Chapter 1423: A Monumental Injustice!

Zhu the Third Prince stared at this "Shunzhi," who no matter how you looked at him seemed more like Li Zicheng, and inwardly felt a bit of resentment toward Zhang Xixian — how could Shunzhi be like this? Speaking a mouthful of Shaanxi dialect, and going "E, e, e" all the time — saying he was one of Li Zicheng's family would be more believable! Was it really all right to send someone like this to Yingtian Prefecture?

He shot a glance at Zhang Xixian, and suddenly caught sight of a middle-aged lama with a somewhat melancholy air and rather noble bearing — honestly, this Lama Ford looked more like Shunzhi than the man Zhang Xixian had found!

But Zhu the Third Prince couldn't let this Lama Ford impersonate Shunzhi either!

This Lama Ford, along with his two senior fellow disciples, Lama Sanbao and Lama Mingzhu, were still extremely important to Zhu the Third Prince!

He needed to use these three lamas to stabilize the Dzungar Kingdom, and have them broker a compromise between the Dzungar Kingdom and the Dai Kingdom.

At present, the "national population" of the Dzungar Kingdom plus the Khoshut Kingdom that was subordinate to it already exceeded one million. The able-bodied men who could be called up to don armor and take up arms and go into battle numbered no fewer than one hundred thousand.

Meanwhile, the military households Zhu the Third Prince had brought to Beiting and the Dai Kingdom totaled only a little over ten thousand (households). In addition, there were some small Mongol tribes from the Tumed Khanate and the Chahar Khanate that had also been settled on the grasslands of Beiting and the Dai Kingdom, also numbering over ten thousand households.

In other words, the most troops Zhu the Third Prince could muster was a little over twenty thousand men. And of those twenty thousand, only a small portion were professional soldiers with reasonably reliable combat strength; the rest were farmer-soldiers or herder-soldiers.

With this bit of strength, it was of course impossible to crush the powerful Dzungar Kingdom. Moreover, for his own interests, Zhu the Third Prince could not afford to wreck the Dzungar Kingdom entirely. Because without the Dzungar Kingdom, his own twenty thousand men would be unable to hold down the various tribes of the Western Regions and Russia.

Therefore, Zhu the Third Prince's "Dzungar policy" was to maintain the alliance with the Dzungars while acquiring part of the territory of the Great Jüz and the Middle Jüz.

This task seemed very difficult to accomplish, but in fact it was not impossible. Because the interests of the Great Jüz and Middle Jüz grasslands were actually quite limited for the Dzungars who had already "moved into the cities" — if one could collect taxes and exploit others, who would still care about herding sheep? Besides, the southern part of Central Asia was not without grasslands suitable for herding.

Of course, within the Dzungar Kingdom there were also people who wanted to graze on the Middle Jüz grasslands. After Sengge moved south into Transoxiana, a "Southward Faction" and a "Northward Faction" had emerged within the Dzungar Kingdom.

Among them, the Southward Faction advocated making the southern part of Central Asia the focus of development: after thoroughly pacifying the Fergana Basin, they would move troops to Bukhara and advance westward along the Amu Darya to conquer the Khwarezm oasis. After annihilating the remnants of the Khanate of Khiva entrenched in the Khwarezm oasis, they would transfer the Khoshut Kingdom to the Khwarezm oasis as a new fief. Finally, they would move the capital to Fergana, and at the same time enfeoff two Chiliarchs to garrison Samarkand and Bukhara.

In this way, the richest lands of Central Asia would be completely under the control of the Dzungar Kingdom!

The Northward Faction held the opposite view, believing that the Great, Middle, and Little Jüz should all be seized. They should make Chu River Prefecture the center of rule, gradually advance westward and northward, build new strongholds, and step by step drive the Russians out of the Middle Jüz and Little Jüz — they might even seek to recover the territory of the Khanate of Sibir.

According to this faction's opinion, the rich land of Transoxiana could be left to the Muslims to govern autonomously; as long as taxes could be collected, there was no need to interfere too much.

King Sengge, Chiliarch Galdan, Chiliarch Chokhur Ubashi, and the other Dzungar nobles and magnates who had profited richly from the southward campaign naturally all belonged to the Southward Faction. Since they were the faction in power at the Dzungar royal court, the southward advance was in fact the state policy of the Dzungars.

Meanwhile, the several "nomadic Chiliarchs" headed by Sengge's elder brother Chiliarch Chechen Taiji and Chiliarch Jotba Batur all belonged to the Northward Faction — the profits of the southward advance had no share for them, yet they were left on the Middle Jüz grasslands to fight endlessly with the Russians and the Kazakhs, so of course they did not support the southward advance. Thus in recent years they had been clamoring about preserving Mongol traditions and making trouble with Sengge, Galdan, Chokhur Ubashi, and the others.

Whether to go south or north — of course it all depended on where the interests lay!

And Zhu the Third Prince, watching coldly from next door for several years, felt that the Dzungar Kingdom should stop its internal strife and just let him manage the lands of the Middle Jüz and more than half of the Great Jüz himself!

