I can't die

1861 was not only the year when the Qing Dynasty launched the Xinyou Coup, but also a historically significant event happened in the United States-the Civil War!

The root cause of the outbreak of the Civil War was the irreconcilable conflict between the development of capitalism in the North of the United States and the slavery system in the South.

In the 19th century, the Industrial Revolution spread to the United States, and the American economy developed rapidly. At the same time, the United States acquired a large territory in the west, and established new states in the west one after another.Every time a new state was formed, there was a struggle within that state to allow or prohibit slavery.The bourgeoisie and peasants in the north advocated the prohibition of slavery in the new state, and demanded that the new state be defined as a free state.The slave owners in the south tried to expand slavery to the west, advocating that Xinzhou be identified as a state that allowed slavery. The slave owners used their dominance in the Congress and the government to win consecutive victories, which aroused the indignation of the people in the north.

In 1860, Lincoln, a Republican who advocated the abolition of slavery, was elected president, and southern slave owners launched a rebellion.The slave-holding states in the south became independent one after another, and seven southern states withdrew from the federation. In February 7, the "Union of American States" was formed, with Richmond as its capital, and Davis as president.From April 1861 to 2 of the same year, the Confederate Army pre-emptively captured Fort Sumter, and the Civil War broke out.

In fact, at the beginning of the war, the strength of the North was much greater than that of the South. The 23 northern states had a population of 2234 million, while the 7 southern states had only 910 million people, and more than 380 million of them were black slaves.The north has a well-developed industry with an annual output value of 15 billion US dollars, 130 million workers, 22000 miles of railway network and abundant food, while the south has a weak industry with an annual output value of 1550 million US dollars, only 11 workers, and only 9000 miles of railways.

Seeing this, many people have to ask, aren't the southerners still daring to start a war with such a disparity in strength?In fact, it is not the case. First, the South took the lead in launching the war, and its military preparations were sufficient, which caught the North by surprise. Second, the strong support of the United Kingdom played an indelible role in it.

The predecessor of the United States was a colony of the United Kingdom. Even after it became independent, the United Kingdom has never stopped trying to restore its control over the United States, and this war is a great opportunity.

Under the recommendation of Shire, Li Hongzhang met such a military factory owner and smuggling predator from the northern United States - Childe.

Childe was a capitalist who was born in France. Later, with the expansion of the colony, he came to the north of the United States. Because the United States has vast land and extremely cheap labor, he took root in Pennsylvania, the United States.

"Child, this is a senior official of the Qing government. He wants to ask you to buy all the firearms this time."

When Li Hongzhang met Childe, Shire temporarily acted as an interpreter.

Listening to Shire's words, Chard looked at the middle-aged yellow man in his forties, wearing a high-profile official uniform and wearing a high hat, in front of him. He actually had a lot of thoughts in his heart.

Childe is the northern faction of the United States, which can be regarded as a British-hating party.As for his supply of Shire weapons, under the premise that the UK now controls the Chinese customs, it is naturally a smuggling business. Now it is a big risk to come to secretly meet with senior officials of the Qing government.

"Hello, Mr. Li, I'm a businessman. I can't learn many things from your Chinese people's beating around the bush. I'll just say it straight. I heard that you want to buy more weapons and equipment for Shire's foreign gun team?"

If Shire hadn't told Child about the huge profits of the deal, Child would not have wanted to deal with Li Hongzhang very much.

Although Li Hongzhang is smart, he has never been abroad. He does not know the current situation of the United States and Britain and Chard's considerations. He knows that this person is quite straightforward, so he does not intend to beat around the bush: "My Qing government wants to help Mr. Shire arm the army and help us pacify the Civil strife. Charles took the liberty of seeing the guns, sir."

"The foreign gun team has more than 1000 people, how many do you want?"

"Except for the foreign gun team, if I can buy more, I am willing to buy ten times the amount."

Li Hongzhang got Zeng Guofan's entrustment before he came, and now the Hunan Army still has a lot of 300 million taels of military expenditure. If it can buy more, it would be better to equip the Hunan Army in addition to the armed foreign gun team.

ten times?A foreign gun is about five taels of silver on the black market, and 5 can be [-] taels. This is not counting bullets, but it is a big deal.

