Chapter 152 India: Anyone can be the master

An intriguing smile appeared on Yang Chen’s face, and then he stared at Zhu Gang and said:

“In addition to being the birthplace of Buddhism, the most significant feature of Tianzhu is its plains! It has the best plains in Asia!

After crossing the Snow Mountain Range and reaching the bottom of Tianzhu, a vast plain will appear before your eyes.

The melted water from the snow-capped mountains flows down from the high mountains to form the huge Ganges river system. This river system gives India a water network comparable to that of the Land of Abundance. The plains through which these water flows are larger than those of the Central Plains and North China. More than half of India is plains.

Together with the plains through which the Ganges flows, the total area is almost larger than eight North China Plains. What is even more exciting is that this place is close to the Ganges, has a relatively low terrain, and usually has abundant rainfall. There are no weeds and no large jungles. It is simply a place suitable for farming. “

To be honest, India has always been unpopular in Han culture due to cultural reasons.

Even though Zhu Yuanzhang was an emperor and had once been a monk, all he knew about India was that it was the origin of Buddhism and that it was said that the Buddha’s Western Paradise was located there.

As for other information, only those in charge of this aspect will know more about it.

Zhu Biao quickly recalled the drawing of India on the globe in his mind.

In his impression, India seems to be a country surrounded by mountains, and small countries such as Nepal are marked by Yang Chen.

There are actually many names for Tianzhu, and India is one of them. This was recorded in a book by Xuanzang of the Tang Dynasty after he returned from his journey to the West.

“There are many disputes about the name of Tianzhu. In the past, it was called Shendu or Xiandou. Now, according to the correct pronunciation, it should be called India.”

Since the Tang Dynasty, many conflicts have broken out in this country because of its name.

In order to get more information, he asked Yang Chen:
“Brother Yang, I hope you can tell me more about India.”

Yang Chen nodded slightly, gestured on the ground and said:

“India is located in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea, and the main part of its territory is shaped like an inverted triangle, with the Indian Ocean below the tip.

The terrain surrounded by the sea on three sides provides them with a perfect land for farming. Both the plains and plateaus have fertile land. However, due to the lack of volcanoes, their soil lacks many trace elements. In terms of soil, they may not be able to compete with Luzon and America, but in terms of territorial area, America may not be able to compete with India, let alone Luzon, which is completely defeated by India.

In addition to the land area advantage, India, like Luzon, has a monsoon climate, with more precipitation than Jiangnan and Guangdong. Most of the rain is hot rain, so there is no need to worry about frost and damage to rice seedlings. When there is enough heat, there are also the Ganges River basins, which form a network of veins. This is a land of abundance that is several times larger than Sichuan!”

Hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang couldn’t help but gasp, wondering how many Feng Shui treasures he had missed in the past. Tianzhu was right before his eyes, so why didn’t he discover it before?
With doubts, Lao Zhu asked:
“What about the population problem? With such a good place, India should be difficult to deal with, right? Will there be a situation similar to Annan or Champa, where they will put up a desperate resistance against the Ming conquest?”

Yang Chen thought for a moment and answered without any hesitation:
“The problem with people is not that big. The people there have been invaded by other ethnic groups thousands of years ago. Over the long course of history, this place has evolved from the initial barbarism to the racial division system of the Mongol Yuan Dynasty.

During the Yuan Dynasty, from high to low, there were Mongolians, Semu, northerners, and southerners. India has continued this system for thousands of years. For the people there, as long as you can defeat them, no matter who you are, you can become their leader. “

Yang Chen vaguely remembered that India was once ruled by the Mongols during the Hongwu and Yongle periods of the Ming Dynasty.

In fact, the Mongolian invasion of India was a very long process. It was only after the Northern Yuan Dynasty was destroyed that Mongolia had the energy to invade India with all its strength.

After defeating the army of the Delhi Sultanate in the Battle of Panipat in 1526, Babur captured Delhi and proclaimed himself “Emperor of Hindustan”, marking the establishment of the Mughal Empire.

Mughal means “Empire of the Mongols,” and Babur’s lineage can be traced back to Genghis Khan.

The Mongols ruled India for a few hundred years, and then the country was invaded by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland after the Industrial Revolution. Since then, Indians have finally gotten rid of the nightmare of the Mongols.

