Chapter 1217: We Are Not Lustful, but We Love Talent (Seeking Subscriptions)

"What?" Zhu Cilang was stunned again and again. What on earth was going on?

Bahabandi, seeing that the Zhu Emperor did not understand, hurriedly explained: "Your Majesty, this Aurangzeb originally joined forces with our Dzungar Kingdom to attack the Khanate of Bukhara. After the victory, he was allotted the two territories of Samarkand and Tajikistan, but having gained Long he coveted Shu, and wanted to reach for the land our Dzungar Kingdom had been allotted. However, his Indian troops were somewhat weak and could not defeat our Dzungars, so he sought to use beauty and wealth to lure our Great King into betraying the Celestial Dynasty.

This Princess Nisha is said to be Aurangzeb's most beautiful daughter, and she is also very learned, skilled in music and poetry, and can speak several languages. Aurangzeb wished to marry this Princess Nisha to the Dzungar King, and add an annual tribute of 10 million rupees, in exchange for the Dzungars' submission. But our Dzungar King is utterly loyal to the Celestial Dynasty, and so he sternly refused!"

"I never expected Sengge to be such a rare loyal subject!" Zhu Cilang found it somewhat hard to believe. How could Sengge possibly be so loyal?

He thought for a moment, then asked: "Then how did this Princess Nisha end up being sent to Us?"

"It was like this," Bahabandi said. "Because the Dzungar King heard that Your Majesty most favors talented women, he proposed to Aurangzeb that he would be willing to act as matchmaker and send the princess to Your Majesty's side."

"This Sengge is actually so loyal!" Zhu Cilang almost doubted whether he had misheard.

He then looked again at the portrait Wei Zaode had spread open before him. It was a sketch-like painting of a slender, tall woman, holding a pen in one hand and a book in the other. Judging by the painting alone, this woman's looks were far inferior to Marie Mancini's and Natalie's.

But in this era, the painting of Islamic civilization could not compare at all with European painting — Islam forbade portraits, while Europe had already had the Renaissance for two hundred years!

So Zhu Cilang could not be certain whether this Princess Nisha was truly beautiful, but he also knew that Aurangzeb's mother was the woman buried in the Taj Mahal. Given Aurangzeb's status, his wife would certainly not be ugly, and the daughters she bore should not be bad either.

He then looked at the slipper Yan Yingyuan was holding. It was somewhat slender, decorated with jewels, and bore some signs of wear — it had evidently been used.

If it truly belonged to Princess Nisha, then this princess must have a pair of beautiful feet, must she not?

"We are indeed not lustful, but We do love talent!" Zhu Cilang said these words from the bottom of his heart. "These days We have been busy establishing Jinling Women's University, chiefly out of love for talent. If this Princess Nisha is truly brilliant, We would like to invite her to Laoshan Palace as a consort, to remain by Our side."

Wei Zaode and Yan Yingyuan both nodded vigorously, evidently very much in agreement with Zhu Cilang's words.

Zhu Cilang was not lying. He truly loved talent — talented women! In his early years he had not been particularly fond of talented women, but as he grew older, he came to love talented women more and more.

So he also paid increasing attention to women's education. At first, when he established Nanjing Primary School, he set up a girls' school, and later he established Jinling Girls' Middle School. And beginning in the winter of the seventeenth year of Hongxing, Zhu Cilang began preparations for Jinling Women's University!

Moreover, he treated Jinling Women's University as a major project vital to the long-term peace and stability of the Celestial Empire!

The reason was simple: he wanted to use Jinling Women's University to select spouses for his descendants — from now on, the empresses, consorts, and wives of princely lords of the Zhu Ming dynasty must be top graduates of the women's university!

Zhu Cilang did not believe in any system where "even a fool can be a good emperor" — and he would not regard the constitutional monarchies of Britain and Japan as successful models either, because in his view, the constitutionalism of those two countries could hardly be called a success, and it owed much to chance.

First, it was not the House of Stuart that enjoyed the fruits of British constitutionalism. The House of Stuart entered a moribund state after the Glorious Revolution of 1688 — the lawful king was deposed, the lawful heir to the throne (the Jacobites) was ignored, and the British crown was handed by Parliament to William III of the Netherlands, and later passed to the German House of Hanover. From the standpoint of the House of Stuart, such constitutionalism was no model of success at all.

And the reason for the House of Stuart's failure was simply that Charles I and his son James II were too stupid! They insisted on restoring Catholicism in England — purely making trouble for themselves.

