Chapter 971 967 [Taking Concubines for the Country]

In southeastern India, the area with the most rainfall completely overlaps with the territory of the neighboring Kingdom of Jinji.

As for Tanjore, the annual rainfall is around 1000 mm. It seems to have abundant rainfall, but it has a tropical monsoon climate. Most rainfall occurs in summer and autumn, and droughts are very prone to occur in other seasons.

There are two rice sowing times in South India: first, after the rainy season in autumn, wait for the water level to recede slightly, and sow seeds around early winter; second, after the winter plowing rice is harvested, wait a few months, and wait for rain in early summer to sow summer rice.

In terms of temperature, it can be harvested three times a year.

In terms of irrigation, there are at most two crops a year here.

If you want to have three crops a year, you have to build large reservoirs and irrigation canals. This situation will be delayed for hundreds of years, and it will not be 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 practiced a set of military boxing techniques in front of his house. After practicing for a while, he returned to the house.

Several big families in the village community were uprooted by Sun Kewang. Although Zhang Dakun was just an ordinary soldier, he was also assigned a small house.

It is said to be a small house, but it can actually accommodate more than ten people, and it also has a special room for slaves.

Seeing Zhang Dakun return to the house, his wife immediately brought food.

No curry.

The origin of the word curry is the "sauce" of South India. It was borrowed and spread by the Portuguese and is now a noble dish of South India. Moreover, the curry at this time is relatively light, with only chili peppers and a few spices, and no butter, onions or tomatoes.

What was placed in front of Zhang Dakun was rice and stew.

The wife brought the rice and knelt down to the side, obviously waiting for her husband to eat first.

"Come and eat together." Zhang Dakun waved.

The wife smiled and sat up carefully. This situation repeats itself every day. If Zhang Dakun doesn't wave, his wife will not dare to serve.

Zhang Dakun is from Yunnan. He didn't even graduate from elementary school, so he learned carpentry in the village. When he was busy, he farmed and when he was free, he worked as a carpenter. When he was older, he was recruited as a peasant soldier.

Although the peasant soldiers do not receive military pay, they only take care of food during training, and they also take up their leisure time. However, farmers in poor areas, instead of resisting, actively signed up. After three years of service as peasant soldiers, they are eligible to go to the city to take the police examination. Regular divisions and patrol soldiers are also recruiting people from the peasant soldiers.

Ordinary people can't become peasant soldiers. Zhang Dakun and the village chief are from the same clan, so he got the opportunity to become peasant soldiers.

This boy was lucky. He only served as a peasant soldier for two years before he was drafted into a civilian husband. At that time, they attacked the Nguyen clan in Vietnam and won without much fighting. The rest of the time was spent quelling the peasant uprising, and this peasant uprising was triggered by the Nguyen clan's court.

While Zhang Dakun was transporting grain and grass, he was attacked by a group of peasant soldiers. His grain transport team performed well. Zhang Dakun carried a spear and stabbed several enemies to death. He received the reward and returned to his hometown in Yunnan.

With military merit, his family was even more picky when it came to marrying him, and it took a full year to choose the one he wanted, but nothing went well.

At this time, the retired soldiers from Guangnan Mansion changed their jobs and stayed in Guangnan. The recruits were all recruited in Yunnan and Guangxi. Zhang Dakun was able to write and do calculations, and he had military merit, so he went to Guangnan Province to serve as a soldier very smoothly. The marriage was postponed again.

Hearing that he could become a landowner in India and receive a settling-in allowance, Zhang Dakun immediately signed up to go overseas without a wife and children to tie him down.

Now, as expected, he became a landlord and was allocated forty acres 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 were not close to the river, they still relied on diversion canals for irrigation. There is no need to farm the land yourself, because there are tenants attached to the land who just wait to harvest the grain every year.

But there is one thing that makes Zhang Dakun very unhappy, or in other words, all Han landlords are unhappy.

The Tamil farmers here actually don’t dig latrines and litter the ground with their feces and urine, not even knowing how to use it as fertilizer. Of course, farmers here also compost, but they only use cow dung for compost and do not use other human and animal dung at all.

After Zhang Dakun and other Han landowners were assigned the land, the first thing they did was to have their respective tenants dig pits to store excrement. Those feces in the wild must also be collected immediately.

