Exchanges between countries are often more simple and crude than exchanges between people, especially in the nineteenth century, when colonization peaked, there was no warmth at all, and there was no benevolence, righteousness and morality, whether it was peace or war, all of them were based on their own strength.

If you want not to be beaten, then you have to be tough, and you must let everyone know that you are not easy to provoke, and you can't afford to provoke, so that you can win respect and peace.

From this point of view, the negotiators who signed the treaties in China's history that lost their power and humiliated the country cannot be blamed for a large extent, after all, at the national level, they themselves do not count, after all, they have to listen to the will of those in power, and those diplomats who signed are really just unlucky people who push out to attract firepower.

Therefore, diplomats from weak countries are often very courageous, because most of them know that what they do is hateful, but they have no choice but to play their role painfully, complete their tasks, and win a buffer for their country.

To put it bluntly, even if an unequal treaty is signed, it is also the result of a collision of strength between countries, which shows that the strong country has the power to eat you in one go, and you still have a certain ability to resist, otherwise, what kind of unequal treaty will be signed? Just swallow it with the belt bone.

Of course, although the relationship between countries is fundamentally based on strength, this strength depends on many aspects. And if the ruler is too mediocre and makes stupid moves, it is also possible to give away what he could have kept to the other side, turning the upcoming victory into a complete defeat.

Just like China, when the Manchus ruled in the past, due to the isolation of the country, it was indeed lagging behind the European powers in all aspects, but because of its large land and large population. In addition, the distance from Europe is too far, and the overall strength is still quite good.

At that time, when the Manchus encountered the armed intervention of the British, if they could work hard with all their hearts and minds and show the strength to fight the British to the death, even if they suffered heavy losses in the end, they would not have been forced to sign any unequal treaties such as the "Treaty of Nanjing".

This is the so-called stunned and afraid of the horizontal, and the horizontal is afraid of not dying, if a country puts on a spirit of not stingy, then even if it is temporarily backward, the strong country generally does not dare to bully you.

It's like school violence. You are short in stature, and it is indeed easy to provoke bullying from tall classmates, but if you have a tough personality, do not compromise on any bullying, put on a desperate look, and dare to fight with each other, then after a few fights, you will certainly be bruised all over your body, but from now on. People usually won't mess with you anymore.

But it is a pity that the rotten Manchu bones were too soft, and they were frightened by the fierce attack of the British, and it was actually when the shape of the war was still unclear. He confessed to the British invaders, who were originally tempting, and willingly signed the Treaty of Nanjing.

It doesn't matter if this treaty is signed, it will immediately show China's weakness to the world and make international friends clearly aware of it. It turned out that the Eastern Empire, the boss with a vast territory and a large population, was not an evil dragon at all, but a pig. A fat pig that can be slaughtered at will, but has little resistance!

Since then, more international friends have rushed to China like sharks smelling blood, and began to cut the flesh of this old empire that has already appeared to be weak after the British.

Therefore, it doesn't matter what the process is, the key is the result, and once a country shows a weak posture, it will inevitably attract more blows and covetousness.

The United States is actually a bit similar now.

In the past, the United States has been developing well, and although it cannot be compared with the old empires such as Britain and France, it can already be stronger than countries such as Italy, and is recognized as one of the world's great powers.

However, with the outbreak of the Civil War in the United States itself, after the internal division, its strength has plummeted and it is in a period of extreme weakness.

At this time, Britain and France happened to be in a period of prosperity, and if they were willing to resolutely intervene, they would definitely be able to gain great benefits.

But the problem is that because Lincoln's ingenious response, using both soft and hard methods to deter Britain, and France was devoting all its energy to invading Mexico at that time, it actually allowed the United States to escape and did not attract the armed intervention of Britain and France when it was at its weakest.

By the time the British had unified their internal opinions and wanted to formally send troops to intervene, the American Civil War had basically ended, the country had maintained unity, the overall strength had been restored, and more importantly, it had a large number of battle-experienced troops, which made the British feel that the gains outweighed the losses, and finally sighed and dismissed the attempt to interfere with the United States.

It can be said that the United States in another time and space was completely lucky, and if Britain was willing to send troops decisively at that time, the result would definitely be different, even if it could not maintain the division between the North and the South, it would have allowed the United States to fight the civil war for a longer time.

But in this time and space, because the Chinese took the lead in sending troops, they successively wiped out a large number of effective forces of the US military in the lower reaches of the Mississippi River, successively annihilated the elite of the US military with a total of more than 700,000, and forced them to sign an extremely harsh unequal treaty.

Although the process is debatable, after all, it is bullying people with modern weapons, but outsiders do not know the Tao inside, they only see one fact, that is, the Chinese only dispatched 30,000 people, not a regular army, so they beat the Americans to the ground, not to mention the loss of 700,000 people, and were forced to sign unequal treaties.

