The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 634: The Capitol Hill Stock God, Oil God, and Shipping King in "Lolita Manor" (Please vote, please subscribe)
May 1858, 5, Long Island County, New York.

Xianfeng and Rinzi, who went by the alias Feng Wanlin, sat face to face in a luxurious carriage belonging to Senator O'Connor, traveling on a picturesque country road. Six pure white Andalusian horses marched in an orderly rhythm, and the gilded harnesses reflected a dazzling "rich flavor" in the sun.

Although Xianfeng now has a girlfriend, Chiyoko, who is as beautiful as Rinko, his eyes never leave this woman who exudes "fatal" charm throughout the journey.

Rinko and Xianfeng talked and laughed all the way, and her eyes habitually showed some lingering affection, as if she and Xianfeng were old lovers who had reunited after a long separation, which made Chiyoko, who was beside Xianfeng, pout. But she only pouted for a moment, and didn't dare to go any further.

Now Rinzi is the daughter of Feng Yunshan in name, the mistress of Prince Napoleon of France, and the "niece" of Queen Victoria of England. She was also made a real countess by Victoria for her contribution in "robbery of Jerusalem" and a true British aristocrat. Not to mention that Chiyoko couldn't afford to offend her, even Xianfeng would have a hard time getting her into his mouth, unless Rinzi was willing to treat him as a "fuck buddy".
"Senator O'Connor's estate is truly luxurious!" When the carriage rolled through the cast iron carved gate, Rinko, who was used to the "nouveau riche style" in Europe, couldn't help but sigh at the twelve life-size granite angel statues - each angel had golden wings on its back, a golden crown on its head, and held a golden candlestick in its hands!

Xianfeng smiled and said, “Senator O’Connor owns a gold mine in California, and he made a lot of money by shorting stocks and bonds during the decline last year. He is now one of the richest people on Capitol Hill.”

Rinko smiled and said, "Fourth brother must have made a lot of money, right?"

Xianfeng smiled and nodded: "It's all thanks to Luo Tianshi. Rinzi, I heard that Luo Tianshi admires you very much!"

Rinko nodded slightly.

At this time, the carriage passed by a "nouveau riche" Cupid fountain. Twelve girls in pink furisode dresses holding lanterns floated under the veranda. Chiyoko, who was kneeling in the carriage, glanced at the Japanese girls outside the window and whispered, "They are all from Osaka, and the oldest is no more than sixteen years old."

The carriage had stopped in front of a luxurious building that looked like a palace. Senator O'Connor came up with a beer belly, accompanied by two petite girls in kimonos. They saw Xianfeng and Chiyoko getting off the carriage.

"Fourth brother, welcome to my back garden!"

Senator O'Connor's Chinese sentence still has an Irish accent at the end, and his gold-plated dentures gleam coldly in the sun. The two kimono girls on his left and right were only about thirteen or fourteen years old. The Tang lions embroidered on their furisode sleeves were squeezed out of shape by the man's sturdy arms, but his eyes were greedily looking at Rinko who came down from the carriage last: "This is..."

"She is Princess Wanlin, the daughter of His Royal Highness the Southern King of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom," Xianfeng said with a smile, "She is also the Countess of Temple Mount conferred by the Queen of England!"

"The Countess of the Temple Mount." Senator O'Connor was surprised. "Is she the lady who took out the tablets of the Covenant from the caves under the Temple Mount?"

"Yes!" Xianfeng nodded, "It's this lady!"

Senator O'Connor no longer dared to target Rinko - he didn't want to go to hell after he died!
After bowing to Rinko, the councillor raised his hand and pointed at the open door: "Your Highness, please come in!"

As Rinko's satin embroidered shoes stepped onto the stairs, two Japanese girls with Tang-style buns came out from behind the Roman columns in the hall, walked up to Xianfeng and Rinko in wooden clogs, and bowed deeply to them.

Rinko was stunned for a moment, and Xianfeng approached her and said, "This is the rule of entertaining guests at O'Connor Manor. You can ask the girl who accompanies you to do anything!"

Senator O'Connor came up and said with a big smile on his face: "These cherry blossom babies are more sensible than the black slaves in Virginia. They don't even cry when they are whipped."

Rinko raised her eyebrows and smiled, "Really? Then I'd like to try it." As she spoke, she glanced at the Japanese girl next to her, and the latter responded with a submissive smile.

There were already several distinguished guests in the banquet hall of O'Connor Manor, all of them "gods" on Capitol Hill, including Senator Douglas from Illinois, Senator Davis from Mississippi, Senator Hammond from South Carolina, Senator Brown also from Mississippi, and Senator Slidell from Louisiana - all of them were Democrats, and all of them were slaveholders!
O'Connor, a Republican senator from the free state of California, actually made friends with a bunch of Democratic senators who advocated slavery. This is of course very normal!
After all, O'Connor's own "Lolita Manor" has 10 to 20 Japanese beauties all year round, and he also married three Japanese wives. This style does not look like an abolitionist at all. In addition, Republican congressmen who advocate abolition often put "federal rights" above "state rights" and use federal laws to abolish slavery in slave states. Democratic congressmen who advocate slavery (mainly congressmen from southern states) advocate protecting "state rights" and "popular sovereignty" - the so-called popular sovereignty means that when a region that has not yet become a "state" joins the federation, whether to have slaves should be decided by the people of the region.

