1850 American Gold Tycoon.

Chapter 189 The Great Qing Mission to the United States
When passing through Orleans, Liang Yao sent a telegram to Washington at the Orleans Telegraph Office. The contents of the telegram read: The Qing Mission is on its way to visit the United States and will arrive in New York soon. Please be prepared to welcome it.

Liang Yao originally planned to send this telegram in Houston, but the telegraph office in Houston had some faults in the line the day after Vanderbilt finished sending the telegram. Liang Yao had to choose to send the telegram in Louisiana, New Orleans. .

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

New York Harbor is like a big mouth, and Staten Island is a plug that closes the mouth.

It is separated from Long Island by a three-kilometer strait, along which the sea water slowly flows into the bay.

The west of Staten Island extends into the interior of New Jersey, and across the harbor is Manhattan.The long and narrow island of Manhattan acts like a natural bridge between the East and Hudson rivers.

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 $100 barge. 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 a relatively dilapidated farm building on Staten Island, which 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 moist.

Because that unremarkable building was his former home, when his mother, or his mentor in life, was still alive, Vanderbilt's barges would always proudly greet his mother and neighbors on the island when they passed by. They greeted each other and showed off their boats.

Liang Yao's eyes stayed in Manhattan opposite the harbour. In his last life, his hopeless life ended here.

Although there were no towering skyscrapers in Manhattan in 1851, the buildings were still dominated by four or five-story brick and stone buildings, but at this time, Manhattan was already the center of New York City, and it was also the economic center of the entire New York State and even North America. center.

This is the most densely populated place in North America.

And around Manhattan, there are stretches of farmland, pastures, and aquaculture land, providing continuous blood transfusion and agricultural products for this international metropolis with a population of 70.

Although there is a vast inland in the hinterland of New York, New York has been a city born towards the sea since its birth. This city did not expand to the inland area, but to the coastal area. For example, South Street in New York is It was reclaimed from the sea in the early 19th century.

It is worth mentioning that at the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, New York City was not the largest city in the United States. At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the crown of the largest city in the United States belonged to Philadelphia rather than New York.

In 1790, New York had an urban population of 33131, the second largest city in the United States at that time, while Philadelphia had a population of 54388 at that time.

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

Yes, at the beginning of the founding of the United States, slaves were also kept in the north of the United States, and not only black slaves were kept.

New York State also gradually abolished slavery in the thirty or forty years after the founding of the country. By 1851, New York State had almost no legal slaves.

The pier in New York is crowded with ships, the tall chimneys spew thick smoke into the sky continuously, the paddle wheels on both sides of the ships beat the water surface, splashing waves of water, the surrounding buildings and church spires are in harmony with the sky. The domes add radiance to each other, making the whole city look majestic and magnificent, and the whistle of steam ships can be heard endlessly.

"I don't think there are cities in the United States with such a prosperous population and such a prosperous business."

Looking at the four- and five-story high-rises at the southern end of Manhattan, Wu Yuanhua sighed. New York in this period was also the city in the United States with the most buildings above four floors.

When they were in Dezhou, Dezhou did not give Wu Yuanhua and these Chinese businessmen much shock.

Although these Chinese businessmen can speak fluent English, they have not been in the United States for a long time, and they don't know much about this country, nor have they let go of their arrogance as citizens of the heavenly kingdom.

Although they have now become American citizens, they still think that they are citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven in their bones.

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

The population of Texas is only about [-]. If black slaves are included, there may be a population of about [-]. But for Texas, which has a vast territory, this population is evenly divided into an area of ​​[-] square kilometers in Texas. , it is not enough to see.

Even Houston, the largest city in Texas, is actually nothing more than a slightly larger town.

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

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

"The prosperity of New York City is no less than that of Guangzhou and Beijing." Pan Zhengwei said, "I think the American people on the shore are full of vigor and vitality, and their mental outlook is better than that of our people in the Qing Dynasty."

"This is the business district of New York. Most of the people who come and go to the business district are wealthy people, so of course they have a good mental outlook."

Liang Yao said as he looked at the south shore of Manhattan Island that he had just passed by.

"The workers in the factory, they have to work fifteen or sixteen hours a day, and they are trapped by their livelihood all day long. Their mental outlook is very different from those of these rich people."

"So that's it." Pan Zhengwei nodded as if realizing something, "Then I'll have to do some research this time. The market in New York City seems to be bigger than that in Texas. I think if Tongfuhang can set up a branch here , there must be a lot to do.”

"Although New York has a large population and a large market, the situation here is much more complicated than in Texas." Liang Yao asked Pan Zhengwei and the others with his hands behind his back, "Have you brought all your official uniforms?"

