Chapter 129: Zhuge Liang Curses Wang Lang to Death

"This Duke honored you with the title of uncle only out of regard for your age. Now it seems you have abandoned our ancestors' great divide between Hua and Yi, caring only to line your own pockets, utterly blind to right and wrong!"

"This Duke is ashamed to share descent from Confucius with you. I have no choice but to enforce the clan law — after making offerings before the ancestors, I shall strike your name from the family genealogy!"

Kong Zhenyun, already driven to the peak of fury, no longer cared in the slightest for any sentiment of shared lineage. These Northern Lineage men were simply too shameless — they had even cast aside the great divide between Hua and Yi that the founding ancestor himself had stressed above all else!

Kong Wenying, stunned by Kong Zhenyun's torrent of furious rebuke, took a long while to recover his senses. His face shifted through blue and red in rapid flux — then suddenly, with a splurt, a mouthful of old blood sprayed out, and he looked ready to collapse limp to the ground.

Kong Yinchun, the hereditary County Magistrate of Qufu County, hurried forward to help Kong Wenying up.

Among the other Northern Lineage men, those who did not know what Kong Yinzhi and Kong Xingyin had done, or those who still retained some conscience, also wore shifting expressions of blue and red — angered that Kong Zhenyun's scolding was far too vicious, yet also angered by the shameless conduct of Kong Yinzhi and his ilk.

As for the Southern Lineage men, they felt Kong Zhenyun had scolded well, had scolded to their great satisfaction.

Kong Wenying gasped for breath a long while before slowly recovering. He pointed at Kong Zhenyun, about to open his mouth and hurl a few curses to vent his spleen.

But Kong Zhenyun gave him not the slightest chance to speak, sneering: "What, did this Duke hit the mark? No words to answer, so you fake spitting blood? Why not learn from Wang Lang and topple headfirst from your horse?"

Having said this, he shook his head and laughed in spite of himself: "Forgive me — this Duke forgot that you, you shameless old scoundrel, are not on horseback but seated in a chair.

Otherwise, I fear you too would have to learn from Wang Lang and topple headfirst from your horse, to flee the infamy of ten thousand ages!"

Kong Wenying, whose heart was already stifled beyond endurance from the scolding, heard Kong Zhenyun curse so viciously, and the breath he had just barely smoothed out went awry once more. He sprayed yet another mouthful of old blood, pointed his finger at Kong Zhenyun, and raged: "You! You! You!"

After these three "you"s, his finger suddenly dropped, his head lolled to one side, and with that, all sound ceased.

Seeing this, Kong Yinchun hastily reached out to feel Kong Wenying's breath — but there was none at all, and it was clear he had died on the spot.

The Northern Lineage crowd panicked and swarmed forward, pushing and shaking him; some tried pressing his philtrum, others rushed off frantically to find a physician. For a time, chaos reigned.

They bustled about for quite a while, until the physician arrived and confirmed that Kong Wenying was beyond saving — only then was the matter settled.

After the physician had also withdrawn, it fell to Kong Zhenning to hold up the beam on the Northern Lineage side. Seeing the expressions on the Northern Lineage men's faces were none too pleasant, Kong Zhenning barked angrily: "Enough! All of you, be quiet!"

Once everyone had quieted down, Kong Zhenning ignored Kong Zhenyun entirely and directly began issuing orders: "Shangxue, you go to your grandfather Wenying's home to deliver the news. Shangzhi, you find the residence steward and discuss the funeral arrangements for your grandfather Wenying."

Once he had finished assigning tasks, Kong Zhenning looked at Kong Zhenyun and sneered: "What murderous spirit the Duke of State has! What awe-inspiring majesty!

Only the second day since inheriting your title, and you have already cursed a clan uncle to death — I wonder what you intend to do tomorrow? The world will have its own judgment on this affair!"

In truth, the moment he had finished cursing Kong Wenying, Kong Zhenyun had already regretted it. Given Kong Wenying's age and that tottering, trembling appearance, he had truly feared the man might fail to catch his breath and be angered to death.

He simply had not expected that while he was so caught up in the satisfaction of his tirade, he would actually anger this shameless old wretch to death. Wasn't it said that the good die young, while calamities live a thousand years?

How could this fellow be so unable to withstand a scolding, dropping dead in the blink of an eye? And now he himself was left holding the bag — truly, his mother's!

Secret regret was secret regret, but he could not lose face in words. Seeing Kong Zhenning accuse him so, how could Kong Zhenyun possibly accept the charge of having cursed a clan uncle to death?

If he truly accepted it, he feared his tenure as the Duke for Perpetuating Sanctity would stink to high heaven within days.

Since he could not accept it, he had to find a way to whitewash himself. Kong Zhenyun, no longer caring about tearing the skin off all pretense, sneered directly: "How about it?

