Chapter 1538: Let's Cheat Together!

Zhu Hengli lifted the carriage curtain and glanced outside. The streets were packed with peddlers selling flying flatbread, fried samosas, lassi yogurt, and biryani pilaf.

The cries of hawkers, now loud, now soft, swirled right around their ears, while the aroma of food mingled with the stench of all sorts of livestock and drifted over the whole street. This capital of the Indian Timurid dynasty was a city of the Islamic faith, and at the same time a gathering place of India's wealth. Though the streets were somewhat uneven, the buildings on both sides were all quite presentable, not in the least inferior to Nanjing or Shanghai. The majestic Badshahi Mosque and the splendid palace fortress stood towering, as if displaying to every visitor the glory and honor of the Timurid Empire.

Although the eastern coastal regions of this empire had lately been repeatedly plundered by enemies from the sea, and it had even lost half of Golconda, which it had taken years of back-and-forth struggle to win, anyone who truly understood this country knew that the Timurid Empire was at the very peak of its power... this country had never been as strong as it was now!

Because the foundation of the Timurid Empire had never lain in the east, not in Bengal, and not in Golconda. The roots of this empire, and of the Islamic empires that had conquered India before it, had always been in Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and distant Central Asia!

And this was not merely a matter of manpower for the army!

Any foreigner who had lived for a time in an Islamic empire or princely state in India would reach the same conclusion — this country could not do without its masters from Afghanistan and Central Asia, because only these foreign masters could bring good governance to India.

They were relatively serious and earnest, diligent and willing to work, not particularly keen on forming cliques and little factions, and not especially corrupt either — truly, they were good masters for the people of India!

Therefore the Islamic regimes of India had to rely on foreign masters in order to govern passably well — in fact, other Islamic regimes all shared this situation where "foreign masters get things done." Without foreign masters, such an Islamic regime would quickly become corrupt and feeble.

Before Aurangzeb "conquered" Afghanistan and Tajikistan, the Timurid Empire had already suffered for many years from a "shortage of masters," so much so that an Islamic empire had to rely on Hindu Rajput Kshatriyas to prop up its facade — one can well imagine what its real strength was. In the original history, it was only with Aurangzeb, that "puritan" emperor, driving things forward with all his might that the Timurid Empire could barely maintain its fierce, saber-rattling appearance.

But now the Timurid Empire had an ample and reliable supply of masters from Afghanistan and Central Asia, and what was more, it could obtain the highest-grade of all foreign masters — the "Junior Grand Secretaries"! Ever since Central Asia had been Islamized, the people of India had never received masters of such high quality.

So the Indian Timurid Empire was indeed at the height of its power now, so much so that Aurangzeb could move his capital from sweltering Delhi back to the cooler Lahore. This summer, he even led his court and ministers to Kabul in Afghanistan to escape the heat — not since Babur, the founding emperor of the Indian Timurid Empire, had any Timurid sovereign been able to do such a thing in over a hundred years!

Prince Henry of the Great Ming, along with the Rent-Collecting Prince Zhu Cixuan, also accompanied Aurangzeb and his courtiers to the cool climes of Kabul.

There, they saw the "Junior Grand Secretary" legions from Central Asia. This slave army was officially called the "Mongol Imperial Guard." According to the Timurid Empire's official account, the youths who joined the Mongol Imperial Guard all came from the Kipchak Steppe (Kazakhstan), possessed Mongol blood, and had not been Muslims before joining — they had to pass an examination proving they were not believers, otherwise they would lose the chance to join. The examination was of course very difficult; Aurangzeb personally set the questions, which could have been used to test students at an Islamic theological college.

It was said that scores on the "Junior Grand Secretary enlistment examination" were universally zero. If anyone managed to score three or five points (out of a total of 100), he was surely a "Mongol top student" from Central Asia, absolutely worth focused cultivation.

Besides the "Junior Grand Secretary legions," Prince Henry and the Rent-Collecting Prince also saw the Timurid Empire's new army. This force had been trained with the help of officers from the Persian Safavid dynasty — these Safavid officers had originally served in a new army trained with British assistance. Because the Safavid dynasty rapidly declined after the death of Abbas II, the new army once regarded as the pillar of the state had nearly fallen into disrepair. So large numbers of Persian new-army officers who understood something of European pike-and-shot tactics were recruited by Aurangzeb to India.

Through their efforts, a new army of as many as 80,000 men, built around "master soldiers" from Central Asia, was rapidly taking shape — though its fighting strength could not compare to the Shun army trained by French military advisors, it was not entirely without the ability to strike back at the Shun army.

When autumn of 1674 arrived, Aurangzeb and his court returned to Lahore under the escort of this new army.

With 80,000 new troops in hand, Aurangzeb's backbone had stiffened considerably, and he finally had a bit of confidence to go "colonize Europe."

Today he had invited Zhu Cixuan and Zhu Hengli to the palace to discuss matters, precisely to talk this over.

When the carriage shared by the two Ming princes arrived at the square outside the palace, Zhu Hengli spotted at once a lavishly decorated Western four-wheeled grand carriage. He said excitedly to Zhu Cixuan, "Sixth Uncle, that's King Afonso's carriage. He's come to Lahore too. It seems Aurangzeb has made up his mind to send troops to Europe!"

Zhu Cixuan also stuck his head out for a look. Seeing the carriage and the several Western knights in plate armor standing beside it, he said with a smile, "He wouldn't have come under pressure from Aurangzeb to convert to Islam, would he?"

Aurangzeb had previously had little interest in colonizing Europe, so he had not regarded King Afonso, wandering in Goa, as a particularly useful bargaining chip. Far from wanting to help him restore his throne, he had instead wanted him to convert to Islam and remain in India from then on as a Muslim prince.

King Afonso, of course, would not agree. Goa was Catholic territory; if he converted to Islam, he would lose his grip on the situation.

Moreover, his authority in Goa derived from Catholicism — the Catholics of Goa had all sworn loyalty to him as the king appointed by God!

If King Afonso became a Muslim, then according to the Islamic "beheading succession law," his head ought to be cut off, packed in a box, and sent to Lisbon!

So when Zhu Cixuan and Zhu Hengli walked together into the Forty-Pillar Hall of the palace, King Afonso was frowning as he listened to Aurangzeb expound the benefits of Islam.

"Afonso, if you become a Muslim, you may marry four wives and keep an unlimited number of female slaves. And you need not worry at all about being overthrown by an unfaithful wife — in Islamic culture and tradition, that is not permitted! Even if... even if you cannot satisfy your wife in that respect!"

His words were translated into Portuguese by a Goan nobleman (a Portuguese) who spoke both Portuguese and Urdu, and King Afonso broke out in a sweat all over his forehead as he listened.

"Alamgir, my new wife Maria is already with child — she conceived this spring!"

"Is that so?" Aurangzeb looked thoroughly skeptical. At that moment Zhu Cixuan and Zhu Hengli happened to walk in, and the sharp-eyed Aurangzeb spotted them. Aurangzeb said in Chinese (he was a top student too) to Zhu Hengli, "Prince Henry, good news — the King of Goa's wife Maria is pregnant!"

Zhu Cixuan immediately turned to look at his nephew upon hearing this, and saw Zhu Hengli looking thoroughly guilty. But Prince Henry recovered quickly and at once said with a smile in French to Afonso, "Your Majesty, congratulations! Now the rumors slandering you will collapse of their own accord!"

King Afonso nodded. "Yes! As long as I return to Portugal with the child, I will surely win the love of the people!"

(End of Chapter)