Thanks edited!
Yes it will.
Haha! Sure and thanks!
In The Lap of the Himalayas Version 2
- Thread starter Sarthak
- Start date
Another one: Chautaria is a title, not a caste. Puskar Shah was a distant relative of the monarch, and thus a noble, but he still was a Shah
This is going to cause all kinds of, as @Sarthak Bikram Panta is so fond of saying, "fun".
"Supervision, micromanagement, these areas of economics are where we have flourished for decades. "
People did not even talk like that in Western Europe at this time, let alone Nepal.
Nepal's GDP in 1820 was approximately $1.541 billion 1990 USD, or £15 million in 1900 sterling. The 1815 pound sterling was worth around 72% of the 1900 one.
The general rate of growth was quite slow over the next century, doubling in 97 years. That could be increased, but not overnight.
Budgets/taxation for European states at this time were in the ~5-10% spending zone; Nepal would be limited to a much smaller fraction for quite some time, which is worth bearing in mind for planning purposes. There would be perhaps £500,000-700,000 every year to cover all expenses and costs.
People did not even talk like that in Western Europe at this time, let alone Nepal.
Nepal's GDP in 1820 was approximately $1.541 billion 1990 USD, or £15 million in 1900 sterling. The 1815 pound sterling was worth around 72% of the 1900 one.
The general rate of growth was quite slow over the next century, doubling in 97 years. That could be increased, but not overnight.
Budgets/taxation for European states at this time were in the ~5-10% spending zone; Nepal would be limited to a much smaller fraction for quite some time, which is worth bearing in mind for planning purposes. There would be perhaps £500,000-700,000 every year to cover all expenses and costs.
Very true. Though in regards to micromanagement, It has done good, through minting coins etc for other countries etc. However I am not going to suddenly change the entire structure. It's going to happen very slowly.
Chapter 3: War it is then.
Chapter 3: A bit of discontent.
***
January 17th, 1819, Kathmandu, Kingdom of Nepal.
***
Bhimsen Thapa sighed as he read another report from the supervisors he had sent regarding the buy back schemes. In many places, many Zamindars were willingly giving up their lands, after they saw the amount of compensation the government was willing to give. However…..some Zamindars were less than willing to give up their lands, which led to forceful seizure with no compensation. The Zamindar was often thrown into prison and their family was given compensation and left to their estate and devices. It was heavy handed, however necessary. However that didn’t mean that Bhimsen wasn’t willing to do it. These changes were necessary and one and a half years had already passed since that fateful day in the Assembly of Lords and the reforms were well under way.
Bhimsen bit his lips in consternation as he read another report.
Mukhtiyar Bhimsen Thapa.
Another report of slavers have been caught in Parsa. It is imperative that these black market slavers be caught. Not only is this going against the new law, but it is also creating a black market culture in the country, something that must be avoided at all costs. Recent findings have alleged the Governor Zamindar of Alau with the slavers, however there is no concrete evidence supporting that fact. However we must remain wary of the Governor milord. We are diligently stop the black market cartels carrying poor men and women and children around the nation. I will provide another report after we have found better information and better news.
Balbhadra Kunwar, 1st General of the Royal Guard.
Of course, after the total banning of the slave trade, slave cartels and black markets with slavers had popped up all over the nation. And the Royal Guard had been deployed to take care of them. The Royal Guard…..an ambiguous name, an organization set up by the young King himself.
Logo of the Royal Guard of Nepal.
“We relied on the army to do the work of the military and the paramilitary. Back then, we thought they were the same. Evidently, they were not. The Army shall remain as it is, the military wing of the nation responsible for foreign affairs and external affairs. However the Royal Guard shall become the paramilitary guard of the nation responsible for domestic affairs.” – King Girvan Yuddha Bikram Shah of Nepal.
Balbhadra, a general who had shown his talent in the war, had become the 1st General of the Royal Guard. It was a position of honor to behold.
Speaking about the King……Bhimsen frowned. About half a year ago, whilst the King went to the south for a hunting trip in the forests of Parsa and Chitwan, there had been a massive gunfight in the middle of the forest. It was later revealed they were ordinary bandits and they probably thought the King was one of the nobles, and not the King. However Bhimsen though otherwise. The ambush had been too well planned, and too articulately detailed. The sharpshooters had known to fire at the King, and the King had barely survived by ducking into his hunting elephant. This was a conspiracy and a plot against the king no doubt. Ever since then Bhimsen had made the King’s protection very tight and well, an incident a month ago had proven his fears. The King had gone to Pokhara for a peaceful time and he was going to have a feast. A plate of food had been kept by someone in the King’s cabin. A servant, in accordance with the security laws Bhimsen had made, took one bite out of the food first. The next minute, the servant was on the floor frothing with poisonous ooze dribbling across his face. The entire incident was made a state secret and Bhimsen and the king could only ponder on who the assassin was.