You do the deed, yet no one may speak of it? If you knew it would come to this, why do it in the first place?

The Sage Ancestor stressed the great divide between Hua and Yi above all — 'The border peoples do not plot against the Xia; the Yi do not throw the Hua into chaos.' You surely remember these words?"

Seeing the Northern Lineage men rendered speechless by his words, Kong Zhenyun pressed his advantage: "'But for Guan Zhong, we should now be wearing our hair loose and folding our robes to the left.' Have you forgotten this saying too?

Men like Kong Yinzhi and Kong Xingxie colluding with the Jianzhou barbarians — this is smearing filth on the Sage! For such deeds that sell out the ancestors for petty gain before your eyes, there are actually still people pleading on their behalf?

If word of this spreads, what face will our line of Confucius have left to call ourselves descendants of the Sage?"

Though the Northern Lineage men dearly wished they could curse Kong Zhenyun to death and be done with it, their own side was simply too weak, with far too much filthy business to account for.

Most of the Northern Lineage men knew this in their hearts, and even after being roundly cursed out by Kong Zhenyun, they could think of no words to refute him.

After this farce, the matter of what ceremonial rank the Southern Lineage worthies' remains should be buried with in the Confucian Grove was effectively shelved — after all, no conclusion had yet been reached.

Since Kong Yinzhi's arrest, Kong Wenying, who had been managing affairs for the Northern Lineage, had been angered to death on the spot by Kong Zhenyun.

Once Kong Wenying's funeral rites were completed, it would likely take a long while yet — but the Southern Lineage worthies' remains could not simply be left outside the Confucian Grove unburied forever, could they?

As for the Northern Lineage, their hopes of fishing Kong Yinzhi and Kong Xingxie out had also gone down the drain — and they had thrown in a Kong Wenying to boot. The remaining Kong Zhenning was clearly no match for Kong Zhenyun in a clash.

From the look of things, the Southern Lineage's retaking control of the Kong Residence was all but settled. That old creature Kong Zhenyun had the Son of Heaven and the great moral authority of rightful title at his back — when the time came, who could stop him?

The whole party, whether Southern or Northern Lineage, parted on bad terms. It was now approaching midnight, and everyone present felt they could not hold out any longer.

They simply dispersed, each to his own, planning to meet again the next day. First they would have to discuss how to arrange Kong Wenying's funeral rites — that was the real matter at hand.

Otherwise, would they truly conduct it as Kong Zhenyun had proposed, striking his name from the genealogy?

If it came to that, Kong Wenying could not be buried in the Confucian Grove; his face would have to be covered with his hair, and in death he would have no face to meet his ancestors.

Just as the Kong Residence crowd was dispersing, a black shadow bypassed the Kong Residence guards and silently slipped out of the compound.

Not long after, this black shadow arrived at a common dwelling. After confirming no one was about, he extended a hand and knocked on the main gate several times in a distinct rhythm. At a faint, barely audible creak, the gate opened a crack. The black shadow slipped inside.

Once inside the room, eight men in black were seated on stools, watching this black shadow who had darted in.

The shadow wasted no words, saying directly: "Kong Wenying wanted to use the burial of the Southern Lineage worthies' remains as leverage to demand that Kong Zhenyun go rescue the former Duke for Perpetuating Sanctity Kong Yinzhi and Kong Xingxie.

In the end, Kong Zhenyun angered Kong Wenying to death. I expect the Kong Residence will be in internal chaos."

The black-clad man seated in the center asked: "Which rooms are occupied by which people — has that been confirmed?"

The black shadow replied: "Confirmed without error."

The black-clad man in the center nodded and said: "You have not been exposed yet. Return for now and continue your sweeping. Without orders from your superior, remain in deep cover."

We have finally kept Our word today, writing continuously all the way until now — 6:40 AM Beijing time, January 3, 2018.

My beloved ministers, shouldn't your recommendations, bookmarks, monthly tickets, and subscriptions be making a round now?

Daily book recommendation: Forging a New Ming in Blood and Iron.

Raising the altar at Langjuxu, striking straight for Huanglong — who says the sons of Han lack blood and valor!

After Yashan, the emperor died and his ministers followed — who says the men of Huaxia lack loyalty and righteousness!

"No marriage alliances, no indemnities, no ceding of territory, no tribute — the Son of Heaven guards the gate of the realm, the sovereign dies for his altars." Magnificent is the Great Ming; this is the Ming's backbone.

Huaxia has blood and valor, has loyalty and righteousness, has hegemonic spirit, has backbone — this is the declaration of Our New Ming. Let you uncivilized folk beyond the pale test whether the Great Ming's blade is sharp or not!

(End of chapter)