North America 1849, from Gold Rush to Warlord

Chapter 243 The Third Son of God

Under the military coercion of the California fleet and Wu Qingfeng, Tokugawa Ieyoshi had no choice but to submit and accept all the conditions offered by California.

On May 12, 1852, the two sides signed a treaty in Shimonoseki, Japan, known as the Treaty of Shimonoseki.

The "Black Ships" incident, as a symbol of Japan's "opening to the world," has the same significance in Chinese history as the "Opium War," both being the beginning of modern history.

From that day forward, Japan was forced to open its borders to California, allowing Californian products and people to roam freely across the Japanese archipelago.

Furthermore, California also acquired Hakodate, the southernmost point of Hokkaido.

As the only year-round ice-free port in Hokkaido, Hakodate Port is of great strategic importance.

By blocking the Tsugaru Strait, Hakodate not only became an important supply port for Californian merchant and immigrant ships, but also gained control of this extremely important strait.

Upon learning of the Treaty of Shimonoseki signed between California and Japan, Matthew Perry almost immediately led the American Far East Fleet into Tokyo Bay.

Under military coercion from the United States, Japan was forced to sign a similar treaty once again.

The only difference is that the United States did not obtain concessions in Japan.

Following California and the United States, England, France, and the Russian Empire all signed similar treaties with Japan within a year.

At this point, Japan's policy of "national isolation" completely collapsed, and it became a dumping ground for goods from foreign powers.

Because of the signing of the Treaty of Shimonoseki, the prestige of the Japanese shogunate was completely destroyed.

Tokugawa Ieyoshi, who was worried day and night, died of illness less than three months after the signing of the Treaty of Shimonoseki.

After Tokugawa Ieyoshi's death, his only son who grew to adulthood, Tokugawa Iesada, succeeded him as Shogun.

Meanwhile, the anti-shogunate movement, led by the Satsuma and Choshu domains, began to stir and gain momentum from this time onward.

……

However, all of this has nothing to do with the California fleet led by Wu Qingfeng.

After dealing with Japan, Wu Qingfeng and the California fleet finally arrived at their destination: Hong Kong!

At this time, Hong Kong was governed by the third Governor appointed by Great Britain—William Sanders.

Because Hong Kong's economy was extremely sluggish during this period, and the Hong Kong British government had a serious fiscal deficit, it naturally welcomed California's proposal to set up a representative office in Hong Kong.

Governor Wen Xian even personally met with Wu Qingfeng and his delegation, giving the green light to all matters that the California representative office was preparing to handle.

For Wen Xian, as long as he could bring tax revenue to the Hong Kong British government, he was an absolute god of wealth.

Moreover, Governor Wenxian was well aware that the young Chinese man in California possessed status and strength not only because he had been personally granted the title of Earl by His Holiness the Pope, nor simply because he had just won the national war.

Even Queen Victoria of the British Empire, after meeting the governor of California, spoke highly of this young man from China.

Privately, Her Majesty the Queen even praised the Chinese count-governor as the wisest and most visionary person she had ever met at that age.

Therefore, Governor Bonham did everything he could to make things easy for the California representative office.

Shortly after the establishment of the Far East Representative Office, Wu Qingfeng personally returned to China and established offices in Guangzhou, Xiamen, Fuzhou, Ningbo, and Shanghai.

The primary function of these five offices is to absorb immigrants on a large scale.

At this time, the flames of war sparked by the Taiping Rebellion were spreading rapidly within the Qing Dynasty.

Guangxi, Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi, Anhui... Wherever the flames of war reached, countless people had no choice but to flee with their families.

This created an excellent opportunity for California's immigration plan.

Whether seeking refuge from war or a better life overseas, California's immigration offices attract countless people.

If it weren't for the still very limited transportation capacity, transporting millions of people a year would be no problem at all.

……

When Wu Qingfeng returned to Hong Kong, staff from the office immediately came to report an unexpected situation.

"Director, a couple of days ago, someone carried a patient to our representative office...!"

Seeing the clerk's mysterious demeanor, Wu Qingfeng asked curiously, "A patient? What do you want with our office?"

After glancing around to make sure no one was watching, the clerk continued in a low voice, "I don't think that's a patient; it looks more like... someone injured by artillery fire...!"

"Wounded by artillery fire...?" Wu Qingfeng asked in surprise, "You mean...?"

The clerk nodded slightly: "Those people who carried the patient here don't seem like kind-hearted folks...!"

"The Taiping Army...?"

The clerk nodded again.

Wu Qingfeng asked in surprise, "What do the Taiping Army want with our representative office?"

The clerk shook his head slightly: "The Taiping soldier who brought that person insists on seeing you, Director, in person before he'll tell the truth...!"

Wu Qingfeng pondered for a moment and said, "Then have them come to my office to see me!"

……

A moment later, three exceptionally strong men with sharp eyes, dressed in blue short jackets, carried a stretcher into Wu Qingfeng's office.

"I am Wu Qingfeng... May I ask what business you have with me?"

The man at the head of the group looked him up and down with a suspicious gaze: "Are you Mr. Wu Qingfeng?"

"it's me!"

The man said, "I didn't expect that the Mr. Wu I mentioned would be so young!" "Gan Dang?" Wu Qingfeng raised an eyebrow: "You mean... Shi Dakai?"

