The Ming Dynasty's Five Hundred Years

Chapter 119 He can take his place

"In my opinion, the original intention of the Duke Yansheng system was good, but it was poorly implemented."

Yang Rong solemnly said, "Therefore, we only need to follow the established rules and regulations, rather than changing the system."

It is inappropriate to condemn the entire Confucius family of Qufu because of Kong Chenglin's personal misconduct.

These mature and prudent words earned nods of approval from Zhu Di and Zhu Gaochi, and the others in the hall also praised, "What Zirong said is very true."

"That's exactly right."

These harmonious scenes almost made one forget that a high-ranking official who had just been dismissed was kneeling on the ground.

Yang Rong felt rather helpless. He knew, of course, that the people were not praising him, but rather trying to use this performance to gloss over what had just happened.

Today's plan against Li Xianmu can be described as a major failure, even resulting in the loss of one of the Nine Ministers.

Shaking off these unfounded thoughts, Yang Rong continued, "Now that the magistrate of Qufu has been recommended by the Duke Yansheng, he will naturally obey the Duke Yansheng's orders."

Your subject believes that afterwards, the Duke of Yansheng should select more people of noble character from the Confucius family and send them to the Shandong Provincial Administration Commissioner. The Shandong Provincial Administration Commissioner, the Shandong Provincial Education Commissioner, and the Ministry of Personnel should jointly examine them and then appoint them to Qufu.

Stripping the Duke of Yansheng of his power to recommend the magistrate of Qufu should surely improve the current situation in Qufu.

"Exactly!"

"What Scholar Yang said is absolutely right!"

The crowd erupted in praise once again.

Zhu Di and Zhu Gaochi were both speechless, but they knew in their hearts that Yang Rong's method was the most appropriate.

Can this really change the reality in Qufu?

Everyone will have a question mark in their mind, but this is a structural problem. Trying to eradicate it by patching things up like this is just wishful thinking.

Zhu Di pondered for a moment, and finding no better idea, said gently, "Then let's do as Minister Yang said, and add a decree to instruct the Duke of Yansheng, and send it to Qufu together."

With this matter concluded, today's discussion has come to an end.

The cabinet ministers went to the Wenyuan Pavilion, while the officials of the Six Ministries returned to their offices. Li Xianmu, of course, also left the palace.

The group headed out of the hall.

Chen Ying, Hu Guang, and Hu Ying walked quite quickly, as if something was chasing them from behind.

The group of officials from the Eastern Palace gradually walked together, and no one spoke.

Gazing at the majestic, undulating palace walls, the golden, glittering glazed tiles reflected the supreme glory of the imperial family, radiating brilliance in everyone's eyes.

The vast and boundless world, the magnificent land stretching for thousands of miles, the millions of people, and the life and death of all people are, in reality, confined to this palace, to this small space.

Living here year-round naturally gives one an air of superiority.

"I hope this is the last time."

Li Xianmu suddenly spoke.

Yang Shiqi paused for a moment, then continued forward as if nothing had happened.

"If there is a next time, even if the Crown Prince is unwilling, I will not show any mercy."

Do you think the Crown Prince's position is now secure?
"The King of Han is still eyeing the throne with predatory intent, yet infighting has already taken hold among the officials of the Eastern Palace. The King of Han must be laughing in his sleep."

After Li Xianmu finished speaking, he left without waiting for Yang Shiqi's reply.

Seeing Li Xianmu leave, Yang Rong walked to Yang Shiqi's side and suddenly said, "Brother Shiqi, you really shouldn't have spoken up today. Ever since the relocation of the capital, the Crown Prince has been suspicious of you. He has always trusted Li Xianmu. Now that you have spoken up, things have not gone well, and you have only made people disgusted."

Li Xianmu was just talking about this, wasn't he?

Yang Shiqi then recounted what Li Xianmu had just said. Yang Rong was silent for a moment, then said passionately, "Li Xianmu is a man who achieves great things and always puts the big picture first. So when he says he will no longer hold a grudge, he really means it."

But what he just said about the struggle for the throne is perfectly reasonable. His Highness the Crown Prince's position is still very unstable. We, the officials of the Eastern Palace, should be working together wholeheartedly. It would be truly inappropriate for us to fight amongst ourselves now.”

"I understand."

Yang Shiqi said coldly, "It's just that Li Xianmu and I have quite similar personalities, and I'm afraid we won't get along. However, the position of Crown Prince still needs Li Xianmu's help, so I'll just have to be patient for now."

Upon hearing this, Yang Rong also sighed. Two tigers cannot share one mountain. Two strong-willed people are hard to get along with. He can get along with Yang Shiqi because he is not competitive. But Li Xianmu is clearly a natural leader. How can he not be competitive?

