Chapter 1481: Brothers Scheme Against Each Other, and the Neighbors Suffer

"Your Majesty, is this all right?" Ake's voice was sweet and coquettish, a pleasure just to hear. But the Zhu Emperor had not brought Wu Ake into the palace merely to listen to her voice. She was now straddling the Zhu Emperor's back, massaging his shoulders with force. Wu Ake was, after all, a girl who had practiced martial arts since childhood; not only was she strong, she also knew how to massage acupoints and muscles, leaving Zhu Cilang, who had just finished exercising, utterly relaxed all over.

The little beauty Wu had been in the palace for over a month now, and needless to say, she was the most favored of all the palace women. She was now around twenty years old, in the very prime of her bloom, her skin so crystal-clear it seemed a breath could break it, her features so delicate and alluring they nearly outshone a celestial maiden. Her figure had fully developed too; though not the "plus-size" of the Eight-Faced Guanyin, she was still graceful and shapely. And because she trained in martial arts year-round, her body was kept wonderfully firm. A true paragon among mortals!

For the sake of Wu Ake alone, Zhu Cilang's time as emperor had not been wasted. No wonder everyone wanted to be emperor. The job might be tiring and vexing, with no fixed hours for work or rest, and retirement utterly out of the question — most emperors toiled themselves to death for country and people. It truly was not easy. But for a beauty like Ake, being emperor still had its pleasures.

Zhu Cilang lay there, inwardly debating whether to declare "the sovereign will hold no midday court today" and simply while away the whole day dallying with Ake. Suddenly, from outside the bedchamber of Yanshan Palace came the sound of knocking, and faintly, Ajige's unhurried voice.

"Your Majesty, urgent reports from the Grand Secretariat and the Marshal's Office. Please rise at once!"

Zhu Cilang's ears pricked up. These past two days he had already told Ajige not to come wake him early in the morning unless something truly urgent had happened, so that he could properly rest and recover. And now, not only had she come delivering reports at the crack of dawn, she was even telling him to get out of bed. No need to ask — something major must have happened. He quickly said to Wu Ake, who was attending him, "Ake, We must rise!"

Wu Ake naturally did not dare stop him. She hastily climbed off the Zhu Emperor's back and silently went to fetch his clothes.

As Zhu Cilang dressed, he called out, "Ajige, come in!"

Ajige answered, and carrying two memorials, pushed open the door and entered. She first gave the Zhu Emperor a Manchu curtsey, and seeing that he was dressing, hurried over to help.

"Have you read the reports?" Zhu Cilang asked.

"I glanced at them," Ajige said. "A 600-li express military dispatch from the northwest. Fighting has broken out in the northwest! It happened in mid-February. A combined army of Russia, the Kazakh Khanate, and the Khanate of Khiva struck a nomadic chiliarch of the Dzungars on the Middle Jüz steppe. The Dzungars suffered considerable losses! Galdan is preparing to lead troops personally to settle the score."

"Heh, Galdan is about to get slapped in the face!" Zhu Cilang laughed. "I doubt he'll be settling any scores!"

"Your Majesty, do you really think so little of Galdan?" The speaker was Wu Ake. She knew Galdan too — after all, Galdan was a "celebrity" of sorts, a whelp of the Choros clan. The ancestors of quite a few hardship nobles had been done in by his ancestor Esen.

Zhu Cilang glanced at Wu Ake, who was still dressing, and did not rebuke her for "meddling in state affairs." Instead he smiled and explained, "Galdan is an Imperial Academy student; he doesn't truly understand military matters. And the old hairy ones" — Zhu Cilang did love giving people nicknames — "would not have dared strike first unless they were fully prepared. Most likely they've received support from the French, and perhaps even have French generals as advisors. They won't be easy to deal with!"

"Isn't the Prince of Dai still there?" Wu Ake said. "The Prince of Dai is the foremost hero of the hardship nation-building, a true expert at warfare!"

"Heh," Zhu Cilang laughed coldly. "Old Third is no good man; he's a sly one! Without him in the west, Galdan's situation would actually be better. With him there now, Galdan is even more likely to botch things." He paused. "If Galdan doesn't get slapped by the old hairy ones, how could he possibly swallow up both the Great Jüz and the Middle Jüz? But Old Third shouldn't celebrate too soon either. Old Ninth, the Prince of Luoshan, has already set out with four roving-bandit chiliarchs. Old Ninth is an honest man, but his princess consort Li Yue'e is no simple woman. The northwest is going to be lively!"

