readx;

"Boss Zhang, the price of cotton has risen again, are you making a fortune this time?"

"Make a small profit, just make a small profit!"

"Where is the problem of making small profits, a bag of cotton can be obtained for only five taels of silver, but if you look at the market price, now it costs more than 30 taels of silver to buy, and this Guge still begs grandpa to tell grandma, how can you have 300 bales of cotton in your hand!"

"It's all because of the war between the North and the South Citigroup, but I shot too early, fifteen or sixteen taels!"

Since last year's U.S. election, and then this year's Civil War officially broke out, the world's cotton has soared, and the price of cotton in Shanghai was five or six taels at first, but soon foreign businessmen rushed to buy it at the price of seven or eight taels of packs, and the price soon rose to twelve or three taels and one packs. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

The local cotton merchants in Shanghai thought that the price was too high, and they sold 50,000 bales of cotton at once, but the facts proved that they were outrageously wrong, the Civil War caused a shortage of cotton all over the world, and the price of only 12321 bales can be said to be of good quality and low price, and they had just sold 50,000 bales of cotton less than two days ago, and the British merchants had already snapped up the cotton merchants in Chongming at a price of 256 taels of silver.

Soon the price of cotton broke through the momentum of 321 bales, and compared with the shortage of cotton caused by the Civil War in history, the demand for cotton in this time and space is greater, you must know that only the government needs of China, tens of millions of cotton uniforms are needed every year, and the nascent Chinese light industry also needs a large amount of cotton.

It was clear to him that Manchester's textile mills were now out of business because there were not enough raw materials, and the world was in a panic because of the Civil War.

You must know that the United States in this time and space is almost the largest industrial body in the whole world, and the direct result of its all-out war is that the whole world is happily plunged into an extreme boom, and you can make money by producing anything.

"What a year!"

"yes. It's a good year, the price is good, and you can make a little money doing anything!"

"Especially for Citigroup business, that's more advantageous......

As soon as I heard these small businessmen talk about American business. Shackley shook his head even more, that Liu Chang was really an unprecedented big profiteer, perhaps he was the biggest winner in this Civil War, Shackley even suspected that he made more money than the entire British government.

In 1859 and 1860, the Chinese government applied for tens of millions of dollars in loans from the U.S. government and businessmen at very high interest rates, even to the point that American goods in China were almost comparable to British goods. Commercial loans between the Chinese government and businessmen are said to have reached the level of $100 million, which is even more than the US treasury, but when the Civil War began, the entire United States was equivalent to the Chinese government working for two years in vain.

That's right, it was the entire United States that had worked for China for two years in vain, and now neither the northern nor the southern governments are in a hurry to demand that the Chinese government repay this debt, on the contrary. They are also eager to import more gunpowder, rifles, artillery, clothing and more military supplies from China to get the entire Chinese military and civilian factories running, and even the nascent Chinese shipbuilding industry has scooped dozens of orders.

Shackley even knew a fact. That is, in addition to these public orders, that Liu Jiehu has a unique vision, he actually snapped up a full 200,000 cotton before the outbreak of the Civil War, at that time a bag of cotton only cost less than five taels of silver, and all this cotton was purchased by His Majesty's private company, and now this batch of cotton alone is enough for His Majesty's private expenses for several years.

So the more he thought about these things, the more difficult his mission became, and the emperor's eyes were too old to make him obey the will of Her Majesty. Moreover, because of the Civil War, he now has no desire to deal with the imperial government.

It's just that he just thought about it at this time, but he found that the atmosphere of the entire teahouse became solemn: "What's wrong?" ”

"What's wrong?"

The people in the teahouse didn't know what was going on, but soon an uncertain news came: "Hu Xiang's ascension to heaven......"

Hu Xiang ascended to heaven......

Shackley knew that the so-called Hu Xiang was China's prime minister, a hated conservative minister who was a major obstacle to cooperation between China and Britain.

The Prime Minister cannot be described in that way. Everyone, including Shakley, knew that this was just a transitional caretaker prime minister, but no one expected that the caretaker prime minister would stay in the position of prime minister for so long, until the last moment of his life.

But Harcret soon discovered that this was a good thing, that the old-fashioned Chancellor had always had a deep hostility towards the British Empire, and that if he ascended to heaven, the new Chancellor might have become more enlightened.

