In The Lap of the Himalayas Version 2
- Thread starter Sarthak
- Start date
How long before the Qing send a strongly-worded letter to Nepal?
Also, I assume the First Nepalese-Tibetan War was this one:
en.wikipedia.org
Also, I assume the First Nepalese-Tibetan War was this one:
Sino-Nepalese War - Wikipedia
Yes this was the first one.How long before the Qing send a strongly-worded letter to Nepal?
Also, I assume the First Nepalese-Tibetan War was this one:
Sino-Nepalese War - Wikipedia
Though the Chinese tended to be hands off until Nepal demanded more than what was worth.
I suppose the Nyalam district was Kuti. But which district is Barung? Is it supposed to be Gyirong/Kerung?
Also, nice update.... Since Nepal currently mints all of Tibet's currency, why not ask the Tibetan government to exclusively use the Nepalese rupee instead?
Also, nice update.... Since Nepal currently mints all of Tibet's currency, why not ask the Tibetan government to exclusively use the Nepalese rupee instead?
Eh, that's too high a demand. The Chinese would intervene in that case
I enjoyed the new chapter! It's good to see Nepal starting to throw its weight around, though I'm curious to see what the response from the Qing will be.
Chapter 8
Chapter 8
***
1827, Jan
***
The cold winds of the winter swept past Bhimsen as he folded his hands behind him and looked at the city of Kathmandu. Bustling with men and women working side by side to live their lives with each other. Bhimsen smiled briefly. With the execution of the assassinators of King Girvan, all virtual political opposition to Bhimsen had evaporated into thin air. Which meant that this reformist movement was starting to gain ground among the new nobles which replaced them. The reactionary core was now virtually only limited to the old guard.
The war in Tibet had also been a successful endeavor. The annexation of Barung and Nyalam was a good decision on Balbhadra’s part. Ideally, Bhimsen wouldn’t have annexed them, however both Nyalam and Barung had huge mountains facing towards the north, meaning that they were excellent defensive positions for the Nepalese traders, and most importantly, the Nepalese Army. Of course, Bhimsen hadn’t demobilized the army after they returned from their stint in Tibet. There was always that off chance that the Chinese would intervene.
The Qing Emperor had replied with a letter to Kathmandu.
Mukhtiyar Bhimsen Thapa,
It seems that the quarrel regarding trade between our tributes of Tibet and Nepal has ended. This is good news for all of us. No more men to die in arid mountains for you two, and no more uneasy spectating for us from the distance. We would have liked to work with the treaty between your two nations, however it seems that both parties have managed to negotiate a common ground treaty between yourselves.
Thus, congratulations on winning the war and conflict, and exercising your military prowess to keep your economic capability in shape. However as is customary, the Emperor must warn the Durbar of Kathmandu, that any further action than what was agreed in the treaty will provoke us into intervention and anger, and such a result would not be in the interests of either us, or the Durbar of Kathmandu.
However, now that we can dodge that part, we are fascinated by the astounding victories that your general Balbhadra Kunwar, managed to reap on the battlefield against the enemies of your nation. I am wondering if military advisors can be exchanged between our nations? However that is a discussion for another time.
Nevertheless, we must digress. Congratulations on your victory against Lhasa, and I hope that any further disputes between both of your fine nations will not take place anymore in the future.
Qianlong Emperor.
Bhimsen Thapa had agreed to allow 2 military advisor swaps and Mathabir Thapa, one of his brothers and a veteran of the Anglo-Nepalese War and the Second Tibeto-Nepalese War, was sent to China on military affairs, as the Chinese had sent to him, a fortification expert. Not the best deal that Bhimsen had received, however Bhimsen was making the most of it by leading him to the engineers where he was giving the Sapper Corps lectures on how to effectively destroy fortifications and lectures to the construction corps on how to build resistant forts and fortifications.
Of course, the latter part of the lectures were wholly disregarded by Bhimsen. With accordance to the Treaty with the British, he was forbidden from building forts facing anywhere in the south barring the main pass into Kathmandu Valley. He could only build forts facing the north against the Tibetans and Chinese, and after hearing about rumors about rising tensions between Qianlong Emperor and the Honorable East India Company, Bhimsen very much doubted that Nepal would require any such fortifications. However the lecture on destroying fortifications were much appreciated.
