Chapter 186: The Qing Dynasty's Mission to the United States

When passing through Orleans, Liang Yao sent a telegram to Washington from the Orleans Telegraph Office. The content of the telegram was: The Qing Dynasty delegation is on its way to the United States and will arrive in New York soon. Please be prepared to welcome them. Google Search Reading

Liang Yao originally planned to send this telegram in Houston, but the telegraph office in Houston had some problems the day after Vanderbilt sent the telegram, so Liang Yao could only choose to send the telegram in Louisiana, New Orleans.

After sailing for several days, the fleet arrived at New York Harbor.

New York Harbor is like a big mouth, and Staten Island is a plug that blocks this mouth.

The three-kilometer-long strait separates it from Long Island, and the sea water slowly flows into the bay along the strait.

The west of Staten Island extends to the inland of New Jersey, and Manhattan is opposite the harbor. The long and narrow Manhattan Island is like a natural bridge pier between the East River and the Hudson River.

When the ship sailed here, both Vanderbilt and Liang Yao had mixed feelings.

Vanderbilt was born in an ordinary Dutch farm family on Staten Island. Staten was the starting point of his life. From here, Vanderbilt completed his business from a barge worth $100 and created his shipping empire worth tens of millions of dollars.

When the ship passed Staten Island, the captain and sailors on the ship took off their hats to salute a relatively dilapidated farmhouse building on Staten Island. This was an unwritten rule of Vanderbilt's shipping company.

Vanderbilt himself took off his wide-brimmed beaver hat and bowed deeply to the building on the island. His eyes seemed to be a little wet.

Because that inconspicuous building was his former home, his mother, or his life mentor, was still alive. When Vanderbilt's barge passed by here, he would always proudly greet his mother and neighbors on the island and show off his boat.

Liang Yao's eyes stayed on Manhattan across the harbor. In his previous life, his hopeless life ended here.

Although Manhattan in 1851 did not have the towering skyscrapers of later generations, and the buildings were still mainly four- or five-story brick and stone buildings, at this time, the Manhattan area was already the center of New York City, the entire New York State, and even the economic center of North America.

This is the most densely populated place in North America.

Around Manhattan are large tracts of farmland, pastures, and aquaculture lands, which continuously provide blood transfusions and agricultural products for this international metropolis with a population of 700,000.

Although New York has a vast inland hinterland, New York has been a city born toward the sea since its birth. This city did not expand toward the inland areas, but toward the coastal areas. For example, South Street in New York was formed by land reclamation in the early 19th century.

It is worth mentioning that at the beginning of the founding of the country, New York City was not the largest city in the United States. At the beginning of the founding of the country, the title of the largest city in the United States belonged to Philadelphia rather than New York.

In 1790, New York had an urban population of 33,131, making it the second largest city in the United States at that time, while Philadelphia had a population of 54,388 at that time.

Of course, this population census is not very accurate, because a considerable part of the slave population is not included in the statistics.

Yes, at the beginning of the founding of the country, the North of the United States also kept slaves, and they kept not only black slaves.

New York State also gradually abolished slaves within 30 or 40 years after the founding of the country. By 1851, there were almost no legal slaves in New York State.

The docks in New York were crowded with ships, tall chimneys continuously spewed thick smoke into the sky, the paddle wheels on both sides of the ships beat the water, splashing waves, the surrounding buildings and church spires and domes complemented each other, making the whole city look magnificent, and the whistle of the steamship was endless.

"I didn't expect that there was such a prosperous city in the United States with such a prosperous population and business."

Wu Yuanhua sighed as he looked at the four- or five-story buildings at the southern end of Manhattan. New York at this time was also the city with the most buildings above four floors in the United States.

When in Texas, Texas did not shock Wu Yuanhua and other Chinese businessmen much.

Although these Chinese businessmen can speak fluent English, they have just arrived in the United States and do not know much about this country. They have not let go of their arrogance as citizens of the Celestial Empire.

Although they have now become American citizens, they still think of themselves as citizens of the Celestial Empire in their bones. Even if they are foreign traders with a broader vision, they cannot escape this.

It is difficult to change the deeply rooted ideas and concepts for thousands of years in a short period of time.

The population of the entire state of Texas is only about 100,000. If black slaves are included, there may be about 200,000 people. However, for the vast territory of Texas, this population is spread over the area of ​​700,000 square kilometers of Texas, which is really not enough.

Even Houston, the largest city in Texas, is actually just a slightly larger town.

The whole state of Texas, or the social outlook of the entire southern United States, looks more like an agricultural society, which is not much different from the Qing Dynasty, which is also an agricultural society.

If there is any difference, it is that there is still a little bit of pitiful industry in the southern United States, but these industries are mostly concentrated in the more developed states of Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia.

"The prosperity of New York City is no less than that of Guangzhou and the capital." Pan Zhengwei said, "I think the American people of South Eucalyptus are full of vitality and their spiritual outlook is better than that of my people in the Qing Dynasty."

"This is the business district of New York. Most of the people who come and go in the business district are wealthy people. Of course they are in good spirits."

Liang Yao said while looking at the south shore of Manhattan Island that he just drove past.

"The workers in the factory have to work fifteen or sixteen hours a day and are struggling to make ends meet. Their mental outlook is very different from that of these rich people."

"That's it." Pan Zhengwei nodded as if he had some understanding, "Then I will have to investigate carefully this time. The market in New York City seems to be bigger than Texas. I think if Tongfu Bank can set up a branch here, "There must be great potential." "Although there are many people in New York and the market is large, the situation here is much more complicated than in Texas." Liang Yao asked Pan Zhengwei and others with his hands behind his back, "Have you brought your official uniforms?"

