Chapter 1315: Why Is It So Hard!

East Lake Palace, the Red Fort.

This Indian-style castle built for Princess Nisha now truly brimmed with charming Indian atmosphere thanks to the arrival of the princess and her twenty Rajput maidservants — only the charming side, of course, none of the darker side.

For the only ones who moved into this red castle with Princess Nisha were twenty Rajput maidservants of the Kshatriya caste. The Rajputs live in northwestern India and are said to be descendants of princes; their caste is considered relatively noble even among Kshatriyas, and they carry a comparatively large share of Aryan blood.

So the twenty maidservants Princess Nisha brought all had well-defined features and graceful figures, their wheat-colored skin looking very healthy, and every one of them could sing and dance.

But Zhu Cilang had come to the Red Fort three days in a row not to enjoy their singing and dancing — he had come to give the princess her examinations. Although after their first meeting Zhu Cilang had already decided to take Nisha into his harem, the examinations still had to be taken seriously. Without taking them seriously, how would he know just how great this Indian poetess's talent was?

The Zhu Emperor needed Princess Nisha to set a good example — he did not expect the whole world, but at least the middle and upper classes of the Great Ming needed to know that their Ming army did not lust after women, did not much value feminine virtue, and cared most of all about a woman's talent.

That saying about "a woman's virtue lies in her lack of talent" certainly does not apply to the imperial household.

Today was already the third day of Princess Nisha's personal college entrance examination (it should count as independent recruitment, right?). The interview, written test, and oral test (spoken Chinese) were all finished. Princess Nisha's results were not especially ideal — at least she herself was not satisfied — because across the subjects already completed she had only scored 445 points (out of a total of 460), and all 15 points lost had been deducted from Chinese.

Although Nisha could write very beautiful Chinese poetry, and her small regular script in the "hairpin-flower" style was also lovely, her classical Chinese was ultimately limited. If she could choose her own topic and had other people's poetry collections for reference, she could write beautiful verse. But if someone else set the topic and there was no poetry collection to consult, her standard dropped at once! So she had only scored 85.

As for mathematics, philosophy, and military science, because answering in Arabic was permitted, she had scored full marks in all of them — and she had not answered entirely in Arabic either, but used both Arabic and Chinese. Where she could answer in Chinese, she used Chinese; where she could not, she used Arabic.

It seemed the question-setting Zhu Emperor had somewhat underestimated this female top student from India.

And today what Princess Nisha had to display was her martial skill and musical ability — the princess's painting was mediocre, since the Arabian religion forbids painting after all, and her status made it unsuitable for her to dance before others. But she could play many kinds of instruments and could also sing in Urdu and Persian.

Because she was to be tested on riding and archery, the female top student had changed out of her white sari gown and into a Han-style riding jacket, and she truly looked rather heroic and dashing.

The examination site was in a large racecourse at the foot of the southern slope of Mo Mountain. This was also part of the Red Fort, and at the same time Zhu Cilang had selected it as the venue for the upcoming martial arts examination of the Jinling Women's University.

The targets and wooden fences for the riding and archery test (to keep riders from getting too close to the targets) and the various obstacles for the riding test had all been set up.

At the end of the wooden fence stood more than a dozen upright posts of varying heights, with straw targets fixed to their tops for testing saber technique (or sword technique).

Zhu Cilang was already seated on a raised platform built at one side of the racecourse. Accompanying him were Pan Yuchen, the Director of the Eastern Depot, and Wang Qi, who after many years had again been appointed Commandant of the Guard Army. Both were veteran generals; though now retired to second-line duties, their judgment remained sharp — the two of them had been chosen as chief examiners for the Jinling Women's University entrance examination, responsible for testing martial arts.

On the scene there were also several dozen middle-aged women in riding jackets, all widowed and childless dependents of New Army soldiers recruited from the Dengzhou, Laizhou, Fengyang, and Runing areas. They had all picked up some martial skill to one degree or another, and after becoming palace maids they had become female guards for the consorts and princesses.

They had been brought in to serve as proctors and on-site first aid — riding, archery, and saber and sword work were ultimately rather dangerous!

Of course, the subjects of the martial arts examination had also fully taken safety into account.

