Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 473 Xu Shouhui's Submission

"I don't agree!"

As soon as Yang Puxiong shouted "Take him down!", several guards immediately stepped forward and restrained Kong Kejian and his son Kong Xixue. Kong Xixue was still struggling desperately after being captured. He was only in his early twenties and was the descendant of the Duke Yansheng of the current dynasty. He was entitled to endless wealth and honor and was naturally unwilling to be wiped out like this. At this moment, he was forced to kneel on the ground and was still arguing with his head held high.

"Why should I? I refuse to accept this! Even if the Kong family surrendered to the barbarians, it was because they were forced by them. If we don't make them Duke Yansheng, our entire Kong family will be in danger. Making them Duke Yansheng is only to protect our clan. What wrong has the Kong family done?"

"What's wrong with that? Good question!"

Yang Puxiong was originally unwilling to get involved in this mess, but when he heard Kong Xixue's sophistry, he was immediately angered and rebuked him.

"Who told you that you can surrender when you are coerced? Is that what your ancestors taught you? Zhang Qian, the Han envoy, was also a disciple of Confucius. He was captured by the Xiongnu for thirteen years but did not change his mind or break his principles. The Xiongnu Chanyu offered him high-ranking positions and generous rewards, but Zhang Qian would rather die than surrender!"

"When the Han envoy Su Wu fell into the hands of the Xiongnu, the Xiongnu Chanyu offered him high-ranking official positions and generous salaries, but Su Wu herded sheep in the North Sea for nineteen years and refused to surrender even in the face of death!"
"And your Kong family, who have been the Duke of Yansheng for generations, have been revered as the model of Confucianism by successive dynasties and have enjoyed endless wealth and honor. When barbarians invade China, the Kong family did not think of dying for the country. They were willing to surrender after being coerced. Is this how the Kong family acts as the model of Confucianism?"
"You eat the king's food and serve the king. Confucius has been eating the king's food for over a thousand years and this is what he raised? You call yourselves the epitome of Confucianism? Bah! You don't deserve it! You've disgraced Confucianism!"

Kong Xixue was spat on in the face and was speechless upon hearing this. He was at a loss for words. Yes, does being forced to surrender mean you can surrender? Not to mention Zhang Qian and Su Wu, even compared to Wen Tianxiang, they are no match.

Yang Puxiong was still not satisfied with his scolding and questioned again, "Fine, even if we take a step back and say that you want to save the lives of your clansmen, you can just not become the Duke Yansheng of the Tartars. At the beginning of the founding of the Yuan Dynasty, the Yuan Dynasty also wanted to grant the title of Duke Yansheng to Nan Kong, but look how Nan Kong refused."

"How can you Northern Confucian scholars be so spineless? You insist on accepting this title? Can't you survive without being the Duke Yansheng? And you're willing to serve a barbarian chieftain as the Grand Master of Confucianism? Isn't this betraying your ancestors and selling out your country for personal gain? His Highness was absolutely right about you!"

Kong Kejian, who was being held by the soldiers, was also woken up by the scolding. He lowered his head and sobbed softly, while Kong Xixue tried to argue even more, because he really didn't want to die.

"So what? Even if the Kong family surrendered to the barbarians, it was Emperor Gaozong of Song who abandoned the northerners first. The emperor abandoned his own people first. Do you expect the people to die for him?"

"Hahahaha." Yang Puxiong was so angry that he laughed, and cursed again.

"Anyone from the North can say this, but you Kong family are not qualified. When Emperor Gaozong went south, he specifically issued an edict allowing the Kong family to bring their clan and ancestral tablets south. Even the Duke Yansheng of the Song Dynasty, Kong Duanyou, was allowed to go south, so why did your branch of Kong Duancao not go?"

"He willingly remained under the rule of the barbarians, so why blame Emperor Gaozong for abandoning the Confucius family first? As far as I know, Emperor Gaozong funded the reconstruction of the ancestral temple of the Southern Confucius family in Quzhou when the country was in peril. Do you call that Emperor Gaozong abandoning Confucius?"

