Jensen couldn't have imagined that when he set off from New York and returned to the East Coast half a year later, the ownership of New York had changed hands, he stood on the deck of the merchant ship and looked at the conspicuous warships not far away, and suddenly felt that this was not a big problem, as long as the Continental Army was still alive, the assistance of the Tang Republic would be able to come back to life!

The cargo ship on which Jensen was traveling was laden with all kinds of aid sent to the United States by Datang, this time not only as many as 5,000 SC-2 rifles, but also more than 100 bronze cannons, ranging in caliber from 6 to 12 pounds (smoothbore guns are measured by the weight of the shells fired). Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 info Even things like rifled guns were brought to the battlefield for testing. The 76mm small infantry gun, the casting level is about the same as that of the front-loading breech gun of the second half of the 19th century, with six rifling, the winding of the wire is not complicated, but it is already an extremely difficult thing to complete for the current European industrial countries. This rifled gun has developed a total of two models, the development process is not careful, anyway, the national army is impossible to use, basically it is a cheat of money, one is this 76mm infantry artillery, the other is a 178mm caliber heavy artillery, which can be used for siege and as a naval gun, which is actually basically modeled after the Armstrong gun. Since rifle bullets and artillery shells were also difficult to manufacture, cargo ships carried large quantities of ammunition for various weapons.

In addition to rifles and artillery, the aid even included some military uniforms and compressed biscuits, and even the country's military food factories successfully made things like Spam luncheon meat and sent them to the cargo ship to aid the United States.

All of the aid was not paid in cash by Jensen. In fact, Jensen signed a bill on behalf of the Continental Congress. Datang will lend to the United States at low interest rates. It is used to purchase various military supplies of Datang. The United States paid off the loan within a decade of its formal independence. This method was the method of the French at that time, and the Tang people used it first.

Jensen and other Americans are still extremely grateful, after all, they typed an IOU with empty teeth and got back a boatload of life-saving materials, this kind of revolutionary feeling is really higher than the sky and deeper than the sea, and the North Koreans who were rescued by the Volunteer Army to resist US aggression and aid Korea were also in this mood.

Because the fleet could not dock in British-controlled New York, the Tang fleet chose to sail upstream from the Delaware River and dock directly in Philadelphia, the base camp of the Continental Congress. In the impression of many Chinese. Philadelphia is a riverside city, and it seems impossible to dock any big boats, but the truth is that the mouth of the Delaware River is 19 kilometers wide, and the entire downstream course resembles a small bay. The Americans even built a reserve naval base in such an inland city as Philadelphia. The two decommissioned aircraft carriers USS Forrest and USS Kennedy were parked at the Philadelphia Naval Base, and in the case of the USS Kennedy, this is an 80,000-ton big guy with a draft of nearly 10 meters, and it is also a great challenge to human common sense to be able to park in a river harbor in a grand manner.

So. Two Qi Jiguang-class frigates and several cargo ships of up to 6,000 tons were anchored in Philadelphia. There's really nothing wrong with that. After the American Jensen and Chu Bai, a diplomat sent by the Tang Dynasty, disembarked, they were warmly welcomed by the Continental Congress and the people of Philadelphia.

Adams said to Chu Bai with a spring breeze on his face: "Sir, welcome to Philadelphia. ”

Chu Bai said very flatteringly in English: "Sir, shouldn't you welcome me to the United States of America?" ”

Adams was pleasantly surprised: "You're right, on behalf of the crew of the Continental Congress and the people of Philadelphia, I welcome you to the United States. ”

Chu Bai nodded, put on a more serious expression, and said: "On behalf of the Tang Republic, I am ready to recognize the legitimacy of the United States of America, and on behalf of my country, I am ready to exchange credentials with the United States of America, and at the same time, in the future, as a diplomat in the United States, I will be responsible for a series of Tang-US foreign affairs." ”

Adams, Jefferson, and others looked at each other and were very surprised and excited, although the Continental Congress had announced the establishment of the United States in July, they had not yet established any substantive government of their own, and no country recognized them. Now not only have they gained the first international recognition, but Datang has also made it clear that they will continue to support the independence of the United States.

The Continental Conference immediately discussed the selection of a consulate for Chu Bai, at this time the modern three-level diplomatic system of chargé d'affaires-minister-ambassador had not yet appeared, and the official title of the Tang Dynasty for Chu Bai was "the envoy of the Tang Republic to the United States", which also blurred the specific level.

After counting and summarizing the various materials sent by the Tang Republic, the mood of the Americans can no longer be described as ecstasy. They were very grateful to Chu Bai for bringing all this, and even at the welcome dinner held that night, some family ladies and ladies with a little prestige and status frequently sent autumn waves to Chu Bai, but Chu Bai was not interested in these eighteenth-century Yanmares, and he still greeted people with etiquette.