Wu Ake's delicate brows furrowed slightly. Before entering the palace, she had heard no shortage of fine tales about the Ming imperial family's loving fathers and filial sons, affectionate brothers and respectful younger siblings. Now that she was in the palace, why did all she hear about was the old Zhu family's fathers, sons, and brothers scheming against and resenting one another?

By now Zhu Cilang had finished dressing. He turned and smiled at Wu Ake, saying lightly, "Ake, this is simply how Our Ming imperial family is. We will not raise Our brothers like pigs, but neither will We trust them one hundred percent. They must be used and guarded against, and sometimes even tripped up. This is exactly the effect We want. So in the future, the Good Fortune Crown Prince will treat your son the same way!"

The Zhu Emperor had created so many external vassal states — especially several very powerful ones — not merely to protect the central dynasty and expand the circle of Chinese civilization. He also intended for the central dynasty and the external vassal states to contend with one another, so as to maintain vitality!

Harmony from top to bottom looks fine, but in truth it is a pool of stagnant water. Once the central dynasty grows secure, it will settle into comfortable idleness — waiting to rot and stink!

And if the old Zhu family's brothers, sons, and nephews could maintain their vitality through open and covert struggle, then the ones who would truly suffer catastrophic losses from the Zhu family's infighting would probably be the old Zhu family's neighbors.

Since Central Asia was more than ten thousand li from Yingtian Prefecture, the 600-li express report Zhu Cilang received was about a month out of date.

So what he now held was a joint memorial submitted a month earlier by Galdan and Zhu Cijiong. Its content: a Dzungar chiliarch that had been nomadizing in the Middle Jüz region had encountered a surprise attack by a combined Russian, Kazakh, and Khivan army, and suffered heavy losses!

Upon learning of the defeat, Galdan flew into a rage. He abandoned the plan, set the previous year, to attack the Khwarezm oasis, and massed a great army to march onto the Middle Jüz steppe to settle the score.

But just as Zhu Cilang had predicted, the other side had come fully prepared! Their aim was precisely to use a preemptive offensive to break up the joint attack scheme of the Dzungars, the Khoshuts, and the Principality of Dai.

As for the Dzungar counterattack, Russia, the Kazakhs, and Khiva had long been prepared. The Russian Governor-General Golovin and expeditionary commander Golitsyn used the Kazakh tribes as bait, luring Galdan's great army to the Turgai Plateau. Then they concentrated thirty thousand elite troops from Russia, the Kazakhs, and Khiva, and launched a decisive battle against Galdan's fifteen thousand crack soldiers.

This battle, which later historians called the "First Battle of the Turgai Plateau," ended, just as Zhu Cilang had expected, in Galdan's defeat. More than five thousand Dzungar warriors perished on the Turgai Plateau, while the combined Russian, Kazakh, and Khivan losses were under two thousand.

"Great King, from what we currently know, Russia is in earnest. The streltsy alone number ten thousand, plus several thousand Cossacks. And the streltsy they sent this time are all elite troops, with quite good tactics and equipment. On top of that, they outnumber us. So Galdan's defeat was no injustice!"

The one now discussing the Battle of the Turgai Plateau with Zhu Cijiong in the princely residence on the Chu River was Zhang Xixian. Though he had not taken part in the battle, through the agents under his command he had thoroughly grasped how the battle had unfolded.

Zhu Cijiong narrowed his eyes and shot a glance at Wang Fuchen. Wang Fuchen smiled and said, "My Prince, let the Russian devils gloat for a few more days. We're quite content holding the Chu River valley as we do. Our people are mainly farmers, after all. As long as we hold the Chu River, the Ili River, and the northern foot of the Tianshan, that's enough. We've no interest in sheep-grazing territory."

Zhu Cijiong smiled with narrowed eyes. "Indeed, I have no interest in sheep-grazing steppe! I even find our current territory too large. What do you say, Daoist Shi?"

The Daoist Shi, Fu Shan, merely smiled and said, "My Prince, the Ninth Prince should be arriving soon, no? How do you plan to arrange him? Will you send him to seize Kazakh land, or wait for Galdan to keep botching things..."

(End of Chapter)