In fact, what I am most worried about is that some so-called "experts" use strange knowledge points and logic to mislead the public.
There is a guy who claims to study the history of the classics, holding a very funny logic, saying that at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Kong Rong's entire family was destroyed by Cao Cao, and the bloodline of the Kong family was thus broken, so the descendants of the Kong family in later generations were impersonated. He felt that precisely because Confucius's descendants were impersonating, Yan Sheng Gong was a fake.
It seems that this guy is very stubborn to think that all the descendants of Confucius are passed down from generation to generation, and there can be no other branches, so when the Kong Rong family dies, the incense of the Kong family is broken, and Confucius is also without a descendant.
Since "experts" you think that the descendants of Confucius are all passed down from generation to generation, why did you come to Kong Rong, where there are Kong Bao, Kong Chen, Kong Qian, Kong Yu and two other unknown brothers, a total of seven? Could it be that Kong's inheritance rules broke the rules here with Kong Rong's father Kong Zhou? Moreover, Kong Rong is not the largest in the ranking, and the historical data does not say that it is the eldest son of the concubine, nor does it conform to the rules of single transmission from generation to generation that the "expert" believes?
Besides, Kong Rong's father Kong Zhou, and the three brothers Kong Biao, Kong Li, and Kong Lin, how come they are not single-handed down from generation to generation? Then look up along Kong Rong's family tree, all of which do not meet the rules of "generations of single transmission", it seems that "experts" have forced a rule to the Kong family.
Moreover, to be precise, Kong Rong was not really destroyed by Cao Cao, and the Book of Later Han only records that "the time was fifty-six." Both wives and children were cursed. Kong Rong was killed by his own family, not the entire Kong family. No matter how much Cao Cao didn't like Kong Rong, he wouldn't risk the world to purge the Kong family, which had a long history.
Here we should also explain the problem of Yan Sheng Gong, which originated in the Song Dynasty, in 1055 AD, the 45th generation of descendants Kong Zong wished to begin to canonize, before this there was no Yan Sheng Gong this said. The rule is that only the eldest descendant of Confucius is eligible to be called Yan Sheng Gong. It is estimated that this "expert" is because of the rules of the eldest son of this Yan Sheng Gong, directly misinterpreting that the Kong family must pass it on from generation to generation, and then speaking of a series of fallacies.
Since the Yanshenggong system had only begun in the Song Dynasty, there was nothing to do with Kong Rong at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, because the successive Yanshenggongs were not direct descendants of Kong Rong. If you insist that Kong Rong is Yan Shenggong, it is equivalent to Guan Gong fighting Qin Qiong.
Moreover, Kong Rong was not the eldest son of Kong Zhou,he also had an older brother above him, and he could only be counted as one of the concubines at most. The murder of Kong Rong's entire family has nothing to do with the killing of Confucius's eldest son.
In addition, Kong Zhou also has an older brother, and he himself is not necessarily the eldest son of The Concubine, and it is not certain whether Kong Rong's lineage is the eldest descendant of the Concubine who is "passed down from generation to generation".
Because Kong Rong is relatively famous in history, this expert naturally concluded that Kong Rong was the eldest descendant of Confucius's "generations of single transmission", which was not only very wrong, but also somewhat funny and cute.
It is worth mentioning that the inheritance rules of the Yan Sheng Gong are not strict "generations and single transmission" of the eldest descendants, because it is unrealistic. I will give you a casual example and you will understand, for example, Tang Gaozu Li Yuan founded the Tang Dynasty, but his eldest son Li Jiancheng was killed by the second son Li Shimin in the Xuanwumen Rebellion, and Li Jiancheng's sons were all killed immediately. Can we conclude that Li Tang's bloodline was broken because Li Jiancheng's entire family was killed? Obviously impossible, otherwise how can Li Shimin calculate? Not from the Lee family?
Then the perspective changes to the Confucius family, if confucius's eldest son is passed down to a certain generation, and suddenly the eldest son dies prematurely and is too late to leave the offspring, does it mean that the Confucius family incense is interrupted? Obviously not.
In fact, in ancient times, if the eldest son died, the second son (or the eldest surviving concubine) became the largest concubine and had the highest right of succession; if all the concubines died, or if only the concubines did not marry, the eldest son had the highest right of succession. In addition, in the case of multiple concubines, sometimes it is not necessarily the eldest son who inherits the family business, and the parents or the family power holder also have to consider the question of meritocracy - especially if the eldest son is not capable enough or is not alive.
These rules are the same when placed on the inheritance system of the YanShenggong, which will not be severed because of the death of one of the eldest descendants, but will still find other concubines or concubines to inherit. Yan Sheng Gong was canonized by the imperial court, and attached great importance to personal moral issues, and often had to be examined among the concubines of the successive Yan Sheng Gong before being officially canonized.
As long as the family tree is there and true, the Kong family is still the oldest and most unambiguous family in mainland history, which is an uncontroversial fact. The Kong family is scattered, the population is huge, widely distributed, and there is no case of a historical celebrity who dies or has no offspring and cuts off the incense. Confucius's bloodline will not be severed, unless there are no more people with the surname Kong in this world.
Finally, I would like to talk about the inheritance of blood, I personally think that the difference between the concubines of the ancients is based on the polygamous system, which is a product of the old era and a backward system; and now we are practicing a monogamous system, there is no difference between concubines, and the brothers and sisters in inheritance are relatively fair, much more advanced than the ancients. Therefore, I think that everyone in the Kong family, whether boys or girls, is a descendant of Confucius's bloodline, and they should not be arrogant and self-effacing, and others should not point fingers at them with concubinage and inferiority.
In a broader way, those who promote Confucius's Confucian doctrine can also be the spiritual descendants of Confucius, and their status is not lower than that of Confucius's bloodline descendants, everyone is equal, and it is important to inherit the excellent content of Confucian thought together.
The feudal era has long passed, and we should have abandoned this narrow theory of descent a long time ago, and we cannot turn back history!