Whether riding, archery, or saber and sword, each was divided into two tiers: hard and easy. If a candidate chose the hard tier, she could potentially score full marks (30 points; the three subjects together totaled 90 points, with another 10 points for physical endurance, which required taking the test in armor and completing all three subjects in one continuous run). If a candidate chose the easy tier, she could score at most 20 points, and could not earn the physical endurance points — the three subjects together would be worth at most 60 points.

Princess Nisha had chosen the hard tier for everything, but had given up the physical endurance points — meaning after finishing one subject, she would rest a while before continuing to the next.

The horses and equipment for the examination could be self-provided. Nisha had brought several Marwari horses from India, all well trained by her, and had selected the best one as her examination mount. Her bow was also self-provided — three Persian bows crafted almost like works of art. For the saber and sword subject she had prepared an exquisitely ornate talwar, its curved blade covered in beautiful patterns, the grip swelling distinctly at the waist and fitted with an S-shaped guard, seemingly modeled on Western sword designs.

The princess, bow and arrows on her back and curved saber at her hip, knelt on one knee before the Son of Heaven. Zhu Cilang looked her over, felt very satisfied, and said to her with a smile: "Nisha, you already have 445 points — enough to become Our Noble Consort! So do not be nervous; relax and take the test. After the women's university examination is over, We shall hold a grand wedding for you!"

By custom, a Noble Consort entering the palace should not have a wedding ceremony, but Nisha's status was special, so of course she was to enjoy preferential treatment.

The Zhu Emperor planned to hold a grand wedding for Princess Nisha at the Red Fort after the women's university examination ended.

Princess Nisha gazed affectionately at this rather trying great emperor. "This humble consort will certainly strive hard and will never disappoint Your Majesty!"

"Good!" Zhu Cilang nodded. "We shall watch you take the test right here!"

With that, he nodded to Eunuch Pan beside him. Pan Yuchen rose, bowed to Zhu Cilang, and then announced loudly: "First subject, the riding test, begins! Princess, please mount your horse!"

The examination had now formally begun, and mounting the horse was the first test question.

While Princess Nisha began her martial arts examination, copies of her exam papers (with the Arabic content all translated by Zhu Cixuan) had already been secretly delivered by Zheng Jiangong into the hands of Zheng Zhilong, Zheng Sen, and Zheng Du.

"Wh-wh-what is all this? How come I can't understand a word of it?"

The one who could not understand was Zheng Zhilong. He was holding a copy of the mathematics paper used to test Princess Nisha. Old Zheng had always thought he was very good at keeping accounts and that his arithmetic must be decent. Now he could not even understand the exam paper — not a single problem on it was one he could do!

"Aba," Zheng Jiangong said with a frown, "this mathematics paper is a bit difficult..."

"A bit difficult?" Zheng Zhilong glared at him. "Can the children do it?"

"Well..." Zheng Jiangong thought for a moment. "They can probably do a few problems?"

"Only a few?" Sweat was already beading on Old Zheng's forehead. "Are the other papers a bit easier?"

Zheng Sen said: "Chinese is easy — it tests writing poetry and filling in ci lyrics."

Is writing poetry and filling in ci lyrics easy? Zheng Zhilong thought to himself: I'm so clever, so how come I can't do any of it?

"Can they do it?"

"They can! But..."

"But what?" Old Zheng asked.

"But the Chinese paper was specially set for Princess Nisha. The other candidates don't take Chinese — they take French!" Zheng Sen said. "The children of our family will have no problem."

"What else?" Old Zheng asked again. "What does military science test?"

"Military science is easy," Zheng Du said. "Very easy — just simple platoon-level infantry and cavalry tactics, elementary fortification, and ballistics. Even I could do them."

Zheng Zhilong glared at him fiercely. "You call that easy? You graduated from the Army Military Academy! Of course you can do them — can your daughter do them?"

"She... of course she can't!" Zheng Du shook his head repeatedly.

Zheng Zhilong slapped the table. "Then hurry up and cram! Teach her at least a little! We can't let the Wu family's girl get ahead of us!"

"Aba, Wu Ahuan surely can't do problems that are only taught at the Military Academy, can she?"

"What do you mean 'surely can't'? If she surely can't, why would His Majesty test these things? Go teach her! Now!"

(End of Chapter)