Chapter 327 Conflict of Confucius House (1)

The sound of the wooden stick entering the flesh kept reaching Tang Feng and others' ears, making them frown. Finally, Tang Feng couldn't help but say, "What happened? Why did the Kong family also start to abandon literature and practice sticks through martial arts?"

Ge Wei heard what Tang Feng said was funny, but he had to endure it. He said with great difficulty: "Sir, this is not the martial arts of the Kong family, but the implementation of the family law. I believe that someone in the mansion has committed something in today, so he was punished in the backyard. Perhaps it is because of this that he delayed coming to see you."

"The Kong family is so brave. My grandfather is the imperial envoy. He came to him with a noble reputation to give them great face. Not only are they not grateful, but they are also so arrogant. It's really outrageous!" Lu An immediately said angrily when he heard this.

Tang Feng also frowned and said, "Although the Kong family has been regarded as Yan Sheng Gong throughout the years, is it too much for them to lynch people? This is not that troubled time, nor is it during the Former Qin Dynasty. Some people violated the law and should be dealt with by the yamen. Why don't you, the county magistrate, know how to take care of it?"

Ge Wei immediately showed a bitter look when he heard this: "Sir, you don't know anything. What you said is not wrong in ordinary prefectures and counties, but there are always exceptions in everything. There are many places in the Ming Dynasty that allowed such matters to be handed over to the master's house, such as some vassal residences, some people who were granted titles, and those servants committed crimes to the fullest of the master's face. The same is true in the home of Yan Shenggong..." The more he spoke, his voice became smaller, because he found that Tang Feng's face had sunk.

"What a bold aristocratic family. I just think that the power of the aristocratic families after the Tang Dynasty was almost gone, but now it seems that it is not the case." Tang Feng thought with a calm face. In fact, he was influenced by some history books and had a wrong understanding of the aristocratic families. Yes, before the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the power of the aristocratic families could shake the foundation of the country. It was the golden age of these aristocratic families. However, since the imperial examinations appeared, poor families also had the way to enter the court to become officials, greatly impacting those aristocratic families that had controlled the regime and the officialdom for hundreds of years. Many original aristocratic families also fell into decline, which led to the famous poem "In the past, the king and Xie Tang, the swallows flew into the homes of ordinary people." But this only means that ordinary scholars have the right to speak and the power to be officials, and not all aristocratic families are finished.

By the Ming Dynasty, because Zhu Yuanzhang took care of his descendants, those relatives became larger aristocratic forces, even better than before. They were able to deal with the people in their jurisdiction at will, and no one dared to be angry or speak out. The Kong family was becoming increasingly domineering in this atmosphere and almost no longer took the king's law seriously. Because all officials were scholars and always respected Confucius, every official who went to Qufu as a county magistrate turned a blind eye to their actions and let them violate the law without stopping them.

After Ge Wei told Tang Feng about the current family, he bowed to Tang Feng: "And the Kong family has the status of a duke, and no one will sue him if he killed a few servants. I only think that it has not happened. In addition, the Kong family never treated the governor even when they were facing the governor, and even the governor wanted to kneel down to Yan Shenggong, so it is normal for him not to come to see you first."

Tang Feng felt a little sick. Although he knew that this world was so unfair, he still felt angry after hearing the Kong family's domineering arrogance: "These guys who don't know if they were the descendants of Confucius here to harm the village in the name of their ancestors, and even the imperial officials were not taken seriously. Since I saw it, I couldn't ignore it!" Once he made up his mind, Tang Feng immediately stood up and shook the hem of his clothes and said, "Let's go and see how the Kong family executed it!"

Ge Wei wanted to stop him, but when he saw Tang Feng's determined look, he stopped and was secretly happy. To be honest, as the county magistrate of Qufu, he was very angry with the Kong family, but he could not do anything to them at a low position. Now he could use the hand of the Emperor Tang to teach them a lesson. It was because of his considerable resentment towards the Kong family that Ge Wei said so much just now.

At this time, on an open space in the backyard of the Kong family, a young man was forcibly pressed on a big rock. Behind him were two people swinging their arms and holding wooden sticks as thick as their arms, greeting his back and buttocks. Not far away, there were more than a dozen wealthy people wearing sable fur coats. They were the masters of the place. Among them, the white and fat middle-aged man in his forties, who looked overly drunk and overly sweet was the current Yansheng Gong Kong Xingxie. A ragged old man and a skinny old horse lying beside a pond not far away were the man. Seeing that the man was still moving, there was still a large pavilion of blood under his body, and it seemed that he was dead.

