The War Court and Lap Pillow, Austria's Mandate of Heaven

Chapter 1896 High-Price Buyback
Especially those urban residents, who know nothing about land reclamation and agricultural technology, many of them only know how to tighten screws or rim wheels. If you ask them to farm, they don't even know what crop seeds are.

However, nobody cares what the refugees are thinking, or rather, what they are thinking is unimportant; what matters is the benefits and stability.

When American soldiers raised their gleaming bayonets and the dark muzzles of their guns, the refugees had no choice but to obey or be eliminated as dangerous elements threatening social stability.

In fact, many people in the free United States have tried this, but without exception, they were all killed on the spot without even having to do anything drastic.

However, the refugees are not just destructive; many of them actually hope to integrate into new communities and new lives.

Although the vast majority of them lost their savings and property, many of them had a skill to rely on, such as tailors, shoemakers, carpenters, and blacksmiths.

These people could easily find work if they encountered the right opportunity, but at that time the American market was small and could not accommodate too many craftsmen.

Many artisans had already found work before the army arrived, so they were likely to escape unscathed.

On the surface, the most miserable are the able-bodied laborers and farmers, because the large number of refugees has led to a sharp devaluation of their labor, making their lives even more difficult.

Forget finding a stable job, even making ends meet is a problem for them. They are also the group that causes the most problems, regardless of their moral character or education level.

The main reason is their tragic circumstances, and secondly, they often possess strong physiques.

But in reality, those white-collar workers such as teachers, lawyers, and bank employees are in a worse situation. No matter how wonderful the knowledge is described in those books, their professional knowledge has a limited scope of application.

Moreover, white-collar workers at this time also have their own circles, and it is not easy for outsiders to enter the circle, especially when they are in dire straits.

Furthermore, this profession is usually saturated, and any outsider entering is often seen as an intruder, provoking resentment among those within the circle.

On the other hand, women among the refugees will face a very awkward situation, as their employment opportunities are much narrower than those of men. Of course, they can find work if they are willing to sacrifice their dignity, but their income will be very low during this special period.

Family members may become a burden for them, but women who lose their families are often more miserable, with multiple forms of oppression almost unavoidable, and they may even be forced into the marriage market.

The so-called marriage market was actually a distorted product of westward expansion, mainly to cope with the situation of more men than women. The women were often debtors, criminals, Native Americans, and deceived immigrants.

Bounty-seeking marriage proposals, mail-order brides, fur girls, and traveling angels all originated from that special era, that wild West.
(Depending on everyone's interest, if there's a lot of interest, I'll insert a segment later.)
In this era, the usual risk avoidance methods are useless when facing major disasters. Even if you have money in the bank, it is no less difficult to get your money back if you lose your passbook than to win a financial crime case.

The first hurdle is proving your identity, as personal data was extremely limited at the time. Typically, the most reliable method was identification by a bank manager or employee, followed by having a handwriting expert authenticate the signature.

The remaining option is to find a guarantor, but ordinary people's guarantees are usually not very effective. You need to find prominent figures such as local celebrities, officials, or priests.

Moreover, banks usually try every means to deny the loss, so the chances of getting your money back once the passbook is lost are extremely low.

The wildfires in New York State destroyed not only homes, but also many banks. These banks also face the prospect of bankruptcy.

Therefore, many people will indeed be left destitute after this fire.
Even those who were once very wealthy will not be recognized once they lose their house deeds, land deeds, and bankbooks. The feeling of falling from the clouds to the bottom is often more painful than that of ordinary people.

Of course, some astute individuals escaped this disaster, either by following the British to the four northern states or by having already transferred their assets abroad.

Those in the next tier might have wealthy relatives or businesses in other regions, and they could be considered to have barely escaped this disaster.

But the fate of real estate developers and financial tycoons is much more tragic; they are likely to end up like ordinary refugees.

Because the fire could very well destroy the bonds and land deeds in their safe.

