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

Chapter 903 The Prince's Opinion
The prince's words made Sun Chengzong look at him with new eyes. He did not expect the prince to look at it from this perspective, and he thought of the story of Emperor Wanli.

Not only Emperor Wanli, but even Emperor Jiajing was equally hesitant in choosing the crown prince. However, Emperor Jiajing's two princes, Prince Yu and Prince Jing, the latter died earlier, in the 44th year of Jiajing's reign. Therefore, Jiajing had no other choice but to choose Prince Yu.

But it was different for Emperor Wanli. The reason why he never appointed a crown prince was because he wanted to appoint Prince Fu, and he fought with his ministers for more than ten years over this issue. But in the end, reason prevailed for Emperor Wanli, and he chose Emperor Guangzong as the crown prince according to the ancestral system. As for the fact that Emperor Guangzong died only one month after he ascended the throne because of the Red Pill Case, it was not Emperor Wanli's fault, because this was a result that no one could have predicted.

The prince approached the issue from this perspective, which is something that ordinary people could not understand. This alone shows the prince's vision. Sun Chengzong also agreed with this answer. His opinion was the same as the prince's. If it were not for the hidden dangers laid by Emperor Ling's actions, many things that happened later would not have happened.

Subconsciously looking towards the King of Song, Sun Chengzong was satisfied with the answer of the Crown Prince, but also worried about what the King of Song would think. After all, this period of history was that the brothers Shaodi and Xiandi successively became emperors, and the Crown Prince and the King of Song were also brothers. What would the King of Song think when the Crown Prince said this?

However, when he saw that Prince Song did not associate himself with it at all, but instead looked at the Crown Prince with admiration, Sun Chengzong felt relieved. It seemed that the Crown Prince and Prince Song still had a deep brotherly love. Prince Song did not have any other ideas, but it made sense. Both of them were legitimate sons and were born to the same mother. The Crown Prince was a few years older than Prince Song, and they grew up together. The relationship between them was much deeper than that between ordinary princes. In addition, Prince Song always admired and respected his brother, the Crown Prince, so it seemed that such a situation would not happen in the Ming Dynasty.

The prince continued, "In fact, it is still possible to save the situation at this point. After all, the young emperor has ascended the throne, Empress Dowager He is in charge of government affairs, and He Jin and Grand Tutor Yuan Wei are jointly assisting in the administration. In fact, Empress Dowager He and He Jin have already taken charge of the government, and the situation is in the hands of the He family. If Empress Dowager He and He Jin were not so anxious, and took things step by step, and solved the problem step by step after a few years, especially if they did not take the initiative to provoke a dispute between He and Dong, which led to Empress Dowager Dong leaving Beijing and dying, and then pressed on step by step, forcing the eunuchs to fight for self-protection, such a bad result would not have occurred."

"In other words, although Empress Dowager He was of noble status, she had no political vision or means. He Jin, a butcher, was born a warrior with a simple mind and did not understand the importance of political stability. In addition, due to the instigation of the aristocratic families and their mutual interests, He Jin was too arrogant and took the risk of entering the palace alone, which led to his death. After He Jin's death, the short-lived balance was completely broken. The aristocratic families took advantage of He Jin's incident to stir up disputes and took the opportunity to raise troops to massacre dissidents. They wanted to use this opportunity to wipe out the relatives and officials, and then monopolize power and suppress the imperial power."

"But they never expected to make a mistake, which was to invite Dong Zhuo to the capital. Dong Zhuo was invited by the aristocratic families, but it led to bad consequences. Dong Zhuo took the lead in capturing the emperor and the Prince of Chenliu, and then used military power to suppress the aristocratic families and slaughter dissidents. After that, he deposed the emperor and established a new regime, and then took control of the government to eliminate the influence of the aristocratic families in the court. Of course, the aristocratic families were unwilling to surrender, which eventually led to chaos in the world..."