Bhimsen then sighed and rubbed his weary eyes. He needed to go to sleep. Idly he wondered how Pushkar was doing. He should have reached Great Britain about few weeks ago.
***
London, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
***
Pushkar Shah sat down uncomfortably as the Duke of Wellington, a man named Arthur Wellesley beckoned at him as the Parliament looked on and said “This is Mr. Pushkar Shah. He is envoy from an important kingdom in South Asia. He is here today to look at our proceedings in the parliament in the name of His Majesty.”
The parliament largely just shuffled and largely did anything else. Wellesley looked at Pushkar and said “There is a seat beside the Speaker. You may sit there, Mr. Shah.”
“Pushkar bowed slightly and stated, “Thank you for providing me this opportunity.”
Wellesley smiled back with a polite smile and said “Of course.”
And then the Parliament session began in earnest.
***
Later that evening, The Duke asked Pushkar to have dinner with him.
“Mr. Shah I wonder how your trip here to Britain has been?” The Duke asked as he poured a glass of wine and put it in front of him.
“It has been most splendid Lord Wellington.” Pushkar curtseyed. “These past few weeks have been most informative.”
Wellesley grinned and took a gulp out of his wine and asked “I hear the situation in Nepal is quite interesting? Shame I never got to fight your armies. Octolerny, the old goat had praises to heap on your armies after he returned.”
Pushkar flushed. “I would like to think that despite our loss, we fought bravely.”
“And I presume you did.” The Duke replied with a chuckle.
Pushkar craned his neck and asked, “I heart that you are a famed general here in Britain. In the war against the French? Perhaps you are correct. Fighting you with our country’s famed generals would have been a sight to see.”
“Ah yes, I have heard about some of them. Bhakti Thapa, Amar Singh Thapa, Balbhadra Kunwar, they all seem to have a very strong rapport behind them.” The Duke replied. “I do miss the days of battle…………however these old bones can’t take war work any longer.”
“You miss the battles?” Pushkar asked puzzled. “Most generals I have met have all stated that despite their military prowess, they do not like the business of war.”
“Who does?” Wellesley asked with a slight mumble. “However out there I felt that I was actually doing something for the nation and doing my part. I once wished to be a member of the parliament, however the dirty politics of the parliament has left my tongue quite bitter.”
“What about your veterans?” Pushkar asked. “Surely, your men and you-”
“My men were the scum of earth.”
Pushkar raised an eyebrow and simply nodded and drank the wine in silence.
Later on Wellesley stood up and said “Well, your ship departs day after tomorrow. Best we make a memorable last day.”
(OTL The Duke of Wellington was asked to be the host of Mathabir Singh Thapa when he was slated to visit the UK, however Mathabir refused to go later on, and the whole idea fell onto cold ice. However since Pushkar is the one going, the Duke is playing host to Pushkar).
***
Bhimsen groaned as he read through report after report in front of the Bharadari Sabha as they quietly accepted and took in the new reported facts and figures.
Bhimsen finally perked up as he got into new economic and trading plans.
He rubbed his mustache for a few seconds before speaking up again. “Now that we have effective trade monopoly over the Tibetan trade in Sikkim after the war, we can look forward to exploiting this in Sikkim."
"How? Sikkim is a puppet and client state of the British.” Asked one of the nobles.
“True.” Bhimsen conceded. “However that wasn’t our focus anyways. We are going to be using this trade monopoly to exercise advertisement of our goods in Sikkim again. Remember that our coins were used in Sikkim just a few years ago, and the new minting of coins seems to have fallen into disrepair in Sikkim. If we can exert enough influence, the Sikkim court would be amenable to pegging their coin standard back to our coinage. Such a move would make our economic situation in the north much stronger and firmer.”
“Perhaps. However we still have a problem with the Garhwal Kingdom. Even after the war they continued to use our coins, however they are starting to duplicate our coinage, with low quality grade coins.” Another noble pointed out. “Unlike Tibet however, we cannot intervene in Garhwal, for they are a client state of the East India Company.”
“That is indeed a problem.” Bhimsen murmured. “We cannot allow low grade coins to be circulated. That would completely undermine our economy. Our coinage and supervision system will have to be strengthened and made stricter. We shall also have the Royal Treasury personally oversee the flow of coins in the country.”
