"We can see that Lincoln is insulting the Chinese with arrogant words, and what did he do when the governor of California was trampling the law there and brutally bullying the Chinese there? In the eyes of Lincoln and many Northerners, Chinese may be like a black slave in the South, who can be bullied at will...... No, you must know. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 info Perhaps what Southerners agree with is their own property rights, and Southerners have the right to ensure that their property is not violated, just as Chinese in California have the right to acquire wealth through legal means and defend their wealth. Dear gentlemen, the League of America has never despised such a great country as China, let alone Chinese by skin color! ”

A story doesn't change much, but a story can sometimes do the unexpected, at least for John, the Special Envoy of the League of America to China? For Sliedel, through a daily article, he successfully reversed the control of Chinese public opinion by the US ambassador to China, Anchen, of course, one of the most fundamental reasons is that the Chinese are anti-American.

"What the Chinese are against is Lincoln's America, Washington's America! Gentlemen! ”

At the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, John? Sriddell said to the dozen or so American businessmen from the South who were sitting in the room, saying that although many people in the United States supported Lincoln, most businessmen in the United States supported the "just cause" in the South, and the same is true in China.

"Mr. Special Envoy, the most important question now is when the South will be able to resume cotton exports to China, and this is the most important thing!"

As early as the beginning of the empire, with the successive construction of machine spinning mills in Huguang and Liangguang and other places, the factory has a great demand for cotton, and China's cotton fiber is thin and short, the number of twists is small, not as soft as the long surface of foreign cotton silk, Chinese cotton does not meet the bulk needs of industry and commerce, and it is difficult to meet the standards of machine production and trade in quality.

The quality of American cotton is better than that of Chinese cotton, and the silk is long and fine, which is conducive to textile, and is suitable for machine production and market requirements, so American businessmen export a large amount of American cotton to China. Although in the past four years, China's Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce has tried to grow American cotton in agricultural experimental institutes in northern Jiangsu, Hubei, Shandong, Henan, Hebei and Shaanxi, trying to attract and promote excellent American cotton seeds, improve cotton production, and solve the source of raw materials for China's textile industry. However, it will still take some time for the introduction and domestication of cotton seeds in the United States, and perhaps it will be planted by farmers through the distribution of large quantities of cotton seeds, but compared to its demand, China's textile industry will still rely on American cotton for a long time in the future.

"Believe me, gentlemen, the Chinese are more anxious than you on this issue, after all, their factories are waiting for cotton to come to their south!"

John? Sriedel's tone was extremely smug. Because now, the foreign policy of the South is based on the theory that "cotton is king". According to this theory, the economies of Britain and France depended heavily on cotton. Four-fifths of Britain's cotton comes from the south. Interrupting the supply of cotton would have collapsed the British economy, brought workers to the brink of starvation, and brought down the government. Britain would be forced to break this blockade and provoke a war with the north, which would ensure the independence of the Confederacy.

Congressman James of South Carolina? In his famous 1858 speech, "The Cotton King," Hammond cleverly asked, "What will happen if cotton is not supplied for three years?" Britain would fall immediately, and the whole civilized world would fall with it, except for the South. No, you don't dare to go to war over cotton. No major power in the world would dare to start a war over this. Cotton is king! Few people on the Southern side doubt the logic of this argument. The governor of Mississippi once told a British war correspondent: "The independent Mississippi has no more to do than the United Kingdom." Another southerner said, "Well, sir, we can make a revolution in the British Empire by cutting off the supply of cotton for a few weeks." A Charleston businessman believed that if the federal blockade reduced Britain's cotton imports, "you would sink their ships to the bottom and recognize us." I think we'll see it before the fall. ”

What is the situation in Britain now, John? Sliedel didn't know, but in China, in Chinese newspapers, his translators would cut and paste the newspaper reports about cotton every day, and those news were invariably telling him the fact that the Chinese needed cotton from the south! China's mills need cotton from the south.

Of course, his remarks were not influenced by the merchants, after all, the blockade of the north and the ban on the export of cotton in the south have affected their interests, but who cares about personal interests in times of war? What's more, these people are just a bunch of small "businessmen" who have absolutely no political influence.

More than an hour later, in the carriage, John? Slipel immediately asked the attaché beside him.

"Henry, when can we go to the imperial capital?"

As the League's special envoy to China, John? Sridel looked a little helpless, and after arriving in China, he found that he could not even go to the imperial capital, the capital of China, because he was an unofficial envoy, and China did not recognize the American Union, which made him only able to go to the imperial capital in a private capacity, which meant that he had to abdicate his responsibilities, unlike other countries, and even now, China still has many restrictions on the movement of foreigners, including diplomats.

Perhaps the Chinese Empire advocates the pursuit of knowledge in the world, but it is still the traditional Chinese Empire, and the imperial capital of China is still not accessible to any foreigner. Because of this, he can only stay in Shanghai, stay here, and create public opinion support for himself by publishing articles in newspapers, which he must give up if he goes to the imperial capital in a private capacity.

Although he has now gained the support of public opinion, but for him, what he longs for is to see the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and even to see His Majesty the Emperor, after all, the reason why he advocated going to China was precisely to use the power of China, if it was not for the victory of the Battle of Cologne, I am afraid he would not have noticed China, and after arriving in China, witnessing the victories of Chinese in various battlefields, he believed that for the American League, if it could win the support from China, then, They have a good chance of winning the war.

