In August, New Orleans is still very hot, with daytime highs of 32 degrees Celsius, and even at night, the temperature is above 24 degrees.

However, the beaches near the Port of New Orleans are quite a good summer resort, with low wind and waves, moderate temperatures, especially clean water, and delicious seafood, even in the 19th century, which is quite a good vacation destination.

The city of New Orleans was originally the land of the Indians, but when the French came, they realized the importance of its geographical location, and through clever tactics, they occupied the land and turned it into a French colony.

Later, New Orleans was finally bought by the Americans after several turnarounds, and soon became one of the most important cities in the United States because of its unique location as the mouth of the Mississippi River, but no matter how it changed, the dominant population here is still predominantly French white, and even the whole city is full of French flavor.

Thanks to the port's ease of trade, by 1840, New Orleans had become a large city of 100,000 people, the fourth largest city in the United States in terms of population size.

As for the Port of New Orleans here, due to its extremely high throughput, it once became the second largest port in the United States, second only to the Port of New York in the north, and was the most important trading port for cotton and grain and other agricultural products exported to the European continent.

After the outbreak of the Civil War, the Port of New Orleans became the largest port in the Confederate Union, and more than eighty percent of the cotton and grain used to be shipped abroad through it, and then exchanged for precious foreign exchange and industrial goods from abroad.

Because of the importance of this place, not long after the start of the war, the Northern Army set its sights on this place. Veteran Winfield. Scott even formulated a targeted "Anaconda Project", the main goal of which was to seize New Orleans.

However, due to the lack of superiority of the Northern Army and Navy at the beginning of the war, it was impossible to completely blockade the major ports of the Southern government, resulting in the inability to implement the Python plan thoroughly.

However, the industrial strength of the Northern Army was there. It only took two or three years for the navy of the Northern Army to grow explosively, and finally completely overwhelmed the navy of the Southern Army, and then the naval units of the Northern Army took advantage of the Grant West Expedition to contain the main force of the Western Theater of the Southern Army, and found the right time to take the risk of breaking through, independently conquering the important city of New Orleans, and cutting off the most important foreign trade port of the Union government in one fell swoop.

However. Not long after the federal navy took the city of New Orleans, the expeditionary force led by Li Yongji suddenly came out of Cuba, stunned by the strong ships and artillery, and forcibly captured the port of New Orleans, completely annihilating the federal naval fleet here, making the owner of the city of New Orleans become Chinese again.

However, due to the relatively small number of expeditionary forces led by Li Yongji at that time, and the fact that he was about to attack the federal army in the north. It's impossible to leave too many garrisons in New Orleans natively, so to make it easy for everyone. They didn't interfere with the city's operations, and still let the locals manage themselves, and the remaining troops of the expeditionary force didn't even enter the main city of New Orleans, which is called Crescent City, but only occupied the Mississippi River port area of New Orleans Harbor.

This is so because the main value of the city of New Orleans lies in the port of New Orleans. As for the city of New Orleans, known as the Crescent City, Li Yongji has no interest in this city that is below sea level, has unstable foundations, and roads collapse at every turn.

Anyway. Because Li Yongji left behind 500 elite marines, a modern frigate and six flying scissor gunboats, coupled with the successive victories of the task force and the expeditionary force at the front, the dominance of the Chinese in New Orleans continued to strengthen.

When Li Yongji led the troops to fight the federal army, although the ruling power of New Orleans was still local, it had to pay taxes to the Chinese on time, and at the same time, because the Chinese controlled the port of New Orleans, the share of foreign trade here also changed, accounting for more than eighty percent of China's imports and exports, and imports and exports to Europe quickly fell to less than two percent.

The reason for this is that the Chinese implement a differential tax collection law, that is, they implement a full tax exemption policy for trade goods from China, while heavy taxes are imposed on trade goods from outside China, especially products from Europe, which are the most taxed.

In this way, there is no need to do anything else, and in order to avoid taxes, everyone naturally increases trade in the direction of China and gradually reduces trade with European countries.

Later, when Li Yongji defeated Memphis, the number of Chinese who came to New Orleans gradually increased, especially mixed with many private mercenaries, resulting in the number of Chinese in New Orleans exceeding 20,000 in one fell swoop, of which the number of mercenaries alone exceeded 13,000.

The emergence of so many Chinese, especially Chinese mercenaries, has greatly changed the original political status quo of New Orleans, and the Chinese have also torn off the veil of warmth, and there are more and more interferences in New Orleans.

The reason why it did not cause much backlash was that the land enclosed by Chinese merchants was the land occupied by the northern army at the beginning.

In other words, after occupying New Orleans, the naval forces of the Northern Army once circled the land, but they did not actually make measurements, but only took the map and compared it a few times, and turned a large amount of land outside the Crescent City of New Orleans into the private land of the officers and men of the Northern Army and Navy, and only waited for the situation to stabilize in the future, and then find a way to turn these virtual things into real wealth.

To put it bluntly, the original northern army and naval units did not really want to take over those lands at all, but wanted to go back and sell them to their own merchants to make a profit, but this behavior made the Chinese cheap.

