It's understandable that the Vaishyas, Shudras, and Dalits would be unwilling to be recruited as laborers and would resist, as they are hoping for a better rebirth in their next life.
To understand the various messy issues in Tianzhu, one must start from the origin of the caste system.
Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya, Shudra, and Dalit – these five seemingly unrelated words collectively form a hierarchical system that can be described as the most typical and rigid of the feudal era, encompassing religion, politics, military affairs, economy, people's livelihood, culture, and many other aspects.
In fact, the caste system is not unique to Tianzhu; it has also been prevalent in countries like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal, although Tianzhu has been the most severely affected.
The formation of the caste system was primarily due to the migration of a portion of the Indo-Aryan people into Tianzhu. After centuries of military expansion, they urgently needed a hierarchical system with "cultural attributes" to solidify their rule over the indigenous people of Tianzhu.
Thus, Tianzhu's oldest collection of poems, the Rigveda, emerged. In its 10th Mandala, 90th Hymn, the embryonic form of the Tianzhu caste system, the "Purusha Sukta," was clearly proposed.
Within Tianzhu's cultural system, this "Purusha" actually represents something similar to the "Pangu creating the heavens and earth" in our own mythology. All Tianzhu deities, as well as concepts of time and space, are derived from it. The Rigveda is estimated to have been compiled around 1000 BCE. Later, by the 4th century BCE, the earliest orally transmitted version of the Tianzhu epic, the Mahabharata, had already appeared.
In this Tianzhu epic, the "caste system" had already evolved into a mature hierarchical system based on "bloodline theory," meaning clear hierarchical divisions were already established.
Among these five classes, the Brahmins, composed of the priestly group of the Indo-Aryans, held the highest rank, representing the "mouth" of the "Purusha" in the "Purusha Sukta."
Some might wonder why it was the mouth and not the eyes or ears. The reason is simple: those upper parts of the body were already occupied. Take the eyes, for instance; they represented the "sun."
This indirectly meant that Brahmins were on par with the "sun," and their status can be imagined. Following them was the next rank, the "Kshatriyas," composed of the military and administrative nobility of the Indo-Aryans, representing the Purusha's arms. It was evident they no longer had the qualification to reside on the Purusha's head.
However, although the Kshatriyas were a rank lower than the Brahmins, they possessed significant political power. They could levy taxes on the lower classes of Vaishyas, Shudras, and Dalits in the form of governance, and in return, they were obligated to protect the Brahmins' peace generation after generation.
As for the Vaishyas, they were composed of ordinary Indo-Aryans, representing the Purusha's legs. Their position in Tianzhu's social hierarchy was that they had no political power but could engage in business, using their profits to support the Brahmins and Kshatriyas.
Of the remaining two classes, the "Shudras" were composed of the conquered indigenous people and constituted the largest population. They represented the Purusha's feet. They could not engage in politics or business; they could only serve the first three classes generation after generation.
The Dalits, known as the "untouchables," had an even more unfortunate fate. In Tianzhu's cultural system, they were completely excluded from the Purusha's body. Not only did they have no rights, but they were not even treated as human beings, hence their designation as the "outcast" class.
Within such a hierarchical system, only the first three classes truly held power. Although the latter two classes, with their much larger numbers far exceeding the first three, had virtually no actual power.
By all logical reasoning, such a hierarchical system could not possibly endure.
After all, humans are called human primarily because humans actively think. After prolonged oppression, a perverse system like the caste system, which severely violates common sense, would inevitably lead to resistance from the majority who refuse to be oppressed.
In essence, this is the intensification of class conflict.
Taking the Shudra class as an example, they were confined to basic service industries like attending to the daily lives of the first three classes and building houses. What they received in return were meager survival resources, which severely widened the wealth gap in Tianzhu's social system. The majority of wealth was controlled by a few, namely the Brahmin, Kshatriya, and Vaishya social classes.
