"Your Majesty, let me introduce you to one of the twelve apostles of the Mormon Church, Wilford. Mr. Woodruff. He was sent by President Brigham Young to preach in the Ming Empire. ”

Maria. Clementina smiled and moved Wilford. Woodruff was officially introduced to Zhu Jishi. Probably because of his first reception with the monarch of a great power, the Woodruff apostle seemed a little nervous, and even forgot to bow down on one knee before the monarch.

Zhu Jishi smiled and reached out to Wilford. Woodruff shook hands, expressing considerable enthusiasm, and did not care about etiquette: "Mr. Woodruff is not easy, please take a seat!" I'm really busy, but I heard Maria talk about some of your Mormon things...... I think that this sect of yours does not conflict with the traditional values of our Chinese, and it can get some followers in China. But I also have some things that I would like to ask you Mormon Church for help with, and as you know, not long ago I had a war with a regime of Christian heretics and won it, capturing hundreds of thousands of soldiers and families who believed in God. But some of them, estimated to be about 100,000, are the original backbone elements, who are only superficially obedient to the government, so I want to expel them from Chinese soil...... I suppose the Mormon Church can accept these Christian heretics into the mix, right? Of course, when it comes to the cost of immigration, Maria will help. ”

After listening to Zhu Jishi's words, Wilford. Woodruff's heart flashed with surprise. Not to mention the merit of adding hundreds of thousands of believers at a time, it would be a great thing for the Mormon Church to be able to pull 180,000 people from among them to the Utah Territory, which is not plagued by illegal immigration at the moment. Most of the land in this country is very, very inhospitable and there are not many people to be seen. Therefore, immigrants are also welcomed, not rejected.

The Treaty of Canton signed in 1848 clearly stipulated that the two governments respected the freedom of immigration; Citizens of both countries can attend each other's government public schools and enjoy most-favored-nation national treatment, and citizens of both countries can establish schools in each other's territory. Therefore, Chinese can freely immigrate to the United States, but there are very few people who want to go to the United States. Because the journey to the United States is long and expensive, but you can't make any money, and you don't know the place well, it's too difficult to get to the United States to stand on your feet. Therefore, Nanyang is now the first choice for Chinese to go abroad to work and immigrate.

And the Mormon-controlled realm of Utah was even more inhospitable, a wasteland full of deserts and rocky mountains. Only the land around Salt Lake City is suitable for reclamation. Because the Mormons were not tolerated by the majority of American society, they migrated en masse to the border of Utah, which was still Mexican territory at the time—they were smuggled into Mexico from the United States! In fact, they wanted to create a country of their own belonging to the Mormon Church on Mexican soil (Mexico is a Catholic country. It was even more intolerant of Mormonism, because the whip could not control the Utah boundary to let the Mormons settle there), and as a result, only two years later, US imperialism defeated Mexico and snatched the Utah border, so these Mormons became citizens of Greater America again. Fortunately, this time the U.S. government is busy occupying territory. I didn't pay much attention to religious issues. let Brigham Yang be the head of the Utah realm. It's a bit of a sign of recruiting an official.

However, Mormonism is still a heresy in the eastern United States, and it is really not easy to develop heads, and it is even more difficult to pull some people to Utah, a place where birds don't. By 1849. The entire territory of Utah is inhabited by less than 100,000 people, not counting the Indians. Not to mention the establishment of a Mormon country, even a state is not qualified.

……

When Zhu Jishi had a cordial meeting with the visiting Mormon apostles, Zuo Zongtang and Luo Zenan were hosting a banquet in the Far East Hotel to entertain Zeng Guofan, who had returned from Shandong. After three rounds of wine and five flavors of food, the three Xianghu bigwigs began to talk about business.

