Father!
Grandfather!
Clan Patriarch!
The Kong family members, held by the paratroopers, struggled instantly upon seeing this, looking at Li Shimin with grief and indignation.
Your Majesty! You must not, absolutely must not do this!
At the same time, the thousands of scholars and over a hundred civil officials knelt on the ground and shouted loudly, trying to intercede for Kong Yingda.
Li Shimin remained unmoved, his eyes fixed on Kong Yingda, and gritted out four words.
Guards! Confiscate their property!
Yes!
Li Xiaogong, Li Ji, and Liu Hongji bowed to receive the order, then assembled their troops, forcibly cleared the scholars blocking the city gate, entered the city, and headed for the Kong mansion.
Who are these people!
After they left, Li Shimin asked Zhang Tian.
Replying to Your Majesty, this one~~
Zhang Tian introduced the twelve bound individuals one by one.
Among them were Kong Yingda's son Kong Zhiliang, grandson Kong Huichu, and grandson Kong Huigu. In addition to these three direct descendants, there were four collateral descendants.
The other five, Li Shou, Li Zhong, Li Zheng, Cui Cai, and Cui He, among them, Li Shou and Cui Cai were the current heads of their respective families.
After he finished speaking, Fang Er suddenly understood why the old man was not alarmed at all when Wang Xuance and Yan Shuangying led people into the city just now.
It turns out Kong Zhiliang and Kong Huichu were not in the city!
Looting national debt and ambushing imperial soldiers is a crime equivalent to rebellion!
Guards, clear the civilians from the city wall and escort these twelve people to the city wall for slow slicing to death!
Li Shimin finished speaking, tucked the pistol into his belt, then pulled the chair Kong Yingda was tied to, and with a slight effort, Kong Yingda turned from facing the city outwards to facing the city gate.
Old Li, this is to make Kong Yingda watch his own sons and grandsons be cut to pieces with his own eyes!
Your Majesty, this is the act of a tyrant, and you must not, absolutely must not do it!
Zhu Yixiang, kneeling with the scholars, cried out in anguish.
Please Your Majesty reconsider, do not let the scholars of the world~~~~
Bang!
The other officials who were pleading hadn't finished speaking when they were startled by the sudden gunshot and began to tremble.
After they figured out what was happening, they saw Zhu Yixiang fall to the ground with his eyes wide open. On his forehead, a blood hole was oozing red and white.
Anyone who dares to say another word of intercession will be punished as an accomplice!
Li Shimin's voice was very cold, and even in early summer, it made everyone present feel as if they were in an ice cellar.
Fang Er was also startled by his sudden shot; it was too sudden.
But it made sense, these scholars had really taken politeness for granted.
He is an emperor, he has no feelings, and he has no money, but he wants to be a wise ruler!
Li Shimin! Do you truly leave no face for the sage?
Kong Yingda, facing the city wall, watched as his descendants were tied to the city wall one by one, and finally spoke again.
Li Shimin seemed to have been waiting for this sentence. He walked up to Kong Yingda and sneered.
The sage's face? Very well, I'll give you a chance!
Explain to me clearly the matter of looting the national debt, and I will show leniency and grant you a complete burial!
Outside Laizhou City, there were no survivors, and to this day, they still didn't understand how the thousand Heavenly Fire Army and the three hundred scouts of the Hundred Riders Guard were annihilated.
Kong Yingda laughed, his laughter filled with self-mockery, and then began to narrate the cause and process of plotting against the national debt.
The reason was that it had been brewing for a long time. Ever since he was struck by lightning, a seed of hatred had been planted in his heart. This was the first reason.
Last year, Li Shimin's remarks in Shenyang directly elevated the status of artisans to be second only to scholars, which infuriated all Confucian scholars.
In their eyes, even if they studied hard for decades, they might not be able to obtain an official position.
However, those who were originally of low status artisans suddenly rose to prominence.
Not only that, but the court even held skill examinations for these low-status artisans. Similarly, the discussions about great artisans and artisan patriarchs in Shenyang also spread throughout the Great Tang through merchant caravans.
Glory and wealth, the ennoblement of wives and heirs, and it was even rumored that a great artisan was personally granted an official position by Li Shimin. When did these become treatment that low-status people could enjoy?
To put it simply, it was the change in the treatment of artisans by the Great Tang that made the Confucian scholars uncomfortable.
This was the second reason.
The third was the academy.
Since last year, the Ministry of Rites had been vigorously promoting the policy of establishing academies in villages. Not only were they tuition-free, but they also distributed books for free and provided a free lunch.
This directly touched upon the fundamental interests of Confucianism: the monopoly of knowledge and the ultimate right to interpret the classics!
Fourth, after the establishment of the Dengzhou Bank, the interest rates, which were much lower than private lending, exposed the ugly faces of the gentry to the common people.
And what ultimately led the Kong family to decide to resist was the arrival of Li Shou and Cui Cai.
Their two families had returned purely for revenge against Li Shimin and Fang Er, so they used all sorts of means to provoke the Kong family.
With resentment already in their hearts, their goals quickly aligned.
The Kong family's four branches came forward to win over various bandit forces in Shandong Province, totaling over thirty-five thousand people. Coincidentally, banks everywhere were selling national debt and had to escort it back to the capital, so they set their sights on the national debt.
Shenyang was Fang Er's base camp, and they dared not touch it.
As for Chang'an, it was out of the question. Bianzhou and Chang'an were too close, so they dared not touch it either.
The best target was Dengzhou Bank!
Nothing in the imperial court could be hidden from the Kong family's eyes and ears, so they knew the purpose of this national debt very well from the beginning.
A single trip to Dengzhou was not enough, so they also incited the people of Yangzhou to prevent the national debt from returning to the capital.
At the same time, they would instigate the people of both regions to distrust the banks and encourage them to go to the banks to withdraw their deposits.
In this way, with the national debt from just three banks, they would have to face the withdrawing citizens and also consider the food for the disaster victims across the country.
The promotion of the academies would inevitably be affected.
Similarly, the Guard Protector Army, which had just been converted to a conscription system, would not be able to pay their salaries and would inevitably lead to rebellion.
Natural disasters, popular uprisings, and military mutiny, these three combined would be enough to bring about the downfall of the Great Tang.
Hmph! I've calculated my whole life. Imperial soldiers have been ambushed by mountain bandits in previous years, but I never expected this time that you would be so decisive!
After explaining the reasons, Kong Yingda shook his head and said with a bitter smile.
You bastard, how innocent were my thousand brothers!
Seeing that his face showed no remorse even at this point, Fang Er couldn't help but curse.
They followed me to conquer Goguryeo, destroy Silla, annex Baekje, and attack the grasslands. They fought many battles and achieved brilliant victories, and never suffered such heavy losses!
No matter how elite they were, they couldn't withstand a wisp of perfumed incense in a foggy day!
Kong Yingda roared at Fang Er with a look of hatred.
They are innocent, but what about Confucianism? You promote miscellaneous studies, have you left any way for Confucianism to survive! Huh?
Even those bricklayers can step on the heads of Confucian scholars, so why can't I fight for a future for Confucianism!