A Mongolian descendant of Genghis Khan could defeat and unify India for such a long time. As the kingdom that defeated the main force of the Northern Yuan Dynasty, couldn’t the Ming Dynasty invade a small India? Yang Chen couldn’t think of any means that India could use to resist the invasion of the Ming Dynasty.

It was not because he was arrogant or looked down on India, but because India was too complicated a country. Who could have thought that a kingdom could be directly defeated by Tang Dynasty envoys with the help of military forces from other countries.

It is quite rare to see such a situation in the world.

“Is there really such a spineless country in this world?” Zhu Yuanzhang squinted his eyes and looked at Yang Chen in disbelief.

Although the Central Plains has been invaded by foreign races many times, there have also been many uprisings among the people. Ever since the Chen Sheng and Wu Guang uprising and the appearance of Huang Chao on this land of China, no matter who is the emperor, no matter whether you are Han or a foreigner, as long as the people are unhappy, there are five words.

“Revolt! Revolt! Kill!”

Yang Chen pondered for a while, then said:
“The reason why India is like this can be traced back to a long time ago, when there was a group of native inhabitants in India called Dravidians, who had dark skin and were short in stature.

When faced with the conquest of the first enemy nation that invaded them, the Aryans, there was no doubt that the former were defeated.

In order to rule the majority of Dravidians with a small force, the Aryans drove this group of people to the south, and at the same time supported some Dravidians to become their believers and established a caste system. From high to low, there are Brahmins who are mainly in charge of sacrifices and religion, Kshatriyas who are warriors and rulers, merchants and farmers are Vaishyas, grassroots people are Shudras, and there is also a lowest level called Dalits who are equivalent to slaves.

The Aryans laid the foundation for India’s modern civilization. The second people to rule India were the ancient Persians. During their rule of India, they found that the caste system was very convenient.

Not only were the lower classes extremely respectful of their rule, they also had no intention of resisting, so the ancient Persians followed this method and ruled India for a long time.

The third one is a great emperor in the Western world.”

“Emperor? Why haven’t we heard of him?” As a strong man, Zhu Yuanzhang naturally wanted to see if there was anyone else like him in the world.

Masters are always lonely.

“Brother Yang, may I ask who this emperor is?” Zhu Biao understood what his father meant and began to ask.

Yang Chen understood and said in detail:

“The name of this great emperor is Alexander the Great. He was invincible in Europe with his Macedonian phalanx. He then marched eastward from the European continent and defeated the ancient Persians in India, who were still in a gentle land at the time, using advanced weapons and technology. He was a European king during the Warring States Period in China. It is said that he had sent troops into the Chinese region at that time, but was later easily defeated by the heroes of the Warring States period.

Then he turned around and went to India. “

Upon learning that Alexander was actually a figure from the Warring States Period, a hint of disappointment appeared in Lao Zhu’s eyes.

“We thought he was some powerful figure who dared to call himself the Great Emperor, but we didn’t expect that he was actually from a small country that couldn’t even get involved in the disputes of the Warring States Period.

It seems that India is just a bunch of rabble, unable to defeat even such an army. To the Ming Dynasty, it can be said that they pose no threat at all. “

Through simple judgment, Lao Zhu quickly understood the combat effectiveness of this place in India.

Yang Chen did not stop, but continued speaking.

“The fourth group to rule India was the Yuezhi. After being defeated by the Xiongnu, the Yuezhi fled from the north to escape the Xiongnu, and ended up getting lost in this place and establishing the Shuanggui Empire.

At that time, the Xiongnu were already defeated by the Han Dynasty, so you should know what the situation in India is like, right? “

After listening to Yang Chen’s narration and his father’s evaluation, Zhu Gang found that India was really hard to describe!

“No wonder Wang Xuance was able to use the Tibetan army to destroy an entire country during the Tang Dynasty. This place was invaded by foreign races many times, but no local indigenous people ever resisted and overthrew the rule of the foreign race. They always relied on another foreign race to overthrow the dynasty. Anyone who came could become their father. It was such a waste of such a good place with huge plains and rivers with developed water systems.

