On June 25, the 18th year of Hongxing's reign in the Ming Dynasty, the entrance to Ren'ai Gate, the south gate of the Stone Castle of the Jungar Kingdom, was already heavily guarded. A large group of fully armed soldiers of the King, already carrying matchlock guns with long bayonets, lined up on both sides of the road outside Renai Gate. Two lamas in chainmail stood menacingly at the gate, holding swords on their waists. The hilt of the knife, glaring angrily at a shining golden elephant that was approaching.
Elephants are a rare thing here in Central Asia, and to the Oara Mongols, they are "mythical beasts" that only exist in Buddhist scriptures. So when I heard that an elephant came to Shibao King City, many residents of Shibao City immediately came out to watch the excitement.
Most of the residents of Shibao City are not the original Jungar Mongols, nor the Mongols from other tribes in the Oara Alliance, but come from the distant east or the cities of the Yeerqiang Khanate.
The former believe in Buddhism and mostly come from the Eight Banners Mongolia or the Xianglu Banner of the Qing Dynasty. After the collapse of the Shunzhi and Doni families, the members of the Eight Banners Mongolia and Xianglu Banner were of course unlucky. The former were in Chahar Mongolia and Tumote Mongolia. A traitor in his eyes. The latter was also regarded as an outlier by the Ming Dynasty and the four northern towns of Daning, Beiping, Anbei, and Shuofang. Not only did they lose their land, but they were also unable to serve as officials for three generations.
Therefore, these two types of people had no choice but to leave their hometowns to make a living, and most of them chose to move westward. Some moved to the territory of Wu Sangui's Anxi Army, and some went further to the territory of Sengge. Here in Sengge, most of the immigrants from Xianglvqi became merchants and craftsmen, and some rented land outside the Shibao King City and started farms. The strong men among the Eight Banners Mongolia were the source of the Sengge's personal soldiers.
Most of the immigrants from the cities of the Yerqiang Khanate were Tianfang believers. Of course, the Junggar Kingdom of Sengge implemented a policy of religious tolerance, allowing people to believe in Tianfang religion, Christianity, Manichaeism and other pagan religions (compared to In terms of Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism), the poll tax still had to be paid.
After all, this is the 17th century. Everyone is accepting it. What reason does King Sengge have not to accept it? And he is so poor...
The Tianfang believers from Ye'erqiang and the Buddhists from the East are relatively harmonious here in Shibao King City. Because they were all beneficiaries of King Sengge’s rule. After all, King Sengge was a Mongolian king, and the behavior of the “fourth class” was indispensable.
Now the Zhungar (including the Zhungeer headquarters and the people from the east) are the first class, the Yeerqiang are the second class, the Kazakhs are the third class, and the Hezhong people are the fourth class. Therefore, the Yeerqiang people are in a good situation in and around the Shibao Royal City. They can either rent farms (the land in Zhungeer is publicly owned, and the land around the Shibao Royal City belongs to the royal court, and both first-class and second-class people can rent at low prices), or engage in handicrafts and commerce in the city.
So these two types of people are supporters of King Sengge - what else can they do if they don't support him? Return the fertile land to the local people in the river?
The two groups were now familiar with each other, and they also saw that something was wrong in the atmosphere, so they started asking each other...in Chinese, of course. The Jungar Kingdom was bilingual with Han and Mongolia, but since most of the lamas in Chuhe City and Shibao City came from the Huang Temple in Han Dynasty, and also received funding from the Ming Dynasty Royal Chamber of Commerce and the Yanshengong Palace, Chinese became the lingua franca.
"What's going on? Your Majesty's troops are all out, with bayonets stuck on their muskets. What are you doing? Why are you so nervous when an elephant comes?"
"Yes, and the two great lamas are also wearing chainmail and carrying swords. Are they going to kill the elephant?"
"Behead the elephant? How did the elephant offend the king?"
There were Mongolians from Beijing's Second Ring Road (a courtyard house within the Second Ring Road!) present. They were all well-informed people. They heard the discussions around them and immediately interjected mysteriously.
"It's not that the elephant has offended the king. The elephant is a good elephant, but the owner of the elephant is bad. It has offended the king!"
"Who is the owner of the elephant?"
"It's King Timur from Tianzhu, the one who is currently stationed in Samarkand."
