Bringing the Railway to Daming

Liu Kuan was surprised, and then advised, "That strange fog is ultimately unpredictable and may be dangerous. Why should Your Majesty risk your life with me?"

Zhu Yuanzhang: "Biao'er has encountered strange fog with you so many times without any danger. Why is it that he will encounter danger with us? If he really does encounter danger, it is God's arrangement, and we will not blame you."

Liu Kuan added, “Your Majesty, the strange fog may not necessarily appear. Moreover, based on the pattern of the strange fog’s appearance over the past ten years or so, the intervals between its appearances are getting longer and longer. It may not appear again for the next few years.”

Zhu Yuanzhang said, "Then let's consider it as us going to the bridge across the river to relax together."

Seeing that he could not persuade Zhu Yuanzhang, Liu Kuan had no choice but to say, "Your Majesty, please start early on that day. Just in case, I need to be on the bridge before 7:30 to wait."

"Don't worry, I always get up very early."

After saying this, Zhu Yuanzhang got up to leave.

Before leaving, he added, "This chair of yours is quite nice. I'll have two made and send one to each of us, Biao'er and me."

Liu Kuan couldn't help but say, "Your Majesty, this chair is available for sale among the common people."

Although the furniture of the Ming Dynasty was antique and had its own aesthetic appeal, it was indeed inferior to some furniture of later generations in terms of practicality and comfort. Therefore, Liu Kuan often asked craftsmen to make some furniture for his own use.

After learning about this, Su Caiwei invested in several carpenters and started a furniture factory.

Liu Kuan's "office chair" is considered one of the furniture factory's classic works, and it is also a relatively expensive piece of furniture.

Zhu Yuanzhang was slightly surprised to hear this. "There are some for sale among the common people? How come we've never seen them? Never mind, even if you buy them, you have to give one to me and one to Biao'er."

Liu Kuan had no intention of refusing, so he immediately agreed.

Another day passed, and it was the first day of the eighth lunar month.

After the court assembly that day, before Liu Kuan had left, he was notified by a eunuch to stay and discuss matters.

Liu Kuan then entered the Fengxian Hall and found that Zhu Yuanzhang was also there, in addition to Zhu Biao and Zhu Xiong Ying. This surprised him quite a bit, as he knew that Zhu Yuanzhang had tried his best not to participate in handling state affairs after his abdication.

Unless Zhu Yuanzhang was quite concerned about that matter.

After Liu Kuan bowed to the three men in turn, Zhu Biao spoke first: "Brother-in-law, the court previously revoked the title of Duke Yansheng of the Northern Confucian Academy and gave it to the Southern Confucian Academy, but the court has not yet made a decision on whether to reduce the scale of the Confucian Academy's sacrificial fields."

"What is your opinion on this matter, brother-in-law?"

Liu Kuan guessed that the three of them probably had differing opinions on the matter, which was why they asked for his opinion.

Liu Kuan first asked, "Your Majesty, how much sacrificial land does the Confucius family currently possess?"

Zhu Biao: "Currently, there are a total of 2,700 hectares of sacrificial land and 300 hectares of school land."

One qing is equivalent to one hundred mu in later times. That is to say, the Confucius Mansion now has about 300,000 mu of sacrificial land and school land.
This is probably the largest landowner in the world today, apart from the royal family.

Liu Kuan clicked his tongue inwardly in amazement.

He then asked, puzzled, "May I ask Your Majesty, why did the court grant the Confucius family so many sacrificial fields in the first place? Sacrificial fields, as the name suggests, should have their income used for worshipping Confucius, right? Why was so much needed?"

At this moment, Zhu Yuanzhang coughed and said, "Back then, it was we who issued an edict to grant the Northern Kong family two thousand hectares of sacrificial land—Emperor Xuanzong of Tang once granted the Kong family one thousand hectares of sacrificial land, so we naturally cannot be stingy."

"As for the cost of worshipping Confucius, it is indeed quite high. According to the current rules, the Confucius Mansion worships Confucius on major and minor festivals and even on some special days, sometimes dozens of times a year."

"Of course, the output of hundreds of thousands of acres of land is more than enough to cover dozens of sacrificial ceremonies. As for the remaining output, it will naturally be used by the imperial court to support the descendants of Confucius."

After Zhu Yuanzhang finished speaking, Zhu Xiong Ying also spoke.

"Teacher, some people believe that the reason why so many morally corrupt and even criminal individuals have emerged from the direct line of the Northern Confucian family is mainly because the imperial court's policy of patronage is too excessive."

“They do nothing all year except worship Confucius, yet they control hundreds of thousands of acres of land and the livelihoods of tens of thousands of tenants. How can they not harbor many evil thoughts?”

"Therefore, in order to prevent the Southern Confucian Academy from repeating the same mistakes, perhaps the matter of worshipping Confucius should be handed over to the imperial court, leaving the Southern Confucian Academy with only the title of Duke Yansheng and paying him a salary annually."

Although Zhu Xiong Ying said that some people thought so, Liu Kuan guessed that it was mostly Zhu Xiong Ying's own idea.

He pondered for a moment, then said, "Holding the Confucian sacrifice ceremony dozens of times a year is indeed excessive. As for the moral depravity and numerous crimes of the Northern Confucian lineage, it is certainly related to their control of hundreds of thousands of acres of sacrificial fields." "Even if the imperial court sends someone to manage the sacrificial fields, who knows if corruption won't arise?"

"Therefore, my idea is to reduce the number of times Confucius is worshipped and to reduce the scale of the sacrificial fields. In later generations, Confucius was worshipped at most once or twice a year, so dozens of times is really an exaggeration."

