Confucius was the founder of the Confucian school, Confucianism became a prominent school during the Warring States period, and Confucius's status was constantly improved under the admiration of the Confucian school and the use of the rulers. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty adopted Dong Zhongshu's suggestion to "depose a hundred families and respect Confucianism alone", making Confucianism the ruling ideology of the state, and the status of Confucius was also improved, and it began to be gradually deified and constantly crowned by various generations of rulers. Confucius also became a god related to the peace and security of the country from an ordinary person, and was worshipped by the people. However, corrupt officials and corrupt officials took advantage of people's extreme worship of Confucius to turn Confucius into a sign of greed. The innocent Confucius was caught up in a storm of corruption.
In the last years of the Qing Dynasty, China was in a state of internal and external troubles, and the situation of corruption in the administration of officials and corruption of officials was very common. Corrupt officials and corrupt officials have tried all kinds of means to make money, and it can be said that they have done everything to the extreme. At that time, in Gaomi, Shandong, there was a sensational "Confucius borrowing money case".
Ming Dynasty Anon. "Statue of Confucius"
In the autumn of 1908, Gaomi County's teaching edict (equivalent to the director of the Education Bureau) Yin Yueyi concurrently served as the head of the Gaomi County Higher Primary School. Although Yin Yueyun was responsible for education, he was a completely corrupt official, full of benevolence and morality, and only "Brother Kong Fang" in his eyes, trying to put the public money into his own pocket. In order to hide the eyes and ears of the people, after some contemplation, Yin Yuexun actually came up with the trick of "Confucius borrowing money" to confuse the public and profit from it.
Yin Yue ganged up with Zhang X and Fu X in the county to cheat and share the loot. Yin Yuexuan set up an IOU in the name of Confucius to borrow money from the academy, and the IOU was written by Zhang and Paid as a witness. The IOU said: "Confucius, the most holy teacher of the Lizi People's Republic of China, because the temple houses fell into disrepair and were in short supply of repair fees, he repeatedly asked for loans, and now Mengshen Dong guan said that the higher primary school hall lent the Beijing money of 500 hangings to help the poor and needy, and the gentry Dong pardoned the interest." So thoughtful, really deep sense of inscription, never dare to borrow for a long time, in order to shame the temple. There is no evidence for the aftermath, and the certificate is deposited." There is a temple zhu Yin, a pronoun Zhang, and a witness to fu mou's name. For the sake of their own selfish interests, these silverfish did not hesitate to set up a name for themselves, came up with such a bad trick, under the pretext of repairing the temple, using people's worship of Confucius as an excuse to defraud this money, fooling the people who were not highly educated and did not know the truth.
Later, this matter was discovered by several young students who returned from other places, and after careful investigation, it was confirmed that Yin Yueyun and others colluded to defraud public funds and directed the "Confucius Loan Case". Therefore, the students united and mobilized the county high school students to ask for IOUs from the school, and also joined hands with the enlightened gentry of the county to nominate representatives and file a complaint against the Qufu Yan Sheng Gongfu and the Inspector of Shandong, demanding that Yin Yue and others be severely punished. For a time, this embezzlement case caused a sensation in the province, aroused the attention of many parties, caused huge public pressure, forced the government authorities to recover the loan and punished Yin Yue and three other people.
Comments: This incident fully shows that excessive worship can become an excuse for bad people to stir up trouble, and ignorance is a cancer that causes various tragedies.
Source: Magazine of All Walks of Life, Issue 2, 2022
Author: Liu Yuqi