Dominate the Country

In the first month of the lunar calendar in the 28th year of Chengtian, the expeditionary force sent by Chen Ming to South Africa had just passed through India, and a pigeon message brought Chen Ming a shocking piece of news - the Sultan Tipu of the Mysore Kingdom in India was assassinated.

The Tiger of Mysore is dead, this is really shocking news that makes people speechless.

The word assassination became a hot topic in the Chinese press for a while, and this assassination method can really move the wheel of the world.

As a famous and powerful figure among the indigenous princes of India, Sultan Tipu's reputation soared after repelling the British's attack again. It can be described as "famous in India".

And Tipu himself also took the opportunity of his "victory" over the British and his prestige increased greatly to adjust and operate on the political structure of the Mysore Kingdom. For example, Tipu took over the tax revenue, set up the Ministry of Finance, and also set up the police system.

This was what the previous Sultan Tipu wanted to do but did not dare to do and could not do.

Before, Tiepu could only set up regular customs in several important ports of the Kingdom of Mysore, which was far from comparable to the tax reform.

But both policies were strongly resisted by the local governments. For the Ministry of Finance, tax reform was not so easy. At present, there have been many violent resistance incidents in the Kingdom of Mysore. If Tiepu had not used the military power in his hands to suppress them, it would not have been implemented at all.

Many things of the Ministry of Finance have to rely on the garrisons in various places to get things done, otherwise the local nobles, officials and local tax collectors below will not honestly hand over the right to collect taxes!

It is just because the tax reform implemented by Tiepu Sultan has obviously harmed the interests of many people, especially the local nobles, officials and tax collectors below. These people rely on collecting taxes to enrich themselves. Now the Ministry of Finance has centralized all the tax collection rights, and even ordered local governments not to collect taxes on their own. The local government funds are all allocated by the Ministry of Finance. Isn’t this cutting off the financial path of most people!

Cutting off people’s financial path is like killing their parents! This is a great hatred.

This kind of radical "reform" would not be implemented in peacetime, but now is not a peaceful time?

Mysore became stronger step by step in military reform, and finally they resisted the British attack on their own.

Tipu's father, Hyder Ali Khan, fought the British for ten years. When he was dying, he lamented that Britain was invincible and ordered Tipu to improve the relationship between the Kingdom of Mysore and the British. Now Mysore is so strong that it is not afraid of the British. Although many people in the Kingdom of Mysore know that the British in India are only a small part of the entire British.

Chen Ming believes that Tipu has thought everything through before making such a decision. Winning the "Patriotic War" not only won Tipu prestige and popular support, but also strengthened his control over the army to a certain extent. As a king with a powerful army, it would be fine if the local nobles and officials worked honestly and accepted the leadership arranged by Sultan Tiepu. If they wanted to make trouble, Tiepu would not even waste time to investigate and directly send troops to arrest the original officials and kill them!

This one-size-fits-all management method is very rough, and there will even be many cases of injustice in the process. However, in the current situation, any intolerance to others is cruel to Tiepu himself.

If Chen Ming sat in Tiepu's position, he would definitely carry the power of "victory" and use this violent ruling method to control the entire Mysore Kingdom in the shortest time. The local forces in this ghost place of India are too strong. Rather than saying that Tiepu's father's crown was obtained by rebellion, it is better to say that a group of local nobles abandoned the old incompetent leader and chose a new one who is more capable and can protect everyone.

Hyder Ali had reached the pinnacle of the old Mysore Kingdom step by step, and his foundation was very solid, but Tipu's foundation was a little shaky. After his father's death, although Tipu still held power, the foundation of the entire kingdom was slowly corroded by countless nobles and corrupt officials. Tipu was very clear about this, but he was powerless to make changes. Even if he had the strong support of China at that time, he did not dare to launch a reform at the risk of the entire kingdom falling apart. Only the army that the Ali family controlled the most could take action.

Besides, the Marathas were still standing aside at that time, and the Mysore Kingdom had a great enemy, Britain. How could Tipu dare to act rashly?

And now?

The British have stopped, and their main focus is still in Europe; the Marathas also have a new threat from the Gurkhas, and recently the Sikhs have also been restless. It is too late for the Marathas to curry favor with Tipu now.

The two external threats have all disappeared, and Tipu naturally has to take the opportunity to rectify the internal situation. The local financial power and the powerful police system are the focus of Tiepu's promotion.

Looking at other kingdoms in southern India, they are basically still operating in the old way. The so-called king is just a leader with some strength to rely on. Such a kingdom has no resistance when facing the British.

Even as long as the British secretly promise some benefits, a kingdom that seems to have a large territory, military strength and financial resources will be in a state of fragmentation in the blink of an eye. The local nobles are actually independent, withholding taxes, etc., which can make a kingdom vulnerable immediately.

Chen Ming also asked people to convey his appreciation to Tiepu. Is China repairing its friendship with the Kingdom of Mysore? Chen Ming was saying that he did not object to Tiepu's violent method, and even agreed with it from the bottom of his heart. Because fundamentally speaking, the fundamental purpose of the tax reform is to control all tax revenue in the hands of Tipu Sultan, thereby avoiding the possibility of corruption and local power continuing to expand. In other words, this is an important means of centralization. Chen Ming also How can one object if Tiep is expected to have a good fight with the British in the years to come?

