The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 666 can get the Chinese Exclusion Act passed! (Please vote, please subscribe!)

The yacht on the Potomac River swayed slightly with the current, and the men on the deck were silent.

"Mr. Zhao, it's windy outside, please come into the cabin." Senator Davis finally broke the silence, stood up and walked into the cabin.

Xianfeng nodded and followed him into the cabin, and then Xu Jiye and O'Connor also walked into the cabin together.

The lights in the cabin were dim, and the smoke from the cigars was like a veil covering everyone's face. Xu Jishe sat in the corner, holding a cup of untouched coffee in his hand, his brows slightly furrowed. Governor McMullen was pouring whiskey into the glass, and the sound of ice cubes hitting the glass was crisp and piercing.

"Let's get this straight," Davis sat down, tapping his fingers on the table. "Southern Democrats do support your slavery clauses and the content protecting state rights, but that's not enough." He paused, his eyes narrowed in the smoke, "You also need enough 'donations'."

Xu Jishe's fingers suddenly tightened, and the coffee almost spilled. He looked up at Xianfeng, a flash of shock in his eyes. This is the beginning of corruption and abuse of power. No, corruption and legislation? If the legislators are leading the way in corruption, how can the law enforcers be the great justice?

Xianfeng was no longer surprised. He simply took out a folded piece of paper from his inner pocket and slowly unfolded it. "The True Covenant groups in Washington Territory, Oregon, and California have prepared $2.4 million in political funds. Each senator and congressman from a southern slave state has $200,000."

Davis took the paper, glanced at it, and raised his lips slightly. "There's enough money," he turned to O'Connor, "but the question is, is it possible to pass it in Congress?"

O'Connor was a Republican senator from California who was supported by the True Conservatives. "No way," he said firmly, "The Republicans will not support it, and some Democrats in the North will also oppose it."

"Even money won't work?" Xu Jiye couldn't help but ask.

O'Connor laughed, "Money is a good thing, but congressmen cannot ignore public opinion. Public opinion in the North is more white supremacist than in the South!"

He took a sip of whiskey. "In the South, white masters can let blacks pick cotton with peace of mind; in the North, most white people don't want to see Chinese and blacks building railroads with them or working in factories with them."

Xu Jishe frowned even more tightly: "Why is this?"

Xianfeng turned to him and said calmly, "The Democratic Party's base in the southern United States is farmers. Farmers rely on guns to control the local area and make money from the land. As long as they have these two things, it makes no difference whether they use black slaves or Chinese tenants and hired farmers."

Davis nodded and blew out a smoke ring. "There is no difference between using black slaves or Chinese laborers and tenants. It will not affect our white supremacy! The cost is about the same, and it may even be lower if we use Chinese." He grinned, revealing his teeth blackened by tobacco. "But using white laborers is different. Not only is it expensive, but we white masters in the South are kind-hearted and cannot bear to see white people like us doing menial labor. This is the white supremacy of us Southerners!"

O'Connor took over the conversation: "The white supremacy of the poor white people in the North is different. They don't want to do the same menial labor as blacks and yellows. This will not only lower the average wage, but also hit their self-esteem. If they don't see a person of color in the factory or on the construction site, they can pretend that they are doing a job that only white masters can do.

Unless they marry a Japanese wife like me and find gold with the help of the True Yokai faction! Then they will regard East Asians as white people too. "

He shrugged and added, "But the Northern states don't have that much gold to dig, nor are they that short of women. So no Republican or Democratic congressman from a Northern state would dare to support the Washington state constitution unless they didn't want to be re-elected."

Xu Jiye suddenly realized: It turns out that the American congressmen still care about public opinion. Although they are greedy, they cannot ignore public opinion, even though this public opinion is a bit strange.

Governor McMullen smiled bitterly and said: "Because of this, the Washington State Constitution cannot pass a vote in the House of Representatives at all."

"Is there no possibility at all?" Xu Jiye asked.

Davis put out his cigar in the ashtray. "According to the U.S. Constitution, a new state joining the Union requires a simple majority of both houses, and the versions passed by both houses must be the same, and then signed by the president." He counted on his fingers, "There are currently 30 senators from slave states and 34 senators from free states, so we can still fight for it. But in the House of Representatives, there are 147 free states and only 90 slave states. So the bill will not pass!"

"Not only will it not pass," O'Connor added, his eyes fixed on Xianfeng, "it may also trigger a wave of anti-Chinese sentiment in the free states. You know, those poor white people in the North."

There was silence in the cabin for a moment. Xu Jishe felt a chill creeping up his spine. He looked at Xianfeng, only to find that the cardinal had a faint smile on his face.

"Will the Chinese Exclusion Act be passed?" Xianfeng suddenly asked.

