The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 726 If black people can "turn white", can white people also "turn black"?

Secretary of War Stanton was well prepared for Lincoln's question and immediately unfolded a secret report from the Pinkerton Detective Agency: "Mr. President, it has been verified that the culprit of the 'Eight Banners System' implemented by the Southern rebels is the True Testament heretic Bishop Nicholas Zhao Si, who is originally from California. He has been appointed by the pseudo-Davis regime as the chairman of the Serf Committee and the commander of the South Carolina Black Brigade. According to intelligence, the black slave soldiers under his command all wear bronze waist badges engraved with 'Kill the Enemy and Raise the Flag'!"

"Zhao Si. It turned out to be him!" Lincoln gritted his teeth, "Then killing the enemy and raising the flag means..."

"That's it." Stanton took a breath, but still could not suppress the anger in his heart, "Kill white people to become white! According to the "Provisional Measures for the Eight Banners of the United States", as long as any black slave soldier kills 12 of our brave and noble white warriors on the battlefield, his status can be promoted from the lowest Black Banner to the White Banner, similar to the Hispanics. If he kills three more of our white warriors, his status will become the White Banner, which means he will be the same as us!"

"what?"

"How dare you."

"It's crazy! It's absolutely crazy."

“This is blasphemy against God!”

The white boss in the presidential office was immediately furious. It was too much for black people to be masters - they wanted to free the slaves, but that didn't mean they were going to provide them with a path to upward mobility!
After liberation, black slaves could work in factories to screw screws and help northern factory owners reduce high wages. That was already a "great favor". Do they still want to rise to become masters? Do they want to become president next? The black president of the United States is deceiving the heavens. This is!

But Lincoln still maintained the demeanor of a great politician. He took a few deep breaths and calmed himself down before continuing, "If I remember correctly, he is already a Californian, right?"

Attorney General Bates adjusted his reading glasses and said, "Since the California Supreme Court has certified his white identity," he pointed to the Constitution on his desk. "According to Article IV of the Constitution, each state must fully trust the official documents there - unless we can prove that the Sacramento authorities have betrayed the federation! But California remains loyal to the legitimate government of New York."

"California is of course loyal to the legitimate government!" Lincoln gritted his teeth. "So Zhao Si's actions not only betrayed the legitimate government of the United States, but also betrayed California. He deserves the most severe sanctions!"

Sanctions! The President of the United States certainly knows the most about sanctions! Then Lincoln cast a sharp look at the Secretary of State: How to impose sanctions? Come up with a solution quickly!

Secretary of State Seward really had an idea. After a little thought, he said to Lincoln: "A month ago, the California state government sent a letter to the State Department, begging the Army Signal Corps to help build a telegraph line from Omaha to Sacramento. The federal government can use this as a bargaining chip to ask the California authorities, the California Supreme Court, and the True Covenant Archdiocese of North America to revoke Zhao Si's church membership and citizenship based on the Wartime Emergency Act."

These two moves of his are quite powerful!
One was to stop Xianfeng from being an American. More precisely, he was to stop him from being a Yankee. The second was to stop Xianfeng from worshipping God!
Lincoln nodded with satisfaction, then stood up and walked towards a Union flag: "Send an express letter to California: If the California Supreme Court fails to make a decertification ruling within one month after receiving the express letter, and the True Covenant Archdiocese of North America fails to excommunicate Zhao Si at the same time, the Union will suspend the transcontinental telegraph project indefinitely!"

The President of the United States then turned to Stanton and said: "Tell General Sherman and General Grant: Any captured black slave rebels wearing bronze waist badges will be executed on the spot for 'racial treason' - these traitors do not deserve to be treated as prisoners of war!"

"Mr. President," Secretary of State Seward suggested, "we should inform other countries of the absurd behavior of the Southern traitors who are privately changing the race given by God, so as to win their support!"

Lincoln nodded and said, "Not only should the great powers know the absurdity and shamelessness of the Southern pseudo-government, but the people of the North should also know how much harm the South's actions have done to them and the United States!"

"President," Secretary of War Stanton said, puzzled, "If the people of the North knew that the slaves they wanted to free would fight them on the battlefield."

Lincoln glanced at the Secretary of War, who was a journalist but still did not understand the true meaning of propaganda: "My Secretary of War, this matter cannot be said this way. We should tell our fellow countrymen in the North that if black people can become white, then they, the white people, can also become black!"

“My fellow countrymen! When the southern rebels issued blood-stained white flag badges to black people, they trampled not only the sacred motto of the Declaration of Independence, but also the racial boundaries drawn by God himself!”

In New York's Union Square, Lincoln slapped his hand heavily on the cover of the Bible and cast a sharp gaze at the thousands of supporters gathered in the square.