American soldiers would hold bayonets and make them stand still before stuffing them into the massive migrating procession.

In fact, the US government would not do something so thoughtless; their target is never refugees who can find a way out.

The federal government's target was the homeless, who were the most destructive. In fact, cities and states across the United States were displacing homeless people, and some had even entered a state of war.

The refugees will face the same situation Rambo faced in "First Blood": no matter what they do or haven't done anything, they will be expelled and punished.

However, local governments may not understand Washington's spirit, and after receiving the federal government's telegram, they will mostly give full play to their initiative.

Regardless of whether the refugees have jobs or not, they must be evicted if they refuse to obtain residency permits. These so-called residency permits are merely a temporary means for them to make money.

Conversely, as long as someone has the money to obtain a residency certificate, they can stay regardless of whether they are a refugee or not.

The scope for manipulation here is incredibly vast, but such rampant wealth accumulation will inevitably backfire.

The constant riots are the bitter fruit of their actions.

On the other hand, while the American South continued to defend itself, a considerable number of people began to discuss plans to secede from the United States.

The chaos in the northern United States was actually very encouraging for politicians in the South. Not all politicians wanted to maintain the unity of the United States; there were also many who wanted the South to become independent.

In fact, in terms of sheer numbers, the number of separatists in the American South may be greater than the number of politicians who uphold the unity of the Union.

However, the old Dixie men also had to consider one thing: if they seceded from the Union at this time, would the Yankees turn to the British?

If the Yankees side with the British, wouldn't they be returning to the era of British rule?
If they had to choose between the Yankees and the British, they would rather continue to make do with the Yankees.

The road of blood and tears is not easy to walk.

Hunger would be a constant companion to the migrating caravans, and at that time, the idea of ​​procuring enough food to feed millions of people was simply a pipe dream.

Those American refugees could only buy relief through loans; whoever was willing to take out a loan could receive relief. These loans were to be repaid with their future income, but the interest rates were usually very high, and large amounts could not be borrowed—after all, bankers weren't charities and had to consider costs.

But bankers aren’t worried about not being able to recover the loans. They sign agreements in advance that if a refugee dies en route, the body will be sold to repay the bank’s principal.

Of course, in order to maximize profits, bankers will join forces with the federal government to sell food and supplies, or rather, the supply rights will be monopolized.

The theoretically existing supply stations along the route have become actual supply shops along the route, but this has affected the interests of merchants along the route.

Guided by these merchants, the local residents along the way were unlikely to give the refugees a friendly welcome, since they hadn't made any money and it wasn't their business.

Those refugees without money can only borrow money. They don't even have the opportunity to beg. Or they can consider eating grass roots and tree bark, or eating mosquitoes, rodents and ants.

Want to eat a corpse? No way, corpses can be sold for money.

Then there are North American specialties like yellow fever and spotted fever, as well as widespread typhoid fever, dysentery, and even cholera.
These diseases spread rapidly and have a high mortality rate; those who fall behind will soon become corpses, either buried directly or sold off.

The sold corpses would spread the disease further, and for a time the entire North American continent became a veritable plague continent.

The residents along the way certainly didn't just have superficial malice; in fact, they could even be described as hostile. Although the United States is a nation of immigrants, they are actually quite xenophobic.

Moreover, Americans don't discriminate based on nationality; they care about their own communities. Local residents along the way won't show mercy to refugees who might spread disease or steal food.

Anyone suspected of suspicious activity could be shot dead on sight, regardless of age or gender. Local militias would join in to protect their communities, and even federal troops might participate in the violence.

There is a book called "The Grapes of Wrath" that tells the story of farmers in the American Midwest who went bankrupt, had their land seized by banks, and were forced to flee their homes during the economic crisis.

The history described in the book is extremely tragic. There are several similar books, but they are too extreme to be introduced here.

Along the way, there were countless scenes of families being torn apart and people being separated by death, to the point that even the charitable organizations had become numb to it.