At this point, the prince smiled embarrassedly and said to Sun Chengzong: "Teacher, this is all I can think of for now. I don't know much about this period of history. I can only judge a little from your narration and books. These are just my superficial views and are not complete. In my opinion, the situation at that time was extremely complicated, with various forces involved. It was far from as simple as I said. If I want to understand this, I need more guidance from you."

Sun Chengzong was very happy. He stroked his long beard and nodded involuntarily. The prince was not only intelligent, but also able to draw inferences about other situations. In particular, his sensitivity and judgment in politics far exceeded his expectations. How could he, as a teacher, not be happy to have such a student?

For Sun Chengzong, the Tianqi Emperor was also extremely smart and had good political skills. He used Wei Zhongxian to attack the Donglin Party in order to revive the imperial power. There was no problem with his starting point, and Wei Zhongxian did a good job. In just a few years, he helped the Tianqi Emperor do many things. After the purge, the court had a new look, the imperial power was further consolidated, and the situation in all aspects of the Ming Dynasty also improved significantly.

Unfortunately, in Sun Chengzong's opinion, although Emperor Tianqi did a good job, he deviated from the starting point. Many of his practices did achieve the desired results, but his many methods resulted in killing one thousand enemies but injuring eight hundred of his own.

Wei Zhongxian was indeed capable, but although this eunuch who came from a gangster background did things for Emperor Tianqi, he also attracted a lot of infamy, and these infamy inevitably fell on Emperor Tianqi. Sun Chengzong, who knew his students very well, was also quite dissatisfied with this. Although he did not directly oppose these practices of Emperor Tianqi, he was very worried about the final result of Emperor Tianqi's actions. In Sun Chengzong's view, even if Emperor Tianqi later took back all the imperial power and dealt with Wei Zhongxian, many of the consequences could not be compensated, and the fall of the Donglin Party did not mean that the civil service group completely succumbed to the imperial power. Without the Donglin Party, there might be a Xilin Party or Beilin Party. The civil service group has long been deeply rooted. No matter who is the emperor, this kind of competition is inevitable in terms of the Ming system.

Before, it was a struggle between the power of the emperor and the power of the prime minister. After Zhu Yuanzhang abolished the position of prime minister, it became a struggle between the emperor and the civil officials. It was impossible for the emperor to monopolize power. Otherwise, there would not have been a situation where the imperial power and the Imperial Household Department would fight against the civil officials. The Ming Dynasty had three powers, and the most important thing was to have a balance. Even if the imperial power exceeded the power controlled by the civil officials for a short period of time, it would only be temporary and could not last forever.

The Tianqi Emperor did not see this clearly, which eventually led to the disastrous consequences later. Sun Chengzong knew it very well and felt very sorry for it. His student was capable, visionary, and courageous, but he acted too hastily and used inappropriate means. If he had used a different approach, the Tianqi Emperor might not have passed away so early, and the Ming Dynasty would not have become the terrible situation it was in later. From this point of view, Sun Chengzong still admired Zhu Shenzhu very much, although Zhu Shenzhu's ascension to the throne was no different from usurping the throne, and was almost exactly the same as when Zhu Di ascended the throne. But Zhu Shenzhu's political means were far from comparable to those of Emperor Chongzhen, and even the Tianqi Emperor of that year was much inferior.

Whether Zhu Shenzhui had just arrived in Beijing to become the regent, or later when he officially ascended the throne as emperor, the power in his hands was enough for him to suppress various factions and use the army as capital to carry out drastic reforms in the court.

But the problem is that Zhu Shenzhu never did that. Whether he was the regent or the emperor, he took solid steps step by step and understood the importance of overall stability to the country. Even though Sun Chengzong knew that Zhu Shenzhu was actually extremely dissatisfied with the civil service group, especially his defense and vigilance against the Donglin Party, Zhu Shenzhu did not adopt the practices of Emperor Tianqi. Instead of directly targeting the civil service group, he appointed many officials, including officials from the Donglin Party, Zhejiang Party, Chu Party and other southern officials.

