Ming Dynasty: Zhu Biao's younger brother, the most rebellious son in history

Chapter 106: Sharpening the knife to attack the Kong family!
"That's right, a fight to the death!"

"The Ming Dynasty is too bullying. They actually sent so many people. Why doesn't Aunt Amaterasu punish them!"

There are Japanese devils and Han people on Wuji Island. Compared with the Japanese devils who are nervous and collapsed and are determined to fight to the death, the Han leaders are more confident.

There is no other reason, because they are members of the Kong family. Not to mention that the person who came is a marquis, even if it is the current emperor, he has to give some face to Duke Yansheng.

Resistance means death.

Surrender is not impossible.

As for these more than 700 Japanese devils, let them be cannon fodder.

When it comes to life and death, no one cares whether others will survive. As long as they can guarantee their own life, it’s good enough.

The Japanese, who had already made up their minds to fight to the death, looked at the Han people again, with a wavering light flashing in their eyes, as if they had other ideas.

How is this possible?

Facing the Ming army, their 700 people were definitely not enough, and they had to bring the Han people along as well: "Lu Sang, what about you?"

When Lu Renyi heard Watanabe's question, he naturally supported his suicide attempt without hesitation, and then patted his chest and said, "Now, we are on the same boat, so we have to fight to the death. Otherwise, how can we have a chance?"

"Don't worry, I'll gather the troops right away, and we'll fight to the death together!"

What Lu Renyi said was indeed very righteous, but what he said and what he did were two completely different things.

After that, Lu Renyi went to gather his troops. After he left, the Japanese soldier named Watanabe immediately said to the other two people: "This Han Chinese is not trustworthy. If they don't help, we will die and will not let them have an easy life."

They were ready for everyone to die.

……

The Ming army's use of fifty ships to surround an island was truly a first. Although Wu Zhen had conducted countermeasure training, the soldiers were still somewhat flustered when they actually entered the battlefield.

Moreover, the Japanese devils who wanted to fight to the death rushed out from the island with bows and arrows and samurai swords. They were determined to die at this time, so when facing the powerful Ming army, they had no fear and only wanted to fight their way out.

However, they were the only ones charging. As for the people led by Lu Renyi... they appeared, but as they charged, they were left behind.

The Japanese devils on the charging island did not notice this, and by the time they noticed it, it was already too late.

On the Ming side, some soldiers got off the ship and were paving the way to the island, but on the ship, the personal soldiers brought by Zhu Kai had already started to defend with guns. When they saw the enemy rushing over, these people immediately laughed.

This kind of collective charge is a good time to practice shooting.

They probably didn't know that Zhu Kai had this kind of weapon specifically designed for group charges.

You don't need too many people at all. Just four soldiers are needed to set up guns on the boat, aim at the Japanese running over, and pull the trigger!
Because this kind of intensive charge is so easy to carry out, there is no need for single-shot fire, just direct continuous fire.

Da da da!
Da da da!
???

The Ming soldiers who were building a road on the mudflats saw the enemy rushing over and were preparing to organize a resistance when they suddenly heard a very strange but very loud "da da da" sound. Before they could understand what was going on, the Japanese who were charging fell backwards uncontrollably as if they were possessed by an evil spirit and then lay on the ground.

"Ok?"

Wu Zhen, who was on the boat, was also surprised when he saw this scene.

But he was not completely ignorant of this.

"Brother Kai, is this your secret weapon?"

It was no secret in the Ming Dynasty that Zhu Kai had a weapon that could take a person's life from four hundred steps away. All the generals wanted to possess this mysterious weapon, but Zhu Kai hid the weapon very well, and Zhu Yuanzhang did not allow generals outside to have this weapon. Wu Zhen had only heard of it, but this was the first time he had seen it.

I was stunned when I saw it.

Who could have imagined that killing someone from four hundred steps away could be done without leaving any blood?

"Yes."

Zhu Kai patted the railing on the deck and said with a smile: "With this weapon, I have no rivals in the world. No matter what enemies the Ming Dynasty has, I can send them to the King of Hell."

Wu Zhen did not say anything, but his eyes were full of approval. The Ming Dynasty was the Zhu family's Ming Dynasty, but it was also the Ming Dynasty that they had fought for together. Wu Zhen also hoped that the Ming Dynasty would become better and better.