Clearly, such a caste system, which violated human rights, widened the wealth gap, and consequently intensified class conflict, had no reason to exist.
However, it is quite remarkable that Tianzhu's "caste system" has persisted for thousands of years. During this time, even after experiencing religious reforms or foreign invasions, such as Buddhism's "equality of the four castes" and the British colonization of Tianzhu, the "caste system" remained unshaken, as if unaffected.
Let's first discuss Buddhism's "equality of the four castes." The so-called equality of the four castes refers to the notion that Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, and Shudras are actually equal.
In essence, Buddhism, which emerged around 565 BCE, resisted the "caste system." Its appearance even predated the Tianzhu epic Mahabharata by over a hundred years.
Later, in 273 BCE, Ashoka became the third king of the Maurya Dynasty and a devout Buddhist, and was even canonized by Buddhism as a protector of Buddhism.
However, the caste system did not gradually weaken; instead, it was strengthened.
This is because Ashoka placed great importance on religion in his later years, and not just Buddhism, but he pursued governance with tolerance and non-violence, meaning multiple religions could coexist. Thus, Buddhism's "equality of the four castes" would inevitably clash with the "caste system." If Ashoka wanted to achieve harmony among various religions, he needed to eliminate these conflicts. So, what could be done?
The "theory of reincarnation" thus emerged, becoming a common tenet of many religions in Tianzhu, including Buddhism, Vedic religion, and Hinduism.
If applied to Tianzhu's caste system, it essentially means that it doesn't matter if one is of a low caste in this life; it's because low castes committed wrongdoings in their past lives. Therefore, one must cultivate oneself through life experiences and conduct to atone for sins, and then one can be reborn into a higher caste in the next life.
This allowed "equality of the four castes" and the "caste system" to align in their development. After all, regardless of the circumstances, even a high-caste individual could become a low-caste person in their next life due to their sins.
However, this, while achieving a metaphysical equality between "castes," further widened the gap between high and low castes.
Therefore, to prevent individuals from attempting to break the boundaries between "high and low castes" in this life, the Brahmin class enacted the "Manusmriti," which proposed a system called "jati," a system that legally solidified the occupations of each class. This led to the gradual self-seclusion of various castes in Tianzhu, most noticeably among the high-caste strata.
The emergence of this system directly led to the pathway of upgrading "caste" attributes through mutual exchange becoming more singular. If males in a family could only inherit their father's caste, how could caste advancement be achieved?
There was only one way: through marriage of women. That is, indirectly improving the family's overall caste attributes through the marriage partners of the women in the family.
However, under the influence of the Manusmriti, high-caste women in Tianzhu could not marry men of lower castes. Thus, only by low-caste women marrying high-caste men could caste attribute advancement be achieved.
But this was not easy. The bride's family had to pay exorbitant dowries, and they might also face resistance or even murder from other members of the groom's family. This is because, while it appeared that the bride's family paid the most, the bride's family would actually be the ultimate beneficiary. The groom's family, by accepting a lower caste, would affect their social status within their peer group.
The series of "dowry burning" incidents in Tianzhu, which are "familial murders," originated from this.
Many might still believe that one could achieve advancement through meritorious deeds. The problem is, what could the Shudras, who lacked any political power or even the right to conduct business, do to earn merit?
Most crucially, the policy of multi-religious coexistence proposed by Ashoka became a convention for subsequent Tianzhu rulers. The "theory of reincarnation" or the "Manusmriti" based on this policy were therefore preserved for a long time, constantly influencing every person in Tianzhu.
Once the Tianzhu caste system is clarified, all subsequent issues become easier to understand, and even from the perspective of caste, everything becomes logical.
Take the English East India Company, for example. It can be considered a foreign invader, can it not?
However, the people of Tianzhu do not resent the English East India Company, nor do they resent the English people, because the English East India Company never intended to change the caste system. They were even happy for the "Sams" to promote the caste system, as the East Tianzhu Company came to Tianzhu for wealth and minerals, not to deliver warmth to the "Sams."
