December 10, 1723, Sunny, Sindh area.

A year ago, when the newly promoted lieutenant Li Yanliang first arrived in Jinmen (present-day Karachi City), he was deeply suspicious of the combat strength of the Xizhou Servant Army, which was mainly indigenous Indians. But a dozen days ago, a sudden local riot immediately became the best practice to verify the combat strength of the servant army.

On 26 November, a massive civilian revolt broke out in Multan, the capital of the Nawab kingdom, near the Viceroyalty of Jinmen, in which the oppressed people of all ranks, armed with various agricultural implements and sticks, first killed the unscrupulous tax collectors, and then captured a military camp outside the city and seized a large number of weapons.

Subsequently, with the cooperation of the people of Multan, the rioting civilians invaded the city. Had it not been for King Azim I, who saw the opportunity and fled from the palace to the fortress of Haneval under the protection of the royal guards, he feared that he would have been captured by the angry people.

The Nawab Kingdom was founded by Prince Akbar, the third son of the former Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, in the tenth year of the Han Dynasty (1680).

In the First Qi-India War, Aurangzeb was tragically killed in battle, and his four adult princes immediately gathered their troops and horses to stage a traditional imperial drama - the battle for the throne, despite the fact that the empire was still at war with the Qi state.

Mu'azam, the eldest prince of Delhi, was proclaimed the successor to the throne of the Mughal Empire as Shah Alam I, supported by his ministers. Despite the advantage of having the advantage of the center of the empire, under the intentional or unintentional interference of the Qi State, Shah Alam I led his troops to conquer for several years, but he was never able to completely cut off the power of the other three brothers, and reluctantly allowed several brothers to stand on their own.

Within a few years, the second eldest Azam established kingdoms in Punjab and the third eldest Akbar in Sindh, openly rebelling against the Mughal Empire. The Marwa region based on the fourth Kam Bakhsh was sandwiched between the three major powers of the Maratha Kingdom, the Mughal Empire and the Gujarat occupied by the Qi State (it was not until 1715, after the Mughal Empire's reparations were completed, that the Qi State withdrew from the region), and did not dare to secede the country, and reluctantly remained within the imperial territory in the form of bonds.

In order to resist the central government of the Mughal Empire and ensure its independent status, the three princes of the secession area not only actively co-opted the powerful local factions of the Qi State and the surrounding areas, but also extorted money in the territory under their jurisdiction to maintain their huge armed forces.

The rulers introduced one tax after another, and extorted money from the people in a different way. As long as countless people want to live in peace on the land of India, they have to pay taxes according to their requirements, and the endless taxes and assessments make the lives of the people at the bottom even more difficult.

The upper classes turned a blind eye to the suffering at the bottom, and after shifting the conflict, they continued to enjoy their luxurious life, and when the next crisis came, they began to collect a new round of taxes.

Among the many items to be taxed, one was for the dress of the lower castes.

They demanded that women of lower castes were not allowed to wear shirts, that their breasts should be exposed, and that they should take off their clothes, especially when facing high-caste people, to distinguish between the two.

Of course, if you want to wear clothes, you have to pay a full amount of tax, and this tax is different for everyone, and the bigger the breasts, the more money a woman has to pay.

This tax reveals strange words from beginning to end, and there is no common sense at all, but because it was formulated by the upper rulers, the people at the bottom have no ability to resist, so they can only bear it silently.

High-caste people can take off the shirts of lower-caste women at will, and say that this is a sign of respect for the upper caste. If someone doesn't do what they think, they are reported to the tax inspector or magistrate, and then someone comes to collect large taxes to curry favor with the upper castes.

One can imagine how absurd this life was, and many Indian women were eager to flee to the Kharat Khanate, or the Qi-controlled Governorate of Western and Mosa.

This is not because of how much they have longing and yearning for the people of Qi, but the status of women in the areas controlled by Qi has a certain "dignity" compared to that under the rule of the Indian princes. The people of Qi thought that this was indecent, and it was a barbaric performance.

In a village on the outskirts of Multan, Mukram was a low-caste woman from a poor family who could not afford the heavy taxes imposed by the kingdom, nor could she accept such inhumane taxes. On a trip to the market to sell fruits and vegetables, she put on a blouse and became an "outlier" among the many low-caste people.

Soon, the official in charge of collecting taxes came to her house and demanded that she take off her clothes immediately, and the weak Mukram seemed so weak in the face of the man's strength.

Her blouse was forcibly ripped off, and her beautiful figure made all kinds of ugly jokes to the obscene tax inspectors and attachés.

Mukram felt an endless humiliation, followed by a deep sense of powerlessness. The other party told her lightly that if she wanted to wear clothes, she would have to pay a fee, which would be a lot of "huge money" according to her figure.

After everyone finished speaking, they burst into laughter.

