Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 1123 Senior Brother
Prince of Song Zhu Mincheng went to Gaoyang on imperial orders to preside over the funeral affairs of Sun Chengzong on behalf of Emperor Zhu Shenzui, and brought him the posthumous honors bestowed upon him by the emperor.

Zhu Shenzhu valued Sun Chengzong and regretted his death, but as a king it was impossible for him to go there in person. The same went for the crown prince. The emperor's willingness to write an obituary for Sun Chengzong as a minister was a great favor, not to mention that he had given him so many honors and the posthumous title of Wen Zhong. Sun Chengzong could also be comforted in his grave.

The fact that Prince Song Zhu Mincheng went to Gaoyang was enough to prove the emperor and the court's final verdict on Sun Chengzong and gave him great honor.

In Gaoyang, Zhu Mincheng first paid homage to Sun Chengzong as a disciple, and then presided over Sun Chengzong's funeral as a prince. After reading the eulogy written by the emperor and the honors bestowed on Sun Chengzong and the Sun family, everyone in the Sun family was grateful and shed tears to thank the emperor for his grace.

After the incident, Zhu Mincheng declined the accommodation arranged for him by the Gaoyang County Magistrate and instead moved into the Sun Mansion.

In his opinion, Sun Chengzong was not an outsider. As Sun Chengzong's disciple, although Sun Chengzong had not taught him for a long time, in just two or three years, Zhu Mincheng benefited greatly from Sun Chengzong's teachings and respected his teacher even more.

When Sun Chengzong left the capital to retire, both the crown prince Zhu Minlan and the prince of Song Zhu Mincheng felt sorry for his departure. In the past few years, they often corresponded with Sun Chengzong, and through correspondence, Sun Chengzong often answered their academic doubts and questions in the letters, and the relationship between the two sides was extremely deep.

The Sun family is a big family in Gaoyang, and the Sun Mansion is not small. In order to accommodate the King of Song, Sun Hao specially vacated a backyard. Originally, Sun Hao wanted to vacate half of the Sun Mansion and arrange for the King of Song and his entourage to move in, but was rejected by Zhu Mincheng. Sun Chengzong had many children, and most of them rushed back for the funeral. So many people returned to the original Sun Mansion. It was crowded enough. If half of the mansion was vacated directly, it would be inappropriate. After all, this is the home of his teacher and his family. How can he, as a guest, take over the main position?

After several days of busy work, it finally came to an end after the burial today. Zhu Mincheng planned to rest in the Sun Mansion for another day and set off for Beijing tomorrow.

After going to the front and lighting a stick of incense in front of the teacher's tablet, Zhu Mincheng returned to the backyard of his temporary residence, changed his clothes, boiled a pot of tea, and was concentrating on reading a book in his hand when he heard the news that Sun Hao came to pay a visit.

Zhu Mincheng signaled the eunuch who had accompanied him to Gaoyang to let Sun Hao in, put down the book in his hand and stood up.

"Your Highness!" As soon as he entered the door, he saw Zhu Mincheng looking at him with a smile, and Sun Hao hurriedly stepped forward to salute.

"Brother, there is no need to do this. Come, come, sit down and talk." Zhu Mincheng quickly raised his hand to stop him, but Sun Hao still performed the salute respectfully.

Afterwards, Zhu Mincheng invited Sun Hao to sit down and talk. Sun Hao thanked him and then sat down below him and started talking about a few things.

It turned out that he learned that Zhu Mincheng was going back to Beijing tomorrow, so he came specifically to inquire about the arrangements for tomorrow's departure, and entrusted Zhu Mincheng to thank His Majesty on behalf of the descendants of the Sun family. He also asked Zhu Mincheng to take a letter of thanks back to the capital to present to the emperor.

In addition, the Sun Hao brothers had discussed the honor and official position that Your Majesty would bestow upon the Sun family, and decided to let the fourth-ranked Sun Xun receive this official position.

"Have you made your decision, brothers?" Zhu Mincheng asked unexpectedly.

"It has been decided. After discussing with my brothers, we all feel that the fourth brother is the most suitable to inherit the Yin official position. When my father left the capital before, His Majesty had already given him a gift, and at that time my father considered it and gave it to the fifth brother. This time, whether it is the ranking of brothers or other aspects, the fourth brother is the most suitable."

"This...whatever." Zhu Mincheng nodded slightly. He originally thought that this time the inheritance of the official position would fall on Sun Hao. Zhu Mincheng had some understanding of these senior brothers from his teacher's family. Although the talents of these senior brothers were far inferior to his teacher, they were all people of upright moral character.

Except for the three sons of Sun Chengzong who passed away, there were six sons left. The eldest, the second and the fifth had all become officials. Moreover, the emperor also gave the Sun family the honor of hereditary Jinyiwei, which was enough to bring glory to the Sun family for several generations in the future.

When Sun Chengzong was alive, his sons were either serving as officials outside the family or had moved out after getting married and having children. Although they all lived in Gaoyang, they did not live in the Sun Mansion.

Sun Chengzong only had his youngest son, Sun Hao, left by his side. Sun Hao was the one who accompanied his father in his last few years and was the only son who was by his side when he died.

As the saying goes, the eldest grandson is the youngest son, and parents usually love the youngest son the most. Moreover, Sun Hao was the youngest son of Sun Chengzong who was over 60 years old, so he loved him even more. Sun Hao's reading ability is not to be mentioned, but his character is impeccable. In addition, he has been with Sun Chengzong all these years until the moment of his death. Logically, most of the family business should be inherited by Sun Hao after Sun Chengzong's death.

