The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 473: China: What should I do if I am too good?

In the capital's Yingtian Prefecture, the construction of the Yingtian Forbidden City was finally completed, and the emperor, who had returned from Hunan, also moved into the newly built palace.

The last bit of royal aura that Yingtian Prefecture lacked was finally replenished.

In the Wuying Hall of the Forbidden City, Emperor Mo Zibu's hearty laughter echoed throughout the hall, and the surrounding civil officials and military officers also offered him flattery one after another.

It turned out that the news of the fleet's great victory in India had been delivered by a speedboat specially designed to transmit military intelligence.

Mo Zibu was extremely happy. After ten years of planning, he finally succeeded today. After this battle, the Chinese Empire officially became one of the most powerful naval powers in the world.

Considering the size of the Chinese Empire, once it completes unification and starts construction at full speed, it will no longer be afraid of the British navy in five years.

"Brother-in-law, the rewards for the fleet officers and soldiers will be drawn up directly by you.

My opinion is that Chen Lian be promoted to General, and his descendants be protected; Lieutenant General Suffren be made Baron of Shuangtong; and the rest of the officers and soldiers be rewarded according to their merits."

Li Xianwen was very helpless. The emperor always called him brother-in-law on various occasions, acting as if he, Li Xianwen, was in power. Then, he pushed him forward with some offensive policies.

Being a brother-in-law is really uncomfortable.

After asking the Prime Minister, Li Xianwen, the Grand Secretary of Zhongji Palace, to arrange the rewards, Mo Zibu convened another imperial meeting. The original intention was to discuss the southwest strategy, but it went a little off track.

Reinstein looked at Mozibu and asked in disbelief, "Your Majesty, are you really not going to replace England's role in India?

With all due respect, if we Germans had such an opportunity, we would bet everything on it."

Mo Zibu laughed and said, "No wonder you Germans always like to struggle."

From Frederick to Reinstein, and even the current Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II, they all have this kind of personality, and in some aspects they are just like they were printed from the same mold.

"Ryan, what benefits do you think India brings to the Chinese Empire?"

Reinstein thought for a moment and said, "Land... Your Majesty doesn't seem to need it, because there is enough already, and Nanyang hasn't even digested it yet.

As for population, well, it seems we don't need it either. After the unification of the Chinese Empire, there will be no shortage of it. So, the only thing left is money."

"Yes, the only benefit India can bring to China at the moment is money.

"How much should I charge so that after deducting the costs of sending a large number of officials to India, stationing a fleet, and stationing over 3,000 Beijing troops, there is still a surplus?" Mo Zibu continued to ask.

After hearing Mo Zibu's question, Zheng Jinshui showed a thoughtful look and said slowly:
"This is a huge expense. If we want to have a surplus, we will have to plunder it ruthlessly, which will definitely provoke resistance from local tyrants."

"Then how do the British squeeze money from the locals?" Reinstein thought about it and was a little confused, because he knew that the British would never do business at a loss.

"They are destroying India's traditional local economy, using India as a source of raw materials and a dumping market for industrial products, and harvesting India through the scissors gap between them."

The construction of capitalist theory had just begun at this time. Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations had only appeared four years ago and did not cause a widespread sensation.

Therefore, Mo Zibu's remarks and terms were still very advanced. Zheng Jinshui and Reinstein both took out their notebooks and wrote down the words while listening to Mo Zibu's explanation.

"To turn the Indian market into a source of raw materials and a dumping ground for goods, India's local self-sufficient economy must be destroyed first, and this destruction will be extremely bloody and long-term."

Like China, India, with its thousands of years of history, also has a local self-sufficient small-scale peasant economy. If it is not destroyed, it will also be detrimental to the dumping of goods.

Mo Zibu frowned and continued, saying that he felt a little disgusted by the way the British destroyed the small peasant economy of Bengal.

"The Bengal famine a decade ago, which killed tens of millions, was caused by the British destroying Bengal's self-sufficient economy.

They lured local people into growing poppies, then made opium and sold it to China to make a profit.

In the process of growing poppies, because the profits exceeded the traditional men farming and women weaving, a large number of local people followed suit, and the self-sufficient economy was completely destroyed.

Finally, due to the severe drought, the already scarce food production dropped drastically, causing a large number of people to starve to death.

After this, the British and the Zamindars who joined them controlled large tracts of land and began to grow cash crops for export to England, and then bought waste industrial products from England and dumped them in Bengal.

Mo Zibu explained, "Actually, the British are still just a few steps away from completing this cycle, but they're gradually improving it."

After saying that, Mo Zibu looked at Zheng Jinshui and asked, "A Shui, do you think we can continue with this British operation?"

Zheng Jinshui thought for a long time and shook his head. "Your Majesty has said that opium is a great scourge to the nation and that we must make great efforts to ban it in the future. This will mean that we will have one less tool to destroy the Indian practice of men farming and women weaving."

In addition, we already have this so-called raw material market, and it has been formed long ago.

There is also a market for the sale of manufactured products. We can purchase a large portion of them ourselves, and a large number of European countries are also purchasing them.

Therefore, we currently do not need India as a source of raw materials or a sales market. Instead, the key is to quickly cultivate our own market." Cardinal Liang Guozhi, who had been listening nearby, also understood a little. He stroked his beard and said, "From your Majesty's request to destroy the self-sufficient economy, I know this will not be easy to accomplish."

I'm afraid it will require a large number of officials to deeply participate and promote it. If we have so many talents in India, it would be better for us to handle the matter ourselves first."

