Madam, don't do this!

Chapter 418 Gao Yang's Role (6500 words)
Princess Kong Nianhan of the Prince of Fu.

The niece of the head of the Confucius family.

Prince Fu has always kept Kong Nianhan well hidden. Everyone knows that the Princess Consort of Prince Fu is surnamed Kong, but no one knows whether she is Shang Kong, Sheng Kong, or just an ordinary Kong family girl.

Over the years, Kong Nianhan has kept a low profile. The powerful and wealthy in Ningguo have almost forgotten that such a person even exists. The Kong family of Jin, the family of the sage Kong, has never had any contact with Kong Nianhan, to the point that almost everyone thinks that Kong Nianhan's background must be quite mediocre. Even when Kong Nianhan is occasionally mentioned, they just say "oh" and then curl their lips in disdain: "She's the princess consort of the Prince of Fu, isn't she? She's certainly risen from humble beginnings to become a phoenix."

Why is the Prince of Fu hiding so deeply? What exactly is he planning to do?
Song Yan didn't think much of the Sheng Kong family, after all, they had been practicing the surrender document for generations and had no shame.

However, it must be admitted that the Kong family bloodline is absolutely outstanding, and even powerful families like the Fang, Yang, Wang, and Cui families may not be able to compare.

The women of the Kong family often married into other prominent families and clans through marriage.

Although this era differed somewhat from the other timeline, lacking the concept of the "Five Clans and Seven Noble Families," the same thing remained: powerful clans and aristocratic families reached their zenith. In the other timeline, even when the Heavenly Khan Li Shimin wanted to marry his son to a woman from one of the Five Clans, she was outright rejected, leaving him with absolutely no face.

Li Shimin looked down on them, let alone the impoverished Luo family of the royal family.
Although Kong Nianhan was not the legitimate daughter of the Holy Confucius, she was still the daughter of the Holy Confucius family head's younger brother. Her status was undoubtedly noble, so how could she possibly marry the unreliable Prince Fu?

Perhaps they wanted to get something from Prince Fu.

Song Yan rubbed his forehead. He vaguely felt that he had grasped some clue, but his vision was still blurred. He wanted to clear away the fog and see the truth behind it, but it seemed that something was still missing.

Taking a deep breath, Song Yan picked up an egg, gently cracked it on the stone table, and peeled the shell bit by bit: "Kong Nianhan placed a maidservant next to the Princess and deliberately created an opportunity for Shang Kong Kong Lingyun to kidnap Caiyi. Was this all orchestrated by Prince Fu?"

Qingluan remained silent for a moment: "Based on the information we have so far, there is no trace of Prince Fu's involvement in this matter."

"Moreover, Prince Fu is a special person. He seems to be somewhat ambitious... but while he is ambitious, he is also quite sentimental and should not do anything to harm his brothers and sisters or even his niece."

For an ambitious person, such feelings are extremely inappropriate.

"So, this was something Kong Nianhan did behind the Prince of Fu's back?"

"That should be the case," Qingluan nodded.

Why would Kong Nianhan do that?

"I'm only responsible for gathering intelligence; analyzing intelligence isn't my job," Qingluan said matter-of-factly.

That makes so much sense that Song Yan was speechless.

Song Yan casually tossed the peeled egg to Qingluan, picked up another one, and gently tapped it on the stone table. Although with his strength, he could easily shatter the eggshell with a slight tap of his fingers, it felt like something was missing if he didn't tap it once... no, once.

“I’ll analyze it, and you can judge whether my analysis makes sense, okay?” Song Yan said while peeling the shell.

Qingluan looked down at the white, greasy egg in her hand, blinked, and reluctantly nodded for the sake of the egg.

“Actually, the breakthrough point should still be the kidnapping of Caiyi.” Song Yan carefully chose his words: “By analyzing who the ultimate beneficiary is, we might be able to understand the other party’s purpose.”

“I was furious because Caiyi was kidnapped. I led the black-armored soldiers and surrounded the Kong family. I killed Kong Lingyan and Kong Lingyun.”

"Kong Lingchen lost an arm to me, but Kong Xinghuai is fine for now."

"Afterwards, the Kong family paid six million taels of silver as compensation, and the matter was settled."

Qingluan nodded.

These were all things that had happened in the past, and she didn't understand why Song Yan was bringing them up again.

