Chapter 1214: This Is the Princess's Slipper (Seeking Subscriptions)

On the twenty-fifth day of the sixth month of the eighteenth year of Hongxing of the Great Ming, the south gate of the Stone Fortress royal city of the Dzungar Kingdom — the Gate of Benevolent Love — was already under heavy guard. Large squads of fully armed royal guards of the Great Khan stood in ranks on both sides of the main road outside the Gate of Benevolent Love, shouldering matchlock muskets fitted with long bayonets. Two lamas in chain mail stood imposingly at the gate, hands pressed on the hilts of their waist sabers, glaring angrily at a golden-glinting elephant that was slowly drawing near.

An elephant was a rare thing here in Central Asia, and for the Oirat Mongols it was a "divine beast" that existed only in Buddhist scriptures. So when word spread that an elephant had come to the Stone Fortress royal city, a good many residents of Stone Fortress immediately poured out to see the spectacle.

Most of the residents of Stone Fortress were not originally Dzungar Mongols, nor Mongols from other tribes of the Oirat alliance, but rather people who had come from the distant East or from the cities of the Yarkent Khanate.

The former were Buddhists, mostly from the Eight Banners Mongols or the Qing Bordered Green Banner. After the successive collapses of the Shunzhi and Duoni factions, members of the Eight Banners Mongols and the Bordered Green Banner naturally fell on hard times — the former were seen as traitors in the eyes of the Chahar Mongols and the Tumed Mongols. The latter were likewise regarded as outsiders by the Ming court and by the four northern garrisons of Daning, Beiping, Anbei, and Shuofang; they not only lost their lands but were barred from holding office for three generations.

And so these two groups could only leave their homes to seek a livelihood elsewhere. The great majority chose to migrate westward — some moved into the territory of Wu Sangui's Anxi Army, while others traveled even farther, into the territory of Sengge. Here under Sengge, most of the immigrants from the Bordered Green Banner became merchants and artisans, and some rented land outside the Stone Fortress royal city and set up farms. As for the able-bodied men among the Eight Banners Mongols, they became the source of Sengge's royal guards.

The immigrants from the cities of the Yarkent Khanate, meanwhile, were mostly followers of the Heavenly Square faith — Sengge's Dzungar Kingdom naturally pursued a policy of religious tolerance, permitting the people to believe in the Heavenly Square faith, Christianity, Manichaeism, and other heterodox creeds (heterodox, that is, relative to Buddhism, Confucianism, and Daoism). The poll tax, however, still had to be paid.

After all, this was the seventeenth century — everyone was collecting it, so what reason did King Sengge have not to? And besides, he was so poor.

The Heavenly Square believers from Yarkent and the Buddhists from the East got along fairly harmoniously here in the Stone Fortress royal city, because they were all beneficiaries of King Sengge's rule. King Sengge was, after all, a Mongol khan, and of course he could not do without that "four classes of people" system of his.

At present the Dzungars (including the Dzungar homeland and the newcomers from the East) ranked first, the Yarkentis second, the Kazakhs third, and the Transoxianans fourth. The Yarkentis therefore fared quite well in the Stone Fortress royal city and its environs — either renting farms (Dzungar land was publicly owned; all land around the Stone Fortress royal city belonged to the royal court, and both first- and second-class people could lease it at low cost) or working in handicrafts and commerce within the city.

So both groups were supporters of King Sengge — what else could they do if they did not support him? Give the fat, rich land back to the native Transoxianans?

The two groups were now thoroughly familiar with one another, and they too could sense that something was off in the atmosphere, so they began asking around — in Chinese, of course. The Dzungar Kingdom used both Chinese and Mongolian, but because most of the lamas in Chu River City and Stone Fortress came from Yellow Sect monasteries in Han territory, and because they also received funding from the Great Ming Royal Merchant Guild and the Duke Yansheng's estate, Chinese had become the common tongue.

"What's going on? The Great Khan's own guards are all out, and they've fixed bayonets to their muskets — what's this about? Why so nervous just because an elephant shows up?"

"Right, and those two great lamas have put on chain mail and are wearing ordination sabers. Are they going to cut down the elephant?"

"Cut down the elephant? What did the elephant ever do to offend the Great Khan?"

Among those present were Mongols who had come from inside Beijing's Second Ring Road (courtyard houses inside the Second Ring Road, no less!) — all well-informed people. Hearing the talk around them, they immediately chimed in with an air of mystery.

"It's not that the elephant offended the Great Khan. The elephant is a good elephant. It's the elephant's master who's no good — he offended the Great Khan!"

"Who is the elephant's master?"