A Ming Dynasty without enemies is a better Ming Dynasty!
"it is good!"

Wu Zhen had a bright smile on his face. "With Brother Kai here, we can easily defeat the enemy in this island landing operation!"

After seeing the secret weapon Zhu Kai took out, Wu Zhen had greater ambitions in his heart. If Zhu Kai stayed with him all the time, relying on Zhu Kai's secret weapon, he would be able to achieve more brilliant military exploits, and it would not be impossible for him to be granted the title of Duke in the future.

It’s just... what a pity.

He didn't have a daughter, but if he had a daughter, he could marry her to Zhu Kai, just like Xu Da and Feng Sheng.

What a pity, they are all sons!

The Japanese fell down like leeks being cut, and then those who were charging forward saw that the situation was not good and quickly ran back. If they continued to charge forward, they might be slaughtered before they could even touch the clothes of the Ming army.

"Don't run! Don't retreat!"

Watanabe shouted "Baga", but no one listened to him. He swung his samurai sword and chopped hard, but all his strikes were in the air.

Zhu Kai's personal guards, who were on the deck, saw Watanabe was still so arrogant and immediately turned their guns at him.

The personal guards following Zhu Kai never thought that there would be someone who dared to be so arrogant in front of AK. Who else should they beat if not him?

Watanabe wanted to continue organizing the attack, but bullets had already started to sweep past him. The bullets penetrated the surrounding ground, and small gravel flew onto Watanabe, causing pain in his calves. But before he could understand what was going on, he suddenly felt something drilling into his body, causing him to stagger. Then a piercing pain was transmitted to his nerve center. When Watanabe lowered his head in disbelief, he saw that bleeding had begun to occur in three places on his body.

Nani?

He had no idea how he was injured.

Moreover, he was still far away from the Ming army's position, and he didn't know what weapon could hit him from such a long distance.

Why is this happening?

Unfortunately, no one could give him an answer. Watanabe just looked at the wounds on his body and lay on the ground unwillingly.

The Japanese wanted to fight to the death, but before they could even start, they were beaten back by the Ming army.

Lu Renyi, who was hiding behind, saw that the Ming army repelled the enemy's attack so quickly, his eyes widened like bells.

You know, when the Japanese charged, they were still 200 steps away from the Ming army's position.

Just like that, we lost?
Lu Renyi knew the fighting power of the Japanese.

They were not weak in strength and had a sinister aura. Although they were not necessarily stronger than the elite troops of the Ming Dynasty, they were not so defeated that they could not even launch a charge. Lu Renyi was at a far distance and he was not very clear about what had happened to the charging Japanese, but the people who fell were not fake.

They were killed directly from two hundred steps away... Lu Renyi quickly evaluated in his mind and thought that even if they fought to the death, they would have no chance of survival.

If you want to survive, you have no choice but to surrender.

Moreover, Lu Renyi wanted to make his surrender very valuable.

For example, these Japanese people who have escaped back now are a good token of Lu Renyi's surrender.

……

Fortunately, the final result was good. When the ship that Zhu Kai, Wu Zhen and others were riding on reached the shore, there were already soldiers on the shore who had used small boats to build a path out. Zhu Kai jumped on it and arrived at Wuji Island unimpeded.

Zhu Kai, a warmonger, didn't care about any so-called tactics or strategies. He just led the charge, holding a machete.

Generals such as Wu Zhen, Zhang Zhou, and Zhang Hao were stationed on both sides of Zhu Kai to escort him, but they soon discovered that Zhu Kai did not need anyone's protection at all. He held a broadsword in his hand, aimed at the enemy and used the powerful move of splitting Huashan. The enemy raised his weapon to resist, but as soon as he raised his weapon, he was split into two halves by Zhu Kai.

Horizontal, chopping, sweeping, stabbing... these simple moves burst out with tremendous power in Zhu Kai's hands. Every time Zhu Kai makes a move, he can defeat an enemy.

Wu Zhen, who was following Zhu Kai, discovered that... Zhu Kai only used one hand when swinging the knife, and the other hand was holding a weapon he had never seen before.

Another secret weapon?
Wu Zhen was a little envious and really wanted to own it.