Kong Xixue tried to argue twice, but Yang Puxiong refuted his arguments with reason and evidence, leaving him with no more excuses. However, he was still unwilling to give up and insisted on making excuses even when he was in the wrong. In the end, he resorted to shameless tactics.

"No, you can't kill me. If we're talking about surrendering to the Tartars, which of the people in the North hasn't surrendered to the Tartars? Your execution of the Kong family will only make the people of the North panic. If the King of Chu wants to win back the hearts of the people of the North, he absolutely cannot kill the Kong family. This is a disorderly order, a forged edict, and the Kong family will not obey!"

Yang Puxiong glanced at him with disdain, feeling even more disgusted with the Northern Kong family. He immediately retorted, "Nonsense! If we're talking about being forced to surrender, it's the people of the North who were truly forced. Unlike the Kong family, they didn't receive any benefits from the barbarians; on the contrary, they suffered all kinds of oppression from them."

At this point, Yang Puxiong immediately turned to Wang Shicheng beside him and asked, "General Wang, I've heard that you and your soldiers are all Han Chinese from the north. May I ask if you have ever enjoyed the same wealth and privilege as the Kong family under the rule of the Tartars?"

"Of course not. The Tartars treated us like cattle and horses. We did all sorts of jobs, from station households and outpost households to military households, cooking households, grain households, and boat households. If we encountered Mongol Tartars or Semu people, we wouldn't even be able to be cattle and horses. In front of barbarians, we Han people are nothing but grandsons. Unlike the Kong family, who are dukes and serve princes, eating and drinking well every day. We can't even dream of such a life for a single day," Wang Shicheng complained.

Yang Puxiong then looked at Kong Xixue again, "Did you hear that? His Highness the King of Chu sent troops to the north to punish the guilty and relieve the suffering of the people, and to save our compatriots in the north. Why is the people so panicked when your Kong family is killed? Stop using the Han people of the north as a shield for your Kong family."

"Look at these soldiers from the north who have suffered so much oppression from the barbarians, and then look at your Kong family, colluding with the barbarians and acting as their accomplices. If you 'exemplary Confucian scholars' hadn't surrendered first, how could so many Han people have surrendered to the barbarians with such peace of mind? The land of China was overthrown, and the stench of blood filled the air. The Song Dynasty was destroyed by the barbarians. The Kong family made an unparalleled contribution!"
"Traitors like the Northern Branch of the Kong Family are number one in the country. Killing them is not enough to rectify the national character! If we don't eliminate you all today, some people will think that surrendering to the barbarians will bring them wealth and honor, and they won't be held accountable even if the barbarians are defeated. Then who will be willing to be loyal to the country in the future?!"
“If the barbarians invade again in the future, and soldiers, officers, officials, scholars, and common people all follow the example of Confucius and rush to surrender to the barbarians and become traitors, then the destruction of our Chinese nation and the extinction of our race will not be far off. Therefore, Confucius must be killed and executed!”

"No, you can't kill me! I am the 56th generation descendant of Confucius! I am a descendant of the sage! You can't kill me! I am the 56th generation descendant of the sage! I am the Duke Yansheng! You can't kill me!"

“This guy’s gone mad, gag him.”

"woo woo woo woo--"

Seeing Kong Xixue, who was tied up like a dumpling, gagged and still struggling, with a strong smell of urine emanating from his lower body, Yang Puxiong said to Wang Shicheng, "General Wang, it's up to you now."

"Easy to say."

Wang Shicheng glared with his bull-like eyes, immediately spurred his horse forward, and shouted while holding an iron spear, "Today, only the Kong family will be executed. Anyone not surnamed Kong can lay down their weapons and come behind me to live. Anyone who dares to stand in front of the battle line will be killed without mercy!"

