In Lima in September 1864, the most talked about thing was probably the American Company and the fleet anchored in the harbor. In the past few days, in order to welcome the arrival of this fleet, the president even held a
A grand dance was held to welcome these guests from afar.
Even if the vast majority of these guests are Indian... no, they are Chinese, so what? They came with warships, and the vast majority of Peruvians are also of mixed Turkish and Spanish descent. So what?
I'm afraid that like all South American countries, the higher the upper class, the whiter their skin. However, the problem now is that Peru needs their help.
People are always pragmatic. Can skin color help them resist the Spanish invasion?
No, but America's fleet can.
It is precisely because of this that the presidents and politicians in Peru continue to advocate "friendship between Americans" in newspapers, and by the way, they also satirize Chile's betrayal of the Americas.
In a word, under the propaganda of Peruvian officials, the American Company is part of the Americas, and the local Chinese immigrants are of course Americans.
In the eyes of the Indians, these "Americans" are even more friendly than Hispanic immigrants. Even after witnessing the politeness of the white people to the sailors, they will inevitably feel envious, and some even actively want to learn to speak Chinese.
Not to mention the Indians who felt this change, even Gu Zhijie and the others also found that everything seemed to be changing.
The police who used to be arrogant in front of them now become very polite when they speak.
"Mr. Gu, you are busy."
Seeing the patrolling police officer leave politely and courteously, Gu Zhijie's expression became a little strange. After a while, he said.
"Have you noticed that these people seem to be different from the past!"
"It's not quite the same."
Li Laishun squinted his eyes, looked into the harbor, looked at the three large black warships, and said.
"Maybe it's because of those warships."
"Not maybe, absolutely!"
Li Sanbao put the rag on and said proudly.
"I said, Brother Laishun, you didn't go out to take a look. From the warship of America Company to here, people who looked down on us in the past are very polite to us now. Why?
Ah! Isn’t it because the officers and soldiers on the warship are Chinese, we are also Chinese..."
In the past, no one took the Chinese people seriously. But it is different now. Ever since the fleet came, even if this fleet was not sent from the Qing Dynasty, it was because most of the officers and soldiers on the ship were Chinese.
The Peruvians looked at them with high regard.
He became more and more polite when talking and doing things.
"Chinese people..."
Gu Zhijie looked up at the bay and was silent for a moment before speaking.
"You said, will they help us?"
"Help us?"
You don’t need to ask, you know what helping us means, it’s not helping them, but helping those Chinese workers who are still suffering.
Li Sanbao glanced at the hat Gu Zhijie was wearing, pursed his lips, thought for a moment, and then said.
"Fourth Master Gu, if you cut off your braids, maybe they will really help us. After all, we are also Chinese, we just have more braids than the military men..."
He has more braids than the military men!
The military master doesn’t have pigtails!
The official doesn't have pigtails, and even the official looks a bit like a foreigner?
But they no longer have pigtails, they also look Chinese and speak Mandarin.
If you don’t ask them, who can you ask for?
"... hate the barbarians who rely on the rich and bully the poor, have no moral integrity, regard contracts as old paper, and wait for people's lives to be wasted. They only know how to be stingy in food, clothing, labor and money, and are haggard and tired with no mercy. They are often demanding, and they are constantly beaten and scolded, or
To work hard while being shackles, or to plow and hoe despite being hungry and cold..."
The dozen or so Chinese workers kneeling on the deck all knelt down and prayed after Gu Zhijie read the letter asking for help.
"The villains are all Qing people who were deceived by the Peruvians and came here more than ten years ago. The Peruvians treated me extremely cruelly. After eight years of work, not one of a thousand people could survive. Today, tens of thousands of my compatriots are still trapped in various parts of Peru.
Please sir, save my compatriots and us from suffering!"
"Fellow compatriots, please get up quickly, please get up quickly..."
Li Xuelin quickly reached out and held it.
"Please stand up and speak,"
In any case, he never expected that he would encounter such a thing when he first arrived in Lima. Before they could support the Peruvians, Chinese workers came to accuse the Peruvians of their crimes.
But there seems to be something wrong with this!
Even if Li Xuelin sympathizes with what these people are going through, what can he do?
The fleet is Nanhua's fleet, and the navy is Nanhua's navy, but they... are Qing people!
Of course, he, Li Xuelin, also came from there, but when the Qing people were angry and abused outside, shouldn't it be the Qing that came forward? Nanhua came forward... it was inconsistent with the law!
"Everyone!"
Mario stepped forward and said.
"Mou Ma is the plenipotentiary envoy to Peru this time. Our Lord is aware of the abuse and oppression you have suffered, and is extremely angry. However, as you need, the fleet is Nanhua's fleet, and you are... from the Qing Dynasty.
It’s really inconvenient for me to come forward!”
The official's rejection made the faces of Gu Zhijie and others change. Just when they looked desperate, they heard Mario say again.
"However, it is not difficult to do this. Are you willing to naturalize in Nanhua?"
In fact, before Mario came to Peru, he had already received a secret message from Nanhua, asking him to use this visit to completely solve the problem of Chinese labor in Peru.
Although Zhu Xianhai originally asked Ao Guanhai to rob a wave of Chinese workers on Chincha Island, he was unable to rescue the tens of thousands of Chinese workers in the plantations in the interior of Peru. Moreover, in the two or three years since he was here, Peru has introduced tens of thousands more
Chinese workers, what kind of life did those Chinese workers live? The Chinese workers were treated like slaves. These Chinese workers were forced to do dangerous work, and their treatment was even more miserable.
Perhaps to the Manchus, these Chinese workers were the so-called "abandoned citizens of the Celestial Empire", but to Nanhua, these Chinese workers were precious wealth. There were tens of thousands of them!
And there are still tens of thousands of young and strong laborers. If they are given tools, they can become road workers and farmers. If they are given guns, they can be soldiers. If given women, they can be fertility machines... Well, in short, they are all helping China to conquer this land.
How can we give up such help? Of course not.
Naturalized in Nanhua?
In fact, it is to solve the problem legally. Of course, for Gu Zhijie and others, they have no idea what it means to be naturalized in Nanhua. The only thing they care about is that they will have a backer after naturalizing in Nanhua. Speaking of which, this is probably a lot of
The reason why Chinese workers in North America join gangs is to find a backer.
The so-called naturalization is very simple. It is nothing more than issuing a passport. In fact, in this era, people can travel to various countries with or without a passport. The so-called passport is actually a piece of paper, but it only takes less than an hour. Gu Zhijie and others
He became a citizen of Nanhua, or a citizen of Linhai City of America Corporation.
After they completed their naturalization, they immediately rewrote the "petition". The petition no longer asked them to seek justice, but asked the authorities to rescue their relatives who were "imprisoned" in the Chincha Islands and plantations in Peru.
