Master Yuan, start!

When Kong Lingyi saw this familiar silk cloth, his eyes fixed.

How could this thing appear here? What happened in the Kong Mansion?

Yuan Xiangcheng didn't care what Kong Lingyi was thinking. He stretched out the silk cloth and read aloud:

"In the summer of 1885, the French New Year, the west wind began to blow, and the people of China were governed; the French throne lasted forever, and all nations admired the rooster's achievements.

I respectfully pay my tribute to Napoleon, who was sincere in his decree of Heaven, and who inspired the royal army to save the world and the country, and to fight against violence and bring peace to the people.

Established the hegemony of France and restored the glory of Paris; crushed Austria in the east and resisted England in the north.

As events unfold, I have heard that the great French general Courbet is touring China, spreading his divine glory. I, your humble servant, would be grateful to you for your father's protection, and while awaiting trial in the imperial court, I offer you a small gift of grain to help with his food and rations.

"May the President bestow his grace upon me, and allow me to be immersed in the wise teachings of great scholars like Rousseau and Voltaire, and to be imbued with the virtues of France. I shall be most grateful to you, and I respectfully submit this memorial, even at the cost of my life."

After the words were read, the people were still a little confused and didn't know what was said, but the scholars heard it clearly.

This is a letter of surrender, a letter of surrender to the French!

Zhang Taiyan, who was in the crowd, had eyes filled with rage, and he wished he could go up and slap Kong Lingyi a few times.

The French had just landed in the north six years ago, but I didn’t expect that the Confucius Mansion had already written a letter of surrender. It really is the Confucius Mansion that writes letters of surrender.

Tan Sitong also found it a little unbelievable. How could the Kong family write a letter of surrender to the French? They were foreigners!

He was not unaware of the Kong family's historical integrity, but he always felt that the Kong family should treat foreigners differently.

After all, foreigners cannot understand Chinese, so it is impossible for the Kong family to kneel down to them, right?

But unexpectedly, the Kong family still wrote a letter of surrender, and judging from the time, they wrote this letter of surrender before the foreigners attacked the capital. How could they kneel so quickly?

He no longer cared what others thought. Kong Lingyi was thinking frantically in his mind, just wanting to get rid of suspicion as soon as possible.

"Master Yuan, you're probably having a fit of hysteria," Kong Lingyi said, forcing himself to remain calm and sneering, "Just based on this forged letter of surrender, you're going to sentence someone to death?"

Although Kong Lingyi didn't know how Yuan Xiangcheng got the letter of surrender under the heavy protection of the Kong Mansion, fortunately there was no fingerprint on it, and it was not written by him personally, so he planned to deny it as much as possible.

"At this point, you still refuse to admit it?" Yuan Xiangcheng stepped closer.

"I, Kong Lingyi, will never do such a thing as selling out my country for personal gain!"

Dad: "Well, well, well, you are indeed a descendant of Duke Yansheng!"

2 Yuan Xiangcheng didn't expect that the Kong family would be so shameless and still refused to admit it.

He put the silk cloth away and picked up the photo.

"Stop talking nonsense. How do you explain this photo?" Yuan Xiangcheng held up a photo with a huge face.

In the photo, the young Kong Lingyi was standing in front of a meter-high oil painting of Napoleon crossing the Alps.

Kong Lingyi was already sweating profusely, but he still managed to defend himself:

"Well, I was only 12 years old at that time, not yet an adult, so how could I know who this person was? It's just that I bought this painting from a foreigner at a high price, and I took a photo with him as a souvenir!

It was only later that I learned that this person was Napoleon, the French Emperor, and that he was not disloyal to the court.”

Yuan Xiangcheng was furious when Kong Lingyi kept saying "young" and "forged". He immediately flew into a rage and said, "Kong Lingyi, what are you trying to say now?

