The sun never sets in America

Chapter 124 Immigration and the Qing Dynasty

Macau, apart from Oahu, is the most important transit place for Chinese and Chinese immigrants, and Japan is not as good as Macau.

Because Macau is too close to Guangdong, and because Guangdong is located on the coast and Guangzhou's Thirteenth Line of Trade, compared with other inland China, it is less receptive to outsiders, especially foreign merchants. Highest.

Many immigrants from Han, even those from the coastal areas of Zhejiang, Fujian, and Jiangsu, eventually passed through Guangdong and finally arrived in Macau.

This shows the importance of Guangdong and even Macau in the Han immigration strategy.

It is precisely because of this that the Han Dynasty brought immigration routes to China. No matter where they were, they had to pass through Guangdong, pass through Macau, and finally depart from Macau to Japan, the largest transit base in the Far East.

Moreover, the branch of the Han Chinese Immigration Department is established in Macau. The minister is Hu Junding, who presided over the first immigration work, and his deputy Wan Fang has returned to China to serve as the Minister of Foreign Affairs...

Because of the geographical isolation and the special environment of the Far East, the Han mainland gave the Immigration Department considerable power.

Such as the right to independent diplomacy, the Immigration Department has the right to carry out work around the Far East and even the Southeast Asian region, and can allocate external resources (including diplomacy) based on the current situation.

From this we can see what kind of department the Immigration Department is.

The Ministry of Immigration is almost a small court with independent foreign affairs and immigration strategies.

Apart from not having its own army, it lacked nothing. Even its finances were paid from the Han mainland through British banks stationed in the Far East.

This has greatly solved the financial problem of the Immigration Department, allowing the Immigration Department to have money to support immigration and diplomatic work.

Hu Junding was also jokingly called the Governor of the Far East by local officials of the Han Dynasty, and he was inseparable from these powers...

The residence of the Immigration Department in Macau is a Portuguese-style villa near the Governor's Palace of Macau. During the first immigration period, it was bought and used as the foothold of Hu Junding and others in Macau. Now it is even more for work reasons. , became the administrative base of the Immigration Department in the Far East...

Because of the special relationship with the Governor of Macau, the Immigration Department was also authorized to form a group of guards to protect the villa.

And these guards are all white. This is mainly because there is a Qing Dynasty yamen on Macau Island, which is declaring sovereignty. Although it is usually of no use and is basically superficial, it is impossible for them to make such a big noise because of the immigrants. I don’t know, I just didn’t say anything due to some reasons (after all, I was paid).

The Immigration Department spent the most on immigration to China. Apart from the cost of the immigration itself, the biggest expense was actually bribing corrupt officials of the Qing Dynasty.

The appetites of these people are much greater than those of the hometown associations that help immigrants, this one helps that one.

There was even an incident in a certain inland county where a Qing Dynasty magistrate stopped a local immigrant team and asked for money.

He even said: "You are the people of the Qing Dynasty. Although you went abroad and joined the barbarians in the future, you were taught by our saints Confucius and Mencius in the Qing Dynasty... You should know that the kindness of your parents is greater than the sky..."

That’s a lot to say, but the translation actually means that you grew up in the Qing Dynasty and were educated by the Qing ethics (Immigrants: I don’t even know the words, what is education), should you pay the fee? ?

So much so that the Han immigration officer who organized the immigration was almost shocked when he heard it. He had seen such shameless people, but he had never seen such shameless people.

This is the first time that I asked for money so righteously! !
In the end, the incident ended with the Han immigration official presenting a 500-tael silver note.

In addition, there are bandits blocking the road along the way. If you go to a remote place, you have to prepare a bribe to the local bandits, otherwise they will not let you go at all.

What’s even more frightening is that the local government and the bandits are colluding. The bandits ask the immigration team for money, and the government also wants it. And when the front foot is finished, the back foot will notify the bandits and ask them to intercept the road. In the end, the immigration team gives the bandits money and has to share half of it. To the local corrupt officials...

