I

The rainy season is coming.

Zhao Kuanglui stood on the palace balcony and used a telescope to observe the temple in the distance.

The Brihotin Shivara Temple, meaning "the great lord", is dedicated to Shiva. There is a huge tower in the temple, 63.41 meters high, which is the third tallest building in India.

Both the temple and the temple tower are built of large pieces of granite without using any adhesive. Over the past hundreds of years, it has experienced many earthquakes, but not only has it not collapsed, there are no obvious cracks in the wall. The top of the temple tower is carved from two complete pieces of granite. Each piece of granite weighs 30 tons. It is difficult to imagine how it was transported up there in the first place.

Due to the open square inside the temple, it was historically requisitioned by the British army as a military camp and used for more than 30 years before it was returned to the King of Tanjore.

After taking back the temple, King Serphoji II immediately cleaned the temple and held a grand celebration ceremony.

At that time, the British Viscount of Valencia happened to be traveling to Tanjore and was invited by the king to attend the celebration.

The Viscount of Valencia was a friend of the king. He expressed doubts in his notes: "This king was forced into exile since he was a child and was raised by British missionaries. He was familiar with Western literature and was proficient in European languages. He was good at philosophy, poetry, and mathematics. , has extraordinary talent in dancing. If he was in Europe, he must be an excellent scholar, how could he become a superstitious person in India?"

The Viscount of Valencia concluded from this: This ignorant land conquered by civilization has never given birth to any flower of civilization worthy of careful study and praise!

Zhao Kuangluo put down his telescope and said: "The Chola Dynasty hundreds of years ago was indeed quite powerful. It not only dug irrigation canals along the river, but also built such majestic temples and towers."

Wang Chongxi, who was standing nearby, said: "It was like this hundreds of years ago, and it will still be like this hundreds of years later. It can even be said that it has been going backwards. I heard that the irrigation canals along both sides of the river have not been repaired for hundreds of years. Only serious damage has occurred. , each village community will repair its own section. Even if repairing a small section of the irrigation canal can be completed in two or three months, it will still be delayed for several years."

Zhao Kuangluo said: "I think it is due to the caste system. The nobles in each village do not regard the land as private property, but only manage it for the king. Their thoughts are used to line their own pockets. The common people are even less perseverant, no one wants to Repair the public property.”

"But during the Chola Dynasty, there was also a caste system, and the irrigation canals were built at that time." Ma Jue said.

Wang Chongxi said: "It's because the imperial court has lost its ambition. Anyway, the life is getting better, so it doesn't bother to build water conservancy projects. In fact, it is easy for village communities under the well-field system to collect corvee, and they don't even need to pay wages. All they have to do is provide some food."

Zhao Kuangluo nodded and said, "Indeed."

The dilapidated water conservancy facilities here in Tanjore, in another time and space, had to wait until the more than a thousand remnants of the Green Sect seized power and established the country before they could be repaired. Regardless of high or low, the whole village was demoted as a slave and then whipped to repair the water conservancy.

Guan Xian said: "It will rain in a few days. Tamil officials said that after the first light rain, it is time to sow summer rice and wait for the rainy season. In the real rainy season, unless heavy water floods the farmland, there will be no heading period." I will topdress again. It’s easy to grow rice here, not like the exhausting work in Tianchao.”

Wang Chongxi said: "So, the farmers here are too idle. And during the slack period, the diligent ones can only do part-time work, while the lazy ones lie at home every day and only come out when the sun comes out. Farmers here are farmers and cannot do anything Carpentry, because carpentry is another minor caste occupation.”

Ma Ju said with a smile: "If there are more and more Han people in the future and there are not enough acres of land to divide, will Han farmers become carpenters and bricklayers? If they become carpenters and bricklayers, will the indigenous people of these two castes feel that the Han people have robbed them? Job?"

"Definitely," Zhao Kuangluo nodded. "As the number of Han people increases, conflicts will inevitably intensify. Maybe the indigenous people will unite to rebel."

Wang Chongxi said: "Your Highness, I do have a way."

"Tell me about it," Zhao Kuangluo said.

Wang Chongxi said: "Expand steadily bit by bit. If the expansion is too fast, all the Han people will become big landowners, and they may not have much enthusiasm. If the expansion is too slow, the Han people at the bottom will be resentful and conflicts with the indigenous people will intensify. Slowly, the Han people will become resentful. Expanding out, leaving hope for the lower-class Han people, allowing the lower-class Han people to fight with the indigenous people, but not out of the control of the imperial court. As the land is developed and the number of Han people increases, the conflict between the Han people and the indigenous people will intensify for a longer period of time."

Zhao Kuangluo smiled and said: "It's just cooking fresh food and controlling the heat."

He had already sent a ship back to fetch Princess Jin from Nanjing.

Since they live in school all year round, the princess and her concubine don't have many children, and currently they only have one son and one daughter. The two children are temporarily staying in Nanjing. They must at least graduate from middle school and receive sufficient education before coming to India.

In addition, he visited Babaiyao, where his grandfather lived, once when he went south.

Grandpa was in good spirits and promised to help Zhao Kuanglui recruit people. The Yao people and local Han people who were willing to go to sea would register with the government and would come to Taiwu City by boat this time. Maybe not one or two thousand, but a few hundred people should be able to make it together. After all, there are more mountainous areas over there.

