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MTL - I-Chapter 971 967 [Concubine for the country]
Chapter 971 967 [Concubine for the country]
In southeastern India, the area with the most rainfall completely coincides with the border of the neighboring Jinji Kingdom.
As for Tanjore, the annual rainfall is around 1000mm. It seems to have abundant rainfall, but it belongs to the tropical monsoon climate. Most of the rainfall occurs in summer and autumn, and droughts are very prone to occur in other seasons.
There are two rice planting times in South India: one is after the autumn rainy season, wait for the water level to recede slightly, and sow the seeds in early winter; the other is after the winter rice is harvested, wait a little longer, and wait for the rain in early summer to sow summer rice.
In terms of temperature, it can be grown three times a year.
In terms of irrigation, there are at most two crops a year here.
If you want three crops a year, you have to build large reservoirs and irrigation canals. This situation has been delayed for hundreds of years, and it has not been changed even in the 21st century.
When Zhang Dakun woke up in the morning, his wife was already cooking.
As a soldier of the Datong Army, Zhang Dakun's exercises are relatively regular. After washing up, he played a set of military boxing at the door of the house, and returned to the house after practicing for a while.
Several big families in the village were uprooted by Sun Kewang. Although Zhang Dakun was just an ordinary soldier, he was assigned to a small house.
It is said to be a small house, but it can actually accommodate more than ten people, and there is also a special room for servants.
Seeing Zhang Dakun returning to the house, his wife immediately brought food.
No curry.
The source of the word curry is the "sauce" of South India, which was borrowed and spread by the Portuguese, and currently belongs to the aristocratic dish of South India. Moreover, the curry at this time is relatively light, with only chili and a few spices, and no butter, onion and tomato.
All that was placed in front of Zhang Dakun were rice and stew.
Wife served the rice and knelt aside, obviously waiting for her husband to eat first.
"Come and eat together." Zhang Dakun beckoned.
The wife smiled and sat down cautiously. This situation was repeated every day. If Zhang Dakun didn't wave his hand, his wife would not dare to go to the table.
Zhang Dakun is from Yunnan. He did not graduate from elementary school, so he learned carpentry in the village. Farming when busy, working as a carpenter in free time, and being recruited as a farmer and soldier when he was a little older.
Although farmers and soldiers do not receive military pay, they only take care of food during training, and they also take up slack time in farming. But farmers in impoverished areas, instead of resisting, actively signed up. After the three-year service period of the peasants and soldiers, they are eligible to enter the city to take the police examination, and regular divisions and inspectors are also recruited from the peasants and soldiers.
Ordinary people can't be peasants and soldiers. Zhang Dakun and the village chief belong to the same clan, so he got the opportunity to be a peasant and soldier.
This kid was lucky, he only worked as a farmer and soldier for two years before he was conscripted to be a civilian husband. At that time, they attacked the Nguyen family in Vietnam and won without much fighting. The rest of the time was spent on quelling the peasant uprising, and the peasant uprising was triggered by the Nguyen court.
When Zhang Dakun was transporting grain and grass, he was attacked by a group of peasant troops. His grain transport team performed very well. Holding a spear, Zhang Dakun stabbed several enemies to death, and returned to his hometown in Yunnan to receive the reward.
With military merits, the family is even more picky when they tell him about his marriage.
At this moment, the retired soldiers of Guangnan Prefecture changed jobs and stayed in Guangnan. The recruits were all recruited in Yunnan and Guangxi. Zhang Dakun was able to write and count, and he had military merits. He went to Guangnan Province to serve as a soldier very smoothly. The marriage was delayed again.
Hearing that India can be a landlord and will give a settling allowance, Zhang Dakun immediately went to sign up to go to sea without the ties of his wife and children.
Now, he really became a landlord, and got 40 mu of land as he wished.
Zhang Dakun was very satisfied with this. They were all good fields by the river. Even if there were a few acres that did not depend on the river, they still depended on the diversion canal for irrigation. You don't have to farm it yourself, because there are tenants attached to the land, who just wait to harvest grain every year.
But there is one thing that makes Zhang Dakun very upset, or all Han landlords are unhappy.
The Tamil farmers here don’t even dig latrines, they just throw their **** and urine everywhere, and they don’t even know how to use it as fertilizer. Of course, the farmers here also compost, but they only use cow manure for composting, and don't use other human and animal manure at all.
After Zhang Dakun and other Han landlords got the land, the first thing they did was to ask their respective tenants to dig latrines to store excrement. The feces in the wild should also be collected immediately.