You must know that the name of the expeditionary force was to deal with the northern government of the United States, and since it was an enemy, it was understandable to forcibly receive the enemy's wealth. As for whether this enemy's wealth was robbed of someone else's family, that's none of my business.

It has to be said that the learning ability of Chinese businessmen is quite strong. In particular, the first group of Fujian merchants who went to San Francisco and Los Angeles to make money did not learn anything else, and the bandit behavior of the great powers was learned ten out of ten, and what they were best at was to use the Chinese military to loot wealth.

It's like a map of the land demarcated by the Confederate Army during the occupation of New Orleans, and this group of people is regarded as a capture. Then they divided it up in public, and even they immediately gathered a crowd to create a Chinese version of the exquisite title deed, and quickly took back the Red Fort in Hollywood, so that the North American Governor's Mansion was stamped with a big red seal representing the Chinese imperial government.

Once stamped with the big red seal of the North American Governor's Office, it means that this title deed has been recognized and protected by the North American Governor's Office, and if it is recognized and protected by the North American Governor's Office, it is equivalent to being recognized and protected by the Chinese Imperial Government.

Judging from the current strong style of the Chinese Empire, this means that the title deed has legal and effective legal benefits, and it also means that the land specified in the title deed is really owned by the owner of the title deed.

So to speak. The cost of acquiring land is quite small, and you only need to pay a small handling fee, but this amount of money is really nothing compared to the vast amount of land acquired.

Americans, no, should it be said that the New Orleans of the Confederate government are happy or not? It must be upset, but it can't be helped. Who put them in a weak position, so they can only endure it.

In the beginning. Some locals protested, and even hoped that the government of the Confederate States of the United States would negotiate to help retake the land that belonged to them, but unfortunately, after finding that the government of the Confederate States did not care about this stubble, they gradually despaired. I know that at least for now, these lands are either going to come back.

In this way, these New Orleans natives began to look forward to the end of the war, hoping that when the war was over, the Chinese would leave. At that time, they can buy back the land from these Chinese for a little more money at most.

The reason is very simple, because in the eyes of these New Orleans locals, it is impossible for the Chinese to live here for a long time, and in this case, it is impossible for them to really hold so much land for a long time, so they all regard this as a means for the Chinese to rip off the bamboo, thinking that the Chinese want to make a fortune from it.

Originally, there was nothing wrong with this idea, after all, many Chinese businessmen who came here to do this were the original idea.

However, when the expeditionary force negotiated peace with the Northern Union government, led the entire army to retreat to New Orleans, and solemnly announced that the city of New Orleans would be turned into a Chinese concession, the people of New Orleans became completely troubled.

Just kidding, no one knows the meaning of the term concession better than white Westerners, after all, they rely on this trick to plant flags everywhere and occupy land. And once New Orleans becomes a Chinese concession port, it means that it will seriously become the territory of the Chinese in the future, and it is no different from the land of their own family.

However, in the face of the nearly 80,000 Chinese gathered in the New Orleans area, especially when most of them were elite troops, New Orleans, with a total population of only over 100,000, except for a little verbal protest at the beginning, quickly died down and acquiesced to this ending.

Of course, it cannot be said that it is tacit, it can only be said that the good men of New Orleans do not suffer immediate losses, do not admit this matter, but they do not know what to oppose, anyway, no matter what the local Chinese demand, they will do everything.

The reason why this is so is because these New Orleans have long understood that they have no say or autonomy in this matter, and everything has to be judged by others.

However, these New Orleans are not too worried, after all, they know very well that the Confederate government, or the Richmond government, must be more anxious than them for such a thing as turning New Orleans into a Chinese concession, so they just need to wait for the outcome of the negotiations.

Sure enough, the Union government attached great importance to this matter, and after receiving the news, it quickly sent a negotiation delegation, and the head of the delegation was still the Vice President of the Union State, Alexander Brown. Stephens.

Alexander. Stephens had been to New Orleans once before, and when he came here, Lee was still in Smithland. Stephens came here to have a private negotiation with Li Yongji.

The content of the negotiations was that Davis hoped to exchange the land west of the Mississippi River for the full support of the Chinese government, including material and financial support, to cooperate with the northern offensive of the Southern Army, so as to completely defeat the northern government and complete the cause of unifying the North and the South.

As a matter of fact. Anyone with a little brain knows that Davis's conditions are rather insincere, because the conditions he is talking about, that is, the land west of the Mississippi River, are not currently under the rule of the Union government, and these lands are not given in the first place. There is no loss for the coalition government, but it can receive a lot of material support from the Chinese government.

As for the future, if the Southern government really completely defeats the Northern Army and completes the reunification of the United States, Davis can completely regret it, after all, whether it is the Southern United States or the Northern United States, the president is not a lifelong system, and it is a big deal to wait for the new president to come to power and not recognize those treaties.

Anyway, the treaty is such a thing. To put it bluntly, it is a piece of paper, and whether to comply with it or not depends on each other's strength.

