Bringing the Railway to Daming

Qufu is a famous historical city, not only because it is the hometown of Confucius, but also because it has a profound historical heritage.

It is bordered by Sishui to the east, Yanzhou city to the west, Zou County to the south, and Mount Tai to the north.

It is surrounded by mountains on the east, south, and north sides, while the central and western parts are plains formed by the alluvial deposits of the Sishui and Yishui (Xiaoyi River). It also belongs to the East Asian monsoon climate zone, with fertile soil and a pleasant climate.

Therefore, as early as five or six thousand years ago, the Huaxia and Dongyi peoples settled here and even built cities.

It is said that the Yellow Emperor was born in Shouqiu, Qufu. After the Yellow Emperor, Shaohao, one of the Five Emperors, also built his capital in Qufu.

During the Shang Dynasty, Qufu was the capital of the Yan Kingdom. Later, when the Shang Dynasty moved its capital, it also established its capital in Qufu for a period of time.

During the Zhou Dynasty, Qufu became the capital of the State of Lu.

Therefore, it is not an exaggeration to call Qufu the ancient capital of four dynasties.

Of course, for people in the Ming Dynasty, Qufu was best known as the hometown of Confucius, so many Confucian scholars came to study and pay homage to this land that gave birth to Confucius.

As Zhu Yuanzhang walked down the street with Liu Chang'an, Liu Ruoyue, Li Gui, and three guards, he noticed that there were quite a few people dressed as Confucian scholars among the pedestrians. However, upon closer inspection, Zhu Yuanzhang found that most of them were middle-aged or elderly, and there were very few young Confucian scholars.

Without a doubt, it must be because the Ming Dynasty's promotion of science over the past decade or so has, to some extent, suppressed Confucianism, resulting in far fewer young people being willing to study Confucianism today.

Compared to other cities, there are relatively more bookstores and shops selling stationery on the streets.

However, in terms of prosperity, it was definitely far inferior to the capital. Therefore, after wandering around for a while, Zhu Yuanzhang found it uninteresting and asked Li Gui to find an inn with a courtyard to stay in.

While Li Gui was sending people to search, Zhu Yuanzhang unknowingly wandered into the vicinity of the Confucius Mansion.

"Grandpa, is this the former residence of Confucius? It's so big, much bigger than our house!" Liu Ruoyue exclaimed involuntarily as she looked at the long courtyard wall and the continuous eaves inside.

Liu Chang'an then said, "Grandpa, this Confucius Mansion looks very new. It shouldn't have been built during Confucius's lifetime, right?"

Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but laugh when he heard this, "Silly child, you know that Confucius lived 1,800 years ago. How could the house he lived in during his lifetime have survived to this day?"

"This Confucius Mansion courtyard in front of us was built by imperial decree in the tenth year of the Hongwu reign (1380) specifically for the Duke Yansheng."

"As for the real former residence of Confucius, it is still in the west. Although it was established as a 'hereditary residence' by the State of Lu in the second year after Confucius' death in the Spring and Autumn Period, which is a temple, and was later expanded by the Cao Wei, Song and Jin Dynasties, it is still not as spacious and magnificent as the mansion built by our Ming Dynasty."

Liu Chang'an asked in confusion, "Didn't Grandfather dislike the descendants of Confucius? Why did he build such a large mansion for them?"

Zhu Yuanzhang said, "Silly child, have you forgotten what we said before? We conferred the title of Duke Yansheng upon the descendant of Confucius in order to use it as a signboard to unite the hearts of Confucian scholars throughout the land."

"The same reason was later to build this mansion for the Duke Yansheng—it wasn't because we valued the Duke Yansheng himself, but because we valued his reputation as a descendant of Confucius. We did this to show all the scholars in the world."

Liu Chang'an still only vaguely understood what he was hearing, but he was trying his best to comprehend it.

After Zhu Yuanzhang and a few others walked around outside the Confucius Mansion for a while, Li Gui said, "Your Majesty, we have found an inn."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded, "Alright, let's go and rest then. After all, we've been traveling all morning and sightseeing for so long, the two children must be tired."

But before they had gone more than a hundred steps from the Confucius Mansion, they saw a large mansion with several courtyards and a crowd of people watching the spectacle.

