CHAPTER 533: CHAPTER 228: HEADS ROLLING (SECOND UPDATE)

"Kong Yansheng pays his respects to the Top Scorer." The South Kong Family Head, Kong Yansheng, is over seventy years old, yet he appears extremely humble in front of Xu Qing.

In fact, it’s more than just humility.

Kong Yansheng wishes he could hold onto Xu Qing’s leg and call him foster father.

One could say, Xu Liushou’s immense benefaction to the South Kong Family is akin to being their reborn parents.

The reason being, the South Kong had lost their title as Duke of Yansheng for over two hundred years, during which they never received any title, until the previous emperor awarded them a hereditary position as Five Classics Doctor at the Hanlin Academy, a mere eighth-rank official.

Yet, despite this, the South Kong Family is deeply grateful to the previous emperor.

Since his passing, they have commemorated him year after year.

The gratitude for the position of Five Classics Doctor was already profound, let alone Xu Qing’s direct assistance in restoring the title of Duke of Yansheng to the South Kong Family.

It can be said, if all scholars opposed Xu Qing, the South Kong Family definitely wouldn’t.

Only after losing something do people truly understand its value.

Now, the South Kong greatly cherish the title they struggled to regain.

Thus, when Xu Qing and Chen Fu were in Dongshan Province’s Qingtian, they received the strong cooperation of the South Kong Family.

Due to North Kong’s excessive misdeeds, the South Kong, having just regained their title, remained extremely low-key, not daring to commit misdeeds, consequently, through stark contrast, the influence of North Kong in Dongshan Province nearly vanished.

Occasionally, when traveling scholars arrived in Dongshan Province and spoke ill of Xu Liushou’s actions against North Kong, if overheard, they were met with glaring hostility at the least, and often a severe beating.

Since it’s inappropriate for commoners to beat scholars, some scholars reported to the authorities.

However, these reports were heedlessly dismissed, escalating the matter to the academic administrator, who dared not bring trouble upon himself, promptly sending the problematic scholars back to their places of origin, asking the administrators there to discipline them.

"Please rise, Teacher, I am merely a junior, undeserving of your grand gesture." Xu Qing’s attitudes towards South Kong and North Kong are completely different.

He wants to tell the world that he’s not disrespecting Confucianism, but only respects the Confucianism he acknowledges.

Cynics, Xu Liushou utterly holds in contempt.

Nominally, Kong Yansheng came to visit Xu Qing, but in reality, he was summoned by Xu Qing.

Kong Yansheng was worried about not having an opportunity to repay Xu Liushou, upon receiving Xu Liushou’s summons, he would come to meet him even if it meant a thousand armies were standing in his way.

It can be said, Xu Qing significantly elevated his historical status within the Kong Family.

After his death, not to mention being considered the ancestor of resurgence, he would certainly be more than sufficient to be enshrined in the family temple.

Xu Qing directly spoke openly, "This time managing the water, the Court didn’t allocate any silver to me, nor can they provide it. Spring plowing is soon, so the Canal must be cleared immediately, it can’t be delayed. My plan is to have the scholars and aristocratic families of Qingzhou primarily contribute money and grain, while the disaster victims provide labor, to overcome the difficulties together. Inviting Duke of Yansheng here is also to ask you to lead, to call on nobles and aristocratic families to donate money and grain."

Kong Yansheng: "Top Scorer, I don’t have an issue on my end, but I’m worried about not being able to gather a few noble and aristocratic families."

He continued saying: "Without significant contribution from the Court, getting nobles and aristocratic families to contribute money and grain is harder than killing them."

Xu Qing chuckled: "If they don’t contribute, then kill them, and confiscate their property. I have plenty of strength and means. This, the Duke of Yansheng can clearly tell them."

Xu Qing also has the major task of besieging the Black Mountain Demon in mind, so he doesn’t have the time to bother with this group of pests.

Moreover, with his current prestige, destroying an entire state and province is nothing at all.

Conquering the world is indeed difficult, but dealing with one state and one province is straightforward.

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"What, the Court not only doesn’t plan to spend money for disaster relief but also targets us?"

Because it is a summons from the Duke of Yansheng, the various nobles and aristocratic families came without much hesitation.

Ultimately, the Duke of Yansheng is the placard of the world’s scholars.

Unless they don’t acknowledge this placard, when summoned, they usually have to show up.

Unexpectedly, upon arrival, it was about this matter.

"In the past, it would be every household contributing three taels of silver for water management, how could there be any reason for the common people not to pay a cent." An aristocrat shouted.

Water management has always been a good project for embezzlement.

Especially when the common people suffer greatly from water disasters and have to spend money to manage them.

The stipulated amount was three taels, but in reality, after execution, their lands would be unsustainable.

Despite this, they grit their teeth and cooperate.

Otherwise, the noble and aristocratic families would still have food to eat and places to stay, while the common people would have to sell their land, sell their children, even sell themselves.

After a water disaster, it can be said everyone up and down had their fill.

Moreover, there is a certain strategy to building embankments.

Which side is robust, which side uses inferior materials, all depend on personal connections.

Even the raw materials for building the embankments are provided by some aristocrats.

It’s truly a scenario of one fish being eaten by many, everyone gets rich.

Although Xu Qing has a great reputation, upon arrival, he overturned the table, naturally making everyone very uncomfortable.

"Xu Liushou needs an answer today; here are the donation amounts each family should contribute, please compare them carefully." Kong Yansheng, being old, didn’t say much and just acted as a mouthpiece.

Each noble and aristocratic family, seeing their contribution amount, immediately turned pale.

The donation amount was almost one-third of their wealth.

One-third is basically life-threatening.

After the pledging event, apart from two or three families with good reputations, all other nobles and aristocrats refused on the spot.

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While Kong Yansheng was soliciting donations.

Xu Qing wasn’t idle; he was leading his team in studying measures to manage the water disasters.

Actually, the Court had old practices from previous years regarding water management, how to build embankments, the Ministry of Industry had already prepared blueprints before Xu Qing arrived.

Upon local inspection, the general construction process was readily apparent.

Frankly, the Court was not lacking in the capability to manage water but lacked funds.

Why do the Minister of the Ministry of Industry and River Director perform god-offering rituals, certainly, there’s an element of inviting deities to suppress Water Demons, but ultimately it’s about lacking funds.