Chapter 1460: Carving Up Galdan

"Then marry both of them!"

Master Mingzhu was a master after all — the moment Galdan's dilemma reached him, a solution was found at once.

Mingzhu Lama laughed and said, "We Mongols are not Han Chinese; we may take several principal wives at the same time. Didn't Ligdan Khan of old have eight great consorts? There is nothing improper about Your taking two khatuns. Besides, Khatun Anu followed King Sengge for so many years and never bore him a single child. Sooner or later You would have to take a concubine, so why not simply take two khatuns now?"

King Sengge should have been capable of fathering children — he had two sons by his former wife. Yet after he married Khatun Anu, he never had another child. And King Sengge was not old when he married Khatun Anu, so he should not have lost his fertility either. Therefore the upper ranks of the Zunghar Kingdom all believed Khatun Anu could not bear children. (Later, however, Khatun Anu bore Galdan a son and a daughter.)

"This, this..." Galdan frowned. "Wouldn't that be improper?"

Of course it was improper!

It was plain to see — one tigress was already more than enough to endure, and now two tigresses would descend upon Galdan at once. Would he ever have another good day?

But Mingzhu Lama would not speak to Galdan of tigresses, because he had to find every possible way to make Galdan marry both tigresses at the same time — this was the Third Prince Zhu's intention!

This Third Prince Zhu was now half a master over Mingzhu Lama and Sanbao Lama. Seizing the opportunity of Galdan's eastern campaign and Sengge's death from illness, he had led his forces into Chuhe City under the pretext of protecting Chuhe Prefecture from attacks by the Russians and the Kazakhs.

And in order to swallow Chuhe Prefecture — that piece of fat meat he had already sunk his teeth into — completely into his belly, the Third Prince Zhu naturally had to do everything he could to sow division within the Zunghar Kingdom.

Mingzhu Lama was directed by the Third Prince Zhu to come and plant a mine under Galdan!

"Moreover," Galdan turned it over and over in his mind and still felt that life with two tigresses at once would be hard to bear, so he shook his head and said, "Moreover, the two of them most likely would not agree, would they? Especially Princess Anu — she is a trusted bondservant of the Great Emperor! If she sent up a memorial denouncing me..."

Mingzhu Lama smiled and waved his hand. "Myriad-Lord, so long as You show sincerity, Princess Anu will certainly be reasonable and understanding!"

Galdan still did not understand. "Sincerity? Master, You mean—"

Mingzhu Lama held up two fingers and said with a smile, "Two myriarchies!"

"Two myriarchies are—"

Mingzhu Lama said, "Khatun Anu has two myriarchies, so Princess Anu must also have two myriarchies. Khatun Anu is mistress of the Fergana Basin, so Princess Anu should also have a territory of her own. Why not give the territory of Bukhara to Princess Anu?

Henceforth Your royal court will move back and forth between Fergana and Bukhara. When You are in Fergana, Khatun Anu will attend You; when You are in Bukhara, Princess Anu will attend You. In this way both khatuns will be satisfied!"

Galdan's brows twisted. "But Bukhara is now the territory of the Khoshut Kingdom!"

Mingzhu laughed. "When King Sengge was alive, he intended, after completely pacifying the Fergana Basin, to join with the Prince of Dai and the Khoshut in a western campaign against Khwarezm. After victory, the Khoshut Kingdom would be moved to the Khwarezm oasis, You would be moved to Bukhara, and Chuhe Prefecture would be given to the Prince of Dai as recompense for sending troops to aid the campaign and help resist the Russians and Kazakhs.

After Your Myriad-Lordship succeeds to the kingship, You may continue to carry out the plan of the western campaign against Khwarezm. Once victory is won, Bukhara will be handed over to Princess Anu."

Galdan's brows furrowed tighter and tighter. "But where am I to find two myriarchies to give Princess Anu?"

Mingzhu said, "Are they not ready at hand? Your Chuhe Myriarchy is now strong in troops and horses, fully equal to three myriarchies. Now is the perfect time to divide it into three — give Princess Anu command of two, and keep one under Your own command.

Henceforth the Zunghar Kingdom will have fourteen myriarchies, of which five will be royal-court myriarchies — namely Khatun Anu's two myriarchies, Princess Anu's two myriarchies, and the one myriarchy You personally command.

As for the two myriarchies commanded by Tsewang Rabtan and Sonom Rabtan, they can be settled in Samarkand. Would that not make everyone happy?"

