The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 543 Lincoln, you don’t want to be the last president of the United States, do you?
The carriage was galloping in a bumpy manner, and Hong Renzheng's bishop's golden crown shone coldly in the moonlight. Lincoln's Adam's apple rolled up and down, and his back pressed against the damp leather seat.

"Are you Bishop Hong?" Lincoln dug his fingers into the cracks of the seat, his knuckles turning white. "What do you want to do?"

Hong Renzheng blew out a breath, extinguished the white phosphorus match that was about to burn out, and then took out an enamel tobacco box from his sleeve pocket and rubbed it in his hand: "We, the Zhenyue faction, want to invest in you - the 16th President of the United States of America!"

"The 16th President?" Lincoln's pupils suddenly shrank. "You mean, I will become the president of this country in six years?"

"It wasn't me who said that. It was His Majesty the Angel who said that!" Hong Renzheng said, "He also said that James Buchanan would become the 1857th President of the United States in 15 and you would become the President in 1861!"

The carriage sped through the white neighborhoods of San Francisco, which were already in a frenzy. Shouts of "Gold! Gold!" rolled toward Lincoln's carriage like waves. The future president of the United States pulled back the curtains and saw groups of gold diggers holding torches, rushing out of the city like mad ants. Someone waved a yellowed blueprint, and his roar pierced the night sky: "Gold blueprint! Gold blueprint!"

"What did you do?" Lincoln grabbed Hong Renzheng's collar, "Did your assassin kill Senator Brannan?"

Hong Renzheng smiled and held Lincoln's hand: "We just released the golden map. 40,000 golden maps! If it's not enough, we can print more to ensure that every white person in California can have one! As for Senator Brannan, is he dead? So does California have to re-elect a senator?"

Lincoln's face turned pale. "You can't become a senator. You're not even an American citizen! According to relevant laws, only white people who have lived in the United States for 5 years can obtain citizenship if they were not born on American soil!" He showed sarcasm at the corner of his mouth. "You are not white, and you couldn't have been born in the United States, so you don't even have the right to vote! Your people, except for those Irish, have no right to vote. Although they bear most of the taxes in California!"

"Yes!" Hong Renzheng shrugged. "So you have passed the Special Tax Law for Foreign Miners and the Tax Law for Foreign Miners' Licenses, and you are charging heavy taxes to our people! In the future, you will pass a Chinese Exclusion Act to drive us out of California and seize the industries we have worked so hard to build! We have no citizenship, we cannot vote, and naturally no congressman can speak for us. Even if we bribe them with money, the effect will not be very good. After all, who would care about a little bribe if they can take everything away?"

"That's right," Lincoln loosened Hong Renzheng's collar, "and you can't possibly fight against the federal military. Even the California militia is beyond your reach! So, you'd better take the money you earned and go back to China before the gold rush ends. When all the gold in California is mined, they will treat you as a gold mine!" He suddenly sighed again, "Of course, I personally don't agree with this approach, but this is America! Even if I become president, I can't change it!"

"No, you can!" Hong Renzheng played with the tobacco box in his hand. "There will be a chance in the future for the U.S. Congress to pass a law granting U.S. citizenship to all foreigners and their immediate family members who are willing to fight for it."

"You mean?" Lincoln looked at the True Covenant Bishop in front of him with the help of the torch light coming in from the car window, "the United States will be invaded by a powerful enemy in the future?"

"No," Hong Renzheng shook his head gently, "The Pacific and Atlantic Oceans are the best barriers for the United States, and the huge size of the United States determines that it is impossible for any American country to challenge the United States' regional hegemony. Therefore, the only enemy that can put the United States in an existential crisis is the United States! Mr. Future President, unless you are willing to give up politics now, you will definitely be elected as the 16th President of the United States. However, your real challenge is not to be elected president, but that you will need us after you are elected, if you do not want to be the last president of the United States of America!"

"The last one." Lincoln seemed to see a real devil through the True Testament Archbishop in front of him!

Hong Renzheng smiled and extended his hand to Lincoln: “Mr. Lincoln, His Majesty the Angel said, do you know what ‘the last president of the United States of America’ means? So, let’s cooperate, okay?”

Meanwhile, Natalia stood at the top-floor window of the hotel, the golden map trembling in her hands.

Wu Chongyao lit up a cigarette, the smoke lingering around his fingertips: "Grand Duchess, you didn't expect it, did you? There is hundreds of millions of dollars worth of gold buried underground in Alaska. The barren land covered with ice and snow will soon become a treasure trove. Now the British and French have a need to send troops to Alaska, and if Governor Muravyov wants to keep the wealth there for the Tsar, he needs our help!"

