The Revolt of the Three Feudatories: All-in at the start in Beijing

Three days later, Yin Huasheng's fleet set sail from the port of Dhaka. One hundred large armed Fujian ships, plus twenty Portuguese galleons, lined up in three columns at the mouth of the Ganges River.

The Fujian ship had a deep draft and a wide hull, carrying all the supplies needed for the long voyage. The galleon followed behind the Fujian ship, with a long hull and a tall mast, and Portuguese sailors stood on the side of the ship.

Yin Huasheng has a long way to go from the Bay of Bengal to Lisbon, Portugal.

The fleet was to first sail south along the Indian coastline, replenish its fresh water and food supplies in Goa, and then head north into the Persian Gulf, stopping at the Muscat trading post handed over by Portugal.

Then, they bypassed the Arabian Peninsula and headed south along the east coast of Africa, resupplying at one point after another—Moomba, Zanzibar, and Mozambique.

Upon reaching the Cape of Good Hope, the fleet turned north and continued along the west coast of Africa, passing the Gold Coast and the Gulf of Guinea, finally arriving in Lisbon.

This route alone takes ten months to sail, and with the handover of supply points and colonial cities to Portugal along the way, it would take more than a year to complete.

Xu Chuang couldn't send him off.

Xu Chuang is a naval admiral of the Han Dynasty. Besides transporting Korean youths, he may also need to cooperate with Zhao Lie in attacking the Japanese islands. Therefore, Yin Huasheng has to travel this route alone.

Yin Huasheng stood at the stern of the flagship, cupped his hands in greeting to Xu Chuang and Liu Weiqing, then turned to face the sea.

The fleet slowly sailed out of Dhaka Port. The murky yellow waters of the Ganges estuary gradually turned blue, and the sails of the 120 ships grew smaller and smaller on the horizon of the Bay of Bengal until they were just a row of white dots.

Xu Chuang withdrew his gaze, turned around, and bowed respectfully to Liu Weiqing. "Your Highness, this humble general must also depart. Farewell."

Upon hearing this, Liu Weiqing shook his head.

"Don't rush off. Follow me."

After Liu Weiqing finished speaking, he turned and walked into the dock. Xu Chuang was confused, but he still followed him.

After walking around the brick warehouse next to the pier and reaching the large open space behind the dock where goods were usually stored, Xu Chuang was shocked by the scene before him.

The dock was packed with people.

Tens of thousands of Indian laborers, carrying loads on their shoulders or driving oxcarts, filled almost the entire open space.

The carrying poles were piled with wooden boxes and sacks, and the oxcarts were bundled with large quantities of goods wrapped in tarpaulins. Some of the bamboo carrying poles were bent into arcs under the weight, and the axles of the oxcarts creaked under the weight, showing how heavy the goods were.

Nearby, dozens of clerks carried account books and moved through the crowd, checking the goods orders one by one.

The air was filled with the smell of starch from fabrics, the plant-like odor of indigo dye, the spiciness of spices, and the husk smell of polished rice—a mixture of various aromas.

"This is a gift I have prepared for His Majesty." Liu Weiqing stood beside Xu Chuang, looking at the bustling scene before him. His voice was calm, as if he were discussing routine official business. "The country has been ravaged by the Eight Banners Tartars for so many years, and everything is in need of rebuilding. These are all things that the court urgently needs."

He pulled a list from his sleeve and handed it to Xu Chuang. The list was written on silk, with neat handwriting.

"380,000 taels of gold, 20 million taels of silver, 1.6 million bolts of fine cotton cloth, 1.38 million bolts of exotic brocade, 3.5 million catties of indigo dye, various quantities of sugar, spices, and dried fruit, and three boatloads of spices."

Xu Chuang took the list, his fingers gripping the silk, his knuckles clenching. What did 380,000 taels of gold mean? When the Eight Banners entered the pass, they looted the entire treasury of the capital, and all the gold they had was only a little over 100,000 taels.

Twenty million taels of silver—that's the annual fiscal revenue of the Han Dynasty. It's hard to say whether it even has twenty million taels now.

Fabrics, brocades, dyes, sugar, and spices—each of these was a form of hard currency, and once brought back to China, they could be converted into silver.

Just then, Liu Weiqing said something else.

"Oh, and there are also 18 million shi of polished rice."

Xu Chuang paused upon hearing this, his hand stilling. He asked instinctively.

"How many?"

"Eighteen million shi." Liu Weiqing repeated, his tone still so calm, as if he were talking about sand, not grain.

Xu Chuang felt something stuck in his throat. He didn't know much about gold, silver, cloth, or brocade, but he did know about grain.

He was a commander and knew how much rice an army needed to eat each day. Assuming each soldier ate one liter of rice a day, that would amount to three shi and six dou a year, which would be 18 million shi, enough to feed a million-strong army for a whole year.

If some coarse grains and bran were mixed in and distributed to the people, it would be enough to feed five or six million people for a year. Even if it were distributed to ordinary people first, it could still feed three million people.

Since defeating Wu Sangui and capturing Shang Zhixin, the imperial court is not short of money. However, due to the war, a large number of fields are abandoned and no one is cultivating them. Even with money, there is no grain to buy. If this grain were transported back, it could stop many famines.

But Xu Chuang didn't have the initial inventory list. He looked up and asked, "Your Highness, with so much grain being sent to the Han Dynasty, what will the local people eat?"

After asking the question, Xu Chuang quickly covered his mouth, regretting his words.

He was a naval admiral of the Ming Dynasty, not a grain storage official of the Indian royal court. Whether the people of Bengal had enough to eat was none of his concern.

But the words have already been spoken, and there's no going back.

Liu Weiqing laughed upon hearing this, not in a polite way, but genuinely amused.

"General Xu, you don't understand these things." Liu Weiqing's smile faded, and he pointed to the laborers loading ships on the dock. "Look at them."

Xu Chuang pointed to the direction and saw that the laborers had dark brown skin, were shirtless, and had carrying poles on their shoulders, carrying goods up and down the pier.

However, some people have one characteristic: they are so thin that you can count their ribs one by one. If Liu Mu were here, he would say that this is no different from the emaciated people in the late Qing Dynasty.

What Xu Chuang found strange was that these people didn't fall down; in fact, they would occasionally hum a tune while working.

Several elderly people were squatting beside the oxcart, picking up the scattered grains of rice one by one and putting them back into the sack.

Liu Weiqing knew that Xu Chuang had noticed the difference, so he put his hands behind his back and sighed.

"Alas, before I came, these people were also starving. At that time, all the food was controlled by the temples and Kshatriya nobles. They would rather sell it than give a single penny more to these common people."

"That's not all. After the temples and nobles finish collecting, the Mughal tax collectors will come to collect again. Of the 100% of grain collected from the fields, less than 20% will end up in the hands of the farmers."

"These common people can only dig up wild grass and eat bran in normal times. In years of disaster, people starve to death, and one death can wipe out an entire village. Now that the Mughal royal family has been driven out by me, and the land of the Mughal nobles has been divided up by me, the temples are not allowed to exploit any further than the elevenths of the tax. In addition, with the 18 million shi of grain transported away every year, the rest is for the farmers themselves."

Liu Weiqing paused here.

"They're eating a little better now than before. Just a little, but it's definitely a little better."

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