In the dark night, Tang Keke had a righteous face and spoke righteous words.
The people in charge of the Kong Mansion were already furious: "You...!"
Tang Keke stretched out his hand and pressed down the opponent's raised arm. His face was full of selflessness, and he shook his head and said: "No need to thank you, no need to be polite. I am here to protect the saint's family. It is my duty."
The clan members in charge of the Kong Mansion widened their eyes.
I have never seen such a shameless person.
He actually thought he still wanted to thank them?
This is really unreasonable!
The steward of the Kong Mansion wanted to speak, but an angry voice came out: "My Kong...!"
"Yes, yes! What you said makes sense..." Tang Keke's eyes were smiling, and his face was full of spring breeze. He turned around and dragged the clan member who was in charge of the Kong Mansion to the trench where the smell of gunpowder smoke still lingered.
.
Tang Keke kept chattering without giving the other party a chance to interrupt. He kept saying: "This is also a whim of ours. In order to build a defense outside the Confucius Mansion before the traitors arrive, it doesn't matter if we work harder.
It’s just a little less sleep.”
Does he know what he's talking about?
The clan members in charge of the Kong Mansion who were dragged by Tang Keke shouted angrily in their hearts.
He wanted to break free from the other party's shackles, but the scholar was no match for these reckless men in the army. No matter how hard he struggled, it was as if he was covered by an iron plate, unable to retreat.
In just the blink of an eye, this man was invited by Tang Keke to the trench that was filled with the smell of gunpowder smoke.
Tang Keke's face was full of pride. He wrapped one hand around the arm of the clan member who was in charge of the Kong Mansion, and waved the other hand towards the ditch with great pride.
Then, he said in a very proud tone: "Please take a look at your mansion. The soil outside your mansion is as hard as gold and stone. Our troops can't dig deep enough even if they try hard today."
However, tonight my troops used gunpowder to bury them under the ravine, using fire as a signal, with the power of thunder. Half of my body was now as thick as a bean brain in the mud of gold and stone.
It only takes one or two hours for our officers and men to carry it out at dawn tomorrow, and it will be enough to completely clear it out."
As he said these words, Tang Keke's face was filled with only the pride and joy of accomplishing something, as well as the pride he showed to outsiders.
There was no mention at all of what the time was like at this moment, how much noise the thundering force made at this moment.
The steward of the Kong Mansion, who was captured by Tang Keke, was so angry that he almost wanted to burst into flames, and looked down into the ditch.
The layers of soil are still exuding the pungent smell of gunpowder smoke from time to time. The layers of soil that were originally one body are now like old tofu that has been broken into pieces, and the pieces are crowded together.
Raise the height of the bottom of the trench.
In the lower parts of the bulge, a few streaks of white smoke floated out from the cracks from time to time.
Looking at everything in front of him, the hands of the steward of the Kong Mansion hidden under his sleeves were already tightly clenched into fists, and his fingers were pressing deeply into the flesh of his palms, but he could not feel any pain at all.
anger.
shame.
In the thousand-year-old family of saints, he had never experienced humiliation, and his angry throat was soaked with blood.
However, Tang Keke, who was beside him at this time, was staring at this person with a vague expression on his face.
"Everything my department does is for your government, but I don't care about your government. After all, this is the responsibility of my department."
puff……
A miserable sound came out in the wilderness in the dark night.
A cloud of blood mist came out from Tang Keke's side and filled the entire scene in an instant.
The smell of blood assaulted his nostrils, and it seemed to contain countless anger.
The clan member in charge of the Kong Mansion was no longer able to suppress him at this moment. He waved his hand and pushed Tang Keke away, who had never expected this. He cried blood from the corner of his mouth, his eyes were bloodshot, his face turned red and purple, then turned white, and he waved his hand to point angrily at the thieves.
He stepped back continuously, his arms were shaking tremblingly, his eyes seemed to be bursting, and blood was dripping from the corners of his mouth.
"Er... you wait..."
"You... how dare you blaspheme the saint's family!"
"You unofficial thieves..."
"I have never seen such a shameless person like you!"
vomit.
puff……
The steward clan member of the Kong Mansion felt weak at his feet and yelled at the top of his lungs, venting the anger in his heart as a descendant of a saint's family that has been passed down for thousands of years.
But blood spurted out again, and the blood mist dyed his face red and covered with blood spots.
Several Confucius stewards and Confucius clan members who followed were frightened and hurried forward to support the man, fearing that he would vomit blood again due to anger or even become ill with anger.