“Isn’t that too big a stress for the Treasury? Such overworks could mean the treasury will be strained.” The noble pointed out again.
“That will only be true for a few months.” Bhimsen retorted.
“Why?”
“I have spoken with the ministers, and the head of the Treasury, and they all have agreed to establish a National Bank led by the state in the nation.” Bhimsen revealed.
“That is a good plan.”
“Indeed.”
“I support this plan.”
“What are the current investments?”
“Now now.” Bhimsen murmured. “We are still a few months off to start actually giving out investments and the such. However I can assure you, this endeavor will not fail.”
***
***
1827, Jan
***
The cold winds of the winter swept past Bhimsen as he folded his hands behind him and looked at the city of Kathmandu. Bustling with men and women working side by side to live their lives with each other. Bhimsen smiled briefly. With the execution of the assassinators of King Girvan, all virtual political opposition to Bhimsen had evaporated into thin air. Which meant that this reformist movement was starting to gain ground among the new nobles which replaced them. The reactionary core was now virtually only limited to the old guard.
The war in Tibet had also been a successful endeavor. The annexation of Barung and Nyalam was a good decision on Balbhadra’s part. Ideally, Bhimsen wouldn’t have annexed them, however both Nyalam and Barung had huge mountains facing towards the north, meaning that they were excellent defensive positions for the Nepalese traders, and most importantly, the Nepalese Army. Of course, Bhimsen hadn’t demobilized the army after they returned from their stint in Tibet. There was always that off chance that the Chinese would intervene.
The Qing Emperor had replied with a letter to Kathmandu.
Mukhtiyar Bhimsen Thapa,
It seems that the quarrel regarding trade between our tributes of Tibet and Nepal has ended. This is good news for all of us. No more men to die in arid mountains for you two, and no more uneasy spectating for us from the distance. We would have liked to work with the treaty between your two nations, however it seems that both parties have managed to negotiate a common ground treaty between yourselves.
Thus, congratulations on winning the war and conflict, and exercising your military prowess to keep your economic capability in shape. However as is customary, the Emperor must warn the Durbar of Kathmandu, that any further action than what was agreed in the treaty will provoke us into intervention and anger, and such a result would not be in the interests of either us, or the Durbar of Kathmandu.
However, now that we can dodge that part, we are fascinated by the astounding victories that your general Balbhadra Kunwar, managed to reap on the battlefield against the enemies of your nation. I am wondering if military advisors can be exchanged between our nations? However that is a discussion for another time.
Nevertheless, we must digress. Congratulations on your victory against Lhasa, and I hope that any further disputes between both of your fine nations will not take place anymore in the future.
Qianlong Emperor.
Bhimsen Thapa had agreed to allow 2 military advisor swaps and Mathabir Thapa, one of his brothers and a veteran of the Anglo-Nepalese War and the Second Tibeto-Nepalese War, was sent to China on military affairs, as the Chinese had sent to him, a fortification expert. Not the best deal that Bhimsen had received, however Bhimsen was making the most of it by leading him to the engineers where he was giving the Sapper Corps lectures on how to effectively destroy fortifications and lectures to the construction corps on how to build resistant forts and fortifications.
Of course, the latter part of the lectures were wholly disregarded by Bhimsen. With accordance to the Treaty with the British, he was forbidden from building forts facing anywhere in the south barring the main pass into Kathmandu Valley. He could only build forts facing the north against the Tibetans and Chinese, and after hearing about rumors about rising tensions between Qianlong Emperor and the Honorable East India Company, Bhimsen very much doubted that Nepal would require any such fortifications. However the lecture on destroying fortifications were much appreciated.
Bhimsen then sighed and rubbed his weary eyes. He needed to go to sleep. Idly he wondered how Pushkar was doing. He should have reached Great Britain about few weeks ago.
***
London, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
***
Pushkar Shah sat down uncomfortably as the Duke of Wellington, a man named Arthur Wellesley beckoned at him as the Parliament looked on and said “This is Mr. Pushkar Shah. He is envoy from an important kingdom in South Asia. He is here today to look at our proceedings in the parliament in the name of His Majesty.”
The parliament largely just shuffled and largely did anything else. Wellesley looked at Pushkar and said “There is a seat beside the Speaker. You may sit there, Mr. Shah.”
“Pushkar bowed slightly and stated, “Thank you for providing me this opportunity.”
