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

Chapter 115 Imperial Master
He had never received formal education before Tianqi, and only had the opportunity to do so after he became emperor.

Sun Chengzong was recommended by Liu Yirong, the second assistant of the cabinet, as the left minister, and was the nominal emperor's tutor.

Although Liu Yirong was only the second assistant in the cabinet, he would soon become the first assistant.

The previous Prime Minister was Fang Congzhe, who was the sole prime minister during the reign of Emperor Wanli. He has been the Prime Minister since the death of Emperor Wanli, the death of Emperor Taichang, and the accession of Emperor Tianqi.

However, Fang Congzhe's tenure as Prime Minister had come to an end. After two consecutive emperors passed away, the situation in the court was completely different from when Wanli was in power. The civil service group took advantage of the opportunity of the death of Wanli and Emperor Taichang to quickly divide up the power in the court. Now the Donglin Party is the only one in power, basically controlling the government from top to bottom, and Liu Yirong is the representative of the Donglin Party.

In order to completely control the government, Fang Congzhe turned from an ally into a stumbling block. The Donglin Party had long wanted to drive Fang Congzhe away, because as soon as Fang Congzhe left, the second assistant Liu Yirong would be able to take over as the first assistant. In this way, the cabinet would fall completely into the hands of the Donglin Party, and there would be no force that could compete with the Donglin Party.

Fang Congzhe himself was very clear about this. Since Xiong Tingbi left his post, the officials headed by the Donglin Party had begun to target him. If Fang Congzhe continued to stay, the Donglin Party would never give up.

In fact, during the reign of Emperor Wanli, Fang Congzhe had already thought about retiring, but Emperor Wanli had always tried to keep him. In this case, it would be better for him to retire early. After being the Prime Minister for so many years, Fang Congzhe is not attached to this position. If you Donglin Party members want it, I will give it to you.

So Fang Congzhe had already submitted a memorial to the emperor requesting to retire and return home. Tianqi appropriately tried to retain him twice, and seeing that Fang Congzhe was determined to resign, he agreed to his request to retire. In two days, Fang Congzhe would officially leave the cabinet and return home. Once he left, Liu Yirong would become the prime minister.

To be honest, Tianqi had a very bad impression of the Donglin Party, especially when he thought of the scene when he was carried out of the Qianqing Palace by Yang Lian, a nameless anger surged in Tianqi's heart.

Moreover, after he ascended the throne, Tianqi was afraid of the Donglin Party's influence in the court. If Liu Yirong became the prime minister, the Donglin Party's power would be even greater, which made Tianqi even more worried.

But now he has no choice, because Tianqi does not have the ability to compete with the civil service group, especially the Donglin Party. Although he has controlled the Silijian and Dongchang through Wei Zhongxian, Wei Zhongxian's power is still weak. If he wants to use Wei Zhongxian to fight against the civil service group and the Donglin Party, he does not have the ability to do so now.

Sun Chengzong was the imperial tutor recommended by the Donglin Party. Tianqi had no ability to refuse this teacher and could only accept him with a pinch of his nose.

But after interacting with Sun Chengzong during this period of time, Tianqi has slowly changed his attitude from being wary of Sun Chengzong at the beginning to now. Although he cannot have absolute trust yet, in Tianqi's heart, Sun Chengzong has gradually changed his initial impression.

Sun Chengzong is not young. He was born in the 42nd year of Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty and is now nearly 60 years old.

Sun Chengzong's imperial examination was not so smooth. He entered school at a young age and did not pass the examination until he was 41 years old. However, he ranked second that year.

After passing the imperial examination, Sun Chengzong was appointed as an editor of the Hanlin Academy, and then became a Zhongyun, and later served as an imperial examination officer. Over the years, Sun Chengzong's official position in the court has never been high, and because he offended the party members when he presided over the Yingtian County Examination, he was attacked by the party members and almost lost his job. Thanks to his good friend Liu Yirong's strong protection, Sun Chengzong was spared.

