The days when I fished in Daming

The room was filled with bookshelves; the study was nothing but books, except for a desk.

Moreover, one room is not enough; including the combined rooms, there need to be three rooms.

It has to be said that the workload is enormous.

Zheng Xiong's purpose in coming here was to solidify the evidence of the Kong family's treason.

Seeing the room full of books, I couldn't help but feel a little troubled.

Fortunately, there are some things I don't have to do myself, otherwise I would have exhausted myself.

With a wave of his hand, he has his underlings at his beck and call.

As dusk settled, Zheng Xiong lay back in his chair, eyes closed, resting, the only sound the rustling of pages turning all around him.

This night was destined to be a sleepless one.

The next day arrived in the blink of an eye.

Zheng Xiong got up and washed up, still half asleep.

A group of people were slumped over, and snores could be heard intermittently.

I stretched.

Zheng Xiong finally had the energy and time to take a thorough tour of the Confucius Mansion.

I arrived a bit late yesterday, so I couldn't see anything interesting.

Looking at them today, it's clear that Kong Xixue and his family really know how to enjoy life.

There are no small bridges and flowing water, but there is a unique sense of weight and history.

The overall feel of the courtyard is understated and dignified.

However, the interior decoration of the pavilion is different.

It possesses both an antique charm and a luxurious style.

Walk into any of the rooms, and you'll find the unique fragrance of sandalwood.

Adorned with gold and silver, the reflections refract light in delicate strands, creating exquisite lines.

Similarly, it contains a large number of books.

The entire Confucius Mansion is like a large library.

The gold and silver embellishments, on the contrary, seem rather tacky.

Zheng Xiong spent the whole morning on it.

After walking through the courtyard and climbing the pavilion, I gained a general understanding of the Confucius Mansion.

It's not just about material wealth, but also about spiritual abundance.

In short, he is rich.

A collection of books is the culmination of thousands of years of accumulation.

Although their wealth wasn't that great, after all, the Kong family split into the Northern and Southern branches after King Kang's southward migration, resulting in a reduction in their wealth.

However, it took more than a hundred years of restoration during the Yuan Dynasty.

The Kong family, being the largest landlord family, had accumulated considerable wealth in Qufu.

Not to mention the royal gifts.

It's hard to say they were as wealthy as a country, but they were certainly among the wealthiest families.

It was copied, it was copied, it was copied.

Zheng Xiong's mind was filled with this one thought.

I visited the Confucius Temple and the Confucius Cemetery in the afternoon, and the day passed just like that.

That day, Zheng Xiong ignored Kong Xiwen and just left him there.

It's not like we did nothing.

Zheng Xiong dismissed two people and responded that Tianfu would send people over.

Time slips away quietly like this.

Three days have passed since that night.

That evening, all the books in the Confucius Mansion had been read through.

All kinds of letters were also examined one by one.

Unfortunately, no conclusive evidence of the Confucius family's treason was found.

The imperial edicts of the Yuan Dynasty contained many gifts, which can be found, but they are insufficient to serve as evidence of a crime.

Zheng Xiong wanted to obtain evidence that Kong Kejian was still colluding with the Yuan Dynasty when Zhu Yuanzhang launched his counterattack.

This was also the moment when Lao Zhu was most unhappy.

However, this kind of evidence is not so easy to obtain.

I don't know if it has been destroyed or hidden somewhere deeper.

However, Zheng Xiong was not discouraged. If all else failed, he would carve a seal out of a radish and forge a letter to ask for help.

I'm betting on whether Zhu Yuanzhang loved himself more or the Kong family more.

On the fourth day, Zheng Xiong cataloged the Kong family's collection of books and wealth. That was the extent of what was publicly known for the time being.

Meanwhile, the people transferred here also arrived in Qufu, and Zheng Xiong began a deeper and more detailed investigation.

At the very least, they'll turn the Confucius Mansion upside down.

Aside from Kong Xixue, the great patriarch.

The Kong family also has twenty branches, divided into sixty households.

Kong Renyu, a 43rd-generation descendant of Confucius, brought about the revival of the Kong clan during the Song Dynasty, and his descendants continued to multiply in later generations.

