Chapter 1251: This Is Someone Else's Princess!

"Your servant, Princess Nisha of India, respectfully wishes His Majesty the Emperor ten thousand blessings and peace."

The one speaking flawless, standard Nanjing Mandarin was Princess Zeb-un-Nissa. The Indian princess in person was far more beautiful than the portrait she had sent to Zhu Cilang.

The princess had an excellent figure — tall, slender, graceful and elegant — and her skin was very fair, so that she did not look Indian at all (she was not Indian to begin with). Her features were sharply defined and exquisitely refined: a straight nose, delicate cherry lips, gently curved brows, and eyes that seemed larger than in the portrait, very deep and profound. The only slight flaw was a somewhat prominent forehead. Zhu Cixuan, who had toiled for four years at the Yingtian Prefecture Imperial Academy, had seen plenty of foreheads like that — it was the brow of a top scholar!

And this princess's capacity for learning truly lived up to her brow!

Three months ago, when the princess first met Zhu Cixuan, she still spoke with a Shanxi accent full of "uh" sounds. In so short a time, her Yingtian Mandarin was already completely fluent, without the slightest trace of old Shanxi vinegar.

Besides mastering Yingtian Mandarin, the princess's reading ability had also advanced by leaps and bounds. She recognized several thousand Chinese characters, had a rough grasp of grammar, could already read through Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and could even manage passages from the Zilun: On the Investigation of Things and the Confucian Classics.

Thinking of the Zilun: On the Investigation of Things, Zhu Cixuan admired his future imperial sister-in-law even more — although she still could not quite understand the original text, she could already comprehend the Arabic version, and could interpret a quarter of its sentences with basic accuracy.

Of course, her interpretations were not original; she drew heavily on Arabic translations of Western philosophical works, the fruits of the great translation movement of the Arabian faith centuries earlier.

What astonished Zhu Cixuan even more was that the princess was passionately devoted to collecting books and pursuing scholarship. She spent most of her annual allowance on amassing books and hiring scholars to study, copy, and translate them.

In her own residence she had what was very likely the largest private library in India, holding a vast collection of works on philosophy, mathematics, astronomy, literature, law, theology, and history — books handed down from that centuries-old translation movement, long forgotten elsewhere, could almost all be found in her library. If her collection could be brought back to the Great Ming, it would be of enormous help in studying the Zilun: On the Investigation of Things!

The princess, who had been earnestly practicing Ming court etiquette facing Zhu Cilang's portrait, heard footsteps behind her, rose, and turned to see her "tutor" Zhu Cixuan.

Princess Nisha and Zhu Cixuan were about the same age. Both were scholars, and both excelled in mathematics and philosophy, so they had much in common and got along very well.

"Ten thousand blessings to Your Highness the Prince," the princess said, performing a perfectly standard curtsy, then asked with a smile, "Have I passed my mathematics examination?"

Zhu Cixuan had come to deliver his imperial sister-in-law's mathematics exam paper — 108 geometry problems in all, every one a difficult question he had racked his brains to devise. By his own rule, a single wrong answer meant failure.

But regrettably, Princess Nisha had answered every question correctly, with clear reasoning and rigorous logic.

"Passed — all 108 questions answered correctly!" Zhu Cixuan said with a somewhat strained smile.

"Then how did I do on my Arabic and Persian?" the princess asked, still smiling.

"Excellent — flawless!" For some reason, Zhu Cixuan found himself reluctant to let this princess pass her examinations.

But Princess Nisha was remembered by history as a poet who composed in Arabic and Persian — how could she possibly fail an Arabic and Persian examination?

Of the four examination subjects, two perfect scores were already in hand. Two remained: martial arts and Chinese.

As for martial arts, there was little to say — Zhu Cixuan had already witnessed it. Nisha could not reach the level of a great general, but placed in the inner palace she would absolutely rank first-rate. Zhu Cilang required his consorts to practice martial arts for two main reasons: first, to strengthen their bodies and preserve their health. In this age there was no advanced medicine; if one wanted to live long, one had to exercise.

