When Shen Shiming was holding a meeting with representatives of local warlords at all levels to discuss how to peacefully reunify the whole of China, Li Yongji was not idle, and he was making a telephone call with Li Yongchang, who was far away in the United States, to discuss the situation in the United States.

In fact, Li Yongchang is still in San Francisco, and he has not gone deep into the interior of the United States, nor has he met President Lincoln and the interim president of the Confederate Davis, and he has not implemented any plans such as buying land in Texas.

The reason why Li Yongchang did not continue to go deep into the interior of the United States and continue to stay in San Francisco was not because of the outbreak of the Civil War, after all, he had expected this, anyway, he was a foreign envoy, and he was escorted by troops, and he actually had to take a boat to the eastern part of the United States, so it would generally be fine.

Therefore, the real reason for his stay was because he was moved by the misery of the local Chinese in San Francisco, and in order to protect the interests of the Chinese, he stayed in the local area to negotiate with the San Francisco government, hoping to give the Chinese better treatment.

The Chinese in San Francisco, in the early history of the establishment of San Francisco, can be said to be full of tragedy, and the reason why San Francisco Chinatown is famous is actually a product of discrimination.

Before the official establishment of the San Francisco City Government in 1846, the Chinese had already lived in San Francisco, and the first generation of Chinese who came to the United States to start a business and make a living were Cantonese.

As early as 1807, Cantonese merchants had arrived in the United States and brought Chinese silk, ceramics, seafood, tobacco and other products to the United States, marking the first step of the Chinese into the American continent. However, at that time, the number of Chinese in San Francisco was very small, and it was not an ethnic group at all.

However, since 1840, China has been opened by the great powers, especially after the signing of the Sino-American Treaty of Wangxia in 1844, and the poor Cantonese began to be transported in large quantities like "selling piglets", and the first place was San Francisco.

Then, the gold rush rose. By 1850, the Chinese population in San Francisco had already exceeded the 1,000 mark, and as their numbers grew, they were considered "inferior citizens" by the government of the time, along with Italian immigrants, blacks, poor whites, and sailors, and stipulated that they could only live in certain areas so as not to "pollute" other places.

That is, Chinese in San Francisco have been discriminated against by other European immigrants and Californians. For example, California law does not allow Chinese to have citizenship rights and cannot vote. You can't live in gold and stone mined in gold mines, you can't live outside Chinatown, you can't own real estate, and other strict regulations.

To put it bluntly, these Chinese are all foreign indentured laborers, and they are not regarded as Americans at all, they are just some illegal workers with no identity.

In order to survive, they had to move around in a small area centered on Grant Street, which is where Chinatown came from.

When Li Yongchang arrived here, there were only about 3,000 Chinese in the entire Chinatown. Most of them are engaged in drudgery such as mining, with low salaries, poor salaries, and even a decent organization. Even more unarmed, a loose and cowardly group.

Despite this, the Chinese are already a relatively large alien group in San Francisco. You know, at this time, the population of the entire state of Upper and Lower California is all combined. There are only 380,000 people, and although most of them are concentrated in San Francisco, the population of the San Francisco area is only a little over 100,000. Therefore, if there are more than 3,000 Chinese, it can be regarded as a large ethnic group.

Historically, it wasn't until the Pacific Railroad was built that the number of Chinese laborers increased dramatically, but for now, the Chinese here are still a minority.

The number of Chinese here is small, and there are no guns, and there is no strong state to support these Chinese, so they naturally have to suffer a lot of eyes and cannot protect their rights and interests.

Although the white army in San Francisco, including the police and militia combined, was only a little over 2,000 people, it was still able to outmaneuver these cowardly Chinese, not to mention that almost every other white man had a gun.

However, the situation finally changed after Li Yongchang arrived here with a fleet of visiting Wèn regiments.

Although the Chinese Empire has not yet revealed its minions in the world at this time, Li Yongchang is a prince after all, and he is a special envoy who came to the United States to visit Wèn on behalf of a country, and his identity is not ordinary, plus Li Yongchang himself also brought many armed forces, and these armed forces showed extraordinary combat effectiveness when they first arrived in San Francisco.