"Tell me, are you surprised by this result?" Song Yan raised an eyebrow, a smile playing on his lips, as the thread in his mind seemed to become clearer and clearer.

Qingluan thought about it seriously: "It was somewhat unexpected."

"Why?"

"Because according to your temperament, you should have led the Black Armored Warriors directly into Jin, slaughtered the entire Kong family, and then chopped off their heads to build a mound of skulls in Jin."

A black line appeared on Song Yan's forehead.

Can we please stop mentioning the Jingguan (a mound of corpses)?

So all we can do is build mounds of Jingguan (a type of human pyramid), right?
“And this time, although you killed Kong Lingyan and Kong Lingyun, you have already shown exceptional mercy.” Qingluan ignored Song Yan’s unpleasant expression and simply stated her speculation.

Song Yan took a bite of half an egg: "That's right, that's what you think, and Kong Nianhan must think the same way."

"Therefore, in Kong Nianhan's original plan, the Kong family in Jin should no longer exist now."

"And this is exactly the result Kong Nianhan wanted to see."

A long time has passed without us realizing it.

The sun rose, dispelling the chill brought by the light rain last night.

Song Yan stretched his arms: "Then why does Kong Nianhan insist on destroying Shang Kong? She and Shang Kong should have no grudges against each other. If that's the case, can we reasonably speculate that this wasn't Kong Nianhan's idea, but rather that Sheng Kong was instructing her to do it?"

"As for Sheng Kong's purpose, it may be to swallow up Shang Kong's family wealth, land, and shops."

"Even if I led the troops and wiped out everyone in Shang Kong, Jin is ultimately not my territory, and the Black Armored Soldiers cannot guard Shang Kong forever. At most, they can only plunder and take away the gold, silver, jewelry, antiques, and calligraphy that can be seen on the surface. As for houses, shops, and other real estate, they ultimately cannot take them away."

"Even gold and silver jewelry shouldn't be much looted. Families like this should have secret places to store their gold and silver. After I leave, Sheng Kong will be able to use the excuse of having the same ancestor and being related to them to swallow up all of Shang Kong's remaining assets. Don't underestimate those properties; with a little sorting, they can be sold for an astronomical price."

Qingluan was taken aback.

It must be said that Song Yan's analysis is indeed very reasonable.

But Qingluan just couldn't believe it. They were descendants of Confucius, the sage. How could they harm another great family like this, just for some money?
I feel like it's a bit cheap, and it's hard to believe.

Song Yan shrugged, his expression indifferent: "Why wouldn't I?"

Confucius once said: "Wealth moves people's hearts."

Qingluan rolled her eyes. Although she wasn't very educated, she knew that this was definitely not something Confucius said.

“One thousand taels, ten thousand taels, the Holy Confucius might not care much, but what if it were one million taels, or ten million taels? Would the Holy Confucius still be unmoved?” Song Yan scoffed.

"There's another important clue: just a few days before Caiyi's accident, a branch of the Kong family suddenly admitted that Shang Kong and the sage Confucius were related. Isn't that a bit too coincidental?"

At that time, Pingyang had just been pacified, and the Jurchens had not yet trampled the royal court. They had just destroyed the Huang family and killed hundreds of officials, and the people in Pingyang were in a state of panic. Moreover, Song Yan also vaguely sensed that someone was manipulating everything behind the scenes, which is why he controlled his anger and did not directly exterminate Shang Kong's family. Otherwise, Sheng Kong's plan would probably have succeeded.

He suddenly remembered a very important question.

There were hundreds or even thousands of powerful and influential families.

Over the long course of history, some families experienced a brief period of prosperity followed by a sudden decline; others vanished silently into the annals of history; still others rose and fell, yet endured through the ages. Regardless of the circumstances, these families all experienced a process of rise and fall due to the changing dynasties, the succession of emperors, and even the shifting climate, sometimes declining and sometimes flourishing.

But the Kong family was completely different from these aristocratic families.

Regardless of the dynasty or who the emperor was, as long as Confucianism was used to govern the country, the status of Confucius had to be acknowledged and respected.