The noise of the Chinatown battle outside the window had faded away. The brief but fierce conflict had apparently ended in a disastrous defeat for the Mormons and their Russian allies. But it didn't matter to Natalia anymore.

"Okay!" Natalia bit her red lips with her pearly teeth, "I'll go to China with you to meet the angel!" Wu Chongyao blew out another smoke ring: "Then let's go, we don't have much time!"

"Are you leaving now?" Natalia looked at Wu Chongyao with some surprise.

"Yes! His Royal Highness Prince Wu can wait, but Governor Muravyov can't!" Wu Chongyao looked at the Russian Grand Duchess in front of him, "If I'm not mistaken, you must have done Muravyov a big favor, right? Where is he now?"

"They should be on their way to Fort Langley!" Natalia said. "Brannan and the California militia planted spies in the British Fort Langley and stole the British army's defense map. According to the map, the British have limited manpower and large loopholes in their defense line."

"Okay!" Wu Chongyao turned around, opened the door, and waved to Natalia, "Let's go, we'll set off now to the dock. My Pacific can set off at any time!"

A thin mist floated over the mouth of the Fraser River, and Muravyov scanned the makeshift walls of Fort Langley, built with sandbags and logs, with his telescope. Behind him, forty whaling ships were stranded at low tide—these whaling ships flying the Stars and Stripes were carrying a total of 1,500 Russian commandos!
"I hope the information provided by those Mormons is true!" The governor stroked a British military deployment map in his hand - he arrived here successfully based on the deployment map provided by the Mormons!
He took out his pocket watch and looked at it. The hands on the dial were now pointing to five fifteen in the morning, which was the breakfast prayer time for the militia and soldiers of the British Hudson's Bay Company.

Fifty Cossack death squads were ready. When the first rays of sunlight pierced the morning mist, they rushed to the river beach where Fort Langley was ambushed, holding M1841 rifles provided by the Americans and carrying a bag of ball grenades. The sergeant leading the group suddenly froze - the reflection of the brass telescope flashed on the battlements of the city wall.

"boom!"

The crisp sound of the Brown Bass rifle tore through the silence. The sergeant fell on the beach of the Fraser River like a broken mast, and his blood dyed a large area of ​​the river red. Muravyov pounded on the side of the boat: "Damn it, we were discovered after all!"

However, Muravyov still ordered the attack horn to be blown, and the raiding fleet was close enough to Fort Langley. Forty 6-pound whale guns loaded with solid bullets fired together, and orange-red flames spewed out from the muzzles wrapped in oilcloth. After several rounds of volleys, a gap was blasted in the log wall, revealing the panicked Hudson's Bay Company militia behind them - they didn't even have time to bayonet their rifled Brown Bess rifles.

“Hurrah!”

When a thousand Russian soldiers with flintlock rifles rushed through the gap, Governor Douglas was burning documents in the cellar of the Governor's Mansion. He heard the sound of heavy military boots on the floor, and suddenly grabbed the colonial map on the table and stuffed it into the fireplace - but was grabbed by a cold hand by the back of the collar.

When the Russian double-headed eagle flag was raised at Fort Langley, Fort Victoria, less than a hundred nautical miles away, was shrouded in morning mist. Natalia looked at the Taiping Panlong flag on the port tower and suddenly grabbed Wu Chongyao's arm: "You took Fort Victoria?"

Wu Chongyao took a puff of his pipe happily, turned his head and said to the Russian Grand Duchess beside him, "Isn't this great? Muravyov got Fort Langley, which he wanted. Now he is closer to the US border and can also advance into the heart of the Hudson's Bay Company. And our expeditionary force helped the British recapture Fort Victoria, which is what Governor James Douglas wanted most. Everyone got what they wanted, and this is the best deal. Grand Duchess, do you think this deal should continue?"

Natalia nodded: "Of course, I look forward to making a deal with His Majesty the Angel that will benefit both of us!"

Wu Chongyao pointed his pipe at the dock, where many Russians were sitting on the ground, all under the guard of the Taiping Army, some of them were injured: "I think we can make a deal now."

When they boarded the dock, Luo Dagang was counting the Russian civilians and garrisons captured by his expeditionary force. He saw Wu Chongyao in his official uniform and Natalie coming down from the Pacific, which was flying the Panlong flag. He laughed and waved, saying, "Special Envoy Wu, is that the Russian Grand Duchess with you? You came at the right time. My people have captured more than a thousand Russians at Fort Victoria, but Muravyov and his elite Russian soldiers are missing. According to the prisoners, they all went to raid Fort Langley! I think the Russians should succeed, so I'll ask the Russian Grand Duchess to be the middleman. I want to exchange prisoners with Muravyov."

(End of this chapter)