The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 673: Xianfeng: You are addicted to eating, you need to be cured! (Please subscribe, please vote)

The Queen of Jhansi frowned slightly, looking aggrieved: "Your Highness, King Wu, are you saying that the high castes in India should be the running dogs of the British?"

"Being a running dog sounds bad," Luo Yaoguo thought for a moment, "to put it nicely is being a housekeeper."

"Butler?" Queen Jhansi's brows relaxed a little.

"Yes, it's like being a housekeeper." Luo Yaoguo laughed, "Who collects taxes for the Mughal Empire? Who manages the court of the Delhi Sultan? The British came, but they just changed the master, and the work is still the same."

"This is betrayal!" Moore slammed the table and stood up, his thick beard almost standing up, "This is naked betrayal!"

Friedrich quickly held his companion's shoulder and signaled him to calm down - Moore had now infiltrated the enemy and served as the British Minister to Korea and Japan, which was a senior political official!
Luo Yaoguo calmly picked up the blue and white porcelain teacup, took a sip of Biluochun, and then smiled and said to Moore: "Master Karl, in fact, the high castes in India are also descendants of foreign conquerors. Don't you realize that the Queen of Jhansi and the untouchables she ruled are completely different races? Moreover, the high castes in India have a long tradition of cooperating with new foreign conquerors. Aren't the Mughal Empire and the Delhi Sultanate all foreign conquerors? The British are just another group of new masters riding on the heads of the Indian untouchables."

The Queen of Jhansi tightened the edge of her sari with her slender fingers. She thought of the Brahmin ministers in her court who were on good terms with the British, and a complicated look flashed in her eyes.

"The situation in the UK is surprisingly similar to that in India," Luo Yaoguo continued. "The Anglo-Saxons have been oppressed by foreign Norman nobles for thousands of years. Most of the land in the British Isles is occupied by hundreds of nobles and thousands of landlords, and these gentlemen are almost all descendants of Normans or German nobles who came here through dynastic marriages."

"I would rather give it to a distant relative than to a pariah." Shi Dakai suddenly interrupted, tapping his military boots lightly on the floor.

"Well said!" Luo Yaoguo nodded approvingly. "It is very difficult for the Anglo-Saxons in Britain to join the ranks of the nobility. But now the situation has changed - the untouchables have awakened and started to rebel. The Norman masters need more reliable slaves to help them manage these restless people."

Moore sneered: "The British working class has awakened, they don't need any domestic slaves!"

"Really?" Luo Yaoguo turned to Friedrich, "How many of the factory owners you two saw in Manchester were native Anglo-Saxons?"

Friedrich hesitated for a moment and said, "Indeed, most of them are outsiders."

"The Jews now help the British masters manage money, and the Germans help the British masters manage factories," Luo Yaoguo said softly, "but neither of them is good at managing the lower-class untouchables. The most experienced in the world..." He looked at Queen Jhansi meaningfully.

"It's the Indian high castes!" Queen Jhansi blurted out, with a gleam of sudden enlightenment in her eyes. "We have been managing the various castes for generations, and we know how to make people from different classes stay in their place."

Moore stood up angrily: "King Wu, what nonsense are you talking about? The Indian people should unite and overthrow all oppressors!"

"All the oppressors?" Luo Yaoguo pointed at the Queen of Jhansi with a smile, "She herself is an out-and-out oppressor! Master Karl, she is different from us. We are from the working class and we have no original sin, while her family has been riding on the necks of the Indian people and bullying them for thousands of years!"

He turned to the Queen of Jhansi and said, "If the upper castes cooperate with the British, they will gradually enter the core of the colonial system and may become mayors, governors, or even British prime ministers in the future. This is one of the ways for India to be liberated!"

"One of them?" Queen Jhansi blinked. "And the second one?"

Luo Yaoguo nodded with a smile: "Of course there is a second one. In addition to cooperation, we also need 'non-violent non-cooperation' as a supplementary means."

"What kind of strategy is this?" asked Queen Jhansi in confusion.

"Passive resistance," Luo Yaoguo explained. "Not paying taxes and not cooperating made colonial rule unprofitable. But the key is to have some people cooperate and some not. The British will eventually find that contracting India to local elites who are willing to cooperate is more cost-effective than direct rule."

The Queen of Jhansi gradually began to see a glimmer of hope in her eyes: "I understand! Just like doing business, we need to make the British feel that contracting India to us is more profitable than directly managing it!"

Moore angrily stormed out: "This is a blasphemy against the cause of the Indian people's liberation!" Friedrich hesitated for a moment, but eventually chased after him. Dianchun Hall fell into silence for a moment, with only the scent of sandalwood rising.

"Your Highness, King Wu," Queen Jhansi suddenly stood up and solemnly gave Luo Yaoguo an Indian salute, "Your wisdom nourishes people's hearts like the water of the Ganges. I will change my strategy and cooperate well with the British, and strive to make my descendants the 'Indian general contractor'."

