Aspiring to the Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 350 Interest Intertwined
Qufu.

When Lu Duosun stepped into the county, his mood was quite agitated.

This small county is one of the birthplaces of Chinese culture. Confucius was born here, Yandi, Huangdi, Shaohao's old capital, Yin Shang's old country, Zhou Hanlu capital all testify to the profoundness of Qufu.

Stepping into the county seat, Ludoxun felt like a pilgrimage.

The county town is very prosperous, and most of the people who come and go are scholars.

They are either in brocade clothes and jade belts, or in the dusty world, and their faces are filled with a bit of solemnity.

Lu Duosun frowned slightly, noticing a slight strangeness.

He didn't say anything, but found a full restaurant and walked in.

Seeing that Lu Duoxun was dressed luxuriously, holding a folding fan and wearing a jade pendant around his waist, the waiter in the shop looked like a nobleman, and warmly greeted him.

Ludoxun said, "Are there any seats?"

The waiter in the shop responded immediately: "There are seats, you have to share a table with others."

"No problem!" Lu Duoxun signaled the waiter to lead the way.

Came to the second floor and shared a table with a young man in his twenties.

Lu Duosun ordered a few small dishes at random, and greeted the young man across from him, exchanging a few pleasantries.

During the conversation, Lu Duoxun learned that the young man's name was Lin Xi, who was from Cangzhou, Hebei Province. He went out to study and came to Qufu to worship Confucius. He had stayed in Qufu for five days.After preparing meals, take a trip to Mount Tai to see the magnificence of Du Fu's poem "you will be the top of the mountain, and you can see all the small mountains".

Lu Duoxun's witty conversation and extensive knowledge quickly attracted Lin Xi's favor, and they chatted together.

Lu Duosun said casually: "I'm just here for the first time, and I hope brother Lin can give me some pointers."

Lin Xidao: "Brother Lu, is it to meet like-minded friends? Or is it to worship the sages?"

Lu Duoxun said: "Sacrificing sacrifices comes first, making friends second."

Lin Xiying said: "You can go to the Confucian Temple in the city for ordinary sacrifices. If you want to sacrifice in front of the tomb of the most holy Lin Kong, you have to do it on the first lunar month. The descendants of the sages will organize sacrifices. Brother Lu can just wait. As for making friends, the Confucian Mansion There will also be two literary meetings every month, and anyone who wants to participate can participate."

Lu Duosun asked: "Do you need to pay money?"

Lin Xi said with a smile: "Except for the incense money, all the expenses will be borne by the Confucian family. Don't worry, brother Lu. This Confucian family is worthy of being the empress of the sages, and they are very friendly to our generation of scholars. Brother Lu will know after staying for a day or two , even if there is no introduction below, Brother Lu will not miss any places to visit."

Lu Duoxun clasped his fists and said, "Brother Xie Lin give me some guidance."

After lunch, Lu Duoxun wandered the streets and alleys, chatted with roadside vendors and teahouse owners from time to time, quietly asked about the situation in Qufu, and his impression and attitude towards the Kong family.

The result was the same as that of Lin Xi, the Kong family had a great reputation in Qufu, shopkeepers and street vendors all spoke highly of the Kong family.

The scholars I met were just average. There were many descendants of the Confucian family in the county who acted as guides and introduced everything about Qufu warmly and cordially.

No wonder Lin Xi would say that sentence.

Like ordinary people, Lu Duoxun first went to the Confucian Temple to offer sacrifices and offer incense.

The incense in the surrounding area was more expensive than that in Bianjing, but within acceptance, Lu Duoxun happily paid for it, and worshiped respectfully.

Lu Duosun visited the Confucius Temple, walked out of the city, and went to the fields outside the city.

At this time, the autumn harvest is over, and there are not many farmers and people in the fields.

Only a few people are sorting the straw, intending to transport it back home and use it as fuel.

Lu Duosun started chatting with a simple commoner on the grounds of asking for water.

"Old man, how is the harvest this year?"

The elderly people said happily: "Thanks to the good people, the harvest has been bumper for several years in a row, and there is more and more hope."

Lu Duoxun's expression moved slightly, and he asked, "A good man?"

The elderly people said: "It is Mr. Kong who gave us the rice seeds in the field, and the amount handed over is not much. We have no worries about food and clothing. We are able to have today, thanks to the benevolence of Mr. Kong."

Lu Duosun said with a smile: "I have long heard that Mr. Kong is a benevolent man with a radius of hundreds of miles. This trip is to pay a visit to the benevolent man. The imperial court issued an order to equalize land and re-set taxes. Life should be better. .”

The elderly people were dissatisfied: "If you are referring to the one from the previous dynasty, hey... no wonder, if you want to destroy the country, you will be a foolish king. If you don't destroy it, then God has no eyes."

The common people don't understand anything, they just know that cursing the former government is politically correct.

The elderly people naturally scolded Guo Rong.

Lu Duoxun didn't answer, and asked a few more questions he wanted to know, then returned to the city, and found an inn to stay.

Lu Duosun summed up today's harvest with a solemn face.

Throughout Qufu, Lu Duoxun did not hear anyone speak ill of the Kong family.

This situation is extremely abnormal.

In particular, what the tenant farmers scolded Guo Rong was even more unreasonable.

Guo Rong is very capable in political reform, and he really loves the people like a son, and he pays special attention to people's livelihood.

During his reign, he promulgated benevolent policies again and again. The people of the world should be grateful to Dade Cai. How come he is called "faint monarch" in Qufu?
There must be a problem with this.

