The day after returning to the capital, Su Tiancheng went to visit Sun Chengzong, which is a very normal thing, after returning to the capital, Su Tiancheng will visit Sun Chengzong, Liu Zongzhou and others, of course, he is also very careful, just to visit once, what should be said has been said, and there is no need to meet from time to time.

Sun Chengzong also knew that Su Tiancheng was going to visit, so he waited at home early, and refused to visit other officials, and the mansion of the first assistant of the cabinet was always very lively.

Sun Chengzong took Su Tiancheng and entered the study directly.

The conversation between the two is very direct, and this kind of year-old friendship is rare.

"Kun Yuan, the old man is old, his life is rare for seventy years, the old man is almost eighty, and his energy is really not good, these days, the old man often thinks that he can resign from the position of the first assistant of the cabinet, he is powerless, the emperor takes care of the old minister, and the general things do not come to trouble, but the old man is uncomfortable, to be honest, the old man once thought that he recommended you to be the first assistant of the cabinet, and the old man also fully believes that you must do better than the old man."

"Adults must not have such thoughts, the Lian Po of the year, so heroic, there is no problem with adults, the younger generations feel that it is precisely because the adults have presided over the government that over the years, the younger generations can do things with peace of mind, if it is not for the full support of the adults, the younger generations will not be able to do these things."

"The old man believes what you say, but the old man is also self-aware, and when he is old, he has to let Xian, and most of the things that come to mind are fixed. People seem to be very simple things, but the old man thinks complicatedly, and he is always afraid that he will make a mistake and let down the emperor, so exhausted, the old man really doesn't know how long he can support it. ”

Looking at Sun Chengzong. Su Tiancheng was very emotional, if he hadn't crossed by himself, Sun Chengzong's bones would have been able to play the drum, Sun Chengzong was seventy-seven years old, at such an age, he was still the first assistant of the cabinet, and it was indeed a little difficult, at least in terms of energy, it was a little too late. But in the current situation, there is no other way, Sun Chengzong is his greatest support in the imperial court, without Sun Chengzong's support, many things are not easy to do, the most important thing is. Sun Chengzong is old, when he speaks in front of the emperor. can let it go, so that you can often dispel the emperor's doubts, if the emperor's side is full of traitors who chew their tongues, then they will be really in trouble.

"Kun Yuan, the old man also knows the way. It is unlikely that you will return to the capital for the time being, Liaodong is inseparable from you, if you can't completely destroy Houjin, you can't return to the capital, in this case. Can you recommend a cabinet chief, the old man is also prepared. ”

"Don't you have a candidate in your mind?"

Sun Chengzong shook his head.

"In the cabinet ministers, there is really no suitable candidate, Lord Liu Zongzhou is too extreme, to be the first assistant of the cabinet, you need to be impartial, to be able to coordinate in the middle, so that you can do things well, Lord Liu's personality is a little more upright, it is good to be able to stay in the cabinet, the same is true of Lord Huang Daozhou, both of them are known as Confucianism, but this Confucianism also has its own flaws, not to mention others, they at least have no experience in leading the army to fight, do not know the hard work of the Lu Dao campaign, do not know the importance of the Lu Dao military, A few days ago, the old man also told them that the imperial court must feed most of the army, and if the military expenditure is compressed, all of it will be invested in the people's livelihood, which will definitely not work. This is the simplest truth, but unfortunately neither of them understands it very well. ”

"My lord, this truth is really simple, it is like a child, walking on the street with a lot of gold, if there is no one to protect it, I am afraid that the gold is gone, and my life cannot be saved."

"That's right, that's the truth, the old man is very cautious, he has examined a number of candidates, there is no suitable one, and sometimes, the old man is even very discouraged, afraid that the court will not be stable and delay the big thing."

"Don't worry, there must be a way before the car reaches the mountain."

"Okay, the old man is still on that topic, I don't know if there is anyone who needs to recommend Lu Dao Kunyuan."

Su Tiancheng had thought about this matter a long time ago, but his idea was a little bizarre, so he never said it, Sun Chengzong raised this question, and he naturally wanted to show his attitude.

"The younger generation thinks that Lord Zhou Yanru, the former first assistant of the cabinet, is good."

Sun Chengzong was a little surprised, looked at Su Tiancheng, and did not speak.

"When Mr. Zhou used to be the first assistant of the cabinet, he did a very good job, especially in extraordinary times, he was able to deal with things calmly, and he must have thought about a lot of things when he was idle at home over the years.

"Kun Yuan, this idea of yours, the old man is not very optimistic, you must know that Zhou Yanru has fallen into the whirlpool of party strife, as the first assistant of the cabinet, if there is a tendency to party strife, it is absolutely impossible, no matter how much Zhou Yanru has changed, he himself is a representative of the southern students, if he is the first assistant of the cabinet, he still has to vigorously maintain the privileges of the southern bureaucrats and gentry, in this regard, the old man does not agree."

