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

Chapter 490: Suspicion in Employing People
After hearing what Sun Chengzong said, Emperor Chongzhen became hesitant and his old problem came back again.

The biggest problem with Emperor Chongzhen was not only that he was stubborn and impulsive, but also that he was extremely suspicious. It could be said that he never trusted anyone, was hesitant in doing things, and was always hesitant when making decisions.

It is okay for small matters, but this problem is very serious in big events, especially at a critical moment when two armies are fighting each other. As a decision maker, the most important thing is not anything else, but the ability to respond in a timely manner.

There is a saying in the military that in this situation, even a wrong decision is better than no decision. Unfortunately, Emperor Chongzhen did not understand this. When he heard Sun Chengzong's plan, although he was very excited, he was also worried that there would be problems with the plan. If Sun Chengzong arranged it, would the Guanning Army be reliable? Could the capital be really defended? What if the plan failed? Wait, Emperor Chongzhen considered too much and had too many concerns, so he did not make a decision.

Seeing Emperor Chongzhen's expression, Sun Chengzong sighed inwardly, and his opinion of Emperor Chongzhen suddenly dropped a lot.

As an old minister, he can be said to have experienced four dynasties. During the Wanli period, Sun Chengzong was just a minor official. At that time, Emperor Wanli did not attend court at all. It was not easy even for the chief minister of the cabinet to see the emperor, let alone a low-level official like him.

Therefore, Sun Chengzong at that time had never met Emperor Wanli. However, no matter how lazy Emperor Wanli was in governing the country, his courage and decisiveness in taking actions were unmatched. The three major expeditions of Wanli were famous. If an emperor without courage and ability was in power, none of these would have happened.

After Wanli's death, the next emperor to take the throne was Emperor Taichang. Needless to say, he was emperor for less than a month and had a weak presence. After Emperor Taichang's death, Emperor Tianqi ascended the throne. At that time, Sun Chengzong became the teacher of Emperor Tianqi because of the recommendation of Ye Xianggao and others, and then he gradually entered the core.

From this point of view, the emperor he was most familiar with was his disciple, Emperor Tianqi, for whom he had deep feelings, and the glory of his life also occurred during the Tianqi period.

Although Emperor Tianqi ascended the throne at a young age, he was not lacking in wisdom and means, especially in using Wei Zhongxian to attack the Donglin Party. He was able to make things happen with a wave of his hand, and while rectifying the government, he entrusted Liaodong to himself. This was enough to show how capable and resourceful Emperor Tianqi was.

To be honest, when Sun Chengzong resigned, he was dissatisfied, but he also expressed understanding for his disciple. Because at that time, the struggle between the eunuch party and the Donglin party in the court had reached a point of dire straits. With Wei Zhongxian's final attack on the Donglin party, the Donglin party had no strength to resist. It was clear that the Donglin party was about to collapse and the eunuch party was about to dominate.

On the surface, it was a struggle between the eunuch party headed by Wei Zhongxian and the Donglin Party, but Sun Chengzong understood that it was a power struggle between the imperial power and the civil service group. Because behind Wei Zhongxian stood his disciple, the Tianqi Emperor, and the Tianqi Emperor wanted to completely suppress the civil service group and control absolute imperial power, so he had to solve the problem of the Donglin Party.

At that time, Sun Chengzong was one of the few remaining bigwigs of the Donglin Party. Although Sun Chengzong was not actually a true member of the Donglin Party, especially after he served as the governor of Ji-Liao, he did not have much contact with the Donglin Party, but no matter what, the label of Donglin Party attached to him could not be removed.

As long as Sun Chengzong was in the court, the Donglin Party, although shaky under the suppression of Wei Zhongxian's eunuch party, still had some support. Therefore, in order to completely solve the Donglin Party, Sun Chengzong must be removed first. Only when Sun Chengzong was not in the court, the Donglin Party would lose its last support and no longer pose a threat to the imperial power.

Under such circumstances, Wei Zhongxian's impeachment of Sun Chengzong was ostensibly Wei Zhongxian's move against the Donglin Party, but in fact it was also the intention of Emperor Tianqi. Moreover, Emperor Tianqi was quite good to Sun Chengzong, his teacher. Apart from using Wei Zhongxian to force Sun Chengzong to resign, he did not do anything to Sun Chengzong at all, and even retained his retirement benefits and honors, which was considered to be worthy of Sun Chengzong.

Sun Chengzong quickly figured out the problem, and naturally he stopped complaining about Emperor Tianqi. He was the teacher of Emperor Tianqi, and he was pleased that his disciple, as an emperor, could do this. If everything went well, after Emperor Tianqi completely solved the problem of the civil service group, especially the problem of the Donglin Party, maybe one day Emperor Tianqi would send someone to reinstate him and entrust him with important tasks. As a teacher, Sun Chengzong knew his extremely smart disciple too well, and Emperor Tianqi would definitely do so with his means.

Unfortunately, this disciple of his was short-lived. Not long after he resigned, he fell into the water and became seriously ill, and later died.

It's strange to say that the death of Emperor Tianqi was full of mysteries, almost the same as the death of Emperor Wuzong. However, at that time, Sun Chengzong had retired and returned to his hometown. He was not in the court and many news were blocked. Although he had guessed, he could not prove it. He could only be sad and full of regrets because of the death of his disciple. When Emperor Chongzhen ascended the throne, he got rid of Wei Zhongxian not long after he took office, and he worked hard to govern the country and showed the attitude of a wise ruler of the Ming Dynasty. At that time, Sun Chengzong was still very happy. He felt that his disciple had successors, and Emperor Chongzhen had also listened to his class, so he was considered half a disciple. It was a blessing for the Ming Dynasty to have such an emperor.

