Chapter 1462: The Zunghar Kingdom's Bill of Rights

Crack! A flintlock in Anu Khatun's hands roared. Thirty or forty paces away, the head of a human-heart-shaped target bearing the name "Galdan" was instantly blasted open by a lead ball into a fist-sized hole. Anu Khatun still seemed unsatisfied. She tossed the flintlock aside, took another flintlock from a guard beside her, raised it, and fired again, blasting a huge hole through the chest of the "Galdan target."

The Chiliarchs under Anu Khatun stood to the side with hands hanging low and shoulders slack, not daring to so much as breathe loudly.

The "feather-urgent letter" from Mingzhu Lama had just arrived at Khokand, where Anu Khatun was stationed, reporting that the faithless Galdan had married the Ming Emperor's adopted daughter, the Snow Mountain Princess Zhu A'nu, in Kashgar. The news at once made Anu Khatun leap to her feet.

This Galdan was truly heartless and faithless! Did he not stop to think whose realm the Zunghar Kingdom really was? Did he not stop to think whose men made up the two royal-tent Chiliarchs and the 6,500 elite new troops here in Fergana?

Of course, Anu Khatun was not some jealous wife who could not tolerate a concubine. If Galdan had taken Zhu A'nu as a secondary consort, Anu Khatun would not have flown into such a rage. But Galdan had gone and handed the two Chiliarchs he had newly formed to this adopted daughter of Emperor Zhu. Galdan had only three Chiliarchs of troops in all, and in one stroke he had given two of them to this Snow Mountain Princess. This clearly meant he intended to make her Khatun and put her on equal footing with Anu Khatun!

Had Anu Khatun not gone to such great lengths arranging things for Galdan precisely so that he would take over her position? And now, to top it off, this bastard Galdan, while accepting Anu Khatun's invitation, had at the same time married the Ming Emperor's adopted daughter.

Anu Khatun was nearly exploding with rage. Her imposing bosom heaved violently, and her full-fleshed yet still alluring round face flushed bright red. Anyone close to her who looked carefully would have no trouble seeing that her tall, large frame was trembling with fury.

The more she brooded, the more Anu Khatun's body shook. All sorts of thoughts tangled together until at last she roared: "I'm not marrying Galdan anymore, and I won't support him at the Kurultai to become king! Let's see whether his Snow Mountain Princess can help him become king!"

The Chiliarchs under Anu Khatun looked at one another, all somewhat at a loss. If not Galdan as king, then who could be king? Sengge's two sons were young, and besides, they were not born of Anu Khatun. Among Sengge's brothers, only Galdan had a single wife; the others had at least ten wives each.

And Anu Khatun was not only a woman, she did not even bear the surname Choros. She was of the Borjigin clan! She could not possibly become queen of the Zunghars. The Zunghar realm belonged to the Choros. Nearly all the Chiliarchs bore the surname Choros, and most of the Centurions below them also came from the Choros family! How could a Borjigin woman possibly be made a female great khan?

If Anu Khatun could not find a direct-line Choros man to marry, she simply could not control the two royal-tent Chiliarchs under her command. What was to be done?

Everyone turned their gaze toward Sanbao Lama. At this moment, only this Sanbao monk-minister could speak with any authority!

"Khatun," Sanbao Lama stepped forward two paces and said in a lowered voice, "do not forget that our Zunghar Kingdom is a tributary vassal of the Great Ming Celestial Dynasty."

Anu Khatun started violently. Her body stopped trembling, her face lost its flush, and her tone turned grim: "You mean the king of the Zunghars could be directly invested by the Ming Emperor, without going through the Kurultai's election?"

Sanbao Lama said, "Khatun, this humble monk does not know whether that can be done. For our Zunghar Kingdom has no code of law stipulating how the great king is to be produced. Even the Kurultai is merely a Mongol tradition, not the law of the Zunghar Kingdom. Although the Zunghar Kingdom does have some connection to the Great Mongol State, the Zunghar legal succession does not derive from the Great Mongol State!"

Anu Khatun was stunned for a moment. Sanbao Lama was absolutely right!

