Ming Jiajing: Starting from Immortality

Chapter 144: Depose Duke Yansheng and kill all the people!
According to the regulations of the Ming Dynasty.

The imperial examination was held every three years, with occasional special examinations.

As a descendant of the sage, Duke Yansheng would supervise the examinations on behalf of the sage. That means that every three years Duke Yansheng would go to Beijing at least once to meet the emperor.

The Yanshenggong Mansion has always been willing to make such long journeys and never gets tired of it.

Every time Duke Yansheng came to the capital, he could take the opportunity to smuggle large amounts of local goods to the capital for resale.

Every time, the Yanshenggong Mansion would prepare dozens of carts of Shandong specialties in advance and take them to the capital to sell.

All labor costs along the way will be borne by the post stations along the way. For such a large freight team, all expenses will be borne by the Ming Dynasty court. The cost savings are more than amazing.

Every three years, the Yanshenggong Mansion hoped to make a fortune by going to Beijing for speculation and profiteering.

However, after the implementation of the Performance Evaluation System, the budgets and expenditures of all government offices in the Ming Dynasty had to be reviewed not only by the Ministry of Personnel, but also by the Embroidered Uniform Guard. Even the slightest mistake could result in the loss of one’s life.

It is true that Duke Yansheng came to Beijing before the imperial examination, which was a custom of the court, but it was an imperial decree for Duke Yansheng to come to Beijing, not an imperial decree for Duke Yansheng and dozens of carts of goods to come to Beijing.

The Yanshenggong Mansion was arrogant. Even though they knew about the existence of the performance evaluation system, they still prepared dozens of carts of goods and headed north.

But this time, all the post stations along the way only allowed Duke Yansheng to enter the post stations, and did not allow the dozens of carts carrying goods to enter the post stations.

Dozens of carts of goods traveled for dozens of days in the wind and sun. The goods were damaged, the people and horses in the caravan had to eat and drink, and half of the profit that could be earned from selling the goods in Beijing was gone before they had even traveled halfway.

By the time they arrived in the capital, they were already in a state of loss, and when they entered the city gate, they suffered an even greater blow.

Commercial tax!

In the past, Duke Yansheng's goods did not need to pay any commercial taxes to the court when they were transported via the post stations. But now, the post stations are not allowed to transport goods, and the goods have become part of normal commerce.

Since it is trade, taxes must be paid, and this kind of large-scale cargo transportation must pay commercial taxes at the city gate.

Shandong has many specialties, but the most precious and profitable ones include the Ten Flavors of Shandong, which are not dishes but ten kinds of medicinal herbs.

Honeysuckle, donkey-hide gelatin, salvia miltiorrhiza, American ginseng, scorpion, toad venom, scutellaria baicalensis, northern adenophora, trichosanthes, and hawthorn.

There are pearls too.

But they are not natural "South Pearls", but artificially cultivated pearls.

In terms of value, cultured pearls cannot compare to natural South Pearls, but they are greater in quantity.

It may not be very valuable in the place of origin, but it is very expensive in the capital. A full pearl can be worth two or three taels of silver. If the quality is better, it can be indistinguishable from the real South Pearl, and even one can be sold for hundreds of taels of silver.

Among the Yansheng Duke's motorcade, there was a large cart loaded with pearls.

A full thousand pounds.

Even without considering the size, if we only count the number of pearls, there are nearly one million pearls, worth at least three million taels of silver.

The city tax officer gave face to the Yansheng Duke's Mansion and did not bother to count or estimate the price of the pearls. He directly set the price at three million taels of silver.

Those dozens of cartloads of medicinal materials were also ordered for three million taels of silver.

According to the court's new commercial tax rate of 1 in 20, Duke Yansheng had to pay 300,000 taels of silver in tax.

But when Duke Yansheng heard that he had to pay taxes of 300,000 taels of silver, he immediately became furious.

For thousands of years, no one has ever been able to take money from the Yanshenggong Mansion.

That's not money, that's the life of Yanshenggong Mansion.

At first, it was the steward of Duke Yansheng's mansion who negotiated with the tax officer. But when night fell, the tax officer still refused to give in, so Duke Yansheng personally went to the scene and made a scene at Zhengyang Gate. The tax officer had no choice but to notify Shuntian Prefecture. The prefect of Shuntian Prefecture called in the Wucheng Bingmasi, and the commander of the Wucheng Bingmasi notified the Jinyiwei.

