Chapter 1295, the significance of Burma to the Ming Dynasty
In the luxurious palace of Ava City in Myanmar, the colonial army of the Zhang brothers poured in like a tide and quickly took over every corner of the place.
In the Battle of Toungoo City, the colonial army almost wiped out the armies of the Ava dynasty and Toungoo Marquis of Myanmar. The subsequent battle was a matter of course, and they never encountered any decent resistance. They fought very smoothly all the way to the Awa Kingdom.
Wa, easily captured the city of Ava, announcing the demise of the Ava dynasty.
At the same time, the Zhang brothers also officially announced that Myanmar had become a colony of the Zhang brothers, requiring the princes from all over Myanmar and the Shan chieftains in the north to pay allegiance to the Zhang family and accept their rule.
"Haha, we won Myanmar without any effort. From now on, our Zhang family's colonies can be connected together. From eastern Tianzhu to Myanmar, they all belong to our Zhang family."
Zhang Yanling sat carelessly on the throne that originally belonged to the king of Myanmar and looked at the palace in front of him.
Although Myanmar is very poor, it is rich in jade. Therefore, the entire palace is decorated and embellished with various kinds of top-quality jade. If you look around, you can see pieces of top-quality jade.
At the same time, there are elephants in Myanmar, so decorations made of ivory can be seen everywhere. The walls are decorated with gold and silver, which makes them look magnificent and magnificent.
"Although Myanmar has been conquered and its territory is large enough, the princes in Myanmar and the chieftains of the Shan people in the north have always been high-minded and self-proclaimed kings. They may not really pay attention to us.
"
Zhang Heling also rushed over from the Emerald City and nodded while looking at the palace in front of him.
Well, at least, if you sell these jade stones, you can get a lot of money.
"Those princes, chieftains, etc., we will slowly deal with them one by one, and they will be obedient. If they are not obedient, we will kill them all."
"Humph~ These Burmese natives are very honest now."
Zhang Yanling is now very murderous. He killed almost everyone along the way and slaughtered several cities. Here in Toungoo City, he even killed the Mon and Burmese armies cleanly. The Irrawaddy River became a
famous.
"Hmm~"
Zhang Heling also nodded slightly. In this regard, the two brothers had the same philosophy. In the colonies, it was not about benevolence, justice and morality, but about using a strong army and strict laws to maintain their colonial rule.
Of course, the two brothers also have some scholars under their command to manage these colonies. In terms of important agricultural taxes, the two brothers are quite benevolent and collect a relatively low proportion. At the same time, they severely crack down on the local tyrants in the colonies and punish the tyrants and nobles.
The land was taken away and distributed to the landless people.
In this way, the indigenous people at the bottom will have land to cultivate, food to eat, and they will not resist the Zhang family's rule.
As for the middle- and upper-class natives, powerful people, nobles, etc., the Zhang family's consistent approach is to kill them all.
The Zhang family does not need these powerful people, nobles and the like, because the most direct interests of the Zhang family are obtained from the hands of these people.
Colonial land, minerals, population, resources, etc. are all things that made the Zhang family rich, and they are basically in the hands of the local indigenous powerful and nobles.
Instead of killing all these people, if the Zhang family controls the land, minerals, population, resources, etc., how can they maximize the wealth from the colony?
The Zhang family knows one thing very well. For the people at the bottom, the most important thing is to have enough food and farmland. Food is not valuable in the Ming Dynasty. Don't expect to make a fortune from food.
Therefore, the agricultural taxes of the Zhang brothers are set low, but in other aspects, the Zhang brothers have a monopoly, such as minerals, resources, etc. These things are easy to realize and are the most profitable.
This colonial strategy of the Zhang family was a huge success, allowing the Zhang family to occupy the vast area of East Tianzhu with very few manpower. The key is that in this vast area, the indigenous people did not resist the rule of the Zhang family very much, and even
There are still many people who feel that under the rule of the Zhang family, their lives have become better, at least they can have enough to eat.
"Brother, the system in East Tianzhu is also used in Myanmar?"
Zhang Yanling looked at the map in the hall, thought about it and asked.
"Well, let's stick to that system."
"Introduce the caste system and put all native Burmese people into low castes. Let them believe in the afterlife and believe that they endure hardship in this life so that they can be reincarnated into our Ming Dynasty family and enjoy happiness in the next life."
Zhang Heling nodded and said without thinking.
The Zhang family has a small population, and the number of people in the entire family, including many of their fellow villagers who have immigrated from Daming, is less than 50,000. The Zhang brothers have tried all kinds of methods to get this.