He also really wanted to know what kind of lethality the short weapon in Zhu Kai's hand had.

Is it the same function as the strange 'gun' held by Kaige'er's personal soldiers?

While Wu Zhen was guessing, he followed Zhu Kai absentmindedly to deal with the fish that had slipped through the net.

The Japanese were also scared silly at this time. Zhu Kai's bear-like body was very intimidating. Looking at the way he attacked, it was like a strong man with a stick beating a kid. Who wouldn't be scared when seeing this?
Now it seems that there is no chance of a desperate fight.

And at this moment, Lu Renyi and his team became the last straw that broke the camel's back for the Japanese.

"Kill! Kill! Kill!"

"Kill all the Japanese! Let's go home!"

The Japanese were all confused at this time. They didn't expect...

The teammates who once worked closely with them stabbed them in the back.

These Japanese people in front of him are Lu Renyi's token of surrender.

We are just a group of ordinary people who were held hostage by the Japanese. We endured humiliation and hardship in order to return to our hometown. Now we finally see the light... For such a script, Lu Renyi gave himself a big thumbs up in his heart.

This is what Lu Renyi wanted.

He also believed that with the support of the Kong family, it would not be a big problem for him to evade responsibility.

Zhu Kai didn't think too much about it for the time being. At this moment, all he had in his eyes was the enemy! The enemy!

He killed one person at a time with his sword, and rushed into the city with the Ming army like chopping melons and vegetables. With the violent gene running in his body, he would rush to where there were many people. When he saw a group of people suddenly rushing out, Zhu Kai subconsciously thought that they were enemies.

And there are more of them than the Japanese!
Zhu Kai was excited at that time. Was this an ambush set by the Japanese?
These Japanese devils are so insidious that they even prepared such a big gift package for me.

Do you really think that you can escape by setting up an ambush?

These little Japanese devils are so childish!
Zhu Kai didn't hesitate at all. He roared and rushed towards the crowd. Wu Zhen was shocked when he saw Zhu Kai's action. He quickly ran forward to stop Zhu Kai: "Brother Kai, Brother Kai, calm down. Those people are not enemies. Really not!"

Not an enemy?

How can it be!

Zhu Kai didn't believe it: "Except for us, the rest of the people on this island are all enemies, right?"

"They turned against us." Wu Zhen hurriedly explained, "This group of people saw that the situation was not good, and wanted to kill the Japanese as a token of their loyalty."

Hu Weiyong also came to Zhu Kai with a sword and explained to him: "Your Highness, these fence-sitters saw your bravery and knew they were no match for you, so they wanted to use the heads of these little devils to win your mercy."

"If you ask me, just kill him!"

Hu Weiyong narrowed his eyes and said grimly, "They think they have the support of the Kong family, and you can't do anything to them after they surrender. Anyway, we are the only ones on this island. As long as we don't tell anyone, no one will know what happened here."

Wu Zhen shouted "Fuck you" in his heart, he didn't expect that Hu Weiyong was also such a cruel and ruthless person.

Killing these two thousand rebellious enemies, Wu Zhen had fought for so many years and had never done such a thing, so he hurriedly said, "Brother Kai, this is not good."

Hu Weiyong turned his head and scolded, "What's wrong with that?"

Zhu Kai himself was thinking about killing someone, and you, Wu Zhen, dared to say no?
Opposing Zhu Kai in this way is a sign of wanting to rebel!
Seeing that the two were about to quarrel, Zhu Kai immediately interrupted: "Okay, stop arguing, I'm not a murderer."

After saying that, he threw the knife aside.

It's just the warm-up and it's over. This is boring.

As for those who stabbed the Japanese in the back, they were not good people either. Zhu Kai was too lazy to use them to brush up the data: "Hu Weiyong, the task of identifying these people is left to you. You know what to do."

"Your Highness, Wei Yong understands."

Hu Weiyong flattered Zhu Kai and said, "Weiyong promises to prove their crimes, and no one can find any fault with them!"

"Old Wu, I'll leave the task of exterminating the other pirates to you. I don't want to hear any more news about the appearance of pirates in my Ming Dynasty."

"Yes!"

Wu Zhen watched Zhu Kai leave. Hu Weiyong wanted to follow Zhu Kai, but was stopped by Wu Zhen: "Hu Weiyong, you just said to prove the crime. What are you and Kai'er going to do?"

