When the various crimes of the Kong family in Qufu were made public, and the news spread to the world that the emperor ordered their homes to be confiscated and their family was exterminated, all provinces in the country were in an uproar.
There has always been a saying among the people that a dynasty built on flowing water is a family built on iron.
Not everyone may know this sentence, but those who know it will not understand its meaning.
The Kong family in Qufu is naturally the largest family in the Ming Dynasty. It has been passed down since the Spring and Autumn Period and has been passed down to this day.
Among the emperors of all dynasties, no matter they were wise or foolish, who would offend the Kong family? Who would dare to offend the Kong family?
Even in the most chaotic periods, when foreign tribes from foreign countries came to dominate the Central Plains, they still had to give some face to the Kong family and support the high-ranking officials of the Kong family with generous salaries.
But now, it was destroyed by the Han emperor, which no one expected.
You know, Qin Shi Huang was labeled as an eternal tyrant because he only suppressed Confucian scholars.
Today's emperor exterminated the Kong family, and his influence and image were a hundred times worse.
Let's not talk about his future reputation. Even now, it is likely to alienate scholars all over the world from the emperor and the court.
After all, it takes people to govern a country, and it is they, the scholars.
It is a deep-rooted idea that to conquer the country depends on military generals, and to dominate the world depends on scholars.
What's more serious is that there may be direct rebellion. Is the emperor really not afraid of the country overturning?
This is the true thought in the hearts of many people.
If Zhu Youxiao knew about their extremely ridiculous idea, he would probably laugh until his stomach hurts.
As the saying goes, it takes three years for a scholar to rebel.
Since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, dynasties have fallen in many ways, including being usurped by powerful relatives and ministers.
Some were overthrown by a coalition of nobles and ministers, and some were beaten down by peasants and slaves, but there was no group of scholars.
Li Zicheng tortured 70 million taels in the capital and robbed landlords and gentry in various ways. Duduo went on a killing spree in the south of the Yangtze River, digging deep into the ground to plunder wealth, but no actual action was seen from this group.
It's nothing more than a bed bug, hiding behind and making trouble. It's called strategizing, but in fact it's just timid and afraid of death, afraid of being dragged to be beheaded if it fails.
Born with low bones and soft bones, Zhu Youxiao was afraid of the rebellion of the peasants, the rebellion of the military households, and the invasion of Jiannu and Tartars, but he was not afraid of scholars like them who claimed to be noble.
But even though there is sufficient evidence of guilt and the death of the Kong family has become an established fact, many people still stand up to plead grievances for the Kong family.
Especially in the most prosperous Jiangnan area, they even gathered thousands of people outside the Nanjing Imperial Palace, knelt down and refused to eat or drink.
This was used to force the emperor to admit his mistakes and clear Kong's name.
Regarding this matter, most officials in Nanjing have acquiesced, and Tian Ergeng and Li Zhicai did not dare to act without authorization.
He had no choice but to send a fast horse to rush the news to the capital at a speed of eight hundred miles.
Thousands of people gathered outside the Imperial City of Nanjing to protest. Naturally, such a major event cannot be covered up.
Moreover, some of the officials in the court, even those who were loyal to the emperor, believed that the emperor's extermination of the Kong family was too much.
Naturally, some information will be revealed to the outside world intentionally or unintentionally, hoping that more people will participate and put pressure on the emperor to admit his mistakes.
But after all, they underestimated Zhu Youxiao too much.
Zhu Youxiao was never a man who could not bear to mess with big plans. Countless historical facts have already proved that the best way to deal with these Confucian hypocrites is to use a bloody long sword.
Not to mention a mere few thousand people, even tens of thousands of people, Zhu Youxiao would order them all to be executed without hesitation.
Because compared with the various massacres caused by the Manchus entering the country, the killings caused by the rebel army in the Central Plains for more than ten years are not even a drop in the bucket.
However, the capital is the emperor's headquarters after all. Factory guards are everywhere, and now there is even a police department. No one dares to stand out.
At this point, it was naturally impossible for Zhu Youxiao to back down. It was a rare morning for him to attend court, and no official in Beijing was absent.
Surprisingly, these officials are even more cowardly than those in the civilian opposition.
Others at least dared to discuss the matter in a vague way.
But none of these officials dared to take the initiative to mention this matter from beginning to end.
When Zhu Youxiao saw this, he also said to them directly:
"Yu Rang said back then that you treated me as a nobleman of the country, and I repaid you as a nobleman of the country. I think I don't need to say more about how I, the Emperor, should treat the Kong family. Everyone in the world can see it."
"And what is the reward that the Kong family gave me to Huang Ming? They invaded military villages and civilian fields, leaving local people and military households with no land to cultivate and cultivate, leaving the people with no food to eat, and now starvation is everywhere."
"Colluded with officials, engaged in smuggling, sold strategic materials to Tartars and slaves, and used the food of our court to support the enemy, which led to frequent wars outside the customs and countless civilians died."
"Is this how Confucius taught his descendants? They are worse than pigs and dogs, and they are arrogant."
"I am the king and father of millions of people in the Ming Dynasty. How can I be selfish?"
"My action upholds the law of heaven and complies with the hearts of the people. It is also based on the laws and ancestral systems of the Ming Dynasty."
"Kong deserves his punishment and there is no need for further discussion."
"You often like to use the words of saints to teach and criticize me. Now I am curious, have saints ever taught you to rebel and deceive the emperor? Which great scholar can tell me?"
After a while, when no one said anything, Zhu Youxiao closed his eyes tightly and said in a deep voice:
"What I just said was recorded word for word in a book and published in newspapers and periodicals all over the country as quickly as possible. I would like to know which scholar with profound knowledge and poetry will come to talk to me.
Let’s discuss it carefully.”
"As for those who knelt down to petition at the Nanjing Imperial Palace, Li Zhicai and Nanzhen Fusi were ordered to imprison them all, find the masterminds, confiscate their homes and exterminate their clans, and we will never tolerate them."
"After the identities of the remaining accomplices are identified, all those with meritorious status will be exterminated. Three generations of their families will not be allowed to take scientific examinations. All of them will be assigned to the Southwest, Three Propaganda, Six Comforts, Guarding the Border, and Civilizing the Foreign People."
"It's not in vain that they studied hard day and night, and made a small contribution to the resurgence of the Ming Dynasty."
For this young and ruthless emperor, the officials in the Huangji Palace did not even dare to breathe, let alone object.
Gone are the past scenes of dozens of people in the palace doing insulting things in the name of morality and justice in the name of teaching.
Thinking of this, Zhu Youxiao couldn't help but recall the dying Emperor Wanli who was lying in bed, suffering from old age and diseases.
He pinned all the hopes of the Ming Dynasty on himself, whether in history or in this life.
In front of the important ministers of the cabinet, he personally canonized himself as the emperor's grandson.
Now that I have lived up to him, the Ming Dynasty is gradually getting on the right track, and its national power has become stronger. It won't be long before the prosperity of the early Wanli period can be restored.