In another time and space, Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang, first conferred the title of Fengsi Jun upon Kong Teng, the eighth-generation descendant of Confucius. During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, he was granted the title of Wenxuan Gong, a direct descendant of Confucius, and enjoyed the treatment of a fifth-rank official. During the reign of Emperor Renzong of Northern Song, the title of Yansheng Gong was established, and he enjoyed the treatment of a fifth-rank official. During the Yuan Dynasty, the title of Yansheng Gong was maintained, and he enjoyed the treatment of a third-rank official. During the Ming Dynasty, he held the first rank and was ranked first among civil officials. During the Qing Dynasty, he held the first rank and was specially permitted to ride a horse in the Forbidden City and walk on the imperial road.

It can be seen that the development of the Kong family was a process of steady rise over time.

The Duke Yansheng became the only hereditary duke in Chinese history to continue for a thousand years, which is essentially a symbol of the dynasty and Confucianism jointly governing the world!
Most importantly, every emperor… in order to prove his legitimacy and to win over the support of the Confucian family and scholars across the land, would bestow lavish rewards upon the Confucian family, including not only gold and silver but also vast amounts of land. Even after a change of dynasty, the new emperor would not reclaim the land bestowed by the previous dynasty but would instead add to the existing rewards.

This led to the Kong family owning an ever-growing amount of land. By the Ming Dynasty, almost the entire Qufu area and surrounding regions were under their control. Chronologically, this is about six or seven hundred years before the Ming Dynasty. At this time, even if the Kong family received rewards, they would likely have received only limited amounts, certainly not nearly as wealthy as they were during the Ming Dynasty.

Confucius's family had many descendants.

Life was inevitably a bit tight, far worse than other aristocratic families. Under such circumstances, it was only natural for them to be envious of the immense wealth and status of the Shang and Kong families.

However, scheming against Shang Kong was just that—scheming.

But even Song Yan, and even his sister-in-law Luo Caiyi, were caught in his scheme, and Luo Caiyi was almost hurt...

This is already a path to certain death.

Come and don't go indecent.

Once his suspicions are confirmed, Song Yan will make those spineless cowards, including Sheng Kong, understand the consequences of plotting against him!
Qingluan fell silent.

Although she found it hard to accept that the descendants of a saint could be so despicable, she couldn't find a reason to refute it for the time being.

Song Yan, however, remained deep in thought.

He could sense that things were not so simple. Could it be that the Kong family had made such a big fuss just to use him to swallow up Shang Kong's family fortune?

I feel like I'm making a mountain out of a molehill.

If we think about it more deeply, who are the people behind the Eight Great Families of Shanxi?
It is Bailu Academy.

They were a group of high-ranking officials in the imperial court.

If he were to harm Shang Kong, he would inevitably become irreconcilably opposed to Bailu Academy, a fight to the death, leading to countless impeachments in the court. Even if he survived, he might be stripped of his official position and title, and perhaps even have to relinquish his military power. Could it be that Sheng Kong's true objective is actually the Black Armored Warriors?

Following this line of thought, Song Yan roughly considered the situation. If their plan went smoothly, Pingyang would instantly be in a power vacuum. Bailu Academy, the Yang family, and the imperial power would check and balance each other, and no one wanted the other two parties to control this force.

Thus, after a series of compromises, the power of the Pingyang Prefecture Prefect, including commanding the border troops and the Black Armored Soldiers, is very likely to fall into the hands of an honest official who does not belong to any faction, and the court officials secretly promoted by Prince Fu and Confucius are very likely to be chosen.

In the imperial court, spies were planted in secret.

In Pingyang Prefecture, he usurped military power.

Could it be that this "Holy Confucius" intends to rely on his influence to push Prince Fu to that position?

Song Yan's pupils suddenly contracted for a moment. It made sense. Prince Fu had been almost unmentioned in the court and had no foundation whatsoever. If it weren't for the Kong family's efforts behind the scenes, how could they have pushed their confidants into the court one by one? Meanwhile, the Holy Kong family had always stayed in the background, untouched by any influence. He was a true cunning old fox.

It must be said that Saint Confucius's plan was quite good, with a very high success rate. Although it seems that it would be difficult for Bailu Academy to suppress Song Yan in this brief confrontation between Dongling City and Song Yan, this was based on the premise that Song Yan had not given Bailu Academy any leverage from beginning to end. However, if he led his troops into other prefectures and directly destroyed a powerful family, then Bailu Academy would have a handle on him.

