The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 523: Changing Rice to Mulberry in Bengal

Just as Li Xianwen finally put down the rebellion in Shaanxi and Gansu, and Mo Zibu conferred the title of Master Cihang Pudu Guangji on his father-in-law Zheng Xin and headed for Gansu, the war in Calcutta also reached its final stage.

In fact, as early as October 1781, when the Northwest Rebellion had just been quelled and Li Xianwen had not yet set out for the expedition to Gansu, Chen Lian successfully defeated the main force of the British army in the east of Calcutta, but the progress afterwards became extremely slow.

Because the Chinese Expeditionary Force in India faced Fort William, which was ten times more difficult to capture than Fort Kinji.

Although the defenders in Old Fort William had been greatly weakened and the defending commander, Lieutenant General Giles Stibbert, was frightened, the attack was still very difficult.

Because the only attackable side of the entire Old William Fort is the east, the rest of the west is the Hooghly River, the north will be sandwiched by the cannons on the old and new William Forts, and the south is an undeveloped swamp wetland where the army cannot be deployed.

Old Fort William was built on a hill. If Jinji Fort dug a steep slope, then Old Fort William was almost dug into a cliff.

The slope is about 70 degrees and the distance is more than 100 meters, which is a hopeless distance.

At this distance, digging a tunnel is simply impossible. People can see it clearly from above. All they need to do is adjust the angle of the cannon. In Kolkata's humid geographical environment, the earthquake can even collapse your tunnel.

Therefore, the Indian Expeditionary Army could only use Marshal Vauban's old method, digging trenches to move the cannons to the bottom of the bastion, exchanging cannons for cannons and attrition warfare.

The only good thing is that the manpower in Kolkata is much more abundant than in Gansu, and they are all black Indians, so it is not a big deal to use them.

Back then, when the British East India Company was building the two Fort Williams, more than 2,000 Indian laborers were worked to death. Later, when they replaced rice with (opium), millions more starved to death.

Now, it is Chen Lian's turn to stop treating these Indians in the Ganges Delta as non-human beings.

In four months, the Indian Expeditionary Force captured more than 200,000 men and forced them to dig trenches under British artillery fire at the risk of their lives.

According to preliminary estimates, over 30,000 Indian soldiers were killed, exhausted, or died of illness in four months while digging trenches for the Indian Expeditionary Force.

this..

It is truly a world where only Barat is injured.

This is the original sin of backwardness. Anyone who comes can treat you as a slave and a beast of burden.

. . . .

Qin San woke up from the stuffiness. The weather in India was really uncomfortable, much hotter than his hometown in Guangxi.

Qin San coughed impatiently, and immediately footsteps were heard outside. Four women in colorful long skirts (sarees) walked in.

The leader was holding a large bowl in one hand, another was holding a wooden basin, and the remaining two were carrying a large wooden barrel.

Qin San opened his mouth arrogantly like a prince, and a spoonful of cool and refreshing mung bean soup was immediately fed into his mouth.

The mung beans were brought from Southeast Asia by the navy, and the sugar was high-quality from India. They were boiled in the early morning and kept in the well with ice water so that he could drink it when he woke up in the morning.

After drinking a few sips of mung bean soup, Qin San stood up. The women naturally took off his sweat-soaked pajamas and waited to wash them later.

After he took off his clothes, the three women each took a towel, wet it in the cold well water in the wooden barrel, and carefully wiped his body.

The remaining woman held an Indian-style fan made of palm leaves and slowly fanned him.

Comfortable!

The feeling of stuffiness and sweat all over his body disappeared at once, and Qin San couldn't help but let out a groan from his soul.

Afterwards, there was a dishonest guy who kept pinching and pinching Qin San's certain parts, and soon teased him to the point of erection.

Qin Sanbai glanced at the woman who was a bit dark but had a pretty appearance, and then made a faint hint.

The woman understood immediately. She put down the towel in her hand and pulled her long hair back into a ponytail.

"Hiss!" Qin San trembled all over, and his soul almost left his body.

He now had a strong desire. He wanted to teleport to his hometown, Pingnan County, Guangxi, immediately to let his friends in his hometown see this scene, which would surely make their eyes bloodshot with envy.

Although it's a bit dark, to be honest, the other person is so obedient and well-behaved to this extent, appearance is not very important. As long as she is not as ugly as Meimu Wuyan or Bo Gang, it doesn't matter.

Moreover, Qin San fell in love with a girl when they were singing in his hometown. The girl was very dark and looked down on him. She would rather elope with a pretty boy than look down on Qin San who vowed to marry him in a formal ceremony.

"Qin San, Qin San, with your background, the treatment you receive now is like a mouse falling into an oil jar. This is all thanks to His Majesty's grace!"

