Bringing the Railway to Daming

It turns out that Cheng Ji's secret report revealed a secret about the Kong family's bloodline.

More than a hundred years ago, when Kublai Khan entered the Central Plains, he initially looked down on the "Northern Confucian" Duke Yansheng who had submitted to the Jin Dynasty. He then ordered the Southern Confucian, Kong Zhu, from Quzhou to be appointed as the Duke Yansheng, but Kong Zhu refused the appointment.

Kublai Khan then re-appointed the direct descendant of the Northern Confucian lineage as Duke Yansheng.

Later, in the mid-Yuan Dynasty, the Northern Confucian Academy was embroiled in internal strife over the title of Duke Yansheng, resulting in the extinction of its direct line (the loss of male descendants).

Logically speaking, at that time, a descendant should have been selected from the Northern branch of Confucius to inherit the direct lineage and then the title of Duke Yansheng.

However, the Yuan dynasty made a bizarre move, ordering a young Mongol nobleman to change his surname to Kong and move to Qufu to ensure the continuation of the Kong family line.

If this is true, then the current direct line of the Confucius family in the north are all descendants of Mongols—not that the Ming Dynasty could not tolerate Mongols, but that the Confucius family is an ancient family that values ​​the purity of bloodlines. Throughout history, the direct line of the Confucius family has been granted the title of Duke Yansheng because they possess the blood of Confucius.

But if the direct descendants of the Northern Confucian lineage are not only not Han Chinese, but also have no Confucian blood at all, wouldn't it be a ridiculous joke for the court to confer the title of Duke Yansheng on the so-called "direct descendants of the Northern Confucian lineage"?

After reading it, Zhu Yuanzhang asked solemnly, "Has any concrete evidence been found for this matter?"

Cheng Ji said, "This happened seventy or eighty years ago. All those who knew about it back then are dead. This secret was only discovered by us when we interrogated those servants of the Kong family."

"We searched through all kinds of documents and letters in the Confucius Mansion, but found no evidence."

"I have learned that the Yuan dynasty once selected a noblewoman from Mongolia to marry into the Northern Kong family. That is to say, at least half of the blood in the direct line of the Northern Kong family is Mongolian."

Zhu Yuanzhang pondered for a moment and said, "The fact that the direct line of the Kong family has Mongol blood does not prove anything - in order to recruit members of the Kong family, many dynasties have married daughters of the imperial family to the Kong family. The Yuan dynasty was just following the precedent."

"For the direct descendants of Confucius, the most important thing is whether they have the blood of Confucius."

As an emperor who ruled the country for more than 20 years, Zhu Yuanzhang had a perspective and insight that were different from ordinary people.

He knew that since the chaos caused by the Five Barbarian Tribes at the end of the Western Jin Dynasty, there had been a lot of blood fusion between the Han Chinese in the north and the Qiang, Hu and other ethnic minorities. By the end of the Yuan Dynasty, even among the Han Chinese in the south, there were many who had mixed with the blood of nomadic peoples.

Now, the Ming Dynasty possesses the entire country. Although the majority of its people are Han Chinese, there are also ethnic minorities such as Mongols, Jurchens, Miao, Yi, and Tibetans.

Therefore, the Ming Dynasty could not use the fact that the Kong family had intermarried with the Mongols during the Yuan Dynasty to completely deny the bloodline of Confucius of the Northern Kong lineage.

Unless we can find concrete evidence that the Mongols directly replaced the direct line of Confucius, as Cheng Ji claimed.

In fact, according to the information about the Northern Confucian family that Zhu Yuanzhang found, the Confucian bloodline may have had problems as early as the late Tang and Five Dynasties period, which was known as the "Confucian Rebellion".

At that time, there was a group of people in the Confucius Mansion who originally had different surnames. They were given to the Confucius family as servants by the royal family and their surnames were changed to Confucius. In order to distinguish them from the real Confucius family, they were called "outside Confucius".

These people outside the Confucius family are slaves to the Confucius family for generations, never able to rise above their station.

Later, a servant named Kong Mo, harboring resentment towards the Kong family, took advantage of the chaos of the times to collude with a band of bandits, stormed into Qufu, slaughtered the direct descendants and close relatives of the Kong family, and took over the Kong family mansion under the identity of an outsider, seizing the Kong family property and even claiming to be a direct descendant of Confucius.

It is said that at that time, only one child named Kong Renyu, who was still in swaddling clothes, escaped the disaster because he was taken home by his wet nurse. Later, with the help of the government, the Kong family was reclaimed and the legitimate lineage of the Kong family was restored.

However, some people say that "Kong Renyu" was not actually a member of the Kong family, but the biological son of the wet nurse... If this is true, then neither the Northern Kong nor the Southern Kong of today are descendants of Confucius.

However, just like the secret story of the Mongols taking over the direct line of the Confucius family that Cheng Ji reported, this matter lacks concrete evidence and is merely speculation and rumor...
Zhu Yuanzhang came to his senses and, seeing Cheng Ji still standing in front of him, said, "The Embroidered Uniform Guard can continue to investigate the matter of the Northern Kong bloodline, but they should try to keep it secret and not waste too much manpower."

"It would be good if we could find some empirical evidence, but it's not a big deal if we couldn't—do you understand?"

Although Cheng Ji did not understand why Zhu Yuanzhang did not attach much importance to this matter, he still replied, "This subordinate understands!"

After Cheng Ji left, Zhu Yuanzhang went to the room where the accompanying telegraph team was located, preparing to send a telegram to Zhu Biao to discuss how to manage the Confucius Mansion.

