Chapter 1482: What to Do When Brothers Must Not Slaughter One Another?

Zhu Cijiong smiled and waved a hand. "We won't seize Kazakh lands, and we won't take Zunghar territory either... We Han are farmers — what would we want with Kazakh grasslands? The Zunghar lands are even less appealing; there are too many Muslims there, and I don't want them either.

The Chu River, the Ili River, the northern foothills of the Tianshan, and the fertile lands around Issyk-Kul are enough for my people and Old Nine's people to clear and cultivate."

Fu Shan, Zhang Xixian, and Wang Fuchen would never believe a word of what Zhu Cijiong said.

How could this insatiably greedy Prince of Dai possibly think his territory was too large?

Seeing his three subordinates all half-believing and half-doubting, Zhu Cijiong stroked his beard and sighed softly. "How many people do we actually have? At most thirty thousand households, and one whole ten-thousand of those are Mongols, plus many others of who-knows-what origin...

But Old Nine? Living off others, he's scraped together forty thousand households — and they're all military-farm households of the roving bandits!"

Zhu Cijiong heaved a long sigh. "Truly, comparing yourself to others is enough to kill you! Tell me, all of you — now that Old Nine has arrived, who is to be supreme here by the Chu River in the Western Regions? And how are we supposed to settle all those people of his?"

That was indeed a problem!

The Third Crown Prince had struggled in the Western Regions for all these years and only managed to scrape together thirty thousand households, of which the Han were at most half.

But the force Zhu Ci'e and Li Yue'e brought with them numbered a full four ten-thousand households. And those four ten-thousand households had their roots in the Shun military-farm households... they were utterly ferocious!

In terms of real strength, Zhu Cijiong simply could not contend with Zhu Ci'e.

"Your Highness is wise!" Fu Shan, Zhu Cijiong's military adviser, had grasped his lord's meaning. "We must find a way to swallow the Ninth Prince's forty thousand households — only then can we grow strong in the Western Regions..."

"Even seventy thousand households isn't all that many!" Zhu Cijiong smiled bitterly. "Those seventy thousand households are every household in the territory Old Nine and I can currently control, while the Zunghar's one hundred forty thousand households are only their ruling nation's count!"

The Zunghar Khanate occupied the most populous and agriculturally developed cities and oases of Central Asia. Not counting the one hundred forty thousand households of the Zunghar heartland, there were at least three or four million subject people. Though these people could not join the Zunghar army, they allowed the Zunghar nation's able-bodied men to leave production and serve as soldiers. So the balance of strength between the Zunghar and Zhu Cijiong and Zhu Ci'e was not simply a matter of one hundred forty thousand versus seventy thousand...

Zhu Cijiong continued, "So even our combined strength, Old Nine's and mine, cannot be considered very great. Therefore we cannot seize too much land, and even less can we let brothers slaughter one another..."

This was truly tormenting Zhu Cijiong!

He and Zhu Ci'e combined had only seventy thousand households, a population of just over three hundred thousand — barely enough to found a state and colonize along the Chu River, the western Ili Valley, the northern Tianshan foothills, and the lands around Issyk-Kul. This territory, nourished by Tianshan snowmelt, had abundant water to support agriculture. And because it had never been cultivated on a large scale or for long periods, and heavy rains had never washed away the soil's nutrients, the land here was extremely fertile.

Although the cold climate meant the growing season was short, it was still enough to support a crop of wheat, oats, rye, or soybeans. With few people and much land, supporting grass-field crop rotation posed no problem at all.

In such a relatively favorable living environment, the seventy thousand households of Zhu Cijiong and Zhu Ci'e could certainly maintain a high population growth rate, and with the steady inflow of migrants from Hexi and Anxi, they might well grow to over a million people in twenty or thirty years!

But if brothers were to slaughter one another... how many people would remain after a great bloodbath among seven ten-thousand households? If the people all died, then nothing would be left.

Moreover, his people could not defeat Zhu Ci'e and Li Yue'e's people. Not only were they fewer in number, they also lacked the others' cohesion and unity. If it truly came to a fight, Zhu Cijiong would most likely be hacked to death by Zhu Ci'e and Li Yue'e's people first!

Since he couldn't beat them in a fight, he certainly had to be a good brother!