Zuo Zongtang said: "This time there should have been a governor of Brother Disheng, but we already have three governors of Hubei, Sichuan, and Yunnan (Lao Chongguang) in Xianghu, as well as a general soldier of Liaodong Town who is equivalent to the governor, so it is not good to speak again, and please forgive Brother Disheng." ”

Zeng Guofan said with a smile: "When I was in Jinan, the emperor had already said that there was another important task, so it must be that you have no jokes, right?" ”

Zuo Zongtang saw that although Zeng Guofan was pretending to be open-minded on the surface, his eyebrows were still slightly wrinkled, so he smiled and said: "Brother Di Sheng is right, the emperor has indeed arranged a heavy task for Brother Di Sheng, I don't know if Brother Di Sheng is willing to do it." ”

"Heavy duty?" Zeng Guofan's eyebrows raised to show an interested expression, and then he wrinkled his brows again, "The emperor doesn't want me to go to Bohai to be a prisoner, right?" ”

Zuo Zongtang was silent.

Luo Zenan said: "Brother Disheng, the Qing Dynasty is gone, Aixin Jueluo. Yi Xin is now the Duke of Bohai in the Ming Dynasty, and he is just a minister of the same dynasty as us. ”

Zeng Guofan hesitated again and again, and then lowered his voice and said: "Does the emperor want to exterminate the Manchu people?" ”

Luo Zenan said: "Then it depends on Brother Disheng." ”

Zeng Guofan sighed and said, "How easy is it, the hatred of losing the country, the hatred of breaking the family...... There is also a Russia stirring up trouble every day in the back, how can Yixin not have a second heart? ”

"That's why it's the big deal." Zuo Zongtang said, "In addition to monitoring Yixin, the Yamen of the Bohai State also has an important task, which is to cooperate with the Colonial Department to establish a collective farm in the territory of the Bohai State. ”

"Collective farm?" Zeng Guofan's eyebrows locked even more, he had seen this new term in the newspaper on the way to Yingtian in the past few days. It is said that it is an immigration method introduced by the imperial court in order to alleviate the contradiction of more people and less land in the mainland.

The specific provisions are still being discussed, but the principle is already there, that is, the state provides land, seeds, and cattle, and organizes the landless poor in the country to go to the northeast to reclaim and settle down, but not in the form of a single peasant household, but every 100 households form a collective farm, rent land from the state free of charge (perpetual rent), and then cultivate collectively and share the profits. And these immigrants also have to be armed with foreign guns and always ready to fight! Such "armed group immigrants" are a bit like the guards and military households, but they do not have to undertake military service, they only need to defend their homes. From this point of view, it is also a bit like Miao Peilin building a landlord fortress in Huaibei.

(Note: The quota of military households in Tuntian is set at 150,000 households, and each household must serve as a soldier, and the service period is as long as 10 years, during which there is no military pay, and the 40 acres of land cultivated by the household can only be owned by it after the 10-year service period.) The conditions are far more favorable than collective farms, but the amount is limited, and the requirements are strict, not just anyone can join the Ming Army. ）

"These collective farms are going to be built on the territory of the Bohai State?" Zeng Guofan stroked his beard, "After all, Bohai Country is not a Han land, I'm afraid that there will be an incident......

Zuo Zongtang said: "There are more than 100,000 Tuntian troops in Liaodong Town, as well as two regular armies, with a total strength of no less than 200,000. ”

Zeng Guofan nodded lightly, if it was a single farmer and unarmed, of course he would be bullied. However, a hundred households and a village, building a fort and living together, coupled with foreign guns, I am afraid that thousands of Tartars will not be able to beat a stockade. And there are still 200,000 troops in Liaodong, this Yixin really has any serious intentions, but I am afraid that it will be the disaster of extermination...... If the person in charge of Bohai is a reckless man who is bent on opening up territory, the people of Bohai are afraid that they will also be exterminated.

Zeng Guofan stroked his beard and thought for a moment, nodded and said, "It seems that this prison country belongs to me, it's just ...... The cost of building a village for this immigrant is not small, right? So much silver in the imperial court? ”

Zuo Zongtang smiled: "There is no silver in the court, but there is silver in the emperor...... The Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Colonization have already calculated that the average immigration of five people and one household, from migration to resettlement, the required rations, seeds, farm tools, and ploughing cattle are added together, which is about 75 silver dollars, and 500,000 households will be immigrated to the northeast within three years, which is 37.5 million yuan, and the imperial court will pay 17.5 million, and the emperor will pay 20 million. (To be continued......)