Indeed, no code of law stipulated how the king of the Zunghar Kingdom was to be produced! There was not even a tradition to follow, because Sengge was the first king of the Zunghar Kingdom. Before him, there had only been the Zunghar tribe, not a Zunghar state.

Moreover, the fact that Sengge had taken the title of king rather than khan (he was not of the Golden Lineage, so taking the title of khan would have been somewhat unconvincing) also showed that the Zunghar Kingdom's legal succession did not come from the Great Mongol State...

Furthermore, Sengge had left no testament designating a successor before his death. So how the next Zunghar king was to be produced was indeed a problem!

Sanbao Lama continued, "Khatun, if you do not elect Galdan as king... then who can be king? The late king's two sons? In that case, what would you do? Would you also imitate the Great Khatun Mandukhai and marry Tsewang Rabtan?"

"Is that not possible?" Anu Khatun retorted angrily.

Sanbao Lama shook his head and said, "Would the Great Emperor agree? This would not be levirate marriage, but marrying one's stepson. If the Great Emperor, after Tsewang Rabtan became king, declared the marriage invalid, then what would you do?"

Levirate marriage had originally been forbidden by Ming law as well, but the prohibition had now been lifted. This was because many of Ming's tributary states and overseas territories needed levirate marriage. In New Continent and the Southern Seas, Han (East Asian race) women were precious! Marrying one was not easy, and a Han (East Asian race) woman of childbearing age was fundamentally a strategic resource that could not be wasted!

Of course, this practice, seen from later generations, was somewhat disrespectful to women and was wrong. But in those tributary states and overseas territories, the rulers genuinely needed Han (East Asian race) women to bear and raise their offspring!

Moreover, the mortality rate among male Han immigrants in the Southern Seas was very high. Wealth that men had bought with their lives — could it be allowed to be carried off by a widow (who might not necessarily be Han) to marry another man?

Therefore levirate marriage had become legal in Ming, and outside the Ming homeland it was even encouraged. But marrying one's stepmother remained illegal and was an act subject to severe punishment!

If Anu Khatun married Tsewang Rabtan, the Ming Emperor would very likely intervene and declare the marriage invalid. By then, Anu Khatun would be left with nothing!

"Then what am I to do?" Anu Khatun said through gritted teeth, her face full of unwillingness. "Must I simply let Galdan have his way?"

Sanbao Lama knew that Anu Khatun still liked Galdan. Marrying Tsewang Rabtan or the like was nothing but angry talk; she could never actually do such a thing. So he said with a smile, "Of course we cannot let Galdan have his way. We must keep him under control!"

"Control?" Anu Khatun frowned. "Once I marry him, he will be king of the Zunghars. I am only a Khatun. With what am I to control a king?"

"A king can be controlled by a code of law and the Kurultai assembly!" Sanbao Lama actually put forward a proposal for constitutional monarchy!

Anu Khatun's brows knitted together. "Control the king by a code of law and the Kurultai assembly? Can that be done?"

"It can!" said Sanbao Lama. "The United States of the New Continent, and the United Kingdom of the Southern Continent now being established, are both realms where the king is under the law. Our Zunghar Kingdom can learn from them. We can use this opportunity of the Kurultai's election of a king to enact a Grand Code to restrain the king. That way, once Galdan becomes great king, he will not be able to do whatever he pleases!"

Anu Khatun thought it over and found it quite reasonable!

"Master," she then asked, "how exactly should he be controlled?"

Sanbao Lama said, "First, we must establish who has the final say: the Zunghar king, or the Kurultai assembly! This matter cannot be decided by our side alone. It must be agreed to by all the Chiliarch representatives attending the Kurultai, and Galdan must also consent.

Second is the formation of the Kurultai assembly. This humble monk's suggestion is that each Chiliarch, as well as the Stone Fort royal city, Khokand, and the lamaseries of various places, each elect three councilors. That would make fifty-one councilors in total. You, Khatun, have two Chiliarchs and Khokand, and you also have many trusted followers in the Stone Fort royal city, so you can control at least twelve councilors. Add this humble monk, and that makes thirteen councilors.

Third, the Kurultai assembly shall elect the Zunghar Kingdom's cabinet and enact laws. The Zunghar king shall have the power to approve or veto the assembly's decisions."

(End of Chapter)