"Your Highness," Zhang Xixian, Zhu Cijiong's spymaster, said after careful deliberation, "since ancient times the people have had no two kings, and the state no two rulers! Yet the Ninth Prince comes with forty thousand households — I fear it is impossible for him to serve as a subject..."

"Strategist, what do you mean by that?" Wang Fuchen objected immediately. "If the Ninth Prince will not be a subject, are we to make our lord a subject instead? Our lord is the reigning emperor's own full brother, the first hero of the great struggle, the dignified King of Dai!"

Zhu Cijiong frowned deeply and turned his gaze to his military adviser Fu Shan.

Fu Shan said thoughtfully, "Your Highness, in truth, not every state under heaven must have a sovereign and father!"

"No sovereign and father?" Wang Fuchen's eyes bulged, and he looked ready to explode. "Strategist, what do you mean? Surely you're not saying we should set up some damn republic in the Western Regions?"

Zhang Xixian shook his head repeatedly. "That won't do. We followed Your Highness ten thousand li to this place precisely because we wanted to follow you in opening new territory, founding a dynasty together, and then being enfeoffed with titles and lands to pass down to our sons and grandsons. If we establish a republic with no princely titles, no hereditary rule, and public power decided by public debate, then haven't we all labored for nothing?"

Fu Shan shook his head. "If the Ninth Prince becomes king, that would be even more of a wasted effort! Better to first set up a republic and bring the Ninth Prince's forty thousand households and our thirty thousand households together. Then we can slowly find ways to win over the Ninth Prince's people. Once our numbers grow, we can naturally change the republic into a monarchy. Then Your Highness will be king again!"

Zhang Xixian and Wang Fuchen's brows remained tightly knitted; clearly neither approved of a republic.

Zhu Cijiong also frowned. "What the strategist proposes is our ancestors' strategy of building high walls, storing ample grain, and delaying the claim to kingship! But even a republic must have a head, must it not?" He thought for a moment. "How about dual consuls?"

"No," Fu Shan said, shaking his head. "Your Highness, you can step back and not be king, but the position of head of the republic absolutely cannot be yielded. You are already past forty, while the Ninth Prince is only in his early twenties. If you and the Ninth Prince sit on the dragon throne together, whom will the men below think is the more enduring?"

"Then," Zhu Cijiong asked again, "what if I become Lord Protector?"

"That won't do either," Fu Shan still shook his head. "The Lord Protector of England has no name of emperor but the reality of emperor. The Ninth Prince is no fool — how would he agree?"

"This won't do, that won't work," Wang Fuchen said with some impatience. "What exactly should we do?"

Zhu Cijiong was also staring at his military adviser.

"Your Highness," Fu Shan said, weighing his words, "you could become a Grand Consul with a fixed term — a term of ten years. After you finish one term, yield it to the Ninth Prince. After the Ninth Prince finishes a term, yield it to your son. After your son finishes, give it to the Ninth Prince's son."

Zhu Cijiong frowned. "So from now on the two families take turns being king — no, being Grand Consul?"

Fu Shan smiled. "Your Highness, you will have ten years to 'build high walls and store ample grain.' Can you not win all hearts in that time? When the time comes, let the republic's Senate hold a meeting and elect you king — won't that do?"

"That works!" Zhu Cijiong's face broke into a smile. "The strategist's plan is feasible. If I cannot win the people's hearts in ten years, then I'll take turns with Old Nine!" He glanced at Wang Fuchen. "Where have Old Nine's people gotten to?"

"The vanguard is almost at Yining; the main body is still at Hami Guard." Wang Fuchen said, "They've had a hard journey — over half a year on the road, and many died. I fear they've lost some of their vigor."

Zhu Cijiong shook his head. "They can't have lost too much vigor. Along the way they were supplied by the Hexi and Anxi armies, and the Western Sichuan army gave them quite a lot of goods. So those who couldn't finish these several thousand li were the old and weak; those who survived are all able-bodied young men.

Sparrowhawk, make arrangements — We shall make a trip to Yining to personally welcome the main body of the Prince of Luoshan's force, and while there, speak with him about jointly founding a state in the Western Regions."

"Your Highness," Wang Fuchen asked at that moment, "what shall this damn republic of ours be called? The Dai Republic?"

"'Dai Republic'... doesn't roll off the tongue!" Zhu Cijiong thought for a moment. "Our state is in the Western Regions, and its capital is on the Chu River — better to call it the Western Chu Republic!"

(End of Chapter)