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Chapter 1308 Potential Enemy 4
At this point, we have to mention the relationship between the Mughal Empire and the Indian Peninsula. The Mughal Empire was only the largest power or country on the Indian Peninsula, and there were dozens of other powers, large and small, mostly distributed in the south, east and west.

In the early 17th century, the area that the Mughal Empire could truly fully control was limited to the northern part of the Indian peninsula, east of Afghanistan and west of Bengal, an area of ​​about half of the peninsula.

The remaining half was ruled by many ethnic groups. Some small countries or small ethnic groups united together to form several larger countries to compete with the Mughal Empire.

For example, on the Deccan Plateau in the central and southern parts of the peninsula, there are a large number of sultanates such as Bijapur, Gokonda, Madurai, Thanjavur, etc., as well as Rajput groups, Sikh groups, and so on.

Why were European countries such as Portugal, the Netherlands, Britain, Denmark, etc. able to occupy territory, establish settlements and trade warehouses in a port on the Indian Peninsula with just a few ships and a few hundred people?
In addition to the fact that Hindus are not very good at fighting, the main reason is that these coastal areas are not completely under the jurisdiction of the Mughal Empire. The local princely states or ethnic leaders are unwilling to fight a bloody battle with the Europeans, and then be taken advantage of by their neighbors on both sides.

The Europeans did not show any intention of changing the dynasty. They just wanted to do business, so they simply turned a blind eye and reaped some benefits.

But the same method did not work in the Ming Dynasty of the same period. Every place within the territory was managed by officials sent by the central government. Whether or not to do business with foreigners had to be decided by the emperor and ministers. There was no possibility of going ashore and building warehouses with just the nod from the Guangzhou prefect. The only exception might be Macau.

Since the Mughal Empire was full of internal conflicts and the Hindus were not very good at fighting, why did Hong Tao worry about the situation on the Indian peninsula? The answer is very interesting and biased: it was because of the Persian Empire.

The Advisory Office, the Statistics Department, and the Ministry of Rites did not pay enough attention to the Indian Peninsula, but they paid great attention to Persia and the Ottoman Empire. Over the years, they used all the methods they could think of to collect almost all the intelligence they could get.

In the Royal Archives managed by the Cuju Team, the thickness of the archival materials of these two countries is second only to Japan, ranking second and third, and more than the archives of all European countries.

When Hong Tao was looking through Persian archives, he discovered something very normal and interesting: the Mughal Empire was deeply influenced by Persian culture, and even deliberately learned and imitated Persia in many aspects.

For example, Babur, the founder of the Mughal Empire, was a descendant of Timur, whose Timurid Empire once ruled the Persian region. During Babur's time, when he encountered setbacks in Central Asia, he relied on the help of the Safavid Dynasty of Persia many times to have a chance to turn the tables.

After Babur's death, his son Humayun was young and weak, and was soon driven out of power by the Afghan nobles. Where did the powerless Humayun go? Persia!
The Safavid dynasty of Persia not only accepted this impoverished little king, but also funded his comeback a few years later and regained control of the Mughal Empire in one fell swoop.

Humayun was grateful and soon changed the Mughal Empire's religion from Sunni to Shia, forcing it to align with Persia, and began to promote Persian culture within his rule.

Hong Tao happened to have been to India in his previous life and visited Humayun's Tomb outside New Delhi. Although he didn't know this history at the time, he could tell at a glance that its architectural style was very similar to Persia. Now he finally understands why.

When Humayun's son Abak Khan came to the throne, he recruited a large number of Persians to serve in the court to help him manage the empire.

He also loved Persian culture very much. He once ordered people to translate Sanskrit music scores into Persian for singing, and asked local officials to learn Persian, which greatly promoted the integration of Persian and Indian cultures. The current Shah Jahan also inherited the preferences of his ancestors and hired several Persian craftsmen to participate in the design when building the Taj Mahal. The Ming Empire gave him so many aid craftsmen for free, but although he was thanked, he could not participate in the design and could only help build according to the drawings he gave.

From these subtle details, it can be seen that the ruling class of the Mughal Empire was more Persianized Turks than Turkified Mongols.

Just like Goryeo and Japan during the Tang and Song dynasties, they worshipped Chinese culture from the bottom of their hearts. The Mughal Empire regarded Persia as its cultural center and followed Persia's lead intentionally or unintentionally.

Now the question is, if the Safavid dynasty of Persia remained neutral on the surface but had other plans secretly, would Shah Jahan of the Mughal Empire follow suit?

Without accurate intelligence, this possibility is not only possible, but also quite high, based on logical speculation. It is not certain what Safi Shah and Shah Jahan are planning, and what impact their plans will have on the Ming Empire after they are put into action.

"Don't think about it. It's meaningless to keep guessing. When you don't know how your opponent will attack, the most reasonable response is to focus on yourself.

Astronaut, you still hold the position of commander-in-chief of the Western Region Theater, but don't focus your main energy there. I think it's enough to have Huang Taiji watching over you.

From now on, you will also take charge of the defense of several southwestern provinces. Keep a close eye on the developments there and never allow anyone to take advantage of the opportunity of the army to resist foreign enemies to cause chaos on the border."

In order to find out what actions the Mughal Empire would take that would be detrimental to the Ming Empire, Hong Tao once again convened the General Staff, the Army Staff and the Navy Staff to the Yangxin Palace for an impromptu seminar.

However, dozens of staff officers, including the emperor, spent more than a day guessing and deducing more than a dozen possibilities, but still failed to determine the most likely change.

Finally, he got tired of it and simply stopped putting himself in other people's shoes and started playing who cares who. First, he tried to make up for the biggest loopholes and defects he could think of, and then he compared who was tougher to see whether the east wind would prevail over the west wind, or the west wind would prevail over the east wind!
"Southwest... Your Majesty, are you worried that Myanmar's Toungoo Kingdom will take the opportunity to move north?" Having a large map hanging on the wall at all times can indeed help one think more clearly when discussing military deployment.

The astronaut had no objection to the new appointment. As the Chief of the General Staff, he had to coordinate and dispatch operations in the rear area in almost every battle, and go to the front line to command in person from time to time. Not only was it exciting, but it also provided first-hand data for the work of the General Staff. It was a very sought-after job.

But the location designated by the emperor was a bit unpopular. The southwest region was basically full of weak nations that had surrendered for a long time. The only country that could threaten the border of the Ming Empire was Myanmar.

However, the Kingdom of Toungoo had been suppressed by the Ayutthaya Kingdom in the central region for many years and was unable to move. It was already on the verge of extinction. Did it still have the ability to invade the north? Even if it had the ability, weren't they afraid of being liquidated afterwards?
They were already unable to withstand the support of the Ayutthaya Kingdom, which was funded by the Ming Empire. Why would they risk being exterminated by provoking the Ming Empire? It was a bit unreasonable!
(End of this chapter)