Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 353 Zhu Yu: I Want to Share Tianzhu with My Fourth Brother [Subscription Request]

In ancient China, the dynasties based in the Central Plains with the Han people as the main body also faced the threat of invasion from nomadic peoples in the west and north. There were no natural barriers like India in the west and north. Before the construction of the Great Wall of Ming Dynasty, there were not many natural defenses.

However, starting from the Zhou Dynasty, there are only a handful of dynasties that were actually destroyed by nomadic peoples. Not counting the later Qing Dynasty, the time when they were truly ruled by nomadic peoples was also very short.

Moreover, these few ethnic minorities who established stable rule in the Central Plains were eventually severely sinicized.

Therefore, Chinese culture has never been truly cut off.

Therefore, India has such a unique geographical advantage, but it was invaded and ruled by foreign races time and time again, and the civilization originating from the local area was cut off early. This phenomenon really made it difficult for Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Biao and others to understand.

In the video, India continues its history of conquest and domination.

"During the reign of the Kushan Empire, Mahayana Buddhism began to spread and entered Central Asia and China's western regions. This was also the basis for Xuanzang's journey to the West."

"The Kushan Empire's rule lasted for two hundred years before it collapsed, and Indians once again established their own regime - the Gupta Empire."

"Like the Maurya Empire, the Gupta Empire originated in Magadha in the northeast of the Indian subcontinent, but its territory was much smaller than that of the Maurya Empire, and it only controlled northern India."

"About two hundred years later, a descendant of the Yuezhi once again entered the Indian subcontinent. Although the Gupta Empire defeated the invaders, it also collapsed, plunging the Indian subcontinent into a period of chaos and conflict among various states."

"After that, King Harsha unified the north for several decades. It was during this period that Xuanzang came to India, was warmly received by King Harsha, and obtained Mahayana Buddhism."

"King Harsha learned of the Tang Dynasty's existence and sent envoys to visit it. Since it was impolite not to reciprocate, Emperor Taizong of Tang, Li Shimin, also sent an envoy in return. This envoy was Wang Xuance, a famous Chinese diplomat."

"Wang Xuance made three diplomatic missions to India. The first time, nothing happened. But by the time of his second mission, King Harsha had passed away, and the Indian Empire he founded was divided into five parts, with Central India being the strongest."

"Wang Xuance visited four of these countries and led their tribute missions back to the Tang Dynasty. However, the new king, Aronado, who ascended the throne after a rebellion in Central India, sent troops to plunder the missions."

"At that time, the Tang Dynasty was in its prime, and Wang Xuance would not tolerate such humiliation. He escaped with his deputy envoy and others, and directly mobilized over 8,000 Tibetan and Nepalese soldiers to defeat the Indian army led by Alona Shun."

"After that, they won a series of victories, captured several important cities in Central India, captured Arahanthun, his queen, and his princes, and caused hundreds of cities in Central India to surrender in fear. Central India was then destroyed."

"So, strictly speaking, the Tang Dynasty did destroy Indian countries, but it simply didn't establish rule there."

Seeing this, Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Biao and others who had learned about this matter from historical books such as "Old Book of Tang" and "Zizhi Tongjian" could not help but be surprised.

Because there were only a few records of Wang Xuance's borrowing troops to destroy a country in those history books, when they read them, they thought that Wang Xuance had only destroyed a small country in India and did not take it seriously. After Wang Xuance returned to the Tang Dynasty, he was only promoted two levels and was not rewarded heavily by Li Shimin, which seemed to confirm this perception.

After watching this video, they realized that Wang Xuance had most likely destroyed the most powerful country in India at that time and intimidated other Indian states.

Zhu Di became even more confident in establishing a vassal state in India.

"Since we were able to destroy a large country like India during the Tang Dynasty, I can also destroy a country and establish a vassal state if I go there now!"

"During the period of chaos and conflict among Indian states following the fall of the Harsha Dynasty, a powerful Turkic power emerged in Central Asia."

"To say they rose to prominence isn't quite right, because this Turkic group migrated westward due to the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty, and after entering Central Asia, they converted to Islam."

"This Turkic power went through the Ganizdid dynasty and the Ghurid dynasty. The Ghurid dynasty again invaded the Indian subcontinent through the Khyber Pass."

"After the Ghurid dynasty conquered a tract of land in northwestern India, they appointed a prominent Turkic slave as the governor of Delhi. This Turkic slave declared independence in 1206, establishing the Delhi Sultanate with Delhi as its capital."