If you have the strength to ensure sufficient deterrence, then the treaty can be complied with, but if the deterrent effect is insufficient, then the treaty will lose its effectiveness.

So, in Davis's opinion. The most important thing at the moment is to defeat the Northern Army. Accomplish the great cause of American reunification.

That's right, not only does the government in the North want reunification, but in fact the government in the South also wants reunification, and they do not recognize themselves as separatists, they all claim to be the legitimate government of the United States, and the other side is an illegitimate government. The fundamental purpose of this war is actually an internal struggle for power.

In fact, both Lincoln in the North and Davis in the South are very soberly aware that the United States cannot be divided, once it is divided into two countries. That power will be greatly weakened, and they will not be able to defend themselves against the aggressive new powers of globalization, such as Britain, France, and China.

Therefore, reunification is the consensus of the rulers of the north and the south, but because the differences between the two sides are too great to solve the problem through moderate methods, they have no choice but to use war to strive for the final victory.

During this period, the territory of the United States seemed to be very large, but in fact, the real core territory was only the area east of the Mississippi River, of which the thirteen states of North America were the largest.

If nothing else, when Americans talk about the West at this time, they are not mainly talking about San Francisco and other places, but referring to places like the Mississippi River Valley, such as Louisiana.

As for the land west of the Mississippi River, it is a vast and sparsely populated barren land, with a pitiful small population, strictly speaking, only administratively belonging, many of which are still colonies, and most of them are not the core territories of the United States, and are of little value in terms of strategy and economy.

Of course, this is not to say that Americans do not value the land, on the contrary, their enthusiasm for the land is quite large, but the Americans are completely businessmen and have a serious businessman mentality, which has been ingrained in their bones since the beginning of their founding.

Therefore, for Davis, it is a very cost-effective thing to exchange some non-core territory for a batch of much-needed military aid, because now the Southern Army has an overall advantage on the battlefield, but the economic problems are serious and it lacks stamina.

Once the Chinese government receives assistance at this time and can defeat the Northern Army in one go, the overall situation of reunification will be decided.

As for the issue of land ownership in the future, it is not a problem, anyway, he will not be responsible, it is a headache for the new president.

As for Davis, as long as he can defeat the Northern Army and unify the United States, then he is a hero of the United States, and as for the issue of the ownership of land in the west, it can be downplayed and dealt with, and when the United States becomes stronger, he can regret it at any time.

It's a pity that Davis's idea didn't succeed, and Li Yongji also verbally promised to help mediate, but there was no substance, so Alexander simply went back after the negotiations were fruitless, after all, this kind of thing can't be made public, and he is also very embarrassed.

However, this time the situation is different, after all, the city of New Orleans is very important in terms of economic and strategic value, it is an indispensable city for the government of the South, and it is the core territory of the United States.

But now that Li Yongji has a signed contract signed by the government of the Northern United States of America, which justifiably demands that New Orleans be turned into a Chinese concession, the situation is completely different and Davis cannot tolerate.

That's right, when Li Yongji was negotiating with the northern government in Smithland, he once signed a contract to treat New Orleans as a Chinese concession, but this contract was a secret agreement, not a public content, so not many people knew about it.

However, after all, this is a contract recognized by the U.S. government, and it has certain legal effect, not to mention that Li Yongji's army forcibly captured this place, and it was taken from the federal army, strictly speaking, the previous owner of this city was the federal government, not the alliance government, so this makes this matter quite tricky.

Of course, the most difficult problem is that now the alliance government is still inseparable from the Chinese, to be precise, without the support of the Chinese government, especially material support, not to mention the combat effectiveness of the expeditionary force, which almost defeated the northern army on its own.

If it really turns around at this time and causes the Chinese government to declare war on the Confederate countries again, it will not be bad, at least Davis does not have the slightest confidence that he can win.

Therefore, Alexander. Stephens came to New Orleans this time, and the task was quite difficult, because he had to not anger the Chinese without losing New Orleans, and it was best to let the Chinese get out of the way early and stop hanging around here.

As you can imagine, even Alexander. Stephens himself knows that this task is difficult to accomplish, after all, who wants to spit out the fat in their mouths? It is impossible not to pay a price, and whatever the outcome, it must be a huge stain on him personally.

But isn't it, if he agrees to the Chinese's conditions, he is a traitor, and if he does not agree to the Chinese's conditions, leading to war, he is a national sinner. Anyway, it's not a traitor or a sinner of the country, so there's not much difference.

But now he has no other way, after all, his fate is difficult to disobey, so he can only come and give it a try.

Fortunately, Alexander. Stephens also thought of a way to deal with it, which was to drag the negotiation process down as much as possible, and to fight without breaking it, so that at most he would be labeled as incompetent, and if he could get out of it, it would be really God forbid.

Alexander. Stephens had thought about it, and when this matter was settled, it would be too dangerous to say that he would not be in politics in the central government in Richmond, and that he might as well go back and be a free state legislator or a happy judge. (To be continued......)