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Shah Jahan, the Mughal emperor, is sixty years old this year.

His second wife, a Persian girl, died of dystocia twenty years ago. Shah Jahan was distraught and spent more than ten years building a luxurious mausoleum for his wife.

This mausoleum is called the Taj Mahal.

Such a poignant love story, it is a pity that Taj gave birth to an unfilial son. A few years later, when Shah Jahan was seriously ill, he was put under house arrest by his son for five years, until his death.

"Your Majesty, the Lucky Prince (Crown Prince) sent someone back to report that the Chinese envoy with three thousand soldiers wants to visit His Majesty in Delhi."

"China? Let it go quickly and receive it with the highest etiquette!"

Shah Jahan was very happy, he had heard many legends about China.

As for the three thousand soldiers brought by the Chinese envoy, this is nothing to Shah Jahan.

The army of the Mughal Empire quadrupled in the hands of Shah Jahan. During his reign, he quelled rebellions, repelled the Portuguese, and even captured a Portuguese colonial port. He destroyed two countries in the west, two countries in the Deccan Plateau, expanded beyond the Khyber Pass in the northwest, and seized a large area of ​​​​Afghanistan territory from Persia.

How could such a powerful emperor be afraid of three thousand foreign troops?

In Gujarat, the Mughal Crown Prince Dara Shuko personally received the Chinese envoys.

This man, Taj's eldest son, has been identified as the heir. His title is Lucky Prince, and his actual position is: Governor of Gujarat, Governor of Allahabad, President of Multan, and President of Kabul.

The crown prince holds the local military and political power, and the other princes also hold the local military and political power.

Such a system will inevitably lead to internal strife.

In history, the crown prince was beheaded by his own brother. It was the one who put the emperor under house arrest. After the emperor fell ill, he first led troops to kill the elder brother of the crown prince, and then put the emperor's father under house arrest until he died.

The failure of Dara Shuko was mainly due to religious reasons.

As the crown prince, he actually advocates Hinduism. As a result, although the emperor continued to give him great power, religious forces and local lords turned to his brother one after another.

"It's a great honor to receive Chinese friends." Dara Shuke said with a smile.

Lu Tianxiang cupped his hands and said, "I have long admired His Highness's name!"

After the two sides reported their identities to each other, Dara Shuke was a little surprised that the emperor of China actually sent his concubine as an envoy. Moreover, is the skin of all Chinese people so dark? Although whiter than Dalit, it also looks like a lower caste.

But it's not right, this emissary named Zhang Ruifeng's skin is as white as that of a high caste.

It seems that the emperor of China has a very unique taste...

Dara Shuke made up his mind to present a Persian female slave as a gift, so that the Chinese emperor could appreciate the charm of white-skinned women.

The crown prince advocates Hinduism and attaches great importance to skin color. Except for the greeting at the beginning, I didn't talk to Lu Tianxiang very much, and kept communicating with Zhang Ruifeng through an interpreter.

Such is his character, warm and generous, cheerful and gentle, arrogant and irritable!

He has a good eye, and he is gentle and enthusiastic towards you. He looks down on you and is arrogant and irritable towards you. This kind of person is not suitable to be an emperor, but more suitable to be a scholar.

In fact, Dara Shuko was indeed knowledgeable, and even acted as the chief editor himself, carefully translating Hindu classics and poems into Persian.

He discussed Chinese poetry with Zhang Ruifeng, but the translation was too bad, so he asked again: "How about Chinese painting art?"

Zhang Ruifeng said with a smile: "I have an accompanying official who is proficient in Chinese painting."

Pan Wei, who was in charge of recording the customs with the group, immediately took out a pen, ink, paper and inkstone, and made an ink painting on the spot.

Dara Shuke couldn't put it down, and watched and tasted it repeatedly. After admiring it, he asked: "Are all Chinese paintings in black and white?"

Pan Wei replied: "There are also colored paintings, but they need to be mixed."