"King Timur is a good man. He gave us a lot of silver rupees..."
"This time I'm not here to give you silver coins, I'm here to give you slippers!"
"Giving slippers? Why?"
"Persuading surrender, this is the rule of Timur's family. Before the war begins, let the elephant carry the king's slippers to persuade him to surrender. If the other party treats the slippers as the king and invites them into the palace, it is equivalent to surrender. If he refuses to surrender, throw away the slippers. Come on, kill the elephant... Then there will be a big fight!"
"This rule is so strange! Why don't they attack by surprise? Doesn't this make people more prepared?"
"That's right! And if the elephant does anything wrong, he will be killed..."
While the spectators were discussing what was wrong with the elephant, a worried elephant had already staggered to the gate of the Shibao Dynasty and stopped obediently in front of two angry lamas and a group of soldiers holding spears. Got off.
The elephant carried a small house on its back. There was a man sitting in the small house, and the man was holding a box in his hand. At this time, the elephant knelt down, and the person who was sitting in the small house came out, then slid to the ground along the elephant's back, stood firmly, and then smiled and smiled towards the Mingzhu Lama and the Three Jewels. The lama left.
The two great lamas were stunned when they saw this man. This man was Shasta Khan!
Why is this old man so smart? Have you never heard of beheading the messenger? The elephant is dead, how can you still live?
"Pearl Lama, Three Jewels Lama," Shesta Khan said without any awareness that he was about to die, and he greeted the two lamas with a smile, "Good news, His Majesty Alamgir agreed to marry his daughter Princess Nisha to the Emperor of Heaven. Concubine!"
What? Not here to persuade you to surrender?
The two lamas were stunned. The Mingzhu Lama asked solemnly: "Aren't you here to persuade us to surrender? I heard that Aurangzeb sent someone to bring his slippers and asked our king to kneel down to greet him!"
Shesta Khan was stunned when he heard this, "This is a rumor, it's a rumor... Didn't you persuade me to surrender last time? What's the point of trying to persuade him more? I do have one slipper, but it's not His Majesty Alamgir's. , but the golden slippers worn by Her Royal Highness the Princess. Please take a look..."
As he spoke, Shasta Khan had already opened the box he was holding. As expected, there was a golden slipper that looked a bit slender and inlaid with many jewels - it looked like a women's shoe at first glance, and it was also very special. Expensive, certainly not the shoes of Aurangzeb who was reluctant to eat and wear.
"What do you mean by giving slippers?" Mingzhu Lama frowned, "Do they smell bad if they are worn?"
"It doesn't stink, it definitely doesn't stink... Our Majesty Alamgir heard that the Emperor of Ming Dynasty liked the slender and petite feet of women the most, so he asked me to send the princess's slippers over to prove that His Highness the Princess's feet are beautiful. Slender and petite. In addition, I also brought a portrait of Her Highness the Princess... and a collection of poems that the Princess requested to copy. The poems in it were all composed by Her Highness the Princess herself."
It turns out that Aurangzeb asked Shesta Khan to exchange the slippers!
When I left Samarkand, I wore Aurangzeb's slippers, and halfway through I put on Princess Nisha's slippers... and also added a portrait and a collection of poems.
Now the lives of Shasta Khan and the elephant were saved!
The two great lamas accepted the slippers and the elephant, and invited Shasta Khan into the palace. King Sengge has returned from Fergana... The war in Fergana did not go well. The rebel army did not confront the Sengge head-on, but went into the mountains.
Of course King Sengge didn’t want to see Princess Nisha’s portrait and slippers, so he directly asked about the war.
"Wazir, what do you mean by Alamgir? To fight or not to fight?"
Shesta Khan smiled and said: "Of course we have to fight... This is a sacred battle, and Alamgir must participate."
"In this case," King Sengge said with a cold face, "then let's make an appointment at a place and a time, and let both sides gather their troops and fight to the death!"
"Okay!" Shesta Khan nodded, "Where does the king want to start the war?"
"Just outside the city of Samarkand!" Sengge said, "I will lead 100,000 Mongolian cavalry to have a life-and-death showdown with Emperor Timur!"
What? Shasta Khan was startled. Aurangzeb had been busy for so long. Didn't he just want to get a position where he could watch the show and get something cheap? Why did this monk come to Samarkand?