Wellesley smiled back with a polite smile and said “Of course.”
And then the Parliament session began in earnest.
***
Later that evening, The Duke asked Pushkar to have dinner with him.
“Mr. Shah I wonder how your trip here to Britain has been?” The Duke asked as he poured a glass of wine and put it in front of him.
“It has been most splendid Lord Wellington.” Pushkar curtseyed. “These past few weeks have been most informative.”
Wellesley grinned and took a gulp out of his wine and asked “I hear the situation in Nepal is quite interesting? Shame I never got to fight your armies. Octolerny, the old goat had praises to heap on your armies after he returned.”
Pushkar flushed. “I would like to think that despite our loss, we fought bravely.”
“And I presume you did.” The Duke replied with a chuckle.
Pushkar craned his neck and asked, “I heart that you are a famed general here in Britain. In the war against the French? Perhaps you are correct. Fighting you with our country’s famed generals would have been a sight to see.”
“Ah yes, I have heard about some of them. Bhakti Thapa, Amar Singh Thapa, Balbhadra Kunwar, they all seem to have a very strong rapport behind them.” The Duke replied. “I do miss the days of battle…………however these old bones can’t take war work any longer.”
“You miss the battles?” Pushkar asked puzzled. “Most generals I have met have all stated that despite their military prowess, they do not like the business of war.”
“Who does?” Wellesley asked with a slight mumble. “However out there I felt that I was actually doing something for the nation and doing my part. I once wished to be a member of the parliament, however the dirty politics of the parliament has left my tongue quite bitter.”
“What about your veterans?” Pushkar asked. “Surely, your men and you-”
“My men were the scum of earth.”
Pushkar raised an eyebrow and simply nodded and drank the wine in silence.
Later on Wellesley stood up and said “Well, your ship departs day after tomorrow. Best we make a memorable last day.”
(OTL The Duke of Wellington was asked to be the host of Mathabir Singh Thapa when he was slated to visit the UK, however Mathabir refused to go later on, and the whole idea fell onto cold ice. However since Pushkar is the one going, the Duke is playing host to Pushkar).
***
Bhimsen groaned as he read through report after report in front of the Bharadari Sabha as they quietly accepted and took in the new reported facts and figures.
Bhimsen finally perked up as he got into new economic and trading plans.
He rubbed his mustache for a few seconds before speaking up again. “Now that we have effective trade monopoly over the Tibetan trade in Sikkim after the war, we can look forward to exploiting this in Sikkim."
"How? Sikkim is a puppet and client state of the British.” Asked one of the nobles.
“True.” Bhimsen conceded. “However that wasn’t our focus anyways. We are going to be using this trade monopoly to exercise advertisement of our goods in Sikkim again. Remember that our coins were used in Sikkim just a few years ago, and the new minting of coins seems to have fallen into disrepair in Sikkim. If we can exert enough influence, the Sikkim court would be amenable to pegging their coin standard back to our coinage. Such a move would make our economic situation in the north much stronger and firmer.”
“Perhaps. However we still have a problem with the Garhwal Kingdom. Even after the war they continued to use our coins, however they are starting to duplicate our coinage, with low quality grade coins.” Another noble pointed out. “Unlike Tibet however, we cannot intervene in Garhwal, for they are a client state of the East India Company.”
“That is indeed a problem.” Bhimsen murmured. “We cannot allow low grade coins to be circulated. That would completely undermine our economy. Our coinage and supervision system will have to be strengthened and made stricter. We shall also have the Royal Treasury personally oversee the flow of coins in the country.”
“Isn’t that too big a stress for the Treasury? Such overworks could mean the treasury will be strained.” The noble pointed out again.
“That will only be true for a few months.” Bhimsen retorted.
“Why?”
“I have spoken with the ministers, and the head of the Treasury, and they all have agreed to establish a National Bank led by the state in the nation.” Bhimsen revealed.
“That is a good plan.”
“Indeed.”
“I support this plan.”
“What are the current investments?”
“Now now.” Bhimsen murmured. “We are still a few months off to start actually giving out investments and the such. However I can assure you, this endeavor will not fail.”
***
Last edited:
Interesting looks like Nepal's important for the economic stability of South-East Asia I'm assuming that the East India Company is a bit peeved.
Eh not really. As long as Nepal does not intervene or remove British military and economic domination in the north, there really isn't much they would do.
