Chapter 347: Saint Gate, Imperial Power [Subscribe]

Lu County, also known as Lucheng and Qufu, was the capital of the State of Lu during the Zhou Dynasty.

This is also the old capital of Emperor Yan, the birthplace of Emperor Huang, the ruins of Shaohao, and the ancient state of Shangyan.

After the founding of the Han Dynasty, Confucius was posthumously conferred a title by Emperor Gaozu of Han, and his descendants were given titles, so his status became even more respected.

The whole city is full of ancient charm, and Confucian students can be seen everywhere.

Especially in this world, one can communicate with heaven and earth through all kinds of religions and different practices.

In Lu County, the hometown of Confucius, Confucianism is particularly supported by a kind of cultural force.

Students often achieve breakthroughs here, or have new insights into the Six Classics and other classics, and write brilliant essays.

The power of Confucius seems to be protecting this thousand-year-old city.

The city has a strong academic atmosphere, gathering students from all over the world and thriving cultural heritage.

When Cao Cao's carriage entered the city, many Confucian scholars saw it along the way.

"Is that the King of Wei?"

"With such a grand ceremony and imperial guards, who else could it be but him?"

"The King of Wei is also here to pay tribute to the saint?"

"Look at his troops, full of murderous intent, entering the city with soldiers and horses, how can they look like they are here to pay tribute?"

Some Confucian students discussed this secretly.

Cao Cao's reputation was very high throughout the country, but it was almost unnoticed in Lu County.

Because Confucius' contemporary blood relative, the 20th generation grandson Kong Rong, and even the entire Kong family, had opinions about Cao Cao.

The common people who lived in Lu County and the Confucian students who came to study there all followed the lead of the Confucius family and were naturally influenced by them.

"To be honest, the King of Wei did have some achievements. After all, he drove out the foreign tribes."

"But he led his troops into the city, disrupting the cultural veins of the city and being disrespectful to the ancient saints."

"Kong Wenju is loyal and upright. He would rather protect Your Majesty's migration south than condescend to serve Cao Wei. This shows the character of the King of Wei."

"Let's follow him and see what the King of Wei is doing here?"

A large group of Confucian scholars, together with the people of Lu County, followed Cao Cao from a distance and arrived at the Confucius Mansion.

The imperial guards and heavy cavalry dismounted one after another, their armor clanking, and they put the long street under martial law.

When the Wei army entered the Kong Mansion, they first searched the Kong family members who approached.

But Cao Cao was not in a hurry to enter the palace.

He stood at the door, looked up at the plaque of Confucius Mansion, and did not move for a long time.

"Look, I was wrong."

Li's mother and Kong Shu, the old lady of the Kong family, relied on their age and did not come out to greet them.

They stood at the entrance of the hall and looked outside the palace.

Kong Shu said: "The son of Cao family is so arrogant that he actually wants to search my Kong family first."

Li's mother said: "He has a strong army and powerful horses, and he is bullying us who have no soldiers and no power.

Sister Kong, if he dares to mobilize troops, I will accept it. Please don't bring trouble to the Kong family just to protect me. I only ask that you can protect the old and young in my Li family."

Kong Shu tightened the cane in her hand and said, "Do you know what is the greatest thing in the world?"

"The emperor controls the mountains and rivers and decides the life and death of all the people. Therefore, the emperor is the greatest." Mother Li glanced at Kong Shu.

"No, the biggest thing is the human heart." Kong Shu said.

Mother Li seemed to understand something: "Sister, have you made any preparations?"

An old man who also stayed in the hall was Kong Ji, the younger brother of Kong Rong's father Kong Zhou. He said slowly:
"Ever since Wen Ju took His Majesty to the south, I, Kong, have expected that the King of Wei is not a magnanimous person.

Since then, we have been waiting for today.

Wait for him to come."

"As for preparation, we are indeed prepared and have been preparing for a long time."

“So today we are not for you.

We want him to see what a sage's family is. Our Confucius family has been passed down for seven hundred years, and generation after generation of students have taken our ancestors as their teachers. We also want him to see clearly how many people with integrity there are in this world.

The Confucius Mansion in Lu County is not a place he can conquer with his troops."

"We are not afraid of death, so what's the use of having more soldiers and horses?"

Kong Ji's eyes narrowed slowly: "My Kong family will not be humiliated, and neither will the students of the world."

There were several holes in the house, and the elders from the Li and Li families were all in high spirits.

