Chapter 1097: Build the City High, Take More Land, Delay Proclaiming Yourself Khan (Seeking Subscriptions)

Beginning in the spring of the twelfth year of the Ming Hongxing era, across the great deserts and grasslands of the northeastern Divine Continent, countless thin streams of Mongol herders appeared, moving westward, heading toward a legendary blessed land of lush water and grass that belonged to the Mongols — Moghulistan (this is Persian, meaning "the land of the Mongols").

In the eastern part of Moghulistan, on the great grasslands near the northwestern foothills of the Tianshan Mountains, a large column was making its way — large, at least, compared with the other Mongol bands heading west. Cart after horse-drawn cart, each piled high and tightly bound with goods of every kind. Blue triangular pennants were planted on them, each bearing a white falcon with outstretched wings in flight — this was the banner unique to the Golden Family!

Around the carts rode Mongols on horseback, men and women, old and young, all wearing filthy leather robes, bows and curved sabers at their sides. Every one of them was disheveled and gaunt, and they looked utterly downcast and exhausted.

Around the great wagon train and the mass of mounted Mongols, there were also some rather tough-looking riders guarding every side. Most wore cloth-faced armor; some carried long spears, some had matchlock muskets slung on their backs, and still others, after a burst of galloping, would rein in their warhorses, then stand upright on the horses' backs and peer about in all directions, extremely vigilant.

In the middle of the wagon train were a dozen or so passenger carriages and pack-saddled litters. The draft horses pulling them were all plump and strong, their coats glossy and sleek. The drivers sitting on the shafts all looked especially robust, and their clothes were bright — all were Qing military officer uniforms of black or blue satin. Some had flintlock pistols at their waists, and every one of them sat ramrod straight.

At the very front of the wagon train were two or three hundred riders clearing the way, who looked even more formidable. Moreover, each man had two horses — they rode one ambling horse and led a taller warhorse. These two or three hundred Mongol riders were all escorting two old men in their fifties or sixties, men of extraordinary bearing, both wearing Western-style plate armor. These two old men were none other than the Shunzhi Emperor's father-in-law Wu Keshan and Wu Keshan's brother Manzhuxili. And the fewer than a thousand warriors and several thousand elderly, women, and children following beside them were all that remained of the once-mighty Khorchin Royal Banner.

To be honest, to have brought out these most trusted core followers from the perilous situation after the sudden collapse of the Manchus — the Khorchin Prince Wu Keshan could be considered shrewd to the utmost degree.

By comparison, the three Khalkha Mongol divisions — the Tüsheet Khan, the Jasaghtu Khan, and the Sechen Khan — had fared far worse. Their royal banners had all been smashed by the combined armies of the Ming, the Tumed, and the Chahar, and the three great khan houses had been nearly wiped out by the Tumed and Chahar divisions. Unlike the Khorchin, who were descended from the bloodline of Genghis Khan's brothers, the three Khalkha khan houses were all descendants of Dayan Khan — the most orthodox Golden Family, with the right to contend with the Chahar and Tumed for supremacy! So the Chahar and Tumed were unwilling to leave the three Khalkha royal banners alive, while the Khorchin royal banner did not draw nearly as much hatred.

Of course, the Khorchin, who were unorthodox in the eyes of the Chahar and Tumed, had an entirely different status when it came to the Oirat Confederation!

The previous leader of the Oirat Confederation, Güshi Khan, was himself a descendant of the Khorchin!

Güshi Khan's ancestors had lost in the Khorchin's internal struggles and fled far away to Western Mongolia, where they were taken in by the Oirat Confederation. In the end, they had actually squeezed out the Choros family and become the leaders of the Oirat!

Who could say whether Choros Sengge still bore a grudge over that?

Moreover, even if Sengge were magnanimous enough to take him in, this Khorchin khan — would the Son of Heaven of the Great Ming in the east simply let the matter rest? If he sent someone to pressure Sengge, would Sengge cut off his head and send it to Nanjing?

At the thought that his head might not stay on his shoulders, Wu Keshan let out another long sigh.

His sigh was heard by a rather dignified-looking middle-aged Mongol man riding beside him, who immediately laughed and said: "Wu Keshan, my sworn brother, rest assured. The Oirat Confederation is now strong in soldiers and horses, more than enough to shelter guests who have come from afar."

The speaker was a relative of Wu Keshan, named Galdamba. He was the son of Ochirtu Khan, the leader of the Khoshut division who had remained within the Oirat Confederation, and he was also the father-in-law of Sengge, the leader of the Dzungar division — his daughter Anu Khatun was Sengge's wife.