The thousands of able-bodied men blocking the entrance to the Confucius Temple exchanged glances upon hearing this. Without a moment's hesitation, a clatter of weapons fell to the ground, and then they all rushed to Wang Shicheng's side. The soldiers of the Fourth Battalion immediately led these men outside the encirclement to keep an eye on them and prevent any from escaping.

These people aren't stupid. They agreed to only kill members of the Kong family. What are they doing risking their lives as a bunch of outsiders? Hesitating for even a second longer at this point would be disloyal to themselves.

Seeing that there were over a thousand people blocking the gate just moments ago, more than seven hundred of them suddenly fled, leaving only about three hundred male members of the Kong family standing there sparsely, Wang Shicheng immediately smiled and waved his hand, "Kill!"

A battalion of armored soldiers immediately charged forward with their spears. After a series of shouts and screams, more than 300 male members of the Kong family were slaughtered. Many Kong family members who had fled into the Confucius Temple were also dragged out of the temple as corpses.

Wang Shicheng glanced back at Yang Puxiong and exclaimed in surprise, "Mr. Yang is truly courageous; he can remain completely calm."

Yang Puxiong immediately raised his head and said, "I've seen battles before when I was in the Xu-Song rebel army. What's this little scene?"

“That’s true. What do we do next?” Wang Shicheng nodded and asked again.

"Investigate those who are not surnamed, make them give their names, addresses and family members, and have their family members come here to pick them up. If they don't match, they are remnants of the Kong family and will be killed on sight."

"Find people who are familiar with the Kong family to examine the corpses, register them, and see how many were killed, who they were, and don't forget the women and children in the Kong family."

"Even women and children are being killed?"

"Your Highness means that no woman, child, or elderly should be spared. All men, no matter how young, should be killed. If any woman is pregnant, she should also be killed. The rest of the women will be kept for now. I will take them back to Jiankang. I heard that they are to be given to the soldiers stationed in the Central Plains as wives."

After saying this, Yang Puxiong warned him again, "Your Highness said that if anyone in Qubu claims to be a descendant of the Kong family, he will hold you and me accountable. I don't want to use my head to fill the hole, and General Wang should not be so soft-hearted."

Wang Shicheng nodded, "I understand." The two then went on a killing spree, sending troops to ransack the Kong family mansion. Women, children, Kong family servants, Kong family spies and officials planted in the city, and Kong family remnants hiding among the "outsiders" who were trying to escape were all killed. A total of more than 300 people were killed, and the Kong family mansion was filled with blood and heads.

Afterwards, the books, treasures, gold, silver and copper coins in the Confucius Mansion and Confucius Temple were inventoried and taken back to Jiankang. The grain, silk and cloth, wine cellars and so on of the Confucius Mansion were all confiscated and allocated to the Yanzhou County Government. The buildings of the Confucius Mansion and Confucius Temple were all demolished, and the statue of Confucius was smashed to pieces.

Traditional Chinese ancestor worship only involves worshipping the ancestral tablets, not the spirit tablets. Statues were originally introduced from Buddhism. The Northern Confucian school worshipped statues instead of the ancestral tablets, which was considered extremely disrespectful and an insult to their ancestors. However, since the ancestral tablets of Confucius had long been taken away by the Southern Confucian school, the Northern school could only make a statue, which was then completely smashed.

After completely wiping out the Kong family of Qubu, Yang Puxiong gave the magistrate of Yanzhou a task: to dig a pit on the original site of the Confucius Temple and bury all the corpses of the Kong family. Then, he would use the dismantled building materials to build a pavilion on the original site of the Confucius Temple, and erect a "Admonition to the World Stele" inside the pavilion. This was also Lu Jin's request.

The inscription was written in advance, mainly explaining the ins and outs of the killing of the Kong family, and erecting the stele to warn the world that this is the fate of those who become traitors in the future!
After explaining the matter to the county magistrate, Yang Puxiong took the books and treasures confiscated from the house and nearly three hundred female members of the Kong family back to Jiankang.