"Steward Wang, please, just let Lan'er see me! I haven't seen my Lan'er for three months!" a middle-aged man pleaded.

"Zou Lao Er, don't push your luck! Since your daughter has sold herself into the household of my Fifth Master as a maid, she belongs to him. How can you expect to see her whenever you want? Get out of here right now, or don't blame us for being impolite!"

The middle-aged man suddenly said, "Steward Wang, tell me, has something happened to Lan'er? You promised my family that she would only be sold into servitude for ten years and would be released after that. You can't go back on your word!"

"What happened?!" Butler Wang's voice suddenly rose several octaves. "Who told you this nonsense? Zou Lao Er, this is my last warning to you: don't cause trouble here, and don't talk nonsense, or you'll regret it!"

Zhu Yuanzhang had already subconsciously squeezed into the crowd of onlookers.

Suddenly, a tall, thin, and raggedly dressed middle-aged man rushed forward and grabbed the leg of a middle-aged fat man, saying, "Something must have happened to my Lan'er. If not, why won't you let her come out to see me?"

Butler Wang, looking disgusted, tried to kick the middle-aged man away but couldn't budge him. He hurriedly shouted, "Are you all just good-for-nothings? Drag him away and chase him away with sticks!"

Upon hearing this, several burly men standing behind Steward Wang immediately stepped forward, dragged the middle-aged man away, and beat him repeatedly with short sticks.

The middle-aged man seemed convinced of something; despite being beaten, he refused to leave, instead shouting loudly, "You liars! Give me back my daughter! Give me back my daughter! Liars..."

Seeing that the middle-aged man had been beaten black and blue and could not stand up, Zhu Yuanzhang said to Li Gui, "Save him."

Li Gui immediately led several plainclothes guards forward, and in a few moves, they knocked down the burly men and rescued the middle-aged man.

The steward was stunned. After regaining his senses, he quickly retreated to the courtyard gate, pointed at Li Gui and the others, and demanded, "Who are you? What is your relationship with Zou Lao Er?!"

Li Gui said, "The passersby have nothing to do with Zou Lao Er. They just don't want to see him beaten to death in broad daylight."

Steward Wang said, "Travelers? Do you know who my master is? He's Master Kong the Fifth, the younger brother of the Duke Yansheng. How dare you meddle in my family's affairs?!"

Li Gui said, "Since your master is the younger brother of the Duke Yansheng, he should not beat people in broad daylight. Aren't you afraid of ruining the Duke Yansheng's reputation?"

Many people were watching, and although a considerable number of them were members of the Kong family, Steward Wang couldn't bring himself to say anything excessive.

Upon seeing Zhu Yuanzhang's signal, Li Gui and several plainclothes guards helped the middle-aged man leave, and Steward Wang did not send anyone to stop them.

The group arrived at the inn with a courtyard that Li Gui had previously arranged for them to visit. Zhu Yuanzhang first had a doctor examine Zou Lao Er and learned that he had only superficial injuries. He then had the doctor apply medicine to the wounds and asked the innkeeper for a bowl of millet porridge for Zou Lao Er to eat.

After eating the porridge, Zou Lao Er recovered his spirits considerably. Realizing that Zhu Yuanzhang was the master of the house, he bowed to him and thanked him, saying, "This humble citizen, Zou Huai, thanks you for saving me, sir. I have no way to repay you. If there is an afterlife, I will serve you like an ox or a horse."

After saying this, Zou Huai kowtowed to Zhu Yuanzhang and got up to leave.

Zhu Yuanzhang asked, "Why are you in such a hurry to do this?"

Zou Huai gritted his teeth and said, "I'm going to sue the officials! I'm suing Master Kong for taking my daughter's life!"

Zhu Yuanzhang said, "If you want to file a lawsuit, could you tell us about your daughter first? Perhaps we can help you."

Li Gui chimed in, "Brother Zou, our master is a retired official; he can really help you."

Upon hearing this, Zou Huai opened his mouth, then suddenly broke down in tears.

“It’s all my fault for being useless, sob sob…” He cried for a while to vent his emotions before saying, “I was originally a tenant farmer in the Kong family. I studied for a few years in my early years. Later, I married and had a daughter and a son. Although life was a bit poor, it was still peaceful.”