For the true covenantists, the loophole of "popular sovereignty" is huge - whether the colored people in the region have citizenship rights should also be decided by the people of the region? This is also state rights!

Although the citizenship rights of Chinese in California (including Japanese and Koreans) are not yet resolved, the Oregon region is not a state yet. Once the region becomes a state, the local Chinese may directly become citizens - considering that the area of ​​​​Oregon can be divided into at least two states, that is four senator votes! Together with the two votes from California, the true Yorkists will have six votes in the Senate, which is a considerable influence.

O'Connor Estate, Ballroom.

Senator Douglas, who had just enjoyed a sumptuous dinner, was leaning on an Egyptian-style couch. With a "click", the silver cigar cutter in his hand cut the head of the Havana cigar into the palm of the kneeling girl. The girl was only fifteen or sixteen years old, and purple whip marks were faintly visible under her sleeves.

"Let me see the pearl of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom!" The drunken senator stood up, smoked, and staggered to Rinko: "Dear princess, you are more exciting than the Missouri Compromise."

Rinko gently shook the goblet in her hand and said with a smile, "Mr. Douglas, have you thought about it? Are you planning to become the shipping king of Capitol Hill?"

"This..." Senator Douglas frowned, seeming a little hesitant - setting up an "Atlantic-Pacific Shipping Company" to promote Sino-US trade does not seem to make money as quickly as digging for gold and oil!
Senator Davis, who had long been a supporter of Emperor Xianfeng, stepped out from the shadows. This Mississippi slave owner and Capitol Hill oil god smiled and said to Rinko, "Please allow me to kiss the back of your hand." After kissing her hand, he smiled and said to Senator Douglas, "Arnold, this trade route that starts from the Atlantic Ocean, passes through the Indian Ocean, and reaches the Pacific Ocean is far away, but it may help our country completely get rid of the indecent slavery in the future!"

"Oh?" Senator Douglas immediately became interested. After all, he was a senator from a free state. If he leaned to the side of a slave state, he would easily lose votes.
Rinko pointed at the girl next to Douglas and said with a smile: "Japan not only has girls who are too poor to survive, but also men who are willing to serve as cheap labor! 150 million Japanese laborers are equivalent to 350 million black slaves!"

"Definitely more than that!" Xianfeng also came up with Chiyoko in his arms, and said with a smile, "When it comes to farming, the East Asian race is the best in the world, no matter what they grow. Moreover, when introducing Japanese laborers, we can only introduce men, not women, and let them go after working for a few years! Isn't this more respectable than using black slaves?"

Senator Hammond, who was from South Carolina and was famous for his "Cotton Kingdom" theory and advocated that slavery was the core of the southern economy and social order, glanced at the Japanese girl beside him and smiled and agreed: "Bishop Zhao is right. If there is a better choice than black slaves, who would be willing to use black slaves? But can such a long route be profitable?"

"Of course!" Xianfeng nodded affirmatively, "American food and cotton in exchange for Asian silk, tea and Japanese laborers!"

When he mentioned Japanese workers, his eyes swept over Chiyoko.

"It will definitely be profitable!" Rinko said, "China, Japan, and North Korea are all short of food, and they are also short of cotton. In addition, a second-hand sailboat is not worth much money. The sailors are really expensive, and the sailors can be gradually replaced by Chinese, Japanese, and North Koreans in the future. In this way, the cost of shipping will be greatly reduced, and the profit space will be huge."

John Slidell, the core of the Southern Democratic Party and the leader of the slavery faction, a senator from Louisiana, thought that what Rinko said in "French English" was both pleasant and reasonable. He had a photo signed by Prince Napoleon in his pocket, which was a gift Rinko had just given him. He smiled and said, "The Baroness is right. Why don't I take the lead? This route is obviously in the interests of the United States! Perhaps we can jointly propose a 'Pacific-Atlantic Trade Act' to provide tariff preferences for trade that may bring in Asian laborers and facilitate our escape from the indecent slavery. I think the Republicans will not object, right?"

"Of course!" O'Connor laughed, "Unless they want to end slavery in the South with a civil war!"

Senator Davis' expression suddenly became serious: "Jamie, if it really comes to this, California..."

"California supports popular sovereignty!" O'Connor said, "and the people of Oregon, regardless of their skin color, also unanimously support popular sovereignty! If Congress can agree to let the people of Oregon decide whether people of color can become citizens, I guarantee that in the next Congress, there will be four more supporters of state power!"

The banquet hall was silent, and several senators did not respond. Rinko's eyes swept across their faces, taking in their embarrassed and expectant expressions, and then she smiled faintly and said, "What if the colored people are changed to yellow and white mixed race? As far as I know, there are still some undiscovered gold mines in the western United States."

(End of this chapter)