You know, due to the gold rush, San Francisco at this time was a completely chaotic place, full of ruffians and hooligans, there were duels every day, and people were dying every day, and even the so-called San Francisco city government was actually not very binding.

In the seven years from 1849 to 1856, there were thousands of homicides and robberies in San Francisco alone, especially in Los Angeles, which was far from the San Francisco gold mines, but was so unsafe that it was called "Los Diablos".

Therefore, even if Li Yongchang is a foreign envoy, when he first came to San Francisco, he encountered a lot of troubles.

Li Yongchang himself is gone, after all, he lives directly in the manor of the mayor's house, and his safety is guaranteed, but his subordinates will inevitably go shopping in the market to relax, and naturally they will inevitably encounter daily behaviors such as robbery.

However, most of the people who can go shopping and relax are the guards who have finished their shifts, they are all from the regular army, and the weapons and equipment are also quite good, usually at least five people act together, plus they have been approved in advance, so once they encounter robbery, they will immediately return fire.

So many times, especially after the ruthless killing of all the robbers on the spot, everyone knows that these Chinese from China are ruthless characters, so no one comes to trouble them anymore.

After that, Li Yongchang received the local Chinese representatives, heard their tragic plight, and discussed with Li Yongji by telephone, and then took a series of measures to help these poor Chinese workers.

Although under California law, Chinese cannot own real estate and cannot enjoy citizenship treatment, that is actually talking about Qing people, not people from the Chinese Empire.

After Lincoln came to power, the U.S. government publicly recognized the legitimacy of the Chinese Empire long ago, although later due to the outbreak of the American Civil War, it did not sign a detailed treaty with China, and there was no detailed explanation of the rights and interests between the two peoples. But again, California law has no law regarding the treatment of the subjects of the Chinese Empire in California.

In other words, the rights and interests of the citizens of the Chinese Empire in California are all a legal void, a blank, that is, between what can and can't, and there can be loopholes.

San Francisco thrived for a while as a result of the Gold Rush, but only a handful of people were rich, and San Francisco's government officials remained poor.

To put it bluntly, government people in San Francisco. Those mayors, councillors, and so on, are still very poor, and they can't compare with the eastern regions.

So in this case, bribery is a good tool.

Real money, no, take some aspirin and seaborne out, and soon you can buy off the local councillor and mayor, and then things will be easy to do.

Because there is no detailed international treaty between China and the United States, it is for convenience. Li Yongchang asked an attaché named Li Muhua to come forward and use his own personal name to buy land from the state government in California.

This Li Muhua is actually an American, and Li Muhua is a Chinese name. His English name was Edward. John.

This guy was only about thirty years old, originally a boatswain on a merchant ship, and later joined the foreign rifle corps, and married and had children in China. He also joined the nationality of the Chinese Empire, and his current identity is the Chinese-American first mate on the battleship Weiyuan.

In other words. This Li Muhua is a dual national, an authentic American, and it is no problem for him to come forward to buy the land.

In this way, with Li Muhua, or Edward, Li Yongchang used drugs worth 20,000 taels of silver to buy about 30,000 acres of land near West Los Angeles, including Beverly Hills, and near Hollywood in later generations, about 20 square kilometers.

The reason why it is so cheap is that the price of land in California is not expensive at this time, except for the slight appreciation of the gold mines near San Francisco, Los Angeles, which is far away from San Francisco, is purely a wasteland.

At this time, Los Angeles had a total population of less than 3,000 people, and the law and order was chaotic, except for poor ghosts and murderers, no one wanted to go at all.

Therefore, at this time, Los Angeles was not so much a city as a town, except for a little bit of the city center, everything else was a suburb, and the places including Hollywood in later generations, even Beverly Hills, were now all proper wasteland, so these lands were sold at the price of wasteland.

In fact, at this time, there were very few people in the United States who could take out 20,000 taels of silver to buy land at one time, let alone the west, not to mention drugs that were more valuable than silver.

