Chapter 1494: India Is in Danger, and the Great Ming Is Very Anxious

"Imperial Father, your daughter-in-law has come today to discuss with Lady Nisha the matter of selecting a secondary consort for the Crown Prince."

As Ding Yuying explained her purpose to the great Zhu Emperor, she felt rather uncomfortable inside. She and the Lucky Crown Prince had originally been a fine married couple, and now she was watching a third party about to intrude! And what was more, this third party had to be found by Ding Yuying herself. Of course, this third party also had to be a woman!

Zhu Cilang could well understand his daughter-in-law's feelings — never mind that his own harem had so many women; that was not what he wanted, but there was simply no help for it! Being an emperor was a bitter, round-the-clock toil. By day he had to labor over the great affairs of the realm, and by night he still could not rest properly, with so many beauties in the three palaces and six courts. If he did not enjoy himself a little, would this emperor's life not be a complete loss?

Moreover, what Ding Yuying now had to choose was not a woman who served the sovereign with her beauty, but her own replacement!

Because in the power map Zhu Cilang had arranged for his descendants, "the Emperor's woman" was an extremely important role. Therefore the Crown Prince could not have only one Ding Yuying; he needed several women like Ding Yuying, so that if Ding Yuying Number One fell, there would still be Number Two and Number Three to step in as replacements.

And "Number Two" and "Number Three" also had to pass layer upon layer of assessment and selection before entering the Jinling Women's College. However, as long as Ding Yuying did not fall, Zhu Cilang would not personally train "Number Two" and "Number Three," and in principle would not take part in their selection. The work of selecting and training the Crown Princess's successors was entirely the current Crown Princess Ding Yuying's own responsibility!

"Yuying," Zhu Cilang had already detected something unusual in Ding Yuying's expression, so he asked with a smile, "Is there some difficulty? Tell Us."

Ding Yuying glanced at Princess Nisha, and the Princess said with a smile: "Your Majesty, the Crown Princess's younger sister also took part in this preliminary selection for the Women's College, and her results were excellent — she ranked among the very top!"

"Oh." Zhu Cilang remembered now — Ding Yuying did indeed have a younger sister named Ding Yuru, apparently five or six years younger than Ding Yuying, and now she too had reached the age for marriage.

"Is that so?" Zhu Cilang nodded with a smile and looked at Ding Yuying. "You yourself know why a secondary consort must be chosen for the Crown Prince. Yuying, in truth We are extremely satisfied with you, and the Crown Prince is wholly devoted to you as well. But those who eat the five grains cannot guarantee against illness or calamity. If something should ever happen to you, someone must take your place in guarding the Crown Prince, and guarding Yiyou. You shall choose this person. As long as she can pass the Women's College examination on her own true ability, We will support whomever you choose."

Choosing a Crown Princess was ostensibly a matter of passing examinations on merit, but in reality it was still a game of power. The examination earned one the qualification; how the choice was made afterward was a matter for those in power to weigh the pros and cons.

If Ding Yuying and Ding Yuru could truly be of one heart as sisters, and if Ding Yuru was as capable as her elder sister, then letting Ding Yuru become the Crown Prince's secondary consort would not be a bad thing — at least better than picking someone from great clans like the Wu or Zheng families.

If the choice were made from a great clan, both Ding Yuying and Zhu Yiyou would be in danger; but by choosing Ding Yuru, those great clans would lose their hopes and settle down.

Of course, the premise was that the two Ding sisters must not turn on each other like dogs!

That would depend on their political wisdom.

Having received Zhu Cilang's words, Ding Yuying was reassured — the Lucky Crown Prince listened to her, and her younger sister Ding Yuru was also a girl of ice and snow intelligence, who knew that only by sisters standing together could they keep playing this game of power.

And since Ding Yuying had already entered the game, Ding Yuru had no way out — she could only play alongside her elder sister, and play well, play brilliantly!

Having finished the matter of selecting a secondary consort for the Crown Prince, Ding Yuying rose to take her leave, but was stopped by Zhu Cilang.

"Yuying, don't go yet." Zhu Cilang said, "We need to discuss a matter of world military and state affairs with Nisha. The Crown Prince will be here soon — stay and listen as well."

Ding Yuying had been busy lately with selecting a secondary consort for the Crown Prince, while the Lucky Crown Prince, after returning to the capital, had been assigned to the Military Staff Office, serving in its Operations Department (equivalent to an army general staff) as a Bureau Secretary staff officer in the Military Intelligence Section, in charge of military intelligence — not a high post, nor one with great power, but it gave access to a great deal of information. Not only could he understand all aspects of the Great Ming Army, he could also learn about international affairs.