In fact, after capturing the Kong family members among the Japanese pirates, Wu Zhen could guess what Zhu Kai and Hu Weiyong were doing through Hu Weiyong's reaction. He was very worried about this. That was the Kong family, and even His Majesty could not hold them accountable to the end.

If Zhu Kai dares to use this incident to deal with the Kong family, all the scholars in the world will be Zhu Kai's enemy... Even Zhu Yuanzhang didn't dare to do so, so how could Zhu Kai do it?

Hu Weiyong glanced at Wu Zhen, who was worried, and said slowly: "Whatever His Highness wants to do, we, as his subjects, should help him get things done, instead of opposing him because of gains and losses. This is the duty of a subject!"

"Bullshit duty."

Wu Zhen didn't buy it at all. After listening to Hu Weiyong's words, he confirmed his guess and shouted angrily: "Do you know how much trouble Kai Ge'er will face if you do this? Is it your duty as a minister to cause trouble for your superiors?"

"Isn't it the duty of a minister to solve troubles?"

Hu Weiyong looked at Wu Zhen. He really didn't want to talk to someone whose values ​​were different from his own. He just gave Wu Zhen an order in a very blunt manner: "The Second Prince has already given his order. Marquis Jinghai should do his own thing first! Send all the captives to Laizhou Prefecture. I want to interrogate them one by one!"

Since you said you would help Zhu Kai to verify all the evidence.

Then Hu Weiyong would implement it step by step according to his own ideas.

After saying that, Hu Weiyong ignored Wu Zhen, turned around and trotted to catch up with Zhu Kai's pace.

Wu Zhen looked at Zhu Kai and Hu Weiyong who were leaving, his eyes filled with worry.

Then he slapped himself in the face.

It would have been better if I had just let Zhu Kai kill his way through. Why would I be so worried about killing someone in such bad luck?
Judging from the postures of Zhu Kai and Hu Weiyong, it is estimated that the number of people who will die by then will be more than those on Wuji Island. Wu Zhen even sees the scene of rivers of blood flowing in the land of Qi and Lu again.

"No, I need to tell His Majesty about this right away."

The first person Wu Zhen thought of was Zhu Yuanzhang. He felt that Zhu Kai and Hu Weiyong’s plan was too crazy, and only Zhu Yuanzhang could stop them.

I hope everything is still in time!
Apart from the Mongols, there are no decent enemies around the Ming Dynasty today.

The pirates are just jumping around, it's easy for the Ming Dynasty to deal with them.

As the largest Japanese pirate force entrenched in the waters off Qi and Lu was eliminated by the Ming Dynasty, the entire Japanese pirate circle was shocked. Faced with the threat of the Ming Dynasty, other small groups of Japanese pirates either surrendered honestly or continued to flee to the deep sea.

Zhu Kai knew that the Japanese were very weak now, but he didn't expect them to be so weak. He ran out to fight alone and went to Laizhou Prefecture to drink with a group of brothers.

The only one who suffered more was Zhang Lin.

After Zhu Kai came to Qi and Lu, Zhang Lin was forced to follow Hu Weiyong. Hu Weiyong was 100% dissatisfied with Zhang Lin, and now that he was in his hands, there was naturally only one word for him: deal with him!

From the beginning of the interrogation of Lu Renyi and the pirates he led, Zhang Lin's world view was once again overturned.

The first time he saw Hu Weiyong interrogating a prisoner, he personally took an iron brush and brushed the prisoner's body. After a while, the prisoner's upper body was brushed to pieces without a single piece of good flesh left. Zhang Lin watched from a distance, and within a stick of incense, he ran out and vomited.

The smell of blood didn't even give Zhang Lin a chance to adapt.

After more than half an hour, Zhang Lin felt that he could adapt. But as soon as he returned to the interrogation room, Hu Weiyong handed him an iron brush with meat on it and said, "You saw the interrogation process just now, didn't you? It doesn't matter if you can't see it. There are people next to you to teach you. You can interrogate the rest."

"I?"

Zhang Lin's eyes widened, he couldn't believe that these words came from Hu Weiyong's mouth. Seeing that Hu Weiyong didn't seem to be joking, he immediately shook his head like a wave drum: "No, I can't do it."

