Chapter 1459: There's Even a Double Soft-Rice King!

Galdan, Zhu A'nu's fiancé, had moved his followers to Kashgar, but he did not camp inside Kashgar city itself. Instead, he was two or three hundred li east of Kashgar, on the grasslands along the Yarkand River.

Because he had openly supported the Great Lama and the Yellow Hat "papacy" who had been expelled by the Three Feudatories of the Snowy Land, and had even won some "victories," recovering the Ngari region and, along the way, forcing the Kingdom of Ladakh—which had never submitted to the Great Lama's authority—to become his vassal,

Galdan's prestige among the Yellow Hat–believing Mongol tribes in Anxi and Hexi had risen even further.

With prestige came the ability to draw in followers. Over the past few months, many nomadic Mongol tribes that had previously attached themselves to Pungsuk had one after another left their pastures in Qinghai or within Hami Guard and gone to Kashgar, where Galdan was encamped, joining Galdan's tümen. This was the Mongol tradition: the strong are honored, and when the weak collapse, their followers scatter!

That Pungsuk, who had been thoroughly beaten by the Three Feudatories of the Snowy Land and had lost his Ü-Tsang territory, was now in a miserable state. Not only had he lost his patrimony, but most of his tribes had scattered, leaving only about a thousand households of die-hard loyalists from his own core tribe roaming near Qinghai Lake.

His entire fortune had been carved up between those two good friends, Galdan and Zhu the Third Prince. Now he could not even cry about it!

Because Zhu the Third Prince had successively married no fewer than eight princesses from the direct and collateral lines of the Golden Family—the Chahar and the Tumed—as his consorts, he too was a "Yuan Imperial Son-in-law," and moreover an "eightfold Yuan Imperial Son-in-law." He also had a certain appeal among the small Mongol tribes of Qinghai, Anxi, and Beiting.

Moreover, his territory contained many rich, lush pastures, which greatly attracted Mongol herders. Thus, taking advantage of the collapse of the Ü-Tsang Khoshut tribe, he had scooped up several thousand households. Added to the followers who had come as dowry from the two khanates of Chahar and Tumed, he could also muster a full tümen.

He also followed Ligdan Khan's method, dividing these more than ten thousand Mongol households into eight chiliarchies and placing them under the command of his eight Mongol consorts.

But Zhu the Third Prince himself was, after all, a Han Chinese, and he did not hold the status of a "Khutuktu," so in winning over small Mongol tribes he still could not compare with Galdan.

Therefore, of the followers who had split off from the Ü-Tsang Khoshut tribe, the greater part still went to Galdan.

After gaining the submission of these small tribes that had originally belonged to the Ü-Tsang Khoshut, Galdan's strength increased greatly, and the followers under his command could now be called thirty thousand households!

And what excited Galdan even more than commanding thirty thousand households was that his full brother, his fifth elder brother Sengge, after struggling for several months against food poisoning, had finally departed for the Western Paradise in the summer of the twenty-fifth year of Hongxing!

The death of an elder brother was of course no good thing—Galdan and Sengge had shared deep brotherly affection—but his sister-in-law Anu Khatun, who had just lost her husband, was enough to set Galdan's heart racing just thinking about her...

Of course, Galdan was not lusting after Anu Khatun's body. He was a man who did great things; how could he be like the Eight-Faced Vajra Soft-Rice King, loving beauty more than the realm?

What he coveted was the two Dzungar Royal Court tümen in Anu Khatun's hands!

The Dzungar Kingdom of Sengge had twelve tümen in total for its ruling nation. Eight of them were feudatory tümen, and four were Royal Court tümen.

Of course, "tümen" here did not mean "ten thousand households of population," but rather an organizational unit integrating military and civilian functions, much like the Manchu "banners." Therefore, the actual number of households and population held by each tümen varied.

Among the four Royal Court tümen and the eight feudatory tümen, the Chu River Tümen (held by Galdan) was extremely powerful, its actual number of households far exceeding ten thousand.

And among these five tümen with more than ten thousand households, the strongest were Galdan's Chu River Tümen and the Royal Court Vanguard Tümen and Left Guard Tümen commanded by Anu Khatun—both the Dzungar Royal Court Vanguard Tümen and Left Guard Tümen were stationed in the Fergana Basin, the richest part of Central Asia.

Though this basin was not large in area, it was full of fat and oil. It was the greatest granary in Central Asia, and at the same time the most densely populated region—naturally also the main source of the Dzungar Kingdom's wealth and revenue.

