Outnumbered? I'll conquer America with an unlimited number of suicide soldiers.

Chapter 76 The North Beach Uprising and Humphrey's Long and Difficult Sentences

North Beach.

Located north of Telegraph Hill, near the coast and docks, the area is characterized by buildings primarily consisting of warehouses, taverns, brothels, and casinos.

After transferring the confirmed infected patients to an abandoned warehouse with few people nearby, the doctors immediately began to investigate the surrounding area.

When faced with a doctor's home visit for a check-up, the residents of Beitan District's first reaction was to refuse.

You think you can just come in and check whenever you want? Who the hell do you think you are?

Of course, thanks to the friendly greetings from the police behind the doctor, who delivered three slaps in a second, they finally found out who the other person was.

He's the boss.

As time went by, more and more patients and suspected patients were found to have symptoms, and the expressions on the doctors' faces became increasingly serious.

Meanwhile, Hosea stood at the entrance to the North Beach area, his brows furrowing deeper and deeper.

"Damn it, these idiots are asking for it."

His police adjutant leaned closer and whispered, "Chief, there are more and more people at the street corner. A few guys tried to break through the checkpoint earlier, but our men knocked them back with the butts of their rifles. But if this continues—"

"I know."

Hosea interrupted him, his gaze sweeping across the street.

More and more people gathered on the streets, including Irish, Italians, and Mexicans, their faces filled with anger and fear.

They feared the plague, and they also feared strangers in uniforms carrying guns.

"Someone is making connections."

Jianyuan walked over, his face grave. "My men saw a few thugs darting around in the crowd, inciting them to break through the checkpoint. They said that if we didn't let them leave, they would all die here."

Hosea sneered and said, "I guess it's those insignificant Irish and Italian gangsters."

"It must be them."

Jian Yuan said, "Although Beitan is poor, it has a large population, and its taverns, casinos, and brothels all have business. If we block it, their source of income will be cut off."

Xinhe Xi'a nodded and said, "Ignore them for now, let them make a scene, the bigger the better."

Jian Yuan was taken aback: "You mean—"

"Perfect for taking them all in one go."

Hosea said calmly, "My lord means to clean this place up."

Simply demolishing houses and clearing garbage won't solve the problem; those people won't leave, and things will go back to normal in a couple of years. It's better to take this opportunity to kill off all the restless, organized ones.

Jian Yuan paused for a second, then smiled.

"Okay, I'll loosen up my men a bit and give them room to cause trouble."

"I will go and ask the lord to send a few hundred more men."

Inside a tavern in Beitan.

Giuseppe Verdi, the leader of the Italian mafia, met with John Kelly, the leader of the Irish mafia.

Behind each of them were more than a dozen henchmen, their hands on their waists, looking wary of the people opposite them.

"What a rare guest."

John Kelly leaned back in his chair, put his feet on the table, glanced sideways at Giuseppe Verdi, and said sarcastically, "Mr. Verdi, what brings you to see me today?"

Verdi, a middle-aged man in his forties, said with a serious expression, "Mr. Kelly, please put away your hostility; we are about to face a great disaster."

Kelly paused for a few seconds upon hearing this, then burst into laughter: "Very good joke, Mr. Verdi."

"I recently acquired a new brothel, and I've gained over a dozen more men. Things are going great. Even if disaster strikes, it'll only be you, not me."

Verdi, his expression unchanged, continued, "The police, with hundreds of Chinese men, surrounded North Beach, saying that someone had contracted the plague and that no one was allowed to enter or leave until the examination was completed."

"Mr. Kelly, you should know what this means? Our source of income has been cut off!"

Kelly looked at his subordinates beside him: "Is that so? Why didn't you tell me?"

His subordinate nodded: "Yes, boss, it happened two hours ago. You were having a passionate encounter with Miss Mary in your room, so we didn't disturb you."

Kelly slapped his forehead, his expression turning serious.

"Verdi, so you came to me to try and break through the police cordon?"

Verdi nodded, then shook his head.

"With just over a hundred people from our two gangs, even if we manage to break through, we won't last long. The police and the Chinese outnumber us by a significant margin."

"What exactly do you mean?" Kelly asked impatiently.

"Mobilize the thousands of residents in North Beach and tell them that the police have sealed off North Beach so that they can wait to die here. For freedom, for survival, they must break out."

