The autumn wind rustled, and everything withered.
There was not a trace of greenery in Shandong. Unlike the warm winter of the future, the Little Ice Age was beginning in this era. The weather was very cold, especially when the autumnal equinox blew. Of course, people were even colder.
Qufu, the Kong family.
Kong Shangxian sat in the house, looking at the gloomy sky outside expressionlessly. His heart was filled with indignation, unwillingness, and despair.
He had been locked up, or rather, confined these days. He did not know if this was the end of his life.
Seeing someone walking in through the window, Kong Shangxian immediately saw the face, and then he laughed.
Kong Shangxian had not been living well these days. His skin was pale, his pupils were bloodshot, and his hair was disheveled. This made his smile look very ferocious.
When the door was pushed open from the outside, Kong Shangxian laughed even harder.
"Are you here to kill me?" Kong Shangxian stared at the person and said loudly, "Do you want me to exchange my life for yours?"
The person who came was an old man. He looked at Kong Shangxian without the slightest change of expression. It was Kong Wensheng, the most senior member of the Kong family, Kong Shangxian's third uncle.
Ever since Kong Shangxian had been confined, Kong Wensheng had the final say in the Kong family.
"I'm here to tell you three things!" Kong Wensheng said faintly.
"The first thing is that the imperial court has stripped the title of Duke Yan from the Kong family of Qufu. Listen carefully, it's the Kong family of Qufu, not our branch." At this point, Kong Wensheng sighed. "You should know what this means, right?"
Of course, Kong Shangxian knew that this meant that not only his own branch had lost the title of Duke Yan, but the entire Kong family of Qufu had also lost the title.
"The second thing is that from now on, the Kong family of Qufu will regard Kong Shangqi's branch as the legitimate bloodline. They will have the final say in the Kong family.
"The third thing is that the Emperor is gracious and did not punish the Kong family for the sake of the descendants of the Sage."
Kong Wensheng looked at Kong Shangqi and said, "As for your punishment, the family head has already said that you will retire in this courtyard from now on."
When Kong Shangxian heard the first news, he fell to the ground.
Hearing Kong Wensheng mention the family head, Kong Shangxian suddenly raised his head. "You're going to call the family head now?"
After saying that, Kong Shangxian suddenly burst into laughter. Tears flowed out of his eyes as he laughed. In the end, his laughter turned into loud wails.
When Kong Wensheng saw this, he sighed, turned around, and walked out.
From today onwards, the Kong Clan would have to lie low and wait for an opportunity, just like the Southern Sect's Kong Clan.
In fact, the Kong Family now realized that although the Emperor had the intention to deal with the Kong Family, he wouldn't be so ruthless.
This time, the emperor sent Xu De to discuss with him, but it was all ruined by Kong Shangxian. Now, everything was fine.
Outside Qufu, Wang Xijue was sitting in the carriage. He lowered the curtain in his hand and said, "Let's go!"
After the matter in Qufu was completed and the imperial edict was read, Wang Xijue's mission in Shandong was completely completed.
After successfully completing this matter, Wang Xijue could finally heave a sigh of relief.
Now that the matter here was settled, he could return to the capital and go back to handle the matter of opening the vassal ban.
Following the extermination of the White Lotus Group, the government officials and the gentry of the Shandong Prefecture were officially introduced to Shandong.
This time, the local officials of the Shandong prefecture did not shirk the responsibility in the slightest. They were very amiable, and the whole collection process went very smoothly.
At the imperial envoy's residence.
Although the task of collecting taxes was very arduous, so far, everything had gone very smoothly.
The grain had entered the official warehouse, and the silver had also entered the treasury of the tax department. The situation was very good.
In reality, the tax collection system was still the same as before, except that the government officials and gentry were now receiving the grain.
If the people of the tax department were to do everything, they wouldn't have enough manpower.
"Lord Wang, I heard that you are leaving Jinan Prefecture?" Xu De looked at Wang Yongji and asked with a faint smile.
Wang Yongji nodded and put down the teacup in his hand. Then, he said with a smile, "Now that the matter in Jinan Prefecture is over, I am going to Qufu. There are still many hidden lands there. I have no choice but to go!"
After hearing Wang Yongji's words, Xu De nodded. "That's true. Lord Wang, after finishing the matter in Qufu, will you directly return to the capital?"
Both Wang Yongji and Xu De didn't think that Qufu was a problem. Right now, the Kong family was a tiger without teeth. They didn't have the courage or ability to do anything messy.
As long as they went there, they would definitely be able to take it down.
"No!" Wang Yongji shook his head. "After the matter in Qufu is over, I will go to Nanjing."
Xu De was stunned. He didn't expect that Wang Yongji would actually want to go to Nanjing. But after thinking about it, he understood.
If Shandong was settled, then there would be no problem in Henan and Hebei.
But not in the south. The people in the Jiangzhe region were not easy to deal with.
As a major imperial examination province, there were many officials in the Jiangzhe region. It would be very difficult!
However, Xu De didn't think it was a problem. He said with a smile, "Then I wish Lord Wang a smooth journey."
Wang Yongji pondered for a while, then said, "Eunuch Xu, speaking of which, this official still has some matters that I need Eunuch Xu's help with."
"Lord Wang, please speak!" Xu De said as he put down the teacup in his hand.