After hearing that the man was beaten fifty times, Kong Xingxie said, "Stop, do you know that my Yansheng Duke's family is powerful now, and you still dare to talk nonsense? If you beg for mercy and admit your mistake now, I can spare your life."

The young man was already dying after being fifty sticks, but after hearing what the other party said, he seemed to have strength again. He turned around and said, "What's the fault? Your Kong family killed my father for no reason, which was because of the Ming Dynasty's law!" At this point, he suddenly had a great force on his body, and he actually broke free from the Kong servants who pressed him and rushed towards Kong Xingxie. Looking at his hideous face and blood-red eyes, he seemed to want to strangle the Yan Shenggong to death.

"Bold!" The two servants behind him shouted when they saw this, and the red paint stick in his hand whipped on the young man's back with the sound of wind. "Bang! Touch!" Two sounds were the sticks on the person's body, and the other was the person who was beaten to the ground. At this time, he was still several feet away from Kong Xingxie.

However, Kong Xingxie was still frightened by this moment, and a fire broke out in his eyes: "I still want to spare your life, but I didn't expect you to be so ungrateful. Since that's the case, I'll beat you to death here!"

The two servants immediately pulled the young man back to the stone again and wanted to be executed again. At this time, a 15 or 16-year-old boy next to Kong Xingxie said, "Dad, isn't this cruel? The book says to treat people with kindness?" But it was Kong Xingxie's youngest son Kong Yuyuan. The other people also looked unbearable, but they were not as brave as the boy and did not dare to speak.

"Hmph, these untouchables do not understand the words of the previous saints at all. Talking about benevolence to them is like playing the piano against a cow. What they can understand best is these punishments. Come on, continue to beat me, and throw him and these two corpses out!" At this point, Kong Xingxie turned around and left. Although he did not take these naughty lives seriously, he did not want to see people beaten to death alive.

After responding, the two servants were about to continue their executions. But before they could lift the stick over their heads, one of them heard a loud voice saying, "Stop!" With this angry shout, several people walked over with great strides. It was Tang Feng and others.

As soon as Tang Feng arrived here, he heard Kong Xingxie's remarks that he did not regard the people as human beings. Now that he saw that he was going to beat the person to death, his anger could no longer be controlled. After walking out, he grabbed the big stick from one of the servants in order to prevent them from stopping as they wished. The other person's stick had long been snatched by Lu An, who was like the wind.

Kong Xingxie didn't expect that he would be interrupted when he was executed in his yard. He couldn't help but be furious and turned around and looked at the people who came: "Who are you? How dare you trespass into my backyard?" He saw that among these people, Ge Wei, the county magistrate of this county, was there, so he quickly guessed the identities of Tang Feng and others: "It turned out to be the imperial envoy, Lord Tang. I wonder what you did to suddenly stop my business?"

"Because of human life!" Tang Feng looked at Kong Xingxie with his eyes: "You are taking human life away. Even if he is your servant and slave, you have no right to kill him alive! Do you still have the king's laws in your eyes?"

Seeing that Tang Feng was only twenty-five years old, Kong Xingxie's respect in his heart was reduced a little bit. After hearing what he said, he even laughed: "The people in my mansion are my property. I will deal with him as much as I want. Do you still use the imperial envoy to make a case? Also, I am the king of the country, and you are just a small official without a title. How dare you be so rude and not bow down to salute!" As he said that, he looked at Tang Feng with his eyes.

But who would have thought that Tang Feng looked at him without any hesitation, and he looked dissatisfied: "You are arrogant! What kind of Duke is just a false reputation. I am an imperial envoy, and it represents today. Your little Duke is so arrogant and wants me to kneel down to you. What a courageous one! You should kneel down and admit your mistake!"

"Ah..." Kong Xingxie then remembered that the other party was an imperial envoy, representing the emperor, and indeed he was much bigger than his duke who had only a name but no power, and his face turned pale. In fact, he had seen many imperial envoys, but no one really wanted to kneel down by himself. After all, he represented the scholars in the world, the most saint of the great success. Because of this habit, and Tang Feng's sudden appearance angered him, he completely forgot this point. Now that he thought it through, he really didn't know what to do. Kneel, he was dissatisfied, and he was afraid that something would happen, Kong Xingxie was stunned in this way.
Chapter completed!