Second, Japan's constitutionalism was merely a gift from the Americans. The Japanese Empire had in fact already been destroyed by the feeble-minded Showa Emperor. The wealthy, democratic Japan of later generations was actually a state built by MacArthur. He allowed the Showa Emperor to remain as a puppet, and only thus did the Yamato dynasty survive. If he had wanted to end the Yamato dynasty, what could the Japanese have done about it? The Americans had atomic bombs to spare!

Therefore Zhu Cilang firmly opposed the Ming dynasty producing "fool emperors." Not only must the emperor not be a fool, even the empress had to be intelligent. Because the emperor was inherited — no one could guarantee he would be exceptionally intelligent — but the empress could be chosen. Of course one had to choose a woman of superior intellect and good education — in case the emperor was not smart enough, his wife could help!

If one further considered the possibility of the emperor's early death and an empress dowager holding court, then it was all the more necessary to choose intelligent women. If they were all like the silly, sweet Wu Sanmei, how could they serve as empress dowager? How could they keep the treacherous ministers of the court in check? By comparison, Zheng Chagu was far stronger — she had a head for economics and could at least manage the money!

Only someone like Zheng Chagu could assist her husband in governing the state, and even govern in his place when necessary.

Furthermore, under Zhu Cilang's leadership, the Great Ming dynasty had begun to follow a path of "diversified investment" — no longer putting all its eggs in the single basket of the Ming, but broadly establishing branch princely states of the imperial clan.

As long as the Zhu Ming dynasty still existed in even one princely state, then the Zhu Ming dynasty had not perished. Therefore the princes and lords of these Zhu Ming princely states, and their spouses, likewise had to be intelligent and well educated.

As for constitutionalism and the like, constitutional monarchy with a real monarch was already being implemented, while a figurehead monarch — for the foreseeable future, what the Great Ming needed was a real monarch, so the sovereign must never be absent.

Even if one day the Great Ming must move toward a figurehead monarch, it would need an exceptionally intelligent monarch to lead the imperial family all the more.

Zhu Cilang stroked his beard and said thoughtfully: "If this Princess Nisha is truly a talented woman, then We must take her as a consort, and moreover recommend her for admission to Jinling Women's University. We hope to set a good precedent — beginning with Princess Nisha, all empresses and consorts of Our Zhu Ming dynasty shall come from Jinling Women's University! In the future, when Our sons and grandsons choose consorts, there will be no need to trouble the Ministry of Rites with selection; they will simply choose directly from the women's university students!"

This was a matter of tremendous importance!

Wei Zaode and Yan Yingyuan were both stunned. The two of them had originally not understood the Zhu Emperor's establishment of Jinling Women's University — it was enough for girls to finish girls' middle school; why go to university? What use was such great learning? Would they not just get married anyway?

They had not expected that the Zhu Emperor was treating Jinling Women's University as an imperial examination for empresses and consorts — from now on, to enter the palace as empress or consort, one would have to pass examinations!

Seeing that the two ministers before him were somewhat dazed, Zhu Cilang thought they did not understand, so he explained further: "If Our sons and grandsons cannot inherit the great throne, and have no princely state to go to as king or duke, their principal wives need not be Jinling Women's University students. But the principal wives of the Crown Prince, the Imperial Grandson, and the lords of princely states and their heirs must all come from Jinling Women's University! Because they not only bear the duty of educating the next generation, but also have a certain probability of ruling from behind the curtain."

What? Ruling from behind the curtain? The two ministers thought to themselves: should it not be the regent ministers who govern?

Zhu Cilang glanced at the two of them and thought: You two can forget about regent ministers. We are younger than you, in the prime of life, and shall remain Son of Heaven for several more decades!

He then continued: "In this dynasty, those who ascended the throne as youths include the Ying Temple, the Xian Temple, the Wu Temple, the Shi Temple, the Shen Temple, and Our Imperial Father — all ascended in their youth, their minds not yet mature and their learning insufficient, precisely the time when they needed their imperial mothers to hold court!"

It seemed someone had been left out, had he not? Wei Zaode and Yan Yingyuan thought: Your Majesty, you too took power as a youth — no, seized power as a youth! How is it that you are so wily and cunning?

Zhu Cilang now looked seriously at Wei Zaode and Yan Yingyuan: "Your two daughters are both talented women, are they not? They are about to graduate from Jinling Girls' Middle School, are they not? Do not forget to sit the examination for Jinling Women's University. Our princes are about to choose their consorts!"

At this, Wei Zaode and Yan Yingyuan both began to breathe a little faster — so their daughters might also have the chance to become mother of the realm!

(End of Chapter)