Delhi Palace, audience hall.
"Your Majesty Alamgir, what are you talking about? Our Ming Dynasty must partially restore slavery in order to form an alliance with India? However, whether our Ming Dynasty has slavery has anything to do with your Indian Timurid Empire? Do you still plan to come to my court? Buying slaves on the land of China? Your Indian Timur Empire rules so many untouchables, and you still need to buy slaves from abroad? Even if you want to buy slaves, can't you buy them in Africa? We will completely, completely, and permanently abolish slavery tomorrow morning Got it!"
It was Luo Zhichen, the envoy of the Ming Dynasty and minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who was talking non-stop about the "Abolition of Slavery Declaration" in Persian. He originally thought that his trip to India would be about running errands, doing gilding, and maybe hooking up with a Rajput girl who was good at singing and dancing. Before coming to India, he had already inquired about it with Indian businessmen in Shanghai. His family had hundreds of dollars. With a scholarly family background, he is the highest-ranking Brahmin caste in India! And he is also a very rich Brahmin...
But he never expected that when he saw that the "Yingtian-Delhi Axis" was about to be completed, everything was negotiated, the trade agreement was no problem, it was easy to open a business office in Surat, and the arms deal was even easier to negotiate. The warships of the Ming Dynasty entered the ports controlled by the Timurid Empire in India without hesitation, and the division of spheres of influence in Central Asia was also discussed very happily... but in the end they got stuck on the slave trade.
Aurangzeb didn't know what medicine he took wrongly, so he insisted that Ming Dynasty allow the slave trade!
But the Ming Empire now prohibits the slave trade - in the few years when Zhu Cixi first arrived in Jiangnan, there were slave rebellions in Jiangnan every once in a while, which made the Ming court extremely tired of slave ownership both inside and outside the court. Come a knife, slavery will be abolished forever.
Of course, there are always various exceptions in the feudal dynasty! Now in the entire Ming Dynasty, there is still one place where legal slaves exist, and that is the Ming Palace! However, the number of slaves was very small, and only a small number of eunuchs who were not in trouble and criminal palace personnel were slaves.
Oh, there was also one who was born into slavery, the cheap girl that Kong Sizhen gave birth to for Fan Wencheng (Fan Wencheng was really capable, even though he had never even touched Kong Sizhen, he let Kong Sizhen get into trouble! Can you get pregnant just by looking at her?) , has always been a slave, and now she has grown into a big girl...
But these slaves are all problems left over from history, and they will eventually be completely solved in the future.
Aurangzeb, the emperor of the Timurid Empire in India, not only failed to realize the great progress made by the Ming Empire in abolition of slavery, but instead hoped that the Ming Dynasty would roll back on slavery, and also grossly interfered in the internal affairs of the Ming Dynasty, which was really inappropriate.
Aurangzeb also nodded a little when he listened to Luo Zhichen's very non-standard Persian. First, it was difficult to listen; second, he didn't know how to explain the importance of the slave trade to the friendship between Ming and India... He didn't know what to say, so he glanced at Shasta Khan on the side - I don't know what to say, so you should tell me!
Shasta Khan considered his words and spoke slowly: "Ambassador, maybe in your country, becoming a slave is a very unfortunate thing, but in our world of Tianfang Religion, becoming a slave of the Sultan or Emir, Sometimes it's the first rung of an upward ladder... For some, a brilliant future is only possible later in life by becoming a slave to a sultan and emir in boyhood.
Of course, not all slaves are likely to have a brilliant future. Only slaves from specific regions, such as Central Asia, what you call the Western Region, the Caucasus, and slave boys from the Balkans, became slaves of powerful people like the Sultan or the Emir. It is possible to get good education and training, and then become an excellent soldier, serve in the most elite pro-military army, and become the pillar of the country.
After they have served the sultan or emir for a certain number of years, they will have a good chance of becoming a respected official, sometimes even a high-ranking official! For example, many of the successive Grand Viziers of the Ottoman Empire were slave warriors from Ganishali...