“But last year my son fell ill with a strange disease, which exhausted our savings. We couldn’t raise money for medicine in time. My Lan’er heard from somewhere that Master Kong’s mansion was taking in maids. As long as you went in and served the master for ten years, you could get a large sum of money.”

"Lan'er spoke to Master Kong's steward in private before coming back to tell me. I didn't agree at first."

"But then Steward Wang came over and said how wonderful it was to be a maid in Master Kong's mansion, and that if I missed my daughter, I could see her once a month."

“I saw that my son was in a lot of pain and needed to take medicine to relieve it, so I couldn’t resist the persuasion of Butler Wang and agreed to it.”

"Lan'er entered Master Kong's mansion, and in the first four months, she was able to come out and meet me. Lan'er only said that the mansion had strict rules and that the mistress often beat and scolded people, but there was nothing else, and she could even eat the leftover meat and vegetables from the master's house."

“But three months ago, when I came to see Lan’er again, Steward Wang made excuses that Lan’er was busy at home and didn’t have time to see me, and told me to come back next month.”

"I didn't suspect anything at the time and told him to come back next month. But Steward Wang made an excuse that Lan'er went to offer incense with Master Kong's wife and told me to come back next month."

"I had my suspicions, so I asked around and found out that Lan'er was sent to Young Master Kong's place two months ago and hasn't been seen since." "I heard that Young Master Kong is not only lecherous, but has also killed many women—I was worried about Lan'er, so I went to make a scene in front of Master Kong's mansion."

“I was thinking that my Lan’er is so smart and lucky, maybe she’ll be alright. But with all this commotion today, and Steward Wang still refusing to let Lan’er come out to see me, it’s probably true that something really happened to Lan’er.”

After finishing his story, Zou Huai couldn't help but shed tears again.

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned and asked, "Is the second son of the Duke Yansheng the one you mentioned?"

Zou Huai nodded.

Zhu Yuanzhang then asked, "You've heard that the Second Young Master Kong has killed many women. Do you know which families he specifically targeted?"

Zou Huai shook his head, "I only know how to farm on weekdays. I've only occasionally gone to the city to overhear people chatting. How would I know which family I'm talking about?"

"At the time, I thought, 'Young Master Kong is the son of the Duke of Yansheng, a man of noble status. How could he possibly harm someone?' I forgot about it as soon as I heard it, and only remembered it after Lan'er's accident—it's all my fault for not thinking about it back then."

As he spoke, Zou Huai became increasingly remorseful.

Seeing that he couldn't get any more information from Zou Huai, Zhu Yuanzhang wasn't disappointed. Instead, he asked, "Where do you plan to sue Master Kong?"

Zou Huai said, "Of course, we should go to the county government office."

Zhu Yuanzhang said, "Isn't it difficult to enter the county government office? Besides, I heard that the magistrate of Qufu is from a branch of the Kong family. He might protect that second young master Kong. Do you really dare to go and sue him?"

Zou Huai hesitated for a moment, but then gritted his teeth and said, "Lan'er is so filial, I can't let her die in vain!"

Zhu Yuanzhang scrutinized Zou Huai. Having witnessed many dark aspects of human nature in his youth, he did not hesitate to speculate with malice. He believed that Zou Huai wanted to seek justice for his daughter, and besides wanting an explanation, he might also have the idea of ​​asking the Kong family for money through this matter, since Zou Huai's son still needed money for medical treatment.

Of course, it's also possible that Zou Huai didn't think that much about it and simply wanted to seek justice for his daughter.

Thinking of this, Zhu Yuanzhang said, "We have some followers who can write legal documents. Let him write one for you later and act as your lawyer. It's better than you going there blindly."

Upon hearing this, Zou Huai was so grateful that tears streamed down his face, and he knelt down again, saying, "Thank you so much, sir..."

Zhu Yuanzhang accepted the bow and waved his hand, saying, "Li Gui, take him down and make some arrangements."

"Yes."

Li Gui took Zou Huai elsewhere—the dozens of Jinyiwei (Imperial Guards) who followed Zhu Yuanzhang were all well-versed in the "Great Ming Code," and some of them were skilled in "literary investigation," able to extract all sorts of useful information from texts. These elite spies trained by the court could easily impersonate lawyers.

