Seventy-seven-year-old Sun Chengzong has experienced too much.

He is a typical late bloomer, at the age of forty-two, he participated in the examination, one hundred and fifteen in the middle of the examination, participated in the palace examination, the second place in the first class, that is, the list eye, and then entered the Hanlin Academy, became an editor, at the age of forty-eight, presided over the examination, admitted Qian Qianyi, Fu Zonglong, Tao Bidao, Bao Hongkui and other Jinshi, these people, are very famous figures in the Ming Dynasty, at the age of fifty-eight, became the teacher of Zhu Youxiao of Ming Xizong, at the age of sixty, he served as the secretary of the military department, and concurrently served as a scholar of Dongge University, At the age of sixty-seven, he came back as a young master, a prince and a teacher, a scholar of the Ministry of Officials, and an intermediate scholar of the palace, and rushed to Shanhaiguan again to supervise military affairs, and the most legendary is that at the age of seventy-four, he served as the first assistant of the cabinet of the Ming Dynasty and presided over the government.

After a few ups and downs, Sun Chengzong saw through the world and understood too many truths.

He is very clear about the shortcomings of the Ming Dynasty, and under this kind of disadvantages, if fundamental reforms cannot be made, there is still no way out.

Sun Chengzong attaches great importance to Su Tiancheng, thinking that Su Tiancheng is the only hope of the Ming Dynasty, if Su Tiancheng can serve as the first assistant of the cabinet, the Ming Dynasty will move towards a new era from now on, and it is only a matter of time to destroy the Houjin regime.

But Sun Chengzong also understands that one day, the emperor will be afraid of Su Tiancheng, and even issue an order to clean up, if this day really comes. The Ming Dynasty will fall into a place of no return, at that time, no one will be able to save the Ming Dynasty, and no one dares to guarantee that if Su Tiancheng begins to resist, who will be able to stop it.

This kind of thinking tormented Sun Chengzong.

After such a long period of contact. Sun Chengzong clearly realized that Su Tiancheng was not an ambitious person, nor did he have the idea of being the emperor, and he had always worked hard to change the embarrassment of the Ming Dynasty.

Su Tiancheng's exploits are needless to say. After returning from Dalinghe City, the old and spicy Sun Chengzong had already seen that Su Tiancheng would become the terminator of the Houjin regime.

But the problem is here, once Su Tiancheng exterminates the Houjin regime, at that time, the emperor will have no way to reward Su Tiancheng, or Su Tiancheng's strength. It is already so strong that no one can easily shake it, and contradictions will definitely appear. And it will definitely break out, and at that time, I'm afraid it will not be a question of whether Su Tiancheng wants to resist or not, but a question of being forced to resist.

The emperor's thoughts, Sun Chengzong still knows a little about the Tao, and some officials represented by Tang Shiji. It is a force supported by the emperor, and this force is enough to compete with Su Tiancheng, including himself, in the position of the first assistant of the cabinet, Sun Chengzong spared no effort to support Su Tiancheng. It is precisely because of this support that the emperor has doubts and worries, and such worries are embarrassed to speak, so he can only take such measures.

Once Sun Chengzong resigned from the position of the first assistant of the cabinet, in the imperial court, I am afraid that some changes will occur, the first assistant of the cabinet is basically determined, it is Yang Sichang, Sun Chengzong still has some understanding of Yang Sichang, Yang Sichang's pursuit of power, is a little obsessed, his father Yang He, once served as the governor of the tripartite, as a result of the battle to exterminate the Liukou, because of the strong advocate for peace, suffered a major setback, was dismissed, at that time, Yang Sichang has emerged, attracted the attention of the imperial court, Yang Sichang served as the first assistant of the cabinet, Sun Chengzong can conclude that Su Tiancheng's power will inevitably be affected.

The time has entered December, Sun Chengzong has long thought about resigning from the position of the first assistant to the cabinet, but unfortunately the emperor does not allow it, saying that it is to consider this issue after the beginning of the year, in fact, this is the emperor to build momentum for Yang Sichang, Yang Sichang has not been in the cabinet for a long time, lacks a certain foundation, can only stabilize the situation for a period of time, and wait until the overall situation is settled, Yang Sichang is completely stable, at that time, he can unload this burden on his body, but this time is definitely not long, it is estimated that there will be results in the first month.

Sun Chengzong's mansion is slowly idle, and the civil and military officials in the court have long known that he is going to step down, at this time, no one will come to talk to a cabinet chief assistant who is about to step down, on the contrary, Yang Sichang's mansion is particularly lively, and there is an endless stream of people visiting, all thinking about leaving a good impression before Yang Sichang takes office, and the promotion of others is not a logical thing.

