Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 227 Is Bengal a good place? Change rice to crow! [Please subscribe]

"Fourth Brother, tell me about your feelings."

Zhu Yuanzhang called out Zhu Di's name.

Zhu Di said, "From the video, it can be seen that the predicament of Luzon in the future due to insufficient production to supply the population can be summed up as a natural disaster plus a man-made disaster."

"A typhoon's passage is beyond human control—Third brother-in-law, future technology won't be enough to eliminate typhoons, right?"

Halfway through his conversation, Zhu Di actually started questioning Liu Kuan. This was mainly because he didn't know enough about future technology and didn't know the limits of future technology.

Liu Kuan shook his head. "Although technology is advanced in later generations, it still cannot prevent natural disasters like typhoons."

Zhu Di nodded, "So the crux of the problem of insufficient food rations in Luzon in later generations is ultimately caused by man-made disasters."

"Not only is the Luzon government unable to address the impact of the Western barbarians' religious prohibitions against birth control, but its dignitaries are also leading the way in annexation of land, seeking wealth by growing cash crops like sugarcane, rubber, and tobacco instead of grain."

"If not, even if there were natural disasters, with the fertility of Luzon's soil, the ability to harvest rice three times a year, and the advancement of future agricultural technology, how could it be impossible to feed over 100 million people?"

"If Henan in future China could support 100 million people, then the land area of ​​Luzon in future China would be much larger than Henan, right?"

After listening to this, Old Zhu nodded and commented, "It's good that you can see this point. When you establish a vassal state in the future, you must pay more attention to domestic affairs and not just focus on fighting wars."

Zhu Di immediately said: "Your son will remember your father's teachings."

Afterwards, Zhu Yuanzhang listened to the insights of Zhu Su, Zhu Zhen, Zhu Gui, and Zhu Tan, and commented on them before letting Liu Kuan play the next video.

The video still reveals its name, or theme, on the cover.

"1.7 million people, the entire country is a floodplain! Bangladesh is deeply mired in natural and man-made disasters!" - [Earth Knowledge Bureau]

When Zhu Di saw this title, he immediately focused more and frowned slightly.

Although his memory was not as good as Zhu Yuanzhang's, he was quite keen on maps, so he memorized a lot of contents of global maps.

According to the plan he and Monk Daoyan had made, the best option for going to India to be a vassal in the future would be to land in Bengal and then fight westward from there.

Firstly, the sea route there is closer, and secondly, looking at the map, it is an alluvial plain formed by the confluence of several rivers, and it is most likely a grain-producing area similar to Zhili Jiangnan.

If he could have taken over a large granary at the beginning, his Yan State would have developed much faster.

But judging from the title of this video, Bangladesh is still a flood-prone area in later generations. If the technology and industrial level of later generations cannot control the flood disasters there, wouldn’t it be difficult for him to control it?
If Bengal is not a good place to start establishing a vassal state, where should he move to?

These questions came to mind, but were quickly dispelled by Zhu Di because the video began.

This time it was a woman who was explaining.

"What does 1.7 million people mean? It's twice the population of Sichuan Province, 2 Mongolians, or the combined population of these places on Earth..."

A global map appears in the video, on which Africa's virgin forests and desert areas, the far northern wastelands of Eurasia, and the entire Australia are painted red.

Lao Zhu and others understood that the total population of these places represented by red in later generations was only 1.7 million, while Bangladesh also had a population of 1.7 million.

However, Bangladesh’s land area is only more than 14 square kilometers, which is smaller than many provinces in later China, such as Henan Province and Sichuan Province.

Under such circumstances, one can imagine how densely populated Bangladesh would be in later generations!

"Bangladesh is one of the poorest countries in Asia, with a per capita GDP less than a quarter of China's, yet it ranks fifth in the global natural disaster risk index!"

"Not counting countries with extremely small populations, it is actually the second most affected country by natural disasters..."

The video shows a ranking of "Natural Disaster Risk Index of Various Countries", in which Bangladesh, ranked fifth, is marked in red.

Among the four countries above, the Philippines is also marked in red.

Although Zhu heard of the remaining three countries for the first time, he understood that these three were small countries.

As a result, he gained a deeper understanding of the pros and cons of natural disasters in the Philippines and Bangladesh.

Zhu Di's face was filled with worry, and he thought: "How could the natural disasters in Bengal be so terrible? It seems that Bengal is really not suitable to be the birthplace of our Great Yan."

"But at the same time, Bangladesh has a very high population density, thanks to its location in the Ganges delta."

"This land is a land of fertile fields stretching for thousands of miles, a land of abundance. Great Britain built its empire on this land, and it remains the most fertile land in the Ganges River basin..."

After hearing this explanation, Zhu Di was confused again.

Bangladesh ranks fifth in the world in natural disasters, yet it has vast fertile land. Is it a good place?
After talking about Bangladesh’s natural background and the country’s current poverty situation, the video finally gets to the point.

First, the video explains the concept of national population density, and through enumeration and another ranking list, it shows that Bangladesh's population density ranks sixth in the world.

However, the countries ahead of it are all small countries with very small areas, so it can be seen that Bangladesh ranks first in population density among large countries in terms of territory!

Most importantly, Bangladesh has a low urbanization rate, with more than 60% of its population living in rural areas. This means that Bangladesh is not only overpopulated, but also very poor!

The video shows Bangladeshis crowding a train. The train is packed with people, including on both sides. It seems that the train cannot bear the weight and is moving extremely slowly.

The video then points out that Bangladesh's industrial and technological development is lagging behind, relying primarily on processing foreign waste. For example, the famous Chittagong shipbreaking yard employs 20 people. However, this is a small fraction of the country's 1.7 million population, so most Bangladeshis still rely on agriculture for their livelihoods.

