The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 688: If California is to cause chaos in the United States, it will depend on California!

The autumn wind on the Huangpu River blew away the coal smoke and steam, and the steam crane on the slipway of the Jiangnan Arsenal kept roaring. Luo Yaoguo stepped on the slippery iron ladder and climbed up the scaffolding. The river wind lifted the hem of his dark blue robe, revealing the "Tongtian Mirror" on his waist - it was sewn by Su Sanniang herself, and the "Tongtian Mirror" that could "connect with the heavens" was now inserted inside.

"The rib spacing is 5000 inches, and the error should not exceed half a centimeter!" French chief engineer Jean Pompidou spoke in Shanghainese with a strong French accent, and used a compass in his hand to poke dense holes on the blueprint. Several British engineers were smoking cherry wood pipes, looking dissatisfied - what did the French know about ironclad ships? Their "Glorious" class was only more than tons, while the British Empire's "Warrior" class was nearly tons!
Unfortunately, Britain refused to transfer the drawings of the "Warrior" class to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, so these British shipbuilding experts could only serve as assistants to the French.

Under the berth, two hundred Chinese workers bent their backs and dragged a ten-meter-long steel beam with hemp ropes. The late autumn river wind blew through their thin short coats like a knife, and sweat condensed into salt frost on their backs. A young apprentice staggered under the weight of the steel beam, and a Chinese trainee engineer who had just graduated from Taiping University shouted: "Be careful, be careful, don't put it crooked."

Xu Shou, the general manager of the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, came trotting over holding a blue booklet in his hand: "Your Highness, the charter for employee shares has been drafted - one share can be purchased with three years of service, with an annual interest rate of 4%, and shares can be repurchased at the market price upon leaving." Turning over the inner pages, it was obvious at a glance that the clauses were drafted by Hu Guangyong, the general manager of the Shanghai Silk Reeling Factory.

Xu Shou continued: "Tang Tingshu of Kaiping Mining Bureau proposed that in addition to the dividends from ungranted shares, 10% of the annual pre-tax profit should be put into the 'pension pool'. Xu Run of Xuzhou Iron and Steel Plant said that this was too much and half of it would be enough..."

Luo Yaoguo smiled and said, "How can the Kaiping Mining Bureau compare its profits with those of the Xuzhou Iron and Steel Plant? Kaiping's 10% is less than one cent of the Xuzhou Iron and Steel Plant!"

Among the factories under the control of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Xuzhou Iron and Steel Plant, Jiangnan Pharmaceutical Bureau and Shanghai Silk Reeling Factory are definitely the three biggest money-makers! The chief engineer of Xuzhou Iron and Steel Plant is Besemai himself, the founder of metallurgy! Moreover, Xuzhou Iron and Steel Plant is a "pit mouth factory", with coal mines, iron mines and seaports nearby, and a railway was built early to connect the factory, mines and ports together.

Xuzhou itself is the intersection of the Longhai and Jinpu railways. The rails from the Xuzhou factory can be loaded and shipped directly to the construction site before they are completely cooled down. The efficiency is extremely high!

The production efficiency of Jiangnan Pharmaceutical Bureau cannot be compared with that of Xuzhou Factory, but Jiangnan Pharmaceutical Bureau has its flagship product, berberine, and it also controls the supply of berberine, so the product is in short supply. How many people in the world have diarrhea every day? Nowadays, the only thing that foreign doctors can use to treat diseases is berberine and opium.
As for the Shanghai Silk Reeling Factory, although it does not have the high efficiency of the Xuzhou Factory or the high technology of the Jiangnan Pharmaceutical Bureau, it has Hu Guangyong! Therefore, it has developed very fast in the past two years, with excellent product quality and good cost control. Moore and Friedrich, who have already gone to North Korea to help Yang Xiuqing with industrialization, also regarded the Shanghai Silk Reeling Factory as a successful model - I guess Hu Guangyong's name will appear in that "theory"!

Luo Yaoguo thought about it again and decided: "There is no unified pension plan at present, so let each factory manage itself first."

Xu Shou was stunned: "Will pensions be coordinated in the future?"

"Of course!" He gave an affirmative answer, then turned his eyes to the keel line of the Tianjing on the drawing and suddenly asked, "Can the steam engine of Jiangnan-Steison Company and the boiler of Jiangnan-Bolton Company be delivered on time?"

"We have drawn up three plans in total," Xu Shou lowered his voice, "one is to use the products of the joint venture, one is to use French products, and one is to use original British products. The telegram sent by the Countess of Temple Hill said that she could handle all three plans."

"Okay!" Luo Yaoguo nodded with a smile, "If Linzi says it can be settled, then it can be settled." He then ordered, "The first ship of the Tianjing class must be delivered before the end of October of the tenth year of the Tianli calendar!"

Yu Garden, Tingyu Pavilion.

Zhang Bao just arrived in Shanghai today, and he didn't even go home. He heard that Luo Yaoguo was inspecting in Shanghai, so he ran here directly, without even having time to eat. At this moment, the steamers of crab meat dumplings were piled up in front of him, and the cuffs of his military uniform were still stained with crab oil and vinegar.

"An ironclad ship hitting a wooden ship is like tearing paper!" He waved his chopsticks, and the soup splashed on Maria's dress. "Those foreign devils were driving the Susquehanna, and I shot them in the ass!"