I'm not entirely sure whether the Qing would be interested in foreign military advisers, but I will let people who know more about the subject to expand upon that.
Plus, there would probably have been more flowery language in the original translation. Though the letter basically amounts to "yes yes, well done, don't do it again, there's a good chap".
Plus, there would probably have been more flowery language in the original translation. Though the letter basically amounts to "yes yes, well done, don't do it again, there's a good chap".
Nah they just sent low level foreign advisors and historically they did listen to some veterans sent by Nepal after 1792. Emphasis on 'some'. During the opium wars Varun Thapa, a military advisor advised the emperor to strike fast to deal a crushing blow before the British could throw their full weight. If that advise had been taken East Asian history would have been so different than OTL.I'm not entirely sure whether the Qing would be interested in foreign military advisers, but I will let people who know more about the subject to expand upon that.
Plus, there would probably have been more flowery language in the original translation. Though the letter basically amounts to "yes yes, well done, don't do it again, there's a good chap".
Yes, the letter basically that.
All steady in the last few updates. I'm not sure whether the Emperor himself would stoop to such a letter; perhaps have it sent by an appropriate mandarin. China would not be quite so eager to genuflect to Nepal over regional success, so shifting that part to low level exchanges might be a thought.
By limiting Nepalese interaction to the appropriate level, although the circumstance where the Duke of Wellington is involved works, it ensures that there isn't too much of a leap at any single time.
By limiting Nepalese interaction to the appropriate level, although the circumstance where the Duke of Wellington is involved works, it ensures that there isn't too much of a leap at any single time.
I agree. A letter from Qianlong himself would be unprecedented. That too in that tone.
A good update nevertheless.
It's not written by the emperor. It's written by one of his court ministers. They always wrote in the name of the emperor thus signing as 'Qianlong Emperor'. The emperor very rarely ever wrote official documents on his own.
Ah my bad.. Also, could you go on detail about the Nepali advisor to the Qing?
Chapter 9
Chapter 9
***
1830
***
Bhimsen Thapa smiled slowly as John Riddle entered his office once again. Riddle sat down in the chair with an ‘oomph’ and then said “Well Mukhtiyar, our deal is done! We’ve built the roads and highways you wanted.”
Bhimsen Thapa nodded and said “I see that you have. The road connecting Bharatpur to Kathmandu is a fine piece of work thank you.”
“Aye, it is one of my better projects sir.” Riddle stated. “Some of the men you contracted for me have grown to be fine constructers as well. Perhaps creating a construction firm in Kathmandu would not be amiss Sir?”
“It would not Mr. Riddle.” Bhimsen chuckled as he sipped some amount of tea from his cup. “However that is a negotiating proposal that would need to be discussed with the Head Treasurer. You can speak with him anytime you wish. I personally would not be against it.”
“Aye, thank you sir.”
“Anyways, I guess the reason why you are here is your payment?” Bhimsen asked rhetorically.
Riddle nodded.
Bhimsen rummaged through one of his documents and pulled out a letter. He handed it to Riddle and said “Take that letter to the Royal Bank in Thapathali. You will get your money there, transferred into pounds from the Nepali Rupee. You can speak with the Head Treasurer there if you wish by taking an appointment. He generally is free during this time of the day.”
Riddle took the letter and tipped his hat and said “Aye, thanks sir. Tis was an honor to do.”
“It was my honor as well. Mr. Riddle. Now get going, I doubt that money is going to get itself.”
“Aye sir. Thank you sir.”
***
Later Bhimsen Thapa found out that Riddle had negotiated the establishment of a medium sized construction firm in Patan with the Head Treasurer. The new roads built by Riddle were very much stronger, smoother and all rounded compared the previous sand roads that were used, which were prone to landslides. From what Bhimsen heard, small scale neighborhood road construction contracts from some of the wealthier citizens living in their mansions on the fringes of the valley had hired the firm to build suitable roads and pathways to their said mansions.
Meanwhile speaking about roads, Bhimsen was very much mulling over the map of Kathmandu Valley. There was a small saying that the first King of Nepal, Prithvi Narayan Shah had said. “Build your administrative divisions in the middle and build the residence in the side.”
