Chapter 533 The British Want to Starve the Ming Dynasty to Death (Second Update, Please Subscribe)
March 12, 1871.
This day was a sad day, according to the British Colonial Secretary, Earl Granville, as the Union Jack was lowered from the colonies for the first time.
It's okay, they will get used to it in the future. Now it's just the beginning, no matter what it is, it will always go from unfamiliar to familiar.
There's no problem if you practice these things in advance.
On this day, in Vancouver, the capital of the colony of British Columbia, in the Governor's Palace in the center of this city with a population of less than 2,000 people, a Union Jack was slowly lowered, and then a sun and moon flag was slowly raised to the sound of a military band.
"From now on, this colony and the people here are handed over to you! I hope you can treat everyone well!"
Facing the slightly sad words of former Governor Henders, Liang Baitao, the Governor of the "North Sea Governor's District" who had just been transferred from Alaska, smiled and said,
"Please rest assured that every one of them will be treated equally! I mean truly equally!"
The reason why the handover of the British Columbia colony was not completed until now is that there are more than 10,000 European residents in this colony, half of whom are from the United States and nearly 2,000 from the United Kingdom. In the land purchase negotiations, Britain put forward additional conditions for the rights of those people, such as maintaining the tradition of autonomy and legal customs. Although an agreement was finally reached, the negotiations were not easy.
The reason why Liang Baitao talked about equality is that there are more than 7,000 Chinese living in this colony!
They all came here during the Fraser Valley Gold Rush. In 1858, someone reported the discovery of a large gold mine in the Boston Beach area in the middle reaches of the Fraser Valley. A ship transported 800 ounces of gold to the mint in San Francisco, California. There were even rumors that "gold was lying at the bottom of the river, as big as a stone egg," which led to a large number of Chinese who were excluded from the California gold rush to the north to look for new gold opportunities. The gold rush attracted more than 25,000 gold diggers. By the heyday of 1863, there were 3,000 gold mining sites in the area, and nearly 4 million yuan of gold was mined. But the gold rush only lasted a few years. Although Buckville was still the largest gold mining town in the area, with a population of more than 10,000 people, the annual gold mining was less than a quarter of the peak. Many gold diggers had left there long ago, and those who remained were just barely making ends meet, of which 60% were Chinese.
However, they have never been treated fairly. Chinese gold diggers have always been the targets of blackmail and extortion by the police and officials.
This is why Liang Baitao specifically emphasized "equality". In fact, equal treatment is also the core of the negotiations between the two parties.
This is the biggest concession, after all, they have never achieved fairness here in the past, let alone equal treatment!
"May God bless them!"
While saying this, Hendricks deliberately glanced at some American businessmen not far away. The expressions of those American businessmen were different. Although they were not representatives sent by the US government, it was certain that the United States was hostile to the Ming Dynasty's purchase of British Columbia. When London made the decision to sell the British Columbia colony, the colonial parliament passed a vote, and some people advocated joining the United States, but their vote could not influence London's decision at all.
What is the official attitude of the United States? The people who are most hostile to the Ming Dynasty's acquisition of this land are the Americans.
"Although the United States had no intention of acquiring the British Columbia colony, it firmly opposed Britain's sale of the colony to the Ming Empire."
This was a protest made by the United States through its ambassador to the United Kingdom after the United States learned of the news. However, no country paid any attention to their protest. For the United Kingdom, the hostility shown by the United States towards the Ming Dynasty was exactly what they wanted to see.
A few hours later, while looking at Vancouver, no, it should be said that it was the North Sea Province, which was gradually disappearing from the boat, Hends said to himself.
"The most frustrated people today should be the Americans! But isn't this exactly what London intended?"
…
"Your Majesty, I think that in order to avoid the North Sea Province exacerbating the conflict with the United States, we should take some measures to ease the relationship with the United States as much as possible. Otherwise, we will let London's conspiracy succeed!"
As Foreign Minister, Zhu Guozhong, although not Chinese, has an extremely special identity - he is Elizabeth's younger brother. He has visited European and American countries as deputy head of a delegation with Zuo Zongtang and has a very good understanding of these countries. This is why Zhu Xianhai chose him as Foreign Minister.
In addition to the fact that he was Elizabeth's brother, another reason was that Zhu Xianhai hoped to show the world that the Ming Dynasty was a multi-ethnic country that treated all ethnic groups equally by appointing him as Foreign Minister.
But this guy is also interesting. When he was naturalized three years ago, he asked someone to give him a name. When he heard that his identity was called "Uncle of the State" in China, he deliberately found the name of a very famous uncle of the state in history. Thus, the Uncle of the State of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Guozhong, was freshly born.
"Don't worry about any conspiracy in London!"
Facing Zhu Zong's reminder, Zhu Xianhai said directly,
"On the surface, their conspiracy seems to be to provoke a conflict between us and the United States, but in fact, their biggest conspiracy is not just that. The reason why they sold British Columbia to us is essentially to disperse our national strength. What is the biggest problem of the Ming Dynasty at present? It is the insufficient population. Only a few million people are scattered in the north and south of the American continent, which has led to the dispersion of our strength. In the past, we only had Alaska in North America, and that place was a big freezer. We certainly would not invest too much military force to protect Alaska, but after British Columbia was sold to us, everything changed!"
He took a cigar from the cigar box and handed it to Zhu Guozhong. Zhu Xianhai also lit one for himself and then said.
"We will send immigrants there, we will cultivate land and build factories there. The more we invest, the more the place is worth defending, and that also means that we will not tolerate any party threatening its security, America!"
Zhu Xianhai took a puff of his cigar, exhaled the smoke, and sneered.
"The United States is the biggest security risk in the North Sea. After all, there are many Americans living there. Didn't they clamor to annex British Columbia to the United States before? The United States' ambition there is obvious. When we try to stop the United States, confrontation is inevitable. When we confront the United States in North America, we will also confront Brazil in South America. We have to confront two major powers at the same time! This is what Britain is planning. It wants to sell its colonies to get us into a confrontation between the North and the South."
"Your Majesty, in this case, the treaty we signed with France will be meaningless. We simply don't have any extra strength to invest in other areas!"
Zuo Zongtang's tone was filled with worry. Compared with previous dynasties, the territory of the Ming Dynasty was too scattered. Not to mention from the North Pole to the South Pole, there were territories from Africa to the Pacific Ocean.
Of course, those places were colonies, but in Zuo Zhongtang’s view, since the national flag of the Ming Dynasty had been raised in those places, they were the land of the Ming Dynasty.
Compared to such a vast land, the population of the daimyo is really too small.
"Not only is there no extra power, the Ming Dynasty may even be overwhelmed! Compared to the vastness of the land, the population of the Ming Dynasty is limited. With the current population, it is simply impossible to maintain such a large land."
Zhu Xianhai's sigh made Zuo Zongtang unable to help but speak.
"These British people are willing to spend so much money to deal with us and starve us to death."
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(End of this chapter)
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