The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 709 Xianfeng: The United States can learn advanced serfdom from Russia!

The fireplace in the Mathilde Palace was burning brightly, with the firewood crackling. Li Hongzhang stood in front of the window, smoking a cigar while looking at the cargo ships slowly passing by on the Neva River, his brows furrowed, and it was obvious that he was worried about the country and the people.

"Shaoquan," Mathilde's voice came from behind, "You have been standing here for half an hour."

Li Hongzhang turned around and saw her leaning over a huge map of Central Asia, her golden hair hanging down, her fingertips slowly moving along the northern foothills of the Tianshan Mountains. The map was densely marked with Russian place names, and some places were circled in red pen - those were the spheres of influence drawn by Tsar Alexander II himself.

"We don't have much time, but we have a lot of people to relocate." Li Hongzhang walked to the table and pointed his finger at the western part of the Ili River Valley on the map. "At least two million people must be relocated from Shaanxi and Gansu to Suiye, and then dispersed to Samarkand and Bukhara... This is not just selling tea in the west, this is the whole family moving west!"

Mathilde looked up at him, the firelight in her blue eyes: "It's not the whole clan, it's a selection of clans." She pulled out a thick booklet and opened it. Inside was the household registration statistics of the 18 prefectures of Shaanxi and Gansu. "The elite troops and families of the three armies of Huai, Xiang and Lu, the gentry of Shaanxi and Gansu, and the Hui merchants - these people must be taken away, and the rest can be left to the Taiping Army. This way the number can be reduced by half, and it will be enough to relocate another million people. There are already 200,000 people around Suiye, plus this one million, a total of 1.2 million, and we have the core tribes of the Tang Dynasty."

Li Hongzhang was silent for a moment, then reached out and picked up a copy of the telegram from the table. This was what Li Zhaoqing had just handed him. He read in a low voice: "...The Taiping Army's breech-loading artillery fire was fierce, and the projectiles were extremely powerful. The Tongguan city wall collapsed three times in one day, and our army suffered heavy casualties..."

The combination of a 70mm breech-loading gun and picric acid shells would not be enough to be used on the battlefields of Eastern Europe in the 21st century, but it was more than enough to bombard the old city wall of Tongguan. The range of the artillery was several thousand meters, and it was placed under the city of Tongguan and fired upwards with great accuracy. The people on the top of the city had no way to deal with it! There was no way to fight back, and they could only take the beating. And how could the rammed earth and brick walls withstand the hammer of picric acid shells? Three collapses a day were the result of Shi Dakai's personal supervision - only three collapses a day were allowed!
How else could they have conquered Tongguan in three months? With 3 cannons in one artillery regiment firing thousands of rounds per hour, wouldn't there have been dozens of holes in the cultural relics wall of Tongguan?

But even so, Zeng Zhou still couldn't hold on.
Mathilde sighed softly: "How long can Zeng Guofan last?"

"Half a year." Li Hongzhang folded the letter and put it back into his sleeve. "One year at most."

"Then we don't have much time." Mathilde stood up and walked to the wine cabinet next to the fireplace, poured two glasses of vodka, and handed one to Li Hongzhang. "It is clearly written in the Russian-Tang Secret Treaty - Suiye, Samarkand, Bukhara, Fergana, these places must be in our hands. But it's not enough to just have the land, we also need the people."

Li Hongzhang took the wine glass and frowned as the strong liquor went down his throat. He put down the glass and tapped his fingertips on the map: "We have to hurry up and start the migration!"

"How to move?"

"Go through the Hexi Corridor, pass through Xingxing Gorge, and enter the Western Regions." Li Hongzhang's finger moved along the trade route on the map. "Based on previous experience, food, water, and supplies along the way must be arranged in advance! One million a year ago"

Li Hongzhang shook his head and frowned even more tightly.

Mathilde pondered for a moment, and suddenly laughed: "Shaoquan, you are wrong!"

"I was wrong?" Li Hongzhang raised his eyebrows: "Where was I wrong?"

"The mistake was our previous experience," Mathilde said with a smile. "Before, we begged and forced others to move, so naturally we had to prepare everything for them. But now, it is the gentry and landlords in Shaanxi and Gansu, the Hui merchants, and the soldiers and their families of the Hunan and Shandong armies who want to move themselves!"

Li Hongzhang clapped his hands and said, "Yes! How could I have forgotten this? Those insects must be afraid that the Taiping Army will come and divide their land and raid their homes!"

"And we can also paint a pie for them!"

Mathilde took out a document from the drawer and handed it to him. "This is the 'Tang Anxi Feudal System' that I drafted based on the earlier feudal systems of Japan, France, and Germany. We must ensure that those who follow us to the Western Regions have the hope of being masters for generations."

Li Hongzhang took the document, glanced at it quickly, and raised his lips slightly: "A good method is to recruit musketeers in the Western Regions and grant them manors. We also need to establish a vassal feudal system, with the Fergana Basin as the Tang Dynasty, the capital in Xinchang'an, and Suiye, Samarkand, Tashkent, Bukhara, and Khwarezm as vassal states, and grant them to the leaders of the Hunan Army, the Shandong Army, and the Hui people.

