Take control of Wei Zhongxian at the start and confiscate 100 million from him!

Chapter 208 Our credit lies in Qufu
Texas Headquarters.

The atmosphere was the extreme silence before a storm.

Two reports, delivered a few days earlier, lay quietly on Emperor Zhu Youjian's desk.

One letter came from Henan, reporting that Prince Fu had raised an army; the other came from Qufu, containing a proclamation from the Duke Yansheng.

Inside the tent, Wen Tiren, the Minister of Rites, a former scholar-official, showed no sorrow for the suffering of the descendants of the sage. He simply lowered his head slightly, glancing at the emperor on the throne out of the corner of his eye. In his eyes, hidden deep beneath his eyelids, gleamed an excitement that was almost greedy and long-awaited.

On the other side, Tian Ergeng, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, placed his hand on the hilt of his Embroidered Spring Blade, a smile on his lips almost identical to that of the one on the throne.

they know.

They all know.

This is not a sudden crisis.

This was a long-planned operation to bring down the net.

To the emperor's confidants in the tent, this so-called alliance between the vassal kings and the leaders of the literati was not a dangerous situation that could shake the foundations of the country.

Those were just two fat sheep that had been targeted for a long time, and finally couldn't resist walking into the slaughterhouse.

All they were waiting for was when the butcher, who was also the emperor, would draw his sword.

After reading the two reports, Zhu Youjian, sitting on his throne, showed no surprise, let alone anger, as anyone had expected.

He leaned back slowly in his chair, his long fingers tapping lightly on the desk. After a moment, a smile appeared on his young face.

It's like a hunter seeing his prey finally step into the perfect trap he set himself.

The emperor did not convene any military council, because all the strategies were already in everyone's minds. In that chilling silence, he calmly stood up.

It's just this simple action.

It was like a silent signal.

All the civil and military officials inside the tent, whether it was Wen Tiren, Tian Ergeng, or Lu Xiangshan and other generals from the Beijing garrison, straightened their backs and bowed their heads deeply at the same moment, their movements perfectly synchronized, as if they had rehearsed it a thousand times.

Zhu Youjian walked straight out of the main tent and came to his personal guards. Among the several magnificent imperial horses brought by the guards, he immediately chose the jet-black Wuzhui.

Amidst a fervent and reverent gaze, the young emperor removed his slightly cumbersome everyday clothes, revealing the riding attire he had already donned. With clean, swift movements and without any assistance, he lightly touched the stirrup with his left foot, gripped the saddle with his right hand, and effortlessly mounted the magnificent black warhorse.

The moment he mounted his warhorse, a eunuch from the Directorate of Ceremonial, who was standing nearby, gasped sharply, then let out a piercing shout throughout the entire camp:
"Your Majesty is departing!"

The emperor's will was instantly conveyed throughout the entire Dezhou camp through his most trusted minister!
This war behemoth, which had been lying dormant for rest, suddenly awoke! It erupted in a thunderous cheer!
"Long live! Long live! Long live!"

That was not loyalty born of fear, but a heartfelt desire for victory and glory!
The emperor's personal guard was the first to move, followed by the infantry formations of the new Beijing garrison, and countless agile figures of the Embroidered Uniform Guard... The army, with an overwhelming momentum, began to roll forward.

Every ordinary soldier's face was beaming with excitement.

They may not understand court politics, but they know that following this young emperor means endless victories and boundless rewards!
In other places, the credit goes to others.

As for the Kong family in Qufu... in the eyes of these veteran soldiers, they were not enemies, but huge achievements built with gold bricks, silver ingots, and silks, marked with straw markers!
An uncontrollable whisper spread rapidly through the marching ranks like an electric current:
"Qufu! It's Qufu!"

"I heard that old scoundrel Kong's mansion even has a horse trough made of gold!"

"Haha, our credit is all in Qufu!"

Their direction was not towards Henan in the west, but towards the south.

Heading towards the heart of Shandong, towards that city, renowned for its millennia-old wealth and rich heritage, and hailed as the "sacred vein"—

Qufu, head straight there!

……

Qufu, the Confucius Mansion.

A faint sense of anxiety lingered in the heart of Duke Yansheng, Kong Yinzhi.

The proclamation against the traitor Zhu has already been sent out.

This magnificent article, personally polished by him and a culmination of the efforts of several great Confucian scholars, must now be spreading throughout Shandong and is rapidly reaching all parts of the Ming Dynasty.

He could almost see the scholars across the land in a frenzy, the regional princes stirring with ambition, and the young emperor in Dezhou in a state of utter confusion and uncertainty.

He believed that he had reached the absolute high ground in terms of morality, righteousness, and public opinion.

But Your Majesty, Dezhou is far too close to here.

Fortunately, the spies that the Kong family had planted on the outskirts of Dezhou took turns riding back and forth every hour to report the same thing: the emperor was not making any moves.

Two days have passed... There has been no unusual activity within the camp, and there is no sign of troops being dispatched.

