Chapter 115: Granted Death

The common folk of the capital had long since lost much interest in that shabby patch of ground at the the the Caishikou execution ground execution ground execution ground.

It had originally been a place for selling vegetables, but ever since the Son of Heaven ascended the throne, heads had been lopped off there every few days.

If too long a stretch passed, the scene became one of heads rolling in waves — for no other reason than that they had simply killed a few more at once.

Today, however, the capital's common folk still hurried over to the the the Caishikou execution ground execution ground execution ground.

After all, it was truly rare to see more than three hundred heads cut off in a single batch, especially when all three hundred-plus belonged to officials from the Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Xuanda regions.

Word was that while Shanxi suffered its great drought, these wretches had still been busy with graft and corruption, that the Embroidered Uniform Guard had ferreted them out, and that the Son of Heaven in his dragon wrath had ordered them all put to death in one stroke.

Besides the common folk, there was one special group present: the Imperial Academy students, along with examination candidates who had come to the capital to sit for the first-year Chongzhen examinations.

The Academy Chancellor and the Minister of Personnel stood grim-faced before these future officials, not uttering a word. Only after the three hundred-odd officials awaiting beheading had been marched into the execution ground did the Minister of Personnel speak: "Today, all of you watch carefully."

Seeing that some of the candidates wore thoughtful expressions while others looked baffled, the Minister of Personnel continued: "Should you pass the examinations, you too will enter government service. If you turn corrupt, then these people today are your example."

Only then did the candidates understand. No wonder they had all been gathered together and brought here to watch a beheading — none of them had originally intended to come watch.

What was there to see in a beheading? The examinations were nearly upon them, and if they passed, they would ascend to the heavens in a single step.

Yet even if the many candidates wished to return and continue their studies, they could not leave. Behind them, at some unknown moment, a ring of Embroidered Uniform Guards had long since surrounded them, and who would dare break through the Guard's cordon to go back and study?

The Minister of Personnel, observing the candidates' restless unease, spoke: "What are you panicking for? That you have been brought here today is also His Majesty's intent.

If you serve well and bring prosperity to your jurisdiction, promotion and wealth will naturally follow. If in the future you think of turning corrupt, you can also recall today's scene.

Not every cohort of candidates gets such an opportunity. You would do well to cherish it."

While heads rolled in the capital, at the Kong family manor in Qufu, Shandong, the scene was quite another.

The current Duke for the Perpetuation of the Sage, Kong Yinzhi, sat in the main hall drinking tea, listening to his steward's report: "Master, the latest shipment of grain has all reached Tongzhou.

Once that Yuan barbarian fellow gets the matter settled, this grain can be turned into gleaming silver."

Kong Yinzhi grunted in acknowledgment and said with narrowed eyes: "Xingxie is still young, after all. When he returns, see that you give him some guidance, so that nothing goes wrong."

The steward bowed and answered yes, then added: "Master, by rights the young master ought to have returned by now, yet he is a day or two late and no word has come back. Should we send someone to look into it?"

Kong Yinzhi gave a snort: "That unfilial wretch has most likely run off to some brothel to carouse. Why bother with him! Know that indulging a son is killing a son. When he returns, let him go receive the family punishment himself!"

At that moment, the second steward came scurrying in from outside in a puff of dust, bowed to Kong Yinzhi, and said: "Master, an imperial envoy has arrived outside. He asks that you open the Chongguang Gate and assemble the entire clan, high and low, to receive an edict.

But the envoy has also brought a large force of the Depot and the Guard — I fear he comes with ill intent."

Kong Yinzhi barked: "What is there to panic about! How can the steward of the grand Duke for the Perpetuation of the Sage's manor not withstand so small a display?

Since ancient times, has there ever been a dynasty lasting a thousand years? Only our line of the Duke for the Perpetuation of the Sage has passed down generation after generation.

Which emperor has not shown our Kong family three parts respect? Go, do as the envoy says, assemble the clan, open the Chongguang Gate, and receive the edict."

Outside the Duke for the Perpetuation of the Sage's manor, Cao Huachun was growing rather impatient. Seated upright on his horse, he fiddled idly with his riding crop, staring fixedly at the wood carvings above the manor's Chongguang Gate.

