Chapter 1415: A Fine Prince of Dai (Seeking Subscriptions)

Mai-mai City, the palace of the Prince of Dai.

Since the start of this year, Zhu Cijiong had not returned to his castle by the shores of Lake Issyk-Kul. He had stayed in Mai-mai City, stirring up the winds and clouds of the Western Regions with all his might. Under his energetic incitement, the disturbances caused by Li Dingguo, Ai Nengqi, and Liu Wenxiu's westward march into the Snowy Domain had gradually turned into a full-blown storm, on the verge of sweeping across all the inner dependencies and outer vassals of the Great Ming's west.

Presumably, keeping a money-losing vassal state afloat while running around everywhere fanning flames and stirring up trouble took too much out of him, because this third younger brother of Zhu Cilang's looked considerably aged. Set side by side with Zhu Cilang, he would surely be taken for the elder brother.

"My Prince, have you read all the dispatches from the Court of Diplomatic Reception? His Majesty means to send someone to the Western Regions to smooth things over. Leading the party is your ninth brother, the Prince of Luoshan, and coming along with him are Prince Gong, who surrendered from the Tartars, and the Marquis of Yan'en. What exactly is His Majesty scheming? Why send these useless fellows?"

The speaker was Yu Chenglong, now a man of considerable standing — the foremost trusted confidant of His Highness the Prince of Dai. Among the Prince of Dai's subordinates he was notorious, nicknamed "Little Demon Yu." The meaning was that the Prince of Dai, that "King of Hell," was still easy enough to see, but Yu Chenglong, that "little demon," was hard to get past!

This Yu Chenglong was the very model of one who is good but unsuited for office. He did not dare line his own pockets, and he could not bear to watch others line theirs. The moment he saw someone pocket money they ought not to pocket, he would be off to report it to the "Third King of Hell" (one of Zhu Cijiong's nicknames), and every report hit its mark.

Besides his fondness for tattling to root out corrupt officials within the Prince of Dai's system, "Little Demon Yu" would not let the unruly common folk off either. The harsh taxes and miscellaneous levies that were due, the corvée and military service that were owed, the Prince of Dai's laws that were to be upheld — not one item was negotiable; all had to be carried out one hundred percent.

Otherwise, those who deserved a beating got a beating, those who deserved prison got prison, those who deserved exile got exile. No one's relatives could help! Even the Prince of Dai himself, stepping forward to plead for someone (in pretense), could be turned away by him.

And so, from top to bottom in the Principality of Dai and the Beiting Garrison, there was no one who did not hate Yu Chenglong. Except, of course, the Prince of Dai, Zhu Cijiong, himself. A king who has truly carved out a realm by force knows what a happy thing it is to have a weighty minister whom everyone detests. Especially when that villain neither embezzles nor takes bribes, and is actually quite capable of getting things done.

In the Prince of Dai's own words: the Western Regions cannot go a single day without this prince, and this prince cannot go a single day without Yu Shan (Yu Chenglong's courtesy name).

But this Yu Chenglong had the ability to play the villain and the harsh official; when it came to scheming, intrigue, and the arts of power, he was still a bit short on attainment.

The Prince of Dai, Zhu Cijiong, tossed aside the document in his hand with a smile and glanced at a man in Daoist robes, past fifty, who sat to one side smiling without speaking. "Master Shidao, you travel often to Yingtian Prefecture. You have met the Prince of Luoshan a few times, have you not? What do you make of him? Can he smooth over the mess in the Western Regions?"

This Master Shidao was clearly a man of high attainment — tall in stature, and moreover with the air of an immortal and the bones of a Daoist, transcending the mundane. Yet his surname was not Shi, nor was he a true Daoist. "Master Shidao" was merely his sobriquet; his original name was Fu Shan. Originally a celebrated scholar of Taiyuan, he called himself a disciple of Laozi and Zhuangzi, was versed in the various masters of the pre-Qin era, excelled in calligraphy, painting, and medicine, and had also carefully read the scriptures of Buddhism, the Arabian faith, and Christianity — a scholar whose learning spanned East and West.

Had it not been for the Calamity of Jiashen and the Prince of Dai's taking to the mountains, he might have remained a recluse beyond the world all his life. But those two events changed the course of Fu Shan's life. Upon learning that the Prince of Dai had gone up to Mount Lüliang, he sold off his family property and climbed Mount Lüliang himself. Because his learning was profound and he was a celebrated scholar, he was quickly given important responsibilities. After the older generation — Li Jiantai, Wang Yongji, Jiang Xiang, and the rest — gradually faded away, he became the chief strategist of the Prince of Dai, Zhu Cijiong, ranking alongside Yu Chenglong and Wang Fuchen as one of the Prince of Dai's three trusted confidants.

One managed civil affairs, one managed military affairs, one managed strategy.

Fu Shan seemed not to have heard Zhu Cijiong's question, frowning and deep in thought as if wrestling with something.

Zhu Cijiong, apparently long accustomed to this "Master Shidao" drifting off, did not disturb him, but turned his head to look at Wang Fuchen.

