Chapter 1409: Kangxi Leaves the Capital, Galdan Gets Married

Go out for a walk? Leave Nanjing... and still get to see the Great Lama? That would mean going very far!

Kangxi — oh, right, Jin Xuanye — felt his heart, calm as still water a moment before, suddenly pound violently. He was not like Jin Boguo; he had never experienced the brutal Ming-Qing wars.

Nor had he ever formally or systematically studied military affairs — the elementary and middle schools he attended did not offer military courses, and Bumbutai forbade him from owning any books on military matters, except for one family heirloom: a copy of Romance of the Three Kingdoms annotated by the Shunzhi Emperor, a "treasured book" he had nearly worn to pieces from reading.

So Jin Xuanye did not understand the Ming dynasty's true military strength today, and naturally had no idea that these so-called powerful vassals were no match at all for the Ming army.

Moreover, in his mind, under the Heilongjiang Protectorate and the Andong Protectorate in the northeast, there were still many Manchu warriors who longed for the Great Qing.

And the Mongol vassal states in the northwest and north surely could not be content under Ming rule... The Mongols had always been enemies of the Ming, fighting against it for more than three hundred years!

Besides, he had also heard certain rumors that his father, Shunzhi, was still alive.

Among the Qing surrendered people confined in Yingtian Prefecture by Zhu Cilang, there were some with rather vivid imaginations who had actually conjured up a story of Shunzhi faking his death to escape!

And they told it with such convincing detail... Shunzhi had first sent away the Empress Mengguqing, while his trusted men Songgotu and Mingzhu vanished without a trace, and in the end he perished in the flames together with a group of loyal ministers like Sonin and Suksaha.

No matter how you look at it, the whole affair was suspicious!

Xuanye had of course heard these stories too, and he believed his father Shunzhi had faked his death to escape.

He even fantasized that after faking his death and escaping, Shunzhi must be traveling about, rallying the loyal remnants of the Manchus in various places, just waiting for the chance to raise troops and rise up...

"Your Majesty, this subject does not wish to leave Yingtian Prefecture." In his heart Xuanye very much wanted to go out and find his father, but he dared not agree aloud to leave Yingtian Prefecture.

He also knew what his own status was, so he put on the manner of a bookish fool and said, "This subject still wishes to remain in Yingtian Prefecture to take the university examinations."

Zhu Cilang would never believe Kangxi was a bookish fool — being good at studies did not make one a bookworm! Besides, you are Kangxi!

He laughed and said, "Travel ten thousand li, read ten thousand books! Xuanye, you have read your books very well, but you have not traveled enough. Go out and take a look, see the great mountains and rivers of the Ming! Then go to the Western Regions and meet the Great Lama. Do you not follow the Yellow Hat sect? Do you not wish to see the leader of the Yellow Hat sect?"

Most of the Qing surrendered people confined in Yingtian Prefecture followed the Yellow Hat sect, and Xuanye's mother had followed it in life too. Bumbutai, who had raised Xuanye after his birth mother died of illness, also followed the Yellow Hat sect, and under their influence Xuanye too had deep Buddhist affinities.

"Then this subject... shall respectfully receive Your Majesty's decree." Xuanye did not decline again, because he was also a filial son and missed his father very much!

The fat man Jin Boguo beside him wore a worried look, but did not dare say anything.

Zhu Cilang also noticed Jin Boguo's expression and said to him as well, "Boguo'er, you are Our adopted son; don't always shut yourself up in Yingtian Prefecture... Look, you've grown this fat — you need to get out and walk around.

We shall give you a title too. You and Xuanye will make a trip together to the Western Regions to see Galdan... You are quite familiar with Galdan, are you not?"

Jin Boguo also followed the Lamaist faith. Back when Galdan was studying in Yingtian Prefecture, he had been a lama, so Jin Boguo knew him well.

Of course, Galdan's best friend during his studies in Yingtian Prefecture had been the local tycoon prince, Zhu Hehao.

But Zhu Hehao was not in the Ming at present, so Zhu Cilang wanted Jin Boguo to make the trip, and there was also an important matter he wanted him to handle.

"Your son and Galdan are merely acquainted, not exactly close..." Jin Boguo answered with high vigilance. He knew that as long as he stayed put in Yingtian Prefecture eating, drinking, and amusing himself, there was no danger.

But if he went wandering outside — heh heh — that was hard to say!

"Boguo," Zhu Cilang said with a smile, "you are afraid people will gossip, are you not? Rest assured, though words can be fearsome, We can still distinguish right from wrong. We know you are loyal to the Ming!"