So, what do you think after seeing this result? I certainly don't think that the Chinese, who were still backward countries before, are rebellious in terms of combat effectiveness, but only that the Americans are too incompetent and too easy to bully.

Therefore, once the "Smithland Treaty" is announced, the weakness of the United States will be completely exposed, and at that time, as long as Europe is a capable country, it will definitely want to come and get a piece of the pie.

Other countries aside, at least Britain and France, which have already taken action, will certainly increase their interference in the hope of obtaining greater benefits.

Is there any way to stop further coveting? Yes, that's victory!

There is only victory, only after achieving a decisive victory on the battlefield, so that the enemy will retreat in the face of difficulties, feeling that he will have to pay a heavy price, and some gains outweigh the losses. In order to truly curb the bite of more and more hungry wolves in the back.

As a smart man, Pu Anchen understood these truths very well, plus he also knew what his fate would be after he returned, so after signing the treaty, he did not leave and return to China immediately, but stayed, continued to grind hard with Li Yongji, and begged the Chinese to release those American prisoners back.

You know, although the Chinese annihilated more than 700,000 US troops, it looks terrifying on the surface. But in fact, most of them were taken prisoner by the Chinese, and the real casualties were very limited.

The reason for this result is naturally because the Dream Division of the Expeditionary Force is a motorized unit, which has both powerful firepower and mobility, not only attacking sharply, but also catching up with the enemy in time for more effective pursuit tactics.

It is precisely because of its strong mobility that there are basically not many US troops that can run away, or be prisoners. Either get shot, and faced with this choice, most American servicemen choose to surrender.

In other words, Li Yongji is now in his hands. There were at least half a million captives, but they were not grouped together, but scattered across the four cities of New Orleans, Vicksburg, Memphis, and Cairo, a county in the Pressed Mountains.

Although this group of captives was defeated and captured. But they are basically the elite units in the U.S. military, and once these people are put back, whether they are put into the northeast battlefield to deal with the British and French forces. Or put it into the southern theater to deal with the coalition army, it can have unexpected effects.

No, hearing that Pu Anchen was waiting at the door again to ask to see him, Li Yongji patted his forehead: "This guy, he said no, no, why is the ghost still haunting me?" ”

"He's to blame for it." Soho sighed and said, "He's been here for seven days in a row, and every time he stands at the door for a day, he doesn't eat a mouthful of food, so it's no wonder it's hard for him." ”

"Hmph, he is using a humble attitude to carry out compulsive behavior, and he is a virtue with the Japanese, and he is very deceptive, but the essence is to ask others to agree to his conditions, which is another form of unreasonableness." Li Yongji snorted coldly, "He can stand if he wants to, anyway, it's not me who suffers." ”

"Or you'll see him again and make it clear?" "Anyway, he's also a special envoy representing the United States, so if something happens to him here, it's not good to spread the word." ”

"Yes, when I saw him before, I already made it very clear, but do you see that he listened? Why don't you continue to disgust me? Li Yongji shook his head, "Don't worry about dealing with an unreasonable person like him, after a long time, he sees that there is no hope, so he will naturally leave." ”

"Well, well, in that case, that's the way it is." Soho nodded.

"That's right." Li Yongji suddenly said, "The signing of the Treaty of Smithland has long been reported back to China, so many days have passed, what is the domestic response?" ”

"What has been the response at home? Don't you know? Soho was stunned, "Even if you don't have the time to hold a conference call with China recently, I have a conference call with the Prime Minister on time every day, and I have made a summary record of domestic confidential affairs in different categories as before, and it is placed on your desk...... You haven't read those records at all, have you? ”

"No, not at all." Li Yongji smiled bitterly, "It's not that you don't know that I've been busy cutting down trees to pay off debts every day, or you're patrolling the barracks, and you're busy to death, how can you have time to read the text...... Hey, you just say you know you don't know. ”

"Okay." Soho nodded, "If you want to talk about the domestic repercussions, it can be summed up in one word, and the whole country celebrates." ”

Immediately afterward, Soho began to succinctly tell what she knew.

It turned out that since Li Yongji used the telephone to transmit the contents of the "Treaty of Smithland" back to China, the imperial government immediately printed the contents into newspapers, and then began to spread them widely throughout the country.

In particular, for the sake of understanding, the Imperial Government often accompanied the publication of news with a new map of the world, especially of North America, which marked the territories ceded to China in the Treaty of Smithland, all in red.