Dara Shuke said: "I can provide any paint you want."

This guy was delighted to see Lie Xin, so he kept Pan Wei and insisted on learning painting skills with him.

The mission could only keep Pan Wei in Gujarat, and the rest continued to Aragh to meet the Mughal emperor.

Before leaving, Pan Wei said: "Your Majesty, Ambassador Zhang, this Indian Crown Prince looks like Emperor Huizong of Song Dynasty no matter what."

Zhang Ruifeng said with a smile: "It is Song Huizong who is the best. Mughal is really a big country, and it is best for us to split up China. And as the crown prince, he is actually a governor outside. Isn't the Mughal emperor afraid of the crown prince leading troops to Qingjun?"

"The barbarians are like this, they don't know how to establish a proper system." Pan Wei said disdainfully.

Zhang Ruifeng said: "Stay here in Gujarat, make friends with the Indian crown prince and inquire about more detailed information."

Lu Tianxiang knew that she had a special status, and she didn't usually communicate with men very much, and she always had a few female officials by her side anytime, anywhere. At this moment, when the two of them were talking, she also kept silent, and just listened silently by the side.

The envoys continued on their way, and the crown prince sent five hundred cavalry to escort them.

Before leaving Gujarat, they encountered a religious conflict. I saw a few Tubang princes leading troops to attack the mosque, rushing into the temple and killing everyone they saw.

With the crown prince sitting in Gujarat, Hindu princes began to drift away, and they have been attacking believers over the years.

The situation in the north is even more complicated. The Sikh religion, which has always advocated peace and has never been involved in politics, even participated in the battle for the throne decades ago. At the same time, it abandons the purpose of purely religious groups, and collects taxes from Sikhs openly, openly challenging the functions and authority of the government.

Witnessing religious disputes during the day, Zhang Ruifeng called the accompanying civil and military officials for a meeting during dinner in the evening.

Zhang Ruifeng asked: "How about the escorting cavalry?"

Zheng Dayong, the leader of the emperor's personal guard accompanying the regiment, said: "It is extremely capable. From the point of view of the armor, it is not inferior to our cavalry. These cavalry wear chain plate armor. The waist and abdomen are plate armor, and the rest It's chain mail. Their lances are similar to those of the army's cavalry. We'll have to wait until we finish fighting to know how powerful they are."

The Mughal melee cavalry has a hodgepodge of styles.

The armor is a combination of chain mail and plate armor, including Mongolian scimitars and European cross swords, and the boots belong to the Mongolian style.

Shi Lang, the naval general who led the troops ashore, said: "I saw that the crown prince has a firearms unit under his command. They use matchlock guns, not as good as our flintlock guns. The military appearance is quite powerful. However, these are the crown princes after all. Our army may already be the elite of the elite. When we actually fight, we still have to look at the soldiers of the ordinary army. The defenders of the cities we pass by today are quite unbearable, just like the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty."

Lu Tianxiang suddenly said: "The two maids sent by King Jinji, I have communicated with them. According to them, Christianity and Hinduism here often kill each other. Emperors, kings and noble lords mostly believe in Christianity, Many untouchables at the bottom also believe in Islam. The princes and common people of various surnames basically believe in Hinduism. If you really want to go to war, you can provoke believers, and the Indian states will inevitably have civil strife.”

"Your Majesty's words are reasonable." Zhang Ruifeng nodded and said.

After Lu Tianxiang went to sea, she didn't talk much, but she read military school textbooks all day long, and at the same time observed how the navy operated and how to set up camp when marching on land.

Zhang Ruifeng said: "I heard that Mughal had four princes, all of whom were released as governors. Not only did they control the local military and political power, but they could even collect taxes on their own, which is almost equivalent to a country within a country. And this prince, who believes in Hinduism, once the Mughal emperor dies of illness, the rest of the princes will inevitably be in chaos. At that time, I am afraid they will fight together."

This tone is a little gloating.