Although the case involving the Kong family has not yet been fully investigated, Kong Ne will certainly not be able to become the Duke Yansheng, and his lineage will inevitably be stripped of its status as the direct descendant.

As for transferring the title of Duke Yansheng from the Northern Confucian School to the Southern Confucian School, Zhu Yuanzhang had to consider whether the Ming Dynasty needed it—in fact, when he founded the Ming Dynasty, he held the Northern Confucian School in contempt while respecting the integrity of the Southern Confucian School. However, he still bestowed the title of Duke Yansheng upon the Northern Confucian School.

The reason is simple: he made this decision as the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, not as an ordinary person.

At that time, although the Southern Confucius had integrity and a purer bloodline, he did not become the Duke Yansheng during the Yuan Dynasty because he followed the Song Dynasty south. He was even in a semi-secluded state. His influence in the Confucian community and even the whole world was far less than that of the Northern Confucius who stayed in Qufu.

Furthermore, the northern lands had been under the control of the nomadic tribes for centuries, and if he wanted to win over the hearts of the Han people in the north as soon as possible, he had to make use of the appeal of the Northern Confucianism—at that time, the Northern Confucianism had considerable influence among the Confucian scholars in the north and among the official families of the Jin and Yuan dynasties, which was something that the Southern Confucianism did not have.

Finally, he also had a consideration that he couldn't tell outsiders.

The Northern Confucian scholars lacked integrity, their bloodline was not pure enough, and most of the Dukes Yansheng throughout history had moral problems. Yet, precisely because of this, the Dukes Yansheng could serve as a convenient figurehead for the court to appease the Confucian community and win over the hearts of Confucian scholars.

If the Duke of Yansheng was truly a morally perfect person, and even possessed great abilities, so that he could be admired and even obeyed by Confucian scholars throughout the land, then where would that leave the Ming Emperor?
Therefore, even if the Embroidered Uniform Guard really found out that the Northern Confucian lineage was inherited by a Mongol and that the Northern Confucian lineage had no Confucian blood, they would not expose it directly. Instead, they would choose to use it as a sword hanging over the head against the Northern Confucian lineage and leave it to the emperors of the Ming Dynasty for generations to come.

However, as the Ming Dynasty promoted and developed science in recent years, Confucianism was suppressed. As a result, the Duke Yansheng was not as important to the court as before, and the potential threat he posed was greatly reduced.

If science and Confucianism were not in a position of equal standing, even if the direct line of the Confucius family were replaced, Zhu Yuanzhang would still have chosen to select someone from the distant branch of the Northern Confucius family to be granted the title of Duke Yansheng, rather than the Southern Confucius family.

But since the title of Duke Yansheng is no longer that important, it would be better to take this opportunity to demonstrate the court's attitude towards rectifying the Confucius family and bestow the title of Duke Yansheng upon the Southern Confucius family.

This incident can also serve as a deterrent to those second- and third-generation nobles who do not abide by the law, so it can be considered a win-win situation.

Zhu Yuanzhang had the telegraph team compile a telegram detailing the current situation of the Confucius Mansion in Qufu, mainly the crimes of Kong Gongzhe and others, and also filled in his initial ideas on how to deal with the Confucius Mansion. Then he patiently waited for a reply from the capital.

Based on his understanding of Zhu Biao's personality, he thought that even if Zhu Biao did not hold the opposite opinion, he would still deliberate for a long time.

To everyone's surprise, the telegraph team received a reply from Zhu Biao within an hour.

The telegram contained the following:

"The wickedness and moral depravity of the direct descendants of the Confucius family are truly disappointing and damage the reputation of the descendants of Confucius. Your Majesty's statement to abolish the right of succession of the Northern Confucius Duke Yansheng and instead confer the title of Southern Confucius Duke Yansheng upon the head of the Southern Confucius clan is something I agree with."

After reading it, Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and muttered to himself, "It seems that Biao'er has also been angered by these people from the Kong family (the direct line of the Northern Kong family)."

At the same time, Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly wanted to ask Liu Kuan what he thought about the matter of the Confucius Mansion.

Unfortunately, Liu Kuan is not in Qufu at the moment, and it wouldn't be appropriate for him to send a special telegram about this matter. If he did, it would probably take a lot of time to go back and forth, which is unnecessary.

As Zhu Yuanzhang stepped out of the room where the telegraph team was located, he asked, "How is Zou Huai's recovery going?"

Li Gui, who was in charge of the matter, said: "Your Majesty, rest assured, he has been receiving treatment at the best medical center in Qufu. His physical injuries have almost healed, but his internal injuries still need to be recuperated for some time."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded. "Let's go see him."

Li Gui led the way, and Zhu Yuanzhang soon arrived at the clinic where Zou Huai was recuperating. It was the largest clinic in Qufu, somewhat like a small hospital.

In fact, many large cities in the Ming Dynasty are now drawing on the experience of the capital to establish hospitals.

However, currently, government-run hospitals are limited to provincial capitals, prefectural capitals, and state capitals. Although Qufu is a large city, it does not have any government-run hospitals. It is quite remarkable that it has such a small private hospital.

When Zhu Yuanzhang arrived, Zou Huai was helping out at the clinic, which shows that he had indeed recovered quite well.

Although Zou Huai did not know Zhu Yuanzhang's true identity, he believed that Zhu Yuanzhang was indeed a high-ranking retired official, and that it was with Zhu Yuanzhang's help that the court thoroughly investigated the various crimes of the Kong family.

Therefore, he had long regarded Zhu Yuanzhang as his great benefactor.

Upon seeing Zhu Yuanzhang, he immediately knelt down and kowtowed, his eyes red with tears, saying, "Thank you so much, Master Huang, for helping me avenge myself!" (End of Chapter)