The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 662 In memory of Washington, we, the State of Washington, have decided to support slavery!
Outside Olympia, in a wooded manor, Governor Lafayette McMullen was sitting in a rattan chair under the porch, holding a glass of wine produced by a Chinese winery in California. He was a Virginia gentleman with a strong martial spirit, with broad shoulders, a square chin, sunken eyes, and a fierce look. He was a cavalry officer during the Mexican-American War, and there was a long scar on his left cheek, which made him look even more ferocious.

But his character was even worse than his appearance, he was extremely reactionary! He was an American officer who invaded Mexico, a white governor who massacred Indians, a Virginia plantation owner who enslaved black people, and in the future he would become a backbone of the Southern Confederacy that supported slavery and launched the American Civil War - if history had not changed, he would have become the governor of Virginia during the Civil War.

"Little brother," this "unforgivable" man grinned at the visiting Emperor Xianfeng, revealing a few yellow teeth, "Why did you come to a rural place like Olympia? You don't want to be a bishop in Washington Territory, do you?"

He and Xianfeng were old acquaintances - as a white Virginia master with great martial virtues and a staunch supporter of slavery, he was of course in cahoots with Davis. He knew that Xianfeng had made a lot of money helping Davis find oil, and that Davis often called Xianfeng "little brother", and that he was a frequent visitor to O'Connor's Lolita Farm.

So after meeting Xianfeng in Olympia, he invited him to his estate outside the city to vacation together.

Xianfeng, now wearing his cardinal robes and a red hat, and holding a glass of red wine, smiled when he heard this: "Mike, I'm here to help the Washington Territory become a state."

McMullen's smile froze on his face. He put down his glass and frowned, "Zhao Si, what do you mean? The population of Washington Territory is less than 60,000."

Chiyoko was sitting next to Xu Jishe as an interpreter. This old man Xu was now the advisor of the four great bishops of Zhao. The old man stroked his goatee and squinted his eyes. When Chiyoko translated "Washington's territory is less than 60,000", he gestured with his hands and said in stiff English: "Governor, as far as I know, there are already 57,000 Chinese from Seattle to Portland."

"Congressmen on Capitol Hill don't recognize yellow people!" McMullen suddenly interrupted him, saying lightly, "In their eyes, only white people are considered human." He paused, as if he felt that this statement was too blunt, and added, "Of course, I personally now believe that yellow people can be considered human beings."

Can you be considered a human now?

Xu Jishe's white beard trembled: "What about the black slaves?"

"Nigger?" McMullen sneered. "That's a talking animal."

The corridor suddenly became quiet. Xu Jishe slowly pulled out a leather-bound booklet from his sleeve and turned to the folded page: "I recently studied the biography of Washington and found that the founding father also owned slaves. Is this true?"

McMullen's blue eyes rolled. "Of course. There were more than two hundred slaves at Mount Vernon."

"So," Xu Jishe closed the book and suddenly raised his voice, "In order to commemorate Washington, the slave owner who made great contributions to the liberation of the American people, we in Washington State should support slavery!"

McMullen almost spit out the wine in his mouth. He stared at Xu Jishe, then looked at Chiyoko who was responsible for the interpretation, and finally laughed at Xianfeng: "Great! You yellow-skinned people" He swallowed the last word abruptly, "I mean, you are so damn smart!"

Xianfeng smiled and said, "Oregon in the south will join the Union as a free state, which will cause a further imbalance in the number of slave state representatives and free state representatives in Congress. If Washington State can join the Union as a slave state, it will contribute two senators to the South. I believe that the Democratic senators and representatives in the South will definitely support us!"

"Adding a slave state may not be enough to cover the South's lack of money!" McMullen licked his lips, "The gold mines of the Okanogan River."

"The True Contract Sect can help you 'discover' more." Zhao Si took out a map from his pocket and slowly unfolded it on the tea table, "For example, the silver mines at Mount Baker and the copper mines at the Skagit River Valley."

McMullen's breathing became heavy. He stared at the map, as if he saw countless gold and silver treasures flying before his eyes. Three women in kimonos came over quietly, one rubbed his shoulders, one massaged his legs, and another poured him wine. This was the "gift" that Xianfeng brought to "Governor McMullen".

"But over in Congress," McMullen put his arm around a petite girl in a kimono and gently stroked her slender waist, "those congressmen who advocate abolition will surely attack the constitution submitted by Washington State that regards mixed-race people as white!"

Xianfeng smiled and said, "Those people will oppose us no matter what! If we don't write 'slavery' into the state constitution, then most of the legislators will oppose it. Now we can at least get the support of a small half of the legislators. As for the remaining few or a dozen votes, believe me, I will definitely find a way! Mike, then you will be the first governor of Washington State! This will be very, very crucial to the cause you Southern Democrats are pursuing!"