As he meticulously unraveled the mystery, Song Yan's eyes grew brighter and brighter; he felt he was almost touching the final truth.

The most important thing right now, and the one that Song Yan is most uncertain about, is... Did Prince Fu really not participate in the Holy Confucius's plan?
Are you really unaware?
Song Yan narrowed his eyes to slits, feeling a chill run through his body.

Siblings?

Niece?
Ha ha.

For some reason, Song Yan had a premonition that Prince Fu was definitely not innocent in this matter.

Furthermore, what role did Princess Gaoyang play in all of Prince Fu's plans?
Is it merely a tool to be used, or is it something to be deeply involved in?
Why did Gao Yang proactively reveal Kong Nianhan's name to Song Yan? Was it to gain trust for a bigger scheme, or to prove her innocence? To be fair, Song Yan didn't have any ill feelings towards Gao Yang, that woman with a big ass. Gao Yang had a pretty good relationship with Luo Yuheng, Luo Tianxuan, and Luo Tianyi, and Song Yan genuinely didn't want Gao Yang to get involved in these messy things.

Speaking of which, he didn't see Gao Yang when he returned home this time; he didn't know where Gao Yang had gone.

Taking a deep breath, Song Yan temporarily suppressed his doubts and looked at Qingluan: "Is there any other news?"

"Yes," Qingluan nodded. "It's about the Yang family."

Song Yan raised an eyebrow, intrigued.

"The Seventh Squad has few members and cannot control the situation in the entire Ning Kingdom. Therefore, I took the initiative to divide the Seventh Squad into two parts." Qingluan said eloquently, "One part is deployed in Dongling, which can keep abreast of the court's movements at all times."

"The other part was placed in Langya."

Upon hearing this, Song Yan nodded slightly.

This arrangement is certainly appropriate. If the entire Imperial City Guard were involved, such a complicated process wouldn't be necessary. However, with only a small team of the "Human" rank, the focus must be placed on the most crucial aspects concerning Song Yan. Coincidentally, Dongling City and the Langya Yang Clan are also areas where the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Night Scouts currently find it extremely difficult to intervene.

"Dongling City is alright, after all, it is the imperial city of Ningguo."

“Although the daily checks are strict, there’s a constant flow of people, so it’s not too difficult to establish a foothold in Dongling.” Qingluan’s brows furrowed slightly. “But the situation in Langya is not good. Langya has been completely controlled by the Yang family.”

"In Langya City, almost everyone is an informant for the Yang family."

“Every stranger who enters Langya will be viewed with suspicion by everyone.”

“I planted six people in Langya. Three of them have already been discovered and forced to leave Langya. Nobody knows how long the remaining three can hold out.”

Song Yan let out a breath. He wasn't good at intelligence work, but he knew that this was bound to be dangerous, no less so than the battles on the front lines.

"Thanks for your hard work."

Qingluan smiled wryly: "This is our duty, so it's not really hard work."

"However, the situation in Langya is too special. Due to various constraints, the information that the sisters can obtain is extremely limited."

Song Yan nodded: "It's alright, your own safety should be the most important thing."

"As long as a person is alive, anything is possible; if a person loses their life, then nothing is possible."

Qingluan glanced at Song Yan with some surprise. Such words were truly rare... no, not rare, but never before heard. She vividly remembered that whenever her superior assigned a task, especially an important one, he would often say things like, "At all costs; even if it means death, we must obtain the intelligence."

Generally speaking, the Marquis's thinking is indeed quite different from that of others.

Qingluan roughly understood the difference. In the eyes of her former superiors, they were just a group of tools. Serving their masters was their innate responsibility. No one cared whether the tools lived or died; all they cared about was whether the tools did their jobs well.

Song Yan truly treated them as human beings.

She pursed her lips, lowered her head, and rubbed the smooth, bouncy egg in her hand with her fingers. She took a small bite, and happened to bite the yolk, which was a little dry. Her voice became a little muffled: "But it's not like we haven't found any information at all."

"The Yang family hasn't given up on the idea of ​​killing you."

Song Yan chuckled. "Of course I'd give up."

"This time, however, the Yang family doesn't seem to intend to take action themselves. Judging from the information we've gathered, the Yang family is probably planning to use someone else to do their dirty work."