"Secondly, the matter of worshipping Confucius can be entrusted to the Southern Confucian Academy, but the sacrificial fields need to be supervised by the court, and the imperial censors should be sent to inspect the Confucius family for any illegal activities on a regular basis."

"Furthermore, regardless of whether they are Southern or Northern Confucian scholars, since they are descendants of Confucius and enjoy his legacy, they should bear corresponding responsibilities—in addition to studying Confucian classics, they also need to have a relatively high level of morality."

"Leaving aside those from the branch families, if any members of the direct line of the Kong family in the north and south have moral problems, they must be removed from the direct line; if any members of the close branches or other branches have morally corrupt individuals, they must also be removed from the genealogy."

After listening, Zhu Xiong Ying was visibly pleased, because he felt that Liu Kuan's words clearly leaned towards his own ideas.

Zhu Biao felt that as long as the authority to perform the sacrificial rites to Confucius remained in the hands of the Duke of Yansheng, there would be no problem, so he nodded and said, "My brother-in-law's suggestion is good."

At this point, Zhu Yuanzhang asked curiously, "Liu Kuan, aren't later generations supposed to focus on science? Why are you also worshipping Confucius?"

Liu Kuan smiled and explained, "Your Majesty, the worship of Confucius by later generations is a purely commemorative activity—that is, to commemorate Confucius himself, and does not represent anything else."

"In fact, many places in later generations will worship local historical figures. This has both commemorative significance and the intention of developing tourism."

At this moment, Zhu Xiong Ying had a sudden thought and asked, "Teacher, since the Northern Kong surrendered to the Jin and Mongol Yuan dynasties, did the Northern Kong surrender to the Qing dynasty when our Great Ming dynasty fell in history?"

Liu Kuan did not expect Zhu Xiong Ying to ask about this matter.

He said, "Your Highness the Crown Prince is both right and wrong."

Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Biao, and Zhu Xiong Ying were all curious upon hearing this. Zhu Xiong Ying asked, "Why do you say that, teacher?"

Liu Kuandao said: "When the Ming Dynasty fell, the direct line of the Northern Kong family did not simply surrender to the Qing, but took the lead in actively surrendering to the Qing. At that time, Kong Yinzhi, the Duke Yansheng conferred by the Ming Dynasty, had just heard that the Qing barbarians had entered Beijing, and hurriedly sent a 'Memorial of Initial Submission' to actively express that the Northern Kong family was willing to submit to the Manchu Qing."

"When the Qing government issued the 'shaving order' in the second year of the Shunzhi reign, and many Han gentry across the country rebelled against the Qing, Kong Yinzhi led the Northern Kongs to shave their heads and change their clothes without hesitation, and grew a money-rat tail braid."

"Furthermore, a memorial entitled 'Memorial on Shaving Heads' was submitted to the Qing court, expressing support for the 'Shaving Head Edict'..."

Upon hearing this, even Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Xiong Ying, who harbored deep prejudices against the Northern Confucian scholars, widened their eyes in surprise.

Zhu Biao was no exception.

They knew that the Northern Confucianists had no integrity, but they never expected them to be this shameless!
After regaining his senses, Zhu Biao couldn't help but say, "With such behavior from Bei Kong, isn't he afraid of being ridiculed by the world as a traitor?"

Zhu Yuanzhang shook his head upon hearing this, "Biao'er, you still haven't seen through the true nature of the Northern Confucianists? They surrendered to the Jin and the Mongol Yuan, weren't they originally traitors?"

Zhu Xiong Ying then said, "The Northern Confucian scholars are so eager to surrender to the Qing Dynasty. Could it be because they were able to inherit the Confucian family name and the title of Duke Yansheng because the Jurchens took control of the Central Plains?"

Zhu Yuanzhang said, "We think that's probably the case. Otherwise, even if Kong Yinzhi was certain that the Manchus would take over the country, he should have maintained some restraint for the sake of his reputation."

Liu Kuan then laughed and said, "I think that the reason why Kong Yinzhi surrendered so readily is that the Manchu Qing and the Jin were both Jurchen regimes is very small. The main reason is that the Northern Kongs were used to surrendering readily."

Are you used to surrendering readily?
Zhu Yuanzhang and his two companions pondered this statement and all agreed that it made a lot of sense.

Liu Kuanze said: "Later generations used four words to describe the style of the Northern Confucian scholars: 'They have been writing surrender documents for generations.'"

"In fact, Bei Kong was not only active in surrendering to the Qing at the end of the Ming Dynasty, but also very active in surrendering to others at the end of the Qing Dynasty."

"At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Empress Dowager Cixi declared war on all nations, and then the Eight-Nation Alliance landed at Dagu Port and marched into Beijing, burning, killing, looting and attacking all the way."

"At that time, the Qing Dynasty's Duke Yansheng, Kong Lingyi, then brought in a portrait of King Edward VII of England with great fanfare and enshrined it in the Kong Mansion."

"A few years later, Kong Lingyi once again brought in a portrait of German Emperor Wilhelm II to be enshrined in the Kong Family Mansion with great fanfare."

"Decades later, when the Japanese invaded China, Kong Lingyu, a descendant of the Northern Confucian, surrendered to the Japanese. He took a close photo with the Japanese invaders while wearing Qing Dynasty official robes and even accompanied them to the Confucius worship ceremony."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Biao, and Zhu Xiong Ying were once again dumbfounded.

They thought that the Northern Confucian scholars' active shaving of their heads and surrender to the Qing at the end of the Ming Dynasty was already a significant step down, but they never expected that the Northern Confucian scholars would go even lower at the end of the Qing Dynasty! (End of Chapter)