Below the princes, they can be appointed as city lords, and below the city lords are the manor knights. Zong Tang appoints 30,000 knights, and each of the five princes appoints 10,000 knights. A total of 80,000 knights can firmly control our Western Region Tang Dynasty!"

Mathilde blinked her blue eyes. "There are already 20,000 Huai troops in Suiye, all of whom can be knights. We still need 60,000. Let's try to get 10,000 households to move west. As for the rest, let Huang Zhisheng, Du Han, Kong Fanhao, Jiang Zhongyuan, and Luo Zenan each go and get people. As long as they each get 10,000 households, we can get 600,000 households. If we count one household as having ten people, we can get 600,000 people! There should be some gentry, landlords, and Hui merchants who are willing to move west with us. We can get almost one million people!"

Li Hongzhang was overjoyed. He dropped the documents in his hand, pulled Mathilde into his arms, and kissed her fiercely: "Marty, you still have a way. But to be a good queen, it's not enough to have a way. You also have to give birth to a son for the emperor!"

As he spoke, Li Hongzhang began to tear open Mathilde's long skirt, and then pushed the plump woman roughly onto the Persian carpet.
The fireplace in the temporary presidential palace at 26 Broadway in New York was burning red, and New York Governor Edwin Morgan's brows were tightly knitted. Brigadier General Sherman, who had just been appointed as the commander-in-chief of the federal army, paced anxiously. And the US (Northern) President Lincoln had a long and dry face, and it was obvious at a glance that the situation was not good. Because the Southern Democratic Party adopted a coup to seize power instead of withdrawing from the federation, Lincoln and the Republican Party were in an extremely unfavorable position - now none of the world's major powers recognized the Northern New York government!
Whether Lincoln was elected legally or Davis came to power in a coup is not important to Britain, France, Russia and China. It is not important at all. What is important is the tariff! The North wants to increase the tariff by more than 15%, who will play with you? The South has already said that it will only charge 15% tariff! A 45% tariff is more legal than a % tariff!
Moreover, Davis's presidency was not legitimate, but the origins of the Senate and the House of Representatives in Washington were not problematic! The Democratic Party did win the majority in both houses. Isn't the United States a democracy? Isn't the democratic United States the one with the largest Congress? Most of the congressmen are in Washington, so the American government in Washington is orthodox!

In addition, the U.S. Supreme Court also ruled that Douglas's election was valid! So Davis' presidency was also legal!
So this situation is a bit scary!

"There are four million black slaves in the cotton fields of the South!" Senator O'Connor slammed the table and said, "We should unite them and immediately pass the Slavery Abolition Act to declare that all black slaves are free people."

Lincoln raised his hand and wiped his face, his palm brushing over his three-day-old stubble. "What happens after the passage of the Abolition Act? Do they really dare to go to war with the southern slave owners?" He grabbed the coffee cup and took a sip of cold coffee. "Those southern slave owners are very cruel. Last year, Virginia executed hundreds of escaped blacks, and the bodies were hung on the side of the railway as milestones."

Seward suddenly slammed the table and stood up, causing the documents to scatter all over the floor. He said, "We can smuggle guns to the black slaves in the South! As long as a small number of black slaves rise up to fight, a large number of white men in the South will be involved. The South has 1200 million people on paper, but there are more than 400 million black slaves and only more than 700 million whites, of which only % are able-bodied men. Even if hundreds of thousands of people are forced to stay in their hometowns, it can greatly reduce our pressure."

The charcoal in the fireplace crackled.

Sherman waved his fist and said, "President, give me 50,000 Springfield rifles, and I will set the cotton fields of the eleven southern states on fire!"

Lincoln looked at the snow outside the window, was silent for a moment and finally made up his mind: "Pass it. But tell the white workers in the North that the free black slaves will leave the United States and return to their homes in Africa after the war!"

The Oval Office of the White House.

"The damn Yankees are going to free the niggers!" President Davis slapped his desk, "What nonsense are you talking about sending all the slaves back to Africa?"

"That's complete nonsense!"

"Lincoln just wanted to mess up America!"

"National traitor!"

"traitor."

The senior officials of the United States (Southern) federal government in the office immediately started cursing.

Only Emperor Xianfeng, who had just been appointed as a senior government adviser by Davis, looked at the bandits (Lin Bandits) procrastinating with a nonchalant smile. The guy who was good at talking nonsense was shouting there. It was not until Davis cast a look of help that he coughed and said, "Abolition. Well, I also think that American slavery is a bit too backward!"

"what?"

"Bishop Zhao, what are you talking about?"

“States’ rights come first.”

Xianfeng waved his hands hurriedly: "Don't talk to me about state rights. Just listen to me first!" He paused, and when he saw that the southern bosses in the office had quieted down, he said lightly: "What I mean is that we Americans can learn from Russia's advanced system!"

"Russia's advanced system?" Davis was a little dissatisfied. "What's so advanced about those Russians?"

Xianfeng smiled and said: "Their serfdom is very advanced!"

(End of this chapter)