The so-called drug worth 20,000 taels of silver is calculated according to the wholesale price, not the local price in the United States, and it is a very pure drug, and the government officials in San Francisco can sell it for more than double the price immediately if they are slightly adulterated, and the supply exceeds demand, is there anything better than this?

You know, in the past, Bayer Pharmaceutical's products were mainly exported to the United Kingdom and France, because these two countries have a better foundation in China, there are many rich people, and there are colonies nearby, which can keep pouring precious metals into China in exchange for drugs. The United States is different, the United States is actually just starting out, and the road is farther, coupled with the current internal turmoil, so there are still a few businessmen who can really spend a lot of money to resell drugs.

When Li Yongchang first came to the United States, he brought a lot of medicines, which were an important commodity to open up the American market, and now he can exchange some barren land for medicines, especially during the war, which is naturally the best.

Of course, the 30,000 acres of land was nominally bought by the American Li Muhua, but the actual owner was the royal family of the Chinese Empire, that is, Li Yongji.

As for the legal issue of ownership, this is not a problem at all, anyway, Li Muhua himself is just a person in front of the stage who is under control, and under the condition that his family and himself are under control, he does not dare to disobey the emperor's order at all, in other words, he is just a puppet.

In fact, Li Yongji didn't expect these treaties to work or anything, he just needed a temporary legal base to move forward so that he could easily emigrate. As long as there are enough Chinese and the force is strong enough, then it is still impossible to say who belongs to this land, who has the final say, and whose law to listen to.

After buying this piece of land in Hollywood, Li Yongchang re-recruited all the Chinese workers who remained in San Francisco under his command and became his own laborers.

Li Yongchang is a diplomatic envoy. There is also the Armed Guard, and most of the bribery officials in California are also oriented towards Li Yongchang, and ordinary American businessmen can't compete with him at all, so they can only obediently comply.

"That is, you've landed there now?"

"Yes, Your Majesty." Li Yongchang's voice came from the phone, although it was slightly lost, but the clarity was still good, "I have now changed the name of that land to Hollywood according to your wishes." When our new port is built, we will call it a good port. ”

The so-called Port Hollywood, in fact, was the location of the later Port of Los Angeles, which was also a wasteland at this time, and was also within the scope of being bought.

As for Los Angeles at this time, there were less than 3,000 people in total, and there was no decent port at all, nor did there be any decent industry, at most hotels and bars. Actually, it's more of a transit station. It's just an intermediate city where outsiders can go to San Francisco to pan for gold.

That said, without San Francisco's gold rush, Los Angeles might still be a barren land that would have taken a long time to develop. But the gold rush brought a lot of immigrants to Los Angeles, and many of them had no money to return home after the gold rush failed, so they had to live in San Francisco. If you can't even afford to live in San Francisco, you'll have to settle down in Los Angeles, which is cheaper.

So, buy the place. It is very convenient to immigrate, and this place is also the place where Li Yongji is scheduled to stay.

"Now that I've settled, if I send the Legion of Immigrants over now, will there be any trouble?"

"I think that's fine." Li Yongchang said, "This land was nominally bought by the Americans, and we emigrated here, so we can be regarded as privately hired Chinese laborers, and they have no reason to stop it." However, those officials in California also said that if they want to move Chinese laborers, they can only live in the place we bought, not go out of that place. Moreover, Chinese laborers cannot have the right to buy land, nor can they have the right to vote or anything like that, anyway, the conditions are the same as those for Qing people, they are only laborers, and they do not enjoy the treatment of local citizens. ”

"It's okay." Li Yongji smiled, "Now that we have few people, listen to them first, anyway, as long as it is in the name of a private employee, it will be no problem if you don't go out of that place, right?" When I move him to 100,200,000 and a fully armed armed construction corps, it will not be certain who will listen to whom. ”

"Your Majesty, are you really going to do this?" Li Yongchang asked, "In this case, we will have to tear our faces with the California government." The California government itself is nothing, but California is a state in the United States, and if we want to deal with California, we will be at war with the United States. ”

"If there is a war, there will be a war, California is far away in the west, and the United States has not built a railroad, so if we want to send troops over, it is better for us to ship it quickly." Li Yongji said, "Besides, now that the United States is fighting a civil war, I originally felt that there was no excuse to intervene, after all, it was morally unreasonable to directly help the South." Now is the right time, we can immigrate to California first, and then we can stir up trouble and fight the California government when we are strong enough.