The untouchable tenants are very obedient, but the Sudra tenants don’t do it, thinking that collecting excrement is the work of the untouchables.
Zhang Dakun, who has a good temper, was so angry that he beat people, and finally made the Sudra tenants willing to touch the feces.
Then Han people who have not married a wife can give priority to finding a wife.
Those Brahmins, Kshatriyas, and female relatives who were exterminated were all assigned to civil and military officials. Ordinary soldiers like Zhang Dakun can only marry Vaisya and Sudra women with darker skin, and they cannot marry women from their own village, but must marry women from nearby villages.
Zhang Dakun was lucky. He married a Vaishya woman with fair complexion. The dowry gift was a silver dollar and a few bolts of cotton cloth.
Father-in-law’s family was very happy, because they didn’t have to give a large dowry, and they could receive a dowry. They still married Han “nobles” across castes—Han people were all nobles in their eyes.
His Royal Highness Jin Wang said that caste is not considered among the Han people, and the children of the Han people are all Han people.
Anyway, the village community that is actually controlled by the Han people heard about this policy, and those with daughters frantically came to the door. No dowry is required, and the dowry is fine even if the family is ruined. They only want to marry their daughters to "nobles". Even if you can't raise your caste, you will definitely be more beautiful in the future, and you can despise your neighbors of the same caste.
After breakfast, Zhang Dakun said to his wife, "I'll go out for a while."
His wife was chattering, saying some incomprehensible words, and kept sending him outside the door.
Zhang Dakun is very satisfied with his wife. Although the skin of Shudra and Dalits is very dark, his Vaishya wife is fair and beautiful, even whiter than Zhang Dakun's own complexion. Moreover, he is obedient and quick in doing housework. It seems that he is good at housekeeping.
When I arrived at the gate of my house, there were more than a dozen people kneeling outside.
Zhang Dakun didn't know it at first, but later he gradually realized that he came to the door to find a job. As an aristocrat in the village, he doesn't have any servants, and many villagers who make a living as part-time workers eagerly hope to become his servants.
Hiring untouchables is the most cost-effective, no salary, just take care of the food.
The untouchables also enjoy the leftovers, and they don't care if they are beaten or scolded. Rewarded with a piece of rags, he was so happy that he knelt down on the spot, crawled over and kissed the ground in front of his master. As for kissing the master's boots, untouchables are not qualified, that belongs to the privilege of the Sudra class.
Untouchables who dared to have any contact with nobles, even stepped on the shadow of nobles, were beaten to death and deserved it.
Someone has already hired servants, but Zhang Dakun dare not for the time being. He has a newlywed wife at home, what if his wife has an affair with a slave when he goes out?
"roll!"
Zhang Dakun carried a firecracker on his back, and held a stick in his hand. He swung the stick and hit it.
The person who was beaten didn't dare to dodge, so he took a stick from Zhang Dakun, and then grinned at him.
This smile made Zhang Dakun panic. In the first two days when he first came to the village, he still regarded the local people as human beings, but gradually realized that these guys were self-deprecating and self-deprecating, and they didn't regard themselves as human beings.
"Xiao Zhang!"
shouted Liu Datong next door.
Zhang Dakun ran quickly, stood at attention and saluted the army: "Chief whistle!"
Liu Datong replied with a military salute, and said with a smile: "People came from the village last night. If you need anything, or send a letter to your hometown, you can report to me. If you want to bring your family, you will be provided with full board and lodging along the way." No, the money will be paid by Prince Jin."
Zhang Dakun said: "I have two older brothers who take care of my parents, so I don't need to come here. I just write to them and tell them that I have also asked for a wife, and I have allocated 40 acres of paddy fields here."
"Then write the letter at night, and I'll pass it on for you." Liu Datong patted him on the shoulder.
Liu Datong is from the Yi nationality in Yunnan, and he was born in a slave family of the Yi nationality. In the beginning, I didn’t even have a surname. The surname and first name were all picked up by the help of the Han people. I was promoted to the head of the post entirely by military merit. At present, I am equivalent to the village head of this village (without formal appointment).
Moreover, Liu Datong's complexion is very dark, similar to the untouchables here.
When he first came, the villagers regarded him as a pariah, and instead ran to please other soldiers. Liu Datong was so angry that he dealt with several offenders severely, and finally made it known that he had the highest status in the village.
Liu Datong divided a full 100 mu of land, asked for a wife, and owned a large number of tenants. His whole family is in Guangnan Province, and already has a wife and children. He plans to pick him up this time, and King Jin will send a boat to pick up his family members.