As the first assistant of the cabinet, Sun Chengzong never thought about it before, but he did the first assistant of the cabinet for three years, and these three years are very critical three years, the Ming Dynasty exterminated the Liukou, stabilized the interior, and the battle of the Houjin Tartars, and slowly began to balance, unlike before always beaten, the Ming Dynasty's finances also began to ease, the emperor does not need to take out the ginseng in the palace to sell it, located in Jiangning County, the city of Bosi, the silver handed over to the household every year, more than six million taels, solved a big problem, Shaanxi no longer needs the relief of the imperial court, the army of the guard post in Shaanxi was abolished, and after the integration of the guard post in Ningxia, the expenditure of the imperial court was also significantly reduced, the income was increased, and the expenditure was reduced.

It should be said that the extermination of the Liukou is to really stabilize the Ming Dynasty, and the military salaries used to exterminate the Liukou every year, including the damage caused by the Liukou, have made the imperial court stretched, and the expenses of this area are not needed, and the officials of the household department are much easier.

All this is inseparable from Su Tiancheng, and I am afraid that maintaining such a situation for a period of time in the future will also be inseparable from Su Tiancheng.

The matter of Houjin's treachery made Sun Chengzong sad, such a thing must have an impact on Su Tiancheng, although Su Tiancheng did not show it at all in front of him, people must have near-term worries, Su Tiancheng is so smart and wise, it is impossible not to think about the future, and it is impossible not to make corresponding preparations.

The emperor's performance in this matter, so that Sun Chengzong, who is ready to be completely successful, can not rest assured, he has experienced four emperors, Mingshenzong Zhu Yijun, Mingguangzong Zhu Changluo, Mingxizong Zhu Youzhen, and now Mingsizong Zhu Youxiao, analyzing these four emperors, Guangzong Zhu Changluo did not evaluate, and died after only one month on the throne, and the remaining three emperors all have good abilities, the most diligent is Zhu Youzhen, the most capable is Zhu Yijun, and the largest is Zhu Youxiao. It's a pity that the defects of the three are also very obvious, Zhu Yijun is lazy and unwilling to be dragged down by the government, Zhu Youxiao trusts the eunuchs, making the government chaotic, and Zhu Youzhen's personal ability is not very prominent.

Sometimes, Sun Chengzong will even analyze that if there is no mainstay like Su Tiancheng, I don't know what direction the Ming Dynasty has gotten.

When the youngest son Sun Pei came in, he was holding a letter in his hand, and Sun Chengzong could see at a glance that this was a letter written by Su Tiancheng, and after he came back from Dalinghe City, Su Tiancheng's letters came very intensively.

Seeing Sun Pei, Sun Chengzong couldn't help but think of his family, the youngest son Sun Pei is one year younger than Su Tiancheng, and he has six sons, the eldest son Sun Quan, fifty-four years old, the second son Sun Quan, forty-seven years old, the third son Sun Xuan, forty years old, the fourth son Sun Yue, thirty-six years old, the fifth son Sun Yue, thirty-four years old, and the youngest son Sun Pei, also twenty-six years old. As for his grandsons, Sun Siming and Sun Sizong, who followed Su Tiancheng, have already entered the court as officials, and the eldest grandson, Sun Zhixin, is also thirty years old, and the population in the family is more than 50 people.

But when he was a senior official in the imperial court, Sun Chengzong never sought the slightest benefit for his family, until now, Sun Siming and Sun Sizong entered the imperial court as officials, and the rest were at home, so that Sun Chengzong rushed to regret that among his children and grandchildren, no one was admitted to the Jinshi, and there was no opportunity to enter the imperial court as an official.

In this regard, Su Tiancheng once suggested that he should think about it, but Sun Chengzong refused, he thought that the imperial examination was to seek talents for the imperial court, unless it was a person with a significant contribution, ordinary scholars, could not casually enter the imperial court as an official, otherwise it would be bad for the order of the imperial court, as for being a official, Sun Chengzong would not allow it, and his identity could not let his descendants become officials, which would be humiliating.

Maybe it's because he's getting old, maybe it's about to retire, or maybe he feels that his time in the world is running out, Sun Chengzong thought of this matter, but entering the court as an official is also exquisite, officialdom is very complicated, if you don't pay attention to it, you may cause trouble for the family, in this hesitant mentality, Sun Chengzong didn't have much action in the end.

Now thinking of this matter, Sun Chengzong pinned his hopes on Su Tiancheng, there are many officials who came out of Su Tiancheng's side, all of them were recommended by Su Tiancheng, and some officials are not scholars at all, and they have entered the imperial court with their military exploits, these people do things by Su Tiancheng's side, and they will not be coveted by those scholars, so they said that their two grandsons, Sun Sizong and Sun Siming, one stayed in Henan Mansion and served as Tongzhi, and the other stayed in Shaanxi and served as the prefect of Pingliang Mansion, but their identities entered as students. This is incredible in the eyes of many adults in the court. (To be continued......)