When the time comes, California will definitely ask the US government for help, and we can intervene in the name of protecting overseas Chinese and officially start a war against the United States. In this way, the war between us and the United States is not for the liberation of slaves, but for the legitimate rights and interests of the Chinese, which is morally better.

In short, California is a very important base for moving forward, and whether we can gain a foothold in the local area depends on whether California can be completely in our hands, so you must run that place in Hollywood well. ”

"But I'm a diplomatic envoy after all." Li Yongchang said, "My purpose is to visit the United States, so I can't stay here in San Francisco all the time, right?" ”

"It's not easy." Li Yongji said, "You can completely say that because the United States is at war, for security reasons, it chooses to stay in San Francisco for the time being, and then make a routine visit to San Francisco when the situation is stable, presumably it should be fine." ”

"Is that really going to work?"

"Absolutely." Li Yongji said, "We are big financiers, and those who want to throw money and materials in the local area are all rushed by the Americans. When you build Hollywood, you can build a royal palace in the name of usually going to a high-class party or something, and you can be as luxurious as you can, and you must give people the feeling that the nouveau riche is not bad for money and greedy for enjoyment, you know? ”

"yes, I see." Li Yongchang said, "Is this to let them relax their vigilance? ”

"Yes, just let your guard down!" Li Yongji said, "In the early stage, our strength was not strong. It's better to have nothing to do with each other, and when we are stronger and more prepared, it's not too late to turn against them. ”

"Yes, Your Majesty." Li Yongchang said, "So do you still buy those places like Texas that you are talking about?" ”

"Of course you want to buy it." Li Yongji said, "It's still the old way, find a reliable American to come forward, and go to the south to buy land in his name." These places are all wastelands now, but in fact, there are treasures hidden underneath. As for the purchase of funds, you say that you can use weapons as funds, and presumably the American Southerners must be willing. ”

"Oh, got it, I'll arrange it." Li Yongchang said, "Then we won't be in contact with the northern government?" ”

"It's not that it's not touching." Li Yongji thought for a while, "That's it, you sit in the rear by yourself." But you can send Rong Hong to the north and let him visit Wèn in his private capacity, saying that our Chinese empire loves peace and deeply regrets the civil war in the United States. I hope that everyone will not go to war, sit down and negotiate and so on. Anyway, say something nice, and then come back with some orders with the locals, preferably some arms orders. ”

"Munitions?" Li Yongchang lost his voice. "Are you going to sell arms to the North?"

"Yes, as long as the price is right."

"But Your Majesty, aren't we going to support the South? Why do you still want to sell arms to the North? ”

"It's very simple, I ask you, are our weapons powerful? Whether it is a musket or an artillery, how is it better than that of the US Army? ”

"Of course it's better for us."

"That's right." Li Yongji said, "If we only help the south, I am afraid that the south will soon be able to defeat the north, which is not good for us." And we don't sell arms to the North, with the production capacity of the North, they will soon be able to produce enough weapons, so let's say, we sell on both sides, and make money on both sides, so that they can also fight a little more fiercely. ”

"But didn't you say that sooner or later we will have to declare war on the government of the North in the United States?" Li Yongchang said, "Will it be detrimental to us to strengthen the northern government army in this way?" ”

"You can rest assured that what we sell them is the goods we intend to obsolete, and we have better ones. So the more we sell them, the more money we make, the better our own weapons will be. Of course, there is also a quantity of arms sold, not too much, not too little, but this will be talked about later, you just need to ask Rong Hong to reveal the meaning of selling arms. However, as far as I am concerned, the government of the North will certainly not appreciate it at first, unless they are beaten and will not think of us. ”

"Oh, yes, I see." Li Yongchang sighed when he said this, "But in this way, I can't travel around the world, and I have to stay here as a pioneer cattle." ”

"Hehe, this is no way, who makes the plan not as fast as the change, to travel around the world, there will be opportunities in the future, not bad at this moment, or help me see California first, how can traveling around the world compare to expanding the territory."