"The cause we pursue?" The smile on McMullen's face disappeared again. "Little brother, what do you want to say?"

Xianfeng also stopped smiling: "Civil war. A civil war caused by abolition of slavery and tariffs will break out in more than two years! And Washington State, Oregon, and California on the west coast of the United States will become the key factor in the outcome of this civil war!"

McMullen looked at Xianfeng and asked, "Little brother, do you mean that the True Treaty Party will participate in the war?" Xianfeng said, "At least they will provide military pay and munitions!"

London at night.

A kerosene lamp lit up in the gray brick building where Moore rented on Gloucester Road in South Kensington, illuminating the desk in front of Moore. As the typewriter continued to make "tick-tick-tick" sounds, a draft of the "Five-Year Plan for Industrial Construction of the Kingdom of Korea" was gradually taking shape.

When Friedrich pushed the door open with a breakfast he had just bought, he caught a glimpse of the "North Korean Mineral Distribution Map" spread out on the table. A striking triangle was outlined in red pencil to the north of Seoul - the Pyongyang coalfield.

"Karl, your cigarette ash is about to flood the Port of Busan." He put down the freshly baked bread, picked up the thermos and poured coffee into Moore's bone china cup. He glanced at a draft next to the typewriter, "1500 million pounds in five years... Prince Albert would have a heart attack if he read it."

Moore didn't look up, his fingers still jumping on the keyboard: "The Bank of England loaned Indian Railways 3000 million last year."

Bai Siwen also came in at this time, throwing his calfskin briefcase on the sofa: "India has cotton, what does North Korea have? Korean ginseng?" He poured himself a cup of steaming hot coffee, then took a sip to warm himself up, "Unless Yang Xiuqing can grow ginseng into gold bars."

The typewriter stopped. Moore took off his glasses and rubbed his red eyes.

"Pyongyang's coal, Iwon's iron," he pulled out a stack of documents and threw them to Bai Siwen, "These are all clearly written in the documents brought by Hong Rengan. They were all discovered by the British miners hired by Yang Xiuqing."

Friedrich leaned closer to the kerosene lamp to read the geological report carefully: "There are still some good things in the northern part of the Korean Peninsula. The country has very good conditions for industrialization and is very suitable for planned development and construction."

Bai Siwen flipped through Moore's budget sheet and said, "You're still going to build a chemical plant in Wonsan? My God, the North Koreans can't even make matches now, they're worse than the Japanese. Don't blow up the plant."

"So we need to build Prussian-style schools." Moore pulled out a copy of "The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's Compulsory Education Plan" from the pile of books. "Within five years, every province must have a primary and secondary school, and universities will be established in Seoul, Pyongyang, and Busan... The textbooks can be directly copied from the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom."

"We need to build hundreds of miles of railway?" Bai Siwen exclaimed, "This railway alone will cost millions of pounds. It's too expensive!"

"But without this railway, North Korea's coal mines, iron mines, ports, grain production areas and several large cities cannot be connected." Moore put on his glasses again and drew a line under the entry "Railway" with a pencil. "The railway from Pyongyang to Busan can use the steel rails produced in Xuzhou... The products of Xuzhou Steel Plant should be very good."

Bai Siwen muttered, "Will Luo Yaoguo sell steel to Yang Xiuqing to build railways?"

"Why wouldn't he?" Frederick laughed. "The scale of industrialization of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is also quite large! This plan will be implemented starting in 1861. By the time a large amount of steel rails are needed, it will be two or three years after 1862. The steel output of the Xuzhou Steel Plant will probably be hundreds of thousands of tons!"

"Hundreds of thousands of tons." Bai Siwen stuck out his tongue. "Isn't that more than Britain?"

"Not necessarily," Moore shook his head. "British steel mills have also been expanding over the past two years. By 1862, the output will probably reach millions of tons!"

"Millions of tons. Can they be used up?"

"It can be used up! There are still many places that need construction!" Friedrich picked up the plan and weighed it, as if he was weighing how many tons of steel would be used in this plan?
"Two thousand steam engines, five hundred miles of railways, one hundred cargo ships..." Friedrich read the contents of the budget sheet, his face suddenly becoming extremely solemn. "Moore, do you believe it or not, when this blueprint becomes a reality, Prince Albert will incite Yang Xiuqing to challenge the empty throne of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom!"

Moore smiled and said, "So what? Yang Xiuqing can't rely on the 100,000 Taiping troops he brought to Korea to win an industrialized war. At that time, he will need workers and peasants from Korea and Japan. And the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom also needs to arm its own workers and peasants! The war between imperialists must rely on workers and peasants! Friedrich, what do you think will happen?"

(End of this chapter)