Lu Duosun was not fascinated by the situation in front of him, but had a deeper understanding of the reasons for all this.

Bit by bit, Ludoxun figured out all the interests of the peace in Qufu.

For a moment, Ludoxun didn't know how to describe his mood, he could only say it was an eye-opener.

Lu Duoxun returned to Bianjing, immediately entered the palace to meet Luo Youdu, and presented the results of his own investigation.

Lu Duoxun's investigation was extremely detailed, and he wrote a report of the elder, which was as long as [-] words and covered all aspects of Qufu.

Luo Youdu carefully read each word carefully, frowning slightly, the more he looked at it, the more he was amazed, and the more he looked, the more he admired him. He couldn't help laughing and said: "What a Kong family, he has earned all the fame. This If you don't go into business, it's really a waste of talent. Just like that, do you really have the face to ask for tax exemption?"

Judging from Lu Doxun's report, the entire economy of Qufu was driven by the Confucian family, to be precise, Confucius.

The status of Confucius in the hearts of scholars is detached.

As long as you really understand the deeds of Confucius, you will have a heart of admiration for the sage who wandered in the flames of war and the most holy teacher who pioneered the concept of teaching without distinction.

Qufu has naturally become a holy place for younger generations to look up to.

The Kong family holds various activities with their unique advantages.

They do not charge any fees, so that every scholar who comes to the "appearance" will come and return with great interest.

Are the Kong family really that great?
of course not!

Scholars who travel from south to north eat and live in Qufu. All the expenses stimulate the economy of Qufu and affect the people's livelihood in the county.

The wealthy gentry and merchants who benefited the most are naturally willing to give up some profits to the Kong family so that they can hold various activities in the long run.

A huge chain of interests, win-win for each other.

Scholars are satisfied, gentry and businessmen are satisfied, and all kinds of small merchants in the city are also satisfied. The Kong family is famous and profitable...

In this case, Luo Youdu is not easy to criticize.

After all, the Kong family relied on their own ability to use the influence of their ancestors to drive Qufu's economy and benefit the local people.

The imperial court is also a party to benefit.

Just like the monk temples of later generations, people rely on their skills to make money, start companies and enter real estate.

What can be said?
Just a few words of complaint.

Continue to look down and see questions about fields.

Luo Youdu laughed mockingly: "It really is."

If the contribution of the Confucian family in promoting Qufu's economy and people's livelihood is beyond reproach, what they did in the fields is a heinous crime.

Completely exploited loopholes in the law...

Zhou Taizu Guo Wei sympathized with the heavy losses suffered by the Confucian family during the Five Dynasties turmoil, and granted the Confucian family a tax exemption system.

This is originally the admiration of the superiors for Confucius and the sympathy of the Confucius family.

However, the Kong family took advantage of the tax exemption and obtained a large amount of land in Qufu County.

Seventy percent of the farmland in Qufu County is under the name of the Kong family.

There is no forced buying and selling here, nor is there persecution of the people.

It was the local people who voluntarily donated their land to the Confucius family.

In order to block the mouth of the world, the Kong family bought it with a small amount of money, which is almost the same as giving it away.

Of course the common people are not stupid, it is profitable.

The Kong family enjoys the right to be tax-free. If the land is in the name of the Kong family, there is no need to pay taxes to the court.

The land tax collected by the Confucian family was only [-]% of that of the imperial court.

This also means that as long as the land is donated to the Kong family, the people only need to hand over a small amount of grain to the Kong family every year.

It is also the reason why the people hated Guo Rong after Guo Rong revoked the Kong family's tax exemption qualification.

As long as the common people live well, they don't care about the big reason.

The Kong family collects less tax, which means the Kong family is good.

Guo Rong's new policy made the people lose their land and pay more taxes, which is naturally Guo Rong's problem.

The Kong family's behavior is to take advantage of the loopholes in the law, to exchange the interests of the court for their interests and to buy people's hearts.

Luo Youdu thought of the later Ming Dynasty.

How did the Ming Dynasty die?

There are many reasons, among which Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di's preferential treatment of scholars and literati is one of the reasons.

Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di originally sympathized with the hardships of scholars and gave them various tax-free treatment.

As a result, unintentionally, a huge group of literati and gentry was raised. They sucked the blood of the country, controlled the power of the country, fed themselves, but hurt the country...

As a result, more than half of the emperors of the Ming Dynasty devoted their minds to the struggle with the literati group.

Because the emperor had no money, it all went into the pockets of literati.

The same is true of the Kong family.

If there are more Confucian families, wouldn't it be the same as the Ming Dynasty?
Luo Youdu said: "[-]% of the land in Qufu has been occupied, and the remaining [-]% should be owned by the gentry! They have no ability to occupy it, and they still have to be exempted from taxes. Is this to cross the border?"

What he said is right. Historically, the Kong family has been reaching out to the fields of neighboring Jining and Caozhou since the Song Dynasty.

The situation of the Kong family confirms a saying: hooligans are not to be feared, but they are educated.

Did what the Kong family did violated the law?

No!

Instead of breaking the law, they won the hearts of the people and were loved by everyone in Qufu.

Similarly, they also forgot their original intention. Qufu is surrounded by interests. Except for the Kong family, few people pay attention to reading.

Most of the scholars who come and go in Qufu are foreigners, and there are very few local scholars.

　Thank you book friend Chen Ermao for your reward, thank you for your support!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)