In addition, because Anusha Khan of the Khanate of Khiva had led his followers in flight into the Fergana Basin, the two Mongol tümen stationed in the basin had remained in a constant state of war, and their fighting strength had been kept quite intact.

Sengge naturally did not feel at ease entrusting two such powerful tümen to outsiders, and his two legitimate sons—not born of Anu Khatun—Tsewang Rabtan and Sonom Rabtan, were still too young to command heavy forces. Therefore, Anu Khatun had been entrusted by Sengge with the important task of becoming the tümen commander of the Royal Court Vanguard Tümen and Left Guard Tümen.

Now Sengge had breathed his last, leaving behind two young legitimate sons and Anu Khatun, who held heavy troops. And the Mongol rules of succession to the throne—the khanate—had always been somewhat chaotic. Father-to-son succession, elder-brother-to-younger-brother succession, and even succession by a cousin or nephew were all acceptable. As long as one was elected by the "Kurultai Assembly," it was considered legitimate.

And the Mongol Kurultai Assembly, in many cases, was simply a contest of who had the stronger soldiers and stouter horses!

Galdan, who held the Chu River Tümen and had also gathered in more than half of the Ü-Tsang Khoshut tribe's forces, certainly counted as strong in soldiers and horses. He had also gained the support of the Great Ming Emperor and Zhu the Third Prince. If he could further, following the Mongol tradition of levirate marriage, marry the powerful Anu Khatun, then the next king of the Dzungars would most certainly be him.

And this was also Anu Khatun's own wish! Her envoy, the Mingzhu Lama, was right now in Galdan's great tent, inviting Galdan to go to the Stone Fort Royal Court and become the "Soft-Rice King"!

"Tümen Commander, the Khatun has already spoken with the Royal Uncle's Household Tümen Commander—Chokhur Ubashi—and the two young lords. They will all jointly nominate you at the Kurultai Assembly as the new king. The Khatun has two tümen, the two young lords each command one tümen, the Royal Uncle has another tümen, and with your Chu River Tümen, that makes six tümen supporting you. Tümen Commander, everything is now in readiness; all that remains is for you to go to the Stone Fort Royal City and become the great king!"

Hearing the Mingzhu Lama's words, Galdan did not know whether to laugh or cry. So all his desperate efforts these days had been for nothing—the result was exactly the same as if he had lain idle in the Chu River residence doing nothing!

Because his sister-in-law Anu had already arranged everything. As long as he simply showed up, he could become the "Soft-Rice King" of the Dzungar Kingdom!

Oh, no, that was not quite right either. Galdan suddenly realized that his present situation was actually worse than if he had just lain still!

Because if he had lain still, there would have been only one bowl of soft rice to eat, and all he would have had to do was open his mouth.

But after all his bustling about, he had successfully attracted the attention of the Great Ming Emperor Zhu Cilang, who had sent him another bowl of soft rice—and this bowl of soft rice was even more formidable!

Galdan was, after all, the Rich King's best buddy. He knew all too well what sort of person Fan A'nu was!

That girl smiled at everyone she met and called herself "this lowly slave" and "this handmaiden," as if she were truly lowly, yet both the Lucky Crown Prince and the Rich King called her "Sister A'nu"!

And every time the Lucky Crown Prince and the Rich King entered the palace to see Emperor Zhu, they would prepare a "small gift" for "Sister A'nu." Even the Lucky Crown Prince's and the Rich King's own blood sisters did not receive such treatment!

On one side was Anu Khatun, who held two tümen and had strong soldiers and stout horses. If he offended her, Galdan would lose the support of two tümen at the Kurultai Assembly.

On the other side was the Lucky Crown Prince's and the Rich King's "Sister A'nu"! If he offended her, the Great Ming Emperor's thunderous wrath would descend, and even if he became king, he probably would not last long.

Galdan found that he could not afford to offend either side. This Soft-Rice King business was not so easy after all!

"Great Master Mingzhu!" Galdan was now frantic. "The Princess A'nu whom the Great Ming Emperor has bestowed in marriage is about to arrive. Do you know who she is? She is the Great Emperor's handmaiden—his one and only personal handmaiden!

And what is more, she is a personal handmaiden who has grown up at the Great Emperor's side since childhood! I must marry her and make her my khatun! If I marry her, then what of my sister-in-law... If I do not marry her, the Great Emperor's thunderous wrath will descend, and even my sister-in-law will not be able to protect me!

Great Master Mingzhu, you must give me some advice!"

(End of Chapter)