Snapped!
The head that was just shaking was immediately slapped in the face by Hu Weiyong with such force that Zhang Lin saw stars.

This made Zhang Lin even more unbelievable. Someone actually dared to slap him: "You fucking..." Before he could finish his curse, Hu Weiyong slapped his other half in the face, which made him stunned.

No one has ever dared to slap him in the face since he was a child. This is a great shame and humiliation for Zhang Lin!
"Boy, who do you think you are? If it weren't for His Highness's pity for your father's love for his son, would you be standing here and talking to me now?"

Hu Weiyong was not polite at all when facing Zhang Lin: "Go home and pray for the good fortune, boy. If it weren't for Your Highness's soft heart, and you fell into my hands, I would use an iron brush to pick the meat off your bones!"

The coldness in his words made Zhang Lin shiver uncontrollably, and the pain on his face was no longer so severe. Zhang Lin had reason to believe that the man in front of him could really do such a thing. You know, he was the ruthless man who discussed burying people as fertilizer with Zhu Kai.

Hu Weiyong pointed his index finger at Zhang Lin's left chest and said, "Your Highness has entrusted you to me, so you must work hard for me. I am not as lenient to you as Your Highness. If you offend me, I will kill you without you knowing how you died."

"Don't think I'm threatening you, and don't expect His Highness to let you go!"

"……Yes!"

Zhang Lin picked up the iron brush with trembling hands, his face pale and uncomfortable.

This was not what he wanted, but he had to face it.

Perhaps, it was just as Hu Weiyong said, I was nothing in his eyes, even Zhang Long... Hu Weiyong didn't take me seriously.

So, Zhang Lin spent the next seven days in the interrogation room of the prison. Every time he produced a confession, he would hand it to Hu Weiyong. If Hu Weiyong thought it was not good enough, Zhang Lin would go back to the interrogation room and continue interrogating the captured prisoners.

Gradually, Zhang Lin also understood that the answer Hu Weiyong wanted was not the facts, but the confession and testimony that was favorable to Zhu Kai's side!
After figuring out what Hu Weiyong wanted, everything became simple. Zhang Lin only needed to reverse the process according to the final result.

……

Half a month later, Zhu Kai obtained a confession with conclusive evidence.

"Your Highness, there is absolutely no problem with Lu Renyi's testimony."

Hu Weiyong told Zhu Kai with a solemn oath, and then said: "Moreover, I have sealed this branch of the Kong family, and not even a fly can fly out."

"Then go catch him!"

Zhu Kai didn't even look at the testimony and directly asked Hu Weiyong to take action.

"According to the order!"

Hu Weiyong retracted his testimony and turned away.

The person he was looking for was Zhang Lin again: "Take the testimony you got and arrest them. I will call Marquis Jinghai and ask him to go to Lu County. By then, you and Marquis Jinghai will control the Kong family tightly and never let them cause trouble!"

Hu Weiyong has already bared his fangs, and his target is directly targeting the Kong family!

After half a month of training, Zhang Lin had become more gloomy. After hearing Hu Weiyong's words, he said worriedly: "Will our targeting of the Kong family have any impact on His Highness? What if..."

"Who told you that the Second Prince knew about this?"

Hu Weiyong narrowed his eyes, "Have you shown the testimony to His Highness?"

"No."

Zhang Lin shuddered, "I just gave this testimony to Hu Weiyong."

"Okay, let's go."

Hu Weiyong turned and left, not taking Zhang Lin's attempt to put the blame on him seriously at all.

Besides, he was destined to take the blame. The more lice there are, the less trouble. He had so many enemies in the court that he couldn't even count them. Since he already had so many enemies, he was not worried about getting more.

What can the Kong family do?

I, Hu Weiyong, am loyal to Zhu Kai and to the Ming Dynasty. Even if I die or am cut into pieces, my name will go down in history.

Kong family, Yansheng Duke.

No longer a god that no one can touch!

As for Zhang Lin, he felt extremely upset at the moment. He came out from Fengyang to follow his idol, but he didn't expect that he would meet Hu Weiyong. This murderer had turned him into a knife in his hand, and now he was sharpening the knife to attack the Kong family.

If Hu Weiyong gets into trouble then, how can I be any better off?

