Nanyang Storm 1864

Chapter 257: International Poker Game Surrounding Alaska
In the afternoon of December 1867, 12

A large fleet from North America arrived at the port of Manila. The fleet consisted of 17 sailing cargo ships, loaded with saltpeter from Chile, buffalo hides from North America, some machinery and equipment, more than white scholars of all kinds, and books that had been collected with great effort. They arrived at the dock to unload cargo and disembark passengers.

Among these people, the most prominent one is Zheng Xin, the Chinese trade representative to the United States, who has been in the United States for two and a half years.

He was of medium height, with a round face, gold-rimmed glasses, a mustache at the corners of his lips, and a well-fitting Scottish twill wool suit. He was accompanied by an elegant white woman, and the two looked very intimate.

This white woman was Zheng Xin's lover, a widow known as Mrs. Chapman.

Her husband Chapman was a cavalry lieutenant. During a battle to encircle an Indian tribe, he unfortunately fell off his horse and broke his neck.

Manila Pier
There were many high-ranking officials and their wives who came to welcome them. The Chu government had many white officials, and its governance philosophy was open, so it incorporated many Western etiquette of welcoming and seeing off guests.

Zheng Xin walked forward, and Mrs. Chapman took his arm. After exchanging a few words with the high-ranking officials who came to greet him, he boarded the carriage and headed towards the Royal City of Manila.

This time returning to China
First, I have to go to Ganquan Palace to meet His Majesty, report on important matters during my stay in the United States, and prepare the last batch of goods, books and raw materials purchased from the United States.

After three years of bargain hunting and selling off supplies after the American Civil War, it is now coming to an end, and it will be difficult to have large-scale centralized transactions in the future.

After arriving at Ganquan Palace
Colonel Zheng Shan, the head of the Royal Guard, came out to greet the king personally and said that His Majesty had canceled other audience schedules and would meet the king in the presence of Lord Zheng Xin, the Marquis of Dongge.

The two men were old acquaintances. After exchanging a few pleasantries, Colonel Zheng Shan led Lord Zheng Xin straight up to the second floor and headed towards the East Pavilion where His Majesty conducted daily government affairs.

When Lord Zheng Xin arrived, the muezzin called out his name loudly, saying, "... Lord Zheng Xin, the US Trade Representative, is here to see you."

King Zheng Guohui of Chu, who was sitting behind the dragon table in the East Pavilion reviewing memorials, raised his head when he heard the voice, casually put down the memorial in his hand, and looked outside the door.

At this moment

Colonel Zheng Shan led Lord Zheng Xin into the room and announced loudly, "Your Majesty, I have been ordered to bring Zheng Xin, the US Trade Representative, to see you. I respectfully request your permission."

"Come in……"

As King Zheng Guohui of Chu spoke, he stood up with a kind smile on his face.

Zheng Xin, who had just entered the room, saw this and quickly ran a few steps forward. Then he knelt on the ground with his hands on his knees, kowtowed and said:

"Your Majesty, I have been in America for over two years. Today I am able to return to the Kingdom and have an audience with Your Majesty. I am so excited that I can hardly contain myself.

I wish Your Majesty long life and good health! May our great Chu nation enjoy prosperity and lasting generations."

"Excuse me, Qingyun, there's no need for such a grand ceremony. Come... and take a seat."

"Thank you for your presence!"

King Zheng Guoyao of Chu stepped forward and held Zheng Xin's arm, and Zheng Xin stood up. At this moment, he was so excited that tears were streaming down his face, and his expression was sincere.

Zheng Xin was originally one of the four major aides, and was also from Qidong, Tongzhou Prefecture. He belonged to the Zheng family's branch, which was not too far away.

A staff member is considered a kind of retainer, so it is okay to call himself "the King of Chu's retainer". "Qingyun" is Zheng Xin's pen name.

At this time, King Zheng Guohui of Chu called out "Qingyun", which seemed particularly cordial.

King Zheng Guohui of Chu did not return to the dragon table, but took Zheng Xin to sit in the small living room furnished with a palace-style sofa.

Only a few ministers, including Prime Minister Li Hezhang, Minister of Transportation Father Wehorst, and Minister of Agriculture Zhongqiu, enjoyed this preferential treatment.

Now, Zheng Xin also enjoys it, which makes him feel honored and he can't help but have tears in his eyes again.

After the royal maid served tea, Zheng Xin's expression became serious. He took out a thick notebook and began to report his experience in the United States.

I will just briefly mention the general things during my stay in the United States;

Zheng Xin and his team from the trade representative office conducted numerous business negotiations and purchased a large number of factory machinery, armaments, ships and other important materials for the kingdom.

Zheng Xin made an indelible contribution to the initial formation of the Chu State's industrial system.

The total cost was US$255.4328, including a US$100 million credit loan from the Bank of China, which was used to transport large quantities of materials and equipment back to the country, and all the expenses were spent.

There have been sixteen batches of material transport fleets in succession, and this is the last batch returning.

