Chapter 197 Ming East India Company [Please order the full version]
"Are these people so poor that they eat cow shit on the street?"
Tang He saw some unclaimed cows walking struttingly on the street. Occasionally, a puddle or two of cow dung would be dropped, which would attract many local Bangladeshi people to rob them.
Tang He's brain directly felt like he was hit by a 10,000-point blow.
He and Zhu Chongba had been herding cattle together since childhood. Even when they were poor, they never thought of grabbing cow dung to eat.
Facing Tang He's shock, Maru Ali, who was accompanying him, was not surprised.
This well-informed Persian businessman had already traveled back and forth on the Indian continent many times when he went to the Ming Dynasty.
Maru Ali was not surprised by these Bengalis looting cow dung.
"General, in the eyes of these people, cows are sacred objects, especially these pure-colored cows. During every festival, they are covered with red flowers and worshiped in temples. Now ordinary people can
In fact, the purpose of grabbing cow dung is not to eat it, but to smear the cow dung on oneself or in the yard of the home, hoping to bring blessings to oneself!" As a not very devout Tianfang believer, Maru Ali said about
These Indian natives are also quite disdainful.
"Oh, it turns out you're not eating cow dung. Let me tell you, how could someone be so stupid!" Tang He looked at the dark-skinned natives who grabbed a handful of cow dung, and finally felt better, at least not as disgusting as before.
Unexpectedly, Maru Ali smiled and just listened to him continue.
"General, they won't eat cow dung, but they will drink cow urine!"
Tang He's eyes widened immediately, as if he had heard something very shocking.
"What did you say? Drinking cow urine? Are these people crazy?"
As a veteran cow herder, Tang He knows the strong smell of cow urine.
He really couldn't imagine how any normal person would think of drinking cow urine.
As if to confirm what Maru Ali said, on the busy street, the white Indian sacred cow suddenly spurted out a stream of yellow liquid from between its hind legs.
The surrounding Indian natives all seemed to be witnessing a great joyous event. They all used their bowls, cups, or hands to drink the hot cow urine.
They drank the cow urine like sweet wine with happy faces.
After drinking the cow urine, these Indian natives began to worship the sacred cow one by one.
After the white sacred cow finished its feeding, it nibbled on a fruit on the side of the road, and then continued walking forward leisurely.
Tang He felt his stomach churn when he saw the disgusting scene in front of him.
If I hadn't had time to eat anything, I would have vomited it out long ago.
"These barbarians are really disgusting!" Tang He said with a pale face.
Maru Ali is indeed not surprised, "These Brahmans believe in some weird things, and sooner or later they will be punished by God!"
Tang He originally planned to taste the local delicacies outside New Dali City, but when he saw a few vendors who had just drank cow urine, he didn't even wash his hands stained with cow urine, so he went back to making noodles.
Making pancakes, soup and almost throwing up again.
"Let's go! Let's go! I won't eat, I won't eat!"
Tang He turned around and ran away without looking back. He would rather go back to the boat to chew on those hard biscuits and dried meat than eat the cow urine delicacies made by the locals.
Tang He had just returned to the dock outside the city when suddenly a group of officials from New Dali City ran over.
It turned out that they were people sent by Duan Gong. Soon after, Duan Gong led several of his bodyguards and Xinfu generals to the dock in person to greet Duke Xin of the Ming Dynasty and General Tang He of Zhennan.
"The last general, Duan Gong, pays homage to Lord Xinguo!"
Duan Kengfeng led his subordinates to salute respectfully.
According to the canonization of the Ming Dynasty, Tang He was the Duke of the country and Duan Gong was the Marquis. Naturally, he had to pay great tribute to Tang He.
However, Tang He was a well-known loyal person, and he felt quite friendly when meeting Duan Gong, a vassal of the Ming Dynasty, in a foreign country.
Although Duan Gong was the Dali general manager of the Mongolian and Yuan Dynasty before, but now the Mongols have beaten him to the point where he no longer recognizes his own father, and Duan Gong's loyalty has been wiped out.
Especially now that Duan Guangfa has led 10,000 people to establish a foothold in Bangladesh, the only person who can provide him with support is the Ming Dynasty.
Under Duan Gong's repeated invitations, Tang He finally agreed to the invitation and led the Ming soldiers into the new Dali City.
The soldiers of the Ming Dynasty, who had been wandering at sea for several months, were immediately shocked by Duan Gong's generosity as soon as they entered the city.