"It's the Great Khan Timur, come from the land of India — the one now stationed at Samarkand."

"Great Khan Timur is a good man. He sent us plenty of rupee silver coins."

"This time he hasn't come to deliver silver coins — he's come to deliver a slipper!"

"Deliver a slipper? What for?"

"To demand surrender. It's the Timurid house custom: before opening hostilities, they have an elephant carry the Great Khan's slipper to demand surrender. If the other side receives the slipper and carries it into the palace as though it were the Great Khan himself, that amounts to surrender. If they refuse to surrender, they throw the slipper away and kill the elephant — and then it's a great battle!"

"That's a strange custom! Why don't they just launch a surprise attack? Doesn't putting on this whole show just give the other side time to prepare?"

"Exactly! And what fault does the elephant have, that it should be killed?"

While the onlookers were debating what fault the elephant had, a deeply troubled elephant was already swaying unsteadily up to the gate of the Stone Fortress court, and it obediently came to a stop in front of the two furious great lamas and a group of soldiers holding long spears.

On the elephant's back was strapped a little house, and inside the little house sat a man, holding a box in his hands. At this moment the elephant knelt down, and the man seated inside the little house crawled out, then slid down along the elephant's back to the ground, landing steadily on his feet. Then, beaming, he walked toward Great Lama Mingzhu and Great Lama Sanbao.

The two great lamas were startled at the sight of him — this man was Shesta Khan!

How did this old fellow have such nerve? Had he never heard of executing envoys? The elephant was already dead — could he still expect to live?

"Lama Mingzhu, Lama Sanbao," Shesta Khan said, showing not the slightest awareness that he was about to die, still grinning as he greeted the two lamas. "Good news! His Majesty Alamgir has agreed to give his daughter, Princess Nisha, in marriage to the Son of Heaven of the Great Ming as an imperial consort!"

What? He hadn't come to demand surrender?

The two lamas were taken aback. Lama Mingzhu's face darkened as he asked, "You haven't come to demand surrender? I had heard that Aurangzeb sent someone with his slipper, demanding that our Great Khan receive it on his knees!"

Shesta Khan was startled at this. "That is a rumor — a rumor! The surrender demand was already made last time, was it not? What would be the point of demanding it again? There is indeed a slipper, but it is not His Majesty Alamgir's — it is a golden slipper worn by Her Highness the Princess. Please, both of you, take a look."

As he spoke, Shesta Khan opened the box he had brought. Inside indeed lay a golden slipper, somewhat slender in shape and inlaid with many jewels — clearly a woman's shoe at a glance, and an extremely costly one at that. It was certainly not the shoe of that Aurangzeb, who grudged himself every expense on food and clothing.

"What is the meaning of sending a slipper?" Lama Mingzhu frowned. "It's been worn — does it stink?"

"It does not stink — absolutely not. Our His Majesty Alamgir heard that the Ming Emperor is most fond of women with slender, delicate, dainty feet, and so he bade me bring the Princess's slipper as proof that Her Highness the Princess's feet are slender and dainty. In addition, I have brought a portrait of Her Highness the Princess, as well as a collection of poems copied out by the Princess herself — every poem in it was composed personally by Her Highness."

So Aurangzeb's slipper had been swapped out by Shesta Khan!

When he left Samarkand it had been Aurangzeb's slipper; midway he had switched it for Princess Nisha's slipper, and added the portrait and the poetry collection.

And with that, the lives of both Shesta Khan and the elephant were saved!

The two great lamas accepted the slipper and the elephant, and invited Shesta Khan into the royal palace. King Sengge had just returned from Fergana — the fighting in Fergana had not gone smoothly. The rebel army had not met Sengge head-on, but had plunged straight into the mountains.

King Sengge naturally had no desire to look at Princess Nisha's portrait and slipper, so he came straight to the point and asked about the war.

"Wazir, what exactly does your Alamgir mean by this? Fight or not?"

Shesta Khan laughed. "Of course we fight. This is a holy war — Alamgir must take part."

"In that case," King Sengge said coldly, "let us fix a place and a time, both sides concentrate their forces, and fight a decisive battle to the death!"

"Very well!" Shesta Khan nodded. "Where does the Great Khan wish to do battle?"

"Outside the city of Samarkand!" said Sengge. "I shall lead one hundred thousand Mongol iron cavalry and settle life and death with the Timurid Emperor!"

What? Shesta Khan was startled. Hadn't Aurangzeb been busy all this time precisely to secure a position where he could sit back and watch the show, picking up the pieces on the cheap? How had this Sengge fixed on Samarkand?

(End of Chapter)