However, after Li Gui and Zou Huai left, Liu Chang'an couldn't help but ask, "Why didn't Grandfather just order the magistrate of Qufu to thoroughly investigate that Young Master Kong?"

For Liu Chang'an, who is eight years old, this question is quite profound.

Zhu Yuanzhang listened and smiled, saying, "There are two reasons. First, we cannot believe Zou Huai's one-sided story—although he appears pitiful and what he says doesn't seem false, we should be prepared for the worst."

"Secondly, my grandfather wanted to use this matter to see what kind of person the magistrate of Qufu was and whether he would handle the matter impartially."

Liu Chang'an listened thoughtfully.

Liu Ruoyue, who had been listening intently, couldn't help but complain, "Grandpa, you adults think so complicatedly, don't you get a headache?"

"Hahaha," Zhu Yuanzhang laughed, "You're just a child, of course you'll have a headache. You'll be fine when you grow up."

Then, Zhu Yuanzhang summoned Cheng Ji and instructed him: "Order the telegraph team to send a telegram to the Imperial Guard Headquarters in the capital, instructing them to send people to Qufu to thoroughly investigate all issues related to the Confucius Mansion!"

"Also, some of you can be sent out to investigate. But remember, don't alert them!"

Having witnessed everything Zhu Yuanzhang had seen today, Cheng Ji could guess that Zhu Yuanzhang intended to severely punish the Duke Yansheng's family. He immediately replied solemnly, "This subordinate obeys the order!"

···
···
The next day.

Qufu County Government Office.

Magistrate Kong Gongsheng was teasing a young maidservant. Although he was nearly fifty years old and could be the maidservant's grandfather, he was able to make her giggle in his arms.

"Master, you're so naughty~"

"Nonsense, sir, you are perfectly upright, how could you be bad?"

"You're so mean, now that they're not coming..."

Just as the atmosphere was getting pleasant, the clerk suddenly called out from outside the door, "Master, someone wants to file a complaint!"

Kong Gongsheng said unhappily, "Complain? Why don't you just let the criminal investigation department handle it according to the rules? Just tell them to keep a good record and not forget to split the profits 30/70!"

The clerk outside the room remained silent for a few moments before saying, "Master, someone has accused Fifth Master and Second Young Master of murder."

Fifth Master and Second Young Master?

Kong Gongsheng was taken aback.

He then realized that if the advisor said that, then Fifth Master and Second Young Master must share the same surname as him.

That...that's a big deal!

Kong Gongsheng suddenly felt that the little maid in his arms was no longer appealing, so he pushed her away, straightened his clothes, and went out to ask, "What exactly happened?"

The clerk said, "It's a tenant farmer named Zou Er who said his daughter was killed by Fifth Master and Second Young Master, and he even hired a lawyer—this is his complaint."

After saying that, the clerk handed over a petition.

Kong Gongsheng glanced at the petition and immediately frowned. Although he had gotten the position of magistrate of Qufu through connections and didn't have much real talent, the petition was well-organized and written in simple language, so he understood it at a glance.

However, it was precisely because he understood it that he realized things were more complicated than he had anticipated.

He then shoved the complaint back into the clerk's hand and went straight to the point: "Besides being a tenant farmer of the Kong family, does Zou Er have any other background?"

The advisor said, "I have already sent people to Zou Er's village to investigate, and I estimate we will have the results by tonight."

Kong Gongsheng said, "Go tell Zou Er that the county government needs some time to understand this case, and will hear it in three days."

"Yes."

The advisor was about to leave to avoid disturbing Kong Gongsheng's good time, but Kong Gongsheng called him back.

"Have someone go to the Kong family residence to inquire when Fifth Master and Second Young Master are available. Tell them that we have important matters to discuss with them. If possible, we can have dinner together at Baohua Restaurant tonight."

"Yes."

The clerk responded again, and seeing that Kong Gongsheng had no further instructions, he left.

Kong Gongsheng then entered the room and closed the door. A short while later, the sounds of a young maidservant crying and laughing could be heard from inside… (End of Chapter)