You Shaoqing of Honglu Temple, who had just arrived in India not long ago, had accurately guessed the future situation, and he was qualified to stay as a military adviser to a certain prince.

Couldn't the Mughal emperor see it?

Of course I understand, but I am old and frail, and I can't do many things, so I can only continue to empower the crown prince so that the other sons dare not act rashly.

When the Chinese envoys arrived in Aragh, the Mughal emperor fell ill again. This old guy began to fall ill habitually two years ago, and every time he fell ill, the crown prince's governorship increased by one.

Stayed in Aragh and waited for half a month before Emperor Shah Jahan ordered to summon him.

In the palace, Shah Jahan pulled himself together, but still looked weak.

Shah Jahan said: "I heard the story of the Chinese emperor from a British businessman. He reminded me of my ancestors, the founding emperors of the Mughals. When they were very young, they led the army to fight against powerful enemies, and finally Established a country. I admire such a person very much, and I am willing to be friends with him. Over the past few decades, I have wiped out four countries. Even the Persians in the west are not my opponents. They were defeated by me. I have to retreat steadily. The emperor of the Persians is not worthy of making friends with me, but the emperor of China has that qualification."

Although these remarks are generally true, they also have elements of bragging.

Shah Jahan's militarism has quadrupled, and the treasury has been emptied long ago. How short of money is it? After beating Portugal away, they found that trade profits were declining, so they took the initiative to invite the Portuguese back to do business.

First, the treasury is empty, and second, the emperor is old, and the Persians are taking the opportunity to counterattack.

Just two years ago, the Persian army marched eastward and recaptured Kandahar, an important city in Afghanistan. In this situation, Shah Jahan could only choose to accept that he was no longer able to fight Persia.

Zhang Ruifeng took out a letter: "His Majesty the Emperor of our country has also admired the reputation of the Mughal monarch for a long time, so he wrote a letter himself."

The waiter took the letter and handed it to Shah Jahan.

Shah Jahan opened the letter on the spot. Zhao Han's handwriting used Chinese characters, but it had been translated into Persian.

There are three main contents of the letter:

First, I have admired the Mughal emperor for a long time and am willing to make friends.

Second, China and the Mughals have deep historical ties. The founding emperor of the Mughals, Babur, whose ancestor was Timur, the overlord of Central Asia, was a Turkic Mongol, while the Han and Mongols were descendants of Yan and Huang. Therefore, the Chinese royal family has a common ancestor with the Mughal royal family.

Third, Emperor Zhao hated Europeans, successfully took back Macau controlled by Portugal, and successfully defeated Spain and the Netherlands. China wants to establish diplomatic relations with Mughals, bypassing those damn Europeans, merchants from both countries directly trade by sea. If given the opportunity, the two countries could jointly attack the armies of European countries.

After reading the letter, Shah Jahan was very satisfied, and asked a lot of specific information.

After dismissing the envoys, Shah Jahan called court scholars: "My ancestors, the great conqueror Babur, and the great distant ancestor Timur, were really Mongolians from China?"

The court scholar replied: "The great Timur was indeed a Mongolian nobleman of the Chagatai Khanate."

"I see." Shah Jahan sighed.

His ancestry is very mixed. He first intermarried with an Indian Kshatriya and then with a Persian. It is already difficult to find oriental features from his appearance.

Shah Jahan called the court officials and said: "Command the merchants on the seashore to organize a trade fleet." He also said, "Let your son form an envoy to visit the emperor in China and give to the emperor of China for me. Bring presents."

The gifts from the Mughal emperor included one hundred catties of iron and steel, twenty war horses, two elephants, ten Persian female slaves, ten boxes of Indian cotton cloth, and some jewelry...

This guy is very generous, as long as it suits his appetite, he is willing to give anything.

The British businessman fit his appetite and immediately reaped huge benefits. The British East India Company's business in the Mughal territory is all tax-free.

Otherwise, it would be difficult for the UK to gain a firm foothold in Asia.