Kelly's eyes lit up: "That's a good idea, let's do it. You go talk to the Italian community, and I'll talk to the Irish community."

"Damn it, not even the plague, not even God, can stop me from making money!"

As night fell, the situation in the North Beach area was completely out of control.

Torches were lit in the streets, and more than a thousand rallied residents came out of their homes and gathered on the main street. Some carried wooden sticks and shovels, while others carried revolvers and hunting knives.

"Fellow countrymen, charge out!"

A burly Irish man with a menacing face brandished a revolver and roared, "Why are they locking us up here to die?!"

"Yes! On what grounds?"

"I don't want to die here, I want to get out!"

"They have no right to lock us up here!"

The roars of the crowd grew louder and louder.

The police officers on the blockade gripped their guns tightly, their expressions grave.

A bald, burly man charged ahead, aggressively approaching the policeman blocking his way, and roared, "Get out of the way, I need to get out!"

The police officers blocking the intersection drew their revolvers, pointed them at the man, and shouted, "Warning! Back off!"

The bald, burly man ignored him.

"Two warnings, come any closer and we'll shoot!" The revolver's hammer was already cocked.

The bald, burly man drew closer, and the police lost patience.

"Third warning!"

boom!

A gunshot rang out.

The bald, burly man suddenly stopped and looked down at his chest.

There, blood was gushing from a hole. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but only spat out a mouthful of bloody foam, and then fell straight forward.

The crowd fell silent for a second.

Hosea emerged from behind the barricade, his revolver still smoking. He coldly surveyed the rioters and said, word by word in English, "Anyone else want to try?"

The crowd erupted in even more frenzied roars.

"They opened fire!"

"Kill them!"

"Charge—!"

They surged toward the blockade line like a tide.

Hosea took a step back and raised his hand.

"Fire."

The police and members of Xinghantang raised their weapons, and dozens of rifles and revolvers simultaneously spewed flames.

The first dozen or so people rushed forward and fell to the ground, their screams, curses, and cries mingling together. But the crowd was too dense; as one group fell, the others continued to surge forward.

boom! boom! boom!

Gunfire continued unabated. With each shot, a person fell.

The melee lasted for more than half an hour.

When the last wave of rioters retreated, more than sixty corpses lay in front of the blockade, and more than a hundred wounded people were lying on the ground groaning.

Blood seeped into the soil, and the air was filled with the smell of gunpowder and blood.

Hosea looked at the corpses, his face expressionless.

"Arrest them."

He said, "Find and execute all those gangsters who led the trouble."

Police and members of the Xinghan Church stormed into the neighborhood, with a clear objective: to target the pubs, casinos, and brothels frequented by the Irish and Italian mafia.

Soon, the gang members who had instigated the disturbance were dragged out.

Those who resisted were already killed inside, while those who surrendered were dragged to the streetlights at the street corner and hanged, in order to intimidate Beitan.

A fat, big-eared Italian was dragged to Joshua by two policemen, shouting, "I'm a legitimate businessman, you can't arrest me!"

"I want to see the mayor! I want to see the Italian consul!"

Hosea glanced at him.

"What's your name?"

"Antonio! Antonio Rossi! My tavern has been in North Beach for five years; I'm a perfectly respectable businessman!"

Hosea sneered, "A respectable businessman? A respectable businessman who's involved with gangsters?"

"Gag him, and use two extra ropes when you hang him, so they don't break."

"Use these corpses to tell the scum in North Beach that this is what will happen to anyone who dares to cause trouble again."

The next morning, at the city hall.

Humphrey sat in his office, leisurely sipping his tea.

On his desk was a copy of the San Francisco Chronicle, with the headline on the front page: “US Dragoons suffer heavy losses, Indians on the verge of retaking California.”

The door was pushed open, and the secretary poked his head in: "Mr. Mayor, a group of people have arrived outside and say they want to see you."

Humphrey put down his teacup: "Who is it?"

"Several American businessmen, and people from the Italian consulate."

Humphrey's expression remained unchanged as he said, "Let them in."

A moment later, seven or eight people rushed into the office.

At the front was a well-dressed American businessman, in his fifties, with a meticulously trimmed beard. His name was George Wilson, and he ran a large trading company in San Francisco, with several warehouses in North Beach.

"Acting Mayor, you must give us an explanation!"

Wilson burst through the door and shouted, "Yesterday the police cordoned off North Beach and shot dozens of people dead! This is repression! This is a massacre!"

