The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 631: The Chosen Country of the Working People (Please vote and subscribe)
Late April 1858, West Coast of North America.

The warm and gentle sea breeze in the Brat Bay (Zhenyue Bay) caressed the hopeful fields on both sides. The cast iron bow of the steam paddle steamer Jili broke through the sea water, passed under the gun turret with the flag of "The Great Wall Will Never Fall" flying at the entrance of the strait, and entered this long and narrow bay.

The deck was crowded with passengers leaning on the railing to look out into the distance. Moore, holding a monocular telescope in his hand, was completely stunned by the pastoral scenery on both sides of the bay.

"These wooden water wheels remind me of the mills on the Rhine." Friedrich pointed to the hydraulic device on the shore. The four-meter-square wheel turned slowly under the power of the river water rushing into the sea. The wooden aqueduct extended like a spider web to the emerald green rice fields. Farmers wearing bamboo hats bent over to plant rice. This scene did not look like the New World at all, but rather like East Asia thousands of miles away.

Sakamoto Ryoma leaned against the side of the boat and sighed, "The rice fields here are really vast, each one is dozens of acres, right?" His sword trembled slightly as he spoke, "No wonder the letters sent back by the women who were sold to the New World all thanked the True Friend Faction."

Suddenly, a long conch shell sounded in the bay. Twenty Fukusen-style fishing boats were collecting their fishing nets. The words "Return with a Full Load" painted in vermilion and gold on the bows appeared and disappeared among the waves. When the fishing nets were pulled out of the sea, Sakamoto and Iwasaki, who grew up by the sea, were amazed again - this sea area is so rich!
"They are using the solar salt method to make salt." Iwasaki Yataro noticed the salt fields on the shore. Shirtless workers were using wooden rakes to pile up the sea salt in the crystallization pool into snow hills. "If we use this salt to pickle the fish we just caught and then sell it to California, we will definitely make a lot of money, right?"

Hearing Iwasaki's plan, Sakamoto laughed: "As expected of Yataro, he can find business opportunities wherever he goes!"

Bonham rapped his ivory cane on the teak deck. "These so-called plantation owners are nothing but squatters! The Hudson Company's charter clearly states that..."

"What's the point of that charter?" Moore interrupted Bonham. "The British Empire has occupied too much land, and it has no way and no intention to develop it. It just sits there, unable to form productivity and unable to create any wealth. It's pure waste. At the same time, the poor in London and Manchester are living in hell, and Irish farmers are starving to death in large numbers."

"How dare you." Sir Bonham glared at "Master Carl" who looked more and more wrong the more he looked at him.

"Sir," a priest in his thirties wearing a black robe and a cross around his neck interrupted Bonham and said in English, "How can you speak to Angel Karl like this? He is the Queen's teacher in heaven!"

Well, Master Karl has become Grand Master Karl!

Wen Xian looked back at the priest and said, "Father Chen, your Zhenjiao North American Archdiocese's occupation of the Brat Bay is always illegal!"

This priest is Chen Ji, who was a foreman of Jardine Matheson in Shanghai, and later worked as a foreman for the Governor of Vancouver of Hudson Company in the New World. When the Taiping Army came to "support" Hudson Company, he finally stood on the right side. He became a priest of the True Covenant Sect. More than half a month ago, he and two other priests went to Japan to receive a group of "brides". Now he is familiar with Moore, Friedrich, and Bonham. He also knows Moore's identity - he is one of the gods in heaven!
When the Geely docked at the Tianwang City Pier, the full picture of this "ideal city" on the west coast of North America was suddenly revealed to Moore and others.

The city is not too big, with only two main streets intersecting each other. At the intersection of the main streets is a cathedral that combines Chinese and Western styles. On the bell tower of the church hangs the Chinese characters "Vice-Chancellor's Cathedral of the True Testament Archdiocese of North America".

I don't know what day it is today. Four-wheeled carriages loaded with agricultural products are lined up outside the cathedral, and accountants in long gowns are using abacus to quickly record accounts.

"Look, there are so many people on the dock!" Natalia tugged at Friedrich's sleeve.

More than three hundred men in crimson robes had already formed a square array at the dock, each with a silver emblem unique to the True Covenant sect of Tianwang City on his chest - a cross surrounded by wheat ears.

"Who are they?" Friedrich asked Chen Ji.

"They are the masters here!" Chen Ji deliberately said in front of Wen Xian, "They are the builders of Tianwang City and the pioneers of farms on both sides of Zhenyue Bay. Each of them owns at least 100 acres of land. Today they are here to welcome their wives whom they have never met!"