Here, King Jin encouraged taking concubines and having more children. As long as the children are not born to untouchables, they will be given land when they live to the age of twelve. If the land is not enough, soldiers will be sent to develop it.
Of the one thousand Datong army, five hundred were left to guard the city, and the rest returned to the countryside to supervise the tenants' harvest of grain.
It's the rice harvest season, and there will be grain output soon.
Liu Datong is not only responsible for his own fields, but also helps his comrades who stay in Taiwu City manage the land and food. Now he is very busy all day long, but he is full of energy. The 100 mu of land is all his own, and he can continue to increase it in the future.
It is the language barrier, and it is too tiring to manage, so you can only give orders with gestures and sticks.
Fortunately, the villagers are very honest, they will beat and scold without resistance. The disadvantage is that these guys are lazy, let them dig toilets and compost, they are willing to do things in person, and start chatting together as soon as they turn their backs. More than a dozen people dig a toilet, and they can dig it for several days. If they are not served with sticks at any time, it is estimated that they will not be able to dig well in half a month.
Composting techniques don’t need to be taught, Tamil farmers know it themselves, but they only use cow dung. Now we have to slowly get used to human and animal excrement, and it may take two or three years to change our minds.
Tenants have been busy working in the farmland of Shino.
There is no need to rush to harvest the grain, everyone is hardworking, and they also know the importance of the harvest season.
As for the land rent, the Han people do not plan to change it, 80% for paddy fields and 50% for dry fields. After the landlord got the grain, he gave some of it to King Jin, and they didn't bother to care about the life and death of the peasants. Just follow one principle, the Han people have more children, and let the local aborigines die slowly.
After the harvest, about a month or so, Liu Datong, Zhang Dakun and others received the order to gather troops.
But it is closer to the Han village. The villages managed by several Brahmins, the amount of food handed over is not right, and the tax books are obviously less than before.
These Brahmins, seeing that the Han people do not understand the language, wanted to fool things. Villages farther away have not yet paid grain due to distance, and this trend must be killed.
There are also Tamil officials who can speak Chinese under King Jin’s command, and they often go to Nanyang to do business. They were invited to serve as officials, responsible for translating official documents, and were often sent to deal with local people.
Most of these people belong to the Vaishya caste.
The king of Jin promised that as long as he became an official, three members of his family could speak Chinese, and they would be allowed to be Han people in the future. These Vaishya officials who can speak Chinese are instantly motivated, because after becoming Han Chinese, it means that the whole family has been raised by caste.
Liu Datong ran to Taiwu City to report, the battalion commander took them to collect taxes by force, and accompanied the army with a Tamil translator.
Rush into several villages along the way, where the noble managers are exempted from punishment as long as they pay taxes honestly. Just a few words of sophistry will directly exterminate the family, and the women's family members will be assigned to the Han people as concubines. Then, use these heads to collect taxes, and the remaining village nobles will be honest.
In the villages in the actual control area, there are still many lands that have not been divided, and the grains of these fields are owned by the public.
Zhao Kuangyi sent a boat back this time, and had to go to Chittagong and Malacca to borrow boats. Emperor Zhao said that in the first year of capturing Tanjore, he would give King Jin a quota of material aid, and he could do whatever he wanted within the quota.
Zhao Kuangting had to hurry up and bring the family members of officials and soldiers. And get some more farm tools. There is no shortage of farming cattle here, but there is a shortage of iron plows, hoes and other items. Many tenants cannot afford plows.
Next, immigrants will be recruited along the coast. When they go to India, they will immediately divide the fields. Each person will start with 10 mu of paddy fields and double the number of dry fields.
Tanmin and citizens who do not know how to farm can also come here. Those who are willing to share the land will share the land, and those who do not want to share the land will live in Taiwu City. As long as they can read and write, they can serve as officials.
This policy is very attractive. Although you are far away from your hometown, you can become an official if you go there. You can become an official without graduating from elementary school!
Moreover, no matter whether you have a wife or not, you can marry a wife and take a concubine when you come here. The more children you have, the better. Taking concubines and having children is to contribute to the country.
Even Zhang Dakun, an ordinary soldier, took another concubine after the rice harvest.
He revealed the meaning of taking concubines, and the people in the village next door brought their daughters over one after another. Instead of dowry, give dowry, only to marry the daughter to the Han nobles.
Zhang Dakun carefully selected with a smile, and finally chose the one with the fairest complexion and the best appearance, and lived a happy life in India with one wife and one concubine.
(end of this chapter)