Chapter 1208: Didn't You Say You Were Sending Slippers? (Please Subscribe)

Footsteps reached the ears of the Great Emperor Aurangzeb. At this hour, only two people could walk directly up behind the Emperor without being announced — one was his most beloved eldest daughter, Zeb-un-Nissa, and the other was his most trusted Wazir, Shayista Khan.

"Is it Nissa?" Aurangzeb spoke, his voice very soft.

"No, Your Majesty Alamgir, it is I, your loyal slave Shayista Khan."

It was a somewhat aged voice, belonging to Aurangzeb's maternal uncle Shayista Khan — the younger brother of Mumtaz Mahal, she who lies buried in the Taj Mahal. This old gentleman and his father Asaf Khan were both great ministers of the Timurid dynasty of India, and both had held the office of Wazir.

"Oh, it's you!" Aurangzeb's voice turned icy and stern once more, terrifying to hear. As he spoke, Aurangzeb braced both hands against the ground, rose to his feet, then turned around and looked at his most trusted minister.

The aged Shayista Khan stood with the utmost deference before this emperor who was very tall yet gaunt as a skeleton, his back bent, his head lowered, the very picture of trembling fear.

Aurangzeb was just such a fearsome Emperor of India — he had killed his own brothers and imprisoned his own father, and after seizing power he had taken up the life of an ascetic, grudging himself food, grudging himself clothing, grudging himself even wives (the number of his wives did not even reach the four permitted by the Quran).

As the second-richest emperor in the world (Zhu Cilang was richest, Aurangzeb was second-richest), he ate only a little vegetables and bread every day, starving himself to skin and bones. He had also banned music, painting, and every other form of entertainment, and had even ordered the splendidly decorated palace to be painted over with whitewash until it was deathly dull.

With no food and drink, no pleasure, and no women, this ascetic emperor had begun to take his joy in tormenting and killing people.

Unlike his ancestors, who liked to live their happy lives in a careless, easygoing way, Aurangzeb was an extremely serious and rigid man who could not tolerate the slightest speck of dust in his eye — before he became emperor, this fault of excessive seriousness had not been severe, but after he became emperor the illness had worsened, and now it was nearly terminal. Yet it was not his terminal illness, but the terminal illness of his subordinates and subjects!

To live under his rule, one had to be twelve times careful, or else it was all too easy to lose one's life in a breath!

"Your Majesty Alamgir, the Governor of Bengal, Mir Jumla, has sent a report: the Kingdom of Arakan has been destroyed by the Shun Empire of China. The Imperial Grandson of the Shun Empire personally led troops into the city of Mrauk U and captured the Arakanese royal family alive."

"Oh." Aurangzeb responded with a single syllable, then asked, "What of Chittagong? Has it been seized by the Imperial Grandson of the Shun Empire?"

"No," Shayista Khan replied. "It seems that Imperial Grandson is unwilling to come into conflict with our Timurid Empire of India, and so he has sent an envoy to Bengal, hoping to obtain Your Majesty's consent before advancing on Chittagong."

"Does the Crown Prince of the Shun Empire believe in the True God?" Aurangzeb asked.

"No," Shayista Khan said. "He believes in Buddhism."

In truth, Li Jicheng did not believe in Buddhism, but in the three teachings of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism. However, in order to win over the Buddhist forces of Burma (in the Buddhist countries of Southeast Asia the temple establishments were all very powerful, the temples being the core of popular organization and mobilization), Li Jicheng still had to package himself as a Buddhist believer and protector of Buddhism.

"However," Shayista Khan added, "the Imperial Grandson's envoy has assured Governor Mir Jumla that freedom of religious belief will be implemented in Chittagong."

"Hmph!" Aurangzeb snorted.

What he detested most was freedom! Especially religious freedom! Was it not precisely so that he could save money to reform an India thrown into chaos by all manner of sects that he, a sovereign ranked second-richest, grudged himself food, grudged himself clothing, and grudged himself taking a few more wives?

What he sought was an India that strictly observed all the puritanical precepts of Islam — in other words, he was applying to India the same thing Cromwell had done in England!