Hundreds of years in the past, if there were ten people studying in the world, ten of them would regard Confucius as their first teacher and the most holy one.

How many disciples and old friends of Confucius have been accumulated, generation after generation?
"Uncle is right."

The only young person who did not go out to greet Cao Cao and stayed in the palace was Ni Heng.

Several people spoke one after another, and Li raised the corner of his mouth imperceptibly.

She had already seen what Kong Ji, Kong Shu, Ni Heng and others were going to do.

They wanted to use the Kong family's reputation and appeal in Lu County to showcase the Kong family's 700-year heritage and the foundation left by Master Dacheng to future generations, so as to suppress Cao Cao and make him return empty-handed and lose face.

The Confucius family may have made a lot of arrangements for this.

outside the house.

Cao Cao, surrounded by Generals Dian and Xu, Zheng Xuan, Yu Wen and others, walked into the Confucius Mansion.

He walked straight to the main hall of Confucius Mansion without looking around.

Cao Cao came in, glanced at the elderly people such as Kong Ji and Kong Shu in the hall, and then looked deeper into the hall.

There are several low seats in the main seat of the main hall of Confucius Mansion.

But no one ever sits there.

That is a nominal position, also called a teacher's position.

It means that Confucius is the teacher of the world.

There was also a vacant seat covered with brocade, purple and red, called the throne.

It is said that Emperor Gaozu Liu Bang sat in that seat when he came to Confucius Mansion.

Many emperors of all dynasties came to worship Confucius.

This is what it means to be waiting for someone to take over.

This is also the lintel and pride of the Confucius Mansion.

Kong Ji and Kong Shu said slowly after Cao Cao came in:
"The late Emperor Gaozu specially granted me the Kong family. Elders should not greet the emperor or show courtesy to the king. I don't think the King of Wei will be offended if we don't go out to greet him."

Cao Cao said nothing, but walked calmly to the imaginary throne in front of him and sat down.

Dian Wei and Xu Chu stood behind him.

Cao Cao: "Before I came, I received news that the Kong family invited many people. Some people are on their way. Let's wait and see until everyone arrives, and then we can go together."

"All the ministers, please take a seat."

Zheng Xuan, who was accompanying him, sighed secretly.

He actually didn't want to come to the Kong family. But now he was on Cao Cao's side and wanted to promote Zheng's school of thought, so he had to express his position. He felt embarrassed, but he still came.

He first sat down below Cao Cao.

Yu Wen and others, as well as several other civil and military officials in Cao's camp, also took their seats one by one.

Yao Jing stood behind Zheng Xuan.

In this way, Cao Cao became the host and sat in the main seat in the hall. Both wings were filled with people from Cao's camp. There was martial law outside the hall, just like the court.

"People say that the King of Wei has made many military achievements and is very powerful. I didn't believe it until I saw him today. I know it's true."

Kong Shu took the lead and came to the front of the Kong family's queue:

“I am old and my eyesight is not good, so I can’t see clearly.

Excuse me, King Wei, the Han Dynasty has not yet fallen, and His Majesty is still alive. Without your command, why do you sit in the main seat and be on par with the saints? "

"The empty throne in my Confucius Mansion corresponds to the heaven and earth. Only saints and emperors can sit on the left and right. Who are you?"

"If you sit on it with all your might, you will become the emperor?"

"You are using His Majesty to manipulate the Emperor's orders for your own benefit. This is an act of disobedience and disrespect."

"You used His Majesty and forced Him to leave. This is unkind."

"My ancestors, respected by the world as saints, advocated benevolence and courtesy, valued moral conduct, and advocated governing the country with virtue and courtesy. They put humanity first. Which of these do you have that makes you dare to sit on the throne of the emperor in my Confucius Mansion?"

"Be bold!"

Dian Wei and Xu Chu shouted in unison and were about to take action.

The two men did not respect heaven or earth, did not respect saints, and did not respect any rules or principles in this world. They were only loyal to Cao Cao.

Kong Shu questioned Cao Cao in public, and both of them were filled with murderous intent.

Cao Cao said calmly: "Let them talk. If anyone wants to talk, go ahead."

"No need for anyone else, I haven't finished yet." Kong Shu took another step forward.

In the crowd behind, Li's mother and son Li Kang exchanged glances, and the smiles on their faces flashed away.

Another location in Lu County.