Indeed, at the beginning, Li Yongji just wanted Li Yongchang to go to the US government to investigate, buy land and sell materials by the way, and build friendships, who knew that Li Yongchang's fleet was too slow, and it took a lot of time in Hawaii, and as a result, when the fleet arrived in San Francisco, California, the American Civil War had already broken out.

The war had broken out, and many of the previous strategies were no longer useful, so after establishing a stable communication station and foothold, Li Yongji quickly changed his mind and decided to take this opportunity to directly swallow California and treat California as a colony of the Chinese Empire.

As mentioned earlier, the total number of people in the entire two states of California is only 380,000, and this includes men, women, and children. With so many people scattered over such a large area, it is definitely synonymous with vast land and sparsely populated.

And California is a treasure of feng shui, not to mention the gold in the ground, not to mention the oil in the bay, itself this place is also suitable for the development of agriculture, even in later generations, California's agriculture is one of the best in the United States.

In the past, Li Yongji only thought about how awesome the United States was, and even if there was a civil war in the United States, he would at most think about how to reap some benefits, but he never dared to think about cutting a place from the United States.

But in fact, if you think about it, cutting the meat of the United States is nothing, and it is not a big deal, especially in this part of California.

To say that California did occupy a pivotal position in later generations, but at that time, the modern society, for the time being, the United States had just swallowed up, except for the discovery of gold, there were no other noteworthy resources, such as iron ore and coal, which have not been discovered. So according to the current American point of view, that place is a proper enclave of the state, get the best, and if you don't have it, you won't cry and grab the land, after all, it was snatched from Mexico, and it will only take more than ten years to get it.

In the absence of the Panama Canal and the Pacific Railroad, once California is captured, it is impossible for the Americans to regain it by force without launching a national war.

And now that the United States is in a civil war, this is a once-in-a-lifetime good time, because the United States has no time to take care of California's affairs, and even if California becomes independent or is invaded, it is estimated that it will not be able to take care of California's affairs within two or three years.

But once there is a period of two or three years, with China's population and transmission capacity, plus its own golden finger, if 500,000 people immigrate to California, and then arm a little, I am afraid that the United States will never want to take California back.

If you open yourself up to transport people and troops to the United States, in fact, the transportation efficiency is not much worse than that of the United States sending troops from the mainland to the California region.

If California can win it, it will be stable for a few years, and it may not be impossible to take other states along the way, and then the entire Pacific Ocean will be its own inland sea, is there a better situation than this?

Therefore, at that time, Li Yongji's ambition became bigger again, and he no longer thought about splitting the United States into two countries, and then he made some money from it and got some oil resources, but wanted to cut meat from the United States, knock down the western part of the United States, become a colony of the Chinese Empire, and make the Pacific Ocean completely become the inland sea of the Chinese Empire!

As long as it can become a fait accompli, after a long time, after all the main ethnic groups in the western region are dyed yellow, it will no longer be able to become the territory of the United States, and at that time, the United States will truly cease to be a threat to the Chinese Empire!

Although this plan is a bit bold, it is not unfeasible, after all, now that the United States is in a civil war, if it can successfully take California, Britain and other powers will probably not be idle, and will follow suit.

"Ah, speaking of which, it's nice to be able to live in this era." Thinking of this, Li Yongji smiled, "The era of the great powers, only about fists, regardless of anything else, so this is the era when the final national territory is determined."

If we can't determine the final territory of the country in this era, it will be difficult to think so willful again after the national consciousness of the country is fully awakened and science and technology are more advanced. Therefore, if you miss this village, you will no longer have this store, no matter how difficult it is, you have to do it! (To be continued......)