"Bring them all according to Mr. Liang's request."

Pan Zhengwei subconsciously touched the back of his empty head.

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

"It's okay, America doesn't know much about the Qing Dynasty anyway, as long as you put on this official skin, even if you say you are the emperor of the Qing Dynasty, people will believe you." Liang Yao said.

"What do you guys want, put on your official clothes and talk to American politicians, remember, as an official of the heavenly kingdom, you must speak tough.

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

Historically, in the 19s, due to the shortage of people in the western development of the United States, to put it bluntly, there was a shortage of people to build the railway. In order to alleviate the problem of labor shortage, the American government and the Qing Dynasty signed a free immigration treaty to encourage free immigration and trade between the two countries. Whether there is mutual exchange.

This treaty is the "Sino-US Tianjin Treaty Continuation Treaty", also known as the "Burman Johnson Treaty". , not prohibited.At the same time, it also stipulates that the two countries can establish foreign agencies in each other's country.

This free immigration bill was signed by the United States on its own initiative with the Qing Dynasty. The United States is a very snobbish country, and it will immigrate freely when it needs you.

Don't need you, just pass the Chinese Exclusion Act when you feel like you might be a threat.

The California state legislature has officially passed the Free Immigration Act, but this is not enough. Liang Yao still feels that on behalf of the Qing Dynasty and the US federal government, he signed a formal free immigration treaty to provide insurance for Chinese immigrants, so as to facilitate Chinese immigrants to go to places outside of California. state penetration.

This is not Liang Yao's whimsical and 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 part of the United States, has a large labor gap. The United States needs immigrants to alleviate the problem of labor shortage in the development of the West.

As for the issue of Chinese exclusion, the current Chinese immigrants account for the total population of the United States, which is not enough to pose a threat to the population structure of the United States.

At this time, there are more important conflicts to be resolved within the United States. The rash introduction of the Chinese Exclusion Act is to create obstacles for oneself, and it is not easy to find trouble. American politicians are not so stupid.

Of course, the status of the Qing Dynasty in the world at this time was not that bad, and it was not much lower than that of the United States.Britain and France did not bring the United States to play with them when they bullied the Qing Dynasty.

Introducing the Chinese Exclusion Act, the United States has to consider whether it will cause diplomatic disputes.

"We can talk about it, but what if the Qing Dynasty pursues it?" Zeng Jinsong said with a worried face, "Although we are officials from the Qing Dynasty, we are all donated officials, and we pretend to be court officials." Important officials, this is a death penalty to punish the Nine Clans, in case things come to light."

"As long as you don't tell me, who else in the United States knows that your officials are donated?" Liang Yao said impatiently,
"The Qing Dynasty is busy encircling and suppressing Changmao. How can the officials and lords in the capital worry about what happened in the United States thousands of miles away? You have been naturalized and are now a citizen of the United States. Only the laws of the United States can punish you. " "The Law of the Qing Dynasty" is just ass paper for you."

The information in the 19th century was relatively closed, and there was not much communication between the United States and the Qing Dynasty. Not to mention that they pretended to be high-ranking officials and missions of the Qing Dynasty, even the emperor of the Qing Dynasty would be believed.

Even in the 20th century, there were still people who took advantage of information gaps. Cambridge student Horace used his poor impersonation skills to pretend to be an Ethiopian prince to trick the top officials of the British Empire and the Royal Navy, and he succeeded.

And these people led by Liang Yao are all serious non-officials of the Qing Dynasty. The people are real, and the official uniforms are also real. It is not a big problem to fool the native Americans in the mid-19th century.

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

"Our Pan family still has a lot of acquaintances in the capital and in the palace. They spend money to manage one or two, and make the wording of the documents more humble, showing the style of a great country in the Qing Dynasty. Will not delve into it.

Since the 1841st year of Daoguang ([-]), the Qing Dynasty has signed more and more treaties, and this one is not bad.There are a lot of ministers who have kept secrets in the Qing Dynasty, and we are not bad, and we are not citizens of the Qing Dynasty now. "

Liang Yao looked appreciative. Among all the Chinese businessmen, Pan Zhengwei was more courageous and courageous.

The methods used by the early great powers and the Great Qing Dynasty to revise the agreement were much lower than Liang Yao's current methods.

Liang Yao looked at Pan Zhengwei. Pan Zhengwei had a stable appearance and was relatively older. 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 and temperament of a high-ranking official in the Qing Dynasty.

"From now on, you are the delegation of the Qing Dynasty visiting the United States, and you are Pan Shangshu, Minister of Rites of the Qing Dynasty." Liang Yao patted Pan Zhengwei on the shoulder and said, "Everyone, go in and change into official uniforms."

(End of this chapter)