The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 548 Assam - Tea Tragedy
Xining Prefecture, Gansu.

Wang Wubing stood at the east gate, touched his beautiful beard on his chin, and smiled with satisfaction.

His beard, now fully grown, was quite thick and beautiful.

The reason why he grew a beard to such an exaggerated degree was because he once heard the emperor say after getting drunk, "You are my King's Beard!"

So Wang Wubing wrote down these words and began to grow his beard continuously until today, when he finally achieved perfection.

However, the Xining Prefecture City behind him can hardly be called a big city.

The city walls were so riddled with holes that the gates were useless, allowing people to enter and exit from all directions.

The trenches outside the city were dug in a mess, like a large construction site full of mud.

A large number of houses in the city collapsed, and temples, not only Muslim temples but also Buddhist temples were basically destroyed, even Ta'er Monastery was affected.

The Battle of Xining was definitely not the most tragic in the history of the Xing Tang Army, but in terms of cruelty, it was probably ranked among the top three, or even the first.

The hopeless rebel army fought desperately to defend the city. The White Lotus Sect believers and the Qinghai Eleuth Mongols, who were eager to enter the city and occupy the rich Hehuang Valley, were also bloodthirsty.

The result was naturally that the attacking side lost their minds and used too much force, resulting in a lot of casualties.

Among them, two to three hundred people were killed in the battles where they fired bows and muskets at each other.

You have to know that the population of White Lotus Sect believers and Qinghai Eleuth Mongols who came to Xining was not large, which meant that almost everyone had relatives who were killed or injured.

The hatred was so deep that after the city was captured, even though Wang Wubing ordered the troops to pay attention to military discipline several times, they could not stop.

"Alas, these Huiliang troops are still too brutal. I will submit a proposal to the Ministry of War and the Five Military Commandery to send all the Huiliang army leaders who committed the most murders this time to Shuntian Prefecture for training!"

Wang Wubing spoke righteously, and the staff adjutant below began to write down everything, but the adjutant knew very well that the general was speaking in a sarcastic way.

Because these Huiliang army leaders, both big and small, who were not only capable of killing their own fellow believers and were very cruel, and had pledged their allegiance to the imperial court, were the ones who could be allowed to go to the Western Regions and Hezhong without worry.

. . . .

Mao Xiangxin refused the attempt to win him over again, and he almost couldn't hold on.

Because the one who tried to win him over was the emperor's father-in-law, Zheng Wangfo, the de facto Minister of Qinghai.

Zheng Wangfo hoped that he could stay in Xining Prefecture, because although the city of Xining Prefecture had been taken, there were still many rebel troops in the entire Hehuang Valley.

Taking into account the complex terrain and extremely poor transportation conditions here, it is estimated that this small-scale clearing and resettlement war will take at least five to eight years, so officers like Mao Xiangxin are very needed to stay.

Zheng Wangfo even promised that if he was willing to believe in the White Lotus Sect, he would give him a town and let him manage the White Lotus Sect temple in the town.

But Mao Xiangxin refused. He was like a possessed person. The first time he heard the name Andijan, he always felt very familiar, as if there was some connection between him and the city.

This made many people laugh at him, saying that in his previous life he must have been a Han soldier who followed General Li Guangli to war and died in the Fergana Basin.

Just after Mao Xiangxin rejected Zheng Xin's recruitment, the leaders of the twenty-four banners of the Left and Right Wings of the Eleuths in Qinghai, including the Shunzhi Kings, Zhongshun Marquises, etc., went to the Ta'er Temple, which was relatively well preserved and where Zheng Xin was staying, to pay homage according to the highest rituals of the Yellow Sect.

A large number of Mongols also began to appear on the streets of Xining Prefecture, occupying the houses left behind by the White Lotus Sect believers who followed Zheng Xin.

Except for the middle and upper fields distributed to the White Lotus Sect believers, the rest of the land in the Hehuang Valley will be reallocated to them for pasture.

It can be said that after the rebellious army was wiped out, the White Lotus Sect believers and the Qinghai Eleuth Mongols gained a lot of benefits. Previously, these Mongols were not qualified to roam in the Hehuang Valley.

Therefore, in the past few months, when you went to the Hehuang Valley and even around the West Sea (Qinghai Lake), all you heard were Mongolians praising the great emperor and regarding Pudu Cihang Guangji Zun Buddha, commonly known as Zheng Wang Buddha, as the supreme leader of the Yellow Sect in Qinghai.

From now on, the territory of the Eleuths in Qinghai will basically be managed by Zheng Xin. Once Zheng Xin stabilizes this area, the opportunity to march into Resa will be ripe.

. . . .

At the beginning of the twelfth lunar month, Mo Zibu received battle reports from Chen Lian in India and Wang Wubing in Xining in Nanjing Yingtian Prefecture.

At the same time, Sushifa, the king of the Ahom Kingdom, also rushed to Nanjing with a tribute delegation of more than 80 people.