Good guy, this is really a win-win situation, I won the Han Immigration Department twice in one fell swoop! !
This kind of thing happens several times almost every month. From last year to now, the total bribes paid are actually higher than the cost of immigration itself, which makes Hu Junding and other officials of the Immigration Department feel angry but helpless.

So much so that Hu Junding said:
"All the officials in the Qing Dynasty were corrupt, all the officials in the Qing Dynasty were violent, and the people were also unruly people."

"A country with such corrupt officials, violent officials, and unruly people will surely die!"

Not only Hu Junding thought this way, many immigrants who were going to Han also thought so after traveling all the way through mountains and rivers...

Of course, no matter how much Hu Junding and the Han states wanted to destroy the Qing Dynasty, our Qing Dynasty would not be destroyed for a while.

After all, the Holy King is now in charge. Although he was defeated by the Western Yingyi last year, it was just a battle formation that we, the Qing Dynasty, were not familiar with. Waiting for the Qing Dynasty to regroup, it would be useless for a small Western country! !

(British Empire: Come, show you the world map)

This sentence is indeed true. After all, according to the GDP statistics of later generations, the Qing Dynasty was indeed at the pinnacle of the global economy, with an annual income of more than 6000 million taels of silver.

This is only the central government's finances. If the national finances were added up, it would be even more frightening.

In fact, even the British at this time thought so. In their view, the First Opium War was actually won too smoothly. Coupled with the rise of the Han Dynasty in America, there is now a feeling in the UK Word spread about wanting to have good relations with the Qing Dynasty.

In their view, the Qing Dynasty was actually much stronger than the Ottomans. Among other things, it had a larger population than India, a huge economic aggregate, and high taxes. Once reforms were carried out, even if it was just The reforms in parts of the south were no less impressive than any of the European powers.

The position of the Qing Dynasty was also at the center of the list. To the north was the expansionist Tsarist Russia, which was the key target of the British defense...

The west is close to Central Asia and borders Afghanistan. The British know very well what lies below Afghanistan.

The south is also close to the Strait of Malacca and has a good economy. Naturally, the Qing Dynasty has a very high value in the eyes of the British.

If you add in the vast country and a quarter or even a third of the world's population, and you are British, what do you think at this moment?

If these were only superficially confused by the Qing Dynasty's paper strength, then the rise of Han in America deepened this impression.

Especially after Britain signed an alliance treaty with Han, the British navy and army had large-scale contact with the Han army and navy.

Among them, British Army Brigadier General Powell made this comment about the Han Army:

"The Han Army is another powerful army in the world that I have seen since visiting the Prussian Army and the French Army. They are brave and tenacious, able to execute orders quickly and accurately, and dare to challenge any enemy...especially when I have to After knowing that they also have the tradition of launching a bayonet charge against the enemy after three attacks, I judged on the spot that this is a powerful army. At least those American cowboys who herd cattle cannot be their opponents..." "Thank God, they are on our side!!" When Powell said these words, he also crossed himself on his chest to show his piety to God and respect for the Han Army.

The British Navy Captain Robert's evaluation of the Han Navy was much lower than Powell's evaluation of the Han Army.

"How do you evaluate them? In my opinion, the Han Navy is very complicated. Their training methods are almost the same as those in the last century. Most of the target shooting is fixed targets. In the current naval battle, it is very easy. The other party caught the loophole... and their soldiers' understanding of the ocean, in my opinion, is very unprofessional, they are almost just a group of fishermen." Robert's words are actually very sincere.

Tell all the current problems of the Han Navy.

"But if you want to say that they have no merit at all, that's impossible. In my opinion, the spirit of the Han Navy is still worthy of encouragement, especially their attitude towards training, which can be compared with the Royal Navy. What they currently lack is Experience and guidance from those who have experienced it…”

"In time, after our training, I believe that the Han Navy will become a decisive force in the Americas and even the Pacific. Of course, no matter what, they cannot surpass the Royal Navy!!" Although Robert praised the Han Navy A few words about the navy, but in the end it is still difficult to get rid of the unique arrogance of the British, especially the arrogance in the navy.