"After that, the Delhi Sultanate experienced four dynasties, each with Delhi as its capital. Although the Delhi Sultanate existed for over three hundred years, it never unified the Indian subcontinent. At its peak, it only nominally ruled northern and central India."

"During the Delhi Sultanate, Islam flourished in India, while Brahmanism was suppressed and restricted. As for Buddhism, it completely declined and almost disappeared from India..."

At this point in the video, a picture appeared showing the approximate periods of the five dynasties of the Delhi Sultanate, as well as a rough map of the territory of the Delhi Sultanate at that time. Zhu Di took a look and couldn't help but feel puzzled.

He listened to Liu Kuan talk about many historical events of later generations, and now he also knew how to convert the Chinese emperor's reign title calendar to the later Gregorian calendar.

For example, it is now the 1388st year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty, which is according to the Gregorian calendar.

According to the content shown in the video, this should be the period when the third dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate, the Tughlaq dynasty, existed.

Moreover, the dynasty existed for less than a hundred years, and now it is only twenty years away from its demise.

Judging from the map shown in the video, the Tughlaq dynasty happened to be the peak period of the Delhi Sultanate's territory, covering almost the entire northern and central India, and only half of southern India remained.

But according to the Indian intelligence he got from his father, the future Bengal region where he was planning to land was home to only a small Islamic country. Not only was it subject to the constraints of another large sultanate, it also frequently fought with another small sultanate in the north, suffering more defeats than victories and being at a military disadvantage.

"Could it be that the Delhi Sultanate is a great power that can control the small Sultanate of Bengal? Just like the relationship between vassal states and suzerain states here?"

While Zhu Di was thinking about this, the video came to an end.

The Timurid Empire mentioned by Liu Kuan began to attack the Delhi Sultanate. Although it failed to conquer it during Timur's time, two or three hundred years later, Timur's descendants completely destroyed the Delhi Sultanate, ruled the Indian subcontinent, and established the Mughal Empire.

More than two hundred years later, the British arrived and turned India, which was ruled by the Mughal Empire, into its colony...

Seeing the video end, Zhu Di couldn't wait to ask: "Brother-in-law, is the rule of the Delhi Sultanate over India similar to the feudal system?"

Liu Kuan recalled it, but he didn't know much about this before he traveled through time. He hesitated and said, "That should be the case... Even if it is, it must be different from the Zhou Dynasty's feudal system."

At this time, Zhu Yuanzhang said, "According to the intelligence sent back by the Indian Guangming Guards, the system of the Delhi Sultanate can be more appropriately described as 'semi-feudal'."

"Those who hold real power in the region include the royal family and military nobles of the Delhi Sultanate, as well as local forces that were once subservient to the Delhi court. The situation is very complicated."

"The first Bright Guards we sent have been lurking in India for over two years, but we still struggle to understand the relationships between the various forces there."

At this point, Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Zhu Di and said, "But Fourth Brother, you are going to establish a vassal state. No matter what, you will inevitably fight with local forces. The most important thing is to understand their military strength. You don't need to understand the relationships between the various forces in detail."

Zhu Di nodded, "I understand."

At this time, Zhu Yu suddenly said, "Fourth brother, you see, the Delhi Sultanate is quite powerful. Even if it is the semi-feudal system that father mentioned, I am afraid that when the Delhi court gives a call, they may rise up against you."

"Why don't I also go to India to be a vassal? Fourth brother goes to what is now Bengal, and I go to southern India. Then, if we can attack from both north and south, it would be easy to destroy the Delhi Sultanate, right?"

Zhu Di first glanced at Zhu Yuanzhang. Seeing that Zhu Yuanzhang didn't show any special reaction, he said, "According to the rules set by our father, as long as you don't establish a vassal state within 500 miles of an existing vassal state, you can establish a vassal state anywhere. Why ask me?"

Zhu Yu said, "I don't want to take over India with my fourth brother..."

Before Zhu Yu could finish, Zhu Yuanzhang interrupted him, "Okay, Seventh Brother, you haven't even passed the civil service exam yet, why are you so anxious to discuss this with Fourth Brother?"

After saying that, he looked at Liu Kuan and said, "Let's play the movie."

"Yes."

Liu Kuan immediately picked up the tablet and played the prepared movie.

　First update.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)