America 1869: A Doppelganger Every Day

David, as an American citizen, was welcomed in Qing China despite having no money.

Li Changsheng, who replaced David, already knew from his memories that this was Tianjin during the Qing Dynasty, and the place he was in was the American Concession of Tianjin.

The reason he is so popular is simple: he is an American.

He only found out when he entered the American Concession in Tianjin.

Throughout the entire concession, apart from the consulate's one consul and four vice-consuls, there were only a dozen or so American citizens.

Even among the four vice consuls, two were not Americans.

Upon hearing Li Changsheng speak fluent Chinese, Consul William immediately gave him a hug.

"Great! I'll send the message back home right away. From now on, you'll be one of the four vice consuls of our American Concession."

Even Li Changsheng himself didn't expect things to be so simple.

He not only became the vice consul at the consulate, but also received a salary and even had a place to live.

It wasn't until that evening, when William invited him to dinner, that he learned why this had happened.

It turns out that William, the consul, was also a businessman from America.

"David, do you have no idea how difficult it is for me to do business in this Qing Dynasty?"

"A communication problem completely stumped me."

"The translators I've hired over the years have ripped me off quite a bit."

"Thank goodness you're here now."

"Brother, I'm putting my words here."

"I'm currently in the opium export business."

"I can sell this stuff in San Francisco or Australia for at least ten taels of silver per pound."

"As long as the cost can be kept below seven taels of silver, I can make a profit."

"As long as you are willing to help me, I will buy your opium from you at a price of seven taels of silver per catty, no matter how much you spend on it."

Li Changsheng had heard about the Opium Wars in his previous life. Initially, foreigners were importing opium for the Qing Dynasty, but later it became the Qing Dynasty exporting it.

Although the original owner had some information in his memories, it was still not widely cultivated in the north. He never expected that even American merchants would be sourcing their products from Daqing.

It seems that even if memories from a past life are wrong, they won't be too far off.

With such good fortune coming his way, Li Changsheng naturally wouldn't refuse.

"Mr. William, you've taken good care of me. Don't worry, I will definitely not let you down."

After the two reached an agreement, William gave Li Changsheng the contact information of several major opium merchants he purchased.

Originally, Li Changsheng's plan was to summon either a Han Chinese clone or a Manchu clone.

However, after learning about the situation in the Qing Dynasty, he realized that even if he summoned his clone, he would be unable to move an inch without identification.

So he simply summoned another white man.

When he arrived in the American Concession the next day, he successfully replaced another vice consul.

They even went so far as to ensure their second white identity wouldn't cause any problems.

Li Changsheng even had his other clones spend money to get the other party American citizenship.

At that time in the western region, it was very difficult to grant citizenship to a person of Asian descent, but it was extremely easy to grant it to a white person.

It only cost ten dollars in total.

They even moved the date forward by several months.

Its main selling point is meticulousness.

Li Changsheng hadn't expected things to be so simple.

However, now that the problem was solved, he didn't stand on ceremony and started looking for the address William had given him.

After communicating with the other party, Li Changsheng finally understood why William had been deceived.

These people brazenly stated that, based on the price of eight taels of silver, they would give themselves two taels of silver back.

If the price is nine taels of silver, then give yourself back two and a half taels of silver.

Therefore, in the eyes of these people, they are satisfied if they can sell it for six taels of silver per catty.

"I am not one of those translators; I am here on behalf of Mr. William to discuss cooperation with you."

"You don't need to give me money. If you're willing to pay five taels of silver, I'll buy as many as you have."

The other party was naturally unwilling to pay five taels of silver, so they negotiated and finally agreed on a price of five and a half taels of silver per catty.

What followed left Li Changsheng speechless.

The entire transaction was conducted openly and aboveboard, and no one interfered.

Some people even saw that the transaction involved opium and discussed it amongst themselves, as if it were commonplace.

After loading 3000 catties of opium onto the ship, William patted Li Changsheng on the shoulder and said...

"David, you must have made quite a bit of money this time, right?"

"This ship is heading to Australia, and the round trip will take at most a month. Would you like to come with me to take a look?"

"Or you could buy some opium, and I'll sell it to the Australians together; they're very wealthy."

"There are many gold mines there, and they settle accounts in gold. If I hadn't gone to Australia last time, I would have lost money."

"We're sure to earn even more this time."

Li Changsheng had originally planned to distribute his clones around the world, so he naturally wouldn't miss this opportunity.

"Sure, but Mr. William, your price is really rock bottom. I had to beg and plead to get it down a little bit!"

"I only have 600 taels of silver. I don't know how much it will cost for this round trip. I need to save enough money first before I can buy anything."

William laughed heartily.

"My brother, listen to me, don't buy too much. Just buy 50 jin (25 catties) and put it in a box. You'll save on shipping costs."

"Maybe when you come back, your six hundred taels will have turned into a thousand taels, or even more."

Li Changsheng listened to advice and the next day bought 50 catties of opium, put it in a suitcase, and boarded an ocean-going cargo ship with William.

The moment he boarded the ship, he switched David, who was writing a book, back with him.

Meanwhile, a new white American came to the American concession, bringing with him four thousand taels of silver, intending to invest in building a factory there.

Li Changsheng was originally planning to write his own book, but after he returned, he received a message from the farm owner's clone.

Li Changsheng and his clone are essentially one entity.

He can enter any clone, replace it, and make it the original body.

Similarly, he can exchange consciousness with any of his clones.

He will receive all of the clone's memories using either method.

Otherwise, the original body would not be able to know the clone's memories, but could only obtain the clone's learning and training results.

In addition, there is another method of communication between the main body and the clone.

When they initiate communication, they can have a soul-to-soul exchange that transcends distance.

This time it was just a farm owner's clone. He thought Li Changsheng was still in the Qing Dynasty, which is why he chose to communicate with his soul.

Li Changsheng left his room and went to the other person's room.

"Tell me what news you have that you absolutely have to contact me about?"