Next, the video starts with the specific geographical environment of Bangladesh, describing how Bangladesh relies on an area of ​​14.8 square kilometers to feed a huge population of 1.7 million.

"As the largest delta on Earth, the Ganges Delta is extremely vast and astonishingly wide, equivalent to the distance from Shanghai to Lianyungang."

"Except for a small portion in West Bengal, India, most of it is in Bangladesh. This means that almost the entire country can be farmed, except for nature reserves such as the Chittagong Hill Tracts in the southeast and the Sundarbans in the southwest..."

As the explanation progresses, the video also shows various topographic maps of Bangladesh.

This made Zhu Di stare intently, wanting to imprint all these topographic maps in his mind at once.

At the same time, I was thinking that I should find an opportunity to communicate with Liu Kuan after the party and get these topographic maps over to me.

Zhu Di continued watching the video and found that the latter part mainly described three concepts based on the situation in Bangladesh.

First, the Ganges Delta, formed by the confluence of three major rivers, is known as an enhanced version of the Pearl River Delta. This is why it can feed 1.7 million people with its extremely high food productivity.

Secondly, it talks about the concept of "involution" and shows that Bangladesh is a typical example of extreme involution in an agricultural society.

Third, Bangladesh is a natural "Asian monsoon flood discharge area" and is affected by the South Asian monsoon. Therefore, not only are there many rivers, but they are also very chaotic.

This results in rivers in Bangladesh not only being prone to frequent flooding but also being unpredictable - many rivers can expand from one or two kilometers to more than ten kilometers in width, turning directly into swamps!
In other words, river management in Bangladesh is very difficult!
Finally, the video talks about Bangladesh’s historical legacy.

"The British colonized Bengal for the purpose of making money, but it was extremely difficult to extract surplus value from 'subsistence farming'."

"To the colonizers, the farmers who occupied the land were low-end productive forces, no different from pests. If we wanted to upgrade the industry, we had to 'change rice to crow'."

"To this end, the British decided to make things difficult for the Bengali people. Starting in 1767, they destroyed large tracts of rice fields and replaced them with various cash crops and - opium!"

"But soon, the people of Bangladesh went from suffering to death..."

In the video, due to the British policy of "changing rice to crow", a great famine soon broke out in Bengal, and countless people became starving and died on the streets, roadsides and fields.

Although Zhu Yuanzhang had experienced the chaotic times at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, and the people in the video were Bangladeshis, not Chinese, he still felt a nameless anger in his heart when he saw this scene.

Because he remembered that the Mongols did not treat the Han people as human beings at all. Instead of providing relief during disasters, they imposed heavy taxes and levied heavy taxes, causing the people to fall into famine.

At the end of the video, although Bangladesh's population skyrocketed to 1.7 million in less than a hundred years after it broke away from British colonial rule, it was able to feed these 1.7 million people with its extremely involuted agriculture, and could even feed 2 million people, thus avoiding the tragedy of millions or even tens of millions of people starving to death during the British colonial period.

After the video ended, Zhu Yuanzhang could not help but say, "These British are truly despicable. They actually replaced rice with crow in a vast granary with fertile land, causing millions of local people to starve to death."

"We used to think the Mongols were completely heartless, but now it seems they are nothing compared to the British!"

Zhu Biao exclaimed, "At the end of the video, the scholar who studies poverty and famine said, 'The vast majority of famines are poverty amidst plenty.' That's truly insightful."

"If it weren't for man-made disasters, why would Bangladesh, which could have fed hundreds of millions of people, be so starving?"

Zhu Di asked in confusion, "Third brother-in-law, is Bangladesh a good place for farming?"

Liu Kuan laughed and said, "Didn't the video say that the Ganges Delta is a souped-up Pearl River Delta? This means that while farming there is more convenient than in the Pearl River Delta, it's also more susceptible to floods and hurricanes."

"That's it."

Zhu Di frowned.

At this moment, he felt that Bangladesh was like a piece of chicken ribs, which was tasteless to eat but a pity to throw away.

This time, Zhu Yuanzhang did not test the older princes, but discussed with Liu Kuan.

"I think the most interesting thing about this video is 'involution' - according to the video, the change of dynasties here seems to be related to involution as well."

"What are your thoughts on this matter, Liu Kuan?"

Liu Kuan said, "Your Majesty, every time a new dynasty is established here, because the current dynasty does not suppress annexation, or does not suppress annexation effectively, the land annexation will reach its extreme within one or two hundred years."

"Add to that the lack of attention and limited development of agricultural technology, and the situation has become similar to the extreme involution of agriculture in Bangladesh shown in the video, falling into the Malthusian trap."

Zhu Yuanzhang asked, "How do you explain this Malthusian trap?"

"Your Majesty, the Malthusian Trap refers to the fact that population generally grows at a geometric rate, while resources grow at an arithmetic rate. Simply put, in a peaceful and stable environment, population growth will always be many times faster than resource growth."

"When the population exceeds the environmental carrying capacity, civil unrest will break out, and by eliminating part of the population, the population will be restored to the range that the environment can bear."

Hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang could not help but nod his head and said, "Thus, even powerful dynasties like the Han and Tang dynasties could not avoid disasters and chaos after one or two hundred years of their founding."

After a pause, he continued, "Do you know how to solve this problem?"

Liu Kuan smiled and said, "Isn't Your Majesty solving this problem now?"

Zhu Yuanzhang was stunned for a moment, then feigned anger and said, "Don't keep me in suspense, tell me the whole story."

　Second update.

　　Good night~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)