Several people from the Kong Mansion were also glaring at Tang Keke angrily.
"What do you want to do? Are you trying to deceive me into having no one in the Kong family?"
"You are a soldier of the imperial court, but you act like a rebel. Are you a soldier or a thief? Do you want me, the Kong family, to ask the imperial court personally?"
Tang Keke had a smile on his face, but it was restrained compared to before. He looked calmly at these people from the so-called millennium saint family, and shook his clothes: "This general is wearing the military robe of the imperial court, and he also received the imperial robe.
Money, food and salary are the soldiers of the imperial court. When I came to Qufu, my only concern was the safety of your mansion. We stayed up day and night, fearing that the saint would be harmed, but we didn't want to incur the anger of your mansion. What did your mansion mean? I
How unjust are our officers and men?"
Being well versed in Confucianism and having experienced military battles, Tang Keke knew best how to deal with these so-called descendants of saintly families and so-called good people.
Hearing the thunder outside the mansion, the people of the Kong Mansion who came out to ask questions were angered and their rationality was swallowed up for a moment. Several people also forgot about the status of both parties and the current situation, so they called out to the Kong Mansion who were following them and were holding fire sticks.
The servants stepped forward and surrounded Tang Keke.
"The face of the Kong family must not be lost."
"Today, you must give me an explanation."
"If not, we will fight to the death!"
"..."
In an instant, the situation suddenly became tense.
The place in front of Tang Keke became crowded in the blink of an eye. Tang Keke was about to be swamped by the numerous people from the Confucius family, as well as those children who had also inherited the family for decades or even hundreds of years.
Bang bang bang.
There was a stir of soldiers.
A cold blade showed its edge in the dark night, shining with a stunning icy luster.
The officers and soldiers of the Nanxiama Military Camp, who had been prepared for a long time, had already come over from all sides when the people from the Kong Mansion made a move.
In an instant, a team of men and horses rushed in front of the people of the Confucius Mansion, protecting Tang Keke from behind.
A flag officer had deep brows, cold eyes, and a hint of murderous intent on his face. With his palm pressed against the hilt of a sword that had not yet been taken out of its sheath, he walked in front of everyone in the Kong Mansion with majestic military steps.
"snort!"
"Are you planning to rebel? Are you so bold as to attempt to attack and kill the general in charge of the imperial army in front of the imperial army?"
"Who gave you the courage!"
He was obviously only the lowest-ranking flag officer in the army, but when he scolded and lectured, his voice was shocking, like a tiger descending from the mountain, deafening and enlightening.
In conjunction with the flag officer's reprimand, the officers and soldiers around him who had long been impatient to wait so late at night and wanted to guard the Kong Mansion for comfort and resentment took further actions.
The officers and soldiers held long swords, stepped forward with their right feet, and held the back of the sword vertically in the middle of their sight.
Following the flag officer's questioning, the officers and soldiers began to shout.
"Tiger!"
"Tiger!"
"Tiger!"
The situation at the scene has been raised, and the people of the Kong Mansion surrounded by soldiers have forgotten what the swords in the hands of the officers and soldiers are used for.
The atmosphere was tense to the extreme.
The relationship between the two parties also turned to freezing point in an instant.
"If you dare, take action and kill us here tonight."
"As long as I don't die, I will go to Yingtian in person one day and ask the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty why they slashed at us with their swords."
"Come if you can!"
"I just want to see who is not afraid of death! If you can, kill me now."
The flag officer who originally just wanted to scare these people from the Confucius family was now in some trouble.
Maintaining restraint on both sides has been a military order for a long time. At this moment, it was because these people from the Confucius Mansion wanted to do evil to Tang Keke that they stepped in to stop it.
The flag officer had never thought that these cowards from a saintly family who only knew how to study would actually be so tough.
The flag officer couldn't help but turn his head and look at Tang Keke's face.
Tang Keke also didn't expect that the knives in the hands of the officers and soldiers could not scare these people.
There were some difficulties for a while, but the established strategy could not be ruined because of this group of people.
Tang Keke put his hands together, his gaze lowered, his eyelids narrowed slightly, and he lowered his head to look at the scattered mud splashed up from the gully under his feet.
But in the eyes of the flag officer, he clearly saw that Tang Keke silently recited a typed word from his mouth at the end.
"beat!"
The flag officer turned around instantly and shouted angrily in a cold voice.