Thousands of Ming soldiers who entered the city were each served with sweet wine, bacon and rice. Not only that, almost every soldier was served by a young indigenous woman with slightly dark skin.
These soldiers of the Ming Dynasty were already in their prime, and they had been at sea for such a long time. Naturally, they were not honest with these young women with exotic characteristics.
Unexpectedly, these young Indian native women, not only did not show panic or fear when the Ming Dynasty soldiers were teasing them, but they all showed unconcealable joy on their faces.
In this way, almost all the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty were emboldened.
The impact of thunder from the sky and fire from the ground could be heard from time to time in New Dali City.
There were so many Ming officers and soldiers led by Tang He into the city, so there was no need to worry about Duan Gong having any treason and sneak attack intentions.
After all, if there was a fight, Duan Gong's 10,000 people would probably not be a match for Tang He's thousands of people.
What's more, Duan Gong had already regarded the Ming Dynasty as his last resort, so how could he launch a sneak attack on Tang He's Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers?
So these thousands of Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers relaxed unscrupulously in New Dali City.
It's just that unlike these soldiers who drank and ate freely, Tang He was totally incapable of treating Duan Gong to the delicious food and wine he entertained.
This was not about soup and not being hungry, but Tang He saw that the cooks who made these fine wines and delicacies were all native Indians.
This made him think of the natives he saw on the street drinking cow urine.
When he thought of the table full of delicacies, all made with hands that had received cow urine, Tang He felt extremely disgusted.
Tang He was not in the mood to eat or drink, so he directly changed the topic to the topic.
During his voyage to the West, one of the important tasks was assigned to him by Zhu Han.
"I have brought you one hundred light artillery pieces, five thousand kilograms of gunpowder, a thousand new muskets, and a thousand sets of brand new plate armor on the order of His Majesty the King of England!"
Duan Gong and his generals were all surprised when they heard the weapons and equipment mentioned by Tang He.
They had long thought that the Ming court would reward them with some weapons, but they never expected that there would be so many.
"A hundred cannons?"
"A thousand sets of iron plate armor?"
"A thousand muskets?"
These Dali generals under Duan Gong are no longer the country bumpkins who came from Yunnan back then.
After they obtained some weapons from Ming Dynasty merchant ships, they had a great experience beating up the Indian natives.
In front of the Dali army with artillery, it often only takes one or two rounds of shelling to make thousands of Indian indigenous troops collapse and flee.
And those indigenous warriors wearing heavy armor and riding tall horses were completely like paper when faced with muskets and artillery.
Duan Quan led his men to fight in Bangladesh for more than a year, and only three hundred soldiers died on the battlefield.
Now that they have received these weapons and armors as rewards from the Ming Dynasty, the Dali army of that period is even more able to march sideways in the local area.
"The favor of the imperial court is as great as a mountain. Duan Gong is willing to break his body to pieces and beat His Majesty and His Royal Highness the King!"
Duan Gong quickly expressed his loyalty to Tang He.
"However, so much equipment is not given to you in vain. His Royal Highness has said that in the future, the Ming Dynasty will set up a business here in New Dali to specialize in purchasing local products. You must not only provide protection, but also be tax-free!"
Tang He said immediately.
Of course Duan Gong accepted such a small request without hesitation.
For Duan Gong, he wished that the Ming Dynasty would set up trading houses here in New Dali. This would not only make it easier to sell products from the Bengal region, but also make it easier to purchase weapons and equipment from the Ming Dynasty through these trading houses.
"Marshal Tang, is this business name mentioned by His Royal Highness the Qihai Company?" Duan Gong asked from the side.
Although he was far away in Bangladesh, Duan Gong knew from the merchants of the Ming Dynasty who passed by that the Qihai Trading Company in the Ming Dynasty was the largest shop in the world.
The chief shopkeeper of Qihai Trading Company is called Li Zhen, who is the brother-in-law of Zhu Yuanzhang, the Hongwu Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and a proper royal relative.
If the Seven Seas Company with such a strong background can do business here in Bangladesh, it will definitely be able to provide very strong support to Duan Gong.
What kind of artillery, muskets or armor is not a problem at all for Nanami Company, which has a profound background.
"It's not Qihai Trading Company, but a newly established trading company." Tang He shook his head and said.
"Oh? I don't know what it is about?" Duan Gong asked quickly.
At this time, stimulated by the soup and the already hot Indian singing and dancing, I drank several large glasses of healthy and hygienic sugarcane wine.
As the saying goes, after three rounds of drinking, Duan Gong and Tang He became casually familiar with each other.
