Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 109: The tax camp’s cannons collect taxes, open the door!
Not long after.

Kong Chengzhen saw that these soldiers who rushed in really came out with the tax and labor service books and started to calculate the taxes directly in the county government office.

after a little while.

Sun Chengzhen then saw a team of armored soldiers rush directly to the home of Kong Chengxu, a wealthy man not far from the county government office after a military officer nodded in agreement!
This is a wealthy family of the same clan and generation as him.

A lot of farmland was annexed from the people in the suburbs of Qufu.

"Open the door!"

"The tax camp is ordered to collect taxes!"

"If you still don't open the door after half an incense stick, we will directly blast the door with cannons and forcibly collect it, and double the fine!"

then.

When Sun Chengzhen was being taken away, he saw this team of armored soldiers knocking roughly on the door of his brother, and they actually pushed a small copper cannon on a wooden cart towards him.

boom!
Soon.

Sun Chengzhen actually heard a loud noise.

then.

He saw that the door of his cousin's house was really blown open.

"Don't fire!"

"Oi, stop firing!"

"We pay taxes! I was just wondering why the county magistrate said we couldn't pay taxes, so I didn't react. It's not like we won't open the door!"

"Why are you so anxious, my lords?"

"Just tell us how much tax you want to pay and we'll pay it all. We can add an extra portion for the fire consumption, but please don't do anything rash and scare my family. To be honest, I have an 80-year-old mother who can't stand being scared! Woo woo!"

Kong Chengzhen vaguely heard the cry of his brother.

And at this time.

Kong Chengzhen also understood everything.

He understood that the imperial court had obviously been planning to reform the taxation system long ago, and had already trained a team of professional tax-collecting officers who were both capable of both military force and tax calculations to replace the local clerks controlled by his Kong family.

This is undoubtedly digging up the roots of people like us!

In this way, it would be impossible to cut off trade routes and water transport.

Kong Chengzhen therefore decisively shouted loudly: "Shu Bingxian! I have another story to report!"

Shu Sheng rode over and asked, "What's the matter?"

"I'm guilty!"

"But it was the Duke of Yansheng, Kong Wenshao, who ordered me to do this. He also asked me to cut off the trade routes and the shipping, and to go on strike, but I haven't had time to do any of these yet."

"If I don't do this, he will expel me from the family tree, remove me from my position as county magistrate, and punish my family members according to the family law, making sure they all die miserably. So I have no choice but to obey!!"

Kong Chengzhen decisively threw all the dirty water on Kong Wenshao.

"I will report your words truthfully."

As Shu Sheng said this, he ordered someone to write down Kong Chengzhen's words into a confession and have him sign and seal it.

Subsequently.

Shu Sheng waved his hand and said, "Go to Confucius' mansion and seize his property!"

Let’s talk.

A few days ago.

Kong Wenshao began to ask people to prepare the things he would need for his trip to Beijing.

Although he looked down on the Ming royal family.

But since the world now truly belonged to the Zhu family, he did not hesitate to bypass the governor and the inspector general and pursue the Confucius Mansion relentlessly.

Therefore, he chose to follow the advice of Governor Wang Xu and admit defeat when he should.

"Brother, do you want to release those newly captured dancers?"

Kong Wenshao's cousin Kong Wensheng asked about the newly arrested musicians and dancers because Kong Wenshao was going to Beijing, which was clearly a sign of weakness to the court.

The so-called musicians and dancers are the people who play and play musical instruments when the Confucius family offers sacrifices to the temple.

Most of these people were talented young men from the local area who served as soldiers.

Kong Wenshao's father, Kong Hongxu, was stripped of his title during the Chenghua period because he forcibly captured local handsome young men to serve as musicians and dancers, and also raped and abused the musicians and dancers, engaging in SM, which resulted in the deaths of many people.

Since then, the number of musicians and dancers in the Confucius Mansion has decreased significantly.

Therefore, Kong Wenshao had long planned to expand the number of musicians and dancers. During this attempt to fight against the imperial court, he specially captured some handsome young men to serve as new musicians and dancers.

What Kong Wenshao didn't expect was that his men also captured a member of the royal family. Because he was also handsome, he was brought into the mansion and used as a musician and dancer.

This royal family member's name is Zhu Dangyu, and he is a royal family member of the Lu Palace.

Because Shandong was plagued by serious tax arrears, Kong Wenshao ordered the local clerks under his control to embezzle the remaining grain, which greatly reduced the amount of rice allocated to the children of the Shandong royal family.

Kong Wenshao also intended to use this method of greatly affecting the lives of the Shandong royal family members to force Zhu Houcong to compromise, so he tacitly allowed this to happen.

In this era, it was normal for local governments to owe rice and salary to the royal family.

Because the power of the royal family had been greatly weakened since the Yongle reign, many times when such things happened, the royal family members dared to be angry but not to speak out.

But Zhu Dangyu could not bear this kind of humiliation. Of course, more importantly, as a member of the middle and lower class royal family, he was not financially well-off to begin with, and if his rice salary was cut too harshly, he would indeed starve.