Davis and O'Connor exchanged glances. "More money!" The two said almost in unison. Governor McMullen added: "If we want to ensure that the Senate vetoes the Chinese Exclusion Act, we must get all 30 senators from southern slave states to vote against it, plus Senator O'Connor from California, Senator Thomas from Oregon, and Vice President Breckinridge's vote."

Xianfeng nodded slightly, picked up a cigar from the table, and cut it slowly. "It can help pass the Chinese Exclusion Act."

Xu Jishe stood up suddenly, and the coffee cup fell on the table, and the brown liquid spread on the snow-white tablecloth. "Bishop Huang, what are you doing?"

Xianfeng did not answer immediately, but focused on lighting the cigar, took a deep breath, exhaled a puff of smoke, and then said leisurely: "Makita, you are also familiar with Sun Tzu's Art of War. You should know that 'throw it into a desperate situation and then survive, and trap it in a deadly situation and then live', right?"

O'Connor frowned: "What are you talking about?"

"We are talking about this," Xianfeng suddenly smiled. That smile made Xu Jiyu believe even more that he had learned bad things in the prison. "Wouldn't it be good to pass the Chinese Exclusion Act? It gives the Chinese on the West Coast a chance to prove whether they should be excluded, and it also gives the white supremacists in the North a chance to prove their superiority. Whoever wins will have the right! And now is the best time for us Chinese to prove ourselves!"

Xu Jishe, who was standing by, seemed to not understand what Xianfeng said, and asked in Chinese: "Why now?"

Xianfeng replied: "Because the current President of the United States is a Democrat, he favors slave states, supports state rights, and in order to lay the groundwork for the 1860 election, he is willing to let the Northern Republicans suffer a defeat in the Western Anti-Chinese Incident.

Therefore, even if Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, it would push the Chinese Exclusion issue to the states because it respected the state power of California and Oregon. In this way, the US federal army would not participate in the conflict in the West. And the militias of each state could not openly invade other states. This would infringe on the fundamental interests of all the white masters who controlled the local areas! Therefore, the forces that could participate in the Chinese Exclusion War in the Western United States were limited. "

After he finished speaking in Chinese, he repeated it in English.

"Bishop, you have seen through the underlying logic of American politics!" Senator Davis suddenly became extremely serious. "Money and public opinion are not as effective as truly powerful and determined violence!"

Xianfeng said coldly: "Senator, this underlying logic applies not only to us Chinese, but also to the southern slave owners! The tool to defend your private property and state power is not the votes of less than two million white men in the South, but the guns in your hands and their determination to use weapons. Once you lose or have no determination to use weapons in the face of oppression from the North, you will sooner or later lose state power and rich farms!"

He paused, and his tone became even colder: "Now, the president of the United States is a Democrat from Pennsylvania who is inclined to the slave state, and the next president of the United States is likely to be a northern Republican! I think you know what this means?"

Davis' face was gloomy: "I know we will fight against the northern states united in the name of the Union!"

The water vapor from the Hooghly River mixed with the smell of sandalwood drifted into Shi Dakai's tent.

Queen Lakshmi Bai, covered in jewels, walked in and sat cross-legged on the Persian carpet. She didn't look like Shi Dakai's prisoner at all, but more like the hostess of the military camp.

"Your Highness," she said in very stiff Chinese, twisting a string of sandalwood beads between her fingers, "women of the Kshatriya caste never lie. I have a very perfect plan. As long as I can meet the Prime Minister of Heaven, I will definitely convince him to support the liberation of the Indian people."

Moore, who could understand Chinese, stared at the young woman with fair skin, beautiful features, and a look full of superiority and self-confidence.

Shi Dakai smiled bitterly at Moore and said in Chinese: "Tianshi, this queen doesn't even consider herself a prisoner of war. She is still living in her own dream."

"Master?" Bai looked at Moore who had just arrived and seemed a little surprised. "Is it Master Karl?"

"Have you also heard of Master Karl?" As Bai Siwen spoke, his eyes were fixed on the diamond necklace hanging around the queen's neck.

"Of course!" Queen Jhansi clapped her hands and pointed outside the tent. Then Moore, Friedrich and Bai Siwen saw more than twenty low-caste servants coming over with plates of gold, silver and jewelry. The queen clasped her hands together and bowed to Moore, smiling and saying in fluent English: "A little gift. For the Brahmin in heaven!"

"Look," Friedrich poked Moore, "someone in London said she was a national hero of India, but in fact she was a high-ranking princely queen, even more extravagant than Queen Victoria."

Bai suddenly turned to Friedrich and spoke curry-flavored English: "Sir, in India, only those who are high up can lead the masses to resist foreign colonizers. This has been the case for thousands of years!" She raised her white chin high, "Just like in China, only leaders like 'gods' can lead the grassroots peasants and workers to overthrow the Tatar dynasty, even though the Chinese have always claimed that 'kings, princes, generals and ministers are of different species'!"

(End of this chapter)