He had four sons: Yi, Xian, Mian, and Kong Xian, known as the four branches. The second son, Kong Xian, continued the line for two generations before dying out; the third son, Kong Mian, continued the line for one generation before dying out as well.

Therefore, all subsequent descendants of Kong were the sons of the eldest son, Xuanhe, and the fourth son. Ten generations later, up to the fifty-third generation, there were a total of 65 descendants.

Some of them followed King Kang south to become the Southern School in the 48th generation, some migrated elsewhere, and some were lost to history.

Only 20 people remain in Qufu.

The Ji Chang branch has 6 families: Huan, Yi, Lin, Zhi, Cheng, and Ji; the Si branch has 14 families: Cong, Qi, Yan, Shu, Si, Bin, Zi, Hao, Lin, Xun, Jing, and Gan, which are collectively known as the Twenty Schools.

By the time of Kong Xixue, the 56th generation Duke Yansheng in the early Ming Dynasty, these 20 branches had expanded to 60 families.

In order to maintain order and distinguish between legitimate and illegitimate children, Kong Xixue consulted with his family and decided to divide the 60 families into 60 households, each named after its ancestral village.

The name was established in the early Ming Dynasty and has remained unchanged to this day.

It can be said that, apart from Kong Xixue's faction, all the other sixty households that split up were within Zheng Xiong's target.

Those who are recognized by Kong Xixue are his own people.

Following the principle of not putting all your eggs in one basket means it's better to kill the innocent than let the guilty go free.

Allocate manpower.

On this day, Zheng Xiong finally began to deal with Kong Xiwen.

Zheng Xiong's actions at the Confucius Mansion these past few days could not be kept secret.

The soldiers coming and going gave the impression of ransacking a house.

People in the city watched all day and felt that the Kong family was probably doomed.

Therefore, the negative stories about Kong Xiwen never stopped.

During his tenure, he concealed the extent of the flood disaster from his superiors. No wonder the people of Qufu had no hope; they had suffered a calamity.

Increase taxes and sell official property privately—remember this.

Although half of Qufu is considered the private property of the Confucius family, the other half is not.

If you force that half, there will definitely be some who disagree.

This will definitely incur public wrath.

The most serious offense was accepting bribes, because Zhu was cracking down on it, and the amount received would be considered.

Even if they find these things, they'll probably face the death penalty.

It took another day to sort out Kong Xiwen's case, and Zheng Xiong finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Right under the nose of the Confucius family, such a scoundrel has emerged from their own family's chosen county magistrate.

Kong Xixue was determined to be implicated.

This is also a major blow to the image of the Confucius Mansion.

In the original timeline, Kong Xixue's self-destruction left Kong Xiwen and the Kong family with some semblance of dignity.

In this timeline, Zheng Xiong has arrived, so Kong Xixue can no longer self-destruct.

That respectable family is probably gone!

Another day passed, and another piece of good news followed.

Kong Kejian's letters to Emperor Yuan were found in a secret room.

Even if they weren't secretly having an affair, they were exchanging glances and pleasantries.

The most surprising thing is that there is a letter that Kong Kejian never sent, and somehow it was preserved.

Inside are Kong Kejian's suggestions and plans as a founding minister.

With all of this, the purpose of the trip was basically achieved, and there was also the unexpected bonus of Kong Xiwen, making it a very fulfilling trip.

The statistical work on the wealth and book collection of the sixty households of the Kong family has also been basically completed.

I worked overtime to write a memorial to the throne.

They compiled a list of evidence against Kong Xiwen, prepared a carriage for him, and sent it, along with records of the Kong family's assets, to the capital.

While waiting, Zheng Xiong didn't sit idle either.

Although there is no final result yet.

But since we've already come all this way and mobilized quite a few people, we can't go back empty-handed!

Therefore, all the property and books of the sixty households in the Confucius Mansion were packed up.

Meanwhile, earlier, personnel from the First and Second Construction Engineering teams were also transferred to carry out construction at the Confucius Temple and the Confucius Cemetery.

We're just waiting for Old Zhu's decree to arrive. (End of Chapter)