If this succeeded, India would rise!

"Your Majesty Alamgir, will you reject the Shun Empire's peace?" Shayista Khan asked.

"No!" Aurangzeb said. "I merely detest freedom. But it is obvious that our chief enemy is not the Shun Empire, but the Dzungar Kingdom to the north!"

"Your Majesty Alamgir," Shayista Khan said, growing somewhat nervous, "in fact we have already achieved our objective — we have recovered Samarkand and recruited more than fifty thousand brave, battle-hardened soldiers who believe in the True God. They are the source of our strength. Now we need only bring them back to India, and those petty states on the Deccan Plateau will soon be crushed beneath your wrath, and all India will grovel at your feet."

As a puritanical emperor of Islam, Aurangzeb of course knew that India's wealth and laxity would corrode the spirit of the empire's nobles and warriors — this was the chief reason for the gradual military decline of the Timurid Empire of India!

And the reason Aurangzeb had become a puritan of Islam was precisely his hope that, by setting an example himself, he could rekindle the fighting spirit of the nobles and warriors.

Of course, pulling men directly from Central Asia and Afghanistan to fight in India was probably far less trouble than reforming the spirit of India's Islamic nobles and warriors, and it would take effect faster too. Never mind how vigorously the Marathas were carrying on under their hero Shivaji — if fifty thousand Islamic warriors from Central Asia truly entered India, the Marathas would certainly not be able to withstand them!

Shayista Khan, who had once had his camp raided by Shivaji's men during the war against the Marathas and had lost a beloved son in the attack, naturally did not want Aurangzeb to get entangled in Central Asia with the ferociously savage Dzungars. Better to take that energy and lead fifty thousand elite Islamic soldiers back to India — those were all Muslims who had grown up enduring hardship in Central Asia! They could fight!

"No!" Aurangzeb shook his head. "Fifty thousand is not enough. If I am to unify India and firmly hold Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Samarkand in my grasp, I need at least one hundred and fifty thousand warriors from Transoxiana and the Kipchak Steppe!

It was by relying on them that my ancestors easily conquered Afghanistan, and then went on to conquer India and become Emperors of Hindustan.

Now, I need them too! I need many, many more..."

The men of Afghanistan were fierce! This time, in order to pass through Afghanistan, Aurangzeb had been forced to scatter money lavishly, paying passage tolls before he could enter Transoxiana smoothly.

But however fierce the Afghans were, once they encountered the fierce men from Transoxiana and the Kipchak Steppe, they could only take a beating!

It had always been so in history!

Aurangzeb's own ancestors were no exception — in Transoxiana they were beaten black and blue by the Uzbeks coming off the Kipchak Steppe, but when they turned back to Afghanistan they became conquerors, and when they advanced on India they became great emperors!

"But the Dzungars..." Shayista Khan looked extremely uneasy.

The Khanate of Bukhara had in fact been smashed by the Dzungars, and the troops of the Khanate of Khiva from Khwarezm had also done some of the work — it was they who had taken the citadel of Bukhara, and Aurangzeb had simply picked up the ready-made prize!

Aurangzeb let out a breath and said, "The Dzungars have now acted so perversely that they have incurred public wrath. The Khivans, the Kazakhs, the Bukharans, the Turkmens, the Tajiks... even the Russians in the north all hate them. We should seize this opportunity to unite everyone against the Dzungars."

"W-war?" Shayista Khan was already drenched in sweat.

Because he knew that not everyone opposed the Dzungars — the great Ming Empire in the east was still the Dzungars' firmest backer.

"No," Aurangzeb shook his head. "War is the last resort. I hope the Dzungar Kingdom will submit to the Timurid Empire and convert to the True God."

"Your Majesty..." Shayista Khan stared at his emperor in horror.

Aurangzeb said expressionlessly, "If King Sengge is willing to become a vassal of the Timurid Empire, I am willing to marry my most beautiful daughter, Zeb-un-Nissa, to him, and to give him a subsidy of ten million rupees every year!"

(End of Chapter)