"The chaos in the northwest is finally over. Let Wang Wubing stay in Xining for a while longer, and then prepare to march into the Zhun tribe in northern Xinjiang.

The former Qing officials and soldiers have been holding out in the Zunghars for a long time, and we must let them know that the country and the court still remember them."

Mo Zibu said to the officials around him that it was still too difficult to project power to the Western Regions, so they could only rescue the Junggar tribe first.

Since the Hui people have already joined forces with the Kokand Khanate in Fergana, let them rot for a while. When the imperial court can spare some strength and organize a regular army of more than 50,000, we will go to the Hui people and kill all the rebels and the Kokand Khanate together.

"It's not difficult to pacify the Dzungar tribe. Your Majesty only needs to issue orders to the Mongols of the Kobdo Banners in the western desert, as well as the new and old Torghut Banners that roamed the former Dzungar territory, and have them serve as guides for the imperial army.

"The Junggar and Hui tribes have always been plagued by rebellions, but the root cause is a problem of morale, not combat effectiveness. Their combat power has never been high," Wu Shixiu, deputy commander of the Five Military Commandery, said to Mo Zibu.

It’s not just not high, it’s the king of floors!

Mo Zibu complained in his heart, and then said to Wu Shixiu: "We want to control the Mongols from the Zunghar and Kobdo as if they were our own arms, but that's not possible yet.

Let’s wait until next year, when all the tribes gather in Chengde for a meeting, and then we can use them with confidence.”

While talking about the affairs of the Northwest and the Western Regions, Mo Zibu said nothing about the affairs of India. All he could say were simple issues, and the rewards and so on had already been decided.

The only thing he is reluctant to talk about now is the issue of opioids.

There are two difficulties with this thing. One is that people nowadays don't realize how terrifying it is. If Mo Zibu just relies on one person to force things to happen, not many people will believe it, and it will be difficult to stop others from pretending to obey it but actually disobeying it.

The second difficulty is that although opioids are terrible, it also depends on how you use them.

In the development and application of modern medicine and even modern chemistry and biology, the study of opium and its extracts is very important.

It can even be said that without research on this kind of thing, modern medical pharmaceutical engineering would not have been able to develop so rapidly.

Because apart from being addictive, this thing can actually relieve pain, stop diarrhea, and treat certain mental illnesses, and the effect is very good.

There are certain reasons why it is regarded as a panacea in Europe today.

After much deliberation, Mo Zibu realized the only thing he could do was to officially ban this kind of thing, strictly prohibiting the existence of opium dens. The rest was to publicize the harmful effects and trust in the wisdom of future generations.

Because in order to ban this kind of thing, we must let the public see its harm. After they understand the harm, we can guide people to stay away from this thing, and only then will we be successful.

At present, opium extract is still called longevity paste, and even the slightly derogatory name of opium has not been used. In the eyes of many people, it is considered a good medicine.

When people's understanding of it is still very limited, relying solely on Mo Zibu to search for enemies in the void is bound to be ineffective.

"Lin Tong, go down and gather the leaders of the Tea Union, all the major tea merchants, and officials from the prefectures and counties of the major tea-producing areas to Yingtian Prefecture for a meeting.

"Let them finalize the grading standards as soon as possible, and don't raise the prices of low- and medium-grade tea for export too high. If the prices are too high, we're afraid that problems like those with silk and porcelain will arise again."

Among the three traditional Chinese exports, the sales of silk and porcelain are actually declining.

The silk and porcelain that are still selling well now are all high-end and top-end products, while the mid- and low-end products are basically produced by themselves in Europe.

The reason is that in the past few hundred years, the West could not sustain the huge trade deficit and could not tolerate the high prices of porcelain and silk, which forced out a large number of European substitutes.

Tea will also face this situation. Most of the tea consumed in Europe is basically in the Kingdom of England.

This time, England was severely weakened and the people were extremely poor. If the price of tea continued to be high, they would probably not be able to afford it.

"Tell those tea vendors that their appearance is too ugly and the prices are too high, which will drive people away. Tea is not rice or flour, and people can choose not to drink it.

The low- and mid-range quality products should be sold at low prices and in high volumes, so as to occupy the market first and develop a bigger market for tea drinking. They should do business in a legitimate way. Don’t they feel guilty about selling the fucking low-grade broken tea leaves as if they were treasures?
Cocoa drinks are becoming popular in Europe today, but not many people drink tea in France, Prussia, the Habsburg Monarchy, etc.

Therefore, the best way is to make appropriate concessions to encourage more people to accept tea and thus prevent the rapid spread of cocoa."

The reason why Mo Zibu mentioned this was that he remembered it when he saw Su Xifa, the King of Ahom, kneeling outside the palace.

The general area of the Ahom Kingdom is the Assam state in later India. Historically, this is the place where the British used to grow tea to avoid having to import all the tea from China.