Maybe I will be the first person to be sacrificed.

"But for the sake of the Second Prince, what does my life mean?"

Zhang Lin thought that he was taking the blame for Zhu Kai and didn't care about anything else. Nothing could be more meaningful than what he was doing now!
……

Laiyang Prefecture, Guan County.

In the county where the Lu family, a branch of the Kong family, lives, this family has had a very hard time these days, because there were many soldiers outside the Lu Mansion.

At first, the Lu family didn't believe it and sent people out, but the people they sent out never came back, and not even their shadows were seen.

Now, the Lu family was completely panicked. They didn’t even know what was going on. They wanted to send someone out to communicate with them, but they couldn’t find anyone at all, and they couldn’t receive any news from the outside world.

Lu Ping, the head of the Lu Mansion, had probably guessed in his mind why this happened. It was probably because the people who were entangled with the Japanese pirates were discovered by Hu Weiyong.

Colluding with Japanese pirates to harm and plunder the people, it goes without saying that this crime will result in the confiscation of property and the extermination of the clan. By then, can the big tree of Yansheng Duke still protect them?
Lu Ping thought it was unlikely. Of course...if the gold, silver and treasures looted by the Japanese pirates were sent to his home before Wu Zhen took action against them, there might be a glimmer of hope. The Kong family, the main branch of his family, also needed money very much.

Now... it's not impossible, but there's no way to send the money out. The enemies outside will never allow them to send the money out.

Since it's like throwing a meat bun at a dog, then do nothing.

Hopefully... the final result won't be too bad.

However, the little flame of hope burning in Lu Ping's heart was quickly extinguished.

The Ming soldiers who had been hiding in the dark suddenly appeared from all directions of Lu Mansion and directly surrounded the Mansion. Then, at Zhang Lin's command, the soldiers attacked Lu Mansion without saying a word.

"you……"

The servant of the Lu Mansion who was standing at the gate of the Lu Mansion was about to say something, but Zhang Lin would not give him the chance to speak. He took out the knife in his hand and chopped him down.

No matter how dissolute Zhang Lin was, he knew some martial arts. In addition, after half a month of training with Hu Weiyong, Zhang Lin no longer had any psychological burden about killing people. If you offend us, you will die.

"Charge in, and kill anyone who dares to resist!"

With Zhang Lin's order, the soldiers had no scruples and rushed into the Lu Mansion shouting.

Zhang Lin, holding the bloody knife, walked slowly towards the back house of the Lu Mansion.

When Zhang Lin came to the backyard with a knife, the whole backyard had been occupied by the soldiers he brought with him. Lu Ping and his family members, including servants and maids, were all arrested in the yard. Zhang Lin came to Lu Ping with a knife and asked, "Are you Lu Ping?"

"I am Lu Ping."

Even though he was panicking inside, Lu Ping still maintained his composure on the surface. After all, he was a descendant of Duke Yansheng, and he still had his pride. "Sir, we are a family of the best and most virtuous people, and we have a little reputation in the local area. I wonder what your purpose is in sending people to besiege us? Although I am not an official, I will not allow others to attack my house without reason."

I said a lot of things just to tell Zhang Lin that my family will not allow itself to be manipulated.

This old thing.

Zhang Lin didn't want to give him any slack, and said directly: "You know Lu Renjia, right? Lu Renyi is from your family, right? Don't be so stubborn, old man. I'm telling you...you're in trouble!"

After that, Zhang Lin didn't waste time talking to Lu Ping and directly ordered: "Come here, raid Lu's mansion for me. If you find a tea bowl, I want your heads!"

Lu Ping's face turned pale instantly.

Unexpectedly, Lu Renjia and Lu Renyi were captured by Zhang Lin.

How can this be good?

Can't they hold on any longer and give up their family?

This is a big problem.

Moreover, Lu Ping had been hesitating before. The family account books were not burned, and there was also looted money in the family cellar that had not been moved in time. If these things were turned out, Lu Ping would not be able to explain himself even if he had mouths all over his body.

Seeing that the soldiers were about to take action, Lu Ping knew that he had to stop Zhang Lin and the others.

Otherwise, their family would be in real danger.

"Why do you want to search?"