"Imperial Father is wise; your son is utterly loyal to the Ming!" Hearing Zhu Cilang speak this way, Jin Boguo had no way out, so he had to steel himself and ask, "Does Imperial Father wish your son to convey a message to Galdan?"

"We have heard that Galdan has returned to lay life," Zhu Cilang said with a smile, "so We wish to arrange a marriage for him."

Although Galdan had never properly chanted sutras in the Yellow Temple, he had always been a monk. Even after reaching the Western Regions and becoming the Myriarch Governor of the Dzungar Kingdom, he was still a lama. It was only after the Great Lama left Ü-Tsang for Kashgar that Galdan traveled from his post on the Chu River to meet him, and then, at the Great Lama's persuasion, returned to lay life, transforming from a monk into a "Dharma-Protecting King."

Since Galdan had returned to lay life, he naturally had to consider the question of marriage. But his fifth brother Sengge was still alive and well, and no one had done him in, so his sister-in-law Anu Khatun could not remarry him either... So Zhu Cilang wanted to arrange a good match for him.

"May I ask whom Your Majesty wishes to bestow upon Galdan?" Jin Boguo asked.

Zhu Cilang called out, "A'nu!"

"This slave is here."

No sooner had Zhu Cihuan's voice faded than a clear, pleasant woman's voice came from outside the audience hall of the Hall of Imperial Supremacy. Then a small door was pushed open, a faint fragrance drifted in, and with the swaying of skirts and the tinkling of jade ornaments, in walked a graceful young woman. She wore a jade-colored gauze jacket and a pink gauze skirt, with a blue front-opening outer robe over it, an elegant fan in her hand, her figure slender — like a beauty stepped out of a classical painting of court ladies.

Jin Xuanye looked over at the sound. The little beauty — very fair skin, an oval face, a delicate nose, round apricot eyes, and tiny cherry lips — moved with lotus steps to Emperor Zhu's side and gave a graceful curtsy, saying in a sweet, coquettish voice, "This slave respectfully wishes Your Majesty divine peace."

Truly a heavenly immortal of a beauty! Jin Xuanye was entranced. It was not that he had never seen a woman more beautiful than the one before him, but somehow he simply felt this woman was lovely, with a special sense of familiarity.

Zhu Cilang pointed at the woman and said to Jin Boguo, "It is she — Fan A'nu, Our slave. Her status is lowly, but her character and looks are passable. She is literate and sensible, can attend to people, and also knows some archery and horsemanship."

This woman was in fact Zhu Cilang's slave Fan A'nu, the daughter Fan Wencheng had conceived in Kong Sizhen at a single glance. Dragged down by her worthless father, she had become Zhu Cilang's slave along with her mother. She had also attended elementary school, and had learned riding and archery from the older palace women of military-household origin. After graduating from elementary school she had come to serve at Zhu Cilang's side, doing the work of serving tea and water, grinding ink, and accompanying him in study, and she was also responsible for testing Zhu Cilang's meals for poison — not by risking her own life, but by using silver needles and a puppy. In practice she was Zhu Cilang's personal maidservant; though her status was lowly, she was the Emperor's personal attendant, so no one dared bully her.

And she was clever and quick-witted, good at reading expressions, and utterly loyal, which pleased Zhu Cilang greatly, so her life in the palace was fairly pleasant.

But however pleasant it was, she was growing up day by day, and was now eighteen years old, probably at the age when romantic feelings first awaken. Lately she had been constantly teasing and testing Emperor Zhu, and her behavior had grown bolder and bolder. Even after Zhu Cilang scolded her, she showed no sign of restraint, putting on a shameless look of "beat me or scold me as you like" — truly vexing.

So Zhu Cilang had been thinking of finding a husband for her. It happened that Galdan had just returned to lay life and had no wife yet, so Emperor Zhu wanted to make Fan A'nu Galdan's wife.

"A'nu," Zhu Cilang turned and looked at Fan A'nu, smiling, "you are no longer young; it is time to marry. You are Our slave, so We have chosen someone for you — the Myriarch Governor of the Dzungar Kingdom, Galdan. You should know him; he is a fine young man, and an Imperial Academy student too!"

Fan A'nu's smiling face froze at once, and tears glistened in her eyes. After a pause, A'nu knelt before Zhu Cilang and said, "Your Majesty, this slave does not wish to marry. This slave wishes to serve you for life."

Zhu Cilang ignored Fan A'nu and instead said to Jin Boguo and Jin Xuanye, "A'nu is called a slave, but she grew up at Our side and is hardly different from a daughter to Us. We shall bestow upon her the surname Zhu, adopt her as Our daughter, and enfeoff her as a commandery princess, then bestow her in marriage to Galdan. You two shall act as matchmakers along the way and settle the marriage with Galdan."

(End of Chapter)