Reinstein had been writing and drawing. He felt his mind was a little confused and needed to digest this knowledge urgently, so he asked directly:
"Your Majesty, are you going to watch the British acquire such a huge treasure? What plans do you have for India in the future?"

Mozibu picked up a stick and tapped the map on the wall. "I won't interfere too much with the kingdoms and princely states of the Indian subcontinent. I only need to control major cities like Calcutta and Shahjahanabad."

Reinstein was completely confused. What kind of arrangement was this?
"Your Majesty, controlling these big cities does not seem to be enough for you to control India."

"Yes, so I decided to leave it alone for now and let the British complete some important work for me." Mo Zibu said with a smile, as if he really didn't take India seriously.

But in fact, there are some things he cannot say to Reinstein. This guy may have to go back to Europe in the future, and he cannot talk to him in depth about the topic of India.

Besides, Mo Zibu still hadn't made up his mind.

The key issue that troubles him is that at this point in time, Chinese products are too strong and there is no shortage of raw material suppliers.

If we continue like this, what is likely to happen is that I want the Indian market, but I don't need India's raw materials.

This is different from the British rule over India in history. Britain needed India as a market for raw materials, so it could also share some of the benefits with the local nobles, so that the interests of the colonists and local powerful people overlapped.

But China has none of that. It is conceivable that this would have aroused great dissatisfaction among local powerful people from the very beginning, and the difficulty of ruling would have been hellish.

Unless Mozibu is willing to accept the entire Indian Brahmin and Kshatriya class as Han people and compensate them in this way, but Mozibu is unwilling to do so.

Therefore, his current general design is to simply remain unchanged and only occupy a few large cities in the future, build these cities into India's star cities, attract India's top wealthy people to come and consume, and then sell luxury goods to them.

For example, top-quality tea, clothing, accessories, beach sheep from the northwest, etc., tell a bunch of stories, and then sell them at thirty or fifty times the price.

Directly use top luxury goods to reap the top layer and part of the middle layer. As for the bottom layer, it depends on the situation and the intensity of the resistance. It is not even ruled out that we will help India establish a tariff system and then sit back and divide the money.

In terms of land, there are now a number of princely states in the northeastern part of India, such as the Ahom Kingdom and the Manipur Kingdom.

Their race is different from that of ordinary Indians. They will conquer these countries in the future and can form a firewall.

Sri Lanka, Maldives and Nepal will probably also be taken over, but not directly incorporated into the mainland.

"Okay, the problem in India is not what we need to solve right now. Let's get back to the problem in the southwest." Mo Zibu knocked on the table.

"How is the Jinyiwei's progress on the issue of Hailancha's rebellion?
I don't have much time to give him. If he still doesn't make a decision, then he will be buried with the Qing Dynasty."

Hailancha is currently the Chengdu General of the Qing Dynasty. In name, he seems to only control Sichuan, but in fact, he has a great say in the three provinces of Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan.

The reason why Mo Zibu was willing to surrender him was mainly because he wanted to concentrate his forces to prepare for the Northern Expedition and did not want to deploy a large number of troops in Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan.

At the same time, Hailancha was not a traditional bannerman. He was a Solon who had lived in the Outer Khingan Mountains for generations. It was not until the 1755th year of Emperor Qianlong's reign () that he was recruited as a Solon vest and left Heilongjiang.

He had no hatred towards the Han people, and his ancestors were not the Tartars who entered the Pass. Even from the perspective of his own ethnic group, he had reason to hate the Qing Dynasty because the Qing Dynasty had caused great harm to their tribe.

Because Hailancha's tribe had such a brave general, Emperor Qianlong captured him and severely punished him, almost wiping out the tribe.

Jinyiwei Commander Chen Xu came out to report: "According to the news received two months ago, Hailancha is still a little hesitant. His second son Ancheng and two daughters are still in Shuntian Prefecture."

Mo Zibu thought for a moment and said, "Give him one last chance. If he doesn't make a decision before February of next year, the army will march straight to Chengdu."

"In addition, Guizhou-born Green Camp generals Zhu Shedou and Wang Lian have contacted us on their own initiative, expressing their willingness to support the imperial army in entering Guizhou," Chen Xu continued.

Zhu Shedou and Wang Lian both came from the Green Camp in Guizhou and started their careers during the Qing Dynasty's invasion of Burma. Currently, they have been appointed by the Qing Dynasty to assist in organizing militia in Guizhou, and Zhu Shedou is even the governor of Guizhou.

Mo Zibu thought the name Zhu Shedou was familiar, but he couldn't recall where he had heard it. But since it sounded familiar, it might be a historical figure.

"Let's get in touch first. Guizhou is not like other provinces. There are many chieftains and the situation is complicated. As long as the price is not too high, I can give you a chance."

Zhu Shedou is quite famous in history. He participated in Fukangan's counterattack against Gurkhas. He was considered a famous general in the middle of the Qing Dynasty who rose step by step from the bottom of the Green Camp.

After briefly discussing the situation in southwestern Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan, Mo Zibu suddenly saw someone from the Palace Front Office hanging around at the door, so he ended the imperial meeting.

Because the Palace Front Office is currently responsible for the nobles from Thai Binh Province (Siam) who come to pay homage, my father-in-law Taksin is among them.

Now that the people from the Palace Front Department have arrived, maybe something has happened to Zheng Xin.

When he was summoned and questioned, it turned out that Zheng Xin had indeed arrived in Suzhou and refused to leave, saying that he wanted to become a monk in Hanshan Temple.

(End of this chapter)