Chapter 1131: Market

The sun was scorching, but the slaughter on the battlefield was even more scorching.

The Gun Cavalry, like a torrent of steel, scattered the Tianzhu soldiers in all directions.

Other Da Song Infantry followed behind the cavalry, cleaning up those who had slipped through the net.

Under the relentless offensive of the Da Song army, the Tianzhu soldiers surrendered in large numbers before long.

The hostilities lasted only three hours before coming to an end.

Over one hundred thousand native state soldiers were dead, more than five hundred thousand surrendered, and thirty-two native state kings were captured; only a few kings and a small number of soldiers escaped.

The brilliant victory was unexpected even for Qin Shan and Guan Tong.

"I didn't expect that we had actually overestimated them."

The battle over, Guan Tong returned from Nan Cheng and grumbled to Qin Shan.

"No wonder outsiders could easily rule this region," Qin Shan also remarked with a sigh.

According to his understanding, the high castes of Tianzhu were descendants of foreign ethnic groups, while the true Tianzhu people were actually those outcasts known as Untouchables.

The two sighed for a moment, then ordered the captured native state kings to be brought forward.

At this time, the Tianzhu people who had been watching the battle from the walls of Calcutta also emerged from the city.

Many of them had intricate ties to the native state kings, and quite a few were even the children or relatives of those kings.

After all, one could not inherit a native state throne if one were not of a high caste.

"Great General Qin Shan, please forgive their ignorance. They are terrified now, and they will surely become loyal servants of Da Song from this day on," a Tianzhu youth said, approaching Qin Shan with palms pressed together in supplication.

He had once served the Governor, Bolt, at the Governor's Mansion.

After Da Song captured Calcutta, he chose to submit, serving Qin Shan and Guan Tong and acting as a bridge for communication between the Da Song people and the Tianzhu people.

At the same time, he held another identity: he was Lati, the second son of the King of Meghalaya.

This native state was located two hundred li west of Calcutta.

Under his persuasion, his father had not joined the Coalition of native state kings.

"Then tell them: my original demand remains unchanged. Swear allegiance to our Emperor Zhao Xu, and I will forgive them. Otherwise, our Da Song army will surely trample their native states and install new kings," Qin Shan said, looking at Lati.

Lati was clearly a man who knew how to read the situation.

Although Qin Shan despised his opportunistic nature, ruling a place like Tianzhu required exactly such people.

"Please rest assured, General," Lati said with a smile.

When the British arrived in Tianzhu, his native state had been the first to serve them.

Therefore, during the years of British rule in Tianzhu, their native state had profited the most.

It could be said that it was currently the wealthiest native state in Tianzhu.

His move to defect to Da Song this time was precisely because he had seen the situation clearly.

If they could gain the recognition of the Da Song people, their native state would likewise receive significant benefits during Da Song's rule over Tianzhu.

Turning around, he translated Qin Shan's words to the native state kings.

Unlike their aggressive demeanor before the attack on Calcutta,

the native state kings were now huddled together like frightened chicks.

The guns and cannons of Da Song had truly terrified them.

When the British arrived in Tianzhu, although they could not defeat them, they could at least trade blows with them, even if the final result was defeat.

But this time, they had absolutely no power to fight back.

And that was what terrified them the most.

Therefore, as soon as Lati finished speaking,

they nodded hurriedly, each vying to swear their allegiance.

Lati breathed a sigh of relief and relayed the meaning of the native state kings back to Qin Shan.

"That's more like it," Qin Shan nodded.

He then summoned a general and ordered him to head to Piaoman to report the latest situation in Tianzhu to the Imperial Palace via telegraph.

Six days later.

Zhao Xu learned of the situation regarding the war with the native states.

Just as he had hoped, this decisive battle could be called a victory that settled the outcome once and for all.

From now on, the Tianzhu native states would never again harbor the heart to challenge Da Song.

"The entire Dongtu region is now under the rule of our Da Song. Da Song, Gaoli, Dongying, the Southeast Five Nations, and the countries of the Southern Region, now plus Tianzhu, amount to about three hundred million people. This means my Da Song has a market of three hundred million people, occupying one-third of the entire world."

At this moment, Yang He was reporting the foreign trade situation of Da Song to Zhao Xu in the Imperial Study.

After reading the content on the telegraph, Zhao Xu said excitedly and handed the telegraph to Yang He.

"Tianzhu has submitted? Excellent! This is a region with a population almost equal to Da Song's, and Tianzhu is rich in cotton, the most important raw material supply for the British textile industry. Now that this place belongs to us, our Da Song's textile industry will be like a tiger that has grown wings." Yang He slapped his thigh, his face full of excitement.

(Note: The source text split this sentence across two lines 【50】 and 【51】.)

Zhao Xu nodded.

The greatest limitation on Da Song's textile industry was cotton.

Especially after the Thermal Power Plants in the various Xingsheng of Da Song began generating electricity one after another, the output of Da Song's textile industry increased rapidly.

This caused a shortage of raw materials, leading to a surge in cotton prices within Da Song.

Now that Da Song's textile industry had the cotton supply from Tianzhu, this problem was solved.

With high output and cheap raw materials, Da Song's high-quality and inexpensive cloth would impact all the countries of Dongtu, bringing a continuous stream of wealth to Da Song.

"However, due to the impact of our Da Song's cheap cloth, it is said that the cloth of farmers in other Dongtu countries cannot be sold, leading to boiling resentment. In some places, there have even been disturbances, demanding a ban on our Da Song's entry. It really is: after our own Da Song people finished making a fuss, they are now making one too," Yang He said casually, as if he had thought of something interesting.

"The emergence of new things will inevitably lead to the demise of old things," Zhao Xu shook his head.

With the development of Da Song's industry, it was not just the traditional small-scale peasant economy of men plowing and women weaving that was being destroyed.

There are many other trades that have been destroyed.

For example, the boatmen who used to ferry passengers across rivers.

With steel bar and concrete bridges being laid across every river in Great Song, there is less and less need for boatmen.

And the appearance of the bicycle has caused sedan chair carriers to lose much of their business.

However, while industrial development destroys some positions, it also creates more.

Those unemployed from traditional industries have been absorbed into new trades.

Just as there are many, many female workers in the Textile Factory.

But, it is precisely for this reason that Great Song needs to maintain industrial growth.

Only in this way can it continuously absorb the unemployed population from old trades.

Once industrial development stagnates and large-scale unemployment arrives, the country will fall into chaos.

And the foundation for maintaining industrial growth is the market.

This is also the reason why he must compete with Xitu Guo for spheres of influence.

Markets controlled by others will not be handed over willingly, unless you can provide them with more benefits.

Otherwise, one can only seize their markets through war.

After taking Tianzhu, Great Song possessed one-third of the world's territory.

Next, his goal is the remaining two-thirds.

Only a global market can nourish Great Song's industry to be more robust.