But before long, as the situation of Emperor Chongzhen's administration changed, Sun Chengzong felt that Emperor Chongzhen was too hasty in many things, and his lack of experience led to big problems and loopholes in many policies, and even a lot of bad policies. Although he was worried, Sun Chengzong was powerless. He was not in a position to make decisions, so what could he, a retired old man, do?

Sun Chengzong was very happy when he suddenly received the decree of reinstatement on his way to Beijing, because he was able to return to the court again and was even valued by the emperor. He hoped to do great things. So after meeting Emperor Chongzhen, he directly told him the plan he had been thinking about for a long time, hoping that Emperor Chongzhen would listen to his opinions and support him, so that he could take this opportunity to get rid of the Liaodong Jiannu in one fell swoop and turn the tide.

Unfortunately, after listening to his story and plan, Emperor Chongzhen was still hesitant. In the end, Emperor Chongzhen did not give him a clear answer until he left the palace, which made Sun Chengzong extremely disappointed. Compared with Emperor Tianqi, Emperor Chongzhen was far inferior. This young emperor was not a qualified monarch at all. In addition, due to his character problems, even if Sun Chengzong was reinstated, he would not be unconditionally trusted and supported in the future like in the Tianqi Dynasty.

On the second day, Sun Chengzong received an official decree from Emperor Chongzhen, telling him not to consider leaving Beijing. He was asked to be in charge of the defense of the capital, and was given the imperial sword. It was stipulated that the general assistant of the Beijing camp, the civil and military officials, the dukes, the imperial sons-in-law, the imperial censors of the five cities, and the officials of Shuntian Prefecture were all under his command. The civil and military officials who were to be used, whether in the court or in the opposition, would be reported to the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of War. The Ministry of Revenue had money and grain to be paid, and it was appropriate to use it. Officials of the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of War, and the Ministry of Works who violated the military secrets could be arrested and questioned. The various armies that came to support the army that were to be dispatched should be dispatched at their convenience. Those below the rank of general who violated the rules would be punished by military law.

Judging from the content of the imperial edict, Emperor Chongzhen gave Sun Chengzong great power, which was equivalent to appointing Sun Chengzong as the "Grand Marshal of the Army of the World". However, he rejected his previous plan and kept him in the capital. At the same time, he also told Sun Chengzong that Emperor Chongzhen entrusted the safety of the capital to him.

After receiving the imperial edict, Sun Chengzong understood Emperor Chongzhen's plan and expressed his willingness to accept it.

The next day, Sun Chengzong officially took office in Wenyuan Pavilion, took over the seal prepared for him by Emperor Chongzhen, and began to deploy and adjust the defenses of the capital.

On the third day after he took office, the Guanning Army returned to the capital under the leadership of Zu Dashou. Sun Chengzong personally went to meet Zu Dashou and others. When he saw Zu Dashou, he scolded them without any hesitation. Facing Sun Chengzong, the old boss, how could Zu Dashou and the generals of the Guanning Army dare to argue? They were as obedient as quails, standing there with their heads down and not saying a word.

After the scolding, Sun Chengzong ordered the Guanning Army to return to their original defense line and warned them to put national affairs first and not to make mistakes again. Zu Dashou and others said that their previous actions were wrong, and they sincerely admitted their mistakes and were willing to obey Sun Chengzong's command.

But Sun Chengzong himself did not expect that he had just arranged for the return of the Guanning Army and readjusted the defense of the capital. Before Sun Chengzong could take the next step of mobilizing various troops to prepare for war with the Eight Banners of the Jiannu, suddenly another imperial edict arrived.

The imperial edict actually asked him to go to Tongzhou, because he had just received news that the Eight Banners of the Jiannu were showing signs of attacking Tongzhou, and Tongzhou was in a state of emergency. Emperor Chongzhen decided to send Sun Chengzong to Tongzhou to fight the Jiannu. Seeing this edict, Sun Chengzong didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He didn't know what Emperor Chongzhen was thinking, and he didn't understand how he decided to issue this edict.

If Sun Chengzong had followed his plan, this would not have happened. He would have ordered the Guanning Army to turn around and head north to Jizhou and Zunhua on the way back, and at the same time sent troops to strengthen the garrison in Tongzhou. As long as the Ming army moved like this, Huang Taiji would not be able to sit still. At that time, Huang Taiji would have to turn back to prevent his retreat from being cut off. Then the initiative of the entire battle would be in the hands of the Ming army, and they would no longer be led by the Jiannu.

But Emperor Chongzhen did not agree with Sun Chengzong's plan before, but forced Sun Chengzong to stay in the capital and let him take charge of the defense of the capital. Now, just a few days later, Emperor Chongzhen's mind has changed again? Because of the news from Tongzhou, Emperor Chongzhen suddenly issued such an order to let Sun Chengzong go to Tongzhou to take charge of the war? It's simply blind command.

Sun Chengzong concluded that Tongzhou would be fine. Even if the Eight Banners appeared in Tongzhou, they were only a detachment, definitely not Huang Taiji's main force. With the garrison in Tongzhou, even if they could not defeat the Eight Banners in a field battle, they would definitely have no problem defending Tongzhou City. It was unknown what Emperor Chongzhen was thinking when he was asked to go to Tongzhou from the capital based on ambiguous news.

(End of this chapter)