Under these circumstances, Tep's tax reforms and police system were successfully implemented within the Kingdom of Mysore. Chen Ming was already planning to sell a few more hexagonal cannons to Tiepu. How could he have thought that Tiepu would be assassinated?

"Your Majesty, Tiepu has been considering setting up the Mysore Navy recently, and is about to sign a ship purchase agreement. This time he is going to the seaside to inspect the port..." Then the assassin sneaked up next to him and used his gun 'bang bang' Knocked down by two shots.

The tax reform in Mysore is proceeding smoothly and the finances are not difficult. And Tipu thought of the rampage and coastal blockade of British warships during the previous war with the British, and felt deeply sad that the Kingdom of Mysore was defenseless.

He wanted to solve the problem, but he didn't expect two bullets to kill him. The person died before he could even leave a will.

When Chen Ming received the news, the Kingdom of Mysore was already bustling with activity.

After a period of commotion in the country, Salingabatam, Tiepu's third son Gulzhari has fled Salingabadan, and Tiepu's younger brother Singh has also escaped from Salingabadan. The entire kingdom is like a warehouse full of gunpowder. It only takes a tiny spark to cause a huge explosion to destroy the entire country.

Tepu's successor, Bahadur, had no control over their power.

…

Even the army under Tiepu's control was divided. Tiepu's sons were not the only ones left with Gulzari and Bahadur, and his brother was not the only one left with Singh. The reason why these two took action , that’s because both of them have their own strength among the Mysore king’s army.

Singh is directly one of the senior generals of this army and has considerable influence in the southwest of the Mysore Kingdom; Gulzari's uncle is also a senior commander of the Mysore Royal Army and is also a member of the Royal Army. Nobles, their power is mainly in the southeast of the Kingdom of Mysore.

"We must change our armaments and equip ourselves with the best muskets and cannons so that we can withstand Selingabatan."

Less than five days after Bahadur signed the arms trade agreement with the Chinese consul in Mysore, Guri [Kalicut] Singh, hundreds of miles away from Salingabadan, received the news.

This news put a lot of pressure on Singh. With the current situation in Mysore, he and Gulzhari were natural allies. The combination of the two was enough to immobilize Bahadur's army. Compared with Singh who ran to Guri on the west coast of India and Gulzhari who ran to Teminadir in the east of the Kingdom of Mysore, the threat to Selinga Badan seems to be greater.

The troops directly controlled by Bahadur are not enough to allow him to fight on two fronts, but if Bahadur gets new rifles and hexagonal cannons from the Chinese, compared with Singh and the ancient smoothbore cannon who only have smoothbore guns and old smoothbore cannons in their hands, Erzari, that advantage was big enough for Bahadur to start a war on two fronts.

Singh and the Guljharis could escape, but they could not hold on to the wealth in the Mysore treasury. Bahadur had enough gold and silver to buy the latest muskets and the most powerful artillery from China.

Singer frowned at his financial officer and said: "As I told you before, how is the external loan using the customs tax and salt policy as collateral? Do you have any clues?"

Bahadur will have new rifles and hexagonal guns, and he, Singh, must also have them. Only in this way can balance of power be ensured.

"Your Highness, I visited the French and British envoys in Guri for this matter, but the situation is not clear. They lack confidence in our repayment guarantee. The French Consul Roy talked to me, although he did not say it explicitly , but it can still be heard, and the British requirements are very excessive. They can provide loans, but they require supervision of the use of loans and require us to ensure that all expenditures on military purchases must be spent on the British. As for Hyderabad [the Maratha court], I have not yet contacted their powerful figures. The situation is probably not very optimistic!”

Bahadur's biggest advantage is that he has the support of the Chinese. Those Chinese who did not return to China but chose to stay in Mysore are now united under Bahadur. In Singh's eyes, it is obvious that the Chinese support Selinga Badan.

Singh was in a bad mood after hearing this. The French were not interested and stopped talking. As for their current store in India, it is not enough to use it all in Hyderabad. How can it be distributed to Guri? The British were able to lend money, but they restricted the 'purpose' of the money. What a bastard who took advantage of the situation. At this critical moment, he took out loans from the Customs and Salt Administration in order to expand the army and change the uniforms. He gave this money to the British, who could guarantee that they would immediately come up with 20,000 new rifles and 50 new rifles. Hexagonal cannon?

I'm afraid the British-Indian colonial army didn't have that much in total if they included their equipment in active service!

When the British sent the weapons they wanted across the ocean from Europe to Guri, Singer felt that his head was about to move.

It is impossible for the British to agree to such conditions.

They were too far away from India. By the time the British weapons arrived, as the Chinese would say, it would be too late.

Singh thought he had to think of a way, and he said to his financial officer, "Send someone to Hyderabad immediately."

Singh believed that the Marathas would definitely not want to see him defeated at this time. The Marathas now had the trouble of Sikhism in the northwest and the enemy of the Gorkha Kingdom in the north. They would definitely like to see a divided Mysore Kingdom. Including the British who had no time to take care of India, none of them wanted to see Mysore become strong or have a good life...