Shire is also aware of the current situation of the Qing government and the Taiping Army. He naturally knows how profitable the arms business was during the war. However, there are still civil strife in the United States, and more than half of the production capacity of his military factory has already supported the Northern Army of the United States for free. , I'm afraid it will be difficult for the rest to swallow such a big order.

"I can still squeeze out the amount of foreign guns, it's only ten times..."

No matter how big the Qing Dynasty's list is, it would be great, but Child's foundation is ultimately in the white world, and everything must be prioritized in the United States. What's more, if the Civil War is successful in the North, Child's profits will not only be silver, but also Unrivaled power.This is why Childe is willing to lose his fortune and win a game.

Li Hongzhang didn't know the more considerations in Childe's heart, and only thought that Childe really had more than enough energy.But Li Hongzhang still wanted to fight for it again: "But it's about money?"

"That's not true, they are British. I saw that Mr. Li also wanted to do business sincerely, so I said it straight. Now the customs power of the Qing Dynasty is in the hands of the British and French. We are all shady business. One big one, if you miss it, there will be more troubles."

Li Hongzhang didn't expect that they were all foreign devils with blue eyes and yellow hair, and they were so dirty inside.But listening to Childe's words, I'm afraid I also feel disgusted with the British, thinking that there are a lot of articles in it that I can do.

"That's the case, then I, Mr. Li, will first determine the amount of the foreign gun team. There is always a way to discuss the rest. If you can recommend more arms dealers from your country to me, Mr. Li will thank you .”

Now it is clear that Britain is the most powerful force in the Qing Dynasty. It not only occupied the major treaty ports, but also controlled China's customs encyclopedia. No matter how it can lead the wolves to drive the tigers away, the Qing Dynasty may not be unable to obtain more benefits.It's just that Li Hongzhang knew in his heart that he really didn't know much about Westernization. If Prince Gong was here, it would be better. Immediately, Li Hongzhang planned to send a secret letter to Prince Gong's Prime Minister's Office .

Just thinking about it, Li Hongzhang thought about it a little bit, this Prince Gong has always hooked up with the British, if Prince Gong knew that the Hunan Army wanted to rely heavily on the Americans to plot against the British, would it be bad?Thinking of this, Li Hongzhang thought over and over again, and finally returned to the mansion, and wrote a book that went directly to the Hall of Mental Cultivation.

Li Hongzhang personally penned the book leading to the Hall of Mental Cultivation, and Zeng Guofan, Minister of the Ministry of War, went directly to the Ministry of War to listen to it, so the Military Aircraft Department did not know about it.

Sheng Bao, the Minister of the Ministry of War stationed in Beijing, went straight to the Hall of Mental Cultivation when he received this letter, avoided the military aircraft department, and found Zai Chun.

Now Zaichun, the military plane, covers the sky with one hand, just like Cixi who controls the harem, so he still has the confidence to hide a memorial.

When Xia Chun looked at the secret letter, especially seeing that Americans were involved in it, all kinds of calculations in his mind began to fight.Although Zai Chun is not as sophisticated as Li Hongzhang and others, he is a later generation and knows a lot of history. From Li Hongzhang's writing in the memorial, Zai Chun can see what Charde meant.

The hands of the British are really long. They just finished the second Opium War, and now they are starting to meddle in North America. It is really an empire on which the sun never sets. Do you really think you can dominate the world?

"This memorial of Li Hongzhang is very timely..."

Zai Chun couldn't help sighing.Thanks to his reminder, Zai Chun remembered that Britain probably has no time to pay attention to the Qing Dynasty at all, and is preoccupied with the United States.

"Aying, please go to the harem to invite the two empress dowagers. Then Seng Gelinqin at Dagukou said that it would be fine to ask the group of craftsmen who were trying to figure out the British warships to dismantle the warships. As long as they can be put back together in the end, I think The British don't have time to argue with me now."

The author has something to say: it is finally time to slowly turn to the Westernization Movement and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom