wenshao over.

"Uncle, you are in such a hurry, but the marriage has already been settled?" Kong Wenshao was young, like a young man ignorant of the world, ignorant of the dangers of the world.

Kong Hongtai said: "Nephew, it is rumored that your father will set fire to the Xuansheng Temple."

Kong Wenshao said angrily, "It's all villains talking nonsense."

Kong Hongtai sighed: "If everyone agrees, even an explanation is useless. The most important thing is to look at the results. No matter whether your father will have this happen, you and I must do something in advance to reduce the impact of this incident."

"What's the matter?" Kong Wenshao asked with big innocent eyes blinking.

Kong Hongtai said: "Pack up your things and go kneel in front of the palace gate with me."

"What... what is this for?"

Kong Wenshao was displeased when he heard it. Others have created something out of nothing, and we, uncle and nephew, are going to kneel?
"It is not only to plead guilty because something really happened, but also to let the court punish those who slandered and slandered people because it didn't happen. It shows your attitude, and it also shows the attitude of my Kong family. You must go quickly...don't delay."

(End of this chapter)