It hadn’t been implemented for the obvious reason of Prithvi Narayan Shah’s death, however Bhimsen was currently very much looking into this as he used his admittedly somewhat lacking cartography skills to measure distances and to conduct small map surveys of the valley. However despite Prithvi Narayan Shah’s optimistic quote, the entire city of Kathmandu and the subsequent valley had been built the ancient era millennia ago; and the residence was smack in the middle of the valley. Moving them seemed like a very ill advised idea.
However that didn’t mean that Bhimsen couldn’t tweak them. He was considering making the governmental administrative buildings and centers of the valley to be moved to the side of the valley and the residence being in the center.
He had been taking the advice of some engineers and architects attributed with the old Malla Kings of Kathmandu and they were willing to continue the old planned city system that the Malla Kings had used which had fallen into disuse for about 3 decades. Reviving the planned city plan would be beneficial not only for Kathmandu Valley, however for all of the major population centers of the country, and Bhimsen was very much close into implementing this part of his plan.
Meanwhile however, Bhimsen ran aground to a massive problem. He had been successful with Sikkim and Sikkim had reverted to use the Nepalese currency like the old settlement and after an ambassador meeting in Dharan, both sides had agreed to common economic policies and concessions from the usage of Nepalese coins. However in Garhwal, the entire area had been in an uproar and inflation had rocketed skywards after the Nepalese Royal Bank established a few years ago now, had tightened regulatory measures, and the low grade copies of Nepali coins in Garhwal were found out by the populace, making their economic situation slightly unclear and the future of their economic standards hazy.
Nepal had wished to assert their economic relation to Garhwal just like with Sikkim, however the East India Company had intervened and made the Kingdom use the East Indian coins minted in Odisha and Bengal; and much to Bhimsen’s distaste, Nepal had been unable to seize the economic initiative in Bengal. However at least in Sikkim, now Nepal inadvertently controlled the two trade routes into Tibet once again. Though with the British expansion into Assam, the Brahmaputra valley was being used by the British to trade as well, however Nepal continued to hold the monopoly over India-Tibetan-Chinese Trade. Though, it was becoming apparent to Bhimsen that this monopoly was going to quickly end in the future.
For the last decade or so, Bhimsen Thapa had encouraged small scale industries in the country, with potteries and small scale textile industries springing up across the nation.
However now, it seemed that economic reform was going to be seriously needed, if Nepali economic growth was to be greater and more hospitable to the developing future.
The Royal Bank Committee, the Treasurers, and ministers as well as the Bharadari Sabha was currently looking into the economic policies and books that Pushkar had brought from Britain to see a sensible reform being made.
***
Pushkar Shah was currently being angered to the limits of his patience as he tried to discern the political workings of the British political structure. They had seemed so easy and capable of being understood, however Pushkar was quickly finding out that, the British political structure which he had been studying so deeply after returning from Britain, to be much more complicated and much more deeper than what he had realized. Bhimsen had relegated proposals for administrative and political reforms to him, and currently Pushkar was pushing to make Departments as the British called them. Currently the Departments that Pushkar thought best to be proposed in the Bharadari Sabha were:-
This proposal would be brought forward to the Bharadari Sabha in the next meeting.
***
***
1830
***
Bhimsen Thapa smiled slowly as John Riddle entered his office once again. Riddle sat down in the chair with an ‘oomph’ and then said “Well Mukhtiyar, our deal is done! We’ve built the roads and highways you wanted.”
Bhimsen Thapa nodded and said “I see that you have. The road connecting Bharatpur to Kathmandu is a fine piece of work thank you.”
“Aye, it is one of my better projects sir.” Riddle stated. “Some of the men you contracted for me have grown to be fine constructers as well. Perhaps creating a construction firm in Kathmandu would not be amiss Sir?”
“It would not Mr. Riddle.” Bhimsen chuckled as he sipped some amount of tea from his cup. “However that is a negotiating proposal that would need to be discussed with the Head Treasurer. You can speak with him anytime you wish. I personally would not be against it.”
“Aye, thank you sir.”
“Anyways, I guess the reason why you are here is your payment?” Bhimsen asked rhetorically.
Riddle nodded.
Bhimsen rummaged through one of his documents and pulled out a letter. He handed it to Riddle and said “Take that letter to the Royal Bank in Thapathali. You will get your money there, transferred into pounds from the Nepali Rupee. You can speak with the Head Treasurer there if you wish by taking an appointment. He generally is free during this time of the day.”