A man of your stature, dares to do it but not to take responsibility for it? "

Hearing Yuan Xiangcheng's angry shout, Kong Lingyi stopped defending himself and fell to his knees with a plop:

"Great Sage Master, I, your descendant Kong Lingyi, truly did not do this. I don't know why I am being falsely accused of this today. It truly brings shame to our ancestors!"

After saying that, he kowtowed three times, his forehead and face covered in blood.

Such a clumsy performance was full of loopholes in Yuan Xiangcheng's view.

However, Kong Lingyi's performance deceived the people outside the hall. Even Tan Sitong, who had been a little confused just now, became shaken after seeing this bloody performance.

There was a constant chatter outside the hall, some supporting and some questioning. The tablet of Confucius was not moved up in vain, it did play a role.

Many people felt that even if Duke Yansheng divorced his wife in court without regard for their feelings, it could only be considered a lack of personal morality.

But to say that he surrendered to the foreigners would be too serious.

Yuan Xiangcheng took in everyone's expressions and knew that this was not enough. He needed more solid evidence. Only then could he completely ruin the reputation of the Kong family.

In fact, he could have used force to capture Kong Lingyi and escort him to the capital. He could even have deposed him on the pretext that Kong Lingyi had previously disrespected the emperor.

But what happens after he is abolished? He is still not strong enough to fight against the feudal forces across the country.

What Yuan Xiangcheng wanted was not to replace another Yansheng Duke, but to have no more Yansheng Duke in the world!

Therefore, he must thoroughly criticize the Kong Mansion and the Kong Family in the field of cultural public opinion. Only in this way will the title of Duke Yansheng no longer exist in the future.

Seeing that the situation had reached a stalemate, the sound of horse hooves gradually came from outside the government office. The sound of Herod stopped at the door. More than a dozen people holding young children, and one of them had a foreigner dressed as a priest tied behind him, dismounted and rushed into the government office.

"Master Yuan, the children have all been found!"

Kong Lingyi's expression changed drastically: "What child?"

"Of course it was the Kong family who colluded with the French church to sell the children!" Yuan Xiangcheng was overjoyed. He hurried over and finally caught up. He immediately shouted, "Kong Lingyi, the evidence is here. Are you still denying it?"

It turned out that when Ming Ye and Lu Tian were searching for the surrender letter in the Confucius Mansion a few days ago, they accidentally found several letters from the French Church.

In addition to words of concern, it also said that there were a few more young children in a certain county or village, and asked bishops across France to pay more attention.

Lu Tian simply followed the instructions in the letter and captured one of the French bishops. This was the second bishop he had captured.

After the bishop was captured and interrogated strictly, a shocking inside story was discovered.

It turned out that when the French attacked the capital, the Kong family contacted the local French church in Shandong, and the surrender letter was written at that time. Although the French army was defeated in the end, the Kong family did not break off this connection.

Later, France occupied Taiwan and Xiamen. Seeing that the French were gaining power again, the Kong family reconnected with the French Church.

However, the Kong family was reluctant to give money, and the French were not very interested in money. So this time, they catered to the French's wishes and provided the French with a list of young children from all over the country, and covered up the church's trafficking of young children for missionary work.

After Yuan Xiangcheng learned the news, he immediately ordered the personnel of the Red Search Section to lead the National Defense Army to attack everywhere and bring back the abducted children on the list.

Finally, the fatal blow to the Confucius Mansion was delivered.

Yuan Xiangcheng took the letter containing the child's information from Ming Ye and said loudly:

"In the 14th year of the Guangxu reign, I provided clues about the baby boy in Sishui County to the Yanzhou Gospel Association."

"In the 14th year of the Guangxu reign, two young children from Fei County were sent to the Bishop of Yizhou"

"In the fifteenth year of the Guangxu period, six boys and six girls from Qizhou, Jining were sent to the bishop of Jining"

Yuan Xiangcheng read out the whereabouts of nearly a hundred people, but saw only a dozen people being brought in.

Needless to say, the remaining children must have met with an accident.

"All these things happened after you came of age, Kong Lingyi, do you dare to say you didn't know?"

