1850 American Gold Tycoon

"The treaty also stipulates that the Hudson's Bay Company retains its property north of the Columbia River, and that the property of the Hudson's Bay Company and the British south of the border will be respected. Your Excellency has now rashly surrounded Bellingham and cut off the normalcy of our British subjects. How does this count for commercial activities?”

Yilu was still adamant, he argued.

These two items are indeed important contents in the "Oregon Treaty". When the treaty was signed, British Columbia was still under the jurisdiction of the Hudson's Bay Company.

These two contents are also contents that have to be compromised due to the limitations of America's solid strength.

It's just that these two clauses were taken out of context when it came to the law. The official treaty provisions stated that the United States respected the legal property of the Hudson's Bay Company and other British companies or individuals.

"It seems that you have really read this treaty, but you have only read it. You did not read it carefully enough." Liang Yao patted the copy of the treaty on the oak table.

"This is a copy of the treaty. You have seen it clearly. It is the legal property of the British side!"

"Oh?" Yilu just glanced at the treaty with disdain.

Seeing that Yilu's attitude was still so rude, Liang Yao did not give Yilu a good look: "The British crossed the border and settled illegally, exercising British colonial laws on our American land, turning Bellingham into a country within a country. Property earned through this means? Do you think it is legal property?!"

"Do you mean that you don't plan to withdraw from Bellingham? Do you want to besiege Bellingham to the end?" Yilu argued.

"As long as the British who settled illegally leave, my army will not withdraw!" Liang Yao unceremoniously issued an expulsion order to Yilu.

"I want to negotiate a clear boundary with you and eliminate the bad blood between the two countries. Since you are so insincere! Next, I will take more radical measures to defend our legitimate rights and interests! Go slowly and don't send us away!"

The first meeting between Britain and the United States ended so unhappily.

What Liang Yao said to Yi Lu was not just talk.

Early the next morning, he ordered the Oregon regiment to attack Bellingham.

Many of Bellingham's illegal residents were employees of the British Colonial Company. Naturally, these employees would not risk their lives for a monthly salary of three to four pounds.

The Oregon regiment had almost no trouble controlling these illegal British residents.

The Northern Oregon Territory is a territorial area. The laws of California apply to the Northern Oregon Territory. The territorial areas use the laws of the federal government. There are still laws to follow in order to imprison these illegal British residents.

In 1856, America implemented the Immigration Act of 1850.

According to this act, smuggling and illegal entry are illegal acts, and the U.S. authorities have the power to fine, detain, deport, and be prohibited from entering the country against these violators.

This law is a relatively standardized immigration law since the founding of the United States. It stipulates the standards and procedures for immigrants to enter the United States, including identity and health inspections before entering the United States, and signing a statement promising not to participate in illegal activities. It is worth mentioning that this law also stipulates the prohibition of the slave trade.

Liang Yao imprisoned more than 700 British people in Bellingham under the Immigration Act of 1850 and issued an ultimatum to the Governor of British Columbia.

"What a wonderful place, but it was ruined like this by the British."

After the Oregon Regiment recaptured Bellingham, Liang Yao also came to Bellingham.

Bellingham's planning was very poor. It was said to be a port stronghold, but there were only a few decent buildings in the entire settlement, and there were hastily built wooden houses everywhere.

The port was also built hastily and can only accommodate small boats with a displacement of several hundred tons.

In addition to poor planning, the sanitation situation in Bellingham was also very worrying, with livestock and even human excrement everywhere on the streets.

The entire settlement was filled with an unspeakable stench.

"It's really disgusting." Ge Wen had already taken out his silk handkerchief and covered his nose.

California is an immigration state, and each immigration company has a set of mature and standard regulations on how to build new immigrant settlements.

From the location selection of new settlements, settlement planning, settlement scale, immigration management, food and accommodation standards, how many health clinics, how many schools are needed, industries in future settlements, etc., everything has been standardized and programmed.

Some immigration companies even hire construction teams to build basic infrastructure before proceeding with immigration. Of course, if you choose such an immigration company, immigrants will need to pay a hefty service fee.

Generally only resource-based immigration settlements can provide such high-quality services. For example, a chaebol has taken a fancy to a coal mine in Oregon. The chaebol will usually entrust an immigration company to build the infrastructure and pay service fees, and then recruit immigrants on its own. Build a resource-based mining town.

Because of this, the settlements handled by the California Immigration Company have good planning and sanitary conditions. Most immigrants can find jobs and quickly integrate into mainstream California society and become real citizens.

Compared with the new settlements built by immigration companies in California, the British construction of Bellingham is indeed somewhat difficult to see at a glance.

"Elvis, gather those British people together." Liang Yao said to Elvis, the leader of the Oregon regiment.

"You want a lecture?" Elvis asked.

"I don't talk to beasts." Liang Yao shook his head and pointed at the buildings in Bellingham and said, "Burn all these illegal buildings in front of the British. I think the place where they lived is unlucky."

Although Elvis was a little confused, it was Liang Yao's order and he still obeyed it.

Seeing that the American troops were about to burn the city, the imprisoned British issued a strong protest. They originally believed that the American troops would be forced to withdraw from Bellingham under the strong pressure from the British. Bellingham was still theirs. idea.

Seeing these restless British people making a fuss, Elvis was not polite to them and fired a gun into the air to silence these annoying British people.