When Zheng Xin returned, there was only $1722 left in the account of the US Trade Representative Office. The building originally rented had been vacated, and a three-story property with a courtyard was purchased in San Francisco to be used as the future office location of the US Trade Representative Office.

Chu and the United States have established diplomatic relations. The new Chu ambassador to the United States is on his way to Washington. Consular officials have arrived at the consulate established in San Francisco on the west coast and have begun to perform their duties.

from now on

The status of the Chinese Trade Representative Office in the United States will be significantly reduced and it will become an ordinary window to the outside world.

In response to His Majesty's orders to collect books, Zheng Xin bought almost all the foreign language books and periodicals currently available on the market. He also packed up the libraries of three poorly managed cities and shipped them back together this time.

In order to recruit the required talents, Zheng Xin took his team to the East Coast and Detroit, a heavy industrial center in the Great Lakes region, for more than three months.

They recruited a group of experienced experts and scholars from schools and factories, promised them salaries slightly higher than the local salary level in the United States, and also promised to provide them with real estate, women and other conveniences.

The final result was that the more than 200 white experts brought back this time, regardless of their original German, French, Austrian or Scottish descent, were generally able to communicate proficiently in English, which saved a lot of trouble.

Also returning with them were 127 Chinese students who had studied in the United States for two years. In the future, varying numbers of Chinese students will return every year to meet the needs of the grassroots level of the Chu government.

In foreign affairs

The current Washington government has a friendly attitude towards the Chu State. A few hard-line white politicians have raised the issue of the Chu State's unauthorized occupation of Midway Island and Wake Island in Congress, but it did not cause much stir.

Whoever discovers, occupies, owns it.

This is the international rule that has been in force since the Age of Discovery, which is tacitly accepted by major countries in the world and is legally tenable.

It is really embarrassing to argue over two small Pacific islands with a total area of ​​more than ten square kilometers.

Due to the lack of information at the time, most politicians in Congress did not understand the location and significance of these two small Pacific islands, nor did they care about these trivial matters.

The United States just purchased Alaska for US$720 million in March of this year, which increased the territory of the United States by 171.78 million square kilometers. The country is currently feeling very proud of itself.

The United States showed superficial congratulations and recognized the territorial scope of Chu State for its seizure of the former Spanish colony of Hainan Islands (Note: Luzon Islands) and the barren Shangri-La Islands and the establishment of a country on this basis.

The territory submitted by the Chu State in the communiqué on the establishment of diplomatic relations included the Hainan Islands, the Shangri-La Islands, the Sulawesi Islands, the Solomon Islands and some Pacific islands.

Because the area was so large, it was submitted in the form of separate maps, which was officially recognized by the United States Congress.

The cunning thing about the Chu State was that it included the Sulawesi Islands in its territory. The commonly recognized East Indies Islands include Java, Sumatra, Kalimantan and Sulawesi.

The specific territorial scope is not summarized in detail.

It is common for countries to have no detailed territorial demarcation lines, and this is not uncommon in this era.

The Sulawesi Islands are mainly inhabited by thousands of local indigenous people. The Dutch white colonists did not establish settlements and ports on the archipelago, but left it deserted.

To be honest
The vast East Indies is too vast to be fully developed even with a population of millions like the Netherlands, a small Western European country, even if given another thousand years.

The Chu State sent Chinese colonists there one after another. When they found an opportunity, they directly occupied the archipelago and made it an inalienable part of their sacred territory.

When it comes to the matter of the United States purchasing Alaska, King Zheng Guohui of Chu asked a few more questions with interest, but in the end he smacked his lips with regret and watched this big piece of fat meat fall into the mouth of America.

The issue of "Alaska" has been around for a long time. It cannot be explained in a few words, nor can it be bought by anyone with money.

This contains the profound international political competition, strategic layout and many considerations of the current era. It is a typical high-end game among the great powers, and not everyone can get involved.

From an economic perspective
The Alaska Company established by Tsarist Russia in Alaska was plagued by serious corruption and suffered huge losses every year, becoming a heavy burden on the Tsarist government.

How serious can corruption be?
The total value of the hundreds of thousands of otter skins hunted in Alaska each year is only around 20 rupees.

However, Alaska's head office in St. Petersburg, thousands of miles away, could spend 70 rupees in a few months, most of which went into the pockets of corrupt officials, making the company unable to make ends meet.

Everyone knows that the Tsarist Russians' greed for land was innate. Expansion to the West has been the Tsarist Russia's unswerving national policy since Catherine the Great, and it has been maintained for more than a hundred years.

Tsarist Russia was particularly eager to have access to the warm Mediterranean Sea, and for this purpose it tirelessly launched nine Russo-Turkish wars, with almost every ten to twenty years being a full-scale war.

There are gains, but also painful lessons.

The most tragic event was the Crimean War in 1853, in which Britain and France intervened and used bayonets to make the Russians wake up completely. The Russian Empire lost everything in the war and even its military presence on the Black Sea coast was banned.