In fact, what we want to buy from Central Asia is not slaves doing hard work, but Guards soldiers, future high-ranking officials of the Timur Empire! "
What? Indians want to buy slave children from the Western Regions and bring them back to China to train them into soldiers and high-ranking officials? Luo Zhichen really didn't know what to say - will all the ministers in India have to purchase from the market in the future?
"Then, why do you have to buy from our Ming vassal states in the Western Regions?" Luo Zhichen asked, "You also have territory in the Western Regions! Don't they produce Ge Lao there? I heard that the people there are very poor, and they won't be reluctant to part with them. Selling the child?"
This question... Shesta Khan really didn't know whether to laugh or cry, but he still had to explain patiently. Who let the "Indian Pavilion" have the supply chain in the hands of the Ming Dynasty?
If Ming Dynasty imposes an embargo on India, it will be in trouble!
"We have some territory in the Western Region," Shasta Khan replied. "We control part of the land in Afghanistan and Tajikistan, and we recruit fighters from there. But we can only recruit adult fighters from there, and cannot purchase them. Boy Scouts... Because according to the teachings of Tianfang religion, we cannot buy Tianfang believers as slaves. Afghanistan and Tajikistan are both Tianfang believers, so we cannot buy teenagers there as scouts. And from Afghanistan and Tajikistan The adult soldiers recruited are not as useful as the scouts who have been trained since childhood, and they are all illiterate and have no way of becoming officials."
The more Luo Zhichen listened, the more confused he became, "Do you want to buy the Mongolians from the Junggar and Heshuote kingdoms as slaves? I'm afraid that's not possible, right?"
"Of course that won't work," Shesta Khan shook his head repeatedly, "How can we buy the Mongols... It is impossible for Zhungar and Heshuote to sell the children of their direct tribesmen to Us!"
"Then who do you want to buy?" Luo Zhichen asked.
Shesta Khan said: "Buy the Kazakhs, Uzbeks, Khwarezm people who are ruled by Zhungar and Khosut, as well as other poor young people from Central Asia."
"Aren't they also Tianfang believers?" Luo Zhichen was confused, "Doesn't it violate the doctrine if you buy them?"
"No, no, no..." Shasta Khan shook his head repeatedly, "They may not be!
The Jungar Kingdom and the Heshuote Kingdom believed in Buddhism and adopted Buddhism as their state religion, so they suppressed the local Tianfang Sect to a certain extent. There should be many converts among the Kazakhs, Uzbeks, Khwarezmians and other tribes under their rule. Therefore, their children can legally become slaves, be bought into India to serve as scouts, receive the best education and training, and become excellent warriors and bureaucrats! "
"But how do you determine the beliefs of those children?" Luo Zhichen really had the spirit to break the casserole and ask the question.
"We have a way!" Shesta Khan said seriously, "We will conduct an exam...a very difficult exam. It requires Arabic, Persian and religious knowledge!"
Of course he is talking nonsense! How can Indians be so serious about doing things? Aurangzeb did not dare to buy scouts in Afghanistan and Tajikistan because he was afraid that the tribes there would become bigger because of this - if the scouts were all from Afghanistan, then they could easily join forces with the Afghan tribes to overthrow the Timurid Empire! And if the Scouts come from the territory ruled by the Mongols in Central Asia, then there will be no problem...
"You need to take an exam to be a slave?" Luo Zhichen couldn't believe his ears. "What if I don't pass the exam? Isn't it even possible to be a slave?"
"No," Shesta Khan shook his head and said seriously, "If you pass the exam, you can return it... and go back to Central Asia to starve! If you fail the exam, it means they are not believers and can become His Majesty Alamgir. Slave warriors, then receive the best training and education!”
That’s okay! ?
Luo Zhichen thought to himself: How can anyone pass such an exam? How heartless that is!