The officers and soldiers who were originally surrounding the people of the Kong Mansion immediately put their swords back into their scabbards. Holding the scabbard in their hands, they rushed forward. The scabbard holding the long sword was already being beaten bitterly.
This group of people from the Confucius family were really confused.
For a time, there was a roar of people in the dark night, miserable moans and angry roars from time to time, resounding in the wilderness under the stars.
After all, the people of the Kong family were no match for the officers and soldiers. Even those servants of the Kong family who had been raised for tens or hundreds of years and could be described as private soldiers fell one after another at the hands of the officers and soldiers who still held back their strength.
A gust of wind and smoke blew by, bringing with it a slight chill, which seemed a bit biting.
When everything was settled, there was no one standing in front of Tang Keke's eyes. The officers and soldiers dispersed around with relaxed expressions, but their eyes were on guard in the field.
In the field, the ground was full of people from the Confucius family lying on the ground, whether they were members of the Confucius family or members of the Confucius family.
The flag officer took a glance and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that his subordinates all knew how to be measured and restrained their strength. There was only blood or wounds, and no one died.
Then he looked sideways and silently at Tang Keke.
Tang Keke had already looked towards the glorious high gate of the Confucius Mansion.
After beating this bunch of miscreants, the Kong family should come out with more weight and be able to calm down the situation so that they don't dare to mess up the rules easily again.
as expected.
But soon, under the high gate of the Confucius Mansion, a group of young and old came out, surrounding Kong Gongjian, the next heir to the Confucius Mansion who had been seen in the daytime.
However, Tang Keke's eyes flashed with disappointment.
The contemporary Yanshenggong who raised a good son still didn't come out.
Does he think that the more than ten thousand troops outside the mansion really dare not set foot on Confucius' mansion and defeat this thousand-year-old sect?
In the night, Kong Gongjian's face looked particularly ugly.
The resentment squeezed into my heart during the day has reached the point where I can hardly suppress it.
When he walked out of the Confucius Mansion and looked towards the eastward wilderness, under the light of the torches in the hands of the officers and soldiers, people in the Confucius Mansion fell all over the ground.
Kong Gongjian gritted his teeth, and for the first time he felt the intention to kill out of anger.
Beside him, the elders of the Kong family and the people in charge of each house were already snorting coldly, with expressions of displeasure on their faces and sullen eyes.
Completely different from the behavior of the Kong family members who were brought out of the mansion by Kong Gongjian, Tang Keke had a bright smile on his face again, but there was some implicit embarrassment under the smile.
Without waiting for Kong Gongjian to bring people forward to question him.
Tang Keke had already led three or two officers and soldiers to greet them.
Kong Gongjian was never allowed to speak.
Tang Keke already had his hands raised high: "Tonight, our troops will stay awake and dig deep trenches, just to complete military affairs as soon as possible and protect the safety of your mansion.
However, he didn't expect that the reckless men under his command who had never read books actually had some misunderstandings with the people in your mansion. The two sides didn't know how to get there, but they got into conflicts at night.
This is our department's fault. The person who committed the crime has been captured and taken back to the Chinese army camp for severe punishment. However, I hope your government can calm down."
Kong Gongjian, who was originally ready to launch an attack on the enemy, felt like his fists were hitting cotton before he could even speak out his words.
Just looking at the wailing people in the mansion not far away behind Tang Keke, Kong Gongjian's expression still did not improve.
Kong Gongjian raised his head and looked at Tang Keke, and said in a deep voice: "I heard thunder in the mansion tonight, but I didn't know what was going on. I went out to investigate. When I left the mansion, everyone was in good order. Why did there be misunderstandings and conflicts again."
"Probably because these reckless men in the army have never studied." Tang Keke responded lightly, but his eyes were a little deep, paying attention to the next successor of the Confucius family who was rumored to be smart since childhood.
"Oh?" Kong Gongjian raised his brows, raised his head, and stopped several elders from the clan from reprimanding him. His tone was a little unkind: "Everything is reasonable, how could it be that people in my family fell to the ground just because they didn't study?
Your troops have come here today, saying that in order to protect the safety of our house, we must be on guard against traitors who may take advantage of us.
At this moment, before the rebels arrived, the Kong family was already injured. Is this really consistent with what the general said?
Halfway through the night, the Kong family was resting, but your troops used gunpowder and thunder to disturb the peace of the Kong family. If they are really just guards, why can't they do this again tomorrow?"