Maria's silver spoon clanged against the porcelain plate. "Didn't Hong Renzheng plant the Yellow Dragon Flag on Jinshan?"

"Almost!" Zhang Bao wiped his lips, "I heard that the old guy even prepared the dragon robe, thanks to Prince Zhao's "high wall" of Feng Nanwang - now they are issuing "whiteness certificates" to the Chinese! Guess what they did? Use a magnifying glass to look at their arms to see whose skin is whiter!"

As he spoke, he looked at Maria again and had to admit, Maria was really white! If we were to classify white people by their skin color, 99% of the Chinese in California would not be white enough!
Luo Yaoguo was sitting nearby sipping tea. When he heard Zhang Bao talking about the "white witness certificate", he also chuckled: "Zhao Si did a good job, but Hong Renzheng..."

He suddenly turned around, his eyes sharp as a knife: "Maria, go to Seoul! Now!"

"Go to Seoul?" Maria asked, "What kind of deal do you want to make with the King of the East?"

Luo Yaoguo did not answer, but glanced at Zhang Bao, who immediately rubbed his belly and said, "I'm full, Teacher, Master's wife, I'm going home first."

Luo Yaoguo nodded: "Okay, say hello to Xier for me." The "Xier" he was referring to was Wang Xier, Wang Yan's sister, and now Zhang Bao's wife.

After watching Zhang Bao leave, Luo Yaoguo whispered to Maria, "Hong Renzheng can't do this any longer. He can't become king on the West Coast like Wei Jun did!"

"If we want to take action against Hong Renzheng, I'm afraid it will take the intervention of King Gan, right?" Maria blinked her bright eyes.

Luo Yaoguo lowered his voice and said, "Go and tell King Gan that the three states on the west coast and Tianwang City can be given to Tiangui! If King Gan agrees, you can go and tell King Dong about this and ask him what conditions he has."

"Yes!"

It was a blustery afternoon in Springfield, Illinois, and the pine sign of the Lincoln Law Firm creaked in the wind.

Abraham Lincoln's old leather shoes were placed on his desk, and in his hand he held a newly written speech - he had already begun preparing for the presidential election of 1860!

"Is Mr. Lincoln here?"

Sherman's voice came from outside the door. Lincoln was stunned: "Yes, you are..."

"I am William Sherman!" With a gust of cold wind, a copy of the Chicago Tribune landed on Lincoln's desk. In the front-page photo, a black-robed judge was examining Emperor Xianfeng's arm with a magnifying glass.

"They are creating a new plague!" Sherman said in a dirty military coat. "Today they can change the Constitution based on the color of their skin, and tomorrow they can define human rights based on their height!"

He threw out a stack of documents: "This is the statistics of Chinese immigrants from 1850 to the present from the California Immigration Office. In just 10 years, 35 Chinese, including Japanese and Koreans, have entered California, more than twice the number of white people in California!"

Lincoln's long fingers stroked the smiling face of Emperor Xianfeng in the photo: "William, what do you want to say?" He looked at Sherman.

Sherman's fist made the ink bottle jump up: "The federal government must amend the Naturalization Act and nail the 'free whites' to the blood of European whites! Only European whites are considered white!" He took out a revolver from his pocket and slammed it on the table. The handle of the gun was engraved with "Victory or Death". "Otherwise, the White House will hang a yellow dragon flag half a century later!"

A string of sparks burst out from the fireplace. Lincoln stared at Sherman: "The Constitution of 1787 compromised slavery. Now it is our turn to compromise skin color, right? Is it to compromise race?" His voice suddenly rose, "Colonel Sherman, do you want me to be a president of 'white supremacy' or a president of 'all men are created equal'?"

"Don't you understand?" Sherman said anxiously, "California will be messed up by them!"

"Who messed it up?"

"Of course it's the Chinese!" Sherman said, "There are so many of them. In the past, they were second- and third-class people in California, but 35 of them have come here like ants. If they are defined as free white people, within years, there will be millions or even tens of millions of Chinese coming to California, Oregon, and Washington. By then, the three western states will have dozens of electoral votes and dozens of federal congressional seats! The True Tenants and the Chinese will become an important force in American politics. And they will definitely not support strengthening the federation for their own interests. They will collude with the slave owners in the South, advocate state rights, and turn the United States into a loose confederation instead of a tight federation! Abraham, is that kind of America your ideal country?"

Lincoln narrowed his eyes and said forcefully and firmly: "No, America will definitely be a great country!"

On the bank of the Huangpu River, the keel of the ironclad ship "Tianjing" has risen like the spine of a giant beast. Luo Yaoguo stood on the top of the dock, looking at the large and small merchant ships passing by on the river. British cargo ships were unloading boilers from Birmingham, French merchant ships were carrying silk to Marseille, and the trans-Pacific ships of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom were full of immigrants who were dreaming of getting rich. His Maria was sailing away along the Huangpu River on a "Shanghai" class ship.

"Mess up America..." he said to himself, "California will definitely become a tool to mess up America!"

Thousands of miles away in New York, Xianfeng was slowly walking down from a luxury cruise ship wearing a suit, a rattan box and a top hat, accompanied by Rick Stanford Jr. and Chiyoko, carrying a "Certificate of Naturalization" signed by the California Supreme Court.

(End of this chapter)