Lu Ping stopped Zhang Lin and tried to stop him, but his attempt was useless in front of Zhang Lin. Lu Ping had no choice but to use his backers: "We are from the Yansheng Duke family. What right do you have to attack us?"

"From the lineage of Duke Yansheng?"

When Zhang Lin heard him introduce himself, he was not afraid at all. Instead, he said with joy, "Are you from the lineage of Duke Yansheng?"

Speaking of his family, Lu Ping spoke with pride: "Of course, our family also follows the tradition of Duke Yansheng. Sir, you are also a scholar, right?"

Gradually, Lu Ping began to address Zhang Lin with respect, obviously wanting to lower his posture so that Zhang Lin would show some leniency.

"read?"

Zhang Lin laughed even more happily, looked at Lu Ping who was smiling apologetically, and slapped him without saying a word.

The slap was so powerful that it knocked Lu Ping to the ground.

"I hate reading the most in my life!"

Zhang Lin ignored Lu Ping who was flattering him and gave another order: "Search for me. Anyone who dares to stop me will be killed!"

The soldiers immediately took action, and soon the entire Lu Mansion was in chaos.

Lu Ping, lying on the ground, had his brains turned into paste by a slap from Zhang Lin. He had no reaction at all, but he also knew at this time that the Lu family... was finished.

……

Just as Lu Ping said, the Lu family was very famous throughout Guan County, so when they did something, they had nothing to hide. The soldiers led by Zhang Lin basically didn't need to dig deep into the ground, and they easily turned out the account books and gold and silver treasures.

Zhang Lin then discovered that there were blood stains on some of the silver and gold cakes.

Haha... these beasts!
Zhang Lin picked up a bloody gold cake and walked to the collapsed Lu Ping. He said, "You are really a family of good deeds. The gold cakes in your home are all stained with blood. Haha... Second... The thing I hate most in my life is studying!"

All of this was Confucius' fault, so Zhang Lin naturally would not give his descendants a good face. He even thought that it was fortunate that he was the only one who came to Qi and Lu. If his playmates at home had come along, there would probably be few members of the Kong family left.

"Take the collected items back to the county government for safekeeping. The rest of you, follow me to the cell."

Zhang Lin showed an inexplicable smile on his face, "Let's teach this great man Lu Ping a lesson!"

……

Qi and Lu are big, but also small.

The news that the Lu family in Guan County was raided soon spread out of the county town.

Kong Xixue, who had paid close attention to Zhu Kai's actions, also soon learned the news.

The Lu family is a branch of the Kong family. In the past two years, their ties with the family have become closer and closer. In addition, the family strength has been growing stronger, and more and more money has been handed over to the main branch of the Kong family. It seems that the family is on the rise.

The current Duke Yansheng, Kong Kejian, has naturally seen the rise of the Lu family in Guan County. He also knows that it is impossible for the Lu family to come up with so much money through formal channels, but he did not dwell on where the money of the Lu family came from. What he cared about was that the Kong family was becoming more and more powerful.

Something happened to the Lu family, so Kong Kejian naturally had to ask a few more questions: "What happened? They were fine, why did something happen suddenly? Did Hu Weiyong and Zhu Kai do it?"

"Yes."

Kong Xixue responded, "I heard that the Lu family colluded with the Japanese pirates on the sea, and the mountain bandits in Laizhou and Dengzhou to do robbing and looting. The money they gave in the past few years was obtained through looting."

Collaboration with Japanese pirates? Plunder?
Hearing these two words, Kong Kejian's face immediately fell.

He had thought that the Lu family's money was not clean, but he didn't expect it to be so dirty.

How dare they do this?

The first thing Kong Kejian thought of was to distance himself from the Guanxian Lu family: "If this is true, when someone asks about it, we must distance ourselves from the Lu family and not let them ruin the reputation of Duke Yansheng."

"Yes, father."

Kong Xixue said that he was already doing so, and he also expressed his concerns: "Father, Zhu Kai just came to Qilu and he went to target the Lu family, which means they have been targeting us for a long time. Hu Weiyong may come to Qilu just to cause trouble for us, father...should we contact the people in Yingtian Prefecture and let them put pressure on the court? Zhu Kai is doing whatever he wants without considering the consequences. If he is really allowed to do whatever he wants in Qilu, it will be a huge trouble for us."