Qian Qianyi was a big shot of the Donglin Party and was now the Minister of Rites. Zhu Shenzhu was also a member of the Donglin Party, but he still "visited him three times" to invite him out, and even made him the chief teacher of the teaching hall, and entrusted the crown prince and the King of Song to him for teaching.

There were many such cases. Most of the officials of the Chongzhen Emperor were still in office, and many of them were in high positions. Zhu Shenzhu did not take action against these people. Even if he did, he never used the imperial power to suppress them. Instead, he used the law and rules to carry out the work, which made it impossible for people to find fault with him.

But no matter what, Zhu Shenzhui's suppression of the civil service group was real, and Sun Chengzong saw this very clearly. But even so, Zhu Shenzhui still maintained the balance of the court, subtly changing the previous pattern, and these practices did not cause too many obstacles, but to a certain extent, they worked, which made people admire him very much.

Among the emperors of the Ming Dynasty, except for the founding emperor Zhu Yuanzhang and the later Yongle Emperor Zhu Di, the only one who could use power to the extreme was Emperor Jiajing. Emperor Jiajing's imperial skills can be said to be one of the best in Chinese history, and he is also a master of balancing. But in Sun Chengzong's view, Zhu Shenzhu's methods are not bad, and Zhu Shenzhu has an advantage that Emperor Jiajing can't match, that is, Zhu Shenzhu is not only an emperor with real power, but also an emperor on horseback who controls military power. Such an emperor takes both into account, which is unmatched by other emperors.

Thinking of this, Sun Chengzong couldn't help but fall into deep thought. He knew very well that Zhu Shenzhui's decision to bring him back to the capital was definitely not to make him the head teacher of a teaching hall. With Zhu Shenzhui's foresight, he must have other uses for him. As early as shortly after he came to the capital, Sun Chengzong was ready for Zhu Shenzhui to confront him, but Zhu Shenzhui didn't show any sign of this. This made Sun Chengzong even doubt his own judgment. Could it be that he was wrong?
A long ding sound interrupted Sun Chengzong's thoughts. The sound came from outside the teaching hall, indicating that the time for today's class had come.

According to the rules set by Zhu Shenzui for the teaching hall, the prince's study was divided into morning and afternoon, two hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon, with a one-hour break at noon.

The morning starts at 7:00 and ends at 11:00, followed by an hour's break at noon. The morning is mainly about literature classes, taught by Sun Chengzong and other teachers in the teaching hall, but now only Sun Chengzong teaches literature classes in the teaching hall. As for other teachers, although there should be other teachers, Zhu Shenzhui has not arranged any, and Sun Chengzong did not urge him. Anyway, teaching for two hours a day is not tiring for him. Usually, he teaches for one hour, and then there is one hour of questions and answers and chatting between teachers and students. This method deepens the impression. Although Sun Chengzong is old, he is in good health and is very comfortable with this.

As for the military classes from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. in the afternoon, there are military lessons, one of which is spent on learning how to fight and use troops. Of course, this is not the kind of reading of military tactics on paper, but a practical understanding, such as how to train troops, how to set up camp, how to march, how to deploy troops and so on.

The remaining hour is for practical training, usually practicing martial arts and conducting war games or small-scale practical exercises. The teachers are all veterans in the army, including several old generals who are now in Beijing. Qin Liangyu, who came to Beijing not long ago, was also invited to give two classes to the Prince and King Song. Even the former great bandit Zhang Xianzhong came to attend the class. Although these people came from different backgrounds, they all had one thing in common, that is, they had been through many battles and had a very good understanding of war.

The teachers of martial arts classes were never fixed and were often replaced. In addition, Zhu Shencui would dispatch a number of guards to study with the Crown Prince and Prince Song at the same time. This practice had never been seen before the Ming Dynasty. However, Sun Chengzong knew Zhu Shencui's intentions and not only did he not object, he also supported it.

(End of this chapter)