"Sir, we don't have permission from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yet, but, sir, we can go and meet a very special businessman today!"

Special merchants?

After coming to China, John? Sliedel had met all kinds of merchants, and in his opinion, compared to the United States, China was the real country of merchants, and even their emperor was also a merchant, perhaps because of this, as long as you have money in China, you can always buy the goods you need.

But even as an envoy, John? Sliedel was also not interested in buying weapons from China, which was so far away from the United States that they needed to ship their weapons to Hawaii and then to Panama, and from there, to Colón and finally to the south via the Panamanian railroad that they had already controlled under the pretext of "Chinese labor reparations." Such a long process was enough for smugglers to go against Europe several times.

However, China's biggest advantage over Europe is that they do not need government approval to export weapons, unlike Britain or France, which requires government approval for arms exports, so the South has to obtain weapons through smuggling. If it weren't for the war, John? Sriddell even wants to order two armored ships in China, but now it is clear that this is not possible, China is now at war after all, and all the shipyards are crowded with orders from the navy.

Who is this particular merchant in Henry's mouth?

When he met the merchant he was talking about at the Whampoa Hotel, John? Sridel finally knows what the so-called special is.

She's a woman!

A very beautiful woman in a well-dressed Chinese dress.

"Hello, Mr. Zhao!"

John? The reason why Sliedel would call him Mr. was specially instructed by Henry, the merchant in front of him was not just a businessman, she was said to have a deep relationship with the royal family.

"Hello, Mr. Envoy!"

When fluent English flowed out of Zhao Ziyu's mouth, she deliberately looked at the American.

What is fate?

No one can say clearly, but for Zhao Ziyu, she deeply understands the tricks of fate, once upon a time, she was the governor of Shanxi, the enemy of that person, and now what is she?

Merchant? Still is?

Sometimes, she can't figure out her current identity, she is not only in charge of the Zhao family's business, in many cases, she is like a rope puppet, controlled by that person, like the Zhao family's investment in the Northwest Railway and a series of other investments, are all influenced by that person, but these businesses now seem to be mostly able to obtain very, extremely rich profits.

At least he won't cheat his son!

Zhao Ziyu always reminded herself that, just like now, although she didn't understand why that person asked her to talk to the American envoy about a deal, she believed that he would not cheat her son. After all, his son will be the heir to all this in the future.

As for Zhao Ziyu, now she only hopes to be able to hand over all this to her son in the future, and only in this way can she be worthy of her dead sister. Therefore, for Zhao Ziyu, her only thought now is to do a good job in business.

For example, the current business is a profitable business for the company, and more importantly, it will give the company rich profits for a long time in the future.

As a businessman, Zhao Ziyu is undoubtedly very competent, from the relationship with John? After Sridel met, for half an hour, she didn't talk about the purpose of this meeting, after all, but just talking about a topic, cotton, Shaanxi businessmen have been running a cloth yarn business for many years, which is a well-known thing, and now there are also machine yarn factories in Shaanxi, so there is naturally a certain demand for cotton, but for John? Sliedel said that his mind is not on cotton now, maybe he can say that "cotton is king", but he knows very well that it is not China that needs cotton from the south, but that the south needs China.

"Resumption of export ...... cotton"

Looking at the woman in front of him, John reminded himself that this woman's identity is extremely special, maybe she can't influence some things, but if she wants, she may be able to help herself enter the imperial capital. When the other party asked for the export of cotton, John immediately replied.

"We have never blocked the export of cotton, although there is support for the cotton embargo within the Union, in fact, it is now the blockade in the North that affects the export of cotton from the Union......"

Of course, this is only John's side of the story, under the influence of the idea that "cotton is king", the South has been advocating to force Britain to intervene through the cotton embargo, although the Union government did not pass the embargo, but the farmers in the South took the initiative to stop cotton exports, and even production, in order to force Britain to intervene, of course, now the possibility of British intervention is zero, because Britain has been involved in the war with China, and it is of course impossible for Britain to intervene in the war with the United States.

This has to be said to be a blow to the South, but it makes John see new opportunities and hopes, he can make China an ally of the South, at least through China to achieve a breakthrough in the alliance in diplomacy, as a diplomat, John knows very well that for the alliance, the most important thing now is to let the alliance be recognized by a certain power, only in this way, the alliance can be recognized by other powers, so as to get rid of the current diplomatic dilemma, and finally get support from the big countries step by step, Just as during the American Revolution, French recognition was sought first, and then French aid was obtained, and without French assistance, there would have been no American independence, and the same is true now!

"We believe that now that the blockade of the North to the South has seriously affected the interests of the countries in the Union, shouldn't your country act in order to maintain its own commercial interests? Rather, as now, by allowing the federal blockade of the Union, I believe that the merchants of your country should appeal to your government to protect their business interests, and not to bend to Washington's threats! ”

――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――

Every one of your subscriptions, recommendations, and favorites is a great support for Iron and Blood, thank you! Iron and Blood Grand Plan Group: 150536833, welcome friends to join and discuss the plot together!