"Also, even if you didn't write the letter of surrender, why didn't you report the photo of you and the French emperor to the court, but instead kept it privately at home?"

"Kong Lingyi, are you going to follow the teachings of the Chinese sages, or spread the gospel of God to the foreigners?"

"Are you the Chinese Duke of Yansheng or the French Archbishop?!"

Yuan Xiangcheng shouted at Kong Lingyi in a stern voice, which made him look as cold and gray as if he had lost his parents.

With the young child here and the bishop tied up, Kong Lingyi knew he could no longer escape and collapsed to the ground.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, I am a loyal subject!"

"I was confused before, but now I really want to be loyal to the court!"

Kong Lingyi knew that he could not get away from the kidnapping of young children to please the French Church.

The surrender letter could be said to be fake, and the photo taken could be said to be due to his youth and ignorance, but his collusion with the French Church was enough to nail him to the pillar of shame.

In just a few minutes, the situation was reversed. Arthur Morgan in the hall and the common people and scholars outside were all stunned.

Just now, it was still "I, Kong Lingyi, am a descendant of Duke Yansheng, and the innocent will be innocent!"

Now, he doesn't even want to argue, he just cries out for injustice.

However, after being surprised, the people came to their senses and were mostly filled with anger.

Because, whether it was the Kong family submitting a letter of surrender to the French, or taking a photo with Kong Lingyi and the French Emperor, these things had nothing to do with people's livelihood and did not harm the people's vital interests.

For them, there is no real pain.

But if you talk about the kidnapping of children, even the dumbest farmer in the countryside will grab his hoe and curse, "You bastard who's going to kill off your family line!"

After a long silence, the angry people finally couldn't control themselves and rushed into the hall, punching Kong Lingyi.

"Master Yuan, Master Yuan, help me!"

"I am a loyal minister, Master Yuan, please quickly report to the Emperor that I am a loyal minister!"

"I will immediately issue a manifesto to denounce the Southern Imperial Court. My Kong family will offer a million taels of silver, just to be loyal to the court!"

Until now, Kong Lingyi still believed that Yuan Shikai was following the order of Emperor Guangxu to capture him, the Duke of Yansheng.

After all, the imperial court wanted to reform the country and launch a new policy, and the railways, telegraphs, and shipping involved in the new policy all required money, and he knew all this.

Kong Lingyi naively thought that it was the emperor who put the idea of ​​making money on the Kong family.

However, Kong Lingyi's voice was soon drowned out by the angry shouts of the people, and gradually became weaker and weaker.

The contemporary Duke Yansheng, the 76th direct descendant of Confucius, met the end of his life in the fists of the people.

Chapter 164: Competition for a Job

The Governor-General of the Three Northeastern Provinces, Yuan Xiangcheng, submitted a memorial to the emperor accusing the current Duke Yansheng of secretly communicating with the south, colluding with foreigners, and trafficking children. The memorial was sent to the capital half a month later.

Following it were several carriages. The first one contained the body of Duke Yansheng Kong Lingyi, and the rest contained the accomplices who were found.

Duke Yansheng is dead.

As soon as Yuan Xiangcheng's report arrived in the capital, the recent shortage of silver was no longer the focus of discussion, and everyone was busy thinking about how to deal with this difficult matter.

"Your Majesty, Yuan Shikai's inaction led to the death of Duke Yansheng from the mob. I request that he be dismissed and investigated to set the record straight."

As soon as Weng Tong came up, he severely criticized Yuan Xiangcheng.

Guangxu's brows were furrowed, his chest heaving, and he looked quite uneasy.

Guangxu did not feel much about the death of Duke Yansheng. He just felt that he had let out a sigh of relief, because the Kong family had offended the court more than two months ago.

After Guangxu came to power, he naturally wanted to bring about a new atmosphere, so he started surveying along the Jinpu Railway.

Starting from Tianjin, we headed south through Zhili, across Shandong, and all the way south to the north bank of the Yangtze River in Jiangning City.