In fact, the colonization method adopted by the East India Company in Tianzhu was based on the Tianzhu caste system, thereby utilizing the sharp class contradictions in Tianzhu to achieve their colonial plan of "letting Sams fight Sams."
Otherwise, no matter how backward Tianzhu was at that time, it would not have been easily defeated by the East India Company's small mercenary force, allowing them to establish strongholds in multiple regions such as Madras, Calcutta, and Bombay.
Similarly, their current fierce opposition to being recruited as laborers becomes understandable.
The problem is, if you're going to resist, at least put up a proper resistance, right?
For instance, after the Great Ming collapsed, it's not as if the common people across the land didn't consider being loyal subjects. But that scoundrel Gou Chengzi acted inhumanely, and Wu Sangui, that bastard, also acted inhumanely. Later, the Jurchen conquerors, who entered Guannei by Wu Sangui, also acted inhumanely. What else could be done then?
Of course, resist.
The "Ten Days of Yangzhou" in one region did not deter the people of the Central Plains hall. The "Three Massacres" in another region did not deter the people of the Central Plains hall. Even after one region was massacred down to only five survivors, the people of the Central Plains hall were still not deterred.
Although the Jurchen Khans eventually succeeded in occupying the dragon throne, from Mazhi's statement, "Do not learn from the Mongols or Han," one could already glimpse a hint of something.
Over nearly three hundred years, there were many who wanted to raise an army to overthrow the Jurchens, from Zheng Chenggong, a positive national hero, to Wu Sangui, who invited the Jurchens into Guannei as a traitor, and from the White Lotus rebels to the Boxer Rebellion.
However, the thought process of the "Sams" in Tianzhu is ultimately different from that of the Central Plains hall.
The so-called resistance of the "Sams" was not a vigorous, head-on fight with the British East India Company or the Dutch East India Company. Instead, they surrounded the human resources office and sat there quietly, adopting an attitude of "if you don't stop recruiting, we'll stay here forever."
This peculiar operation completely bewildered the entire British East India Company and the Dutch East India Company.
The human resources personnel of the British East India Company were relatively better off, as they were acting under the orders of King George III and had been operating in Tianzhu for many years, so they could understand the "Sams'" actions to some extent.
However, the human resources personnel of the Dutch East India Company were not so fortunate.
The Netherlands had already been defeated by France, and the Dutch East India Company was also on the verge of collapse. In order to restore the nation, William I even ceded Batavia to the Great Ming.
Now, with a rare opportunity for national restoration, Louis XVI even commissioned the Dutch East India Company to recruit laborers in Tianzhu on behalf of the Great Ming. This was clearly an opportunity for the Dutch East India Company to curry favor with the Great Ming.
But then, the "Sams" refused to cooperate!
Consequently, the leader of the Dutch East India Company, Oosterhaven, went mad. If the labor recruitment task was botched, it was uncertain what the Great Ming would do, but King William I of the Netherlands would not let the East India Company off the hook. And before the seventeen gentlemen of the East India Company faced misfortune, they would certainly not let him, the unlucky one, off the hook!
Therefore, even for his own interests, Oosterhaven could not allow these "diaper-heads" to continue their sit-in.
For Oosterhaven, since he could not tolerate these "diaper-heads" continuing their sit-in, the only solution was to recruit them all as laborers directly.
Oosterhaven reasoned that he couldn't afford to offend the Great Ming or France, but as a prominent leader of the Dutch East India Company, he could surely handle these "diaper-heads," couldn't he?
Oosterhaven thought this, and he acted accordingly.
After receiving Oosterhaven's orders, the subordinates of the Dutch East India Company did not hesitate to capture and attack the "diaper-heads" who were sitting in front of the labor recruitment office.
This completely stunned the "Sams."