The untouchable tenants were very obedient, but the Sudra tenants did not do it, thinking that collecting excrement was a matter for untouchables.

Zhang Dakun, who had a good temper, was so angry that he beat people, and finally made the Sudra tenants willing to come into contact with feces.

Then there are the Han people who have not taken a wife, and they can give priority to finding a wife.

Those Brahmins, Kshatriyas, and female dependents who were exterminated were assigned to civil and military officials. Ordinary soldiers like Zhang Dakun could only marry Vaisya and Sudra women with slightly darker skin, and they could not marry women from their own village, but had to marry women from nearby villages.

Zhang Dakun was lucky enough to marry a Vaishya woman with fair complexion. The betrothal gift was a silver dollar and several pieces of cotton cloth.

My father-in-law’s family was very happy because they didn’t have to pay a large dowry and could still receive betrothal gifts. It was better to cross caste and marry a Han “noble”—Han people were all nobility in their eyes.

His Royal Highness the King of Jin said that the Han people do not respect caste, and the children of Han people are all Han people.

Anyway, in the village community controlled by the Han people, when they heard about this policy, people with daughters came to visit like crazy. It doesn't matter if they don't need a betrothal gift, or if they spend all their money on a dowry, they just want to marry their daughter to a "noble". Even if you cannot improve your caste, you will definitely be more prosperous in the future and can look down on your neighbors of the same caste.

After breakfast, Zhang Dakun said to his wife, "I'm going out."

His wife was giggling and saying things he didn't understand, and kept sending him outside the door.

Zhang Dakun was very satisfied with his wife. Although the skin of Shudras and untouchables was very dark, his Vaishya wife was fair and beautiful, even whiter than Zhang Dakun's own skin. He is also obedient and has good hands and feet when doing housework. He is a good housekeeper at first glance.

When we arrived at the door of our house, there were more than ten people kneeling outside.

Zhang Dakun couldn't figure it out at first, but then he gradually realized that they were all coming to look for jobs. As a noble in the village, he did not have any servants. Many villagers who made a living by doing part-time labor were eager to become his servants.

It's most cost-effective to hire untouchables. They don't get paid and they just take care of the food.

Even the untouchables enjoy the leftovers like glutinous rice, and they don't care if they are beaten or scolded. After being given a small piece of tattered clothes, 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 dare to have any contact with nobles, or even step on their shadows, deserve to be beaten to death.

Someone has already hired slaves, but Zhang Dakun doesn't dare to do so for the time being. He has a newlywed wife at home. What if he goes out and her wife has an affair with a slave?

"roll!"

Zhang Dakun was carrying a fire gun on his back and a stick in his hand. He swung the stick and hit him.

The person who was hit did not dare to dodge, so he gave Zhang Dakun a hard blow, and then grinned at him.

This smile made Zhang Dakun panic. In the first two days when he came to the village, he treated the local people as human beings. Gradually, he discovered that these guys looked down upon themselves and did not regard themselves as human beings.

"Xiao Zhang!"

Liu Datong shouted from next door.

Zhang Dakun ran quickly, stood at attention and saluted the military: "Sergeant!"

Liu Datong returned the military salute and said with a smile: "There were people from the village last night. If you need anything or send a letter to your hometown, please report it to me. If you want to bring your family over, you will have all the food and lodging along the way." No, the money will be paid by His Majesty the King of Jin."

Zhang Dakun said: "I have two brothers at home to take care of my parents, so there is no need to bring me here. I just write to them and tell them that I have also asked for a wife, and I have allocated forty acres of paddy fields here."

"Then you write a letter tonight and I'll hand it over for you." Liu Datong patted him on the shoulder.

Liu Datong is from the Yi ethnic group in Yunnan and was born into a Yi slave family. At first, he didn’t even have a surname. He asked Han people to help him get his surname and given name. He was promoted to the post commander entirely based on his military merit. He is currently equivalent to the village chief of this village (without formal appointment).

Moreover, Liu Datong's skin color is very dark, similar to that of the untouchables here.

When he first arrived, the villagers regarded him as a pariah and instead went to curry favor with other soldiers. Liu Datong was so angry that he punished several offenders severely, and finally let people know that he had the highest status in the village.