Bhimsen’s mouth was set in stone as he thought about the possible perpetrators against the state. The King of Jajarkot? He had shown disinterest in the centralization program going on in Nepal. The Lo-Manthangs of Mustang? No, they were perhaps the most loyal subsidiary kingdom of the Nepali Kingdom. The only people Bhimsen knew had the courage and foolish bravery to do such a thing were either the Basnets or the Pandes. And this realization wasn’t exactly a good one. The Basnets and Pandes were powerful clans in Kathmandu, and the only real way Bhimsen could think of at the moment of getting rid of them was a Bhandarkal Massacre like massacre, except far larger, putting even children to the sword, so that any feeling of revenge would be wiped out, and well like any sane person, Bhimsen cringed on that idea.
Kingdom of Mustang;s flag, a subsidiary semi-Kingdom of the Kingdom of Nepal under the Lo-Manthang Dynasty.
Children were considered to the grace of the gods, and killing them, was well, perhaps one of the greatest sins one could ever commit. Bhimsen sighed as he put the report down and rubbed his face to keep himself uptight. He was about to read another report when the bells of the palace rang and presumably the messenger started to bang on his door.
“MUKHTIYAR THAPA! URGENT NEWS!”
Bhimsen grumbled slightly as he stood up and opened the door to see a breathless messenger. Bhimsen looked at the messenger and asked “Why the high pitched voice? Why are the bells ringing? What’s wrong?”
“Mukhtiyar jiu…..” The messenger panted as he tried to catch a gulp of air. “The Zamindar of Alau, he has risen up in revolt in Parsa! He has raised an army of 12,000 men, mainly armed peasants, mercenaries and bandits, but he has already set the city of Bharatpur to the torch and a refugee crisis is brewing in the other districts. The Royal Army based in Kathmandu, Pokhara, Biratnagar, Nepalgunj or Kapilvastu ,must respond!”
Bhimsen’s blood ran cold when he heard the news. He nodded at the messenger and said “Bring me Balbhadra Kunwar now! He’s in the Royal Guard office in the other side of the palace! Tell him to meet me! Bring the King as well!”
“Of course your majesty!” The messenger replied as he scurried to do his work. Bhimsen Thapa mentally noted to give that particular messenger apay raise in the next payday for the messengers. It was a tense set of minutes before Balbhadra and the King were present in Bhimsen’s room.
“What I heard, is it true?” Girvan asked.
Bhalbadra read through the reports and cursed silently as he said “Yes it seems so. We had our doubts about the man, however to rise up in revolt and arm 12,000 revolters? He could not have done this alone. He had help.”
“The ones who tried to kill me.” Girvan mumbled out. “Perhaps they wish to use Narendra Das, the Zamindar of Alau as their proxy?”
“Very likely your majesty.” Bhimsen replied. “However this is no time for chit chat. Bhalbadra, I am temporarily relieving you of command of the Royal Guard and taking command of it myself. You are our best general. Take the 1st Army and march down and take care of the traitor. I will handle the backlash here.”
Balbhadra bowed and left the room.
***
3 weeks later, Mahadevtar, Parsa, Nepal
***
Balbhadra narrowed his eyes as the mini telescope in his hand looked at the positions of the traitors. The army of Das had been ravaging the south for weeks now, and the 1st army had finally arrived to stop them traitors. What was Das doing however? His entire army was backed to the hills in the north with the Manahari river to his east. The man was clearly no military general of experience, or perhaps he was making a military genius plan that Balbhadra had never heard off. Anyway, it was evident that a battle was about to break out.
He stabilized his horse as it whinnied before looking at the formation of his own troops. The riflemen were in the center, the core and modernized part of the Nepali Army, veterans of the war.
Balbhadra’s mouth clenched.
“War it is then.”
***
This is going to be interesting. The king and his prime minister have their work cut out to reform Nepal, and deal with the reactionaries.
Looking forwards to more.
Looking forwards to more.
Yeah no one is simply going to sit down and simply take it. Damn those reactionaries!
Just got done reading through the current threadmarks, and I think you're off to a good start. As a Nepali-American myself, I always wanted to read the previous TL but never got around to properly reading through it. I'm excited to see what you've got in store!
Great chapter.
But the Bhandarkhal Massacre hasn't happened yet, you're a few decades early for that. So probably would be best to edit it
I meant the 1806 Bhandarkal Massacre. There have been 3 massacres in Bhandarkal