Father! I beg you to let me lead the Three Guards of Jin to the west. I swear that I will bring this precious land into the territory of the Ming Dynasty to strengthen the prestige of the Ming Dynasty! If we cannot take this place and leave it to those slave-like Indians, it will only be a waste of resources!”

After a few days, Zhu Gang found that he wanted more and more things, including the American continent, the Luzon Islands, and now India.

For a moment he didn’t know how to make a choice. He wished he could have the means to split himself into three groups and take them all down.

He just didn’t believe that as an older brother, he could let his younger brother steal the limelight?
Just when Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to remind his son not to get excited, Yang Chen suddenly said:
“If His Royal Highness Prince Jin can go to Tianzhu, he can also bring back some good things from Ming Dynasty to Luzon.”

Zhu Biao asked with a puzzled look on his face:

“Oh? Are there any other good things in the Luzon South Sea?”

A warm smile spread across Yang Chen’s face. Without any hesitation, he answered readily:
“An island made of guano.”

In order to prevent people from not understanding, he explained it in more detail.

“When the Ming Dynasty set out from Quanzhou Port to the Luzon Islands, it encountered some islands that were so smelly that people could die just a few dozen meters away. The reason for this trouble is that some birds in the sea would defecate on the small islands, and these feces would accumulate on small stones and slowly form fecal stones the size of fists or even boulders.”

Old Zhu’s face was full of wrinkles, and he asked blankly:
“Hey kid, you’re not going to ask our Ming navy to go to Nanyang to look for these seabird droppings, are you? What’s the use of this thing? Are you kidding me?”

Yang Chen waved his hand:

“Hey! Your Majesty, please don’t talk nonsense. I don’t mean to tease you.”

He turned to look at Zhu Biao and asked:

“I wonder if the prince remembers that I told you how many types of fertilizers there are?”

Recalling these words, Zhu Biao immediately replied:

“You told me that fertilizers can be roughly divided into potash fertilizers, nitrogen fertilizers, ammonia fertilizers, phosphate fertilizers, and various compound fertilizers, organic fertilizers, and biological fertilizers. Each type of fertilizer has a different effect. In any case, these fertilizers have a very good effect on grain crops. Applying a little bit can increase grain production.”

Yang Chen has taught Zhu Xiongying all about the functions of chemical fertilizers. Zhu Xiongying also tried to use chemical fertilizers with Queen Ma to grow some fruits and vegetables by themselves.

Just as Yang Chen described in the book, each type of fertilizer has different effects, but there is no doubt that with the help of fertilizers, more food can be produced.

“In the vast ocean, birds that hunt flying fish for food always look for isolated islands as their footholds, for mating and reproduction as well as for excretion. As time passes, over hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of years, these bird droppings will accumulate on some islands in Wanli Shitang in the South China Sea to form guano islands.

In addition to feces, there are also a lot of fish bones that have not been digested in time and some dead seabirds on the Guano Island. The corpses are mixed with various things and piled up together. Over time, everything on the island is filled with phosphorus, ammonia, nitrogen and other substances. These substances will naturally form natural organic fertilizers and mixed fertilizers with complex functions in the end. “

Yang Chen put his hands behind his back and said calmly:

“These fertilizers are much better than the ones I extracted using the traditional coking method. As long as we are willing to invest, we can use an empty ship to dig them up and ship them back to Ming Dynasty. It will be a business with almost no cost.

In fact, the Ming Dynasty has no shortage of places to grow grain. After these fertilizers are transported back and slightly processed, they can be sold at a suitable price.

The money is placed on the island. Whether you are willing to pick it up depends on your Majesty’s wishes.

If my estimate is correct, the fertilizers on the islands alone will be enough for Ming to use for hundreds of years.”

When corpse bones are mixed with feces and other things full of organic matter and bacteria, the phosphorus contained in them will be released after fermentation.

In fact, before using the Industrial Revolution technology to refine fertilizers, European countries such as Britain and France used such farmyard manure as fertilizer raw materials.

The purification process is cheap and simple, saving time and effort, so no one would be unwilling to do it.

However, unlike Europe’s plan to dig up feces in the Nauru and other islands, Yang Chen proposed to look for it in the South China Sea, and the effect is almost the same.

(End of this chapter)