Outside Vienna, Schönbrunn Palace.
This famous palace was built in 1612. It was originally the summer residence and hunting palace of the Holy Roman Emperor. It was burned by the Ottomans during the Battle of Vienna. Later, it was rebuilt by Henry I (Henry de Mancini), the Archduke of the Austrian Grand Duchy, as a gift to his wife, Grand Duchess Marie Anne de Bourbon.
As the eldest illegitimate child of Emperor Louis, Mary Anne, who had been favored since childhood, was married to the beautiful Schönbrunn Palace in 1680 when she was just 15 years old. She was very satisfied with this palace of her own and her very handsome husband Henry I...even though she knew that Henry I was very philandering, had affairs with many European noblewomen, and had many illegitimate children. But she fell in love with Henry I at first sight, fell in love quickly, and could no longer extricate herself.
And Henry was also fascinated by this wife who was more than ten years younger than him and as beautiful as a foreign fairy!
Since marrying Mary Anne, he has never had an extramarital affair... Of course, he has no chance to have sex. Because he and Mary Anne were almost inseparable, and they slept in the same bed every night!
During the day, Henry de Mancini always had endless official duties and business to deal with... The Grand Duchy of Austria was not an easy place to manage.
The local nobles and people still miss the Habsburg dynasty, which did not bring them much benefit. For Henry, they just tolerated it. After all, Henry's wife Mary Anne also had Habsburg blood (from Emperor Louis), and was also the "legitimate daughter" of Louis the Great (an illegitimate daughter was legalized, and her status was still lower than that of a legitimate child). After marrying Mary Anne, Henry still had some legitimacy.
In addition, he also had a group of foreign Goan nobles who were also supporters of Henry, and they were all allocated territories around Vienna on the lands that originally belonged to the Habsburg royal family. Coupled with a group of merchants and craftsmen who moved from the Roman Empire, Henry had a certain basis for rule.
However, he still had to be very careful to manage the grand duchy he "cheated" to avoid being overthrown by the following group of nobles and peasants who missed the Habsburg dynasty.
In addition to the difficulty of dealing with the Germans below, the Roman Empire and the Ottoman Empire next door also had to be dealt with carefully - neither of them could afford to offend, otherwise the neutrality of the Grand Duchy of Austria would be destroyed at any time.
Because the foundation of the Mancini dynasty was too shallow to mobilize the Germans, who accounted for the majority of the population, it could only establish a standing mercenary army of less than 15,000 people. There are no good generals, so Eugen François Savoy, who looks incapable of fighting, can only be appointed as the commander-in-chief... It's almost like the country has no defense!
So after returning from Versailles, Henry has been in a bad mood these days because he doesn't know how to stabilize the Ottoman Empire...until news comes from the east that his dearest grandfather, Emperor Chongzhen, has passed away!
Although Henry de Mancini changed the surname Zhu passed down from his ancestors, it was just to better serve his ancestors. He was still a filial son and grandson of the Ming Dynasty!
Grandpa died, of course he had to mourn.
Mary Anne, who had just returned from a hunting trip outside Schönbrunn Palace with her daughter Maria Theresa, walked into Henry I's office in Schönbrunn Palace and was stunned by Henry who was trying on clothes.
Because Henry I had put on a very ugly white linen dress and a very strange linen hat on his head.
"Dear Henry, are you going to hold a masquerade ball today?" Mary Anne, who has passed her thirty-fifth birthday and gave birth to six children for Henry I, is still a rare beauty, with white clothes, beautiful appearance, and a well-maintained figure. It was still very good, and there was no trace of the fact that six children had been born.
"Dad, your clothes are too ugly... If you dress like this, I won't dance with you." The person who called Henry daddy was a fifteen or sixteen-year-old girl with brown hair and black hair. Her eyes and skin are as white as snow, as delicate as a porcelain doll.
Her name is Maria Theresa von Mancini, she is the daughter of Henry and the granddaughter of Zhu Cihong. She is a quarter of Eastern ancestry, which makes her look more delicate than the average Western girl. Moreover, she also has the noble bloodline of two great emperors, and is the most eye-catching princess to be married in Europe.
"Maria Theresa," Henry tried to express a little sadness, "there will be no dance today. I am wearing mourning clothes...the clothes that children pass down when their elders in the East die. "
"Oh, God!" Maria Theresa was a little nervous, "Who died? Is it...my grandfather?"
Although she has never met Zhu Cixiang, she is very fond of the emperor's grandfather who gives her a large amount of lucky money every year... If the emperor's grandfather dies, will she still receive the new year's money?
"No," Henry shook his head, "It's my grandfather, the Ming Dynasty Emperor passed away!"
"Oh, I remembered it," Maria Theresa breathed a sigh of relief, "He is 90 years old this year, right?"
"Yes, very unfortunate..." Henry said, "I thought he would live to be 100 years old."
Mary Anne looked at her husband and comforted him: "Don't be sad... He has achieved at least 90% of his survival goals."
"You are right," Henry thought for a moment, "but I still have to live a life of abstinence for a while to express my grief... This is the custom of the Chinese."
"What? Abstinence? You mean..." Mary Anne looked unhappy, "How long?"
"Let me think about it..." Henry thought for a while, "It seems like three years since my dead father! My dead grandfather..."
Mary Anne's eyes were widened. How could it be possible in three years? Not even three weeks...three days at most!
"Three days, it seems like three days!" Henry said seriously, "In addition, I have to send someone to attend his funeral on my behalf! Mary, Mary, who of you is willing to go to the East for me?"
"What? One of us?" Mary Anne shouted. She was not willing to go to Daming alone. "My dear, aren't you going?"
Henry shook his head, "No, I won't go, I can't leave...because there will be a war soon! I must stay in Austria."
"Then I won't go either!" Mary Anne was unwilling to leave Henry.
"Maria," Henry looked at his baby daughter, "then go ahead...your grandpa will be very happy to see you."
"What? Me? I'm going to the East..."
Henry nodded and said: "Yes! You have to go to the East in my place, and take the gifts I prepared for your grandfather and a huge envoy, pass through the land of the Ottoman Empire, and take the Sanlan Kingdom Black Sea in Muscat. Prince’s battleship, and then head to Ming Dynasty together.”
"Oh God, I have to pass through Ottoman land..." Maria Theresa, who looked like Snow White, was frightened.
The Ottomans were quite brutal! If a beauty like Maria Theresa passes through there, will they catch her and sell her?
"There will be no problem," Henry said with a smile, "You are the granddaughter of the Emperor of China, and the Ottoman Sultan must treat you as his honored guest! And I will also invite your uncle, the Black Prince of the Sanlan Kingdom, to come to Istanbul to greet you in person. You. With the protection of his Black Knights, you will not be in any danger."
The Black Prince of Sanlan Kingdom is Zhu Ciran's son, named Zhu Hefu. Although he is only 21 years old, he is already a famous figure in the Indian Ocean.
Because he learned to command warships and naval battles from his father Zhu Ciran, when he was 17 years old, he got a 300-ton warship and began sailing in the Indian Ocean. In the past four years, he has participated in dozens of battles, large and small, and performed very bravely, winning most of the battles. He is the most famous naval admiral in the Indian Ocean.