The man nodded: "I am Gan Dang's cousin, Shi Xiangzhen!"

Wu Qingfeng then realized what was happening and quickly clasped his hands in greeting, saying, "So it's Brother Shi!"

Upon hearing that he was Shi Dakai's cousin, Wu Qingfeng's expression immediately became enthusiastic: "Shi Dakai and I are as close as brothers, we can be considered sworn brothers!"

"May I ask, Brother Shi, what brings you here today?"

Shi Xiangzhen looked down at the unconscious figure on the stretcher, hesitated for a moment, and then said, "Dang once wrote to me saying that Mr. Wu would represent that California and set up some kind of representative office in Hong Kong."

"If I encounter any difficulties that I can't solve, I can always come to you. I don't know...!"

Wu Qingfeng nodded without hesitation: "Since Brother Shi is Da Kai's cousin, then he is also my elder brother!"

"If my brother encounters any difficulties, I, Wu Qingfeng, will do my utmost to help!"

After a slight hesitation, Shi Xiangzhen pointed to the unconscious person on the stretcher and said, "This... is one of my shopkeepers, surnamed Feng. He has unfortunately been seriously injured!"

"Although we have tried our best to treat him, Manager Feng's injuries are getting worse day by day."

"I've heard that foreigners are highly skilled in medicine, especially in... gunshot wounds!"

"We don't know any foreign doctors, but as mentioned in the letter, Mr. Wu has studied medicine under a foreign doctor for many years and is highly skilled. Seeing that our shopkeeper is in imminent danger, we have no choice but to take the risk and beg Mr. Wu for help!"

As they spoke, Shi Xiangzhen and the others simultaneously knelt down in front of Wu Qingfeng with a "plop".

"Mr. Wu, please save my shopkeeper Feng's life...!!!"

"What are you doing...!" Wu Qingfeng quickly helped them up: "Get up quickly, there's no need for this. I will do my best to treat your... Manager Feng!"

As he spoke, Wu Qingfeng walked to the stretcher, lifted the blanket, and revealed the body of "Manager Feng".

……

After carefully examining the injuries, Wu Qingfeng frowned and said, "Brother Shi, this... Manager Feng, has been injured for at least half a month, hasn't he?"

Shi Xiangzhen nodded: "Yes, it's been more than twenty days since I was injured!"

Wu Qingfeng washed the blood off his hands and continued, "Your shopkeeper was shot in the chest and abdomen, and his injuries are quite serious! I think you must have given him penicillin to prevent the wound from getting infected, right?"

Shi Xiangzhen continued nodding: "Yes, yes, yes! Mr. Wu, you're absolutely right!"

"Penicillin, this miraculous drug, has saved the lives of many of our brothers... but it's just too scarce and too expensive... one vial of penicillin costs a whole ounce of gold...!"

Wu Qingfeng added, "Although your manager Feng's wound is not infected, if he doesn't have surgery in time, it will only be a few days before he dies."

“The representative office doesn’t have the facilities to perform surgery. I have to send him to a foreign hospital to have any chance of saving his life!”

"Foreigners' hospital...?" Upon hearing these words, Shi Xiangzhen clearly hesitated.

"What? Is there a problem?" Wu Qingfeng pressed.

Shi Xiangzhen shook his head: "To be honest, Mr. Wu, you... you should have guessed our identities!"

"The Qing demons are currently hunting us down all over the country. If our identities are exposed...!"

Wu Qingfeng calmly replied, "Don't worry! Leave everything to me!"

After exchanging glances, Shi Xiangzhen and his Taiping soldiers gritted their teeth, bowed deeply, and said, "Then... we'll leave everything to Mr. Wu!"

……

Several days later, "Manager Feng," who had been in a coma for several days, lay on the hospital bed and slowly opened his eyes.

The first thing that caught his eye was a young face wearing a white coat.

"You're finally awake?" Wu Qingfeng was the first to notice that "Manager Feng" had woken up, and he couldn't help but smile.

When Shi Xiangzhen and the others discovered that their "manager" had woken up, they rushed over with great joy: "Manager Feng... Manager Feng, you're awake?"

"This...this is absolutely wonderful...hahaha!"

Manager Feng's weak and unfocused gaze lingered for a long time before he could clearly see Shi Xiangzhen's face.

"You...you are...!" Manager Feng asked weakly.

"Manager Feng... Manager Feng, it's me, Shi Xiangzhen...!"

Having just regained consciousness, Manager Feng was completely bewildered: "Shi...Xiangzhen, why...am I here? Where...where is this place?"

Wu Qingfeng answered for Shi Xiangzhen: "This is a church hospital in Hong Kong!"

"You're here to heal your wounds, of course!"

Wu Qingfeng smiled and replied, "To save your life, several of us doctors spent most of the day performing surgery!"

"You're really lucky. Your injuries were so severe and lasted so long, yet you still managed to survive!"

Manager Feng recognized Shi Xiangzhen, but was certain that he did not know the young man in front of him.

"You...who are you?"

"I am Wu Qingfeng, Shi Dakai's sworn brother!"

Wu Qingfeng continued, "Manager Feng, I guess your name is Feng Yunshan, right?"

(End of this chapter)