And this Ochirtu Khan was the nephew of Güshi Khan. After Güshi Khan's death, he had succeeded to the leadership of the Oirat Confederation.

"Does the Oirat Confederation still exist?" Wu Keshan asked in a low voice.

"Well..." Galdamba had not expected the other man to be so direct, and gave an awkward smile. "Of course it does. How could it not..."

"Then the place we are going now is..."

"It is Chu River City." Galdamba sighed softly.

Chu River City lay between the southern bank of the Chu River and the northern slopes of the Tianshan Mountains, roughly near the site of Suyab City from the Tang dynasty. This city was not the "capital" of the Oirat Confederation — the Oirat Confederation was a very loose nomadic tribal alliance, and it had no capital or chief city at all.

Chu River City was in fact the seat of the Great Ming's Beiting Protectorate! The site for the city had been chosen by Zhu Cilang from ten thousand li away — at that time his Ming was still locked in struggle with the Great Qing in the north, but he was already considering the question of the Dzungars' westward migration.

If the center of the Dzungar division were placed in what later generations would call the Dzungar Basin, then the Dzungars would have the convenience of expanding eastward.

Conversely, if the Dzungars' center were moved to the Chu River valley, then it would be more convenient for the Dzungars to expand southward.

And in order to promote the Dzungars' westward migration, Emperor Zhu had even allocated a sum of silver to Sengge, which was transported to the Dzungar division after the Anxi campaign ended, for Sengge to use in building a city on the Chu River.

Silver was of course useless on the great grasslands, but in the Chu River region, near the Khanate of Bukhara, it could be used to purchase goods from Bukharan merchants and hire craftsmen.

Under the ceaseless labor of craftsmen from Bukhara and Kazakh captives (slaves) seized by the Dzungar division, by the summer of the twelfth year of Hongxing, a brand-new city, blending Han, Tibetan, and Central Asian styles, had appeared on the banks of the Chu River.

Besides its political and military functions, this Chu River City was now also an important trading post on the overland Silk Road.

Tea bricks, silk, porcelain, and gunpowder produced in the Central Plains and brought to Central Asia via Hexi and Anxi; furs and livestock from the Moghul grasslands; salt from the salt lakes of Siberia; ironware, carpets, and all manner of daily goods from Bukhara — all converged here.

On the fertile, level land outside the city, large tracts of farmland had also appeared. Farmers from Anxi planted cold-resistant oats and rye there. Many lamaseries had also been built inside and outside the city, where eminent monks from the Central Plains chanted sutras and worshipped the Buddha, praying for blessings upon the Dzungar division and Sengge Khan.

The area around Chu River City seemed, as if overnight, to have returned to the golden age of the High Tang, once again becoming the very forefront where Eastern and Western civilizations met and merged.

The master of this city was Choros Sengge, also known as Sengge Khan or Grand Protector Sengge.

In fact, he had never proclaimed himself khan — his honorific within the Oirat Confederation was Khong Tayiji. It was Ochirtu Khan, the grandfather of Sengge's wife Anu Khatun, who was the khan of the Oirat Confederation. This "old khan" now lived in the Ili River valley, without any great ambitions, simply passing his comfortable and easy days. And it was precisely because of Ochirtu Khan's seclusion that Sengge had become the de facto khan of the Oirat Confederation. Over time, everyone had come to call him Sengge Khan.

But this khan of his had no khanate of his own — only an empty shell of a protectorate (not entirely empty; the protectorate possessed Chu River City), one Dzungar division, one loose Oirat Confederation, and as many as a million core Mongol followers!

One could say that his current strength surpassed that of his ancestor Esen Taishi, surpassed even that of Dayan Khan who had revived the Mongols, and even surpassed that of Genghis Khan when he first founded the Great Mongol State.

So powerful — by rights he should be a great khan, yet now he was merely a Khong Tayiji. Sengge himself felt this was somewhat hard to justify.

But to proclaim himself khan...

"Tayiji, Tayiji—" A voice like silver bells interrupted Sengge's thoughts. He turned his head and saw a tall, full-figured, and rather pretty young woman — none other than Sengge's wife, Anu Khatun.

Anu Khatun held a letter in her hand and said to Sengge with a smile: "A letter just arrived from your sixth brother, Khutuktu."

"What does the letter say?" Sengge asked.

"It says he will soon come to Chu River to visit family — he should already be on the road by now," Anu said. "And there are also nine Chinese characters."

"Chinese characters? Can you read them?" Sengge asked.

"I can read them, but I'm not clear on what they mean," Anu said. "Those nine characters are: Build the city high, take more land, delay proclaiming yourself khan."

(End of Chapter)