Galdan thought to himself: How does that make everyone happy? Khatun Anu takes two myriarchies and occupies the Fergana Basin. Princess Anu takes two myriarchies and occupies the Bukhara oasis. Tsewang Rabtan and Sonom Rabtan take two myriarchies and occupy the Samarkand oasis. I, the king, am left with only one myriarchy, and my directly governed territory is just the area around the Stone Fort royal city. Isn't that a bit miserable?

"Master Mingzhu," Galdan asked, "with such a division, wouldn't the Zunghar Kingdom fall apart?"

"Fall apart? How could it?" Mingzhu Lama laughed. "Khatun Anu cannot bear children. Her two myriarchies will have no heir in the future, and will still fall to the son of You and Princess Anu. When the time comes, five myriarchies will guard the Zunghar center. How could the Zunghar Kingdom fall apart?"

That actually seemed to make sense!

Galdan thought it over and felt there was some reason in it. His sister-in-law was fine in every way, except that she could not produce offspring. In the future, the Zunghar realm would still be inherited by the son of himself and Khatun Anu...

"Very well, let it be so!" Galdan looked at Mingzhu Lama, still somewhat uneasy. "Master, as for Princess Anu — could we ask His Highness the Prince of Dai to speak with her? He is her uncle; surely he can put in a word?"

The Prince of Dai, Zhu Cijiong, was Zhu Anu's nominal uncle. After Anu entered the territory of Anxi, he had gone to join her and acted as the male head of the bride's family escorting her to the wedding — this too was by order of Zhu Cilang! Zhu Cilang truly cared about this adopted daughter, fearing that she would be bullied by Galdan, so he had specially sent an edict to the Third Prince Zhu, ordering him to step forward and back her up.

And this edict hit exactly upon what the Third Prince Zhu himself desired!

"Hahaha—"

The Third Prince Zhu's hearty laughter rang out from a great yellow tent by the banks of the Yarkand River — this yellow tent was greatly famed across the steppes of Beiting and the Great Jüz. All the Mongol tribes on the steppe knew that this was the royal tent of Zhu San Khong Tayiji!

"Khong Tayiji" meant "crown prince." The Mongols, in some fashion of their own devising, had turned this Khong Tayiji into an independent honorific that had nothing whatever to do with succession to the imperial throne or the khanate. And this honorific was often used by Mongol tribal chieftains who had taken women of the Golden Clan as wives.

And the Third Prince Zhu had taken eight women of the Golden Clan as concubines in one breath, and had also granted them the title of consort. Therefore the Mongols on the steppe also called them the Eight Great Consorts, and called Zhu Cijiong "Zhu San Khong Tayiji."

After the Third Prince Zhu arrived in Beiting and the Principality of Dai, in order to display his authority to the Mongol and Kazakh tribes within his jurisdiction, he would periodically assemble the Eight Great Consorts and lead them on tours of inspection across the steppe. And during these tours of the steppe, he would reside in the yellow tent.

So wherever the yellow tent appeared, there were Zhu San Khong Tayiji and his Eight Great Consorts!

This time, in order to lend support to Zhu Anu, Zhu Cijiong had assembled his Eight Great Consorts and, at the head of eight thousand Mongol cavalry, joined up with Zhu Anu by the Yarkand River, then grandly escorted Zhu Anu to Galdan's camp.

Now the Third Prince Zhu's laughter came because Mingzhu Lama, who had ridden ahead as Galdan's vanguard, had brought word that Galdan had agreed to allot the two myriarchies and the land of Bukhara to Princess Anu.

Princess Anu was also in this royal tent, and upon hearing the news Mingzhu Lama brought, she was somewhat at a loss.

Neither the land of Bukhara nor two Mongol myriarchies were things she, a mere woman, could manage well.

The Third Prince Zhu cast a glance at this nominal niece of his and smiled smugly. "Anu, do not worry. With your uncle here, I guarantee you will be able to manage two Mongol myriarchies well!"

Anu knitted her delicate brows, thinking of what Zhu Cilang had told her in his letter — respect the Prince of Dai, but be even more wary of the Prince of Dai! You may seek his counsel, but you must not hand over real power to the Prince of Dai or to the Prince of Dai's trusted men!

Zhu Cijiong stroked his beard and went on, "Galdan will not give you his own core myriarchy. What he hands over to you will surely be men and horses scraped together from the Khoshut tribe of Ü-Tsang. You must diligently reorganize them, divide them into twenty chiliarchies of roughly equal numbers, and appoint capable and respected chiliarchs. At the same time, select stout warriors from the twenty chiliarchies to form a standing personal guard of several thousand men. The arms, horses, and provisions of this standing personal guard must all be supplied by you, and you must also pay them military wages. Only in this way can you train them strictly and enforce strict military discipline!"

(End of Chapter)