Chapter 1589: This Is What It Means to Sow Seed Across the World!

Istanbul, Topkapi Palace.

In the square audience hall surrounded by a colonnade of twenty-two columns, Mehmed IV, the "Conqueror" Sultan of the Ottoman Empire — muddle-headed when young and even more muddle-headed now that he was old — had been thoroughly bewildered by three Ming princes and a princess who did not look Chinese in the least.

"Grand Vizier, are you joking with me? Why is there a black eunuch, a white slave woman without a headscarf or veil, and a Mongol in the audience hall? Was I not supposed to receive two Ming imperial princes and a noble Ming princess today?"

As Mehmed IV spoke, his pair of lecherous little eyes never left that stunningly beautiful "white slave woman." He did not remember having her in his harem — perhaps she was new? Truly too beautiful; even angry she was beautiful!

Mustafa Koprulu, so old he could barely go on (the younger brother of Ahmed Koprulu, the one who had killed Leopold I), heard Mehmed IV talking nonsense and hastily explained: "Your Majesty the Sultan, these three are the noble Ming imperial princes and princess! The darker one is the Black Crown Prince of the Three Lan Kingdom!"

"The Black Crown Prince of the Indian Ocean?" Mehmed IV drew a cold breath. The Black Crown Prince of the Indian Ocean was a truly ferocious "pirate king"!

"Yes, that is him!" Mustafa Koprulu then pointed at the "Mongol." "This is the Turkmen Khan, a brother of the Western Chu King. Last year he led troops into Persia to support Shah Husayn, and at Isfahan he learned the unfortunate news of the death of the Ming Retired Emperor, so he wishes to pass through our country and travel by sea to the Ming to attend the funeral."

This Turkmen Khan was named Zhu Helei, the son of Zhu Cijiong and a Mongol consort, and had inherited a Mongol nomadic chiliarch command. He was on very good terms with Chuo Luosi Changshou, the son of Zhu A'nu, and with Changshou's support he had led his nomadic chiliarch command south and conquered the Turkmen.

Later, he somehow got connected with Shah Husayn of the Persian Safavid dynasty. The latter was being attacked by Uzbeks exiled in Persia (who had fled there from Khwarezm), suffered defeat after defeat, and even his capital Isfahan was in imminent danger, so he wanted to ask Zhu Helei to send troops to his aid.

Zhu Helei then led his own chiliarch command and the subjugated Turkmen, borrowed some troops from the Dzungars, and charged into Persia, wiping out the rebellious Uzbeks for Shah Husayn.

Just as he had collected his payment and was about to return to the Turkmen desert, he received word of the death of the Chongzhen Retired Emperor. So he handed his army over to his wife Zhong Qihai (daughter of Anu Khatun) and sent her back to Turkmen territory, while he himself took a small escort to the Ottoman Empire to seek help from the Ming legation — the Ming Empire had no legation in Persia, so he had no choice but to come to Istanbul.

And here in Istanbul, Zhu Helei had unexpectedly run into two relatives who looked nothing like him: his cousin the "Black Crown Prince" Zhu Hetu, and his cousin's daughter the "Snow White Princess" Maria.

The Chongzhen Retired Emperor really did have a bit of a "sowing seed across the world" air about him! His descendants ran into relatives everywhere they went.

"This beautiful and noble princess," Mustafa Koprulu finally told the Sultan, "is the granddaughter of the Ming Emperor, and at the same time the granddaughter of Louis the Great of Rome, and also the daughter of an Austrian archduke. Her name is Maria Theresa von Mancini!"

"Maria Theresa von Mancini." Sultan Mehmed turned to look at his Grand Vizier. "Do you think that with this name, and this face, she can be a princess of the Eastern Ming Empire?"

Indeed! How was that possible? That Snow White was the great-granddaughter of the Chongzhen Emperor — did that sound like it could be true?

"Your Majesty the Sultan," Mustafa Koprulu said with a bitter smile, "she really is! Considering the present situation, I think you will surely grant her sufficient courtesy. Perhaps before long, we will need the Black Crown Prince's navy and the Turkmen Khan's cavalry! I do not think you want them all standing on Emperor Louis's side."

