Wang Feng glanced at it, and said: "You are talking about the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon, it was built in the sixth century AD, the locals call it the Rui Daguang Pagoda, the successive Burmese kings have continuously donated gold and precious stones to the Shwedagon Pagoda for decoration, the largest of which was twenty years ago.

In 1841, King Mongkeng, then the king of Burma, went south to Yangon to worship the Shwedagon Pagoda and gave nearly five tons of gold, which was beaten into gold leaf and plastered all over the pagoda.

According to historical records, the body of the tower is pasted with more than 1,000 pieces of pure gold leaf, more than seven tons of gold are used, more than 15,000 gold and silver bells are hung around the tower, the wind blows the bell, it is crisp and pleasant, the sound spreads in all directions, the top of the tower is all cast with gold, it is equipped with a gold umbrella weighing 1,260 kilograms, and there are more than 1,500 rubies, jadeites and diamonds embedded around. ”

"Sizzle~~" Yang Shuijiao gasped: "It's really extravagant, aren't you afraid of being stolen or robbed?" ”

Zhou Xiuying took it and said: "The whole country of Myanmar believes in Buddhism, this is a treasure enshrined to the Buddha, who dares to fight its idea?" Not afraid of retribution? ”

Wang Feng also nodded and said, "The Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon is a wealth that belongs to all Chinese, and we must protect it." ”

Wang Feng looked taken for granted, Zhou Xiuying couldn't help but lose a disdainful gaze, and then said: "Although this golden pagoda embodies the beliefs of the Burmese people, the extravagance and erosion of the royal family's donation of so much gold and precious stones can also be seen, especially when the country is in danger when it is invaded by the British." ”

Li Hongzhang stroked his beard and said: "Commander Zhou is right, Li also knows a little about the history of Burma, compared with the Qing court, this country was also bombarded by Western gunboats, and there are similarities." But he is even more closed and arrogant.

After the two-year defeat in the war against the British, which began in 1824, the Burmese royal family was dealt a heavy blow, and the Gongbang dynasty was in its golden age a decade earlier, but ten years later, it fell into the abyss. The defeat, land cession, and reparations had brought it to a devastation, and the Burmese upper echelons of rulers were not sober, they hated and hated the British, but they blindly rejected them, did not understand the great changes that had taken place in the Western world, and they were still as closed as in the past.

During the twenty-seven years from 1826 to 1852, the Gongbang dynasty not only did not take any reform measures, but instead increased the exploitation of the common people in the country. In order to pay huge indemnities, the government increased taxes, officials took the opportunity to extort money, squeezed the people's fat and ointment, and the relatives headed by the queen made a lot of wealth, and the peasants could not bear the oppression and rose up.

In 1828, southern peasants besieged Yangon. In the early thirties, a peasant army even attacked the capital city of Amromaburi. At the same time, there were also revolts from the ethnic minorities, with the Mon uprising in 1838 and the Shan and Karen uprisings in 1840.

The above situations are similar to those of the Qing Dynasty, but in the face of serious internal and external troubles. The upper ruling circles were not as united as the Qing court, and not only did they fail to work together to make the country prosperous, but the internal struggle for power intensified.

In 1837, the health of the Burmese king Meng Ji deteriorated. Queen Menu and her younger brother Prince Mon Layer held real power, and deliberately tried to get rid of Meng Ji's younger brother Prince Reef Rawaddy, in the same year, Reef Rawaddy was forced to flee the capital, Zhirui raised troops to resist, Meng both suppressed and was abdicated, and handed over Meng Wu and his accomplices to Reef Rawaddy to dispose of, in February of the following year, Reef Rawaddy was proclaimed king, and history records him as the king of Meng Keng.

After the king of Meng Keng ascended the throne, moved the capital to Amoro Buluo, wantonly slaughtered political enemies, the people were panicked, the country was in chaos, to seven years later, the prince was forced to rebel, after the defeat, the crown prince and the princess of the West Palace, Miao Ge Lak and her relatives and friends, were executed, and the king of Meng Keng in the same year actually got a mental illness, the following autumn died violently, his son Bagan Min first to make a strong move, except for the threatening brothers, ascended to the throne, this person is incompetent in governing the country, only cares about seeking pleasure, and handed over the government affairs to the ministers Ebanda and Maung Bin, these two people are embarrassed and treacherous, control the government, only two years, Thousands of people were persecuted to death, and others set up clever names to indiscriminately levy excessive taxes and miscellaneous taxes, and the people's resentment boiled.

By 1849, seeing that chaos was about to arise, Bagan Min was forced to hand over Obanda and Maung Bin to the people of the capital, much to the indignation of the people.

During the reign of Bagan Myint, the authority of the central government was declining, and the royal family only demanded that local officials pay taxes on time, leaving the rest of Myanmar at its disposal, and the whole of Myanmar was like a powder keg ready to explode.

