The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 179 Dungeon (I)

Stimulated by silver and women, the rioters' low morale suddenly rose.

The Confucius Mansion fell into chaos, with maids and servants running around the gardens and corridors like headless flies.

Some servants who wanted to escape were hacked to death by the Wenxiang Sect rioters.

The leaders, both big and small, commanded the rioters, and more than 300 people worked together to loot hundreds of thousands of taels of silver from every room in the Confucius Mansion.

The rioters placed the white silver in the yard and piled it up into a mountain of silver in front of Duke Yansheng.

"Tsk tsk, Master Kong is really rich. I'm afraid he has moved all the silver in Shandong to his house!"

"Hurry up and move! Don't talk nonsense. Once the Kaiyuan soldiers catch up, they won't be able to take even a pound!"

The stolen carriages were parked neatly at the gate of the Confucius Mansion. The silver soon filled the carriages, causing the ruts to sink deep into the mud.

After the fifteen carriages were filled, there was still a thick layer of silver left on the ground.

"There's a big cabinet with several cellars inside. Do you want to move it?"

A burly leader ran excitedly to the gate of the courtyard, holding a handful of jewels in his left hand and holding a maid in his right arm, whose clothes were torn.

Xu Hongru said angrily:

"Why are you moving?! The carriage can't pull it, the pursuers are coming, hurry up and leave! Mao Laosan, didn't I tell you not to take women with you? Don't you have ears?!"

The head waiter glanced at the maid and found her quite pretty, so he turned to the guard and said:

"I'll spare Mao Laosan this time. I think this girl has some wisdom and may have a connection with the Mother of Mount Li. Bring her to my carriage! I'll teach her the doctrine of smelling incense later."

After Xu Hongru finished speaking, he caught a glimpse of the second clerk standing in front of Duke Yansheng, mumbling something inaudible.

Xu Hongru was furious. It was already so late, and why didn’t they hurry up and move their things?

Duke Yansheng was tied to a tree, his hands and feet unable to move, and the second cabinet stuffed his socks into Kong Yinzhi's mouth.

Kong Yanzhi, who was dressed elegantly, immediately opened his eyes wide and fainted.

The second clerk raised his hand and slapped Kong Yinzhi in the face, waking him up, and said angrily:

"I studied hard for ten years, but in the end I was just a scholar. My wife and children left me, and I was forced to join the Wenxiang Sect. You son of a bitch, you play with women and kill tenants every day, and you still think you are a saint! Pah!"

Like Kang Yingqian, the second clerk, who came from a scholarly background, showed no respect for the descendant of Confucius before him. He stuffed a stinky sock into the mouth of the Duke of Yansheng and slapped Kong Yinzhi over a dozen times. He pointed at the gold, silver, and jewelry piled high in the yard.

"You are a bunch of greedy rats. You have hollowed out Shandong and the Ming Dynasty. Are you satisfied now? There are wars in Liaodong, in the southwest, and in Shandong. You are the ones who created the Tartars, the Tusi, and the Wenxiang Sect! Today, I will enforce justice on behalf of Heaven! I will gut you and offer you a tribute to the Mother of Mount Li."

The second inquisitor, who was a scholar by birth, gave a long speech to Duke Yansheng and raised his sword to attack.

Ergui is one of the few scholars in the Wenxiang Sect. He has his own unique views on the situation in the Ming Dynasty, so he chose to follow Xu Hongru in rebellion.

Walking all the way from Yanzhou to here, he and the Wenxiang Sect he believed in were about to be completely destroyed.

The extremely desperate scholar raised his sword and pointed it at the obese Duke Yansheng, like a butcher slaughtering a pig, preparing to cut open Kong Yanzhi's belly.

Kong Yinzhi's eyes were full of fear, his feet kicked desperately, beads of sweat covered his forehead, and a gurgling sound came from his throat.

At this time, the familiar sound of drums came from afar.

"Kaiyuan soldiers are coming!"