Riddle took the letter and tipped his hat and said “Aye, thanks sir. Tis was an honor to do.”
“It was my honor as well. Mr. Riddle. Now get going, I doubt that money is going to get itself.”
“Aye sir. Thank you sir.”
***
Later Bhimsen Thapa found out that Riddle had negotiated the establishment of a medium sized construction firm in Patan with the Head Treasurer. The new roads built by Riddle were very much stronger, smoother and all rounded compared the previous sand roads that were used, which were prone to landslides. From what Bhimsen heard, small scale neighborhood road construction contracts from some of the wealthier citizens living in their mansions on the fringes of the valley had hired the firm to build suitable roads and pathways to their said mansions.
Meanwhile speaking about roads, Bhimsen was very much mulling over the map of Kathmandu Valley. There was a small saying that the first King of Nepal, Prithvi Narayan Shah had said. “Build your administrative divisions in the middle and build the residence in the side.”
It hadn’t been implemented for the obvious reason of Prithvi Narayan Shah’s death, however Bhimsen was currently very much looking into this as he used his admittedly somewhat lacking cartography skills to measure distances and to conduct small map surveys of the valley. However despite Prithvi Narayan Shah’s optimistic quote, the entire city of Kathmandu and the subsequent valley had been built the ancient era millennia ago; and the residence was smack in the middle of the valley. Moving them seemed like a very ill advised idea.
However that didn’t mean that Bhimsen couldn’t tweak them. He was considering making the governmental administrative buildings and centers of the valley to be moved to the side of the valley and the residence being in the center.
He had been taking the advice of some engineers and architects attributed with the old Malla Kings of Kathmandu and they were willing to continue the old planned city system that the Malla Kings had used which had fallen into disuse for about 3 decades. Reviving the planned city plan would be beneficial not only for Kathmandu Valley, however for all of the major population centers of the country, and Bhimsen was very much close into implementing this part of his plan.
Meanwhile however, Bhimsen ran aground to a massive problem. He had been successful with Sikkim and Sikkim had reverted to use the Nepalese currency like the old settlement and after an ambassador meeting in Dharan, both sides had agreed to common economic policies and concessions from the usage of Nepalese coins. However in Garhwal, the entire area had been in an uproar and inflation had rocketed skywards after the Nepalese Royal Bank established a few years ago now, had tightened regulatory measures, and the low grade copies of Nepali coins in Garhwal were found out by the populace, making their economic situation slightly unclear and the future of their economic standards hazy.
Nepal had wished to assert their economic relation to Garhwal just like with Sikkim, however the East India Company had intervened and made the Kingdom use the East Indian coins minted in Odisha and Bengal; and much to Bhimsen’s distaste, Nepal had been unable to seize the economic initiative in Bengal. However at least in Sikkim, now Nepal inadvertently controlled the two trade routes into Tibet once again. Though with the British expansion into Assam, the Brahmaputra valley was being used by the British to trade as well, however Nepal continued to hold the monopoly over India-Tibetan-Chinese Trade. Though, it was becoming apparent to Bhimsen that this monopoly was going to quickly end in the future.
For the last decade or so, Bhimsen Thapa had encouraged small scale industries in the country, with potteries and small scale textile industries springing up across the nation.
However now, it seemed that economic reform was going to be seriously needed, if Nepali economic growth was to be greater and more hospitable to the developing future.
The Royal Bank Committee, the Treasurers, and ministers as well as the Bharadari Sabha was currently looking into the economic policies and books that Pushkar had brought from Britain to see a sensible reform being made.
***
Pushkar Shah was currently being angered to the limits of his patience as he tried to discern the political workings of the British political structure. They had seemed so easy and capable of being understood, however Pushkar was quickly finding out that, the British political structure which he had been studying so deeply after returning from Britain, to be much more complicated and much more deeper than what he had realized. Bhimsen had relegated proposals for administrative and political reforms to him, and currently Pushkar was pushing to make Departments as the British called them. Currently the Departments that Pushkar thought best to be proposed in the Bharadari Sabha were:-
- The Home Department.
- Attorney General
- Royal Treasury
- The War Department
- The Development Department.
- The Economic and Financial Department
- The Foreign Department
This proposal would be brought forward to the Bharadari Sabha in the next meeting.
***