Kong Kejian nodded and said, "Okay, you will be in charge of the liaison. No...you will go to Yingtian Prefecture by yourself and let the people in the court know how Zhu Kai and Hu Weiyong colluded with each other in Qi and Lu and did all kinds of evil things."

"Yes, father."

Kong Xixue went to Yingtian Prefecture with his father's order.

No matter what, the lineage of Duke Yansheng must never bear a bad name. This is absolutely not allowed.

……

Lu Ping still confessed.

He had lived a life of luxury for more than ten years and could not stand Zhang Lin's interrogation. When an iron brush for mincing meat and other torture instruments were placed on the table in front of him, he could no longer endure it and confessed. All he wanted was a death without torture.

In Hu Weiyong's words, it's fine if you don't want to be tortured, but you have to cooperate with me to deal with the Kong family. Lu Ping agreed and told everything he knew.

Zhang Lin held a thick stack of interrogation records and commented disdainfully when he saw Hu Weiyong: "This Lu family patriarch is even worse than their clansmen. He confessed everything without even using any means."

"It's a good thing if you confess."

After Hu Weiyong finished speaking, he immediately ordered Wu Zhen: "Gather the troops and go to Lu County. Surround the Confucius Mansion and don't let even a fly fly out."

At this time, Wu Zhen's face had turned dark. He never expected that Hu Weiyong and his men were actually serious. They put the Kong family on the fire without making a fuss, and now they wanted to overthrow the Kong family in one fell swoop.

Overthrowing the Kong family was something Wu Zhen wanted to do but had never dared to do. Although he had done it now, he couldn't help but feel scared.

This is the Kong family!

Wu Zhen, still frightened, could not help but ask Hu Weiyong: "Sir Hu, isn't this too risky?"

Wu Zhen did not say why he said this, but Hu Weiyong could understand his subtext: Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't do anything to the Kong family back then, so how could Zhu Kai do this?

You know, Zhu Yuanzhang swept across the world and drove the Mongols back to the far north, but the towering tree of the Kong family was not affected. On the contrary, taking advantage of Zhu Yuanzhang's opportunity to unify the world, the Kong family's influence was expanded to a greater extent. Nine out of ten scholars in the world were disciples of Confucius.

It is precisely because of this that the Kong family erected a bigger barrier outside: Confucianism!

In the Ming Dynasty, Confucian scholars turned their belief in the teachings of Confucius and Mencius into an important way to sacrifice their lives for justice and leave their names in history.

They didn't care whether what they insisted on was correct or not. They only knew to oppose Zhu Yuanzhang's proposal and stick to their own point of view. That was to show their pride. Even if they were beaten to death outside the court, they would become the objects of admiration of the world. Confucian scholars felt that by opposing the imperial power they could go down in history. This was their dream of studying and becoming an official.

The Confucian scholars of the Ming Dynasty were best at infighting. They had gradually lost the character of literati. Once a knife was hung on their necks, these people would immediately change their position and defect to the enemy camp. As for those Confucian scholars who persisted, their ideas were no longer pure.

In Zhu Kai's words, the current Confucianism has no meaning to exist. Hu Weiyong agreed with this very much. He also used Zhu Kai's words to explain to Wu Zhen: "The current Confucianism has no meaning to exist. They only care about their own reputation, but not for the Ming Dynasty. Such Confucianism is absolutely not what we need."

"I am not doing this to destroy the Kong family, but to make them put themselves in the right position and respect the Second Prince and His Majesty."

Wu Zhen wanted to say something else, but Hu Weiyong didn't give him a chance to continue. "Marquis Jinghai, as your majesty's subjects, what we have to do is to share your majesty's worries. The Second Prince also said that he would rather have a court full of people like Li Shanchang and Hu Weiyong than a group of scholars who only know how to fight among themselves. As for our reputation... haha, compared with the Ming Dynasty, our reputation is nothing."

To put it bluntly, if you want to follow Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Kai, don't worry about your reputation. Time will prove who is right.

Hu Weiyong's words were very straightforward. Wu Zhen hesitated for a moment and said that he was convinced by Hu Weiyong. He could not think of any reason to refute Wu Zhen. He just asked worriedly: "Will Kai Ge'er be affected by our doing this?"

"meeting."

(End of this chapter)