This method immediately made the self-esteem burst Chinese with surprise, especially when they saw that half of North America had become China's territory, and even the world's largest ocean had since become China's inner ocean, which instantly ignited everyone's pride, all kinds of spontaneous celebrations and large-scale parades one after another, many places set off firecrackers as if it was a New Year, and for three days in a row, and even caused many fires in many places.

Besides. They also made special annotations on the maps, explaining the climatic conditions of these lands, the fertility of the lands, and the new land policies issued by the empire for this purpose.

These comments have allowed more and more Chinese to see a new world while satisfying their self-esteem, especially for those poor homeless and landless poor peasants.

The reason is very simple, as explained above, the newly acquired land is subject to a policy of free farming. As long as you have the status of the Chinese Empire and are a legal resident of the Chinese Empire, you can go to the land called "New Oriental" to cultivate.

According to the new reclamation law, as long as you are a legal resident of the Chinese Empire, you only need to pay a registration fee of 5 Chinese yuan at the Governor's Mansion in Hollywood, California, and you can get 500 acres of land for free, and you can become the legal owner of this land and obtain a land certificate issued by the imperial government after cultivating it for 5 consecutive years.

Furthermore. In the New Oriental area, all taxes are exempt during the five-year trial cultivation period, and although taxes are required after having a land certificate, the tax is very low. Only 1% of the land harvest needs to be paid as land tax.

In order to meet the needs of the vast number of poor people, this time the priority is still to take care of the poor.

In other words, if you don't have the money, you can apply for an unsecured low-interest reclamation loan.

The so-called unsecured low-interest reclamation loan. It means that you don't need to have any collateral, as long as you have a desire to go to the Americas to pioneer and farm, you can sign and pledge at the domestic reclamation agency. The bank will pay you to buy ferry tickets, farm tools, seeds and other items, so that you can go to the Americas to cultivate in peace.

Of course, such a good treatment is also conditional, first of all, asset identification. This loan is specially for the poor, so once you own land and housing, or if your annual income is deemed to be more than 30 Chinese dollars, then you are not entitled to this low-interest loan.

Secondly, you must be in good health, the bank will ask a doctor to give you a physical examination, and you must prove that you are indeed healthy and strong, and there are no adverse diseases.

Finally, you must know how to do farm work, or have a craft, and someone will be sent to check this aspect to make sure that you don't know anything, and you are just lazy or swaggering.

Once all the checks have been cleared, you will be issued a ticket and a voucher on the spot that can only be used in the city of Hollywood.

Next, you can board the boat and go to Hollywood with your ticket and voucher, and then show your ID at the immigration office of the Governor's Mansion in Hollywood, pay the registration fee with the voucher, and you can get your land.

After that, you can go to the agricultural supply supermarket designated by the immigration department, which sells all kinds of agricultural supplies, including farm tools, seeds, pesticides, fertilizers, and even agricultural technology books.

When you purchase what you want, you can pay with vouchers, of course, the price of the purchases must be within the range of vouchers, and you can only use your own cash subsidies to exceed them.

In short, stimulated by all kinds of good news, the whole of China, especially the southeast coastal zone, almost went crazy for this treaty, whether rich or not, they were yearning for the land and resources here, and some small stories of gold mining in the east also began to circulate, which further stimulated the people's immigration and reclamation boom.

In the past, the main thing that restricted everyone from leaving was the lack of money, but now even the banks have proposed to provide low-interest loans to the poor, with the guarantee of the yamen, so what is there to worry about? Then don't hurry up and go early, you won't have a chance to be a big landlord for free.

After all, the new reclamation bill also said that it was only temporary, and once all the land was divided and became owner's land, this policy would no longer be implemented.

At the time of Li Yongji's question, the first batch of colonial fleets in China had already been organized, and it was said that the total number of ships in the fleet was as high as 300 ships, almost all the ships that the government could collect along the coast that could sail to the sea.

As for the number of immigrants who came to settle the land, it is said that there are as many as 250,000 people, and this is still a regular boat ticket, and there is no way to count the people who do not have a ferry ticket.

Because the ticket is issued by the government yamen, not the shipowner, so the yamen can account for a certain percentage of the ticket, but the shipowner may not like to strictly follow the provisions of the ticket, after all, if according to the yamen regulations, how many people a ship can carry, there is a strict number, but the shipowner will often add plugs privately, and the number of stoppers is generally twice the number stipulated by the yamen.

Although the government has been cracking down on the act of plugging in order to ensure the safety of navigation, it is a pity that due to the shortage of manpower, this crackdown has not had much practical effect at all, so the behavior of crew members has been repeatedly prohibited.

Therefore, if you do not count according to the number of tickets, only according to the number of vouchers issued, it has already exceeded the million mark, so the actual number of Chinese on board the fleet is definitely more than 250,000, I am afraid that it has long exceeded 300,000. (To be continued......)