This latest reward finally allowed Kong Yinzhi to relax his tense nerves.

He picked up the celadon wine cup, took a sip of the warm yellow wine, and sneered inwardly.

It seems the emperor is truly afraid.

He feared that if he left the protection of the main army, he would be in danger; he also feared that if he divided his forces to attack Qufu, the central army camp would be attacked.

This young emperor is still too green.

Recalling his secret correspondence with Zhu Shouhong, the Prince of Lu in Yanzhou, over the past two days, the Prince's scathing criticism of the new policies and his support for the Kong family, and the well-trained personal guards under the Prince's command... Kong Yinzhi's heart was completely at ease.

He stood up, his face flushed, raised his glass, and addressed the guests in a loud voice: "Gentlemen! Today, my Kong family is acting on behalf of Heaven to restore order and correct past wrongs, thus ushering in an era of peace for all generations! In the future, when the court is clear and the world returns to the ways of Yao and Shun, you will all be credited with the greatest merit!"

Everyone stood up, and flattery filled the air.

Kong Yinzhi had already planned everything out in his mind.

This joint attack by Prince Fu and Prince Fu, one in the south and one in the north, forms a mutually supporting alliance.

Furthermore, with the officials and gentry in the south who had long harbored resentment fanning the flames, the emperor was bound to be overwhelmed and ultimately had no choice but to compromise.

The Kong family will gain a more transcendent position and greater benefits than ever before in this huge upheaval.

"All the scholars in the world are my students! Does Zhu Youjian really dare to be an enemy of the world?"

Kong Yinzhi thought smugly as he downed the wine in his cup.

Just then, the banquet hall door was suddenly pushed open, and a trusted butler, looking panicked, stumbled in, rushed to his side without regard for etiquette, and whispered a few words in his ear.

The voice was soft, yet it struck Kong Yinzhi's mind like a thunderbolt.

—The messenger sent to Yanzhou to deliver the "good news" to Prince Lu, Zhu Shouhong, was actually stopped outside the city of Yanzhou!
The city gates were tightly shut. No matter how the messenger knocked or how he identified himself as the Duke of Yansheng, the guards on the city walls ignored him, as if they were wooden or clay sculptures.

A basin of ice water was poured over his head.

Kong Yinzhi sobered up considerably in an instant, and he subconsciously gripped the exquisite celadon wine cup in his hand tightly.

Why did the Prince of Lu close his doors? Had something unexpected happened?
A terrible thought exploded in his mind without warning—the Prince of Lu has betrayed him!

He wasn't ignoring the issue; he was using this closed-door policy to demonstrate his stance to the emperor in Dezhou! He was severing ties with his Kong family!

"Crack!"

With a crisp crack, the wine glass was crushed to pieces in his hand.

Sharp shards of porcelain pierced his palm, and drops of blood mixed with pale yellow wine dripped onto the ground, but he was completely unaware.

Kong Yinzhi's face turned deathly pale in an instant, cold sweat beading on his forehead. He could no longer maintain the composure and demeanor of the Duke Yansheng and roared out in a hoarse voice:

"Zhu Shouhong! You cowardly wretch! How dare you betray me!!" The hall fell into a deathly silence. Everyone was stunned by Kong Yinzhi's outburst and his words.

Kong Yinzhi had a complete epiphany the moment he shouted those words.

The reason why the emperor allowed him to run around and issue proclamations, and even tacitly approved of his private contact with Prince Lu, was not because he was powerless to govern, nor because he was afraid!
He was deliberately luring me out! Then, he used the King of Lu, a nail he had already planted, to pin me firmly in place, making me unable to move!

How laughable that he thought he could control the scholars of the world and command the emperor.

It turns out that in the emperor's eyes, he was nothing more than a clown.

……

Just as Kong Yinzhi felt a chill run through his body due to this cruel epiphany, and the hall fell into a deathly silence, a second piece of bad news smashed down the gates of the Kong family mansion with an even more brutal force.

Another scout came stumbling in, his hat askew, his clothes torn, his face covered in dust and tears, his voice trembling with despair.
"My lord! The army of Prince Lu... Prince Lu's army has left the city! They are heading... heading towards Qufu! They... they are using the pretext of suppressing a rebellion to cut off our route from the east to Dengzhou Port!"

The escape route to overseas is cut off!

This news was like the last straw that broke the camel's back, completely crushing the last bit of hope in Kong Yinzhi's heart.

He completely descended into hysterical madness.

"what--!"

Kong Yinzhi let out a beast-like roar and abruptly overturned the table in front of him, scattering the delicacies all over the floor in a mess.

He pointed south and roared at the stunned crowd:

"Prince Lu is unreliable! The emperor from the north is coming too! Quick! Quick! Pack all your valuables! We must catch up with the southward-bound fleet! Once we cross the Yangtze River and reach Jiangnan, with the prestige of the Kong family and the support of the southern scholars, we can still rise again!!"

The entire Confucius Mansion instantly plummeted from the peak of revelry into the abyss of chaos.