Meanwhile, Chen Puwen, who was sent by Lu Jin to appease Xu Shouhui, took Luo Ben and traveled for half a month before finally arriving at Macheng County in the Dabie Mountains.

Well, Xu Shouhui and Zou Pusheng actually hid in their hometown to avoid being captured by the Yuan army. The two were more familiar with the terrain of their hometown. Xu Shouhui was a small merchant and knew some mountain trails. Moreover, they might be able to find some acquaintances in their hometown to help them out, so they wouldn't have to hide in the mountains and go hungry forever.

They had been rebelling for so long, so they certainly had plenty of gold and silver. But being hidden deep in the mountains, isolated from the world, meant they couldn't buy any necessities. When Chen Puwen and his men came out of the mountains, they hadn't even had salt for days. So they needed to find a place closer to the world.

Robben looked at the small mountain town in front of him and the lush green mountains around him, and asked with some doubt, "They're hiding in the town?"

Chen Puwen immediately replied, "Of course it won't be hidden in the city."

"Then where do we look for them?"

"When I left the mountain, he told me about a place, saying that if His Highness the Prince of Chu was willing to spare his life, I should go there to find him. It should not be far from Macheng County," Chen Puwen immediately explained.

Robben was skeptical, but after a moment of thought, he gritted his teeth and said to the soldiers beside him, "Leave a squad of soldiers to guard the city. If we don't come back alive within a month, have His Highness send troops to search the mountains."

"Yes." The accompanying guard platoon leader immediately agreed, leaving one squad in Macheng County and having them guard both inside and outside the city, communicating with each other daily to prevent Xu Shouhui's spies from hiding in the city.

Then Luo Ben followed Chen Puwen into the mountains. The search for the missing person was indeed not so simple. The address Xu Shouhui gave them was fake. This was a small mountain village in the northwest of Macheng, but he and Zou Pusheng were not there at all. However, there were indeed soldiers of Xu Song who recognized Chen Puwen. The man looked at Luo Ben and learned that he was Lu Jin's envoy and was carrying the investiture document. Only then did he lead them to continue into the deep mountains.

After winding their way through the mountains, the group soon arrived near Hutou Pass in the northwest of Macheng. There they finally saw a camp in the mountains, with soldiers standing guard at the gate with bows. When they saw that the visitors were Chen Puwen, they were informed and then led inside.

Robben kept looking around as he went. Some soldiers saw them and immediately showed a relieved smile, running around telling their comrades that they had no will to fight. Other soldiers were working hard, wielding hoes to cultivate farmland on the flat land in the mountains. There were also wounded soldiers wrapped in bandages sitting on rocks sunbathing. Women were washing clothes by the mountain stream. When you got closer, you could hear the clanging of blacksmithing coming from inside.

Robben immediately thought to himself, "This is no longer a military camp; it's more like a mountain village, except there are no elderly people or children here."

Upon entering the camp, they came across a large thatched hut. Inside, a pale-faced man was drowning his sorrows in alcohol. He was completely drunk, but his face showed no signs of intoxication; instead, it was a gaunt and pale white, like a paper effigy in a coffin shop.

I heard that Xu Shouhui was elected as the leader because of his fair skin. This person in front of me must be Xu Shouhui, Robben thought to himself. What kind of bullshit reason is that? Just because he is fair-skinned, he was elected as the leader? No wonder they have fallen to such a state.

After the soldiers came forward to report, Xu Shouhui put down the rough porcelain wine bowl in his hand, which crashed to the ground and shattered into several pieces. Xu Shouhui staggered forward, looked at Chen Puwen, and then looked at Luo Ben, asking, "Who are you to the King of Chu?"

"I am Luo Ben, a compiler in the Hanlin Academy under the King of Chu. I have come on the King's orders to invite Marquis Guiyi to Jiankang to enjoy a life of luxury," Luo Ben said immediately, neither humble nor arrogant.