"I brought everything as you asked."

Pan Zhengwei subconsciously touched the empty back of his head.

"But my braids are gone, I'm afraid it would be a bit inappropriate to wear this official uniform."

"It doesn't matter. America doesn't know much about the Qing Dynasty anyway. As long as you wear this official veneer, people will believe you even if you say you are the emperor of the Qing Dynasty." Liang Yao said.

"Whatever you want, you can talk to American political leaders while wearing this official attire. Remember, as an official of the Heavenly Kingdom, you must speak forcefully.

I don’t care what you want to talk about. I only ask that the free immigration treaty must be negotiated. When we negotiate this treaty, I will be with you. "

Historically, in the 1860s, due to the shortage of manpower in the development of the western United States, to put it bluntly, there was a shortage of manpower to build railways. In order to alleviate the problem of labor shortage, American officials and the Qing Dynasty signed a free immigration treaty to encourage free immigration and trade between the two countries. Communicate what is needed.

This treaty is the "Treaty of Continuation of the Treaty of Tianjin between China and the United States," also known as the "Burlingame Treaty." Its main content is: The people of the Qing Dynasty and the people of the United States can go to other countries, or wish to live and naturalize, or come and go at any time. , cannot be blocked. At the same time, it also stipulates that the two countries can set up foreign affairs agencies in each other's country.

This free immigration law was signed by the United States at the initiative of the Qing Dynasty. The United States is a very snobbish country and will allow you to immigrate freely when it needs you.

We don’t need you, and we introduced the Chinese Exclusion Act when we felt you might become a threat.

The California State House has legislated and officially passed the Free Immigration Act, but this is not enough. Liang Yao still feels that on behalf of the Qing Dynasty and the American federal government, a formal free immigration treaty will be signed to provide insurance for Chinese immigrants and facilitate Chinese immigration outside California. of state penetration.

This is not Liang Yao's whimsical or arbitrary idea, but a decision based on Liang Yao's analysis and judgment of the current objective environment in the United States.

The United States, especially the western United States, has a huge labor gap. The United States needs immigrants to alleviate the labor shortage problem in the development of the west.

As for the issue of Chinese exclusion, the current total number of Chinese immigrants in the U.S. population is not enough to pose a threat to the demographic structure of the United States.

At this time, there are more important internal conflicts in the United States that need to be resolved. The hasty introduction of the Chinese Exclusion Act is just causing trouble for itself. American politicians are not so stupid.

Of course, the Qing Dynasty's international status at this time was not that bad, nor was it much lower than that of the United States. Britain and France bullied the Qing Dynasty and did not bring the United States to play with them. The United States could only pretend to sign a treaty with the Qing Dynasty after Britain and France left. The United States was so angry that it secretly went to bully Japan.

When the Chinese Exclusion Act is introduced, the United States also has to consider whether it will cause diplomatic disputes.

"We can talk about things, but what if the Qing Dynasty investigates them?" Zeng Jinsong looked worried and said with some concern, "Although we are officials of the Qing Dynasty, we are all donated officials, and we pretend to be the imperial court. Important officer, this is a capital crime that will punish the Nine Clan, if the matter is exposed."

"As long as you don't say it yourself, who in the entire United States except me will know that your officials were donated?" Liang Yao said impatiently,

"The Qing Dynasty is busy encircling and suppressing Changmao. How can the officials in the capital still worry about what is happening in the United States thousands of miles away? You have been naturalized and are now a subject of the United States. Only American law can punish your crimes." "The Rules of the Qing Dynasty" is like a piece of paper for you."

In the 19th century, information was relatively limited, and there was not much communication between the United States and the Qing Dynasty. Not to mention that they pretended to be a high-ranking official mission of the Qing Dynasty, even if they pretended to be the emperor of the Qing Dynasty, some people would believe them.

Even in the 20th century, there were still people who took advantage of the information gap. Horace, a Cambridge college student, used poor impersonation skills to impersonate the Ethiopian prince and prank the senior officials of the British Empire and the Royal Navy, and he actually succeeded.

And these people Liang Yao led were all serious non-staff officials of the Qing Dynasty. Their people were real and their official uniforms were real. Hu Nong Hu Nong There was not much problem with the indigenous Americans in the mid-19th century.

"I think this is feasible." Pan Zhengwei said, stroking his beard.

"We, the Pan family, still have many acquaintances in the capital and in the palace. We will spend money to do a few things and make the wording of the documents more humble, showing the style of the great Qing Dynasty. As long as the emperor sees it and thinks it is honorable, he will take care of this matter. I won’t delve into it.

Since the 21st year of Daoguang reign (1841), the Qing Dynasty has signed more and more treaties, including this one. There are many ministers who hide the truth from the Qing Dynasty, including us, and besides, we are not the subjects of the Qing Dynasty now. "

Liang Yao showed an admiring look. Among all the Chinese businessmen, Pan Zhengwei was more courageous and bold.

The means used by the powers to revise the treaty with the Qing Dynasty in the early days were much more despicable than Liang Yao's current means.

Liang Yao looked at Pan Zhengwei. Pan Zhengwei looked steady and steady, and was also relatively old. Perhaps it was the influence of the Pan family's family style. Compared with other Chinese businessmen, Pan Zhengwei also had a bit more official air, which was more in line with the image of a high-ranking official of the Qing Dynasty.

"From now on, you are the Qing Dynasty's envoys to the United States who are taking a ride on the boat, and you are the Minister of Rites of the Qing Dynasty, Pan Shangshu." Liang Yao patted Pan Zhengwei on the shoulder and said, "Everyone go in and change into official uniforms."