Although Sun Chengzong and Liu Yirong had a good relationship, and there were rumors that Sun Chengzong was a member of the Donglin Party, Tianqi actually found out after meeting him that Sun Chengzong was not a member of the Donglin Party, nor was he a member of the Zhejiang Party or the Chu Party. This old man with a magnificent appearance and a loud voice was not a member of any party, but a member of the imperial party. This really surprised Tianqi.

At first, Tianqi thought that Sun Chengzong was deliberately concealing the truth, but later he discovered that he did not belong to any party. In Sun Chengzong's heart, the Ming Dynasty and the emperor were the objects of his loyalty. He was one of the few members of the imperial party in the Ming court, which made Tianqi happy and surprised.

Moreover, Sun Chengzong was a man of great talent in both civil and military affairs. He could not only teach Tianqi the Four Books and Five Classics, but also explain historical books and biographies to him. In addition, Sun Chengzong knew almost everything about civil affairs, military affairs and other aspects, and had unique insights.

When teaching Tianqi, Tianqi would sometimes ask Sun Chengzong some questions about military matters. Sun Chengzong would always answer fluently, explain in detail to the emperor in an easy-to-understand manner, and put forward his opinions and suggestions.

After several attempts and verifying the results with subsequent developments, Tianqi was pleasantly surprised to find that the final result was almost consistent with Sun Chengzong's judgment. In addition, Sun Chengzong was unreserved and serious when lecturing the emperor, which gradually won Tianqi's favor and trust.

"There is nothing I don't understand in your lesson today, but I have something else I want to ask you." Tianqi put down the book and said to Sun Chengzong with a pleasant face.

"Your Majesty, please ask." Sun Chengzong said neither arrogantly nor humbly.

Tianqi said, "Yesterday, the cabinet submitted a memorial, which mentioned the military affairs in Liaodong. Yuan Yingtai, the governor of Liaodong, submitted a memorial, saying that the military reorganization in Liaodong was going smoothly, and now tens of thousands of Mongolian refugees have been recruited and newly incorporated into the army. The military strength of our Ming Dynasty in Liaodong has recovered very quickly. If everything goes well, we can raise troops in a few months to fight against the Jiannu to avenge the previous humiliation. What do you think, sir?"

Sun Chengzong stroked his beard and sighed.

"Your Majesty, has Zhu Tongmeng, the military official, returned from Liaodong?"

Tianqi was stunned. He didn't expect Sun Chengzong to suddenly mention Zhu Tongmeng. He was a little confused for a moment.

"I returned to Beijing a few days ago."

"Then did Zhu Tongmeng make any report on the previous incident involving Xiong Tingbi?" Sun Chengzong asked again.

"This..." Tianqi couldn't help but frowned, thought about it and shouted immediately. As soon as he finished speaking, the eunuchs waiting outside hurried in. "Go to the Silijian and ask Wei Zhongxian if there is any memorial from Zhu Tongmeng on the matter of Xiong Tingbi? If so, bring it to me immediately!"

The young eunuch responded quickly and then left in a hurry.

A moment later, Wei Zhongxian hurried over with a memorial in his hand. When he saw Tianqi, he kowtowed and apologized, saying that Zhu Tongmeng's memorial had just been submitted yesterday. Because this memorial was not so important, the Silijian did not submit it to the emperor immediately. He asked Tianqi to forgive him.

Tianqi waved his hand without comment, asking Wei Zhongxian to give him the memorial. After receiving the memorial, Tianqi opened it and read it carefully. After reading only a few lines, Tianqi's brows frowned again.

"Why didn't the cabinet comment on this memorial?" After reading it, Tianqi discovered that there was no cabinet comment on the memorial, and immediately asked Wei Zhongxian.

Wei Zhongxian replied: "This memorial was sent directly by the cabinet. Because there was no instruction, I did not dare to hand it directly to the emperor."

"Humph!"

Tianqi snorted coldly and slammed the memorial on the table. Wei Zhongxian hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed. He casually glanced at Sun Chengzong who was sitting next to him, and cursed in his heart what the old guy Sun Chengzong was up to today. Every time he lectured to the emperor, he didn't teach well and always brought up court affairs. This time he suddenly asked for Zhu Tongmeng's memorial. What was he planning to do?

