Chapter 1361: The Little Boy of the Great Ming

A swaddled infant was held in both hands by Sister Cao and placed into the hands of the Zhu Emperor. It was a small baby with reddish skin, not at all plump, just a little over six catties, with a very straight nose bridge and eyes closed, seemingly sound asleep.

"Hahaha!" Zhu Cilang laughed heartily at the sight of his grandson. The child seemed startled by the laughter, opened his eyes for a glance, then his little face crumpled up, looking very angry, and the next moment he let out a loud "Waa—" and began to cry, his wails piercing and full of vigor.

Zhu Cilang was also startled by the crying, and suddenly thought of something. He asked Zhu Hexing, who was already grinning from ear to ear beside him, "Lucky Boy, your son should be of the Yi generation with the metal radical, right?"

The generation poem of Zhu Di's line was "Gao Zhan Qi Jian You, Hou Zai Yi Chang You, Ci He Yi Bo Zhong, Jian Jing Di Xian You." Zhu Cilang was of the Ci generation, Zhu Hexing of the He generation, and Zhu Hexing's son should be of the Yi generation. Beyond the generation character, Zhu Yuanzhang had also decreed the use of "wood, fire, earth, metal, water" as the other radical in descendants' names, cycling in order. The "lang" in Zhu Cilang's name carried fire, the "xing" in Zhu Hexing's name carried earth, so Zhu Hexing's son's name had to carry metal.

"Imperial Father is absolutely right," Zhu Hexing said with a smile. "Please, Imperial Father, bestow a name!"

"Waa—waa—"

The child was still crying!

Zhu Cilang laughed and said, "Seeing how vigorously this little boy cries, We shall bestow upon him the character 'you' — the metal radical with the 'you' of 'not up to oneself' — and name him Zhu Yiyou, with the childhood name Little Boy."

What did crying fiercely have to do with "you"? Zhu Hexing truly could not understand, nor could he understand why Zhu Cilang wanted to give his grandson the childhood name Little Boy. Compared to "Rich Rube" and "Lucky Boy," wasn't this childhood name far too ordinary?

Zhu Cilang then turned to Zhu Hehao beside him and said, "Rich Rube, your eldest son shall be named Yibu — the metal radical with the 'bu' of 'not.' His childhood name shall be Fatty!"

Why call him Fatty? Zhu Hehao was rather speechless too. Neither he nor Ahuan nor Ahai was fat — was the son they produced guaranteed to be a fatty?

But no matter how speechless he was, he still had to give thanks and comply. Who told him his father was the Emperor? Even if the childhood name were "Bastard," he would still have to give thanks!

Seeing his son give thanks, Zhu Cilang said with a smile, "Little Boy and Fatty won't be able to accomplish great things for another thirty or forty years. When that time comes, the might of the Celestial Empire will rest on them!"

In giving these two grandsons (one of whom had not yet been born) such names, the Zhu Emperor naturally had expectations.

Because he knew that the world would undergo tremendous changes thirty-some years later. Louis XIV's empire would enter its zenith — perhaps even completing the union of France and Spain!

According to reports sent back from Europe, Louis XIV's France had already achieved complete victory in the War of Devolution by the end of 1668 (the end of the 20th year of Hongxing). Not only had it forced the Netherlands to form a "Maritime and Land Alliance" with France, it had also defeated the subsequently formed Spanish-Austrian coalition (because Louis XIV's army invaded the Duchy of Lorraine, drawing Austria into the war), and seized Franche-Comté and the Duchy of Lorraine. Together with the previously occupied Spanish Netherlands, France's territory had been enormously expanded!

Moreover, through this war France had defeated three European great powers in one stroke and turned one of them into its most reliable ally, thereby establishing its position as the foremost power of Europe.

If this trend continued, by the time the War of the Spanish Succession broke out, even the combined strength of England, Spain, Austria, Prussia, Sweden, and others would probably be unable to stop France from annexing Spain.

Besides France potentially becoming the absolute hegemon of Western Europe, Russia in Eastern Europe would also welcome, twenty years later, one of the greatest tsars in history — Peter I!