Wang Fuchen said, "Smooth over what mess? Whoever comes, it's all the same. The Western Regions have only this much fat on them, and with three vassal states crammed in, how can they not be at each other's throats?"

At that moment Fu Shan seemed startled out of his own thoughts by Wang Fuchen's words, let out an "Oh," and began to speak. "Great King, His Majesty's calculations are sharper than anyone's, and he is skilled at management — famously the richest man in the Great Ming. The state our Principality of Dai is in now, losing money the way it is, he could probably have foreseen long ago. Since he knew we would certainly lose money, why did he insist on sending us here? And why did he subsidize us with so much money? This subject believes His Majesty also harbors the idea of stirring up the winds and clouds of the Western Regions. He too is uneasy about the Zunghar Kingdom growing endlessly larger!"

Zhu Cijiong's expression shifted, and he said coldly, "Then why send the ninth one to smooth things over?"

Fu Shan said, "As for the purpose of the Ninth Prince and his party, there is no need for us to guess now. Once they arrive, My Prince can simply ask him. The crux of the matter now is whether we have the righteous cause to chastise the Three Vassals of the Snowy Domain. That the Three Vassals of the Snowy Domain have secretly colluded with the roving bandits is beyond doubt — that is a false surrender! We must firmly seize upon this point and bite down on it to the death. But remember: the gentleman moves his mouth, not his hand. Otherwise we lose our righteous cause. The Three Vassals of the Snowy Domain are inner dependencies; our Principality of Dai is an outer vassal. Therefore we may expose the Three Vassals of the Snowy Domain, but we may not chastise them without an explicit imperial edict."

Wang Fuchen frowned. "Wu Yingxiong and Wu Guogui are both cowards. They won't dare send troops against the Three Vassals of the Snowy Domain. At most they'll denounce them for colluding with bandits. If the Emperor doesn't want to get involved, when will this trouble ever erupt?"

Fu Shan smiled. "Are there not still Galdan and Pengsuke? Galdan has already led troops to Kashgar and joined forces with Pengsuke of the Khoshut tribe. Their combined strength is no less than thirty thousand — enough to put up a fight. As long as fighting breaks out, no matter who wins or loses, our opportunity has come. If Galdan wins, we can seek for him the post of Military Governor of Ü-Tsang, and at the same time swallow up his Chu River Prefecture, and along the way take part of the lands of the Great Jüz and the Middle Jüz.

If Galdan loses... we can still swallow up Chu River Prefecture and take part of the lands of the Great Jüz and the Middle Jüz. Because a defeated Zunghar Kingdom will need our support all the more!"

So it turned out that the Prince of Dai, Zhu Cijiong's objective was Chu River Prefecture, then the Great Jüz north of the Tianshan, and the vast Middle Jüz lands beyond the Great Jüz.

But Zhu Cijiong did not want to go to war with the Zunghar Kingdom over Chu River Prefecture and the steppes of the Great Jüz and Middle Jüz. Because the Zunghar Kingdom's strength far exceeded his own in the Western Regions; if the two sides truly fell out and fought, he had no confidence of victory.

Moreover, his eldest brother Zhu Cilang would not back him strongly, because Zhu Cilang still needed a powerful Zunghar Kingdom standing guard on the western flank.

And after several years in the Western Regions, Zhu Cijiong had also discovered the Zunghars' weak spot — everyone in that kingdom, high and low, devoutly believed in the Yellow Hat sect! Thus the conflict between the Zunghar Kingdom and the Arabian-faith forces of the Western Regions was extremely fierce, so much so that their wars in the Western Regions went on endlessly. Particularly in the densely populated Fergana Basin, they met stubborn resistance from the enemy, and after several years of fighting had still not fully pacified it. This prolonged warfare had also drained the Zunghars' national strength.

Furthermore, compared with the vast, desolate steppes of the Great Jüz and Middle Jüz, places like the Fergana Basin, the Samarkand oasis, and the Bukhara oasis were truly too fertile. So in recent years the Zunghar Kingdom's focus had been on those places, somewhat neglecting the Great Jüz and Middle Jüz steppes — which let Zhu Cijiong see an opportunity to "peacefully acquire" those two territories.

And the matter of Li Dingguo, Ai Nengqi, and Liu Wenxiu marching west into the Snowy Domain and being co-opted by the Great Ming had touched the Zunghar Kingdom's reverse scale. Because the Yellow Hat sect had suffered no small losses in that war; even the Great Lama had left the Snowy Domain and taken refuge in Anxi territory.

Having spotted the opportunity, Zhu Cijiong began to move frequently. On one hand, he urged Galdan to march east to "boil tea" (Galdan, of course, could not march east under the pretext of chastising the Three Vassals of the Snowy Domain, but the Zunghar Kingdom had the right to go up to the Snowy Domain to "boil tea" — that is, to burn incense and worship Buddha — and could even bring troops; this had been graciously permitted by Zhu Cilang). On the other hand, he contacted Wu Yingxiong and Wu Guogui, piecing together an alliance against the Three Vassals of the Snowy Domain.

(End of Chapter)