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Page 107
When it came to Zhao Yan, you went silent. You even dared to come and ask for the title of Duke Yansheng. Isn't that just courting death?
So you, the Confucius family, think that just because Han Chinese entered the capital, they didn't need to submit a surrender document? Or perhaps you fundamentally don't recognize Zhao Yan as the legitimate successor of the Chinese dynasty?
The Kong family even dared to dream of something like bestowing the title of Duke Yansheng. A large group of veterans who fought alongside Zhao Yan all the way have not received a title yet, and Zhao Yan himself has not even declared himself emperor.
How dare your Kong family be so arrogant as to want to become the only "Duke Yansheng" in all of China?
The sins committed by God can be forgiven, but the sins committed by oneself cannot be lived.
Zhang Mingqi could only arrange a better position for the Kong family in the reformatory because he had studied the classics for two days.
After the top two leaders of the Republic made their decisions at the same time, and with the joint efforts of the Ministry of Taxation and the Ministry of National Defense, and the Ministry of Finance handling the aftermath, no one could stop what happened next.
As for the reaction of scholars across the country, Zhao Yan and Zhang Mingqi were not too worried about it. Judging from the current national civil service examination pass rate and number of students admitted, scholars had long since put the Confucian family aside.
When the Qing Dynasty abolished the imperial examination system, the Confucius family didn't utter a single word. Now that the Republic has raised the national civil service examination pass rate to a terrifying 90%, nobody cares about the fate of the Confucius family anymore.
How appealing is a civil servant's salary of 3.5 yuan a month? Now even clerks have a chance to become county magistrates, so there are plenty of opportunities for scholars. If Zhao Yan hadn't been alive, the most prominent figure in the Confucian Temple would probably be the statue of the head of state.
The core interest of scholars is still "excelling in learning leads to officialdom." Whoever can get them into officialdom is the boss, and everything else is just fluff.
If the Kong family truly wielded such immense influence, then all emperors throughout history should have been surnamed Kong.
After the brief meeting in the Imperial Study, Zhang Mingqi led Yu Jingqian and then called over the Minister of Taxation, and together they went to the Ministry of National Defense to find Wang Chongshan.
When they arrived at the Ministry of National Defense, they happened to run into Sa Zhenbing. Hearing that Zhang Mingqi had a chance to make a fortune, Sa Zhenbing refused to leave, saying that the Navy should also get involved.
Wang Chongshan was so angry he laughed. This was the suppression of an illegal cult, not the Battle of Marineford. What business was the navy getting involved in?
Sa Zhenbing stated that the Marine Corps is on standby at any time. Although the Navy has not yet established a Marine Corps, as long as there is money to be made, it is no big deal for sailors to go ashore and become monks.
Thus, the most difficult part of the 1909 campaign to eliminate organized crime and evil forces in the Republic came. No one was worried about whether or not the campaign could be successful, but how to distribute the fruits of victory after it was over was the most difficult part.
Zhao Yan deliberately had the Prime Minister's Office and the Ministry of National Defense do this, not because Zhao Yan was really stupid enough to believe that the monks of Shaolin Temple were invulnerable to swords and spears, but because he wanted to distribute the benefits evenly.
National development is not just about economic development; the military must also keep up. When there are opportunities to make money, we must not forget the old brothers who have risked their lives for us.
Zhao Yan has never forgotten his promise that "glory will never be enjoyed alone."
If the Prime Minister's Office were to handle it themselves, the money would all go into the Ministry of Finance's account, and it would be extremely difficult for the Ministry of National Defense to get it out. So it's better to let them discuss it clearly from the beginning.
After Zhang Mingqi and Wang Chongshan, these two generals and ministers, met, there was no harmony between them; instead, they argued heatedly and refused to give an inch.
Zhang Mingqi insisted on a 30/70 split, but Wang Chongshan ignored him completely. A 30/70 split was a privilege reserved for heads of state; Zhang Mingqi didn't have that kind of face. It would be a miracle if he didn't split it 30/70 with him; at the very least, it would be 50/50.
Even the old man Sa Zhenbing, relying on his seniority, stood up to support Wang Chongshan. No matter how big the differences were between the mainland and the navy, at least when facing civil officials, the mainland and the navy were one.
Zhang Mingqi angrily rebuked Wang Chongshan for his wishful thinking, saying that this was not a war and what the military intended to do with so much money. He added that even if the military and the Ministry of National Defense recently confiscated "local military assets" from below, none of them went to the Ministry of State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission; instead, the Ministry of National Defense continued to hoard them.
Zhang Mingqi was envious and had no intention of giving the Ministry of National Defense any more opportunities to make money.
Wang Chongshan stated that the Ministry of National Defense faces numerous difficulties in liquidating its "fixed military assets." Although housing and land prices are currently high due to the early stages of industrialization, the influx of so many assets is overwhelming for anyone. It would be better to have tangible cash and material assets in hand.
When the two sides couldn't reach an agreement, they had no choice but to compromise and accept their gains. The Prime Minister's Office took the lion's share, with all the proceeds from the anti-gang campaign going to the Prime Minister's Office's treasury. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister's Office took the gold coins found by monks in the religious sector.
The Ministry of National Defense is responsible for dealing with the Confucius family, while the military generals are responsible for dealing with the sage of literature. It's like a scholar encountering a soldier, where there's an element of mutual restraint.
The two sides agree not to interfere with each other, but the Prime Minister's Office needs to "borrow" the Ministry of National Defense's command of the garrison troops in the eighteen provinces within the Great Wall for this crackdown on illegal criminal cult organizations.
Wang Chongshan disagreed, stating that the Ministry of National Defense could coordinate with local garrison commanders to cooperate with local government actions, but they should forget about having command authority!
Chapter 181: He didn't kill them, but he killed them anyway!
A single move can have far-reaching consequences. What was originally just a rebellion by the chieftains of western Sichuan unexpectedly brought annihilation upon the lords and monks of the Tibetan Plateau.
The suppression of the rebellion on the Tibetan Plateau was merely a casual topic of conversation among the eighteen provinces within the Great Wall. The Confucian family and monks within the Great Wall were unaware that the gold and silver transported from Tibet to the capital would provoke the central government, leading it to harbor murderous intentions towards them as well.
Zhao Yan is not like the Jiajing Emperor. When the Jiajing Emperor was short of money, he liked to play the role of a riddle teller, standing behind the scenes and hoping that his subordinates would both take the blame and make money for him.
When Zhao Yan ran out of money, he would look around with red eyes, ready to take down anyone with money. His subordinates would work themselves to the bone to make money, and he would take all the blame!
After the central government made its decision, the underground departments acted discreetly and swiftly.
Now, whether it's the document management system or the national defense system, the top leadership's sense of secrecy is ingrained in their bones. Since the "bloody New Year's Eve," the top leadership's awareness of secrecy is stronger than anyone else's.
After all, corruption and bribery still offer a chance to be sent to a reformatory, but leaking secrets and betraying the country means being shot by heavy machine guns at the execution ground. Whether it's internal or external, all high-level actions and all insiders keep their mouths shut.
The Ministry of National Defense issued an order to the garrison commands of the eighteen provinces within the Great Wall, requiring the garrison commanders to cooperate with the local governments in carrying out actions. However, no one knew what the specific actions were or who the targets were, and the higher authorities had not specified.
The First Army Group of the National Defense Forces stationed in Baoding, North China, received orders to proceed to the Jining area of Shandong to await further orders. At the same time, the Qingdao Naval Base Command also received orders to dispatch 2,500 naval officers and soldiers ashore and stationed in Pingyi County, Shandong.
Three thousand officers and soldiers from the Shandong garrison also received orders from the garrison command to be stationed in the Qufu area for "stability maintenance".
The Prime Minister's Office began issuing a series of decrees, including "Notice on the Special Campaign Against Organized Crime and Gangs This Year," "Draft Religious Law," "Rectification of Local Religious Affairs Regulations," "Notice on Cleaning Up Illegal Private Financial Businesses," and "Notice on Eliminating Illegal Tax Evasion and Tax Avoidance."
Many provinces within the Great Wall have received veiled orders from higher authorities that a joint financial and tax working group from the central government will soon be stationed in each province. Local governments are not allowed to interfere with the working group's normal operations and must provide all necessary cooperation.
During the period when the financial and tax working group is stationed in each province, the police departments must respond to the working group's orders immediately and effectively maintain stability in certain areas of society.
After a series of actions, the local authorities had no idea what the higher-ups were planning, let alone what would happen next. All they knew was that they were given various notices to organize all kinds of data files and hand them over to the working group. As for the rest, they were told not to ask questions!
Previously, the incident of Hunan Province intercepting all the embezzled funds from local governments greatly angered the central finance and taxation departments. This time, the central government is on high alert and is not giving local governments any chance to intervene.
The achievements can be left to the local government, but all the money must be taken away!
Zhang Xinghua, the usually astute Minister of Supervision and acting governor of Hunan Province, seemed to have figured something out and even wanted to send someone to get involved in the matter in his capacity as Minister of Supervision, but was sternly stopped by Zhang Mingqi himself.
This time, Zhao Yan couldn't take sides. The Prime Minister's Office and the Ministry of National Defense, blinded by greed, wouldn't recognize anyone but money.
Zhang Xinghua tested the waters regarding the power struggles between civil officials and the military, but after assessing the situation, he dared not get involved.
There were also many underhanded dealings between the military and civilian officials. The National Defense Army dispatched a field division to approach Dengfeng City, Henan Province, under the guise of an "annual exercise." Just one hour after the Prime Minister's Office learned of the news, Zhang Mingqi invited Wang Chongshan to have tea for a full hour. In the end, the field division hastily canceled the exercise plan and withdrew to its post.
The civil service was also causing trouble. The Ministry of Culture sent a working group to Qufu to "investigate and record" traditional Confucian cultural heritage. The people from the Confucius family in Qufu were waiting to welcome them at the county border, but when the working group's horse-drawn carriage was passing through Mount Tai, it was kidnapped by "unidentified people" and its whereabouts were unknown. The investigation was forced to be canceled.
The Kong family was completely baffled. How could someone dare to kidnap an imperial envoy? This person was even bolder than the Kong family themselves! The key point was that the higher-ups didn't say a word and simply canceled the operation. Who on earth was this hero? The Kong family wanted to get to know him and see if they could cooperate.
Even more bewildered than the Confucius family was the Shaolin Temple in Dengfeng. Just a couple of days ago, the military had included the Shaolin Temple in its exercise area, saying that it was going to conduct an important military exercise.
The abbot of Shaolin Temple quickly went to find the local mayor. This sacred Buddhist site must not be allowed to be invaded and cause trouble by reckless soldiers.
Unexpectedly, the government took action that very day. It was the financial and tax working group sent down from the central government that took action, getting the police to arrest several officers who were soliciting prostitutes, and also deploying a large number of police officers to drive away military vehicles.
Even the abbot of Shaolin Temple couldn't understand it. Was the local mayor really that powerful? How could he act so quickly and even get an imperial envoy to solve the problem?
The abbot of Shaolin Temple wanted to personally visit the working group that had helped them so much, hoping to build a relationship with the "imperial envoy" and see if he could continue to be protected.
But the work group didn't even see him, only replying, "Just stay inside the temple and don't move. We're just here to buy some oranges!"
On April 18, the military couldn't hold back any longer, and the Ministry of National Defense announced that the annual exercise codenamed "Three Feet High" originally scheduled to be held in Dengfeng would be moved to Qufu.
The military expects to deploy a total of 40,000 troops from the First Group Army, the Marine Corps of the North Sea Fleet, and the Shandong Garrison to participate in the exercise. The purpose of the exercise is to test the feasibility of joint sea and land operations and the ability of local garrison forces to cooperate with the national defense forces.
That night, the heroes that the Kong family wanted to befriend stormed into the Duke Yansheng's mansion with open arms, and all roads leading to the outside world in Qufu County were militaryly blocked.
In Shandong and even parts of Hebei, wherever the Kong Family Manor exists, it has been placed under military control.
The soldiers under the Ministry of National Defense acted simply and brutally. They had considerable experience in this area and launched the first attack on the core Confucius Mansion. The Shandong garrison mobilized all its troops, and it took three thousand men to barely surround the Confucius Mansion.
There was no way around it; the Confucius Mansion was just too big. It covered an area of seven or eight hectares, almost like a small city, with more than five hundred halls, pavilions, towers, and rooms inside.
This is a nine-courtyard complex! And it has a three-section layout! It has three halls and six rooms, completely modeled after the Three Ministers and Six Ministries, making it a mini-central government.
The Confucius Mansion also contains various artisan workshops, granaries, silver treasuries, and even military treasuries, making it almost a well-defended city.
In terms of sheer scale, the Confucius Mansion is even more impressive than a prince's mansion, second only to the Forbidden City.
But no matter how powerful they were, it was useless. This time, the Confucius Mansion was not facing a peasant uprising army, but a heavily armed garrison, and behind the garrison was a national defense army with cannons loaded!
However, in order to minimize the impact, the military only allowed the garrison troops to test the waters first.
Three thousand garrison troops surrounded the Kong family mansion in the dead of night, but no one expected that Kong Lingyi, the current head of the Kong family, would personally open the main gate with his men and stand up to reprimand Lieutenant Colonel Zhang Zongchang, the commander of the attacking garrison troops. Upon meeting him, he immediately began to curse him.
Old Zhang was stunned by the scolding and almost didn't react. After he came to his senses, he immediately pressed down on Kong Lingyi and ordered the troops to break in through the main gate that Kong Lingyi had opened.
The First Army Group, which was waiting in the rear and ready to move out at any time, was dumbfounded when it received the news. Who is this person? How could he be so stupid? Three thousand troops surrounded the mansion in the middle of the night, and you actually opened the door and went out to curse. If you didn't know better, you would think that you were Confucius, who was nine feet six inches tall and could lift the city gate!
The garrison company didn't even need to use the explosives they had prepared, and the heavy machine guns weren't even set up yet, when the commander personally led his men to break down the door.
After rushing in, the servants of the Kong family, holding wooden clubs and machetes, thought bandits had come and wanted to resist. But when they found out that it was a heavily armed garrison, they all wilted. Many of the garrison soldiers were veterans with a murderous aura. Even without firing a gun, they could kill these people with bayonets.
The Kong family members were awakened in the middle of the night and found that the army had entered their house. They could only cry and sob. Facing the cold muzzle of the gun, none of them dared to resist and obediently sat on the ground.
Zhang Zongchang led the garrison and took control of the entire Confucius Mansion in just one hour. The only casualty was that a soldier's face was scratched by a young lady from the Confucius family.
The dozen or so key figures in the Kong family were forced to kneel in front of the ancestral hall, beneath the portrait of Confucius, surrounded by heavily armed soldiers.
It was only then that Zhang Zongchang realized that the powerful members of the Kong family had not cut off their queues. What was going on? The Republic had been established for several years, and they still dared to keep their queues?
Kong Lingyi knelt before the portrait of Confucius, his mouth stuffed with a rag, yet his face was still full of anger as he muttered curses.
Zhang Zongchang was too lazy to waste words with the dead. These people hadn't even cut off their queues, so this was a death sentence. They probably wouldn't even be able to get into a reformatory.
Although the Republican government never ordered the entire nation to cut off queues, nor did it restrict anyone's hairstyle, it was all left to individual freedom.
But after Zhao Yan entered the capital and finished the war in the Far East, no one dared to keep their queues anymore. Even the most stubborn old Confucian scholars who claimed that their bodies and hair were given to them by their parents, all obediently shaved their heads after hearing that Zhao Yan had personally led the army and killed more than 100,000 people.
The fact that these members of the Kong family are still wearing queues is enough to classify them as remnants of the Manchu Qing dynasty, and they are definitely going to be executed by machine gun.
Have you found the Kong family genealogy?
"Report! We've found them! They're all here!"
"Wow, so many? How long will this killing go on?"
Zhang Zongchang looked at the huge pile of family genealogies that his subordinates had carried onto the table. It was almost five times the size of the "Chen Jinnan Martial Arts Manual." How many people must there be?
One of the knowledgeable people explained, "Sir, most of them are dead; the rest are the living."
When the Kong family members kneeling there heard Zhang Zongchang's exclamation, they immediately collapsed. These soldiers actually wanted to kill people according to the family genealogy. This was simply Huang Chao reincarnated!
Throughout history, who has ever dared to use the family genealogy of the Duke Yansheng to commit murder? Even the Manchus didn't dare. How could these people dare?
After obtaining the family genealogy, Zhang Zongchang felt half relieved. Having the genealogy made things much easier. This was based on the experience of the National Defense Army: the clearing should be done in a planned and orderly manner. After the city was breached, the first thing to do was not to look for people's bankbooks, but to look for their household registration books.
After receiving news that the Confucius Mansion had been successfully taken over, the First Army Group and the Marine Corps organized 5,000 troops and arrived at the Confucius Mansion in Qufu at lightning speed to take over the follow-up.
The family genealogy information was quickly distributed to various departments, and the next step was to exterminate the entire family. The National Defense Army had its own procedures; first, the entire family had to be sent on their way in perfect order before one could collect the gold coins in peace.
First, exterminate the entire family, then confiscate their property. Do it one thing at a time, without rushing or making a mess of things.
After receiving all the reports, Lieutenant General Du Zihua, the supreme commander of the exercise and commander of the First Army Group, understood that the overall situation was settled and immediately telegraphed the Ministry of National Defense to request instructions on the next steps.
Not long after, the order came from above, but it wasn't from Defense Minister Wang Chongshan; it was from Zhao Yan himself.
Zhao Yan was furious when he heard that the people of the Confucius family were still wearing queues. He immediately issued an order: "Heaven cherishes life. All the people of the Confucius family who do not have queues shall be sent to a reformatory."
Those who wear queues should not be killed, but they should not be spared either; they should be given a coffin and buried with dignity.
Lieutenant General Du Zihua was completely baffled by this directive. He couldn't kill him, nor could he spare his life. He was given a coffin and a dignified burial. What did this mean?
Du Zihua was too lazy to think about it, so he simply handed the original instructions to Zhang Zongchang and let the kid handle it. Zhang Zongchang had fought alongside the leader in the Battle of Mobei, was very quick-witted, and had even been personally praised by the leader. He should be able to come up with a solution.
Upon receiving the order, Zhang Zongchang immediately understood it. He wasn't even this clever in battle, but he always had quick wit in matters like this.
Zhang Zongchang searched for more than 130 coffins overnight. When that wasn't enough, he bought more than 500 straw mats from ordinary people to make up the difference.
The next day at dawn, in front of all the people of Qufu, nearly seven hundred direct male descendants of the Confucius family, led by Kong Lingyi, were stuffed alive into coffins, while the rest were simply wrapped tightly in straw mats.
Then they asked the people of Qufu to dig a mass grave for a thousand people. The people immediately understood what it meant. They had no enthusiasm for other things, but when it came to this, the people of Qufu gritted their teeth and worked hard.
The military didn't conduct any unnecessary public trials, and the local people didn't have time to listen to that nonsense. Everyone knew what the grudges were, and the speed of their actions proved everything.
Zhang Zongchang was dumbfounded. The speed at which the civilians dug the pits was even faster than the speed at which their field army dug fortifications. In just one morning, tens of thousands of civilians from the surrounding area rushed over, bringing their own tools and dry rations to help dig the pits. The pits were dug in just four hours.
Zhang Zongchang didn't hesitate and immediately ordered the coffin to be buried. The coffin was nailed shut with several layers of nails. The people supervised the whole process, and some even threw in manure and insects. The straw mats were also secured with wire, tied seven or eight times at the top and bottom.
All the coffins and straw mats had names written on them in calligraphy. When they were thrown in, the names had to be checked against the family genealogy, with each name read aloud and a circle marked. The process was rigorous and there were no mistakes.
After everything was thrown away, the people, without being ordered, voluntarily began to backfill the earth, patting it down after each shovelful.
Finally, Zhang Zongchang gave a concluding speech: "Everyone, please watch carefully!"
“Our National Defense Forces only care about property, not people. We didn’t kill a single person from the Kong family. Heaven and earth bear witness. His Majesty is kind-hearted and unwilling to commit murder, so he gave these members of the Kong family a chance to reflect.”
"If they reflect on their mistakes, repent, and crawl out on their own, then all their sins will be wiped clean!"
"If they can't climb out, everyone can testify that it's none of our business! They died on their own! We didn't kill them!"
Chapter 182 The Buddha's compassion touches and enlightens the world!
The military's annual exercise, codenamed "Three Feet High," was swift and successful. Civilian officials, upon receiving the news, were not to be outdone. It was one thing to be inferior to the military in combat, but if they couldn't even outmaneuver the military in terms of land extortion, then the civilian officials might as well give up and go home to grow sweet potatoes.
Early the next morning after the military exercise began, the central government's financial and tax working groups stationed in various locations headed straight for the temple with various pieces of evidence collected through reconnaissance, as well as accounts of the target's assets and other property.
The finance and taxation working group from Dengfeng region led its members to Shaolin Temple at dawn. The abbot of Shaolin Temple was still asleep when he found his bedside surrounded by burly men.
At first, the work group was wary of the various reputations of Shaolin Temple and ambushed 1,800 armed soldiers from the Henan Provincial Garrison at the foot of the mountain.