It was the early morning of October 18th, the 240th year of Chongzhen.
Suddenly, a large number of papers with printed words appeared on the streets of the capital.
The above content is the full text of Kong Yinzhi's letter to the Jiannu, surrendering to the enemy and aiding the enemy.
Not a single word was missed, not a single error.
Although the Jinyiwei were dispatched at the first moment, they neither arrested anyone nor destroyed the papers.
It's just a warning to the people not to believe or spread rumors.
Since the Jinyiwei did not take any substantial action, the people let themselves go.
They took to the streets to spread the news with exaggerated details.
The content of this letter spread quickly in the capital and caused a huge stir among scholars.
The Duke Yansheng in the letter did not look like the head of the civil officials at all. Instead, he was humble like a grandson.
This caused the image of Duke Yansheng to plummet in the minds of scholars.
And soon became a laughing stock among the people of the capital.
Seeing that public opinion was becoming increasingly unfavorable to him, Duke Yansheng Kong Yinzhi wrote a letter of self-defense and posted it on the streets.
Trying to explain the truth to the people of the capital.
Just when the scholars were skeptical, the incident of the people surrounding the Yanshenggong Mansion occurred again in the capital.
On the morning of October 21st, countless people gathered outside the Yanshenggong Mansion.
They were in a stalemate for a while, and then started cursing.
"The great Duke Yansheng actually kowtowed to the Jiannu. This is intolerable!"
"You are scolding too lightly. Kong Yinzhi is not the Duke of Yansheng, but a traitor who sold out the Ming Dynasty for glory!"
"Kill the traitors!"
"This dog traitor must die a horrible death!"
The term "traitor" originated in the Yuan Dynasty. Hu Zhen first proposed this term in "Zhouyi Yanyi", referring to the treacherous ministers of the Han Dynasty.
Towards the end of the Ming Dynasty, court ministers called those who betrayed the country traitors in their memorials.
The "Huang Ming Jingshi Wenbian" records the memorial of Zhu Xieyuan, who was the Minister of War and Supervisor of Guizhou, Yun, Guangxi Military Affairs, and was awarded the Shangfang Sword, Junior Tutor, and Left Pillar of the State.
In his memorial, he said that some chieftains in the southwest were loyal to the court on the surface, but secretly behaved as traitors: judging by the traitors, they were cunning in every way...
Duke Yansheng Kong Yinzhi hid in his mansion trembling in fear and dared not show up at all.
"What? The Yansheng Mansion has been surrounded again?" The governor of Shuntian Prefecture felt overwhelmed upon hearing the news.
He thought for a moment and said, "Just like last time, let's go when curfew is approaching."
"I'm afraid that won't work, sir," said the Shuntian Prefecture official. "These people are very excited. When I came back, some people had already thrown manure into the Duke of Yansheng's mansion. If we don't stop them, I'm afraid some people will rush into the mansion and kill people and set fire to it."
"Quickly gather all the people to rescue the Yanshenggong Mansion."
When people from Shuntian Prefecture arrived outside the Yanshenggong Mansion, a riot had already occurred at the scene.
As a descendant of Confucius, Duke Yansheng is surrounded by halos.
As the saying goes, if one person succeeds, the whole family will benefit.
The servants in his house were more arrogant than each other.
These people looked down on ordinary people and scholars, and were already filled with anger after being surrounded several times before.
As someone threw manure into the house, all emotions exploded at this moment.
Several of them rushed out of the mansion with sticks and killed those who threw manure.
When blood spurted out, the smell was everywhere.
The bloodiness of the people present was aroused.
The people at that time were not as civilized as they are now.
The people at that time were very belligerent.
When building a house, you have to fight for the walls; when farming, you have to fight for the boundaries.
We had to fight for water and for firewood.
Let me put it this way, why were people in ancient times so keen on having children, especially sons?
There are ideas about retirement as well as preparations for war.
Once a conflict occurs with neighbors, the whole family, young and old, will join in the fight.
The more sons you have, the higher your chances of winning.
Losing lives in wars happens all the time.
"These damn traitors dared to fight back! Come on, everyone, beat these damn traitors to death!" A big man in the crowd raised his arms and shouted.
"Yes, kill these traitorous dogs!" The people responded quickly and surrounded them.
Seeing this, the servants quickly fled back to the mansion and closed the door.
"Someone's been beaten to death! The dog traitors have beaten someone to death!" Someone shouted loudly, "Everyone, charge! Let them pay with blood!"
Stimulated by all the bloody images and sounds, the people at the scene quickly lost their minds.
They rushed to the gate of the mansion and tried to rush in.
Since the door of the mansion was closed, they banged on it with their shoulders.
Amid the sound of bangs, the gate of Duke Yansheng's mansion was in danger.
"Come and block the door!" a servant shouted.
Some other people climbed up the wall using a human ladder, intending to climb over the courtyard wall.
At first, the servants in the mansion dared to use wood and bamboo poles to prevent the people from climbing over the wall.
As more and more people climbed over the firewall, they soon ran out of manpower.
"There are too many people climbing over the wall. Someone come and help stop them!" another servant shouted.
No one came to help him because the door had been broken open from outside.
Countless people rushed into the palace by stepping on the collapsed gate.
They beat anyone they saw and smashed anything they saw.
The entire Yansheng Mansion was suddenly in chaos.
"Master, run quickly, the door of the mansion has been kicked open." The housekeeper ran to Kong Yinzhi in panic, saying breathlessly.
"Ah?" Kong Yinzhi was already scared out of his wits at this time.
He subconsciously wanted to run to the back door.
At this time, a servant ran behind and reported in a panic: "Master, hurry up, the back door was knocked open by the rioters outside. They beat everyone they saw and smashed everything they came across!"
Kong Yinzhi's knees weakened and he almost fell to the ground.
His lips trembled as he said, "This... There are rioters at the front and back doors. Where can we run to?"
"It's too late to run," the butler began to take off his clothes, "Master, please quickly change into my cloth clothes and blend into the crowd and run away."
"Then...what are you going to do?" Kong Yinzhi asked.
"I will put on your clothes and give you a chance to escape." The butler said righteously.
Kong Yinzhi nodded without even thinking, "It seems that this is the only way."
He took off his brocade robe and put on the housekeeper's coarse cotton coat.
While they were changing clothes, people from Shuntian Prefecture had already arrived at the outskirts of the crowd.
"Shuntian Prefecture is investigating a case. Everyone get out of the way immediately!" The officer pushed the crowd aside and was about to go inside.
Someone asked loudly: "What if we don't avoid it?"
With a swish, the officers drew their swords and threatened, "You will bear the consequences!"
The crowd around immediately made way for a path.
The people from Shuntian Prefecture walked through the crowd and arrived at the gate of Yanshenggong Mansion.
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