Tang Keke said softly: "Soldiers are very quick, I hope your government will understand."
Kong Gongjian frowned, and his tone became colder: "We are called guards, but in fact they are constantly disturbing us. There are thousands of people in the house, and they cannot rest day and night. Even if they know outsiders, it is difficult to tell the true meaning of our department. After all, we are guards.
My family still vents their anger for personal reasons."
Tang Keke cursed a few times in his heart, quite disdainful of Kong Gongjian's remarks.
But on the surface, he was quite restrained and didn't give a shit.
"We accepted the order and abandoned the expedition to the north to go south, just to quell the rebellion on Shandong Road. The Confucius Mansion is the home of the saints and the place of inheritance. We came here day and night and stayed up all night just to protect your mansion.
However, your government said that we had two intentions and dug trenches just to vent our anger. How innocent and unjust our more than 10,000 soldiers are! Perhaps your government knows how to guard against rebels and does not let them come.
Are you trying to harass our troops or your mansion?
The ten thousand people in our department are united to respect the imperial decree and protect the safety of your mansion. Although we have traveled thousands of miles without resting day and night, we have never complained. Where do you think Master Kong’s words are going to put me? Why not let me know?
I'll just kill myself in shame and anger."
Tang Keke spoke with great sadness and anger, almost to the point of bursting into tears.
Kong Gongjian's face turned frosty and he was silent for a while.
He and the Kong family have been crowded into a corner.
He saw that Tang Ke was a scholar, and this kind of person was the most difficult to deal with when joining the army.
In my ears, the indignant hums of the people in the tribe were almost scratching my ears.
In order to maintain the status of the imperial family, Kong Gongjian had to consider the voice of the entire Kong family.
His face turned completely cold, and he looked at Tang Keke: "Do you really want to continue like this? Regardless of the face of the Confucius Mansion, a large army surrounded the Confucius Mansion, trenches were dug outside the Mansion, there was thunder in the middle of the night, and all this, really
To protect the safety of my Kong family?"
"Is not it?"
Tang Keke seemed a bit bachelor. Anyway, he was a soldier now, not the scholar and scholar he once was.
Being reasonable is for the sake of final dignity.
The Kong family couldn't bear this tone, so the last bit of dignity was gone.
Even before Kong Gongjian was about to speak, Tang Keke added: "If there is any obstruction in front of the Ming army formation, everything will be trampled under the feet of all the soldiers."
In an instant, all the blood on Kong Gongjian's face disappeared.
There is no room left for this statement.
What is the reputation of the Kong family?
In the eyes of the Kong family, it may be above all else.
But in front of the Ming army's formation, they were just trampled on.
He, Tang Keke, wanted to trample on the face of the Kong family today, and trample on the ground the face of this thousand-year-old saint family.
"You!" Kong Gongjian finally lost his former demeanor as the heir to the first family in the Central Plains, his face was ferocious, and he shouted angrily.
But Tang Keke waved his arm: "Send the order, it's time to continue to implement the military order in the south."
Kong Gongjian looked puzzled.
However, the flag officer next to Tang Keke had a look of expectation and sarcasm on his face.
The flag officer raised his arms and shouted: "Send the order, the military order will be carried out in the trench south of Confucius Mansion."
When the flag officer passed down the military order, some officers and soldiers headed south, repeating the military order loudly.
Tang Keke looked at the angry Kong family in front of him, with sneers on his face: "As long as the rebels in Shandong Road are not eliminated, our army will not dare to leave Qufu even half a step. I hope your government will know that our army is eager to protect you, and in the future you will be able to serve in court."
I hope you can give me a few kind words from above."
Tang Keke's words were spoken again and again, step by step, against the Kong family.
Kong Gongjian was extremely angry.
The face that was originally pale became red with anger, and became congested with excitement.
However.
next moment.
Five miles south of Confucius Mansion, in the dark night, a few fires lit up.
This time, everyone in the Kong family could clearly and intuitively see how the previous thunderstorm outside the house happened.
A roar rose from the ground.
Countless amounts of dust continued to rise under the flickering light of the fire.
The ground trembled, and even the high walls of Kongfu's mansion finally had tiles and thousands of years of dust shaking off.
In front of the Kong family, he trampled their faces under his feet, which made everyone on Nanxiashan East Road feel hot in their bodies.
Tang Keke even laughed loudly, showing his endless heroism without concealment. He raised his arms and turned around, shouting loudly.
"Confucius is looking at our army. Is it majestic?"