Chapter 1098: The Expansion of the Civilized Sphere (Seeking Subscriptions)

As Khatun Anu handed the letter to Sengge, she asked, "Taiji, what do these nine Chinese characters mean?"

Sengge laughed. "This is Sixth Brother telling me to learn from the Ming founder Zhu Yuanzhang!"

What Zhu Cilang had sent to the Dzungar tribe was not merely funds for building cities and firearms for killing enemies, but also culture from the Central Plains.

The lamasery visible everywhere inside and outside Chu River City was not presided over by lamas from Tibet, but built by Yellow Temple lamas from the Central Plains. And the cost of building the temple was, of course, donated by the Great Ming Emperor Zhu Cilang. Having taken Zhu Cilang's money, these Yellow Temples naturally had to do things for Zhu Cilang.

Thus the lamasery at Chu River City not only spread Buddhist learning but also spread Han culture — most of the sutras they brought were written in Chinese. Moreover, they opened a Chinese-language school within the temple, enrolling the sons of Dzungar nobles to study Chinese characters and the Chinese language, and also teaching them Chinese history. As Khong Tayiji and Grand Protector, Sengge naturally had to study Central Plains culture.

Even if he was determined to make an enemy of the Central Plains, he should still know both himself and his enemy!

Therefore, in Sengge's residence there was a Mingzhu Lama invited from Mount Wutai, proficient in Mongolian, Han, and Tibetan, serving as a tutor to help him study Central Plains culture.

So Sengge immediately understood what his Living Buddha brother meant — this was learning from Zhu Yuanzhang!

Wasn't Zhu Yuanzhang the one who built high walls, stored ample grain, and delayed claiming kingship, and only then became the Great Ming Emperor?

"Taiji," Khatun Anu's grounding in Han culture was not equal to her husband's, but she did know who Zhu Yuanzhang was, and now she laughed, "Galdan is a Khutuktu; his words cannot be wrong. Taiji, it seems you can become the Zhu Yuanzhang of the Mongols!"

Sengge said to his wife with a smile, "If I become the Zhu Yuanzhang of the Mongols, then you will be our Mongol Empress Ma of the big feet!"

Anu's face shone. "Right, right! Anu has big hands and big feet, and can charge into battle for her Taiji. I won't be any worse than Zhu Yuanzhang's Empress Ma!"

This Khatun Anu looked like a simple, sweet innocent, but in reality she was a female general who could charge into battle!

In history, Song Daye, a Grand Secretariat scholar of the Qing court who had followed Kangxi north on campaign against Galdan, described Khatun Anu's heroic bearing at the Battle of Zuunmod in his "Diary of the Northern Campaign." Daye said of her: she wore a black fox-fur hat, held a long spear in her hand, wore seven yellow robes beneath her armor, green satin trousers below, and a coat of chain mail — brave beyond measure.

Sengge nodded. "I had still been hesitating whether to advance east or march south. Now at last I can make a decision!"

During this period, the opportunities to advance east and to march south had both presented themselves to Sengge at the same time.

The opportunity to advance east had been created by the Ming army in Liaodong. After the Manchu collapse, the three Khalkha tribes and the Khorchin tribe collapsed along with them. Mongol small tribes unwilling to be ruled by the Chahar Khanate and the Tumed Khanate migrated west in droves, greatly strengthening the power of the Dzungar tribe.

Moreover, the strength of the Chahar Khanate and the Tumed Khanate was limited, and they could not fill the power vacuum created by the collapse of the three Khalkha tribes in the short term, thus giving the Dzungars the opportunity to move east and unify all the Mongols.

The opportunity to march south had been delivered to Sengge by that "Conqueror of the World" in India, Aurangzeb. After Aurangzeb seized his father Shah Jahan's throne through a coup, he resolved to accomplish two great undertakings — two great undertakings were more challenging than one, after all!

Since Aurangzeb was the "Conqueror of the World," he naturally had to do something a bit difficult.

His first great undertaking was to unify India! That went without saying; there was nothing to discuss.

And Aurangzeb's second great undertaking was to recover his ancestral patrimony, Samarkand — the Mughal dynasty of India was the heir of the Timurid Empire. They had been driven from their homeland by the Uzbek Khanate and had gone to India to call themselves kings and overlords. Now that a great world conqueror like Aurangzeb had emerged, he naturally had to conquer the old homeland back first.

Otherwise, with the ancestral graves in other people's hands, who knew when they might be robbed? How could he still dare call himself Conqueror of the World? Wouldn't that be a joke?