This old guy, is he taking this opportunity to let the emperor punish me? Wei Zhongxian thought so in his heart, and the more he thought about it, the more unhappy he became. He wanted to scold him to vent his anger.

However, he didn't dare to do this in front of the emperor. He just thought so in his heart. Moreover, he didn't know the whole story of this matter, and he didn't know why Emperor Tianqi suddenly looked unhappy.

Tianqi was sulking, and then he saw Wei Zhongxian kneeling on the ground and kowtowing. After calming down, he called him to stand up: "Stand up, this matter has nothing to do with you. Leave this memorial with me for the time being, and you can go back to the Silijian to do your work first."

"I obey your order..." Wei Zhongxian heaved a sigh of relief, got up from the ground and left the inner hall. After he left the door, he grabbed the eunuch on duty and whispered a few words in his ear. The eunuch nodded repeatedly, telling Wei Zhongxian not to worry. Wei Zhongxian then walked towards the Imperial Household Department.

After Wei Zhongxian left, Tianqi picked up the memorial again, held it in his right hand, patted the palm of his left hand twice, and then looked at Sun Chengzong.

"Have you known the contents of this memorial?"

"Your Majesty is wise!" Sun Chengzong stood up and saluted the emperor respectfully.

"The cabinet did not make any comment on this proposal, and did not even send its approval directly to the Imperial Household Department. I'm afraid they don't want too many people to know about this, right?" Tianqi said indifferently.

"Your Majesty is wise!" Sun Chengzong saluted again.

Tianqi looked at Sun Chengzong, sighed deeply, and waved his hand to signal Sun Chengzong to sit down.

After Sun Chengzong sat down, he said to Tianqi, "Since Your Majesty has read the memorial, and Zhu Tongmeng has already made a conclusion about Xiong Tingbi, I think you understand Xiong Tingbi's 'crime', right?"

"Haha, how could I not understand this?" Tianqi laughed to himself.

Previously, there were many impeachments against Xiong Tingbi in the court, and it seemed that Xiong Tingbi was regarded as a traitor who had harmed the country. Not only did they want to deprive Xiong Tingbi of his position as the governor of Liaodong, but they also wanted to punish him.

But what about now? Xiong Tingbi had been dismissed from office, and his replacement was Yuan Yingtai. In addition, the court also sent people to Liaodong to verify the evidence of Xiong Tingbi's guilt, and the person chosen was Zhu Tongmeng, the military official.

Generally speaking, after going to Liaodong to verify the evidence, Zhu Tongmeng should submit a memorial to explain his evidence when he returns this time to confirm that the evidence against Xiong Tingbi was solid.

But no one expected that Zhu Tongmeng's memorial did not contain any evidence of Xiong Tingbi's guilt. Instead, the whole memorial was full of praise for Xiong Tingbi.

In his memorial, Zhu Tongmeng pointed out that there was actually no problem with Xiong Tingbi's decision in Liaodong. He believed that Xiong Tingbi had made great contributions in saving tens of thousands of lives in Liaodong, and that his strategic deployment was the best choice in light of reality. The problem before was only that he was willful and arrogant. This meant that Xiong Tingbi had a character problem, was narrow-minded, and was unable to unite his colleagues.

Overall, Xiong Tingbi's merits in Liaodong outweighed his faults, and many of the charges against him were not true. Such a memorial was a slap in the face of the officials in the court. You should know that Zhu Tongmeng was sent to Liaodong to investigate Xiong Tingbi's crimes, but now it has become a reward for Xiong Tingbi? Faced with such a memorial, how could the cabinet approve it? Once it did so, wouldn't it be tantamount to admitting that the previous impeachment of Xiong Tingbi was wrong?
But the cabinet could not ignore the memorial, and after much deliberation, it could only forward it to the Silijian along with other memorials. Wei Zhongxian, an illiterate man, would not be able to understand the memorial, and it would most likely be "buried" after it reached the Silijian.

This is indeed the case. If Sun Chengzong had not specifically reminded him today, Emperor Tianqi would probably have forgotten about this matter long ago.

(End of this chapter)