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

Chapter 394 Sun Chuanting

Zhu Shenzhui was slightly stunned, and looked at the other party again with a slightly surprised expression.

"What? Brother Wang knows Mr. Sun?" Sun Chuanting asked.

"I have heard of Brother Sun's great name for a long time when I was doing business, but I didn't expect that Brother Sun is actually one of our family members. I'm sorry to have embarrassed you." Zhu Shenzhui quickly regained his composure and hurriedly returned the greeting.

Sun Chuanting didn't think so. He was well-known in Daizhou. After all, he had been an official in Beijing. Moreover, Sun Chuanting was not forced out of Beijing. He resigned because he couldn't stand the corruption in the court. In the eyes of scholars, Sun Chuanting's move was quite in line with the spirit of ancient scholars, which greatly increased his fame.

After the two sides exchanged greetings, Sun Chuanting was very enthusiastic towards Zhu Shencui. He did not show any sign of a scholar looking down on traveling merchants. Not only that, he curiously asked Zhu Shencui what business he was doing and where he usually did business.

Although Zhu Shenzui appeared calm about Sun Chuanting on the surface, he was extremely surprised in his heart. As he said, he never thought that he would be a relative of Sun Chuanting. Before that, he only knew about the Daizhou Sun family, whom Wang Jinwu married, from Wang Rong. He only knew that the Daizhou Sun family was originally a military household, and later produced several juren, thus becoming a scholarly family.

Among this generation of the Sun family, there was also a Jinshi (a scholar) but Zhu Shenzui had no idea who he was or where he served as an official, and he had never deliberately inquired about it.

You have to know that although Jinshi is extremely important to literati, it means nothing to Zhu Shenzui. There are hundreds of people who pass the imperial examination every time. Among these people, except for a few who can achieve great things, most of them are just ordinary officials throughout their lives.

What's more, Zhu Shenzui was not an ordinary citizen and did not have any admiration for the Jinshi master, so naturally he would not go out of his way to inquire about who the official relative of the Sun family in Daizhou was.

But Zhu Shenzhui never expected that Wang Jinwu's brother-in-law would be Sun Chuanting. When he heard this name just now, Zhu Shenzhui was stunned. Even though he usually didn't like colors, he couldn't help but show a surprised expression.

Sun Chuanting was no ordinary man. Speaking of the late Ming Dynasty, Yuan Chonghuan was the most famous and controversial official in the Ming Dynasty. This round-faced man, who was praised by later generations as the "pillar of the Ming Dynasty", had many admirers, and some even said that the Ming Dynasty would not perish as long as Yuan Chonghuan was alive.

But in fact this is not the case. At least in Zhu Shenzhu's opinion, Yuan Chonghuan was exaggerating. He was not as loyal as rumored, and he did not have the means and ability to turn the tide.

To put it bluntly, Yuan Chonghuan was a man who was good at speculation and extremely daring. His abilities did not match what he wanted to do. In one sentence, Yuan Chonghuan was self-willed, boastful, and arrogant. Moreover, because of his series of outrageous operations, the situation in Liaodong deteriorated rapidly, giving the Later Jin, now the Qing Dynasty, a precious opportunity to breathe and grow, which led to extremely serious consequences later.

Compared with Yuan Chonghuan, Sun Chuanting standing in front of him can truly be called the "pillar of the Ming Dynasty". Although Sun Chuanting is not as famous as Yuan Chonghuan in history, it was precisely because of him that the Ming Dynasty was able to survive the shaky internal and external troubles in the later period.

Whether it was fighting the Qing army or suppressing the local rebel forces, Sun Chuanting was like a firefighter running around, working hard to save the Ming Dynasty. And Sun Chuanting almost succeeded, but unfortunately, due to the political struggle within the Ming Dynasty, and the eunuchs' jealousy of Sun Chuanting's achievements, he deliberately watched him die, which led to Sun Chuanting's defeat and death.

Less than half a year after Sun Chuanting's death, the rebel army captured the capital, so there is a saying that "Ming Dynasty perished with the death of Chuanting."

Thinking of this, Zhu Shenzui couldn't help but sigh in his heart. He didn't expect that he would meet Sun Chuanting today. Besides being surprised, he couldn't help but feel curious about Sun Chuanting. It happened that Sun Chuanting asked him about his business, and Zhu Shenzui didn't refuse. They walked in while talking to each other.

When they got to the house, Wang Jinwu served tea and asked someone to go to the backyard to find his wife. When Sun came with the child, Zhu Shenzhui saw his brother's wife for the first time.

Although Sun was a woman, her eyes and eyebrows had heroic spirit, and it was obvious that she was not the weak girl who was raised in the boudoir. Moreover, Sun was not short, and was much taller than the women of that era. This was similar to her brother Sun Chuanting. Although Sun Chuanting was a scholar, he had a sturdy figure, not much different from Zhu Shenzhui. It was said that his martial arts were also very good, otherwise he would not have led troops to fight and killed countless enemies.

Sun met Zhu Shencui openly and brought her child with her. After Zhu Shencui met Sun, he took another look at the child.

The little guy is just over a hundred days old, and he is very strong. His eyebrows and eyes have the appearance of Wang Jinwu and his wife, which is very cute. Zhu Shenzhu praised a few words and took out the gifts he had prepared long ago. One of them was a white jade pendant that he found specially for the child. Sun was not an ordinary daughter of the world. She recognized the jade pendant at a glance. She looked at Wang Jinwu hesitantly, but Wang Jinwu didn't care at all. He smiled and nodded and asked Sun to accept it for the child. In Wang Jinwu's heart, he and Zhu Shenzhu were closer than brothers. What was a mere jade pendant? Let alone a jade pendant, even if it was a rare thing, he didn't care.

