Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chen Li originally thought that even if Kong Gongsheng protected Kong Gongzhe, he would try his best to defend Kong Gongzhe in a seemingly reasonable way.

To everyone's surprise, as soon as the court session began, before he could even speak up for Zou Er, Kong Gongsheng shouted with a stern face: "You audacious scoundrel Zou Huai, how dare you falsely accuse your master Kong Xun (Master Kong the Fifth) and the second son of the Duke Yansheng, Kong Gongzhe! You have no respect for the law!"

"Guards, give him twenty lashes and throw him in jail. Treat him for false accusation!"

After Kong Gongsheng finished speaking, the yamen officials were about to step forward and arrest Zou Er.

Chen Li hurriedly called out, "Wait! The magistrate says Zou Er made a false accusation, but does he have any evidence?"

Kong Gongsheng sneered, "I knew you unruly commoners would be dissatisfied—after investigation by this county, it has been found that Zou Lan'er voluntarily sold herself into Kong Xun's household as a maid for ten years, but she concealed the fact that she was suffering from a terminal illness."

"In addition, she took the opportunity to seduce Kong Gongzhe, the second son of the Duke Yansheng, at Kong Xun's house. The second son was young and ignorant and was captivated by her beauty, so he brought her to his residence, but he almost died of his illness."

"Fortunately, the second young master was in good health and pulled through. As for Zou Lan'er, after she passed away, the Kong family followed the doctor's advice and, to prevent the body from being passed on to others, had her cremated."

"Zou Huaiming knew about his daughter's illness, but pretended not to. He first used his daughter, Zou Lan'er, to swindle hundreds of strings of cash from Kong Xun. Later, after learning of his daughter's death, he came up with this cunning plan to falsely accuse Kong Xun and Kong Gongzhe in order to obtain a large sum of money again."

"Many people in Kong Xun's family and the Kong family know about this matter. These are their testimonies, which are irrefutable evidence. What else do you have to say?!"

After saying that, Kong Gongsheng threw down a roll of paper.

Chen Li picked them up and saw that they were more than a dozen "confessions," just as Kong Gongsheng had said, "testimonies" from some people in Kong Xunjia's family and the Kong family mansion.

Zou Huai shouted in grief and indignation, "Nonsense! My Lan'er may be a little thin, but she definitely doesn't have a terminal illness—she was perfectly fine the last two times I saw her, how could she have died from a terminal illness?!"

Chen Li said, "Your Honor, these so-called confessions all came from servants of Kong Xun and Kong Gongzhe. How can they be taken as testimony?"

Kong Gongsheng flew into a rage, "How dare you cause trouble? Guards, throw this lawyer out of the county office and drag Zou Huai away to be flogged!"

Seeing this, Chen Li wished he could immediately reveal his identity as the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, but without Zhu Yuanzhang's order, he dared not act on his own and could only be driven out of the county government office in frustration.

Fearing he might be following him, he deliberately took a detour before returning to the courtyard of the inn where Zhu Yuanzhang was staying, and then shamefully reported the whole story to Zhu Yuanzhang.

After listening, Zhu Yuanzhang did not blame Chen Li, but said with a cold expression: "This Kong Gongsheng seems to be a complete lackey of the Kong family, forgetting that he is an official of the court - it seems there is no need to investigate, this person must be rotten to the core."

Chen Li, mustering his courage, reminded him, "Your Majesty, Kong Gongsheng ordered Zou Huai to be beaten with ten strokes of the cane. Even if Zou Huai doesn't confess under torture, his health will probably collapse!"

Liu Ruoyue, who was standing nearby, quickly said, "Grandpa, please save Uncle Zou!"

"Don't worry, we won't abandon Zou Huai." Zhu Yuanzhang said as he stood up, took a token, and wrote a military order, saying, "Li Gui, quickly transfer the Wude Guard to Qufu. One part will take over the city's defenses, and another part will blockade the county government and the Confucius Mansion. Without my order, no one is allowed to enter or leave!"

"Furthermore, after you lead your troops into the city, bring Zou Huai out of the county jail as soon as possible and find the best doctor in Qufu to treat him!"

"Slave, you obey!"

Li Gui took the token and military order and immediately went out.

Zhu Yuanzhang then said, "Chengji, quickly send a telegram to the capital, briefly outlining the crimes committed by Kong Gongzhe, Kong Gongsheng, Kong Xun, and others. Have the capital send a telegram to the Shandong Provincial Surveillance Commissioner's Office and the Shandong Censorate, instructing them to send people to Qufu immediately to investigate the Kong family's case!"

"I will obey your orders!"