The humiliated Mukram couldn't take it anymore, so she took out the kitchen knife at home and slashed it at her chest.

Everyone present was stunned, and Mukram held two bloody pieces of flesh to each other, and said angrily, Since it is the fine it induces, then you can take it away.

Mukram's crazy actions frightened everyone, and he left in a hurry to stop collecting the so-called "dress tax" on her.

By the time Mukram's husband returned home, his wife was lying in a pool of blood and was out of breath because she had not received timely medical attention.

After learning what had happened, the honest husband had no words, and he jumped at his wife's cremation and left with her.

The tragic plight of Mukram and his family sparked the anger of many people in the surrounding area, and the largest civilian riot in the Nawab Kingdom in decades broke out.

"Phew, if this kind of thing falls on me, it's going to pick up all kinds of guys and fuck them!"

On the winding Indus River, eight small 400-ton steamers are heading upstream, hundreds of kilometres away, towards Multan. The boat was full of officers and soldiers of the Xizhou garrison, and several sailors chatted about the riots in the Kingdom of Sindh while observing the river.

A short-bearded sailor spat into the river and scolded, "Holy shit, what's this called?" You say, women wear clothes to cover their shame, and they have to pay fucking taxes! …… The hearts of these princes of the princes are too dark, and they don't even want to lose their faces when they shave money! ”

"Who's to say it isn't?" Another tall and lanky sailor glanced at several officers of the garrison who were breathing on the deck, and said in a strange manner: "That's it, we have to send troops to Multan at the request of that bullshit prince to protect his safety, and help him suppress those poor civilians." Poor man, I don't know how many innocent people will die in this military disaster! ”

"What are you talking about?" A sailor sergeant glanced at several officers of the garrison over there, he should have heard their discussions, and he was looking at them with a hesitant expression, afraid of a conflict between them, so he hurriedly shouted in a low voice: "The military operation assigned by the upper peak, how can you comment at will?" Keep an eye on the river, and watch out for a small boat that suddenly rushes out of the fork and hits our boat! ”

Immediately, several sailors muttered and dispersed.

"A bunch of water rats, know a fart!" Zhong Qingrui, commander of the second battalion of the first regiment of the Xizhou garrison army and captain (captain) of the imperial martial arts, looked at the sailors with disdain, and scolded without scruples: "If the Xinde area is in chaos, what do I see them eating and wearing?" Don't you know that the grain in the hinterland of the hinterland, as well as a large amount of cotton, can only be transported to Jinmen through the Indus River and the Qinab River! Once the navigation of these two rivers is cut off, Mo said that our Western Viceroyalty will be greatly affected, that is, the entire west coast of India will cause violent tremors. ”

"That's what the chief said." Li Yanliang, the new commander of the third company of the second battalion of the first regiment of the Xizhou garrison army, nodded and said: "Their navy only drove the ship and moved its mouths, but it has never landed in battle. ”

"Well, though, they have a good saying." Zhong Qingrui said: "Those princes of the local princely states in India have scavenged the people's wealth, and they are really shameless!" Damn, decades ago, the Tartars in the mainland only kept their hair without their heads, and they didn't keep their heads, but now, when they are put here in India, they even have to be taxed if they even dress women to cover their shame. Those people were able to endure until now to break out, and they were extremely docile. ”

"There was such a sentence in "Warring States Policy", the nest was covered and the eggs were destroyed, and the Phoenix Emperor did not fly; The fetus was burned, but the unicorn did not come. Li Yanliang followed Zhong Qingrui's words and said softly: "However, these sobering warnings are not applicable in this part of India. It is reported that although there were more than a dozen provinces nominally subordinate to the central government in the Mughal Empire, hundreds of local princely princes, large and small, were scattered across its vast land, and these fragmented geographical divisions were enough to weaken their sense of statehood. Add to this the various religions, beliefs, and the caste system that has lasted for thousands of years, and the people of India have long since adapted to this situation of oppression and enslavement, so that they cannot develop a spirit of resistance. ”

"You know a little bit about India!" After hearing this, Zhong Qingrui couldn't help but look at this subordinate with admiration, he didn't expect that he was young, and he had only been in India for a year, and he actually knew the specific situation in the local area so thoroughly, and analyzed it well, so he asked with a smile: "Then what do you think we are going to do when we arrive in Multan?" ”

"He believes that in addition to helping the Nawab Kingdom stabilize the domestic situation, most of them should choose the opportunity to garrison Multan, and then control the Indus River waterway to ensure the safe and smooth transportation of materials in the inland hinterland." Li Yanliang blinked his eyes and said, "It is reported that in the hundreds of thousands of years of history of India, although there have been civilian riots, riots led by low-caste people have never occurred. ”

"Huh? ......" Zhong Qingrui's eyes immediately narrowed when he heard this, and he looked at Li Yanliang meaningfully, and did not speak for a while.

(End of chapter)