Elvis also felt angry because the Oregon regiment was originally based in Portland.

Although Portland is not as good as San Francisco, where the California regiment is based, it is still better than the current place where birds don't poop and are full of beasts.

The Oregon regiment was transferred here just because these Gou Ba things illegally settled here, which made Elvis very angry.

After several gunshots, the noisy British finally fell silent.

They could only watch their property being set on fire by the barbaric Americans. They wanted to fight, but after seeing the American soldiers with bayonets on their rifles, they could only choose to stay where they were, not daring to speak out in anger.

The day was different ten miles away. It was a sunny day in Bellingham with the sun shining brightly, but at the border more than 30 kilometers away from Bellingham, it started to rain heavily.

There is a colonial infantry regiment in British Columbia. This infantry regiment is the land armed force that Yilu relies on most. It is also the basis for Yilu to maintain his rule in British Columbia, which covers an area of ​​940,000 square kilometers.

At this time, soldiers of this British Colonial Infantry Regiment were confronting the Arizona Regiment on the border.

After the heavy rain started, these colonial army infantrymen chose to evacuate the border and returned to their camps to take shelter from the rain and make tea.

They drank tea leisurely under the awning and laughed at the soldiers of the Arizona regiment who stood on the border like statues in raincoats.

It’s not like we’re actually going to fight anyway, so why bother working so hard?

This is the idea of ​​these British troops. They do not think that a war will break out between Britain and the United States because of a trivial matter in Bellingham.

At the 49° north latitude border, Yilu held the ultimatum just sent by the United States in his hand, feeling angry and heavy.

Yilu did not expect that Liang Yao would actually take action against Bellingham, nor did he expect that Liang Yao would dare to detain British citizens. He also asked the British Columbia authorities to pay a fine of 30 pounds for each British resident before repatriating these British people. Otherwise, he would Sent to mines in coal mines in Oregon.

Yilu threw the ultimatum into the rain and raised a monocular to observe the American soldiers on the border.

These U.S. troops all have yellow skin. Instead of saying that they are U.S. soldiers, Yilu prefers to believe that they are Chinese soldiers.

During the trade war with China from 1840 to 1842, Yilu saw many soldiers with this color on the other side of the Pacific.

They were sallow, skinny, malnourished, had low morale, their commanders were ignorant and incompetent, and they collapsed at the first touch.

Vulnerable to the powerful British Empire army.

Yilu didn't understand why there was such a big gap in military quality between armies formed by the same race.

"Do they stand like this on the border every day?" Yilu asked the British colonel beside him.

"Yes, Sir, they stand on the border like this every day, changing guard every eight hours, unshakable." The British colonel took out his pocket watch and looked at the time on the watch.

"After a while they will also fire artillery. This is also their unshakable practice. Such a waste of ammunition is incredible. We are all used to it now."

Sure enough, not long after the British colonel finished speaking, the rumble of artillery sounded from the other side of the border. The sound of the artillery was like thunder on a rainy day, hitting Yilu's heart.

The corner of Yilu's mouth twitched a little, and his face was as gloomy as the weather today. He asked the colonel: "They can stand on the border regardless of rain or shine, so what are you doing?!"

"Sir, with all due respect, this is a very stupid behavior." The colonel lowered his voice and said to Elliot, "It is easy to get sick after being exposed to such heavy rain. Furthermore, the soldiers may also have objections to issuing such an order. "

The British colonel was also helpless. The regiment he led was not a regular British army, but a colonial army. If such an order was given, these [Qiu]·[Eight] would have to riot.

There was only such a decent force in the entire British Columbia area, so he had to be cautious when issuing orders.

The confrontation with the US military on the border is just a show. It uses actions to warn the US military that there are British Empire troops north of 49° north latitude and not to mess around.

"Are they not flesh and blood? Aren't they going to get sick?" Yilu knocked down the umbrella held by his secretary with one hand and shouted angrily about filial piety.

"Stupid? Let me ask you, if they launch an attack on our army now and the artillery shells hit our army's camp across the border, can you stop their attack? Can New Westminster still be defended? ? Are you worthy of the 550 pounds ($2673) salary paid to you by the British Empire?"

The British colonel remained silent. He already had the answers to these questions in his mind, but he did not dare to argue with the governor who could decide his promotion or dismissal with just one sentence. He could only stand there and be scolded.

British officers in the mid-19th century were the high-income class of British society. After all, these officers were basically children of aristocrats. Naturally, the British Empire would not treat these aristocratic children poorly.

During this period, the salaries of British military officers were the highest in the world.

During the same period, the annual salary of a US military colonel was approximately US$1,500, that of a French colonel was approximately 5,000 francs (US$1,000), and that of a Russian colonel was approximately 2,400 rubles (US$1,850).

Of course, these salaries are just standard salaries under normal circumstances. Actual salaries will be adjusted by each country based on the officer's military age, professional title, mission, location and other factors.

Even so, the salary of British officers is not a bit higher than that of officers of the same rank in other countries.

Among the great powers, the Prussian army has relatively low salary and benefits. Compared with other great powers, the Prussian army officer can be said to be a high-risk profession with less money and more work.

At this time, the annual salary of a Prussian colonel was 1,500 thalers, which was equivalent to about 550 US dollars. It was not even as good as the annual salary of a US military major (the annual salary of a US military major was about 800 US dollars).