PFC Chapter 91 "Suppressing the Rebellion and Destroying the Nest"
Chapter 91 "Suppressing the Rebellion and Destroying the Nest"
Chapter 91 "Suppressing the Rebellion and Destroying the Nest"
Colvin returned to the Governor-General's residence and met with the Governor-General of India, Auckland, to report on his trip.
Auckland immediately sent people out to find merchants and gather information, which roughly confirmed the situation of the Han army system and confirmed that what Dong Sheng said was basically true.
The Han army combined combat and farming, with soldiers typically assigned to either task or farm work on a rotating basis.
For any long-term operation outside the area, especially one with low combat intensity, the idea of cultivating local land to obtain food is usually considered.
After Auckland felt somewhat relieved, it had to start considering the destruction of the plantations.
Seeing Auckland's dilemma, Colvin proposed a compromise: "The Han army has come from the Han homeland, but they don't know where in India there might be opium fields."
"We can take the initiative to lead them and manage some small-scale opium fields."
"Then they were told that these were all the opium fields they had ever worked out, and that their mission was complete."
"I believe that the ordinary officers and soldiers of the Han Dynasty are not very concerned about whether it is really cleaned up."
"They certainly want to return to their homeland rather than be stationed here in faraway India for an extended period."
After listening, Auckland nodded repeatedly: "That's a good idea, but what if they discover other opium fields?"
Colvin shrugged: "We don't know where they are! Someone must be secretly growing them and smuggling them!"
"Then arrange for the tax farmers and chieftains of the princely states to create some minor troubles, so that they feel this matter is never-ending."
"If they get annoyed, they'll probably give up on in-depth investigations in order to go home as soon as possible."
Auckland was quite pleased: "Great, let's do it that way. Let's get started as soon as possible and destroy the opium plantations together."
Oakland and Colvin had a brief discussion and decided to deploy at least twice the number of Indian soldiers to assist and supervise the Han army, based on the size of the troops the Han was preparing to deploy.
If the Han Dynasty sends out one hundred men, I will arrange for two hundred men to follow.
After a period of mobilization, the British Indian Army in Calcutta had grown to nearly 30,000 men, and Auckland had enough manpower to do so.
Two days later, Colvin went to the Great Han Army camp again to explain Oakland's arrangements for the operation: "His Excellency the Governor will naturally cooperate fully with the destruction of the opium plantations."
"We have already assigned the most experienced veterans who are most familiar with the local conditions to lead the Han army to deal with the existing plantations."
"Our army is ready to move at any time. When can the Han army begin its operations?"
Dong Sheng didn't completely trust Auckland, but he knew he would only find out what they were really thinking and whether they were truly cooperating once he started working, so he readily agreed.
Two days later, Dong Sheng arranged for a regiment of a thousand men, with each company responsible for a different direction, to set off from Calcutta in search of opium plantations, guided by British Indian soldiers.
They quickly found some "plantations," or rather, small plots of land where poppies were grown, most of which were less than an acre in size and were likely for India's own use.
The Han soldiers didn't care. After discovering the poppy field, they immediately marked its location and ordered the Indian soldiers to work with them to uproot all the poppies, preparing to transport them back for centralized destruction.
The British officers and their Indian soldiers also cooperated, going down into the fields to pull up the poppy seedlings.
However, these soldiers soon encountered some problems.
For example, the owners of these poppy fields came out crying and wailing, trying to stop the soldiers from working.
A company commander named Zeng Zicheng was surrounded by at least three hundred villagers.
Zeng Zicheng observed the state of these people briefly and then had the interpreter relay a message to the British officer: "These people are obstructing the Han from destroying the opium plantation; they are all accomplices of the opium traffickers."
"We are demanding that you take these people under control immediately, or we will take matters into our own hands."
The British officer, having been given instructions, said in a very helpless tone, "These are the farmers here, and the crops in these fields are their livelihood."
"It would be difficult to just deal with them directly."
"How about the Han compensate them with some money? Buy these things and then dispose of them?"
The interpreter relayed the British officer's words, and Zeng Zicheng glared at the British officer again: "What nonsense are you spouting? Planting and selling opium is a serious crime, yet the Han Dynasty is demanding compensation?"
"What I just said meant either you drive these people away, or we will suppress them directly."
"If you protect them, we will have no choice but to consider you as accomplices of opium smugglers as well."
After listening, the British officer frowned and remained silent for a few seconds before finally deciding to stir things up: "Britain and India have different laws than the Han Dynasty. We cannot punish them for growing opium. If you want to carry out the suppression, then go ahead and do it."
After listening to the translation, Zeng Zicheng immediately ordered: "Everyone, line up, fix bayonets, and prepare to quell the unrest!"
"These barbaric and unruly people have openly defied the imperial decree; they shall be executed on the spot without exception!"
The British officers thought the other side would hesitate, fearing the consequences of armed conflict.
But Zeng Zicheng did not hesitate. After briefly reorganizing his accompanying soldiers, he directly issued the order to attack.
One hundred regular soldiers against three hundred hastily assembled commoners—the outcome of the battle was a foregone conclusion.
Zeng Zicheng didn't even let his soldiers use bullets; they went straight in with bayonets to kill people.
The simplest charge resulted in the immediate deaths of over a hundred people.
The other commoners were terrified at the sight and immediately fled in a frenzy, screaming.
Upon seeing this, Zeng Zicheng immediately ordered: "Eliminate evil completely! All pursuers! Those who cannot escape are to be shot and killed!"
The soldiers were already mixed up with these lowly people, and upon receiving orders, they immediately went to hunt down and kill those who were trying to escape.
They quickly killed nearly a hundred more people.
Some of the lower classes who ran further away were shot dead from behind by soldiers with rifles.
