Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 567: Changes in the Confucius Mansion (1)

The examination in the fifth year of Zhaowu came to a successful conclusion. A total of 472 people were selected as the top three candidates of the imperial court. In the palace examination, Meng Jun selected Chen Bangkang, a native of Ganzhou, Jiangxi as the top scorer, Yu Chenglong, a native of Yongning, Shanxi as the second place, and Liu Zhenyuan, a native of Dongyang, Zhejiang as the third place.

Meng Jun had some impression of Jackie Chan in his memory. He seemed to be a very famous minister during the reign of Emperor Kangxi. However, times have changed, and Meng Jun would not deliberately promote him, but would act according to the system. Perhaps his achievements in the future would be greater than his original history, or perhaps he would just be like everyone else.

Students who pass the imperial examination will go to various parts of the country under the arrangement of the Ministry of Personnel and serve as the foundation of the Qian Dynasty's rule.

In May, Wu Jinkun in Jiangnan wrote to the court, saying: "The land survey in Jiangnan has been completed."

As the saying goes, good words cannot persuade a damned ghost. From the fourth year of Zhaowu to the fifth year of Zhaowu, there were also resistances from the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River, but overall, not even a wave was raised.

The more serious incident was caused by the rebellion of two people from Liyang, Zhu Youxian and Qi Santai.

Zhu Youxian claimed to be the grandson of Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty. He swore an oath to lead an army in the villages near Liyang and gathered more than 300 ignorant people.

On the second day after the uprising, Zhu Youxian ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor. He then conferred titles on his meritorious officials, including 26 dukes, marquises, a total of more than 60 people, and generals at all levels. He then appointed Qi Santai as the general of all troops, as if he was going to restore the Ming Dynasty.

After the commotion, Zhu Youxian led 300 men from all over the country and attacked Liyang City with great momentum.

As a result, Wu Chuan, the magistrate of Liyang, dispatched twenty yamen runners. Zhu Youxian's troops were afraid of the runners' power and were defeated. A total of more than thirty people, including dukes, marquises, earls, and generals, were captured.

All in all, this was a farce. Apart from Wuchuan who was rated as top-notch in the evaluation that year, only Zhu Youxian and Qi Santai were beheaded. As for the ignorant people who went to the battlefield with him, Meng Jun ordered local officials to severely reprimand and educate them. Apart from that, Meng Jun did not impose any other punishment.

Although the reforms of surveying land in Jiangnan, allocating taxes based on acreage, and requiring officials and gentry to pay taxes together were criticized by local gentry, most of them did not dare to resist.

Seeing that the situation in Jiangnan was stable and the results were remarkable, Meng Jun was very pleased. He immediately issued an edict, deciding to promote the new system throughout the country.

The imperial edict said: "Since ancient times, the prosperity of a country has depended on the abundance of its people, while the poverty or wealth of its people has actually depended on the fairness of its taxes and labor service. Now the imperial court is determined to eliminate the evils and promote the good, survey the land, distribute the tax on each acre, require officials and gentry to pay taxes together, distribute taxes and labor service equally, and reduce taxes and levies. This will be implemented throughout the country."

When the imperial edict was spread to various places, most of the gentry had accepted their fate. After all, the emperor had even taken away the place where they had built their fortunes. How could they have the courage to go against the court's national policy?

For a time, letters from various places came in like snowflakes, all praising the new system of the court. In the memorials, they recorded all kinds of good things, saying that after the local areas were surveyed, the fields were well managed and in order, the officials and gentry were united, the tax burden was fair, and the people's lives were happy and peaceful.

Meng Jun seemed very happy, but he did not dare to fully believe these words. Therefore, after reading another long and boring letter of reporting achievements.

Meng Jun directly issued an order in plain language: "From today onwards, all memorials submitted by local governments to the capital are not allowed to contain generalities, but must be meaningful!!!"

In response to reports from various places, Meng Jun transferred Wu Jinkun as the inspector of Shandong, and ordered Lu Ping of the Qingluan Guard to lead a team to protect him. He then selected officials from the Imperial Inspectorate to go to various places to inspect the details of land survey. In order to be more accurate and to prevent the inspectors from colluding with the local authorities, Meng Jun ordered the Qingluan Guard to secretly investigate the local areas.

………………

Confucius Mansion, Qufu, Shandong.

At this time, the amount of land owned by the Confucius Mansion was far more than Shandong alone. It spanned several provinces and the total area of farmland reached more than 800,000 acres.

At this time, the former aristocratic families had long disappeared from the Qian Dynasty, and only the Kong family could be regarded as the longest-lasting aristocratic landlord.

Such as Yuncheng, Juye, Shouzhang, Fanxian, Wenshang, Zouxian, Yangqiao, Juye, Caozhou, Dingtao, Puzhou, Yutai, Zouxian, Dong'e, Ziyang, Jining and so on, these places have hereditary lands of the Kong family.

Instead, the Kong family also had nearly a hundred factories, government-run farms, and private farms. The goods produced by the Kong family did not need to pay taxes, and their industries were widely distributed, such as dividing the family property, selling, mortgaging, purchasing, and reclamation.

Like the vassal states of the Ming Dynasty, with the fall of the Ming Dynasty, the land would be nationalized. However, the Kong family was not affected by the change of dynasties. The rewards and favors from successive dynasties gradually made the Kong family a large family that did not have to pay taxes.

The sources of such a vast amount of land are, first, the reward from the state; second, the seizure by local officials in the name of running schools and worshiping saints; third, taking advantage of natural disasters and man-made disasters to forcibly buy or defraud the farmers' land in disguised form; and fourth, direct occupation and unreasonable swallowing up.

As the saying goes, the grace of a gentleman will decline after three generations and be cut off after five generations. However, the Kong family has been spoiled by successive dynasties.

At this time, Duke Yansheng, Kong Xingxie, was the 66th generation grandson of Confucius. He was only eleven years old and not yet an adult. Therefore, the person in charge of Duke Yansheng's mansion at this time was Kong Xingxie's mother, Tao.

Tao sat behind the curtain, listening to her brother talk.

Tao Chongping, Tao's younger brother, said to his elder sister Tao: "Sister, if the imperial court's system of allocating land tax to each acre is implemented in Shandong, not only our family, but also the foundation of the Shengfu for generations will be severely damaged!"

Tao said kindly: "The court has changed its system, and the Tao family will follow the court's orders. The family only has a few thousand acres of land, so there is no need to worry too much."

Tao Chongping said anxiously: "Sister, if all places implement the system of equalizing the land tax, I am afraid that the court will do something unfavorable to the Holy Palace..." When he said this, Tao Chongping lowered his voice unconsciously.

Tao shook her head and said, "The land of the saint is very important. The court is aware of it. The land of the saint's palace is used to worship ancestors. In the past few years, the court has not given any rewards, which has caused complaints from scholars all over the world. How can the court collect taxes? As for the officials and gentry paying taxes and serving in the army, isn't this even more of a joke? Do the direct descendants of the saint have to perform corvée labor?"

Tao Chongping said uneasily, "Yes, that's what he said, but the emperor has not given any reward to the Holy Palace. The year before last, he conferred the title of Duke Yansheng with a dry decree. Even the 1,000 rolls of silk per year in the previous dynasty were revoked. It can be seen that the emperor is probably a little dissatisfied!"

Tao was calm and said calmly, "It's just a thousand rolls of silk. Even if the court doesn't give it to us, it's enough for us to save it. As for the reform, don't worry. It won't be able to be changed into the palace of the saint, unless the scholars in the world stop reading the saints' books!"