It's such a pity that two people with such great talent have to fight each other like this.

The situation of Li Xianmu and Yang Shiqi is somewhat similar to that of Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng. Both of them had great talent for governing the country, but they were difficult to work together. There have always been many people like this throughout history, which led to countless struggles and created many stories.

Chen Ying, Wang Gen, and Li Xianmu walked ahead, and they also asked about Yang Shiqi's matter. "Xianmu, are you going to give up for the sake of the bigger picture?"

"We must always consider the overall situation."

Li Xianmu remained calm, then said slowly, "It's just a temporary setback. When the time is right the next day, will Heaven unleash its killing intent, will dragons and snakes rise from the land, and will the four seas churn?"

This means that a reckoning will definitely happen in the future.

Chen Ying knew this would happen. Li Qi was just like that; he would hold a grudge against anyone who offended him and would always seek revenge.

The reconciliation between Li Qi and Zhejiang East surprised him greatly.

It wasn't until later, when they learned that Li Qi was nearing the end of his life, that they understood the whole story. If Li Qi hadn't been physically unable to travel, he wouldn't have let go of Zhejiang so easily.

After discussing Yang Shiqi's matter, Wang Gen said with great fear, "Today was truly extremely dangerous. These people actually used the matter of the Duke of Yansheng to lure you, Mingda, into a trap. Fortunately, you are quick-witted and were able to thwart their conspiracy, making them lose more than they gain."

Li Xianmu also frowned deeply. Although he had won a great victory today, it was only a tactical victory. Strategically, he had already lost.

But then he thought again, wasn't this inevitable?
"The business we are doing is aboveboard. There will naturally be some petty people who try to obstruct us, but they will not be able to stop our cause."

What kind of undertaking?

That is the right path!

Wang Gen did not show any favoritism because he was from Jiangxi; his ambition lay in serving the world, which was the cause and the right path pursued by Li Xianmu and others.

Those who act based on their geographical location are ultimately not on the same path, and will eventually be defeated one by one.

The matter of the Duke Yansheng was suppressed quite closely, as it was a matter that was rather embarrassing and the court was unwilling to publicize it.

Li Xianmu was also unwilling to publicize it, but Chen Ying and others had turned this matter into a political incident, forcing him to stand up for the Duke of Yansheng, which disgusted him greatly. Soon, something even more disgusting happened.

Zhu Di actually chose him as an envoy to deliver an imperial edict to the Duke of Yansheng's residence. The reason was perfectly legitimate: he was speaking out for the Duke of Yansheng's residence in the court, and his father was also enshrined in the Confucian Temple, so he could go and pay his respects.

This truly left Li Xianmu speechless.

He really didn't want to go, but he couldn't disobey the imperial order, so he had no choice but to leave Yingtian with his entourage and head towards Qufu in Shandong.

……

Qufu was built to be quite grand, better than most of the cities Li Xianmu had visited, and it also had a strong Confucian cultural atmosphere.

However, upon closer inspection, it is all superficial; the people of Qufu County are no different from those in other counties of the Ming Dynasty.

Li Xianmu did not want to stay in Qufu County any longer, so he led his men directly to the Duke Yansheng's residence.

The people of Qufu all looked at Li Xianmu and his entourage with curiosity, thinking they were just ordinary imperial envoys, until someone said that the person who came to deliver the imperial decree was the son of Li Zhongwen!
What happened next was something Li Xianmu would never forget.

He was surrounded by the people of Qufu County. He couldn't even count how many people there were; he only knew that there were layers upon layers of them, blocking the street so much that he couldn't see the end of the road.

The people living in Qufu County were either descendants of Confucius, or worked for the Duke Yansheng's mansion, or lived around the Duke Yansheng's mansion.

The people here have a completely different view of sages than people in other parts of the Ming Dynasty.

And Li Qi!
Just three years ago, the statue was moved into the Temple of Confucius in Qufu, and a new image of Li Qi was added to the temple.

Li Qi was the first true sage since the establishment of the Ming Dynasty.

As Li Qi's eldest son, Li Xianmu's arrival in Qufu naturally caused a sensation among the people.

Li Xianmu never imagined that a mere identity could cause such a sensation, catching him completely off guard. The crowd only dispersed after the Duke of Yansheng appeared.

Li Xianmu could clearly see that, compared to their curiosity about him, the people of Qufu mostly held a sense of indifference towards the Duke Yansheng.

From this, it can be seen that Kong Chenglin's report on the affairs of the Duke Yansheng was probably true, and the Duke Yansheng's reputation in Qufu was quite ordinary.

"Your humble servant Li Xianmu pays his respects to the Duke Yansheng."