It can be seen from this that the British actually have a very high evaluation of the Han Dynasty. Even the most arrogant naval field believes that the Han Dynasty Navy has merits and is not completely useless.

In addition to military exchanges, the trade between Britain and Han has almost increased five times since the signing of the trade agreement. It may have grown from less than one million pounds a year to more than 400 million pounds currently. Although this includes British capital investment in Han, the potential of Han can also be seen.

Especially after the Han government stepped up the development of the California gold mines, this situation became even more intense, because the Han government's gold mines gave the Han government higher purchasing power and sufficient funds, part of which was used domestically. Another part was used for Anglo-Chinese trade.

These are real data. No matter how stupid the British are, they still understand the importance of Han.

As mentioned before, the relationship between Han and Britain actually affected Britain's view of the Qing Dynasty.

Some British even regretted launching the Opium War, because it would awaken a giant who had hatred for Britain. After all, Napoleon once said that China is a sleeping lion (Napoleon: The lion I am talking about is not the Qing Dynasty).

Liu Peng just wanted to say: "You guys think too highly of me, Da Qing, he is not that awesome!!"

.............................................

"Minister Hu, this is our latest immigration data..." Director Zhang of the Immigration Department handed Hu Junding a document about recent immigration.

"Currently, we are sending 6 immigrants to the mainland every two months... So far, more than [-] immigrants have been sent to the mainland..." Director Zhang reported the specific number of immigrants to Hu Junding while he was looking through the documents.

"Twenty thousand in two months, then it is 12 in a year..." Hu Junding muttered this number, with a hint of joy on his face. It is not easy. From the second half of last year to April this year, from the British The merchant Harlem's fleet came to China to immigrate. Now the Immigration Department can independently organize ships in the Southeast Asia and Far East to help with immigration. What a great progress this is...

"One more thing, that is, the local construction immigration ship has arrived at Macau Port and is preparing for its first voyage..." The immigration ship that Director Zhang mentioned was actually the batch originally built and designed by the Xijing Shipbuilding Yard. Liu Peng joked that the immigration ship is full of humane design and can only carry 200 people.

Although there are fewer people, the living environment of immigrants is much better than that of merchant ships rented from the Southeast Asia and the Far East.

After all, immigrants are human beings too, and if the living environment is too poor, the mortality rate will be high.

Although the Han Dynasty tried its best to reduce the mortality rate of immigrants, merchant ships were not professional immigration ships after all. Regardless of their living environment and design, they were actually used to transport cargo. Even if they were partially modified, it would not help...

During the first voyage, there were more than 1 immigrants in total, and more than 700 people died in total, almost one tenth. Although those who died were those with physical problems or poor adaptability, they could still survive It can be seen that in this era, emigrating overseas is such a dangerous thing, and it may really kill people! !

The purpose of the Han Dynasty in building professional immigration ships was actually to reduce the mortality rate as much as possible. After all, the value of an immigrant itself is as high as 15 taels of silver. If the ship is added to the ship and repaired midway, it will definitely exceed 20 taels. It may not seem like much, but every day If only one tenth of the 4 immigrants died every two months, the loss to Han would be as high as [-] taels of silver.

That’s 48 taels of silver a year.

This is not a small amount for the Han Dynasty.

"Those ships can send a group of immigrants to Japan first and see how the situation is..." After Hu Junding heard that the locally made immigration ships were coming, he was wary of new things and then told Director Zhang to let him go first. He used it to experiment for a while, "Remember, record the immigrants' feelings on the immigration ship along the way." Hu Junding then warned Director Zhang.