Second, so that they could teach their children martial arts and physical fitness — to build strong bodies from childhood, so that in the future they could accomplish great things for the Zhu Ming dynasty!

Princess Nisha had an excellent foundation and had received personal instruction from a famous master, Aurangzeb, so she would certainly pass. Moreover, her martial arts examination was not Zhu Cixuan's responsibility — it was handled by the "make-do eunuchs" who had accompanied Zhu Cixuan to India.

Now only Chinese remained as a possible stumbling block.

But Princess Nisha's Chinese was better than Zhu Cixuan had imagined. Those two Shanxi men had been quite conscientious — apart from teaching her Shanxi dialect with its old-vinegar flavor, everything else was fine. After three months of study with Zhu Cixuan and the "widow palace maids" and make-do eunuchs he had brought, her accent was nearly corrected and her spoken Chinese had improved dramatically. Only her brush calligraphy was poor, but she could write Chinese characters with a quill pen, and wrote them quite neatly.

This was truly someone else's princess!

At that thought, the "Landlord Prince" Zhu Cixuan could only smile faintly and say to Princess Nisha, "Your Highness, I have brought the Chinese examination paper. The Son of Heaven requires only a rough proficiency, so it should be relatively easy to pass."

Princess Nisha laughed. "Your Highness, rest assured — I will certainly pass, and I will absolutely not disappoint His Majesty!"

Zhu Cixuan sighed inwardly once more — this princess had never even met Zhu Cilang in person, yet she was already utterly devoted. And the more the examinations tormented her, the more determined she became, as if she had resolved to overcome every obstacle and deliver herself into the bed of the Great Emperor Zhu no matter what!

It seemed this Nisha truly was someone else's princess.

The Landlord Prince could only smile. "Princess, then let us begin the examination."

"Hmph! Taking a consort and still requiring examinations — truly unheard of! Damn it, isn't he afraid of the inner palace meddling in politics?"

"Your Highness the Imperial Grandson, this subject has heard that Emperor Zhu's examination-based consort selection is precisely intended to facilitate inner palace involvement in governance!"

"Is that so? Then he's a muddled ruler!"

"Not entirely muddled — it has to do with something called statistics."

"Called what?"

"Statistics — that is, comprehensive calculation, finding patterns and the like. It is said that since the Yongle Emperor Zhu Di, the Zhu Ming has often had sovereigns who ascended as children. And these young rulers, raised deep within the palace, were shallow in experience and ignorant of the world, so they could only rely on others to wield power — whether empress dowagers, eunuchs, or ministers. Zhu Cilang probably feels that eunuchs and ministers are unreliable, and that he must rely on the empress dowager."

"Hmph! On that point alone, our Shun is a hundred times stronger than the Zhu family! I'm already twenty-six and still an Imperial Grandson."

Speaking as they watched the loading of ships at the Paradeep docks in Orissa Province were Li Jicheng, Imperial Grandson of the Shun, and his strategist Song Yaowen.

At the mention of still being an Imperial Grandson at twenty-six, Li Jicheng could not help sighing.

If he were the Crown Prince, there would at least be some hope — but Imperial Grandson was truly maddening! When would it ever be his turn to become emperor?

"Imperial Grandson, do not be anxious," Song Yaowen said, lowering his voice. "His Majesty fell ill at the end of last year. I hear he has grown terribly thin and is always thirsty. Physicians have examined him and say it is wasting-thirst disease — incurable!"

So Li Guo had developed diabetes — it seemed eating too many roujiamo was not good for one's health!

Li Jicheng sighed again. "Grandfather's illness could not have come at a worse time! Aurangzeb's great army is about to arrive, yet the old man is gravely ill. I am a filial grandson, so I must return to Wuhua Mountain."

"Imperial Grandson, rest assured," Song Yaowen said. "Gao Yidao is a veteran general of the Shun, and the newly built bastion fort at Paradeep is impregnable — it will certainly hold. With this foothold, we can return next year and make another great haul!"

Li Jicheng nodded. "True enough. With silver from India, our Shun need never worry about lacking funds and provisions!"

(End of Chapter)