So after Aurangzeb became Emperor of India, he prepared to send troops to thrash the Khanate of Bukhara.

And the Khanate of Bukhara had in fact already declined. It was being beaten in turn by the Kingdom of Persia and the Khanate of Khiva (west of Bukhara; its khan also came from the Uzbek royal line), and its allies the Kazakh Khanate and the Yarkent Khanate had been destroyed by the Dzungars. Its days were more than ordinarily hard. Yet the Conqueror of the World Aurangzeb had suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the Khanate of Bukhara before his usurpation.

But Aurangzeb did not believe that the failure of his northern campaign against Bukhara reflected his true strength — he had repeatedly defeated the armies of the Khanate of Bukhara in the Balkh region where Afghanistan bordered Bukhara. Had it not been that Indian cavalry could not match the cavalry of the Uzbeks (the Khanate of Bukhara) and the Turkmens, making it impossible to protect the security of his supply lines, the banner of the Timurid Empire would long since have flown from the walls of Samarkand.

So even before his usurpation, Aurangzeb had advocated allying with the heathen Mongols north of the Bukhara Khanate to attack the Khanate of Bukhara from both sides.

To carry out this plan, Aurangzeb had even personally gone as an envoy to the Qing court. Unfortunately, he arrived just as Dorgon fell from his horse and died, and achieved nothing.

And after Aurangzeb's plot to usurp the throne succeeded, a new opportunity appeared before him — the rise of the Dzungars and the destruction of the Kazakhs had thrown the Khanate of Bukhara into a situation where it was surrounded by enemies on all sides.

Therefore, after firmly securing the throne of the Emir, Aurangzeb began sending envoys to Chu River City, plotting a joint attack on Bukhara.

Later he also sent envoys to the Golden City in Siam, attempting to make contact with the Dzungars' suzerain, the Great Ming.

"Taiji, should we advance east or march south?" Khatun Anu asked.

Sengge glanced at her and thought: This woman still doesn't understand the principle of building high walls, storing ample grain, and delaying claiming kingship!

"Of course we march south!" Sengge said. "If we advance east, we will surely come into conflict with the Great Ming, and then it would no longer be delaying the title of Khan. Now the only course is to join with the Timurid dynasty (Mughal dynasty) of India and Abu'l-Ghazi Bahadur Khan of the Khanate of Khiva west of Bukhara to jointly attack the Khanate of Bukhara."

"Will the Timurid dynasty and the Khanate of Khiva be willing to join hands with us?" Anu was somewhat doubtful. "Won't they fear that after we swallow the lands of the Khanate of Bukhara we will become even stronger?"

"Of course they won't fear that!" Sengge said. "The Khanate of Bukhara believes in the religion of Arabia, while we believe in the Buddha, and we are nomads besides. So they think that at most we will make one good plundering raid and then leave Bukhara's territory. Meanwhile, they can swallow Bukhara and Samarkand, and then, using Bukhara and Samarkand as a base, continue to divide up the lands of the Khanate of Bukhara that we don't want."

"Oh, Anu understands now!" Khatun Anu's mind had finally turned around. "The Khutuktu means for us to seize all the rich lands in the northeastern part of the Khanate of Bukhara, and then build high fortresses at the critical points as the foundation for long-term occupation. Only after we have firmly secured the northeastern lands of Bukhara can you claim the title of Khan and stand as an equal against the Ming dynasty!"

Sengge nodded. "That is exactly the meaning!" He smiled. "He is a Khutuktu after all — wiser than ordinary mortals of flesh and bone like us!"

In fact, both Sengge and Khatun Anu had misunderstood Galdan. Galdan had never thought of having the Dzungar tribe oppose the Great Ming. His "delaying the title of Khan" did not mean delaying the title of Great Khan, but delaying the title of a lesser Khan. In his view, it would be quite good enough for the Dzungar tribe to swallow the oasis region at the foot of the Tianshan Mountains occupied by the Khanate of Bukhara. Serving as a western vassal of the Great Ming Celestial Dynasty and receiving several hundred thousand or even a million in annual bestowals would be very comfortable — why stir up trouble?

"Taiji, then let us quickly summon the tribal leaders for a council, deploy the troops, and attack Bukhara!" Khatun Anu was a warlike woman, and by now she could hardly wait.

"No hurry," Sengge said, waving his hand. "We'll wait until Sixth Brother arrives. Sixth Brother is a Khutuktu; with him acting together with us, the southern advance will be absolutely assured. Moreover, since we are to delay claiming the title of Khan, we should petition the court for an edict before sending out troops."

(End of Chapter)