Li Sanjie held the telegram he had just received, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but smile bitterly. Because before leaving, Li Sanjie was very confident in this negotiation, after all, the advantages of the East China government are too great, and Japan and Russia basically have no useful bargaining chips. After returning to China, this is undoubtedly a heavy qualification and political achievement.

However, after receiving the telegram from Qingdao, Li Sanjie realized that this negotiation was a negotiation that was destined to be fruitless, and that his current trip to the United States actually had no meaning.

However, the East China government wants Li Sanjie to continue to go to the United States, complete this negotiation with a serious attitude and normal process, and do his best to make the best efforts for a glimmer of hope, and this news can only be known by Li Sanjie himself for the time being, and should not be told to others, so Li Sanjie can only continue to move forward, so although he has no responsibility for the breakdown of the negotiations, it is obvious that he cannot be regarded as his own political achievements.

At this time, Li Sanjie and the others had already crossed the Pacific Ocean and approached the west coast of the United States, and in about one or two days, they could reach the end of the voyage, the city of San Francisco on the west coast of the United States. The city of Portsmouth, the site of this negotiation, is located on the west coast of the United States, because the Panama Canal has not yet been opened at this time, if you want to reach Portsmouth by sea, the nearest is to take the Strait of Magellan, which will be more than 6,000 kilometers away, and if you want to go around Cape Horn, the southernmost point of South America, you will have to take more than 14,000 kilometers, so the negotiation team of the East China government decided to go ashore in San Francisco and take a train to Portsmouth instead. Of course, this train journey takes 6 days.

The successive US governments have also made a high degree of cooperation with the itinerary of the negotiating delegations, and have specially allocated a special carriage for the negotiating delegations to use and provide high-quality services, and have also specially arranged for police protection to ensure the safety of the delegations.

Two days later, the warships and steamers of the East China government arrived in the open sea of San Francisco Port, and the port also sent guidance ships, warships and ships into the port, docked at the designated dock, but when Li Sanjie came to the deck, he couldn't help but be shocked, it turned out that more than a thousand people actually gathered on the shore, although they couldn't see the face clearly, but most of the people were wearing long shirts and long braids, typical of the Chinese in this era, there were also a few Western-style clothes in suits and leather shoes, and you can also see gongs and drums, colorful lions, Celebratory items such as colored dragons.

He Handong came to Li Sanjie's side and said, "Are there so many people? It seems that they are all Chinese, but are there so many Chinese in the United States now?"

Li Sanjie obviously did a lot of homework, and said: "Of course, the United States is the non-Asian country with the largest concentration of Chinese in this era, and the number of Chinese in the United States is now between 600,000 and 800,000, and more than 60% live in the San Francisco area, so it is not surprising that there are so many people, but I never expected that so many people would come to welcome us." ”

At this time, the other members of the delegation also came to the deck one after another, and the crowd on the shore also broke out into a burst of enthusiastic cheers, and firecrackers, gongs and drums sounded, lions and dragons danced, and the shore suddenly became lively. There were also people on deck who waved to the shore.

As the steamer slowly approached the shore and the gangway went to the gangway, Li Sanjie took the lead in getting down from the steamer, only to see a young man about 36 or 7 years old greet him and say, "Commissar Li, welcome to the United States." ”

This person's name is Zhou Fengshan, and he is the director of the San Francisco branch of the East China Government Office in the United States. At present, the East China government has only three overseas offices, located in Germany, Java, and the United States, and only has a branch office in the United States. The office of the East China government in the United States was established in 1902, and initially only set up an office in New York, but New York is located on the west coast of the United States, and the goods purchased by the office from the United States must first be transported by rail to San Francisco on the east coast for loading and shipping back to China。

Zhou Fengshan is a law major among the travelers, majoring in international law, in the old time and space, he studied in the United States for 5 years, worked for 4 years, obtained the qualification of lawyer, and later returned to China as a judicial consultant. After the establishment of the East China government, Zhou Fengshan first served in the Ministry of Justice, but he did not want to work in the government agencies, just the East China Government Office in the United States to set up a San Francisco branch, so he took the initiative to apply for this position, because he had 9 years of experience in the United States in the old time and space, so he successfully applied for this position, came to the United States as the director of the San Francisco branch, and has been in office for nearly 3 years.

The first stop of the East China government's negotiating delegation to the United States this time was San Francisco, so of course Zhou Fengshan had to personally go to the wharf to pick up the boat, and at the same time booked a hotel and carriage for the delegation.

Li Sanjie smiled: "Director Zhou, I'm afraid I'm going to trouble you." ”

Zhou Fengshan said with a smile: "There and there, it's all for business, and it's not troublesome if there's any trouble." ”

Li Sanjie pointed to the crowd behind him and said, "Are these all arranged by you?"