The members of the Wen Xiang Sect were in chaos. Those who were carrying silver dropped the silver and fled in all directions in panic.

~~~~~~
Qianzong Deng Changxiong, Wang Erhu, Qi Jin, together with the central army guard Jin Feng, and several officers of the pacification troops, drew on the best troops from various units, gathered together 2,000 people, and attacked the Confucius Mansion.

Oh, their name is to protect Yanshenggong.

The remaining 300 Wenxiang Sect rebels were either killed or surrendered to the Kaiyuan army.

The chief treasury officer Xu Hongru was captured, the second-in-command committed suicide, and the remaining twelve chiefs all surrendered.

All the surviving rioters were beheaded on the spot, including the twelve big leaders.

Duke Yansheng, who had been in a coma for a long time, and Xu Hongru, who was about to fall into a coma, were escorted to the Qufu County Government Office by Jin Feng and others, awaiting the disposal of Marquis Ping Liao.

Kang Yingqian, Qiao Yiqi, Yuan Chonghuang and others led hundreds of officials, both large and small, stationed in Wendeng, and went to the Confucius Mansion to count the spoils.

The amount of silver taken out by the Wenxiang Sect alone amounted to over one million taels.

~~~~~
At the suggestion of the chief instructor Sen Ti, Wang Erhu ordered some of the new recruits from the 2000th headquarters to go into the dungeon.

The new recruits will be responsible for rescuing the tenants who are imprisoned in the Confucius Mansion and never see the light of day.

The instructor wanted to win the hearts of the people of Qufu and expose the atrocities of Duke Yansheng in this way, and further arouse the anger of the new recruits, so that everyone would know that Duke Pingliao was too kind to the enemy, and that Kong Yinzhi deserved to be put to death and that this beast should be killed several times.

Yang Tong led his four brothers through the damp, cold tunnel. Not far above their heads, soldiers were busily moving gold, silver, and jewelry from the Confucius Mansion compound.

However, in this eerie and cold tunnel, it was quiet. There was no sound around, only the footsteps of the five people and the friction sound of the iron armor on their bodies.

The five musketeers belonged to the first flag team of the 2,000th general. Yang Tong was the sergeant, who was the lowest-level officer in the Kaiyuan military system. Above him were the captain and the flag captain.

In the last Kaiyuan defense battle, the musketeers failed to cause enough casualties to the Zhengbai Banner. After the battle, General Wang Qian complained that the new musketeers were not brave enough and needed to be tempered.

Therefore, the glorious task of rescuing people in the dungeon was given to these new musketeers.

Five grown men walking in the dark and silent tunnel felt even more terrifying than on the battlefield.

"You know what? The old people in Qufu said that the tenants of the Kong family who couldn't pay the rent were buried here, buried alive..."

"The Kong family has existed since the Song Dynasty. How many people do you think you want to bury?"

"Stop talking so much, you've woken up the dead!"

Yang Tong listened to the chattering of several new recruits, knowing that they were trying to give himself courage, so he did not ask them any questions.

The further you go into the tunnel, the darker it gets, and soon you can no longer see the faces of the people around you.

Yang Tong took out a tinderbox from his mandarin duck jacket, lit the torch, and illuminated the bumpy dungeon.

"This is?"

A finger stretched out from the low and narrow earthen wall. Yang Tong quickly stepped back and drew his sword.

When they looked closely, they found that it was a dry bone. After holding torches and looking for a while, they discovered that there was a dead person buried in the wall. After who knows how many years, the body had turned into bones.

After walking a few steps forward, they saw more and more bones around them. They gritted their teeth and continued to move forward. Finally, a few fences appeared at the corner of the tunnel. Yang Tong guessed that this was the dungeon of the Confucius Mansion.

He suddenly stopped and signaled everyone to stop talking.

"Light the tinder, hold up the torches, and look carefully. Bring up everything, alive or dead, to show the soldiers and the people of Qufu."

After Yang Tong finished speaking, he led everyone to the front of the cell and looked inside with torches in hand.

"Hey, are you still alive?"

A Shandong musketeer shouted loudly into the dark cell.

There was no echo in the darkness.

"Dead, next."

After passing five or six cells, there was no response. The last two cells emitted a strong stench of corpses.

The five people present had all killed people and seen blood, so they were not afraid of death.

"Brother Yang, there are no survivors. Let's go upstairs and take a breath first, then move the bodies."

Yang Tong agreed and turned to walk outside.

After taking a few steps, I suddenly heard a faint voice behind me.

"What's your name?"

His heart was pounding and he waved the torch around.

"Did you hear that?"

"What did you hear?"

"Nothing."

Yang Tong muttered to himself, scratched his head, and continued walking forward.

The voice rang in my ears again.

Yang Tong turned around abruptly and walked straight to the dungeon in the front. He swung his one-handed knife and cut off the hanging iron chain.

The iron chain emitted dazzling sparks.

The strong musketeer kicked open the wooden fence and searched carefully with a torch.

The thin woman was curled up in the haystack in the corner like a cat.

"What's your name?"

(End of this chapter)