Such fine territory — you Mongols don't know how to manage it at all, all you know is herding, a pure waste!

From now on, the Dzungar Kingdom would go south, and he himself would take charge of the north.

But the people of the Dzungar Kingdom were not so easy to talk to that they would obediently hand over more than half of the Great Jüz and the Middle Jüz to Zhu the Third Prince.

So Zhu the Third Prince still had to stir up trouble with all his might — he first had to stir up a heaven-shaking case of injustice!

"How dare you, Fulin!"

Zhu the Third Prince roared in fury, and in the command hall someone's legs immediately went weak and he plopped down onto the ground. This person was of course not that Shaanxi-flavored "Shunzhi," but Lama Ford in his monk's robes — he was now Zhu the Third Prince's "prisoner," and no longer so composed.

Zhu the Third Prince also noticed this weak-legged, guilty-hearted Lama Ford. But he still did not suspect Lama Ford's true identity. So he hurriedly said in a gentle tone: "Do not be afraid, Master. We were speaking of Fulin, not Ford."

But I am Fulin! Lama Ford's heart was in utter panic!

Zhu the Third Prince smiled and ordered: "Bring a chair for the Master."

The chair was quickly brought over, and that Zhang Xixian very enthusiastically helped the real Fulin into the chair, letting him sit and watch Zhu the Third Prince interrogate the fake Fulin.

Zhu the Third Prince's face darkened again. He looked at the fake Fulin and roared once more: "How dare you, Fulin! Now that things have come to this, you still dare to conceal things — do you insist on severe torture before you will confess?"

"Don't use torture," the fake Fulin said urgently the moment he heard the word torture, shouting, "Whatever the Great King wants me to say, I'll say it. Why use torture? I'm going to die anyway, just give me a quick death and that'll do. If I have to suffer piecemeal torments, I won't do it."

This fake Fulin was a horse bandit of the grasslands who had done no one knew how much murder and arson. Falling into Zhu the Third Prince's hands, he was originally doomed to a bad death, which was why Zhang Xixian had been able to persuade him to take Fulin's place — Zhang Xixian had told him that Fulin had after all once been emperor, and his two sisters were both consorts of the Zhu Emperor, so even if he were to be executed, he could get a good death. And before dying, good food and drink were guaranteed!

Moreover, after he took Fulin's place, he would not die immediately — there would inevitably be transfers, imprisonment, and a joint trial by three judicial offices, and it was entirely possible to drag things out for a year or two.

To live an extra year or two, with good food and drink, and in the end get a good death — no matter how you figured it, it was a gain!

When Zhu the Third Prince heard this fake Fulin threatening to quit, he had no choice but to hold his nose and say gently: "You, Fulin, need not be afraid. We were only trying to frighten you and will not really have anyone beat you. As long as you honestly confess your collusion with the Three Feudatories of the Snowy Region, We will see that you get good food and drink. Do you want to eat well?"

These words... many people in the hall nearly burst out laughing. Fulin had been an emperor, after all — could he not have eaten well?

Zhu the Third Prince also sensed something was off. He swept his gaze left and right and gave two coughs, and everyone finally managed not to laugh.

The fake Fulin stared blankly at Zhu the Third Prince. "Of course I want to eat well, but what are the Three Feudatories of the Snowy Region?"

"They are the three feudatories ruled by Li Dingguo, Ai Nengqi, and Liu Wenxiu, the three roving-bandit chieftains who feigned surrender," Zhu the Third Prince had no choice but to explain patiently. "Because their territory lies on the snowy plateau, they are called the Three Feudatories of the Snowy Region. You were also in collusion with them, preparing to rise up together and seize the Ming realm!"

The fake Fulin nodded. "Oh, oh, I understand. I and Li Dingguo, Ai Nengqi, and Liu Wenxiu — the three of them — were also in the same gang. We kowtowed together before the spirit tablets of the Founding Emperors and drank blood wine."

"There were two Founding Emperors!" Zhu the Third Prince added. "Nurhaci's spirit tablet and Li Zicheng's spirit tablet were placed together!"

"Great King," Zhang Xixian interjected when he heard this was wrong, "there were three Founding Emperors. Zhang Xianzhong's spirit tablet was there too."

"Right, right," Zhu the Third Prince laughed. "We forgot the Xian Bandit! Can you remember that, Fulin?"

"I have a bad memory, I'm afraid I'll forget."

Zhu the Third Prince beckoned to his own brother Zhu Cixuan, and the Ninth Prince immediately stepped forward. Zhu the Third Prince asked: "Can you remember?"

"I can remember, I can remember."

"Good. On the road back to Yingtian Prefecture, you must tell him over and over again!" Zhu the Third Prince said. "Also, have him identify people."

"Identify people? Identify whom?"

Zhu the Third Prince pointed at Jin Bogo and Xuanye, and laughed: "Identify his brother and his son!"

(End of Chapter)