This was like a heavy blow, forcing the Russian Empire to re-examine its "national policy of westward expansion."

Everyone knows what happened next. Tsarist Russia ceded more than 150 million square kilometers of southern land from the Qing Empire through despicable means such as blackmail.

This greatly stimulated the appetite of Tsarist Russia. Who doesn't like to pick on the weak?

This soft persimmon looks plump and delicious, with a vast territory and lax military preparations. Everyone from top to bottom is stupid and easy to manipulate. This opportunity cannot be missed!

This led to a surge in voices in the Tsarist Russian court looking eastward, supporting Yakub Beg's invasion of Xinjiang and proposing the so-called "Yellow Russia Plan", the core of which was to turn Dalian into the St. Petersburg of the East.

And in the East
It was the British Empire that had always been vigilant and restrained the Tsarist Russian forces' southward invasion. Its northward advance had penetrated deep into the Far East and had great influence in Fuso and the imperial court.

The British are the most internationally strategically minded maritime hegemon in the world today. In order to stop Tsarist Russia from encroaching on the warm Indian Ocean, the British took the lead in invading Afghanistan.

An insurmountable wall was erected on the Afghan plateau to keep the Tsarist Russian forces out.

When the Yakub Beg forces supported by Tsarist Russia were wreaking havoc in Xinjiang, the British forces directly invaded the Tibetan Plateau, trying to establish a plateau buffer zone to shield the security of northern India.

When Tsarist Russia annexed 64 villages in Jiangdong and took away Vladivostok and large tracts of land in the Far East through unequal treaties, the imperial court was still dreaming, but the British already felt a strong sense of crisis.

In the Far East

After careful consideration, the British decided to support the powerful vassal forces of the Fuso Emperor in order to train a watchdog to rush out and bite when Tsarist Russia moved south.

As for the imperial court, it was a complete mess and there was no hope of repairing it.

The competition between Tsarist Russia and Britain for power in the north has now become increasingly tense.

As early as 1689, the imperial court signed the Treaty of Nerchinsk with Tsarist Russia, which stipulated that a large area of ​​the Far East, including Sakhalin Island, belonged to the imperial court.

In 1858 and 1860, Tsarist Russia successively ceded large tracts of land, including Sakhalin Island, through the Treaty of Aihui and the Sino-Russian Beijing Treaty, which led to direct friction between Tsarist Russia's Far East forces and Fuso.

In places like Sakhalin Island, the Tsarist Russian Far East expedition team and the Japanese fishermen who settled there had constant disputes, killing and driving each other away, which triggered many incidents that intensified the conflicts.

The Fuso shogunate believed that Sakhalin Island was not far from Hokkaido and that Fuso fishermen had settled there for generations, so it should be Fuso land.

Tsarist Russia did not agree with this, and there were many conflicts between the two countries. The British strongly supported the Fuso government's proposal, which made Tsarist Russia very wary.

As early as the Crimean War in 1853, the British demonstrated their powerful expeditionary fleet combat capabilities.

The British dispatched a joint Anglo-French fleet from the Governor-General of India to the Far East to encircle the Tsarist Russian military presence, including Vladivostok, and showed off their power to the local Tsarist Russian settlers and soldiers.

However, at that time, Vladivostok was just a few wooden camps and scattered Tsarist Russian settlements, and most of the residents were criminals exiled to the Far East.

The British's powerful military force was like using a cannon to kill a mosquito, and they ended up returning home in disappointment.

It was precisely because of the concern for the British that Tsarist Russia considered that once war broke out, Alaska, far away on the other side of the Bering Strait, would definitely not be able to be preserved and would become a piece of meat in the mouth of the British.

Instead of doing that, it’s better to sell it.

But it is very important to choose who to sell it to. It definitely cannot be sold to France or the countries in the pound trade circle that have good relations with the British. After looking around, only the United States is suitable.

Since the American War of Independence, the United States has been subjected to suppression, exclusion, slander and black water from Britain for more than 80 years, and is very unwelcome in the eyes of Europeans.

Americans were ridiculed as "country bumpkins with black fingernails", and that image was so devastating that it almost drove Americans into autism.

Given Britain's strong influence in Europe, Europeans simply don't play with Americans. They despise, look down on and belittle them everywhere.

Otherwise, the national policy of "Monroe Doctrine" would not have come into being.

The core of the Monroe Doctrine is "America is America for Americans", which means that if you don't play with me, I can just make my own circle of friends. Is that okay?

The unprecedentedly brutal American Civil War was caused by the invisible hand of Britain stirring up trouble in the South, transporting arms and supporting various war materials, which led to several fierce battles between the US Navy and the British Royal Navy. This is something everyone knows.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend. The United States is also very powerful. Tsarist Russia was relieved to sell Alaska to the United States.

And just like that, a big deal was done today.

With the current size, strength and regional influence of the Chu State, it is far from enough to participate in such a high-end international poker game, and can only watch with drool from below.

It’s better to give up any little thoughts about Alaska as soon as possible.

(End of this chapter)