Su Tiancheng nodded, and brought it up Zhou Yanru, there was a temptation, Sun Chengzong said it very directly, the battle between Zhou Yanru and Wen Tiren once made the court smoky, such a person, back to the cabinet, succeed the first assistant, if you think of suppressing dissidents, the court will soon become a pot of porridge.

"I'm afraid the next candidate that the younger generation thinks of is a little abrupt."

"Whenever something is abrupt, it should be recommended, this is talking at home, there are not so many estimates."

"The younger generation recommends His Royal Highness the King of Jin and Shaanxi Governor Zhu Xianxuan."

This time, Sun Chengzong was really a little surprised, looked at Su Tiancheng, opened his mouth, but did not speak.

"My lord, the younger generation is by no means recommended for no reason, the ability of His Royal Highness the King of Jin, the younger generation is clear, the younger generation is in Shaanxi, but the situation is maintained, but His Royal Highness the King of Jin is in Shaanxi, and he actually built Shaanxi very well, in such a short period of time, it is not easy to achieve these achievements, Shaanxi used to be a devastated place, and now it is completely self-sufficient, and can also pay taxes, the people are basically self-sufficient, and do not need the burden of the imperial court, such an achievement, ordinary people can not do it."

"Kun Yuan, have you thought about it, what is the relationship between His Royal Highness the King of Jin and you, one of you is inside the main and the other is outside, what will the emperor think, such a recommendation, will the emperor rest assured."

"The younger generation also knows that such a recommendation is a bit abrupt, but the younger generation thinks that His Royal Highness the King of Jin is a relative of the emperor, and the first thing that comes to mind is to maintain the rule of my Ming Dynasty."

Sun Chengzong shook his head again and again.

"Kun Yuan, you have always been wise, this time you think a little simpler, the emperor's mental technique, the old man will not say much, His Royal Highness the King of Jin is not suitable, and the old man will not recommend it."

Su Tiancheng smiled helplessly.

"My lord said so, there is only one recommended candidate for the younger generation, and that is Lord Yang Sichang, the secretary of the Ministry of War."

Hearing Su Tiancheng talk about Yang Sichang, Sun Chengzong's eyes lit up.

"Well, Lord Yang is still good, over the years, the affairs of the military department have been well organized, and the emperor is also very appreciative, but the old man feels that Lord Yang's foundation in the court is not stable."

Speaking of this, Sun Chengzong patted his forehead lightly.

"The old man is really confused, Yang Sichang is inside the master, you are outside the master, the two of you have strengthened the connection, isn't this Yang Sichang's foundation stable."

Su Tiancheng sighed secretly, such an obvious truth, Sun Chengzong only knew what Lu Dao was, it seems that he is really old.

"My lord, the younger generation thinks that at this critical moment, adults still need to persevere, even if they don't care about the small things in the court, the emperor is very dependent on adults, so adults still have to take care of their bodies."

"The old man knows what you mean, the old man asks you to prepare for the future, by the way, this time the old man wants to go to Dalinghe City to have a look, I don't know if Lu Dao is suitable."

Su Tiancheng shook his head lightly.

"The younger generation feels that the adults should not go to Liaodong for the time being, the adults are old, and the long-distance travel is always a little unbearable, and the situation in Liaodong has not been completely stabilized, hundreds of thousands of soldiers are waiting for the day, to prevent the sneak attack of Houjin, Zu Dale led the border army, is stepping up the construction of Dalinghe City, the strongholds and fortresses around Dalinghe City, are also in the process of strengthening, according to the expectations of the younger generations, it will take at least two years or so, Liaodong can be completely stabilized, there are still many things during this period, and the younger generations need to do, Therefore, at this time, it is not suitable for adults to go to Dalinghe City. ”

Sun Chengzong's mood, Su Tiancheng can understand, but such a big matter, you can't rely on your own mood, you still have to take into account the major affairs of the court and consider the overall situation.

"Kun Yuan's words made the old man ashamed, the old man knew that he wouldn't have this idea, and on the day of the coming day, he would be able to go to Dalinghe City to have a look, and the old man was satisfied."

"Don't think like this, the younger generation is still thinking about it, pick up the adults to Shenyang to have a look in the future."

When Su Tiancheng said this, Sun Chengzong stood up excitedly.

"Okay, no matter what the old man says, he will have to wait until that day, Kun Yuan has such ambitions, how can the old man disappoint you, the old man also believes that Kun Yuan will be able to do it."

Seeing that Sun Chengzong's spirit is still good, Su Tiancheng is very happy, as long as Sun Chengzong can persist and control the government, the Ming Dynasty will be able to recover slowly, and survive the most difficult years, and the future prospects will be different. (To be continued......)