After one term as head of army intelligence, the Lucky Crown Prince should be able to know the Army's situation like the back of his hand.

And the matter of instigating India to support the Ottoman Empire's colonization of Europe naturally required the participation of the Army Operations Department's Military Intelligence Section. So the Lucky Crown Prince, now turned master spy, had also received the Zhu Emperor's summons and ridden into the palace on horseback (the Laoshan Palace grounds were enormously vast, and riding and driving were permitted within the palace), soon arriving at Princess Nisha's Red Fort, where he was led by Princess Nisha's Gujarati maidservant into the map room inside the Red Fort.

After the Crown Prince had paid his respects, Zhu Cilang looked at his son and said: "Crown Prince, tell Us about the war situation in the Little Western Ocean."

The Crown Prince's expression changed at once — a moment ago he had been all smiles and looked to be in excellent spirits (of course he was; his sister-in-law Ding Yuru was about to be his, so how could his mood not be good?), and now he suddenly turned deeply worried — this was what they called changing face faster than flipping a book. The Lucky Crown Prince had indeed made progress over the years!

Also, when Zhu Cilang summoned the Lucky Crown Prince, he had already had someone bring over the records of the earlier joint military conference of the two offices.

So the Lucky Crown Prince already knew that his old man was going to fleece his Indian father-in-law of silver rupees.

"The Navy suffered a defeat in the Mergui Archipelago, losing eight warships and over two thousand men." When Zhu Hexing spoke, his face was full of pain!

Eight warships! And over two thousand men lost (there were many men on oar-and-sail ships, though the rowers were all native indentured slaves bought from the Batavian Republic) — truly tragic!

Ding Yuying added from the side: "This was all to help our friend, the Timurid Empire of India!"

Princess Nisha was also a sensible woman and understood at once. She immediately said to the Zhu Emperor: "Your Majesty, we cannot let so many true friends of India sacrifice themselves in vain. My father must be made to pay compensation. I will write to him at once and have him send money."

"No, no." Zhu Cilang quickly waved his hand. "At present the Great Ming and India are allies. Allies must not quibble over every penny like this."

"Your Majesty," Princess Nisha said with a smile, "this is not quibbling; it is what India ought to do. Besides, given India's wealth, this bit of money is no problem."

Aurangzeb was simply rich!

But what Zhu Cilang wanted now was not merely money.

"Now is not the time to speak of this." Zhu Cilang still refused to name a price, and after saying this he shot the Lucky Crown Prince a meaningful glance.

Zhu Hexing said: "Money is a small matter. The real trouble now is that the French, the Dutch, and the roving bandits have joined forces, seized the Andaman Mountains and the Mergui Archipelago, and even built a fortress on the New Ryukyu Island, completely blocking the passage westward from Malacca.

From the look of it, they mean first to cut off contact between us and India, and then the three of them will join hands and carve up India!"

"Carve up India..." Princess Nisha's face paled. "Is such a thing possible?"

Zhu Hexing nodded: "It is possible — and highly likely!"

"But France and Holland are so far from India..."

"But the roving bandits are very close to India!" Zhu Hexing said with a frown. "According to reliable intelligence, the younger brother of the King of France, the Duke of Orléans, has already arrived at Haidu Port with over a thousand French officers and master craftsmen. He is preparing to help the roving bandits train two hundred thousand European-style new troops, and then launch a full-scale invasion of India. And Holland will provide the fleet and merchant ships to transport the new troops trained jointly by France and the roving bandits to the coast of India."

"How terrible!" Princess Nisha turned her head to look at the Zhu Emperor, her bright eyes already beginning to glisten with tears. Her feelings for the people of India were extremely deep — there was an annuity of over a million silver rupees every year!

Zhu Cilang's brows were tightly knit, and he looked very anxious. "The sea route to India is now completely blocked. Our Navy simply cannot break through! And even if they did force their way into the Little Western Ocean, they could not destroy the combined Franco-Dutch fleet in a single battle. That fleet has so many naval ports along the coast of the Little Western Ocean where it can split up and take shelter. If our great fleet went there, it would only find no battle to fight and would have to withdraw. Once the roving bandits' new army is trained, the Timurid Empire of India will truly be in danger.

By then it will no longer be a matter of grabbing and running — they will truly divide the realm of the Timurid Empire!"

(End of Chapter)