Wang Yongji didn't beat around the bush and said directly, "This time in Shandong, Eunuch Xu's subordinates from the Inner Factory are very capable. This official will report this to His Majesty. When this official goes to Nanjing, please transfer some of the people from the Inner Factory to me.
"When the time comes, I hope that Eunuch Xu will not be stingy and support me."
Xu De didn't expect Wang Yongji to have such thoughts, but he still nodded and said, "Lord Wang, the Inner Factory belongs to His Majesty, not us.
If Lord Wang can request an imperial edict, I will naturally transfer some people to you. "
On this day, Imperial Envoy Wang Yongji left Jinan Prefecture and headed for Qufu.
The entire Jinan Prefecture became quiet. Xu De was here to thoroughly investigate the White Lotus Society case. In reality, there wasn't much to investigate.
At this point, Wang Shan refused to confess no matter how much torture was used. All he could do was catch a few cats and dogs.
Qufu.
In the main hall of the Kong Clan.
Kong Shangxian looked at Wang Yongji in front of him and felt a headache coming on. In reality, the Kong Clan had almost reached the point where the expressions of the civil officials would change.
Although he knew that although the Emperor didn't punish the Kong Clan on the surface, there would definitely be more in private. He just didn't expect it to come so soon.
"Patriarch Kong, this is the account book of the hidden land that the Inner Factory investigated."
Wang Yongji placed a booklet on the table and said with a smile, "According to the Inner Factory's investigation, the Kong Clan has hidden a total of 1.73 million mu of land, including 860,000 mu of upper farmland and 870,000 mu of middle farmland.
"According to the Imperial Court's regulations, the fine for upper farmland is 40 taels of silver, and for middle farmland is 20 taels of silver. In total, the Kong Clan has to pay 51,800,000 taels of silver!"
As he spoke, Wang Yongji took out another list. "This is the notice of the fine. Patriarch Kong, please take a look.
"The fine must be paid within seven days. Otherwise, the hidden land will be confiscated."
Kong Shangqi was stunned. A fine of more than 50 million taels of silver?
What kind of joke was this? Even if he sold the Kong Clan, he wouldn't be able to get that much money!
The Kong Clan did have a lot of land, but if he were to sell it, he definitely wouldn't be able to get that much money!
Once he started selling it, the price of the land would definitely plummet. Even after the price of the land plummeted, no one would buy it.
All of this land belonged to farmers who had been forcibly seized by the Kong Clan. Most of the land had been donated to the Kong Clan.
The Kong Clan was divided into the Inner and Outer Clans. The Inner Clans were the descendants of the Kong Clan, including the direct and collateral branches.
However, the Outer Clans were bestowed by the Kong Clan. In other words, they weren't originally surnamed Kong, but after working for the Kong Clan, they were surnamed Kong.
These people had a large number of relatives and friends, and their land had all been donated to them.
Although the gentry were very rich and had a lot of land, it couldn't be converted into cash.
The Imperial Court didn't follow this logic and demanded that you convert your land into cash. If you could convert your land into cash, then it would be strange.
Even if you were to sell antiques and antiques, you wouldn't be able to sell them for so much money. Once there was too much of something, the price would inevitably fall.
Wang Yongji didn't care about what the Kong Clan was thinking. He directly said, "Kong Clan Head, I will wait in Qufu for seven days. If the Kong Clan can't pay the fine within seven days, then these lands will become public land."
After saying this, Wang Yongji stood up and walked out of the door with his men.
Although Wang Yongji had left, the Kong Clan was in chaos. Kong Shangqi hastily invited Kong Wensheng over.
Although Kong Shangqi was the current Clan Head, it was impossible for him to suppress all the branches and branches of the Kong Clan.
After listening to Kong Shangqi's report, Kong Wensheng's expression became very unsightly.
"This time, we're in trouble!" Kong Wensheng sighed.
Kong Wensheng pondered for a moment and said decisively, "We definitely can't fork out the money. Let the branches and branches pool their money, then pick some good land to pay the fine. We don't want the rest of the land."
Seeing that Kong Shangqi was still hesitating, Kong Wensheng couldn't help but shout, "At this time, we must be decisive. We can't hesitate!"
After returning to his residence in Qufu, Wang Yongji sighed. He spread out a piece of paper on the table and began to write a memorial. The name of the memorial was: Requesting for Land Distribution!
In fact, Wang Yongji had wanted to write this memorial for a long time. However, there were too many things that had happened before, so he didn't have the time to write it until now.
This memorial was very important to Wang Yongji, but at the same time, he was also very anxious.
The purpose of this memorial was actually very simple. It was aimed at the contributions.
Although many gentry had a lot of land, they didn't buy their land. Instead, their land came from contributions.
The practice of contributions had a long history. Not to mention others, just take Wang Yongji for example. In the past, when he passed the imperial examination, the first thing his clan elders did after congratulating him was to donate all of their land to his name.
A poor scholar became a landlord overnight. It could be said that there was a golden house in the book. Obtaining thousands of hectares of fertile land overnight was not an illusion.
The land that was donated to one's name didn't need to be taxed. Instead, one would rent the land to his clan members to cultivate. The rent was much lower than the land tax.
There were many benefits to this. Every year, one would pay less and receive more.
Gentry could also go from poor to rich overnight through the tax exemption system.