The Chongguang Gate had four pillars, three bays, and three upper stories hung with lotus flowers. The central bay was slightly taller, and beneath the eaves were cloud-shaped bracket sets of one dou and two sheng.

The central bay had two clusters of intermediate brackets, the side bays one each. The structure was of the post-and-beam type, with four inverted carved wooden lotus buds hanging from both front and back.

The lotus, which rises from the mud yet remains unstained, had always been a symbol of incorruptibility and purity, here signifying the Duke for the Perpetuation of the Sage's manor's nobility, integrity, and spotless innocence. Now, in Cao Huachun's eyes, it was nothing but endless irony.

To think that he himself had once kept close company with those "upright gentlemen" of the Donglin Faction. Now it seemed the Emperor was the most correct of all: these literati simply needed discipline!

Before long, ceremonial cannon sounded, and with a creak, the Chongguang Gate slowly opened. Within the gate, the current Duke for the Perpetuation of the Sage, Kong Yinzhi, led the way, followed by the northern lineage clansmen in Qufu and all the sweeping and cleaning servants of the Kong manor.

When Kong Yinzhi saw Cao Huachun sitting upright on his horse without dismounting, he felt a surge of anger. He had already opened the Chongguang Gate, yet the edict-bearing envoy did not dismount — was this not a slap in the face of the Sage Confucius himself?

But the envoy represented the Son of Heaven, after all, and however angry he was, he could not openly object. Only when he drew near the horse did Kong Yinzhi say coolly: "The envoy has come from afar; you must be weary."

How could Cao Huachun fail to hear the anger in Kong Yinzhi's tone? That Cao Huachun had risen from a dead-end eunuch to the position of Director of the Eastern Depot was not due solely to Chongzhen's favor — how could he be without real ability?

Of course, at this moment, he might as well let Kong Yinzhi vent however he pleased. He himself, the Son of Heaven's personal attendant and Director of the Eastern Depot, truly could not be bothered to quibble with a man about to die.

His mind made up, Cao Huachun reached a hand back, and a junior eunuch naturally came forward bearing a tray with the imperial edict.

Cao Huachun opened the edict and read in a strained, high voice: "By the Mandate of Heaven, the Emperor decrees: Upon investigation, the Duke for the Perpetuation of the Sage, Kong Yinzhi, who inherited his title in the first year of Tianqi, has failed to edify his region, has instead seized commoners' farmland, and has privately traded with the barbarians, violating the Sage's teachings, unfit to serve as teacher to the realm, and still less fit to tend the Sage's ancestral temple.

It is hereby ordered: the Duke for the Perpetuation of the Sage, Kong Yinzhi, is stripped of his title and granted death by his own hand. His son Kong Xingmao is granted death by his own hand.

Thus decreed."

After finishing the edict condemning Kong Yinzhi and the members of the Kong household involved in smuggling grain beyond the passes, Cao Huachun opened another edict and read: "By the Mandate of Heaven, the Emperor decrees: We have heard that in the chaos of the fallen Song, the Sage's bloodline was forced to cross south, and thus arose the southern lineage of the Kong clan.

Since the Great Ming's Exalted Emperor Taizu pacified the realm, the southern lineage has been passed down for long generations.

We, in Our inadequacy, privately hold that for the Sage's descendants to be divided into northern and southern lineages is for bone and flesh to be parted.

Kong Zhenyun, Left Instructor of the Left Secretariat of the Heir Apparent, above embodies Heaven's will and below cultivates virtue, worthy to serve as a model to the world.

It is hereby decreed: Kong Zhenyun, Left Instructor of the Left Secretariat of the Heir Apparent, shall inherit the title of Duke for the Perpetuation of the Sage, shall welcome back the remains of the southern lineage's worthy forebears, and shall inter them in the Kong family cemetery, that the northern and southern lineages may once more be made one.

Thus decreed."

Recommending a book: "The Great Song's Summoned Delicacies." The author is a girl, and the title alone is quite enticing. There is also a different kind of Dream of the Red Chamber fan fiction, "The Great Merchant of the Red Chamber." Those interested may go take a look.

(End of Chapter)