On the second day, at Chu Bai's request, the Continental Conference formally launched talks with the envoys of the Tang Dynasty on cooperation between the two sides.

First of all, Chu Bai asked Jensen to take out the bill, when Washington sent Jensen to Datang for help, he did not say a specific loan amount, and this aid was actually given according to Datang's ideas, and the specific number is definitely astronomical. The total value of the entire loan was as high as 1,600,000 Tang Yuan, or nearly 220,000 pounds, and the dollar did not officially appear until 1792, and the British pound is still used in the New England colonies.

That's not all, Tang even provided a sum of 180,000 pounds in cash to the Continental Congress, which is also part of the loan, which means that the total amount that Datang lent to the Continental Congress was 400,000 pounds. Naturally, Datang does not have foreign exchange reserves such as the pound sterling, but fortunately, the real currency of this era is actually gold and silver, so the flowers and Spanish eagles provided by the Tang people are as good as the pound sterling in the market.

Although it is a huge financial burden before it has even been seen, as long as it succeeds in becoming independent, the Thirteen Colonies will have enough tax revenue to pay off their debts. For example, after the Seven Years' War, Britain apportioned 400,000 pounds to the 13 colonies for defense, and the Stamp Act took 110,000 pounds from the colonies in one year. If the United States succeeds in becoming independent and is able to master its own tariffs, it will be able to pay off the money in about a year.

Now that the Continental Congress is short of money, it costs money for conscription, money for the maintenance of the localities, and money for their own operation, and it is too slow to collect taxes from all over the country, and you don't dare to collect taxes too fiercely. Now the Tang people directly lent them 180,000 pounds in cash, which was enough to solve many problems.

The admission of this debt did not waste much time, and after a brief discussion, the members of the Continental Congress calmly endorsed Jensen's loan, and also received the 180,000 pounds in cash that Chu Bai handed over to them. This amount of money is nothing to Datang, although the Republic of Datang is still only a small country with a population of less than 200,000, but the profitability is super strong, just the mining of Jiazhou gold mine and Luanzhou silver mine, the annual income is about 5 million Tang yuan. As the bulk of the income of international trade, such as the net profit of migratory bird routes is in the scale of tens of millions each time, plus the revenue of other domestic industries, the financial revenue of the Tang Republic alone is hundreds of millions a year.

In contrast, in the seventies of the eighteenth century, Britain's annual fiscal revenue was about 36 million pounds, which was about 250 million yuan. By 1800, it would rise to a staggering 60 million pounds, or about 430 million dollars. But looking back, it's even more terrifying, the current Datang has a population of less than 200,000, operates largely undeveloped land on the west coast of North America, and her financial income has exceeded one-third of the annual income of Britain, a European power.

Naturally, we cannot ignore the fact that Britain has a large number of aristocrats and wealthy merchants, who are also the beneficiaries of British colonial and industrial economic activities, and the absolute wealth of Datang is in the hands of the state, and there are not many wealthy classes, but at the same time, according to the standards of Europeans, there is no poor population in Datang, and everyone is above the subsistence line. In the UK, the number of poor people is huge, accounting for one-third of the total population.

These things will not be told to the Americans. Britain is a global colonial country, and the focus is still on Europe, so if you simply compare the investment, the Tang Dynasty's investment in North America alone can definitely overwhelm the British, and from the perspective of weapon quality, Tang-made weapons have no problem crushing the British weapons in the eighteenth century.

Adams said at this time: "We don't know how long the war will last, it's a tough battle, but we will persevere, but we hope that as allies, Datang can continue to trust us, and similar low-interest loans may be needed in the future." ”

Chu Bai smiled, and he said: "There is no problem, in three years, we can provide the United States with a low-interest loan of no less than this year's loan amount every year, so as to maintain the great cause of American independence." ”

Adams was very excited, believing that almost all the members of the Continental Congress present could not help but kiss Chu Bai fiercely. However, Chu Bai himself knows very well that what he said is to say, whether to borrow money or not, and how much to borrow, the cabinet has the ability to handle this group of Americans.

The term of this loan is set within the short-term term of five years, and there is no problem with the repayment ability of the United States, but Chu Bai feels that at this pace, I am afraid that ten years after the independence of the United States, Datang will have a conflict with the United States because of its existence in Florida, and it is naturally impossible to expect the Americans to repay the money or anything at that time, so the loan money must be repaid as soon as possible, so there is a five-year period. (To be continued.) )