After making the bet, Zhu Youxiao no longer hid it.
He directly signaled Wei Zhongxian to start the first big scene.
Wei Zhongxian also felt uneasy, and silently stepped out from the side and said:
"Long live the Lord, I have here evidence that the Confucius family united with Shandong officials to invade and occupy the garrison, and used various means to seize the people's fields."
"There is also evidence that the Kong family secretly communicated with some generals and officials in Liaodong to smuggle grain, rice, salt, ironware and armor to build slaves."
After saying that, he raised the memorial in his hand high above his head, waiting for his rival Wang Chaofu to take it from him.
Cui Yingyuan, who was the second-in-command in Dongchang and personally investigated and arranged everything, came out immediately after Wei Zhongxian and said:
"Your Majesty, when I was investigating the rebellion of the White Lotus Sect in Shandong, I saw and heard many illegal things done by the Confucius family many times."
"Especially the officials and gentry in Shandong, who relied on the Confucius family as the center and protected themselves for personal gain, have become the dominant local tyrants."
"With Qufu as the center, the farmland covering hundreds of miles in radius is actually owned by the Confucius family."
"As a result, most people have no land to cultivate and no food to eat, and a small number of people can only become their tenant slaves to barely make ends meet."
"Although the Shandong Incident was led by the White Lotus Cult, many of the people who participated in the incident were forced into desperation and rebelled."
"Many people say privately that this Qufu is the Qufu of the Confucius family, and it is the country within the country of our Ming Dynasty."
After Wei Zhongxian and Cui Yingyuan finished speaking, the officials and ministers finally woke up.
This bullshit needs to be thoroughly investigated.
The emperor had clearly made preparations long ago, and this Xu Hongru was just an introduction, aiming directly at the Kong family.
And what does Cui Yingyuan mean?
Isn't it just a disguised statement that the Kong family has long been disobedient and wanted to commit rebellion?
"Gundog, it's enough for you to harm Zhongliang. I didn't expect you to be so bold. You dare to fabricate facts in this Wenhua Palace and do this to harm the country and the people."
"You must have colluded with the traitor Xu Hongru for a long time. What are your intentions?"
"Your Majesty, Wei Zhongxian and Cui Yingyuan are despicable for slandering and spreading rumors so frantically. Please kill these two people as soon as possible."
Zhu Youxiao didn't want to hear their continued nonsense, so he interrupted them directly and said:
"Shut up. I just said that I will thoroughly investigate the Kong family. If it is really slander and rumors, I will definitely give the Kong family a clean reputation."
"But if what they reported is true, I will not tolerate it and everything will be handled according to the laws of the Ming Dynasty."
After saying that, he took Wei Zhongxian's memorial from Wang Chaofu and started to read it pretendingly.
He had read this memorial a long time ago, but now it was just an act.
When the time was almost up, Zhu Youxiao suppressed his anger and threw the memorial down, saying in a deep voice:
"Chief Assistant, you are the head of hundreds of officials, with high moral character and high respect. Please read this memorial carefully to everyone, and remember to speak louder."
Seeing the memorial thrown at his feet, Wang Xiangqian hesitated for a moment.
Without even thinking about it, the content in this must be extremely detrimental to the Kong family.
After guessing the emperor's true intention, he really suppressed his inner impulse and did not propose to retire and return home on the spot.
Your Majesty acted like this and risked the disapproval of the world to attack the Kong family. He was dancing on the edge of a knife. If he is not careful, he will suffer backlash.
Xu Guangqi, who was standing on his side, didn't think so much.
He had already seen everything clearly. His Majesty wanted to imitate Qin Xiaogong and carry out reforms.
Moreover, His Majesty's ambition is no less ambitious than that of Qin Shihuang and Tang Taizong, and he has the ability and skill to do so, so it is impossible to stop him.
As a close minister, he naturally had to position himself correctly and fully support the emperor.
Moreover, he has been studying Western learning since elementary school, and he is not very interested in the rigid Confucian culture.
So he stepped forward directly to pick up the memorial on the ground and prepared to read it.
But before he could speak, he was already shocked by the content.
Even though he was mentally prepared, he couldn't help but take a deep breath for a while to stabilize his mind.
In Wei Zhongxian's memorial, the first thing recorded is the Kong family's smuggling and collaborating with the enemy.
Starting from the forty-sixth year of Wanli, the children of the Kong family, under various names, led dozens or hundreds of convoys to Liaodong each time.
There were also convoys from other wealthy families, but the Kong family took the majority.
The items transported were all important materials such as grain, salt, and iron.
There were many officials and generals involved.
There are a total of seven officials in Shandong, including the county magistrate, the censor, the prefect, and the salt and iron transfer officer.
Not only did Liaodong have civilian officials, but the governor of Liaodong at the time also got a share of the pie, and there were as many as a dozen generals involved in the Confucius smuggling.
But most of these generals had already been killed when Zhu Youxiao purged the Liaodong generals.
But their criminal evidence and account books are still there. Even though the person is dead, there is still physical evidence. As long as it matches what Wei Zhongxian reported, he still can't escape.
There were a total of eight such smuggling incidents until last year.
Once something like this is found out and carried out, the minimum outcome is to be exterminated.
Even if it is the Kong family, although it is not fatal, they still have to be skinned.
The most important thing is that the reputation will suffer an unprecedented blow.
As a descendant of a great clan with a history of thousands of years and a saint, it is impossible to explain why, despite being favored by the country, he has been exploiting others and collaborating with the enemy as slaves.
Then there are the records of how the Kong family invaded and occupied the military garrison and captured the people's fields.
There are also very detailed records of when and by what means land was annexed and military camps were invaded. This happened almost every year since the 30th year of Wanli.
These things can be big or small, it all depends on the emperor's thoughts.
After all, annexing land and occupying military camps really don’t matter until now. This is almost a default in the officialdom. What official wouldn’t do it?
Even Xu Guangqi himself annexed a lot of land, but he did not use these dirty methods to force it.
After listening to the contents of the memorial, the officials who supported the Confucius family were not slow to respond.
Someone immediately stood up and questioned:
"Your Majesty, just based on Wei Zhongxian's words, can this memorial be regarded as evidence of guilt?"
"If that were the case, wouldn't the world have been in chaos long ago?"
"He dares to slander and spread rumors in front of all the ministers and His Majesty. It must not be difficult to make up some random things."
"Now he has no witnesses or physical evidence, and even no one from the Kong family is present. He can't even confront him in court, so we can't just let him say whatever he wants."
"I hope your majesty will be able to discern the truth and not unjustly accuse a good person."
PS: We need to speed up. I’ll finish my job with Jiannu and go to Jiangnan as soon as possible. I really don’t have much time to write.