Oh, yes, but even so, the kings of Myanmar still pinned their fortunes on the Buddha and were keen to donate their wealth to the temples, such as the largest gilt sticker mentioned by His Majesty 20 years ago at the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon, when King Mongji made a pilgrimage to the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon. ”

Wang Feng couldn't help but sigh faintly: "The Xuan room seeks merit to visit the courtiers, Jia Shengcai is even more incoherent, pity the night in the middle of the empty seat, do not ask Cangsheng to ask the ghosts and gods, Myanmar is a fertile land given to the Chinese people by the ancestors of the Sanqing Dao and the Buddha of Rulai, there used to be a big mountain barrier, now the mountain road has been opened, if God gives it, God gives it and does not take it, it will suffer." ”

Li Hongzhang nodded and said: "Your Majesty is reasonable, in fact, Burma has fallen into such a field, not only the ignorance and decay of the high-level rulers, but also inseparable from the Burmese people, the former British Governor in India Ramsay once commented on the Burmese, he said that among all the ethnic groups in the East, there is no ethnic group more arrogant than the Burmese to show their superiority and more stubbornly do their own thing.

Although there are similarities between the situation in China and Myanmar 20 years ago, there are still many people who understand, and there is not one of Myanmar's millions of people.

In the past 20 years, the intensifying political struggle in Burma has almost paralyzed the government, which has stimulated the British ambition to further invade Burma, and with the gradual entry of France, the United States and other countries into China, Britain believes that it is necessary to open another way into China through Burma, and the end of the first Afghan war and the victory of the Sikh war against India made the British and Indian governments able to draw military forces to launch a war against Burma, so Ramsay decisively launched the second war against Burma in 1852.

In the first war against Burma, Britain dispatched 40,000 troops, spent 13 million pounds, and suffered 15,000 casualties.

In the second war against Burma, only more than 10,000 troops were dispatched, and this time, Burma retreated step by step from the beginning, unable to organize a large-scale resistance movement, and lost a large part of the country's territory within half a year, and all the outlets to the sea, which shows that the Burmese ruling class has been extremely weak in the past 20 years of internal friction.

Although the reigning Burmese king Myinton Dong pushed for reforms and asked France and the United States for help, France, which was more interested in Vietnam and Indochina, rejected King Mindong's request to establish diplomatic relations, and King Myinton forwarded letters to the US Secretary of State through American missionaries hoping to establish diplomatic relations with the United States, but received no response because Southeast Asia was not a colonial target of the United States.

In short, in the ten years since the Second Anglo-Burmese War, Burma has been getting worse and worse, and Britain is not satisfied with occupying Lower Burma, and its involvement in Upper Burma has become deeper and deeper. ”

The surrounding fell into silence, the history of Myanmar is a history of death, if you don't die, you won't die, although the Qing Dynasty is unbearable, but it has not yet reached the point of its own death, the main reason why it was exiled from China is that the Democratic Alliance Army is too strong, and at the last moment, Wang Feng gave up the massacre of Manmeng, and instead used exile as a means of reconciliation, Manmeng can only leave Chinese mainland under the choice of either death or leaving.

Yang Shuijiao shook her head and said: "Originally, I thought that the Qing Dynasty was bad enough, but when I heard Minister Li say this today, I realized that Myanmar is worse than the Qing Dynasty, but the more chaotic and weak Myanmar is, the better it will be for us, at least Brother Shi can save a lot of effort." ”

"That's it!" Boss Chen took over and said: "There are about 1.5 million people in Lower Burma, and about 2.5 million in Upper Burma, and we have nearly 200,000 troops, and it is not difficult to eliminate 20 Burmese on average." ”

Exterminating the Burmese people, or at least driving them out, this is Wang Feng's goal, but in his capacity, he can only do it, not say it, so he pointed forward and diverted the topic with a smile: "Our old friend is here." ”

The moment the Chinese fleet appeared, it immediately attracted the attention of the shore, countless Burmese put down their work, and watched the mighty and majestic warship gradually sail away, shouting incomprehensible words in their mouths, while the British kept praying with a cross, and some people rushed back with their legs, and in the tense atmosphere of the dock area, a group of British people came quickly, led by Wang Feng's old friend, Commodore Lambert, who had participated in the East India Company's war against China.

After being released by the NLD forces, Lambert returned to China to face trial before a military tribunal, and because he was the deputy commander and did not need to bear the main responsibility for the defeat, he was only dismissed, but his knowledge and familiarity with India and Burma, and the talent that the British government urgently needed, was reinstated half a year later.

At that time, the British had three colonies in Burma, which were taken from Tanah Saline and Arakan in the First Anglo-Burmese War, and Bago in the Second Anglo-Burmese War.

Located on the border between Myanmar and Thailand, Tanah Sarin is rich in tungsten, tin and teak, which has a straight trunk, a height of more than 40 meters, a diameter of two to two and a half meters, and a hard wood that is resistant to chemical corrosion, making it the best wood for shipbuilding and railway sleepers.

Arakan borders Bangladesh, a place that many people may not remember, but the Rohingya, a well-known international refugee in modern society, came from here, and were born after the combination of the Bengal Baibai Forest, which was introduced as labor under the British policy of razing and razing, and the local indigenous people.

Bago covered the entire coastal area of Lower Burma, the first two were under the jurisdiction of the Bengali colonial authorities, Bago was directly under the British Queen, and after the defeat of the East India Company, the parliament passed an investigation and announced the banning of the East India Company, and India was directly ruled by the British Queen.

After returning to Burma, Lambert was appointed commissioner in charge of Yangon affairs under the chief commissioner of Bago province, which was a blessing in disguise. (To be continued.) )

PS: Thank you liiee for the monthly pass~~~~