"Chen Xu, you must have the Northern Pacification Office increase patrols in the Strait of Malacca. Do not allow any tea plant or any experienced tea grower to cross the strait. Anyone who dares to do this will be severely punished if caught.

No matter who he is, even if he is a royal relative, I will arrest him. Whoever destroys the tea industry, I will chop off his head!"

After arranging foreign trade, especially tea matters, Mozibu announced the summons to King Ahom's Suxifa.

The Ahom Kingdom was established around the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, and its people migrated from Yunnan to what was later known as northeastern India.

It is said that their leader was named Sukafa, which can also be transliterated as Sukapa with a Southeast Asian flavor. Of course, the accurate translation should be Sikefa, which was officially used in the Yuan and Ming dynasties.

That’s right, this Sukafa was a member of the Luchuan Tusi Si clan who once dominated the border area.

Some say that he is the uncle or son of Sikefa, the great leader of Luchuan, and the two have only slightly different names.

By the way, the Dai people have really traveled far and wide. They have spread all over half of Southeast Asia from Yunnan, and there is even a group of them in the northeast corner of India.

Now, the reason why this kingdom is still called Ahom instead of Assam is because they have not yet been fully Indianized.

The "Hong" in the name of this country should actually be translated as "Han". In the Zhuang and Tai languages of the Sino-Tibetan language family, it means home.

The "Sa" in Assam is actually the "Shan" in Shan State, which is a name used by outsiders to refer to the Dai people.

From Ahom to Assam, this branch of Dai people accepted the name given to them by Indians, which is a sign of gradual Indianization.

Even Ahom and Assamese are not the same language. The former belongs to the Zhuang-Dong language family of the Sino-Tibetan language family, while the latter belongs to the Indo-Iranian language family of the Indo-European language family. They are very close to Bengali and are close relatives.

"I, Su Xifa, the Lord of Mengdun Shenhan, kowtow to His Majesty, the Great Emperor of Middle-earth. Long live His Majesty!"

Mengdun Shenhan is the name given by the Ahom people to the Ahom Kingdom, which means a rich country full of gold. Ahom is actually the self-name of their ethnic group rather than the name of a country.

Mo Zibu looked at Su Xifa, who looked no different from a Dai person. At this time, the Ahom Kingdom had reached its final stage.

The lower class citizens have been completely Indianized by Hinduism, and only less than 10% of the upper class Ahoms remain in a ruling position.

"How are you Ahom people living? How many of you still remember your homeland?" Mo Zibu asked slowly.

This Su Xifa can also speak Ahom, a branch of Zhuang-Tai language, while Mo Zibu can speak Siamese and Khmer, both of which are 60% to 70% intelligible with Tai language, so they can barely communicate.

When Su Xifa heard Mo Zibu speaking to him in a language close to Dai, an expression of uncontrollable surprise suddenly appeared on his face, and he knocked his head to the ground with a bang.

"Your Majesty, Ahom is a fertile land where rice, tea and silkworms can be grown. It is a paradise for us Ahom people.

But now, a large number of Bengalis have migrated from the southwest. They are unwilling to be subjects, unwilling to be the people of Ahom, and are brewing a rebellion. Please, Emperor, save Ahom."

"What did you say? Tea? You Ahom can grow tea!"

Mo Zibu had just instructed that not a single tea seed should be allowed to leave Malacca when he heard news about tea again.

Su Xifa had no idea how serious this matter was. He was a little frightened and stammered in response, "Yes, Your Majesty. Although we Ahom people don't like to drink it very much, the Qingbo people do. They grow a lot of tea."

"Chingpho?" Mo Zibu asked Su Xifa to write it in Latin letters, and then slowly muttered it twice, Qingbo, Qingbo.

Damn! Could this be Jingpo?
Mo Zibu guessed right. It was not only the people who called themselves Ahom who went west with the Dai people. They also brought several Jingpo tribes with them and went to northeastern India.

Moreover, historically, the reason why the British were able to grow tea in Assam was not because they stole tea seeds and tea farmers from Fujian, but because the Jingpo people in Assam were already growing tea here.

They were eventually conquered by the British and forced by the British East India Company to become tea-growing serfs serving them.

Therefore, the so-called Assam milk tea should be called Jingpo milk tea.

Mo Zibu quickly realized that this was a loophole that he had not blocked, but fortunately the British had not discovered it. Otherwise, this tea war involving such a large trade volume would have been enough to be fought.

However, Mo Zibu suppressed the urge to express his opinion immediately. He needed to get more detailed information from his nephew Mo Gongbai, who was in charge of the Governor-General's Burmese troops, and the garrison officers sent to Ahom during the Indian expedition before he could make a decision.

Just at this time, the eunuch came to report that Zheng Jinshui had sent a memorial from Japan, and Ye Mingyue's plan to recover Ryukyu had also arrived.

Mo Zibu immediately asked Su Xifa to go down and rest, and he hurried away on the pretext of dealing with Japanese military affairs.

(End of this chapter)