Luo Yaoguo stood up and returned the greeting: "Queen, you are wise. Remember, true freedom sometimes requires wearing shackles first."

Then he looked at Shi Dakai with a half-smile: "Myna, the queen's descendants are also your descendants, right?"

Shi Dakai just laughed.

At the same time, on the other side of the Pacific Ocean in San Francisco, the True Testament Cathedral was brightly lit with candles.

Hong Renzheng stood in front of the altar, frowning. Behind him hung a silk banner with the seven characters "Heavenly Father God Bless You" embroidered on it, swaying slightly in the breeze.

"The Irish trade unions have issued an ultimatum," said a bishop wearing round-framed glasses worriedly, "demanding that we, the Chinese workers of the True Covenant, join their strike, otherwise we will be regarded as strikebreakers."

"Bullshit!" A fierce-faced True Yorkist protector slammed the table and stood up. "Those Irish drunks are clearly setting a trap for us! They are white people in Ireland, have American citizenship, and have votes. No matter how much trouble they make, the governor of California will not mobilize the state troops to kill them all. And our people have no nationality, and Washington recently passed the Chinese Exclusion Act. If we go on strike with the Irish, we will most likely be betrayed by them!"

The side door of the church suddenly opened, and a man in a red bishop's robe quietly entered. It was Xianfeng (Zhao Si) who had just come all the way south from Tianwang City. Due to the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act, ships carrying a large number of Chinese no longer docked in San Francisco, but instead docked in Tianwang City in the British Vancouver Colony.

Xianfeng had no choice but to disembark at Tianwang City, then pass through Washington Territory and Oregon, and then enter California.

"Fourth brother is here!" Hong Renzheng's eyes lit up and he hurried to meet him. "You came just in time. We are worried about the strike. You understand Americans best. Come up with an idea!"

Xianfeng nodded slightly and looked around at everyone: "I've heard about the situation. The Irish union wants to strike, and the California white chamber of commerce wants to produce. We are caught in the middle, right?"

"That's right!" Hong Renzheng sighed, "If we participate in the strike, it will be hard to explain to the Chamber of Commerce, and the loans we lend to them from the Zhenyue Bank may also go bad; if we don't participate, I'm afraid all Irish workers will be pushed into the anti-Chinese camp! Including those who have joined the Zhenyue faction!"

Upon hearing this, Emperor Xianfeng just sneered: "What's so difficult about this? The Irish workers want to strike for a pay raise, while the white profiteers in California are profit-driven and only want to make money. But you can have the best of both worlds by striking and making money!"

Can this be the best of both worlds?
Everyone was confused.

"Rising prices!" Xianfeng said with a smile, "Because of the arrival of us Chinese, wages in California have fallen a lot in recent years, but prices have fallen even more! What were the prices in California before we arrived? It was the most expensive place in the United States, no, the world! And now? The prices in California are still quite high compared to the other side of the Pacific Ocean, but not much higher than the East Coast. I have seen it all along the way. Flour, eggs, beef, clothing, etc. are only less than 20% more expensive than the East Coast. Rent is even cheaper than in big cities on the East Coast. And wages in California are still the highest in the United States! These white people enjoy the low prices we provide, but are unwilling to accept the drop in wages caused by our arrival. They just want to take all the benefits! I think this is a disease, an addiction to food, and it must be cured!"

"How to cure it?" Hong Renzheng was also a kind-hearted person who loved to "cure diseases and save lives". When he heard that he wanted to cure the white people's "food addiction", he immediately became excited.

"Let's first agree to the demands of the Irish trade unions for a joint strike. Not only must we agree, but we must also have a major strike!" Xianfeng said, "Not only must the miners go on strike, but the docks must also go on strike. At the same time, let's announce that due to the California authorities' anti-Chinese sentiment, the Pacific Trading Company, Sanxin Company, Jardine Matheson, Tongshun Company, and China Merchants Steam Navigation Company's ships will no longer stop at California ports. There will no longer be any cheap goods from China, Korea, or Japan to buy. At the same time, let's reach a price increase agreement with the white chamber of commerce in California, first double the wholesale price of flour, eggs, beef, pork, chicken, and salted fish! Increase salt, pepper, and various spices by three times, and then have irregular stock shortages. Cloth, clothing, daily necessities, and mining tools will increase fivefold! A huge increase! All rifles and bullets will be out of stock!"

"So much increase?" Hong Renzheng took a breath, "Then our people won't be able to eat."

Xianfeng shook his head: "Most of our people are farmers of the Unity Farm. They grow their own food. How can they not have food to eat? The price increase will only benefit them! By the way, the benefits of the price increase must be shared with them. Everyone can make money, so that we can work together to cure the white ghosts' addiction to food. As for our workers, as long as they believe in the True Contractors, we will ration them with affordable rice, eggs and vegetables. In this way, a large number of white workers in California will turn to the True Contractors. At that time, we can initiate an impeachment case against Governor Weller according to American law!"

(End of this chapter)