But the refugees had no right to stop; the butts of federal soldiers' rifles didn't care. Hastily buried bodies were often dug up and eaten by wild dogs, while flocks of crows cawed along the way like a pack of hungry animals.
The fate of Black people was also tragic. Due to the attractive bounties offered by slave traders in the American South, coupled with the poverty caused by war in the North, it was hard for people not to be tempted by them.

Even more terrifying was that the freedom certificates of those Black people had most likely been destroyed in the fire, and if they were sent to the American South, they would be identified as Black slaves.

Especially when the refugee caravan passed through the slave states of the South, there would always be slave propagandists driving horse-drawn carriages, scattering some dry food and sweets into the white caravan while shouting for high prices to buy back black slaves.

At that time, a male slave of good age was priced at $1500, a female slave of childbearing age at $1200, a slave with skilled skills at a fixed price of $2200, and a black child could be sold for $300.

In addition, the plantation owners in the American South promised that anyone who helped recover enslaved people and was willing to adopt the Southern way of life could become a Southerner.

The so-called acceptance of the American Southern lifestyle actually means abandoning abolitionists. Perhaps those New Yorkers might have scoffed at this before, but now that they have fallen to this state, it is hard for them not to be tempted.

In reality, it's not just refugees; even the northerners on the other side would find it hard not to be tempted. In America at that time, ideology was just something to talk about—taking it seriously meant losing—but business was a very real business.

In the American North, which had just been ravaged by war, a thousand dollars was an extremely staggering sum.

As a result, the Black people in the group kept disappearing, and with each Black person who disappeared, a white family would also disappear. The whereabouts of those Black people were self-evident.

The farmers in the American South kept their word. In fact, they not only paid the full reward, but also actually used their government connections to help them obtain new legal status.

Moreover, farmers and officials from the American South would host welcoming ceremonies for them at the other end of the refugee procession.

Other refugees would clearly see that those who had been walking with them in tattered clothes were now wearing clean clothes and eating clean water and food.

Adults may have some sense of shame, but children who have been hungry for a long time will not; they will stuff food into their mouths as much as possible.

Even former President John Taylor was brought in to award prizes to those who helped the South recover slaves; this act of spending a fortune to acquire talent proved remarkably effective.

Every day, refugees would bring black people to the southern camps under the cover of darkness, and those slaves would often be sold on the very first day.

In the previous war, the American South had frantically exploited its own war potential in order to win, and some enslaved people were even worked to death. Now they needed to replenish their labor force.

However, due to the deteriorating relations with the British, the British Navy spent all its time cracking down on slave smuggling along the American coastline, which almost cut off the supply of slaves to the American South, causing the price of slaves to skyrocket.

At this time, buying back enslaved people at high prices from the refugee ranks would not only solve the labor shortage problem, but also give the abolitionists in the North a good slap in the face.

At the same time, it can effectively reduce the number of abolitionists and increase one's own population, which is a win-win situation.

In reality, the war also had a significant impact on the American South. Many Southern soldiers died in the war, and these were all able-bodied men. Their loss was more heartbreaking for the Southern leadership than the loss of slaves.

The population of the American South is already smaller than that of the American North, and the number of immigrants it can receive is also smaller, making it impossible for it to recover its population in a short period of time like the North.

This war also made the American South realize a profound truth: there is strength in numbers, and the small population of the American South was an absolute disadvantage in war.

The practice of the American North expelling refugees seemed completely incomprehensible to the American South at the time. If those people hadn't been abolitionists, the South would have been more than willing to accept them and provide them with land and slaves.

There was no better advertisement than this. Seeing that the number of free blacks in the ranks was decreasing, the abolitionists in the North could no longer sit still and began to send troops to protect the blacks.

The banner of abolitionism was indeed very good, especially after the publication of "Uncle Tom's Cabin," but after the release of "Cousin Jerry's Factory," the so-called moral filter was shattered.

Since there is no justice or morality to speak of, the general American public will naturally work for whoever pays the most.