"Those slave owners claimed that black skin could be whitened by killing - this is tantamount to claiming that white blood would be polluted by poverty!" The president's Kentucky accent suddenly became sharp, "If blacks can win white identity with rifles and bayonets, then should an Irish worker who is disabled due to work-related injuries be demoted to a black person? Should a German immigrant who defaults on debt be branded as a slave?" It makes so much sense!
Every white face in the square revealed an anger that was hard to conceal - erasing the boundaries between blacks and whites is a more serious crime than making blacks slaves!
Lincoln leaned forward, his index finger pointing south: "This is a blasphemy against God's order of creation! Leviticus clearly states: 'Each according to his kind, and they shall not be mixed' - blacks will always be blacks, and whites will always be whites, just as eagles will never mate with ravens!"

He suddenly grabbed the iron chain on the podium and said: "Today, the false Christians in the South want to use this chain to tie white people and black people together! They want the most despicable black people to climb the racial ladder by stepping on the corpses of white people, but they don't know that this ladder will eventually drag the whole of America into the abyss!"

"White workers in the North!" The president's voice choked. "When you are sweating in the factories, have you ever thought that the system in the South will devalue your sweat? If black people can exchange twelve white heads for a certificate with a white flag, then won't the capitalists treat you as black people? After all, they only need to pay the wages of 'quasi-blacks'!"

This is really terrible!

The white workers in the square were angry.

Lincoln then turned his gaze to those well-dressed capitalists and said in a more pointed tone: "If a certificate of a white flag can turn a black person into a white person, then one day in the future, will it be a group of black white people who issue orders in the presidential palace of the United States, discuss national affairs in the two houses of Congress, and call the shots on Wall Street?"

The capitalists couldn't stand it anymore! The southern plantation owners were really evil. They wanted to dig up the foundation of America!
When the morning light of the next day shone on New York, thousands of Irish workers held high the Bible and the Star-Spangled Banner and rushed to the conscription office. The headline on the front page of the New York Tribune that day was: "The President declares that the snow in America will never be stained black!"

O'Hara Plantation training ground outside Charleston, November 1861.

A total of 4000 black recruits were marching in formation to the beat of drums. Xianfeng's gray tweed uniform was stained with the smell of rosin. Three columns were reflected in the telescope - the first regiment carried Tianli 3-year rifles with the inscription "Kill the enemy and raise the flag", the second regiment carried French-made Minié rifles, and the third regiment carried British-made Enfield rifles.

"Bishop Zhao!" Master O'Hara looked at the somewhat messy formation and seemed impatient. "These niggers can't even tell left from right!"

"What's the hurry?" Xianfeng exhaled his cigar, "Much better than last month, Zheng Liu!"

Sushun immediately waved the command flag, and twenty white instructors sent by McMullen raised their whips viciously. The black slave soldiers reflexively put their heels together - this was the trick of American non-commissioned officers to train new recruits. The whips were specially used to hit the neck and knees, and muscle memory could be trained in one to three months.

"Azimuth three quarters! Charge three pounds!" Father Tupolev's English command was mixed with the smell of vodka. Next to the twelve-pound Napoleon gun, eight mixed-race artillerymen were using Russian rangefinders to calibrate the direction of the dense forest. The priest's silver cross shook in the smoke: "Check the rifling after firing! The French gun barrel can't withstand the brute force of you black guys."

Boom! The shells cut off the crowns of the pine trees three hundred yards away, startling the crows like a black cloud. Military judge Lin Shu held a merit book and recorded: "The second artillery company hit the target with the first shot. According to the "Provisional Regulations of the Eight Banners of the United States", all officers and soldiers of the company will be awarded three points for the black flag."

On the other side of the open space, Tom, the bondman of the McMullen family, was holding a cavalry saber and leading dozens of "black knights" to sprint in a circle. "Remember!" the tall, mighty, muscular black man shouted, "The saber only cuts the carotid artery, don't chop bones like the Yankees!"

The cavalrymen rode past wearing bronze waist badges. In the forest on one side, Guaerjia Yuanbao suddenly shouted in English: "The third regiment raises its guns - aim at the horse's tail!"

Although there were no bullets in the rifled guns, the sound of the gunpowder still frightened the horses carrying the "Black Knights" and caused them to run around in panic.
"Nicholas, the newspaper you asked for!" Scarlett spurred her horse over the fallen fence, her tailor-made breeches in Paris outlining a thrilling curve. She threw the New York Tribune to Emperor Xianfeng: "Lincoln wants to punish you. He wants California to deprive you of your church membership and citizenship!"

Xianfeng glanced at the headline on the front page: "The Snow of America Will Never Be Blackened", sneered, took out his California citizenship certificate, and tore it in half in public: "From now on, I am no longer a white Californian, but Nicholas Zhao Si of the Plain Yellow Banner of South Carolina!"

Scarlett's green eyes narrowed with a smile: "Nicholas, you will definitely become a member of the Zhengbai Banner, and then you can marry a beautiful white girl as your wife."

(End of this chapter)