An old man hurried out of the house and got on the carriage: "Go to the Kong Mansion, we are invited by the Kong family, the time has come!"

The old man's carriage met many other carriages on the way to Confucius Mansion.

All these carriages had the same destination, which was to go to Confucius' Mansion.

"Brother Lu, Brother Xu."

"Brother Zhang, Brother Liu."

"..."

The sound of greetings was heard everywhere along the way.

Most of the people on the carriage were from Xuzhou, Qingzhou, and even some aristocratic families around Lu.

They are all people that Kong family can unite with, relatives, or friends who support each other.

Including the Yang family in Lu and the Ni family.

The five surnames are Mo, Wei, Shi, Liu, and Shu.

There were also the Fufeng Zhi family, the Juye Luan family, and the Songxian Geng family who came from afar.

Sheng came from Kuaiji, Jiangdong.

As well as the Wang, Feng, You, Shi, and Bu families, all gathered from all directions.

There are a total of thirty-seven major families that are directly related to the Kong family.

They were not a temporary organization, but had been prepared and waiting for this day to come since the day Kong Rong and the emperor fled Luoyang.

Even more people came from some of the noble families living near Lu County.

There were also more and more people in the city gathering at the Confucius Mansion.

One after another, people got off the bus outside the mansion.

After the personal troops came in to report, Cao Cao did not stop them and ordered the troops under martial law to let them in.

Inside the main hall, the crowd gathered by the Kong family continued to grow.

Seeing that the crowd was getting bigger, Kong Ji also stepped forward and stood side by side with Kong Shu, saying:
“The King of Wei came to my Kong family and to Lu County to show off his military might, but he came to the wrong place.

We, the Kong family, have never feared power, otherwise we would be unworthy of being descendants of saints."

"In this world, everything must be done with reason. Otherwise, the world will not agree, my Kong family will not agree, and our ancestors will not agree."

As Kong Ji finished speaking, a wild laugh suddenly rang out in the hall.

Ni Heng gathered his strength for a long time, then stepped out and said:
"There is the son of the Cao family, who boasts of his power and becomes increasingly arrogant. He has recently appointed many civil and military officials, dreaming of becoming king. He does not know that we will be laughed at even in our dreams."

"I know all the civil and military officials around you. They are just mediocre."

"When you appointed generals, you said that Xun Yu, Xun You, Guo Jia, and Cheng Yu were all very smart and far-sighted, and were beyond the reach of the ancient sages.

He also said that Huang Zhong, Zhao Yun, Zhang Liao, Xu Chu, Dian Wei and their ilk were the bravest of all armies. It simply made everyone laugh!"

“Let me help you evaluate these people.

Xun Yu can be sent to offer condolences and inquire about the illness.

Xun You is extremely stupid. It is ridiculous to say that he has a brilliant plan.

Guo Jia can be made to compose poems and recite fu, but he has no talent and no virtue.

Zhang Liao can beat the drums and sound the gongs, and he can be a soldier. Xu Chu can be used to herd cattle and horses, and Dian Wei can be used to move soil and build walls.

The rest are rice bags, wine barrels, meat bags and the like!"

"Cao Mengde, you don't know the wise from the foolish, your eyes are turbid; you don't accept honest advice, your ears are turbid; you don't tolerate the princes, your belly is turbid; you always think of usurping the throne, your heart is turbid! You come to Confucius' mansion to cause trouble, you are ignorant."

Ni Heng claimed to be a madman, seemingly disregarding life and death, and his insane nature became more and more apparent the more he spoke.

He also planned to enumerate Cao Cao's crimes of abusing power and disrupting government, and finally to reveal his family background as a eunuch, as a conclusion, like a gorgeous article.

From today onwards, Ni Heng's name will be remembered through the ages.

In the back, the people from various noble families almost gathered together. With different expressions, they stood silently behind the Kong family.

Mother Li stood in the crowd and slightly curled her lips.

Cao Cao glanced at the crowd and said, "I think most people have arrived, so let's get started."

"You were wrong just now. I came to the Confucius Mansion not to show off or reason, but to kill people!"

The hall suddenly fell silent. Murder in the Confucius Mansion? !

"You dare!" Ni Heng shouted.

Cao Cao made a feint and the spear in the hand of a soldier beside him flew out suddenly.

boom--

Ni Heng was sent flying backwards, nailed to the wall of the palace by a spear, and his screams were heart-wrenching.

"Asshole, like a barking dog."

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(End of this chapter)