Therefore, Zhu Dangyu, regardless of the consequences, left his fiefdom secretly and prepared to go north to seek justice from the emperor.

result.

Zhu Dangyu was captured by the Kong family.

At this time, Kong Wenshao also remembered Zhu Dangyu, a member of the royal family, because Kong Wensheng mentioned it.

So Kong Wenshao asked, "How is Zhu Dangyu now?" "He still refuses to learn!"

"We are asked to let him go."

Kong Wensheng replied.

Kong Wenshao laughed: "He ran away from his fiefdom without permission, which is a serious crime! Even the King of Lu would not dare to report this to the court and bring disaster upon himself, so he should know that even if he died in the mansion now, no one would know."

"That being said, he is a descendant of the royal family after all."

Kong Wensheng said.

When Kong Wenshao thought of the court's recent aggressive behavior, he suddenly stood up and bared his teeth and roared:

"What kind of royal family member is this? He is just the descendant of a bandit!"

"Bring him here!"

Kong Wenshao immediately gave another order.

He has always looked down upon the Zhu family, the royal family of the Ming Dynasty.

But now he had to compromise with the Zhu family on the surface, so he had been holding back his anger with nowhere to vent it, so he wanted to vent the suppressed anger in his heart on Zhu Dangyu.

When Zhu Dangyu was brought before Kong Wenshao, he was tied up and could only lie on the ground. He said to Kong Wenshao:

"Duke Yansheng, I am a descendant of the royal family. You cannot treat me like this. Otherwise, if the emperor finds out, he will not let you go!"

"As long as you let me go, I promise not to tell anyone about these things. Besides, you know I won't tell anyone that I ran away secretly."

"You also know that it's not appropriate for outsiders to know that you ran away secretly, right?"

Kong Wenshao said with a sneer.

then.

Kong Wenshao added: "You must be a dancer now!"

"I shouldn't do it!"

Zhu Dangyu said loudly.

Kong Wenshao directly ordered: "Put him on the spring stool, take a big stick, and beat him and question him!"

"I am a descendant of the royal family. You Kong family can't treat me like this!"

Zhu Dangyu was shocked and shouted loudly.

"Yes!"

But not for a while.

Zhu Dangyu was still pressed on the spring stool by the Kong family. The Kong family's servants also stood beside the spring stool and raised their sticks.

"beat!"

Kong Wenshao shouted loudly at this time.

Snapped!
The stick fell on the spot.

"Ouch!"

"You can't hit me!"

"I am a descendant of the royal family!"

After Zhu Dangyu screamed, he couldn't help but roar.

Kong Wenshao beat Zhu Dangyu even harder, causing him to scream in pain.

After fighting for a while, Kong Wenshao stopped and asked with a sneer:
"Can't I fight against a member of the royal family?"

"Tell me, can I fight?!"

Kong Wenshao then asked another question.

"I dare to kill!"

Subsequently.

Kong Wenshao took advantage of the fact that he was in his own house and said this without any scruples. He also said in a deep voice: "Starve him for three days and see if he wants to learn!"

Zhu Dangyu felt extremely aggrieved and started crying.

Kong Wenshao felt much better because of this, and he took a boat north to the capital early the next morning.

It was only a few days after Kong Wenshao left.

Qufu County Magistrate Kong Chengzhen was arrested.

Shu Sheng, the military governor, also led people to raid Confucius's mansion and discovered Zhu Dangyu.

Zhu Dangyu told Shu Sheng the whole story.

Shu Sheng naturally did not dare to conceal this matter, and hurriedly reported it to the capital by express delivery over a distance of 600 miles.

Kong Wenshao did not know that his house had been raided and all his family members had been arrested, nor did he know that his cousin, Kong Chengzhen, the magistrate of Qufu, had also been arrested.

He was now in a good mood as he had vented his anger on Zhu Dangyu, so he came to the capital.

He even hoped that the imperial court would give up on dealing with his Kong family and dismiss Shu Sheng and others from their posts because of difficulties in taxation, grain transport and trade routes in Shandong.

And at this time in the capital.

Emperor Zhu Houcong received the secret report urgently delivered by Shu Sheng first, and opened it to read it.

-

Remarks:

Volume 20 of "The Veritable Records of Emperor Shenzong of the Ming Dynasty" records: General Dang Yu... went out for a trip and did not return for many days... The governor and other officials reported the incident and impeached the Yanzhou prefect Chen Tan and the professor of the Prince's Palace Pei Guangzuo and others. The emperor ordered an investigation into Tan and others, saying that Dang Yu had privately gone out of the city to play, which led to robbery and looting, and ordered the Prince of Lu to severely reprimand them.

Therefore, it can be seen that in history, there was indeed a case of royal family members going out without permission in the early Jiajing period. Here, due to the needs of the plot, the reason for going out without permission is set to be insufficient rice salary, which is not true in history. I hope everyone can understand.

(End of this chapter)