Humphrey picked up his teacup and slowly took a sip.

"I understand your emotions right now. These emotions are completely understandable and can even be considered normal human feelings."

However, when we talk about a so-called "lockdown" and "unfortunate incident," we must be careful to distinguish between "legal actions" and "regrettable, isolated complications" that occur during the maintenance of social order.

"First, we must define the word 'repression'."

If you are referring to the impromptu decisions made by law enforcement officers under immense pressure to maintain public safety and prevent the spread of plague throughout the Bay Area, then I believe that any responsible government would take similar necessary measures appropriate to the circumstances when faced with the same extreme and unpredictable mass behavior.

As for those lost lives, this is undoubtedly a tragedy, a tragedy that our entire municipal government deeply mourns.

However, we must look at the whole picture objectively.

At the time, some agitated residents, perhaps influenced by misinformation, attempted to break through the cordon and endanger the health and safety of the entire San Francisco area.

That is precisely why law enforcement officers, in order to maintain public safety—

"Mr. Humphrey, that's enough!"

Dizzy and overwhelmed by the string of long and complicated sentences, Wilson slammed his fist on the table and roared, "Simplify it!"

Humphrey gave a polite smile: "In short, the city government is in a lot of pain, but the police are not at fault."

"If they manage to break through, the plague will spread throughout San Francisco. Then it won't be just a few dozen people dying, but thousands, tens of thousands!"

Wilson opened his mouth, but couldn't say a word.

A middle-aged man in a black suit stepped forward; he was the consul from the Italian consulate.

"Mr. Humphrey, I understand the need for epidemic prevention, but Italian citizens have suffered heavy casualties in the incident, and the San Francisco city government must give us an explanation."

Humphrey looked at him and said slowly, "Of course, Mr. Consul."

In fact, the San Francisco city government is establishing a consular cooperation investigation committee to investigate whether there were any communication breakdowns or inadequate information dissemination during the lockdown.

Of course, this committee needs to be approved step by step by the city's legal counsel's office, the secretary of state's office, and the U.S. Department of State to ensure its procedural integrity and non-justiciability.

As for when the committee will start working? Well, that depends on when we can find a suitable chairperson for the committee, someone who must be knowledgeable in public health, Italian community culture, and budgeting.

This will obviously take some time, but we cannot rush it.

Faced with Humphrey's incessant chatter, the Italian consul also grew annoyed.

But faced with this bureaucratic tone, he couldn't directly turn hostile, so he could only angrily say, "Mr. Humphrey, we can talk about that so-called consular cooperation investigation committee later. What I want to know now is why the Italian community is being locked down?"

Humphrey countered, "Consul, do you know how many Italian citizens have been infected with the plague?"

The consul paused for a moment, then said, "This—I don't know."

"Not sure?"

Humphrey smiled slightly: "Then I'll tell you."

According to our statistics, Italians account for 40% of the confirmed plague patients. Further investigation revealed more than 50 suspected cases in their vicinity.

If we let them break out, the entire Italian community in San Francisco will suffer. Are you sure you want to speak up for those people?

The Italian consul's expression changed, and he fell silent.

Wilson gritted his teeth and changed his angle.

"Even if a lockdown is necessary, the government should pay for their resettlement! They're locked up inside without food or water, of course they're going to protest!"

Humphrey nodded.

"Mr. Wilson is right. So I applied to Parliament for emergency funding to purchase food,

Medicines and drinking water will be distributed free of charge to those in quarantine. The funding has been approved and will be delivered to North Beach today.

Wilson was stunned.

Humphrey walked back to his desk and sat down again.

"Mr. Wilson, do you have any further questions?"

Wilson opened his mouth, but ultimately said nothing.

Humphrey waved.

"If there are no problems, please leave. I still have to deal with epidemic prevention matters."

The group slunk away.

After the door closed, Humphrey picked up his teacup and took another sip.

The secretary leaned closer and whispered, "Mr. Humphrey, they won't let this go."

Humphrey smiled.

"Who cares about them? Once North Beach is cleaned up, our goal will be achieved."

PS: The Kingdom of Italy was not officially established until 1861. At that time, the Apennine Peninsula was divided into the Kingdom of Sardinia, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, and the Papal States. California at that time only had a consulate of the Kingdom of Sardinia.

However, for the sake of ease of pronunciation, it is uniformly referred to as Italy.