Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 571: Changes in the Confucius Mansion (5)

Meng Jun knew that once the court meeting started, those censors would certainly attack Wu Jinkun and Lu Ping. If he had no means to counter, then the system of allocating land tax to each person would be broken, and all places would certainly pretend to obey but actually disobey.

Therefore, after Yang En left, Meng Jun secretly summoned Shen Congwen.

Shen Congwen is the nephew of Shen Tingyang, and Shen Tingyang is the grandfather of the third prince Meng Chengjin. Although Shen Congwen is not a noble, in the eyes of civil officials, he is different from those who graduated from orthodox academic schools.

When Meng Jun occupied Nanjing, Shen Congwen served as Xia Wanchun's replacement and followed Meng Jun. He was the emperor's confidant.

After secretly summoning Shen Congwen, Meng Jun handed over all the criminal documents of the Kong family to Shen Congwen and asked him to go home and review them in detail.

After Shen Congwen returned home, he looked at the thick stack of documents, flipped through a few volumes at random, closed the documents, and then sighed deeply.

Shen Congwen understood the meaning of the Son of Heaven, but he also knew that once he made his suggestion, he would inevitably offend a large number of civil officials and censors.

It was just that his uncle Shen Tingyang was not in the palace now, so even if he wanted to discuss it with anyone, he had no way. Shen Congwen sat alone in the study for a long time.

It was getting dark and candles had been lit in the study. The dim candlelight illuminated Shen Congwen's solemn profile. He gently stroked the light documents in his hands. Although the paper was thin, the words on it were of great significance.

These documents not only involved the crimes of the Confucius Mansion, but also involved the cultural foundation of the Qian Dynasty. Shen Congwen sighed deeply. The emperor's trust made him unable to refuse, and he simply could not refuse.

Sitting alone in front of his desk, Shen Congwen slowly opened the document and reviewed it word by word. Now that things had come to this, he could only stand firmly by the emperor's side.

At first light of dawn the next day, as the court meeting started in the palace, more than a dozen court officials came out together to impeach Wu Jinkun and Lu Ping. Their words were so fierce that they wanted to say that Wu Jinkun was the biggest sinner of the Qian Dynasty.

"Your Majesty, Wu Jinkun and Lu Ping regard the direct lineage of the Saint as nothing. Such reckless behavior will surely cause unrest in the world!"

The atmosphere in the hall suddenly became tense, and many officials echoed each other. For a moment, the names of Wu Jinkun and Lu Ping became the target of public criticism, as if the world would be in chaos if Wu Jinkun and Lu Ping were not punished.

Wu Jinkun and Lu Ping surveyed the land in the local area, but what really determined whether they could succeed was in the court.

At this time, Shen Congwen took a step forward, his expression solemn, and his tone firm, he said: "Your Majesty, I have something important to report. I have solid evidence that the land of the Confucius Mansion is not all for the saint's sacrifice. There are indeed cases of occupying good farmland. How many people have been ruined by the Kong family just because they set their eyes on their land..."

At this point, Liu Xunchun's face changed, and he was about to refute. Seeing this, Meng Jun said in a slightly cold tone: "Mr. Shen hasn't finished speaking yet, why are you so anxious, Mr. Liu!"

Upon hearing this, Liu Xunchun could only apologize and return to the train. At this time, Shen Congwen continued, "The Kong family relies on the kindness of the past dynasties, but their behavior has a trace of the legacy of saints. Moreover, their family has set up a private court, is tyrannical, and overrides the king's law. No one can control life and death!"

Then, Shen Congwen took out the evidence he had compiled last night and said loudly to the ministers, "Here is the evidence of the crimes committed by the Kong family. Your Majesty, I request that the Duke of Yansheng be deposed and the Kong family's land be returned to the court!"

Upon hearing this, there was an uproar in the court and the country. Many civil officials were preparing to impeach Wu Jinkun and Lu Ping, but they never expected that Shen Congwen would depose Duke Yansheng as soon as he opened his mouth.

Liu Xunchun could no longer bear it, so he stood up and loudly refuted: "Your Majesty, I accuse Minister Shen of talking nonsense. As the saying goes, if you want to accuse someone, you can always find a pretext. Duke Yansheng is the direct descendant of the sage, how can he be compared to an ordinary family? There must be good and bad people in his house?6?8. If there is a crime, the criminal should be found. Duke Yansheng is still young, how innocent is he, and yet he is slandered like this!"

When Meng Jun heard this, he said calmly: "The family rules of the Kong family are already more important than the national laws. How can the officials of the court punish the servants of the Kong family?"

Although the emperor's words were light, Liu Xunchun felt as if he was struck by thunder. He cried, "Your Majesty, this is absolutely not the case. The family rules of the Kong family are to restrain the clan members. How dare we violate the laws of the country? I hope Your Majesty will not be deceived by this villain!"

Shen Congwen chuckled, handed the document to Liu Xunchun, and said, "Mr. Liu, please don't speak nonsense. What I said is based on facts. If there is anything untrue, Mr. Liu can point it out. Why use the words of a villain to criticize your colleagues?"

Liu Xunchun looked at the densely packed documents and wanted to refute, but he couldn't think of any words to refute for a moment. In a short time, Liu Xunchun's face turned red.

When the Qingliu faction saw that their main leader Liu Xunchun had lost his temper, Zhuo, the official in charge of the Ministry of Rites, stepped out from behind and said loudly, "Your Majesty, if anyone in the Confucius Mansion is guilty, then punish him. No matter who it is, no one can be above the law of the country!"

After Zhuo Buji said a high-sounding remark, he changed the subject and said, "Of course, the Kong family's land was mostly given by successive dynasties. Occasionally, there are evil slaves who occupy the land. The court will just punish them a little. How can the Kong family's land be completely taken away! I ask Your Majesty to send officials to Qufu to order Duke Yansheng to restrain his clansmen. Your Majesty, Duke Yansheng is a descendant of a saint after all, and he should not be punished severely!"

Shen Congwen was not to be outdone. He snorted coldly and said, "The Kong family's land, roughly estimated, is more than 800,000 acres. How could any dynasty in history grant so much land? This is clearly robbery and against the will of heaven and earth."

"Shen Congwen, have you ever read the books of saints? You want to kill all the descendants of saints. You are not worthy of reading the books of saints at all!"

The two sides exchanged sharp words and the debate was fierce. The entire court was like a battlefield. At the end of the argument, they even started personal attacks.

In theory, this matter has little to do with the warriors who conquered the world. However, Gao Jinku laughed when he saw the quarrel and said, "Duke Yansheng, the Yuan Dynasty surrendered to the Yuan Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty surrendered to the Qing Dynasty. The surrender letters they wrote were very beautiful, but the words they said were so corny. The Ming Dynasty hasn't even fallen yet, but Duke Yansheng can't wait to become a slave of the new dynasty. Such people are still talking about being descendants of saints, bah!"

"Gao Jinku, you stinky soldier, how dare you humiliate the saint? I will fight you!"

A low-ranking censor cursed loudly and even wanted to rush over, but was held back by his colleague beside him.

When Meng Jun heard this, his face darkened and he shouted angrily, "The world was conquered by the stinking soldiers you mentioned. If we really want to talk about it, then I am also a stinking soldier, and I deserve to be killed!"