"What a generous Marquis of Guiyi! If I had been that generous back then, he probably would have been at my disposal," Xu Shouhui said with a self-deprecating laugh.

Robben replied, “Those who walk different paths cannot make plans together. My lord is a descendant of the Yellow Emperor and the legitimate ruler of the Zhou Dynasty, a descendant of the sage Gongshu. He would never believe in any Western Maitreya heresy. Your Majesty established your country with a heresy. Let alone a marquisate, even a duke or king, my lord would never serve you. Your Majesty sent envoys twice back then only because you were powerful at the time, and my lord was just pretending to be friendly with you.”

"Your merits and demerits have been clearly stated in the proclamation. Your success and failure both stem from the cult. However, considering that you are also a member of the righteous army and have made contributions in the fight against the Yuan dynasty, my lord is willing to show leniency. As long as you are willing to relinquish your imperial title and submit to my lord, you will be granted the title of Marquis of Guiyi and can enjoy the rest of your life in Jiankang."

"Hehe, what cult or not, it's all about the victor taking all. Since the King of Chu is so kind and magnanimous and willing to acknowledge our contributions, then I will submit to him."

"As for whether or not to relinquish the title of emperor, have you ever seen an emperor living in a thatched hut in the mountains drinking all day? Let's go, when are we leaving? I don't want to stay in these mountains any longer." Xu Shouhui said with a wry smile, as if relieved.

Just then, the clanging of blacksmithing nearby suddenly stopped. Zou Pusheng, holding a freshly forged iron plow in one hand and a waist knife in the other, slowly walked up to the group and asked, "The King of Chu has granted Brother Xu a marquisate, so what about me, Zou Pusheng? I've prepared two gifts for His Highness the King of Chu, both of which I forged myself. I just don't know which one he would like to take?"

Robben calmly looked at the man before him, then glanced at the iron plow and the knife in his hand, before saying, “I advise you to forge your sword into a plow and turn this knife into an iron plow. In this way, you will still be able to obtain a title of nobility. Please do not make a mistake.”

Zou Pusheng was quite surprised to hear this. He hadn't expected that Xu Shouhui's title was Marquis, and that Lu Jin had also given him the title of Marquis.

In fact, it wasn't just him; Chen Youliang's title was also Marquis. Lu Jin did this to sow discord between them. Although Xu Shouhui was the emperor before, now that you all have the same title, who will take Xu Shouhui seriously in the future? This former emperor will become a useless figurehead.

“The King of Chu is benevolent enough, I admire him. Then let’s give him both gifts together. Men, pack your things and go down the mountain.”

"Oh, we're finally going down the mountain. Once we get to the city, we're going to have a good drink. I haven't tasted meat in months."

"I just want to go home and see if my parents are still alive. His Majesty has given us some gold and silver. I want to go home, build a house, find a wife, and buy dozens of acres of land to live a good life."

"Look at you, so pathetic. If you had money, you'd obviously go to the city and have some fun first, hehehehe."

Upon hearing this, the Xu and Song soldiers in the camp immediately cheered.

That day, Xu Shouhui, Zou Pusheng, and others packed their things and followed Luo Ben out of the mountains. When they arrived in Macheng County, Xu Shouhui took out gold and silver to buy wine and meat and treated the remaining soldiers to a farewell meal. During the meal, everyone ate and wept bitterly. Some were reminiscing about the glorious past, while others were crying for their dead brothers and parents. But now, things were alright, they could finally go home and live a good life.

In the end, some people were unwilling to leave, saying that they would follow Xu Shouhui even if they had to become servants. These people were also taken down the mountain by Xu Shouhui. Originally, there were more than a thousand remnants, but when the group arrived in Jiankang, there were less than thirty people left. When Xu Shouhui stepped onto the dock in Jiankang, it also meant that the once invincible Xu Song dynasty had been completely destroyed.

(End of this chapter)