Refined manners and millennia-old dignity vanished in this moment, leaving only the most primal fear of death.

The servants screamed and cried, while the house servants frantically piled boxes of gold, silver, jewels, antiques, and paintings that hadn't been transported away last time onto the carriages, regardless of their value.

Surrounded by a hundred or so remaining guards, Kong Yinzhi escorted several carriages filled with the family's lifeline. Without even having time to make much preparation, he hurriedly left the city through the south gate, attempting to catch up with the convoy that had already sent away the women and children of his family a few days earlier.

……

The Kong family's caravan was like a pack of stray dogs. They had barely gone ten miles out of the city when the fast horses sent to scout ahead turned back like madmen.

The scout couldn't even keep his balance and tumbled off the galloping horse, landing in a daze.

Ignoring the pain, he scrambled to Kong Yinzhi's horse, his voice distorted by extreme fear, sharp and hoarse:
"My lord! The road south... is blocked!"

"Impossible!" Kong Yinzhi shouted, his eyes bloodshot. "The Emperor's army is in the north! Prince Lu's troops are in the east! How could there be anyone in the south! You must be mistaken!"

He does not believe in evil.

He personally spurred his horse, cracked the whip, and charged wildly to the front of the chaotic procession.

As he rounded a low hill that blocked his view, the wide official road leading south suddenly appeared before him, and his heartbeat, along with his breathing, abruptly stopped.

He witnessed the most desperate yet magnificent scene of his life.

On the distant official road, a cavalry force of several thousand men formed an impenetrable, seemingly endless horizontal wall.

They had no flag.

They were quiet.

They stood there quietly, as if they had existed there since the beginning of time.

Thousands of people and thousands of horses did not utter a single sound.

Even the snorting of the horses seemed to be swallowed up by that invisible, suffocating atmosphere.

……

That was Man Gui's most elite mixed Han and Mongol cavalry.

They were all riding tall horses and wearing light armor suitable for long-distance raids.

Under the midday sun, the forest of sabers, spearheads, and helmets reflected a cold and deadly light.

This mighty army, simply existing in silence, exudes a terrifying killing intent that can change the weather and move mountains and rivers.

They didn't move forward, didn't shout, and didn't make any unnecessary movements.

They were like an impenetrable wall of steel, placed there by the mighty power of the gods, coldly watching over the ants fleeing in panic.

The moment Kong Yinzhi saw this army, his mind went completely blank.

He didn't even know where this cavalry unit came from...

How did I get here?!
They had been keeping a close eye on Dezhou to the north, but they never expected that the sharpest blade in the emperor's hand would take a huge detour and wait for them on their only path to survival!

All the luck, all the planning, all the hope... turned to ashes the moment they saw that wall of men and horses.

But it was only for a moment. In the depths of despair that could freeze even the soul, a thought, like a wildfire, instantly burned away all the fear in his heart, replacing it with a more insane and twisted clarity.

—The emperor dares not!
He, Zhu Youjian, would absolutely not dare!
He could kill Prince Fu, he could kill any prince of the imperial clan, but he dared not touch the Confucius family of Qufu!
What is the Kong family?
It is a tradition that has been passed down for thousands of years!

It is the ancestor of all scholars and the source of all culture and literature!
Killing Kong Yinzhi would be tantamount to making an enemy of all scholars in the world!

Did Zhu Youjian really want the entire bureaucracy of the Ming Dynasty to collapse?!

He doesn't believe it! He absolutely refuses to believe it!
At this moment, Kong Yinzhi seemed to have grasped at the last straw.

His legs, which had been paralyzed with fear, miraculously regained some strength, and a morbid fanaticism appeared on his pale face.

Kong Yinzhi understood.

What the emperor wanted was not a dead Duke Yansheng, but a living Duke Yansheng who was completely obedient to him!

The perfect mouthpiece that can proclaim to scholars throughout the land on his behalf, whitewash his new policies, and label all "heresies" as rebellious!
Yes! It must be like this!

"I'm still useful...I'm still very useful!!"

Kong Yinzhi screamed wildly in his heart.

Gold, silver, land, ancient books... all of these can be given.

Even the dignity that the Confucius family has passed down for thousands of years, which they value more than their own lives! As long as they can live, as long as the Confucius family's legacy is not extinguished, everything else can be given up!

"If the ruler commands the subject to die, the subject has no choice but to die. But if the ruler desires the subject to live, the subject is willing to serve like an ox or a horse!"

He silently repeated this sentence to himself, as if he had found a kind of relief, a humble way of survival.

Kong Yinzhi straightened his long-bent back and, in an unusually hoarse voice, gave the order to the group of Kong family members and servants behind him who were already terrified:
"Turn around!"

"Go home!"

Amidst everyone's incredulous gazes, Kong Yinzhi's actions carried a resolute calmness.

He stopped looking at the wall to the south and turned his gaze to the city of Qufu.

It was as if the place was no longer a cage about to be breached.

Rather, it was a magnificent stage he was preparing to welcome his new master.

(End of this chapter)