Liu Datong allocated a hundred acres of land, got a wife, and had a large number of tenants. His whole family is in Guangnan Province, and he already has a wife and children. He plans to pick them up this time. The King of Jin will send a boat to pick up the family members.

Here, the King of Jin encouraged concubinage and having more children. As long as the children were not born to untouchables and lived to be twelve years old, they would be given land. If the land was not enough, troops would be sent to develop it.

Of the one thousand Datong army, five hundred were left to defend the city, while the rest returned to the countryside to supervise the tenants' harvesting of grain.

The rice harvest season has arrived, and food will be produced soon.

Liu Datong not only has to be responsible for his own farmland, but also has to help his comrades who stayed in Taiwu City manage land and food. He is very busy all day long, but he is full of energy. One hundred acres of land are all his own, and he can continue to increase it in the future.

It's just that the language barrier makes it too tiring to manage, so I can only give orders with gestures and sticks.

Fortunately, the villagers are very honest and will not resist if they are beaten or scolded. The disadvantage is that these guys are very lazy. Even if they are asked to dig toilet compost, they are still willing to do the work in person. As soon as they turn their backs, they start chatting together. More than ten people can dig a toilet for several days. If they are not kept at hand with sticks, they may not be able to dig it well in half a month.

There is no need to teach the composting technique, Tamil farmers know it themselves, but they only use cow dung. Now we have to slowly adapt to human and animal excrement, and it may take two or three years to change our mindset.

Tenants have been busy working on the farmland in the surrounding areas for a long time.

There is no need to rush when harvesting 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, which is 80% for paddy fields and 50% for dry fields. After the landlords got the grain, they gave some of it to the King of Jin. They were too lazy to care about the life and death of the farmers. Just follow a principle, the Han people have more children and let the local indigenous people die slowly.

About a month after the harvest, Liu Datong, Zhang Dakun and others received orders to gather troops.

But it was one that was closer to the Han village community. Several village communities managed by Brahmins handed over an incorrect amount of grain, and the tax account books were obviously smaller than in the past.

These Brahmins, seeing that the Han people did not understand the language, wanted to fool them. Village communities further away have not yet paid food due to the distance. This trend must be killed.

There were also Tamil officials under the King of Jin who could speak Chinese, and they often went 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 they became officials and three members of the family could speak Chinese, they would be Han Chinese from now on. These Vaishya officials who could speak Chinese became very motivated instantly, because after becoming Han Chinese, their entire family was lifted up their caste.

Liu Datong ran to Taiwu City to report that the battalion commander took them to collect taxes by force, and he also brought a Tamil translator with him.

Along the way, we rushed into several village communities, where the noble managers were exempted from punishment as long as they paid taxes honestly. Anyone who makes a few quibbles will be directly exterminated, and the female 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.

Village communes in the areas under actual control still have many fields that are not divided, and the grain from these fields belongs to the public.

This time Zhao Kuangli sent a ship back and had to go to Chittagong and Malacca to borrow ships. Emperor Zhao said that in the first year after capturing Tanjore, he would give King Jin a quota of material aid, and he could do whatever he wanted within the quota.

Zhao Kuangluo had to hurry up and bring in the families of officials and soldiers. And they got some more farm tools. There is no shortage of cattle here, but there is a shortage of iron plows, hoes and other items. Many tenants cannot afford plows.

Next, immigrants were recruited along the coast. When they arrived in India, they immediately divided the fields, starting with ten acres of paddy fields per person, and doubled the number of dry fields.

Farmers and citizens who don't know how to farm can also come here. Those who are willing to divide their fields can be divided into fields. Those who are unwilling to divide their fields can live in Taiwu City. As long as they are literate, they can serve as officials.

This policy is very attractive. Although you are far away from home, you can become an official when you go there. You can become an official even before you graduate from elementary school!

Moreover, whether you have a wife or not, you can take a wife and take concubines when you come here. The more children you have, the better. Taking concubines and having children is a contribution to the country.

Even Zhang Dakun, an ordinary soldier, took a concubine after the rice harvest.

He revealed the meaning of taking a concubine, and people from the neighboring village came over with their daughters. Instead of a betrothal gift, I gave a dowry instead, just to marry my daughter to a Han noble.

Zhang Dakun carefully selected with a smile, and finally chose the one with the fairest skin and the best appearance, who lived a happy life of one wife and one concubine in India.