"As for which knife to borrow, I'm not quite sure."

"However, in the past few days, it seems that the Yang family has a merchant caravan preparing to go to sea. Judging from the sacks on the merchant ships, they should be filled with grain."

At this point, Qingluan shut her mouth.

To reiterate, her job is only to gather intelligence; what conclusions she draws from that intelligence is not her responsibility.

Song Yan merely raised an eyebrow, but her mind began to race.

The Yang family doesn't have many "knives" they can borrow to kill someone else.

The grain on the merchant ship was very likely a reward for using someone else's services.

So now, who needs food?
The common people!
Yes, the common people need food, but in the eyes of the Yang family, it was a waste to give that food to those peasants.

Moreover, ordinary people do not have the ability to kill themselves.

Suddenly, Song Yan's eyes lit up. He thought of a possibility... the Jurchens.

If we're talking about who's most lacking in food right now, the Jurchens would dare say they're second to none. This winter, tens of thousands of Jurchens have probably frozen or starved to death, with their corpses being hauled away in cartloads.

Although Wanyan Guangzhi had just suffered a great loss at his own hands, when people are extremely hungry, they are truly capable of doing anything.

Song Yan couldn't help but laugh; the Yang family had actually been a bit smarter this time.

After talking for a while, Qingluan got up and left. Song Yan also took out some silver notes from his sleeve and handed them to Qingluan as operating expenses for the Imperial City Guard.

Ten thousand taels of silver was not much for Song Yan, but Qing Luan was somewhat surprised, as their budget had never been this generous before.

Gu Banxia and Yang Siyao were still sleeping. They had been up all night and were exhausted. They deserved a good rest, so Song Yan didn't wake them and left the governor's mansion alone.

Cool breeze.

"Freshly caught river fish, only five coins each."

"Straw sandals, selling straw sandals."

"Steamed buns, selling steamed buns!"

"An old hen, a hen that has been raised for seven and a half years, is very nutritious."

As soon as I stepped out of the gate, a cacophony of shouts and noise filled my ears. Walking through the streets of Pingyang, it was certainly not as bustling as Dongling, but it was much better than before the New Year. People seemed to have moved on from the fear and sorrow of the Jurchens' breach of the border, their faces beaming with smiles. Many shops were open, and soldiers in black armor patrolled the streets. I didn't see any disturbances along the way, except occasionally a few customers and merchants would argue over a few copper coins, which would get quite loud.

Hunters hunt wild game such as rabbits, grouse, and muntjacs in the mountains and forests, carrying them on their shoulders. Often, before they can find a suitable stall, they are stopped by others. These wild game are good stuff, and they taste much better than those uncastrated local pigs.

He also saw an old man with two earthenware jars in front of him. Occasionally, he would open them, releasing a rich aroma of wine and Chinese herbs. He was probably selling medicinal wine, but this medicinal wine was rather unusual. A large group of people were gathered around him. After inquiring briefly, Song Yan learned that the old man was selling tiger bone and tiger penis wine. Song Yan immediately understood why almost everyone surrounding the old man was a man, holding small bottles and jars, filling them even if it hurt his wallet. Song Yan couldn't help but chuckle. Indeed, from ancient times to the present, anything associated with aphrodisiacs would sell well.

You can still see many farmers carrying hoes and shovels on their shoulders. Although the ground has just thawed, the farmers here have already begun to busy themselves with planting. Spring planting has already been delayed considerably, and if it had been any later, this year's harvest might have been completely lost.

Looking at these farmers, Song Yan couldn't help but think that Pingyang was now practically his territory, and it was about time to bring out those high-yield grain seeds.

Rice, wheat, corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes, pumpkins... these are roughly the kinds of crops.

Of course, we can't take them all out at once.

The evil in human nature should not be underestimated.

"Cousin?"

Just as Song Yan was pondering which crop to try first, a slightly surprised voice suddenly entered his ears. Turning around, he saw a figure come into view.

Her figure was slender and graceful, her waist was cinched in white, highlighting the perfection of a woman, and her full breasts stretched the pure white dress into a beautiful curve.

As the cool breeze blew, her skirt clung to her delicate body, revealing two long, slender legs that supported her full hips, creating a stunning curve with her slender waist curving upwards.

It's Gaoyang!
(End of this chapter)