Zhou Fengshan shook his head and said: "Member Li, this is really not arranged by me, but these villagers came spontaneously, to be honest, this time we beat Japan and Russia, but it can be regarded as giving the Chinese a lot of face, in the past few months, there has been less trouble." ”

The large influx of Chinese into the United States began with the gold rush in California from 1848 to 1855, and then the end of the American Civil War, the country has been rapidly developed, and the development of the railroad requires a large number of laborers, and at this time the Taiping Rebellion in China has caused great damage to South China, so a large number of Chinese came to the United States in 1870-1880, and about more than 300,000 Chinese came to the United States. Moreover, because the Chinese worked hard and endured hardships, it caused some white Americans to lose their jobs, and in addition to the economic crisis in the United States in 1880, many American politicians accused the Chinese of robbing white Americans of jobs in order to divert social contradictions. Therefore, the United States passed the [Chinese Exclusion Act] in 1882, restricting Chinese from coming to the United States, and making strict regulations on the rights and jobs of Chinese in the United States.

However, although there was no large-scale influx of Chinese into the United States, it has not been interrupted, and the Chinese who came to the United States in the early stage were subject to the [Chinese Exclusion Act] But the Chinese relied on their ingenuity and hard work and tenacity, or tenaciously survived, settled in the United States, and a small number of Chinese also purchased some industries, and the second generation of Chinese were also born and raised in large numbers, so the number of Chinese in the United States is also expanding, now reaching 60-800,000, and most of them live in the area of California, which is San Francisco, which is the largest Chinese concentration area in the United States.

However, the [Chinese Exclusion Act] restricted the rights of a large number of Chinese, and the Qing court, the home country of the Chinese, was corrupt and incompetent, and was unable to safeguard the interests of the Chinese in the United States, so the Chinese were basically still at the bottom of society in the United States, similar to the blacks, and the white Americans looked down on the Chinese at all, not only could they bully the Chinese at will, rob the wealth of the Chinese, and even kill the Chinese without anyone care, and the police not only did not protect the basic rights and interests of the Chinese, but also often arrested the Chinese for no reason.

After the establishment of the East China government, it set up an office in the United States, which is equivalent to an embassy in the United States, because of the achievements of the East China government and the large number of economic and trade contacts with the United States, so the United States government did not dare to despise the offices of the East China government, and although these two offices did not have the ability to let the United States cancel the [Chinese Exclusion Act], they also did their best to help the Chinese in the United States, tried their best to protect their interests, and also helped many Chinese, so they gradually established considerable prestige among the Chinese in the United States.

After the East China government joined the Far East War, due to the successive major victories and the fact that the bonds issued by the East China government in the United States were quite sought after by the market, many Americans also changed their views on the Chinese, and the incidents of bullying the Chinese were also significantly reduced. The Chinese in the United States also feel that they have grown a lot of faces, and they have become more and more respectful of the East China government. After learning that the negotiation delegation of the East China Government had arrived in San Francisco, the Chinese spontaneously organized a visit to the wharf to welcome the delegation.

After listening to Zhou Fengshan's brief introduction, Li Sanjie understood what was going on, so he improvised a short speech to the Chinese in the United States at the dock, the content was mainly to pull feelings, saying that everyone is compatriots, it is not easy for the Chinese to survive in the United States, the East China government is now limited in its ability, but it will also try its best to help the Chinese in the United States and safeguard their interests, and with the continuous development and strength of the East China government, it will also provide more and greater help to the Chinese in the United States, and the ultimate goal is to make the United States cancel the [Chinese Exclusion Act] , so that Chinese Americans can achieve the same status as white Americans.

Although this is a distant promise, it has given some Chinese hope that before that, the Chinese in the United States could hardly see any hope.

After the speech, Li Sanjie and the others got into the carriage in turn and set off for the hotel.

Zhou Fengshan accompanied Li Sanjie and He Handong to a carriage on the same journey, and Li Sanjie said: "Is the train to Portsmouth booked?"

Zhou Fengshan said: "It has been booked, and the train will depart at 6 o'clock tomorrow morning, with a whole special carriage, a total of 50 beds, and a special office. ”

Li Sanjie nodded and said, "Okay, Director Zhou has worked hard." ”

Zhou Fengshan also said: "Overseas Chinese in the United States want to hold a banquet tonight to entertain the delegation, but I don't know if Committee Member Li has worked hard all the way and whether he needs to rest tonight." ”

Li Sanjie thought for a while and said: "Okay, it's also appropriate to socialize, let's not all go, count 8 people, and let them make it simpler, don't break too much, it seems that most Chinese in the United States are mixed in general, and it's not any better." ”