But who will the new Prime Minister be?

According to tradition, the acting Prime Minister would be His Excellency Qu Jie, Secretary of War for the Army, but His Excellency Qu Jie was always only the acting Prime Minister, and no one would think that he would officially assume the post of Prime Minister, so he should find some friends who were more friendly to Britain, such as Minister Rong......

He soon returned to his embassy and told his subordinates to focus on this material, as the death of the prime minister would most likely represent a shift in China's foreign policy, which now requires a more British-friendly prime minister.

It's just that he doesn't have much to interfere with His Majesty's decision-making of His Majesty the Emperor of China, so he has been thinking about how to influence His Majesty the Emperor all day long, but at this time, unexpected good news came.

His Majesty the Emperor decided to receive him, the British ambassador, and said through private channels that the two sides could reach a consensus on some previously contentious issues, and Shaclay knew his opportunity had come.

Yes, this should be the best chance.

The two sides can have an in-depth exchange of views, and Shakli can exert his influence on His Majesty the Emperor, especially on some issues that are of greatest concern to Whitehall, and the two sides can reach a comprehensive consensus.

Therefore, Xia Keli put on a straight dress, not to mention, and even carefully prepared a few gifts for the emperor, and he left for the palace after drinking morning tea.

The emperor's palace has always been simple, in fact, such a palace cannot be called a palace at all, just a few large mansions, but Xia Keli admires His Majesty the emperor at this point, it is rare for a ruler to have such a character, especially the founding emperor of a dynasty, it is even rarer.

After a simple renovation and initial expansion, the palace now covers an area of about 160 acres, and the perimeter is guarded by the Janissary infantry and cavalry, who welcomed Ambassador Shakli cautiously, and after entering the palace, there is no longer a male existence, including guards and chores, all of which are completed by a group of women, among these women, the most dazzling group of noble concubines, today Shakli only saw a part of the emperor's concubines, about twenty, they were full of manners, closely following the emperor's side.

His Majesty the Emperor quickly stretched out his left hand: "Welcome, Ambassador Charkeli!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty the Emperor!" Shakli smiled and said, "I brought the kindness of Her Majesty!"

"Thank you very much for Her Majesty's advice!" Liu Chang took the ambassador's hand, sat down directly, and motioned for the concubine to step aside: "I thank Her Majesty the Queen for her kindness, but I came to you today because I have more important things to communicate with you!"

"Thank you very much for the kindness of His Majesty the Emperor!" Shackley was quick to say that he had enough authority: "As long as it has nothing to do with the war, we can communicate with anything!"

"Then you mean you can't talk about it if it has to do with war?" Liu Chang smiled: "Then let me state in advance that I agree with any statement of your country on the United States issue." ”

"Any statement?" Shakley quickly understood what he meant: "You mean, including interference? ”

As in history, the American Civil War is now a matter of concern for the entire British government and parliament, and the impact of the American Civil War is even more far-reaching.

Historically, the shortage of cotton caused by the American Civil War was only a huge shock to the entire British textile industry, with tens of thousands of British workers unemployed.

However, at this time and space, since 1855, the whole of China, and even the whole pan-Chinese cultural circle, imported British industrial products, especially cotton cloth, in large quantities, and from 1855 onwards, the entire British textile industry entered a very unreasonable expansion -- you must know that from 1855 to the end of 1866, China's imports of British industrial products increased by as much as eight times, and if it were not for the influence of the American Civil War, 1861 may still be growing on a large scale.

In fact, only Liu Chang and a few people knew that with such a terrible foreign leap forward of the Chinese government, if this American Civil War had not broken out, the Chinese government's finances would have been declared bankrupt in 1863 or 1864, but this American civil war had made the finances of the entire empire healthier than ever.

The American Civil War, on the other hand, brought a deep disaster to Britain, no longer as simple as tens of thousands of workers losing their jobs, and hundreds of thousands of young workers across Britain lost their jobs, and they were demanding that the government get cotton by all means.

The British government and parliament both regard intervention as an option, and now Liu Chang calmly replied to Shakley: "If the British government must intervene, our country will provide full support in terms of military strength." (To be continued.) If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendation and monthly passes, and your support is my biggest motivation. )