Although Zhu Shenzhui was Wang Jinwu's cousin in name, they were not his direct relatives after all. Sun had just given birth, so it was inconvenient for her to stay with him for a long time. After meeting her, Sun took the child and left first. After Sun left, Zhu Shenzhui joked with Wang Jinwu with a smile, praising the child for being cute and his wife for being virtuous and having a good marriage. Wang Jinwu scratched his head and laughed embarrassedly, while Sun Chuanting, who was standing by, looked at his brother-in-law with great interest. Although he and Wang Jinwu had not known each other for a long time, he knew Wang Jinwu's temper and personality. This was the first time he saw Wang Jinwu, who was usually carefree, being shy in front of others. This made Sun Chuanting laugh in his heart, and at the same time, he became more interested in Zhu Shenzhui.

After Sun and the child left, the three of them sat in the room drinking tea and chatting. Sun Chuanting continued to ask about Zhu Shenzui's business and seemed quite interested in it.

In response to Sun Chuanting's questions, Zhu Shenzui picked out some things he could say. He told Sun Chuanting that he was just a small businessman. Two years ago, the Ming Dynasty opened up bilateral trade with the Tenger tribe of Mongolia. Zhu Shenzui happened to have a good relationship with a shopkeeper of Hengtong Trading Company, so he got involved in this business and did business with the Mongolians under the care of Hengtong Trading Company.

Hearing this, Sun Chuanting's eyes suddenly lit up and he continued to inquire about the situation of bilateral trade, including some things in Mongolia.

Zhu Shenzhu did not hide this and talked about some details of bilateral trade, including the amount of trade between the two sides in the past two years and the situation of the Mongolian tribes. In addition, he also talked about the relationship and conflicts between the Mongolian tribes.

Although Sun Chuanting was a scholar, he was fond of military affairs and was particularly interested in these things. He also specifically asked about the situation of Mongolian Khan Ligdan Khan and seemed to be quite concerned about him.

Regarding Lin Danhan, Zhu Shencui omitted some inside stories that outsiders did not know, and picked out some things that could be told to Sun Chuanting. After listening to him, Sun Chuanting pondered for a long time, sighed and shook his head.

"Since the last emperor, the court has had the idea of ​​cooperating with the Mongols to deal with the Jiannu. In the 47th year of the Wanli reign, after the Battle of Sarhu, the Ming Dynasty tried to win over Ligdan Khan, intending to join forces with the Mongols and destroy the Jiannu. But after so many years, there has been little effect, and Ligdan Khan has betrayed his loyalty several times, which is really incomprehensible."

Sun Chuanting said: "After listening to my brother's explanation today, I learned that the Mongols were also fighting fiercely, and that Lindan Khan was not worthy of the title of Great Khan. In addition, as a Great Khan, Lindan Khan had great ambitions but no tolerance, let alone vision. No wonder he went back on his words many times. It is impossible for them to unite with the Mongols to fight against the Jiannu."

"Lin Danhan is not having a good time right now." Zhu Shenzhui thought for a while and said.

"What do you mean, brother?"

He pointed to the northeast and said, "On my way back to Ming not long ago, I heard some news from the Mongols. Huang Taiji, the Jiannu leader from Liaodong, inherited the Khanate throne, changed the Later Jin Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, and called himself the emperor. Right now, the Jiannu are joining forces with the Inner Khalkha and Khorchin tribes to move westward, and their target is Chahar."

Sun Chuanting was shocked. He had never heard of this before. He immediately asked what was going on. Lao Nu had just died and Huang Taiji had only been on the throne for a short time. How come the Liaodong Jiannu suddenly rose up? And turned around to fight the Mongols?
Logically speaking, shouldn't Huang Taiji be consolidating his internal affairs now? Moreover, the Ming Dynasty had been blockading Liaodong for many years. According to what he knew, Sun Chengzong's strategic deployment had a good effect. The Jiannu were not having a good time in Liaodong, and they even had to go hungry. How could they have the strength to launch a war of this scale?

Zhu Shenzhui did not give much explanation for Sun Chuanting's doubts, but he told Sun Chuanting that this was true. In Mongolia, Algdan Khan had already issued a conscription order to all tribes, and the war between the Liaodong Jiannu and Algdan Khan was probably imminent.

As for how the Jiannu in Liaodong solved the material problem and how they were able to launch this war, Zhu Shenzhui said he didn't know. But as a businessman, he had heard that someone was secretly smuggling food, medicine and even weapons to Liaodong, but he didn't know who was doing this.

Sun Chuanting stood up suddenly, his face full of anger.

"The country's parasites!" Sun Chuanting was so angry that he never thought that such a thing would happen in the world. He couldn't help but curse these businessmen for being profit-seeking and daring to do such a thing? Don't they know the truth that if the skin is gone, the hair will not stay? As people of the Ming Dynasty, if the Ming Dynasty is gone, then where will they go?
As the old saying goes, merchants are only interested in profit, and it seems to be true. For the sake of gold and silver, merchants dare to sell anything. Isn't this behavior equivalent to selling out the country?
After cursing for a while, Sun Chuanting suddenly stopped when he saw Zhu Shenzhui standing beside him, looking a little unnatural.

He was so engrossed in his scolding that he forgot that there was a businessman next to him. He scolded the businessman in front of Zhu Shenzhui. Isn't it like pointing at a monk and scolding a bald donkey? What's more, they are relatives.

(End of this chapter)