Qin San muttered, Well, I think Emperor Mo should be very happy too.

While the people under him were busy with the campaign of continuing the family line, they were still praising the emperor, which made our emperor Mo inexplicably feel a sense of participation.

Soon, the enjoyment ended and Qin San walked out of his house. The two Indian Expedition Army soldiers who lived with him in the village had also dressed.

Three poor men who came from poor backgrounds and were destined to remain bachelors in their hometown on the mainland actually imitated the old men in China, bowing to each other and greeting each other in a forced and elegant manner.

After a few pleasantries, the three of them went to a bamboo building in the village with ventilation on all sides and asked the people downstairs to bring up the food.

The meal was simple, with long pieces of Indian rice spread on three huge banana leaves.

The main course is curry butter chicken and a piece of fried fish, served with yellow, red and green curry side dishes with beans as the main ingredient.

Then there are a lot of vegetables, the old three: tomatoes, onions, and peppers, and drinks made with ingredients such as lemon, sugar, and strong liquor.

There wasn't much meat, but it was very popular with the soldiers and was perfectly suited to India's temperature and environment.

Historically, the upper castes in India were basically vegetarians. In addition to wanting to demonstrate their purity, there were also practical needs.

In India's weather, meat spoils very easily, and curry and chili can mask the shape and smell of spoilage to a great extent, making it impossible to tell whether the food is spoiled at the first time.

If you accidentally eat this, no matter whether you are a Brahmin or a Kshatriya, it is very likely to cost you your life in India, where the weather is hot and humid, bacteria can easily reproduce, and medical conditions are backward.

Eating vegetarian food can greatly avoid this situation. First, it is not easy to spoil, and second, even if it spoils, it will not be as lethal as meat.

The Indian Expeditionary Force soldiers who had just arrived didn't know much either. They just ate the Indian cattle they caught. As a result, over fifty of them died of diarrhea over the course of the year. Since then, everyone has become more docile and adopted the locals' eating habits. The three of them wolfed down their food until they were full. A sergeant from Guangnan, standing to Qin San's left, sighed and said,
"It's just too hot here in the summer, otherwise it would definitely be a great place. If I could be a master here for the rest of my life, it would be worth all the life-threatening experiences I've had in the past few years."

Qin San and another person agreed with the idea like chicks pecking at rice. The other person was a captain of the Zhenwu Army of the Beijing Camp and had more experience than Qin San and the other two.

"It's a pity that our country has not yet been unified. Your Majesty has already spent everything he has to spare to send 30,000 of us to fight India.

So there is nothing we can do about Fort William, old or new, and if we can't take Fort William, we can't live in peace as masters in India."

"Right!" Sergeant Guangnan, who had just lamented the heat in India, echoed loudly, "It's just that we have too few men. If there were a hundred thousand of them, I'd surround them and attack them day and night, twelve hours a day. Let's see how long they can hold out."

"The Tartars have wronged China!" The sergeant said, beating his chest more and more. "If there were no Tartars, and we Han people were united, India might have conquered China long ago."

Well, in Guangnan now, most people identify themselves as Han Chinese, but there are also some people secretly working below, claiming that Guangnan people, no, Annan people are not Han Chinese.

But compared with the benefits brought by being a Han Chinese, these propaganda are not worth mentioning at all. Only some families that suffered losses after returning to the central government still have some influence.

Among the three, only Qin San was an auxiliary soldier recruited from Nanyang, so he was the least courageous. After hearing the sergeant's words, he carefully touched his chin and asked hesitantly:

"I heard that His Majesty doesn't seem to have any intention of occupying India. He even forbids shipping Indians to Southeast Asia as serfs. In serious cases, those caught will be beheaded. If we still want to be masters in India, isn't that even more illegal?"

"You're stupid!" The captain rolled his eyes at Qin San. "We fought hard to conquer Nanyang and left it to future generations. Now we're sending so many Indian serfs there. They'll all be separated by a family, and after a few decades, how can we control them?"

If we can't control it, then is this Nanyang something we leave to our descendants, or is it something that was conquered by the Indians?
And His Majesty only said that we are not allowed to send Indians to Southeast Asia, he did not say that we are not allowed to be the masters here!"

Qin San's eyes lit up, but then dimmed again. "That won't work either. If His Majesty doesn't allow it, there won't be any great vassals here. We can manage a few villages like this, but we won't be able to manage a large one. Without great vassals, we can't stand firm."

The captain chuckled and said, "You are really stupid. Why do you want a great vassal? There are dozens of princely states in India. There are already many of them.

If you want to stay, then go find someone like Tipu Sultan, become his military instructor or something, let him reward you with a few villages, and then you help him fight.