It turned out that these people were the customers who "bought" the Japanese girls on the ship.
"Each of them has at least a hundred acres of land?" Moore asked with interest, "How did they get it?" "They occupied it!" said Wenxian.

"It was allocated to them by the True Covenant Sect," Chen Ji said. "Originally this was an uninhabited land. There was no Heavenly King City, no farmland, no salt fields, nothing. These people built this with great effort!"

"Labor creates everything!" Moore commented. "They rightfully own the land they have reclaimed!"

"This is the Queen's property!" Wenxian emphasized again.

At this time, a large group of kimono girls came out of the cabin. More than 200 girls gathered on the deck like cherry blossoms in early spring. Everyone looked at the dock below with some expectation and anxiety. When Chen Ji shouted in Japanese, "The New World is waiting for a good wife", the girls shouted "Hai" one after another, full of joy and happiness - before they boarded the "Jili", they were told that they might be sent to the brothels in the New World to sell themselves. But they were undoubtedly lucky!
Sakamoto and Iwasaki exchanged meaningful glances - the girls were of course lucky, forever getting rid of poverty and getting the right to marry and become mothers. In today's overcrowded island country, it is difficult for a woman of humble origin to become a "wife" because most of the lower-class men have no chance to get married.
But for Japan, it is definitely not a good thing for these girls to marry out, because they will give birth to children for Chinese immigrants in the New World! Moreover, they are very hardworking and are excellent laborers, which will greatly enhance the power of Chinese immigrants in the New World.

"This is the most vivid dialectic." As Friedrich watched the first girl who came down the gangway put her hand on the farmer's calloused palm, he smiled and said to Moore, "Although the True Covenant sect seems decadent and corrupt in Japan, the True Covenant sect in the New World is still full of vitality and more advanced than the True Covenant sects in China, Korea and Southeast Asia!"

Wen Xian's sneer came: "Without the Queen's approval, how long can this progress last?"

His eyes swept over the artillery position at the entrance of the bay. The bastion built with sandbags was still solid, and a 32-pound bronze cannon gleamed brightly in the morning glow.

Moore noticed the flag flying on the church spire - a red background with golden ears of wheat surrounding a silver cross. This "workers' paradise" composed of Chinese immigrants, Japanese girls, possibly some immigrants from Ireland, and local indigenous peoples of America showed a kind of vitality that was very rare in the Old World.

This is probably the promised land and the chosen country of the working people, right? Moore later commented on the Heavenly City in the New World in his Red Star Over China.

The twilight of Long Island shines through the stained glass, casting a blood-red cross on the bluestone floor of the church. Xianfeng strokes the copper globe on the sandalwood pulpit, and the bright yellow lining of his suit sleeves has been worn white. Sushun kneels in front of the carved bench, and the black robe of a True Testament priest shakes with his sobs: "Your Majesty, the Qing Dynasty is dead, completely dead."

"There is no emperor here!" Xianfeng suddenly shouted to stop his "nonsense", and then glanced at Zeng Jia Linshu who was kneeling beside him - it was his nominal son Zeng Guofan who finally destroyed the Qing Dynasty, "There is only Zhao Si, the bishop of Changdao County of the True Yue Sect."

Sushun stared blankly at Xianfeng in his red robe. He had not been on the East Coast for long, but he had already done very well. He even built a magnificent church in Long Island County - it was donated by Davis, a big Democratic leader in the US Senate!
The Democratic Party is now in power in the United States and is Davis’ “fellow party”!
"Dangdang!"

The moment the copper-inlaid oak door was knocked open, Chiyoko, wearing a black nun's robe, rushed in quickly and knelt respectfully in front of Xianfeng: "Bishop, Lei Laohu's carriage has passed Philadelphia! He brought thirty musketeers with him, and... He suspected that you stole the Book of the Minor Prophets, so he asked you to go to the cathedral in New York City immediately to meet and explain!"

“What are the Minor Prophets?”

"Bishop Huang Zhao, what happened?"

Sushun and Linshu were both a little panicked. They both "knew" that Xianfeng had escaped from heaven, and the "Book of the Minor Prophets" was probably what he took away when he came down from heaven. Would Lei Lao Hu come with an order from heaven to capture Xianfeng?

"Why are you panicking?" Xianfeng was not panicking at all. He had a backer now. "This is America, New York Chiyoko. Prepare the car. I'm going to New York City to meet Lei Lao Hu!"

(End of this chapter)