Although he was very unhappy, Li Xianmu did not lack manners.

Kong Gongjian looked at Li Xianmu with a rather friendly expression, "I am already aware of what happened in the court. I must thank Hanlin Li for speaking up for me, so that the wicked Kong Chenglin will have to bear the consequences himself!"

For Kong Gongjian, the more outstanding Confucian disciples like Li Xianmu there were, the more attention the Kong family would receive from the imperial court.

In particular, Li Xianmu's biological father is enshrined in the Confucian Temple alongside his ancestor, Confucius.

Wouldn't this make the relationship between the two sides even closer?

When Li Xianmu saw Kong Gongjian's smile, he knew what he was thinking and thought to himself, "One day, I will kick your Kong family down."

Despite harboring ulterior motives, Kong Gongjian remained outwardly polite and gentle, sighing, "If I hadn't known long ago that Li Hanlin had a fiancée, I would have definitely married my own granddaughter to him as his principal wife. The women of my Kong family are all virtuous, gentle, and graceful ladies."

Li Xianmu, who listened to the Duke Yansheng's nonsense the whole time, still believed this statement. Despite the fact that the Duke Yansheng had been a bastard throughout the ages and that there were a lot of scandals in the Confucius family, most of the women in the Confucius family were still very well educated and were definitely traditional ladies who adhered to the Three Cardinal Guides and Five Constant Virtues.

The two then entered the Duke Yansheng's residence.

Although the Han family had long since fallen into disrepair, the Lin'an Princess Mansion where he grew up was still very prestigious. He had also visited quite a few other mansions, such as the Yingguo Mansion and the Chengguo Mansion, each with its own unique charm.

However, those dukedoms and the Duke Yansheng's mansion were very different.

The strongest feeling this place evoked in him was solemnity and holiness.

The high, dark threshold, vermilion pillars supporting intricate brackets, and heavy eaves drawing a rather solemn arc.

The air is thick with the scent of history.

The courtyard is imposing, unfolding layer by layer, with a central axis running through it like a strict spine.

As the group walked along the blue brick path, they had the illusion of entering a palace.

The difference is that, for security reasons, the imperial palace would not plant tall trees under the palace walls, while the passageways of the Duke Yansheng's mansion have many ancient trees that reach over the walls.

The ancient cypress trees, with their gnarled branches intertwined like cast iron or bronze, and their bark deeply cracked like a tortoise shell, cast a solemn and imposing shadow that silently enveloped the entire mansion.

The most striking feature of the mansion is the numerous historical artifacts, which demonstrate the legacy of the Confucius family.

To be honest, Li Xianmu grew up with Li Qi and was greatly influenced by him, which made him quite arrogant.

He rarely felt envious, not even when he looked at the nobility and supremacy of the royal family.

Instead, they only thought about how to outwit and outmaneuver the emperor, and how to seize as much power as possible from him.

His father dug two pits for the Ming emperor, and he continued to dig more and deeper pits while also preparing to bury some soil for the Ming emperor.

The experience of outwitting and outmaneuvering the emperor is quite interesting.

But now, as he arrived at the Duke Yansheng's Mansion for the first time, the overwhelming sense of history filled him with a feeling of envy.

His father always talked about the thousand-year-old family lineage, passed down from generation to generation, and even the generational names for the thirty generations of descendants were already chosen, all for this kind of feeling.

This is not something that power can bring.

This is an unparalleled awe that only the power of time can bring.

This Duke Yansheng's mansion is indeed decaying. The Kong family should have been swept into the dustbin of history long ago to avoid disgracing Confucius. But this family is truly ancient!
He can take his place!
These six words, once spoken by Xiang Yu, suddenly appeared in Li Xianmu's mind at this moment.

Dynasties are overthrown one after another, so why is the Duke Yansheng's mansion able to survive forever?
Can't my Li family have such a day?

Moreover, compared to a puppet family like the Duke Yansheng's Mansion, my Li family is a truly sacred family blessed by immortals!
Li Xianmu once again stroked the incense in his arms.

The enduring legacy of the Duke of Yansheng's mansion is merely a matter of hereditary submission; it has no political influence in the world and can only watch the world rise and fall.

However, the Li family's longevity depends on each generation standing at the forefront, becoming trendsetters of the times, and even dominating the direction of the times!

"Father."

Li Xianmu couldn't help but think, "Will you be able to see this scene? Your son will definitely move your ancestral tablet from the very end of the Confucian Temple all the way to the very top!"

Floating and sinking, beyond the heavens, in the underworld, between life and death, Li Qi's figure is ever-changing.

12,000 words, please vote with monthly tickets, brothers!
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(End of this chapter)