When the Jinyiwei arrived at the front gate, they arrested people and seized goods in one go without much ado. The young and energetic Duke Yansheng, Kong Shangxian, put on the imperial crown, robe and rhinoceros belt and forced the Jinyiwei to retreat.

After Zhu Qi, one of the Thirteen Guardians of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, arrived, he ordered his men to knock off Duke Yansheng's crown and belt, strip off his Qilin robe and rhinoceros belt, and throw the miserable Duke Yansheng into the Northern Pacification Prison.

The Jinyiwei, who had done their job well, then remembered to inform the cabinet. Zhang Juzheng, Hu Zongxian, Li Chunfang, and Chen Yiqin immediately went to Yuxi Palace to meet the emperor, and also notified Gao Gong who had returned home.

"Arrogant!" Ge Shouli in Gao's mansion was the first to get furious.

Ge Shouli was a native of Jinan City. In the seventh year of Jiajing, he won the first place in the Shandong provincial examination. Fortunately, the Yansheng Mansion, the three elders, and the children raised money for him to study with peace of mind and go to Beijing to take the examination.

In Ge Shouli's heart, the Yanshenggong Mansion has always been a supreme existence. But now, it is deliberately made difficult by a small tax official and insulted by a small Jinyiwei.

This is like slamming the faces of all the intellectuals in the world into the ground.

When Ge Shouli thought of the misery of Duke Yansheng, he felt the same way and was so angry that he trembled all over and could not stand steadily.

Gao Gong noticed that his old friend was abnormal, and hurriedly helped him sit down. After he recovered his breath, he ordered: "Prepare the sedan chair! I want to go to the palace to see the emperor!"

"Yes." Gao Fu accepted the order.

……

Ok Hee Palace.

Zhu Houcong faced the candlelight and looked at the details of the Yansheng Duke's motorcade presented by the Embroidered Uniform Guard, as well as the serious crimes committed by the Yansheng Duke's Mansion over the past hundred years.

The first one is to set up a private court.

There are public halls in the "Yanshenggong Mansion": the main hall, the second hall, and the third hall.

If any member of the Kong family, tenants of the Kong Mansion, temple households, servants, etc. broke the "law", the "Yanshenggong Mansion" could summon or settle the case on its own.

You can arrest anyone by casting a red ticket, and you can hit anyone by pulling a green ticket.

In Shandong, neither the Jinan government office nor the Shandong Censorate office could control the people of the Yanshenggong Mansion.

According to the laws of the Ming Dynasty, setting up a court privately is a violation of the royal law and the crime is punishable by death.

According to the records of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, the private establishment of the Duke of Yansheng's Mansion has a long history. Since the first year of the Hongwu reign, when Confucius' 56th generation grandson was conferred the title of Duke of Yansheng, there have been records of the Duke of Yansheng's Mansion interfering in the trials of cases in Shandong, at the provincial, prefectural, county and county levels.

According to the laws of the Ming Dynasty, all the Yansheng Dukes of all dynasties deserve to be put to death!

During the Chenghua period, Duke Yansheng Kong Hongxu illegally used torture, raped more than 40 prostitutes, and strangled four innocent people to death.

During the Hongzhi period, Duke Yansheng Kong Wenshao annexed land, seized tens of thousands acres of farmland from the common people, and privately killed six of his victims.

During the Zhengde period, the Jiajing period... From Xixue, the 56th generation grandson of Confucius, to Kong Shangxian, the 64th generation grandson of Confucius, there have been nine Yanshenggongs in the Ming Dynasty. The total number of crimes they committed is more than ninety or nine hundred. It is difficult to list them all.

Fifty-nine generations of family slaves, twenty-one dynasties of traitors.

Such people were revered as the top civil servants and literati in the world, and enjoyed worship from countless people. During the imperial examinations, such people were required to worship heaven and pray to their ancestors.

I really don't know if the gods of heaven and earth and our ancestors could bring down any talented people to the Ming Dynasty when they saw something like this being burned incense.

"Issue an order to strip the Duke of Yansheng, investigate the crimes of the Confucius Mansion, and allow the people of Shandong and Jinan to execute the bodies of the Confucius Mansion!"

(End of this chapter)