Cheng Ji also went to carry out the task as instructed—Zhu Yuanzhang had a communications team accompanying him, which could communicate with the capital in real time via telegram.

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After Kong Gongsheng finished "trialing" Zou Er's case, he didn't think much of it. In his view, Zou Er was just a tenant farmer of the Kong family with no background. He had already imprisoned him and he might even die of illness in prison soon, going to the underworld to reunite with his daughter Zou Lan'er. He was unlikely to cause any more trouble for the Kong family.

As for lawyer Chen Li—in Kong Gongsheng’s view, lawyers help people with lawsuits all for money.

Even if Chen Li is one of the few lawyers with a certain conscience who only accepted a small amount of money from Zou Er to help sue Kong Xun and Kong Gongzhe, now that they know his attitude, they should back down.

So, back in the back office, Kong Gongsheng summoned a young maid in her prime, closed the door, and taught her to cry, laugh, and beg for mercy.

Because he was in a good mood, Kong Gongsheng went to great lengths for foreplay, even having the maid sing a tune. However, just as Kong Gongsheng was preparing to take the maid to the "battlefield" for real, a frantic shout from the clerk suddenly came from outside the door.

"Master Dong, disaster has struck! Disaster has struck!"

Kong Gongsheng was already poised to strike, but the advisor's shout nearly broke the bowstring and snapped the arrow.

He suppressed his anger and roared through the door, "What trouble have you gotten yourself into? If you don't give me a straight answer today, I'll make sure you're in big trouble!"

The clerk said, "Suddenly, a large number of government troops arrived outside and surrounded the county government office!"

Government troops have surrounded the county government office?!
Could it be that the commander of the Yanzhou Garrison, that soldier, has suddenly lost his mind and is planning a rebellion?!

Upon realizing this, Kong Gongsheng's heart skipped a beat. He abandoned the maidservant, hurriedly dressed, and went out to ask, "What exactly happened?"

The advisor did not answer.

Because a group of government troops stormed directly into the back office.

Kong Gongsheng, being a county magistrate, could tell that these government troops were clearly not local garrison troops—their clothing and armor were far superior, more like the imperial army of the Ming Dynasty that passed through Shandong during the Northern Expedition against the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty!
The leader, however, was a plump old man with a white face and no beard, whose voice was strange and slightly different from that of ordinary people.

"Which one of you is the magistrate of Qufu?"

Kong Gongsheng was still a little dazed and taken aback by the scene before him. He subconsciously replied, "I am Kong Gongsheng. May I ask who you are?"

"My name is Li Gui. I've been ordered to the county office to take Zou Huai away—tell me, where is he being held?"

Our Li Gui?

Eunuch?

Kong Gongsheng finally realized what was happening.

But he couldn't understand how Zou Huai, a tenant farmer, could be associated with a eunuch.

Could this eunuch be a relative of Zou Huai who was separated from him years ago?
Even so, surely a eunuch shouldn't be able to mobilize the emperor's personal guards to do this? There is currently no precedent in the Ming Dynasty for eunuchs leading troops.

Seeing Kong Gongsheng's stunned expression, Li Gui sneered, "Magistrate Kong doesn't want to talk? Fine, let the soldiers spend some time finding it themselves."

Kong Gongsheng snapped out of his daze, his mind racing.

He felt that he must have offended the eunuch in front of him because of Zou Huai's matter, so it would be useless to try to be nice to him again. The only thing to do now was to stick close to the Duke of Yansheng.

He then mustered his courage and shouted, "Wait! This is the Qufu County government office. How dare you take people away at will?! You just said you were acting on orders, but whose orders were you acting on?!"

This surprised Li Gui, who hadn't expected Kong Gongsheng to be so bold at this moment.

He sneered, "Whose orders can a mere eunuch like me take? The Emperor's, of course!"

After saying that, he felt that it had been too long and he didn't know how badly Zou Huai was injured after receiving twenty lashes. If he died because of the late treatment, he would not be able to explain it to the Emperor Emeritus.

He then waved his hand and said, "Take control of these two people in front of you, and the rest of you come with me to the prison to find them!"

When Kong Gongsheng heard about Li Guifeng's imperial decree, he was dumbfounded and couldn't process it for a moment.

How could it possibly be an imperial order?
Surely Zou Huai couldn't possibly have some long-lost relative who managed to climb up to the royal family's level?
By the way, when did the Emperor's personal guards arrive in Shandong? How did they suddenly appear in Qufu?

Although he couldn't understand these problems, Kong Gongsheng realized one thing—he was finished. Zou Huai had the imperial family backing him, and he feared even the Kong family couldn't protect his official position. (End of Chapter)