Moreover, brother, I also want to tell you that not only can you serve as a vassal under the Indian princes, but you can also receive a salary from the Imperial Guards. All you have to do is help the Imperial Guards monitor these princes and keep them as obedient vassals of China.

what?
You think Qin San was shocked? No, he still didn't understand.

But the sergeant on the other side figured it out, "I see, it seems that Your Majesty wants to make these local states our vassals, just like the chieftains in the southwest and Lingnan in the past.

We, under the prestige of the Celestial Empire and receiving salaries from the imperial court, serve as trusted ministers to these chieftains, helping them suppress those below them and ensuring their loyalty to the imperial court."

"This is good, hehe, this is good!" The sergeant laughed foolishly. There were not many people at home and he didn't want to go back to the mainland.

Anyway, over the past year or so, he has already adapted to the climate here. If he can manage three or five villages here and govern three or five thousand people, that would be a life like a god.

The captain also chuckled and nodded, "That's the truth. Besides, India has a common caste system, so the fewer high-caste people there are, the more valuable they are.

But there are too many of us. If millions of people come all of a sudden, how can we still be considered a high caste?

If there were really hundreds of millions more Tang people becoming high castes, would the poor in India still have a way to survive? The status of us Tang people would definitely decline.

Therefore, the imperial court will certainly not allow too many people to come here to become masters, but for people like us who have made military achievements in India, it is definitely not difficult to come here. As long as we can bear the pain of homesickness, this place is indeed a paradise."

Qin San still didn't quite understand what he was saying, but he knew there was something to be gained from this, so he grinned and said, "Okay, okay! Then let's go back and work harder to take down Fort William."

Just as the three were enjoying themselves, a town called Alanbak, more than 70 kilometers away from them, had just been captured by the Indian Expeditionary Force.

This cavalry company, belonging to the Shindian Guards, brought out the entire family of Zamindar, a member of the British East India Company, from Alanbach, and then beheaded the men at the city gate.

Afterwards, the Guards Cavalry ordered the farmers of Alanbach to leave the city and eradicate all the poppies planted around it.

At the same time, he took out the stored food from the Zamindar family and distributed it to the lower castes, winning their thunderous cheers.

After doing all this, the cavalry major left fifty men and three hundred vassal soldiers stationed in the city of Alanbak, enjoying the same treatment as Qin San and his men. The rest of the cavalry continued to head to the next city where poppies had not yet been eradicated.

This action was proposed and designed by the staff officers around Chen Lian.

Didn't the British East India Company win over the local Zamindars? That's simple. I'll kill all of them, distribute the food to my subordinates, and then use a certain number of soldiers to control the vassal army and stabilize the area.

As for why the lower classes of India supported the Indian Expedition Army, it was very simple. Bengal was originally one of the places with the highest grain production in India, but growing grain was only good for the people, not for the British East India Company.

At the same time, in recent years, Britain has become increasingly unable to bear the huge trade deficit with China, but they do not have any products that can open up the Chinese market and can only continue to be sucked away by silver.

So in order to reverse this trend, these guys found poppies and reduced the trade deficit by trafficking drugs to China.

As for growing poppies, the British would naturally not be suitable for a place the size of a booger, so these guys forced the growth of poppies in Bengal, doing the Indian version of replacing rice with (poppy).

The zamindars under them were also very supportive, because they found that after growing poppies, not only did their income increase, but they also had an additional means to control the farmers.

How to judge it specifically?
It's very simple. After a large number of rice fields were converted to grow poppies, the supply of food soon became tight, and these Zamindars planted food in areas that they could strictly control.

In this way, no matter how much poppy the farmers planted or how much money they earned, they could not produce food. If they wanted food, they had to buy it from Master Zamindar.

If you listen to me, I'll sell it to you at a low price.

If you don't obey, I will let your whole family starve to death.

The great famine in Bangladesh eight or nine years ago was caused by them going too far. The severe drought reduced the yield of the small amount of rice planted in the fields and there was not enough food to eat. As a result, millions of people starved to death.

So the Indian expeditionary force retaliated by killing all the East India Company's Zamindars, eradicating the poppy crops, and allowing Indian farmers to continue growing crops.

At the same time, the grain that Zamindar had hoarded and sold at high prices was distributed to them.

How could such an operation fail to gain popularity among the people? The Indian farmers were very happy. This was also the reason why, even though so many people died in the battle of Old Fort William, the Indian farmers still supported the Indian Expedition Army.

And with the support of a large number of Indian farmers, Chen Lian and his more than 30,000 people were able to live such a comfortable life.

Now, it depends on whether the Indian Expeditionary Force can’t stand the high temperature first, or the British in the old and new Fort William can’t stand it first and their foundations are uprooted.

(End of this chapter)