"His Royal Highness the King of England has said that the Ming Dynasty's East India Company will be established here in New Dali!" Tang He said with a smile.
"East India Company?" Duan Gong pondered over this novel name that he had never heard of before.
Duan Gong learned about the word India from a map of the Ming Dynasty of unknown origin.
On that incomplete map, the land where Duan Gong was located was marked as India.
Duan Gong thought, maybe it's because I belong to India in the east, so it's called the East India Company.
"This East India Company was established by His Majesty the King himself, and its main business is spices, gems and slaves!" Tang He began to explain to Duan Gong the future industrial plans of the East India Company.
When Zhu Han set up the East India Company, it was definitely not just a bad idea, but he wanted to use the East India Company to influence Duan Gong's power.
If the rich Indian continent were not in the hands of Ming Dynasty, then it would be meaningless no matter how rich he was.
Especially now that we are expanding our territory everywhere, the demand for money and population is endless.
With the help of the East India Company, the wealth and population of the Indian continent can be used by the Ming Dynasty. That is the real way to strengthen a country.
"In this case, I will definitely obey the orders of His Royal Highness in the future, and help protect the East India Company thoroughly when the time comes. I will definitely help the Ming Dynasty promote enlightenment and change customs here!" Duan Gong once again couldn't wait to express his loyalty.
But his words made Tang He shake his head.
"No, no, no!" Tang He said quickly.
Duan Gongduan was confused. He didn't understand why Tang He reacted like this.
"Can you please give me some advice from Brother Tang?" Duan Gong asked quickly.
Tang He took a sip of the sugar cane wine in front of him and then continued.
"When I came this time, I also brought a command from His Majesty the King of England. You wrote a letter to the court before, saying that you wanted to promote education and change customs in the local area. His Majesty the King of England feels that this matter is deeply inappropriate!"
"Ah? Brother Tang, what's wrong with this? What did His Highness say?"
Duan Gong really couldn't figure out what was wrong with what he did.
According to the imperial edict promulgated by Emperor Hongwu of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty not only wanted to pacify the lands of all parties, but also educate the people everywhere, change customs, and restore the glory of the Han and Tang Dynasties.
Duan Gong didn't know what he said wrong.
"To be honest, I didn't understand it very well before I came here, but when I came to your new city of Dali, I finally understood the hard work put in by His Royal Highness!" Tang He laughed.
"Brother Tang, please speak clearly!" Duan Gong asked.
It turned out that Duan Gong said in his last memorial that he wanted to change customs and civilize the local indigenous people in India. This incident frightened Zhu Han.
What is popular in mainland India today is Hinduism, which was developed from Brahmanism. The caste system, layer by layer, tightly restricts people from all walks of life.
This restriction is not only physical, but also mental control.
Even in the most difficult days, under the anesthesia of this religion, people can still deal with it calmly.
After all, in this religious environment, the next life is far more important than this life.
Since you have been suffering as a cow or a horse in this life, if you don't practice well as soon as possible, you will continue to suffer as a cow or a horse in the next life.
As for how to practice well, it is naturally to be a law-abiding and obedient citizen according to the teachings of Hinduism.
Whatever the upper caste nobles ask you to do, you must do it.
Otherwise, these high-caste aristocratic men have the privilege of communicating with God, and can easily make these low-income people continue to be low-income people in the next life.
Therefore, Zhu Han feels that the caste system in India must be well maintained.
Only by maintaining the caste system in India can the Han people of the Ming Dynasty be able to be superiors in India, and they can do so with great confidence.
As long as all Indians believe in the caste system, India's Chen Sheng, Huang Chao and Zhang Jiao will not be born.
"His Royal Highness, you can see thousands of miles away, I really admire you!" Duan Gong couldn't help but marveled after hearing this explanation.
The status of the more than 10,000 Dali people led by Duan Gong in India is equivalent to that of Brahmins. As long as they can win over those Brahmins and Kshatriya warriors, the tens of millions of civilians and untouchables will have to be slaves for life.
"His Royal Highness the King also said that this sexual system must not only be maintained, but also prevent these natives from getting together. Once they unite one day, even if they don't cause any trouble, it will make it impossible for the Ming Dynasty to maintain its rule here."
What he said was a bit unclear. Duan Gong couldn't figure it out for a moment. What did it mean?
Logically speaking, as long as the caste system can maintain India, tens of millions of civilians on the mainland will always be civilians. How could they be able to threaten the rule of the Ming Dynasty?