The emperor had won a great victory and even recovered the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun. Logically, the Song Dynasty should have continued peacefully in the manner of previous emperors. However, things did not go smoothly at this time.
First, more than a thousand heads were chopped off outside the capital, the Prince of Su was executed, and dozens of officials, including prefects and governors of the capital, the western part of the capital, and the two rivers, were brought to the capital at the same time. For a time, the officialdom north of the Yangtze River was shaken.
Just then, the official gazette of the Song Dynasty appeared, reporting that the incident of a local tyrant beating someone to death in Xianyuan County (now Qufu, Shandong) was being fueled by someone behind the scenes and was pushed into the official gazette of the Song Dynasty. Now even a pig could smell that this was a political conspiracy.
Four days after Li Xiaoer was beaten to death, another incident occurred in Xianyuan County. It is said that a member of the Kong family, who was drunk, went on a rampage, riding his horse wildly through the street. He almost collided with a soldier, but the horse was startled and the man fell off. Fortunately, he was not seriously injured. However, it is said that he was so angry that he drew his sword and was about to stab the soldier to death.
No one around dared to stop him, but unexpectedly, he failed to kill the soldier and was instead slashed by the soldier.
Soon, officials arrived to take the soldiers away, but they refused to cooperate, claiming that the other side wanted to kill them and that they were acting in self-defense, and that many people had witnessed it.
But this time, the dead were not ordinary people, but members of the Kong family. What kind of family is the Kong family? They are of sage blood, and even the current emperor has to be wary of them.
You say you're protecting yourself? Even if he wants to kill you, you'd have to obediently let him. Don't you know your place?
Just as the government office was arresting people, some people dressed in black and gold robes arrived.
He Liming waved his hand lightly and said, "You can all leave now. Leave this to us."
The officer looked at them and said coldly, "Who are you? How dare you obstruct the officers from handling a case!"
"We are the Emperor's personal guards, get out!"
"It's the Imperial Guards! Your Honor, please forgive us, we were blind to your greatness!" The group of officials quickly left.
He Liming looked at the soldier with a smile on his face: "Come with us."
The Imperial City Guard took away the soldiers and recorded the testimonies of those around them at the scene.
In the afternoon, the county magistrate of Xianyuan County was too frightened to leave his house after hearing about the incident. On one hand, a member of the Duke Yansheng's family had been killed by his head, and on the other hand, he had been taken away by the Imperial Guards. A mere county magistrate could no longer handle the matter.
The incident was published in the Tokyo Gazette the following morning. Along the route from Hebei Road to Tokyo, the Gazettes of various prefectures all published it simultaneously, causing a stir among the people.
A descendant of Confucius was killed in the street by a mere soldier! This is outrageous! If this soldier is not killed, how can the foundation of the nation be restored? What will become of the dignity of the scholars of the Great Song Dynasty? How will they face the sage after death?
This incident quickly spread throughout the north. From Xianyuan County all the way to Tokyo, officials from all over the country went to the government offices to petition the court to execute those soldiers and restore order to the nation!
At this moment in the Kong family mansion, the current Duke Yansheng, Kong Duanyou, was solemnly dressed, while his younger brother, Kong Duancao, was furious: "What a scoundrel! How dare he touch a member of the Kong family! I will kill his whole family!"
The Kong family member who was killed was Kong Xiang, the grandson of Kong Duancao. Since Emperor Renzong honored the Kong family head with the title of "Duke Yansheng", the Kong family has become a holy place for Confucian scholars all over the world. In the Song Dynasty, a dynasty in which Confucianism flourished, not to mention ordinary people, even the prime minister did not dare to disrespect the Kong family. Even the emperor had to give them some respect.
Now a direct descendant of the Kong family has been killed in the street by a mere soldier! This is outrageous!
The court is filled with high-ranking officials, all of whom are scholars! Of all professions, only studying is noble!
This saying was a profound truth in the Song Dynasty. Just how high was the status of scholars? They probably didn't even know it themselves. How could they know their own good fortune when they were living in it?
Only the emperor knows the truth, because he has seen the financial expenditures of previous years, and as the emperor, he knows best how much money the country spends each year to support its people.
According to the "Official Records" in the History of the Song Dynasty, high-ranking officials such as the Chancellor and the Privy Councilor received a monthly salary of 300 strings of cash, 20 bolts of silk, 30 bolts of fine silk, and 100 taels of cotton for spring and winter clothing, and 100 shi of grain per month. Local county officials received 20 strings of cash per month for magistrates of large counties (over 10,000 households) and 12 strings per month for magistrates of small counties, with 5 to 3 shi of grain per month. This was just their regular salary! Other expenses, such as sugar, wine, soy sauce, vinegar, salt, firewood, personal clothing, food expenses for attendants, and official clothing expenses, were all covered by the government! In addition, there were entertainment expenses: for example, the expenses of a military governor who concurrently served as Chancellor could reach as high as 20,000 strings of cash, and most importantly, there was no upper limit, "replenished as soon as it was used up, without any time limit."
But wait, there's more! After the regular salary, there's also the official land! The two capitals and major prefectures are allotted forty qing of official land, secondary prefectures are allotted thirty-five qing, and even small, remote counties receive seven qing. This additional land is rented out to tenant farmers, while the civil servants simply enjoy the harvest.
Let's look at how much an ordinary Imperial Guard soldier earned in a year: 45 strings of cash!
Don't worry, civil officials have a system of hereditary privilege. What is hereditary privilege? It means that after you, as an official, die, your descendants can still enjoy the same benefits as you.
The implication is that civil officials, sitting in their offices, can embezzle disaster relief funds allocated by the emperor while simultaneously enjoying high salaries and generous benefits, which their descendants can continue to enjoy.
In this situation, who would still be willing to join the army?
Why shouldn't a man carry a Wu hook and seize fifty states beyond the passes?
This is the Tang Dynasty!
Of all professions, only studying is noble!
This is the Song Dynasty!
It is said that one cannot succeed without reading, and the scholars of the Song Dynasty have all been elevated to the highest echelons by this statement. Do they know that scholars love to engage in empty talk, and that empty talk often leads to the downfall of the country?
Did you know that the borders of the Great Song Dynasty still needed soldiers to guard them?
In this incident at the Confucius Mansion, scholars north of the Yangtze River basically sided with the Confucius Mansion, saying that the soldier should be beheaded and his head displayed to the public!
Even in the capital, many officials were eager to enter the palace to meet the emperor, demanding that he personally issue an order to rectify social order, correct the prevailing social atmosphere, and give an explanation to the people and to the emperor himself.
However, this matter was not isolated. The Imperial Censorate also joined in the fun at this time, and with a sentence, "The emperor is subject to the same laws as the common people. The Confucius family condoned their children to commit violence in the street. The Censorate should bring them to justice," the whole matter was brought to a climax.
"Nonsense! Has the Imperial Academy become a plaything for the remnants of Legalism? The disciples of the sage rule the world, and Shi Ziming is bringing disaster to the country!" Imperial student Chen Dong was furious, and the students were immediately agitated.
Even the officials of all ranks in the capital were furious. When they went to the palace to see the emperor, they were told by a eunuch that His Majesty was traveling and had not yet returned.
That night, the students of the Imperial Academy jointly marched towards the palace. More than fifty students knelt at the palace gate, demanding that the emperor remove Shi Ziming from his position as a Hanlin Academician and exile him to Qiongzhou in order to rectify the court.
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