Of the more than 300 people involved, more than 270 were killed, and only less than 30 escaped.
After the battle, Zeng Zicheng continued to give orders: "The lair of these barbarians should be this nearby village."
"Go to the lair and destroy it, eliminating all its accomplices."
The British officers and soldiers were now stunned by what the Han army had done.
What's shocking isn't that they killed people, but that they were so decisive.
In another country, with two hundred foreign troops right next to them, they so decisively eliminated the troublemakers.
European lords were ruthless in suppressing unruly people, but they might consider external relations.
Especially after the Enlightenment, numerous revolutions made lords more cautious, and civil officials also considered that unruly people could also be a tool for creating wealth, so they rarely carried out large-scale destruction openly.
However, the soldiers and officials of these burly men seemed to have no concerns whatsoever.
Moreover, simply killing these lowly people is not the end of the matter.
Zeng Zicheng led his company of soldiers on a rapid march to a nearby village.
Each class was divided into groups, and they searched house to house, executing anyone caught at their doorstep.
The "headman" and his family, who actually managed the entire village, were also beaten to death on the spot while struggling to resist.
Even after killing everyone, it wasn't over. After the battle, Zeng Zicheng gave another order: "Behead all the barbarians and scoundrels, and build a monument to serve as a warning to others."
The soldiers used executioner's swords to cut off the heads of all the dead people, piling them into two mounds at the village entrance and beside the opium fields.
Finally, they took all the valuables from the village and burned down the village buildings.
The accompanying British and Indian soldiers watched in astonishment.
What's astonishing isn't the actions of the Han soldiers themselves; beheadings piled up were nothing new to them.
There are also churches in Europe that are entirely decorated with human bones.
It's like replacing all the ornate chandeliers in a European manor with strings of human bones.
The decorations embedded in the walls are all made of human bones.
All the window and door frames were also made entirely of human bones.
Then, a complete skeleton is inlaid on the ceiling, and the surrounding area is also inlaid with bone to form patterns.
Therefore, the traditional performance art of the Han army building a mound of corpses was not considered particularly exciting by Europeans.
What amazed them was the skillful technique of the Han soldiers, and more importantly, their exceptional decisiveness, without the slightest hesitation.
It's as if they're not dealing with their own "tax base".
However, many people immediately realized that these Indian Dalits were indeed not part of the Han Chinese tax base.
Therefore, officers had no qualms about giving orders to kill.
After finishing with one plantation, Zeng Zicheng immediately reminded the British officer to move on to the next one.
As the British officers led Zeng Zicheng around, they began to doubt the feasibility of the operation.
Colvin's original suggestion was to have the chieftains and tax farmers drive out the commoners and create as much trouble as possible for the Han army through indirect armed confrontation.
However, given the Han army's decisive action, this tactic is probably no longer of any use.
It would only waste human resources and deplete one's tax base for no reason.
The key point is that after the Han army displayed its ferocity, ordinary chieftains and tax farmers no longer dared to cooperate in the resistance.
The British Indian authorities could not possibly send regular troops to confront the Han army head-on.
Is this the only way to cooperate normally?
Shortly after the operation began, the British officers and Indian soldiers became even more "proactive" after the Han army demonstrated several decisive and ruthless actions.
When the plantations were subsequently destroyed, the Han army was prevented from personally carrying out the operations.
Because the Han army had no scruples when they started fighting.
Whether facing Indian Dalits, chieftains and tax farmers, or even the Kshatriyas of a princely state, anyone who dares to confront them head-on is likely to be killed instantly.
Even if a British officer went up to pull him away, he might be beaten half to death.
In any case, it is Britain's tax base that is being lost, and the impact of the unrest is on Britain's colonies.
The British officers could only cooperate as much as possible and direct the Indian native troops to do their work.
Their only hope was that by dealing with a portion of the plantations, they could fool the Han army and conceal and preserve as many larger plantations as possible.
Colvin no longer arranged for chieftains and tax farmers to fight against each other. If they really encountered chieftains, tax farmers, or Kshatriya princes who spontaneously resisted, the British officers would take the initiative to appease and persuade them.
If persuasion is ineffective, then take the initiative to suppress it with force.
Because of the British army's suppression, these people might have survived and contributed taxes, but if the Han army were to take action, they would almost certainly die.
In the eyes of ordinary Indians, the relationship between the Han army, British officers, and Indian soldiers was that the Han people could order the British around at will, and the British would do the work on their own initiative without even being specifically ordered to do so.
The British then instructed Indian soldiers of Kshatriya descent to teach the Indian Dalits a lesson.
Anyone who disobeys or refuses to comply with the demands of the Han people may be attacked on the spot, or even killed with bayonets and bullets.
They show no mercy to anyone.
The key point is that the officers among them were also able to record texts, which is another professional characteristic of Indian Brahmins.
In this state, the Han army's status in the minds of Indians was continuously elevated, essentially giving them the power and status of both Brahmins and Kshatriyas.
In the caste system of India at that time, Brahmins held a higher social and spiritual status than Kshatriyas.
Similar to religious figures in Europe, Brahmins, in addition to fulfilling religious duties, functioned in a way similar to civil servants in central dynasties.
However, Brahmins may not necessarily gain worldly power and wealth; there may be Brahmins who are extremely impoverished and destitute.
Kshatriyas hold a lower spiritual status than Brahmins, but their functions include those of traditional monarchs, feudal lords, military commanders, and ordinary soldiers.
Kshatriyas typically held actual control over the military and state power, equivalent to the royal family, nobles, and military groups of a central dynasty.
In Europe and India, nobles and soldiers were usually illiterate and could only rely on priests and Brahmins to govern their countries.
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