Zhu Cilang did not think he could push all the way to Europe within thirty years. This was the seventeenth century, before the Industrial Revolution had even occurred. No matter how strong the Great Ming's power on the western shore of the Pacific, it could not project much military force to Europe tens of thousands of li away.

In Zhu Cilang's projections, the conflict between the Great Ming and the Europeans was bound to be long-term, possibly lasting two or three hundred years. And in the next twenty to thirty years, neither side would have the strength to strike directly at the other's lair. Both could only adopt strategies of containment to strike at each other, and the front lines of collision would appear in Central Asia, India, North America, and South America.

Right — the forces of Islam would also be very active in the next twenty to thirty years! They might even become a dark horse, doing things that would greatly astonish both the Great Ming and France.

So the world thirty or forty years from now would certainly not let "Little Boy" and "Fatty" enjoy peace and quiet!

They would have to strive and work hard!

Inside the Five Splendors Palace in Kunming, drums and music were now sounding together.

This music was being played for a Western diplomatic mission that had come from afar — it was the tune of northern Shaanxi folk songs, very high-pitched and piercing. In the great hall, a state banquet had been laid out, and there were dancing girls whose skin color alone told you they came from somewhere in Burma, dancing energetically in a style full of Southeast Asian flavor.

Northern Shaanxi folk songs paired with Southeast Asian dance was actually rather interesting.

But Li Jicheng had little interest. He simply sat upright on the dragon throne, eyes narrowed, motionless.

Visiting Kunming today was a joint mission brought by the Dutchman Bruys van Diemen. It included not only envoys from the Netherlands but also an envoy from France, called something like Fouquet, said to be a very remarkable figure who had once served as Minister of Revenue of France! This time he had come bearing an important mission — seemingly concerning some French interests in India!

France was far away in the west of Europe, a hundred thousand eight thousand li from India. What right did it have to stick its foot in?

Besides, even if it was for interests in India, there was no need to come to Kunming!

Wasn't there a Timurid Empire in India? If the French wanted something, they could just go negotiate with the Timurid Emperor Aurangzeb. Why come all the way to Kunming?

Could it be that they wanted to ally with the Shun to go plunder money in India? That was something worth considering — the Shun had lost the fertile land of Sichuan and was just looking for a place to make a score!

But these Westerners were all militarily strong, especially their navies, which the Shun simply could not handle. If the French really gained a firm foothold in India, would the Shun, having fled to Burma, ever know peace?

Yet the Shun could not afford to offend France's ally the Netherlands either. Without Dutch help, the Shun had no way to go plunder money in India, and without Indian money, even if the Shun went to Burma, its fate would be one of barely clinging to life!

Thinking it over and over, Li Jicheng found himself momentarily at a loss!

Just then, the northern Shaanxi folk music came to a pause, and the French special envoy "Fouquet," whose head had been rattled by the noise, finally found a chance to speak. He stood up and rattled off a stream of French.

But Li Jicheng did not understand a word of it, and none of his ministers knew French either, so he had no choice but to wave Bruys over. "Mister Van, what exactly is he saying?"

Bruys van Diemen leaned forward and said with a smile, "Ambassador Fouquet says that King Louis of France is very worried that the Great Ming Empire will invade India. He fears that rich India will become a colony of the Great Ming Empire!"

Li Jicheng laughed. "That's impossible. The Zhu Emperor of the remnant Ming and the Emperor of India, Aurangzeb, are on excellent terms. Aurangzeb even let him sleep with his own daughter. No matter how dishonorable he might be, he couldn't go plunder money in India — and besides, he can't reach it. His troops in Malacca are so far from India that one trip is a tremendous effort.

Mister Van, has that King Louis gotten it wrong? Has he pinned the matter of our two families going to India to plunder money onto the remnant Ming by mistake?"

Bruys van Diemen was somewhat speechless. Was this Shun Emperor drunk or something? Why was he spouting nonsense? When had the Netherlands ever gone to India to plunder money? No such thing — this was slander! This was rumor-mongering!

The ones going to India to plunder money were clearly your family alone. We merely provided transportation and information services for you, and charged reasonable fees.

(End of Chapter)