There were too few Han people under Zhao Kuangli, including civil servants, military generals, technicians, infantry, cavalry, navy...all counted, there were only more than 2,000. Some will bring their family members, but most of them are wives and children. Parents and brothers are rarely willing to go to sea.

Anyway, when these ships come back, it will be good if the number of Han people can reach 4,000.

This was unprecedented in India, take the founding emperor of the Mughals as an example. This man was beaten into dogs in Central Asia. He came to India with more than a thousand remnant soldiers, and subdued some Afghans on the way. The total number of troops would not exceed 3,000.

Three thousand troops were the initial wealth of the Mughal Empire, and they belonged to different races. When they came to India, they could only integrate into caste society and then recruit local troops for expansion.

The Portuguese, Dutch, French, and British came to colonize India just like that. After hundreds of years of development as a colonial port, Europeans could only reproduce two to three thousand people, and most of them were mixed descendants.

In comparison, Zhao Kuangluo's immigration speed was completely unreasonable. He directly brought in 4,000 Han people in one year.

As Zhao Kuangli established a foothold in Taiwu City, more and more Chinese merchants would come to trade in the future. He has contacted coastal merchants and asked them to help spread the news and pick up people. The boat tickets and meals along the way will be reimbursed.

If you can read, you can become an official, and if you come here, you can divide the land. I think the mountain people and the Dan people cannot resist the temptation.

Zhao Kuanglui didn't think too much. He was already content with the hundreds of new immigrants every year. After all, Nanyang was also absorbing immigrants.

And those merchants, if the trade is stable, will also open trading companies in Taiwu City, leaving branch shopkeepers and clerks to buy Jin's cotton and other goods, and at the same time contact the Dutch on shipping issues.

While immigrating and having children, Zhao Kuangyi hoped to have 20,000 Han citizens within twenty years.

It would be best if the population were larger.

As soon as the number of Han people reached ten thousand, Zhao Kuangyi would expand and conquer the neighboring country of Madurai!

"Ta-ta-ta-ta!"

There was a sound of horse hoofbeats, but it was Sun Kewang who led troops to collect taxes by force and came back.

In the villages near the river, the infantry can collect taxes. Further afield, cavalry will have to be used, and this year they must be beaten, otherwise the local nobles will not be honest when paying agricultural taxes.

"Your Highness, General Sun wants to see you!"

"Bring him in."

Sun Kewang went out to do a sweep and killed more than ten nobles. He was very high-spirited and had already ushered in the second spring of his life.

"I will see you at last, Your Highness!" Sun Kewang said in military salute.

Zhao Kuangluo asked: "Are there still people who are dissatisfied with Wang Hua?"

"Kill more than ten people and let the cavalry carry their heads and go around the villages, and those nobles will become honest." Sun Kewang suddenly whispered, "Your Highness, there is a gold mine near the city of Camme. It can be controlled in a few moments." In the hands of the Dili nobles!"

The city of Camme was renamed by Zhao Kuangli at the request of the ministers. Its original name was Arikamedu, and it was the second largest city in the country. It is located not far from the border between the Jin Kingdom and the Jinji Kingdom, and is close to the sea. It is also a port city. The city lord there nominally surrendered, but he was too self-respecting to pay the commercial taxes.

The entire South India is the gold mining area of ​​the Indian subcontinent.

But Zhao Kuangluo's Jin State only had one large gold mine, not far from the city of Camme. The rest are scattered small mines, and not much can be mined in a year. There is no need to go to war for that little gold.

The neighbor to the northwest, the country of Mysore, has four large gold mines!

Wang Chongxi said: "Camme City is the second largest city, and the city lord is not very obedient. Sooner or later, he will have to capture it. Now that there is a gold mine, it is even more important to capture it. But we can't be anxious for the time being. We have too few Han people, and there are still The place has not been completely stabilized.”

Guan Xian said: "The top priority is to repair the irrigation canals along the river after the rainy season. Even if we want to attack Camme, we have to wait until next year to send troops, and we have to find a suitable excuse to send troops."

"The excuse for sending troops is ready. The city of Camme does not obey the king's orders and is unwilling to hand over the city's commercial taxes." Ma Jue said.

Zhao Kuangluo asked: "How many troops are there in Camme City and its surrounding areas?"

Sun Kewang said: "I have inquired clearly. There are only a few hundred soldiers in the city. Once we want to fight, we must do it quickly. We cannot let the nobles go to the village to gather troops. Otherwise, we will not fight a few hundred people, but thousands or tens of thousands of people." The nobles in Meicheng are very influential and control at least one-fifth of the villages in the country."

Zhao Kuangluo nodded and said: "If we send troops, we will go by boat and surround the city. We will not give the enemy a chance to gather troops in the countryside. Even if we can gather troops, we will not let them enter the city. We will fight in the wild. No matter how many enemies there are, we will not be afraid."

Zhao Kuangyi now not only has insufficient Han people, but also insufficient Han officials.

Even many official positions in the city were held by Tamil nobles. A large number of soldiers were also literate, but the army could not be dispersed. Half of the army was stationed in the city, and the other half was thrown into managing the village community. Just wait until next year. As long as you can read and write, you can become an official. The number of Han officials will gradually increase, and all documents will be written in Chinese characters.

Now we have no choice but to work bilingually, otherwise the Tamil officials in the city will not be able to understand.