"Yes, Minister Hu!!" Director Zhang immediately agreed. After all, Minister Hu said that he also knew whether the immigration ship was good or not. Their Immigration Department had no say in it, and the local Xijing Shipyard also had no say in it. In the end, it was still Immigration has the final say.

After all, this immigration ship was originally built for them.

"By the way, what did the Guangzhou Yamen say recently?" Hu Junding looked at the immigration documents in his hand, remembered an incident that happened in Guangzhou recently, and then asked Director Zhang.

According to Liu Peng, what happened in the Guangzhou Yamen was that because of the excessive number of immigrants, the money used to bribe local officials in the early days was becoming increasingly difficult to satisfy their greed.

Therefore, recently, the Guangzhou Yamen detained an immigration team of more than a thousand people on charges of carrying private goods and being suspected of being bandits. They are still in Guangzhou Port and have not been released yet.

"Minister Hu, our people have negotiated with them, but they are very dissatisfied with the conditions of 5 taels of silver per year we proposed... and offered us 10 taels." Director Zhang became angry when he heard Hu Junding mention this matter. Without attacking one place, "What else did the other party say? We are waiting for Nanyang merchants to come to the Qing Port to do business. It is a grave crime to entrap the population as a gift from heaven. According to law, our people will be killed... Finally, he hinted that we As long as we give those adults 10 taels a year, we will keep us safe..." Director Zhang continued to say to Hu Junding with an ugly face.

(At this time, the Han Dynasty was immigrating to China, and its external propaganda, especially the propaganda in the Qing Dynasty, was sent to Southeast Asia for farming. After all, the Han Dynasty was a Han country. If the Qing Dynasty knew about it, they were not allowed to go berserk!!)
"These corrupt officials..." Hu Junding became furious when he heard that these guys wanted 10 taels of silver a year. According to the current bribes, 10 taels of silver is equivalent to more than 30 Chinese yuan. This is At present, in international trade, it is a big deal. How many people in the Qing Dynasty can't save a few taels of silver in a year. These Qing Dynasty officials only have 10 taels in one mouth.

"Three years to clear the magistrate's office, and one hundred thousand snowflakes of silver, which has developed the appetite of these guys, and they can easily start with one hundred thousand."

Hu Junding cursed secretly in his heart.

"Minister Hu, I have a way to deal with these corrupt officials in the Qing Court." Director Zhang suddenly thought of a way, and then said to Hu Junding, who was thinking of countermeasures, "I just don't know, is it possible?" Director Zhang then became a little worried. Said to Hu Junding.

"What's the solution? Tell me!!" When Hu Junding heard that Director Zhang had a solution, his eyes suddenly lit up and he immediately replied.

"Minister Hu, last year the Qing Dynasty and the British had a war over opium. It was about compensation and a treaty..." Director Zhang mentioned last year's Opium War to Hu Junding, "According to my observation in Guangzhou, On the surface, these Qing court officials looked down upon foreigners, shouting barbarians and barbarians at every turn, but in fact they felt very guilty. After all, they had not experienced the war last year, so now the Qing officials in Guangzhou still treat foreigners very seriously. I'm afraid..." Director Zhang told Liu Peng about the changes in the relationship between foreigners and Qing officials due to last year's war.

"What do you mean?" Hu Junding had more or less guessed what Director Zhang was going to say, "Borrowing foreign countries to resist the Qing Dynasty..." Hu Junding said to Director Zhang with some uncertainty.

"Yes, it is to use the current prestige of the foreigners to put pressure on the Qing Dynasty." Director Zhang nodded in agreement to Hu Junding, "And this matter must be done by the British!!" Director Zhang continued to answer Hu Junding in a mocking tone. road.

Hu Junding looked at Director Zhang who was full of confidence, and then said: "I'll leave this matter to you. We Han and the British are allies now. It's okay to find a few British businessmen we know to help put pressure. "After Hu Junding finished speaking, a hint of sarcasm appeared on his face.

　Please give me a reward and make a full order.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)