"Very well!" Mehmed IV was still willing to listen to advice. He nodded, then said to the three visitors in stiff Chinese: "Prince, Khan, and noble Princess, welcome to Istanbul."

"Snow White" opened her mouth and out came fluent Turkish: "Your Majesty the Sultan, we only wish to pass through your country as quickly as possible to Muscat, and there board a ship bound for the East!"

"Fourth Uncle, you must restrain your grief!"

"Fourth Uncle, the Imperial Grandfather passed away at ninety — that was already a long life!"

"Fourth Uncle, you must take care of yourself."

"Grandfather, you must not grieve too much either. You must take good care of your health!"

At the Prince of Luo's residence on Temasek Island, the Prince of Luo, Zhu Cizhao — now in his late sixties, nearing seventy — sat in full mourning, his face full of sorrow, listening to four middle-aged men, also dressed in mourning clothes, speak.

Zhu Cizhao's health was not very good; his complexion was poor and he was very thin. Not long before, he had contracted malaria, and had it not been for quinine saving his life, he would have gone to heaven ahead of the Chongzhen Retired Emperor.

Because of his poor health, his grandson Zhu Yijin, heir apparent to the Prince of Luo; the "Kangaroo King" Zhu He'ao, who had come from the Southern Continent; the "King of the Three" Zhu Hexing, enfeoffed as King of Malacca; and Zhu Heyin, enfeoffed as King of Palembang, were all together urging him not to return to Yingtian for the funeral.

Zhu He'ao had long since gone to the United Kingdom of the Southern Continent to take up his fief, but he had not established his capital in his directly held territory in the southeast of the Southern Continent; instead he lived in Goose City in the southwest of the Southern Continent — Goose City was a city developed by the British East India Company, which had invested over a million taels and recruited over ten thousand households of settlers from the Ming, Annam, India, and elsewhere, and opened up large numbers of farms and pastures around Goose City.

But the grand development campaign ultimately ended in failure. Because the Goose City colony could never turn a profit, the British East India Company was finally forced to sell it to Zhu He'ao.

After Zhu He'ao arrived at Goose City, he did not accomplish much either; basically he just quietly idled away his days.

The "King of the Three" Zhu Hexing, however, had accomplished far more! Originally his prospects had only been those of a grand duke on the Malay Peninsula, but because his mother Princess Nisha's pillow talk was truly formidable, it had now blown him into the King of Malacca!

Of the several duchies on the Malay Peninsula, apart from the part near Temasek Island, which had been assigned to Temasek Prefecture and become a "directly administered prefecture" of the Ming Empire (Yingtian Prefecture, Wuhan Prefecture, Tianjin Prefecture, and Beijing Prefecture were all directly administered prefectures), the remainder was split in two: a small part in the north was assigned to the Kingdom of Phuket and became Zhu Cizhao's vassal state; the rest all went to the Kingdom of Malacca and became Zhu Hexing's vassal state.

In addition, the island of Sumatra, opposite the Malay Peninsula, was divided in two: the western portion was the Kingdom of Aceh, belonging to the Sulu royal house; the rest was incorporated into the Kingdom of Palembang and enfeoffed to Zhu Heyin, born of Wu A'ke.

Hearing the urgings of his sons and nephews, Zhu Cizhao, leaning back in a reclining chair, merely waved his hand: "Falling leaves return to their roots! All my life I have drifted; now I am old and feeble, and I only wish to return to my native soil and spend my old age in Jingzhou."

Jingzhou was where Zhu Cizhao and Zuo Mengmei had first met and married, and it carried the most beautiful memories of his life.

"Grandfather," Zhu Yijin looked at his grandfather and sighed, "why must you do this? It has been so many years."

Zhu Cizhao looked at his grown-up grandson and said with a smile: "Yijin, you have now married and established yourself, so I can set my mind at ease. Once I return to Yingtian, I will petition the Emperor to let you succeed as King of Phuket. From now on, the Kingdom of Phuket will rest entirely on you. You need not return with me; just stay and guard the Kingdom of Phuket!"

Having said this, he looked again at his three nephews: "The New Year is almost upon us, and in another month or so the south wind will rise strongly. Let us set out together and return to Nanjing!"

(End of Chapter)