To rule this vast land and huge population with these 50,000 people, the swords and muskets in their hands are not enough. They cannot say that they can kill everyone.
Even if they are all killed, the Zhang family will have no way to benefit from it.
Who will farm the land?
Who will mine the minerals and resources?
Therefore, a good governance system is extremely important, and those in Tianzhu have also figured out a mature and perfect system and strategies.
"Brother, I've asked someone to find out more about it."
“There are a lot of good things in Myanmar.”
"There are many copper, silver and gold mines in Myanmar. There are also a lot of iron ores, and the quality of the iron ore is very good. The most important thing is the jade mine."
"The jadeite here in Myanmar is probably larger and much better than the jadeite in Hotan in the Western Region. It is estimated to be the best in the world, and it is enough for our Zhang family to continue mining slowly."
"In addition, there are many precious trees in Myanmar, such as mahogany and nanmu. The virgin forest area is very large and there are many kinds of precious trees, including a large amount of teak. Teak is the most suitable tree for shipbuilding.
When the time comes, we will move our Zhang family's shipyard here and build a large shipyard directly here, which will definitely make money."
Zhang Yanling became more and more excited.
The Zhang family worked hard, spent a huge price, and planned for several years, and finally conquered Burma.
The Zhang family paid a heavy price for this.
The land around the capital has been sold at extremely low prices, and a large amount of Ming Dynasty's land has been sold. It even had to be listed on the Tianjin Stock Exchange to share part of the fruits of this victory.
However, it's all worth it.
Myanmar is such a huge country and is rich in resources. There are so many precious minerals and resources that the Zhang family has been mining and excavating for generations.
"Well, I will ask Zhang Zhijie to formulate a detailed system later."
"These local indigenous people in Myanmar, in addition to farming, must also spend a certain amount of time every year to serve, mine various resources for our Zhang family, build bridges and pave roads, etc."
Zhang Heling also had a smile on his face. It was really nice to enjoy the fruits of victory.
Here, the Zhang family is the superior local emperor, the Zhang family's words are laws and regulations, and the natives here are the Zhang family's money-making tools.
Everything here belongs to the Zhang family.
Since ancient times, even the emperor may not be as comfortable as the Zhang family. At least, the emperor cannot take all the resources in the world as his own, but the Zhang family can.
Everything in this colony belongs to the Zhang family, including these natives. When necessary, the Zhang family can even sell these natives as slaves.
This is the horror of colonial rule!
"Actually, I think the biggest advantage of conquering Myanmar is that it is close to our Ming Dynasty."
"You said that if we build a road or railway from Myanmar to Yunnan, then our Ming Dynasty railway will be built to Yunnan through Sichuan."
"There is no need to go around a long way from Daming to Tianzhu. You can go directly from Yunnan to Myanmar, and then from Myanmar to Tianzhu."
"How much time and energy can this save? For such a railway or highway, just to collect tolls, our Zhang family will not have to worry about it in the future."
Zhang Heling looked at the map, touched his little beard and said.
Looking at Yunnan and Myanmar, I actually want to build roads and railways here to connect the Ming Dynasty and Myanmar.
"Brother, don't think about it~"
"I know this place is very difficult to walk between Myanmar and Yunnan in the Ming Dynasty. The mountains and rivers here are steep and steep. It is very difficult for even people to walk, let alone building roads."
"In the past, the trade between our Ming Dynasty and Myanmar relied on people carrying something on their backs. Even though the distance was very close, it took a very long time to go back and forth, and it was extremely difficult to walk."
"This Hengduan Mountains is no joke. If you want to build roads and railways here, you will have to invest who knows how much money. It will take years and months to get back the money."
When Zhang Yanling heard this, he immediately shook his head.
What are you thinking? The Hengduan Mountains are no joke. Without the Hengduan Mountains, what kind of Burmese kingdom would there be? They had been attacked and occupied by the Ming Dynasty long ago.
"It doesn't work now, but maybe it will work in the future."
"Burma is of great significance to our Ming Dynasty. It is equivalent to having an outlet to the Indian Ocean. If roads and railways can be built in the future and the natural chasm can be opened, its significance will be extraordinary."
After Zhang Heling listened, he nodded slightly.
He also knew that the mountains and rivers in this place were steep.
It has been said since ancient times that the road to Shu is difficult and difficult to reach the sky, but compared with the roads in the Hengduan Mountains, it can be regarded as a thoroughfare. The roads here in the Hengduan Mountains are really troublesome for ghosts, and monkeys will take detours when they see them.
But Zhang Heling looked at the map and always felt that one day in the future, he could realize his idea, and then this place would have a different meaning to Ming Dynasty.