From this point of view, the emperor's bestowal of the position of official on the Sun family this time was most likely for Sun Hao, but unexpectedly, Sun Hao gave up this rare opportunity and gave it to his fourth brother. This surprised Zhu Mincheng a little, but looking at Sun Hao's clear eyes and calm demeanor, Zhu Mincheng couldn't help but secretly admire his senior brother's broad mind. "What are your plans next, senior brother?" Zhu Mincheng asked, pouring him a cup of tea.

Sun Hao sighed and said, "My late father just passed away. According to etiquette, I should observe mourning for three years. Yesterday, I had someone build a hut at my late father's tomb. When Your Highness returns to the capital, I will move in and accompany my late father. During these three years, I can also calm down and study hard."

"This..." Sun Hao's answer made Zhu Mincheng at a loss for words. It is filial piety to mourn for the death of one's parents, but there is no need for Sun Hao to do this, right? Normally, people would stay at home to mourn, but he went directly to live next to the cemetery. This was not just one or two days, but three whole years! This kind of suffering is not something that ordinary people can endure.

Zhu Mincheng was about to persuade him, but he swallowed the words back because he saw determination in Sun Hao's expression. Although Sun Hao was young, he was very determined. Once he made up his mind, he would not change it. Moreover, he could push the emperor's gift and official position to his brother, so he must have thought about living in the suburbs a long time ago.

"Brother is so filial, I really admire him..."

"Before he passed away, my father had high hopes for me and my brothers, but except for my eldest and second brothers, none of the other six of us had any success in our studies, which is a pity. I am the youngest among my brothers, so my father paid more attention to me. But now I am over 20 years old, but I am not even a scholar. I am really sorry for my father's teachings!"

"I have made up my mind about the next three years of mourning. I will study hard and try to take the imperial examination after the mourning period. I don't have any extravagant hopes of becoming a Jinshi or anything like that. If I can pass the examination by chance, it will be considered as fulfilling my father's wish and fulfilling my filial duty as a son."

As he spoke, Sun Hao's eyes sparkled, as if he was thinking of his father, Sun Chengzong. Seeing him like this, Zhu Mincheng was also moved, and felt a little closer to his senior brother.

Suddenly, an idea came to his mind, and Zhu Mincheng asked, "Brother, do you have any idea of ​​becoming an official?"

"Be an official?" Sun Hao was stunned, and said with a smile: "Let's not talk about the three years of mourning. Even if I can pass the imperial examination after three years, I don't know. I am a commoner, how can I be an official! Besides, I know my own business. Even if I make progress in my studies, I am afraid that my future in the imperial examination is limited. I will be lucky if I can pass the imperial examination in this life. As for the imperial examination, I don't even need to think about it. How can I be an official?"

What Sun Hao said was correct. There were indeed examples of juren becoming officials in the Ming Dynasty. Not to mention that there were juren who became ministers of six ministries or even grand secretaries in the early days of the Ming Dynasty. But at that time, due to the war at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, there were very few scholars in the world. Moreover, Zhu Yuanzhang had just established the Ming Dynasty. In order to consolidate his rule, he had to win over scholars all over the world. In this way, it was normal to directly promote juren to officials when there were not enough jinshi.

As the Ming Dynasty gradually stabilized its rule and the imperial examinations were gradually restored, although Juren were eligible to become officials, there were few examples of Juren becoming officials in the middle and late Ming Dynasty. In the past hundred years, apart from the famous Hai Rui, there were very few people who became officials as Juren. Although there were two high-ranking officials in the Yongming Dynasty who were Juren and achieved the second or third grade official positions, one was Chen Xinjia, the assistant minister of the Ministry of War, and the other was Li Xin, the governor of Liaodong, who else could be found besides them?
Especially now that Sun Hao doesn't even have the title of scholar, it is even more impossible for him to become an official.

But Zhu Mincheng disagreed. He told Sun Hao in a serious tone that if Sun Hao planned to become an official, he could help. After all, Sun Hao was the youngest son of Sun Chengzong and also his senior brother. The age difference between them was not that big. Zhu Mincheng had a good impression of Sun Hao after these days of contact. Although Sun Hao did not have the talent of Sun Chengzong and was just average, Sun Hao was not bad in terms of character and other aspects.

Moreover, not all people who are employed are capable. There are so many people in this world, and most of them are just ordinary people. How many of them are truly talented? Over the years, although Zhu Mincheng is not the crown prince, he has learned a lot from his father. He knows very well how to employ people, and he understands that everyone has his shining points. As long as you use their strengths, even people with insufficient abilities can play a significant role. Zhu Mincheng deeply agrees with this.

Hearing what Zhu Mincheng said, Sun Hao was stunned and looked very surprised. Then he stood up and bowed deeply to Zhu Mincheng: "Your Highness, the national system cannot be violated. Your Highness is the prince of the Ming Dynasty and the legitimate son of His Majesty. How can you destroy the system for your own benefit and grant an official position privately? Although I have no achievements, I am also a scholar. I cannot agree to such behavior. Please take back your words just now, and follow the national system. Be careful in what you say and do!"

As soon as these words came out, Zhu Mincheng was in a state of confusion, and he immediately knew that Sun Hao had misunderstood his meaning. Seeing his serious expression and his determination to refuse and dissuade him, Zhu Mincheng felt better about Sun Hao and was more inclined to use him.

"Senior brother has misunderstood."

"Misunderstand?"

Zhu Mincheng nodded and said, "It's my fault. I didn't mean to grant you a position in the imperial court privately, but I wanted to ask you if you are interested in serving in my Song Palace. You are not an outsider, so I will tell you frankly that I will be leaving home soon and will set up a government office after I am there. I am short of people around me, especially someone like you. If you are willing to condescend to come to my side, I will serve you as the chief secretary. What do you think?"

"Ah!" Sun Hao had never expected Zhu Mincheng to have this intention, and was immediately dumbfounded.

(End of this chapter)