The sun never sets in America

Chapter 88 On the road to immigration
Edo Port, Japan...

There was no difference between Edo Port and Hu Junding, Wan Fang and others when they left.

The only difference may be that many Japanese-style wooden houses were built in the open space around the dock. These houses were replaced in advance with part of the weapons purchased by Japan when Hu Junding left.

On the pier, in addition to the simple wooden houses that have just been built around it, the most significant thing is that there are many Japanese people who can speak Chinese. Most of these Japanese are local vendors who come to the pier to sell local products.

Of course, most of them are Japanese specialties such as Japanese folding fans, some local Japanese gadgets, and Japan’s biggest specialty... women! !

"Sir, our girl is the best in the entire Edo City. She is gentle and beautiful, and the price is also cheap..." The Japanese turtle wearing a kimono looked obscenely and grabbed a girl who looked young and well-dressed. The immigrants who are also neater and have better fabrics than the poor immigrants around them said, "Don't worry, we will serve you well and let you feel the feeling of flying into heaven..." The Japanese turtle continued to talk to the young immigrants in front of him. temptation said.

"I...I don't want to go." Li Zihao pushed away the little Turtle Man who had been grabbing him, and refused with a red face.

"The girls in our family are really beautiful. Even the adults from the shogunate's family have been lucky enough to meet her." The Japanese turtle lie came out of his mouth without caring about the shogunate's reaction. "This young gentleman doesn't know how to do it." Still a virgin, right?" The Japanese turtle glanced at Li Zihao's immature face, with a lewd expression on his face.

"I..." Li Zihao was so worried by the Japanese turtle in front of him that his whole face turned red and he felt embarrassed.

"I know your concerns, young sir. Don't worry, we still have pure women. In the words of you Qing people... they should be called Huanghua eldest daughters." The Japanese turtle seductively said to Li Zihao with a rippling expression.

"Really?" Li Zihao glanced at the Japanese turtle with a wretched face with some embarrassment, asked in a low voice, and then lowered his head.

"It must be true." When the Japanese turtle saw Li Zihao's expression, he immediately understood that there was something wrong. He immediately replied to Li Zihao, "Come, it's in Edo Castle...I will take you there." After saying this, the Japanese turtle was about to pull away. Holding Li Zihao's hand, he walked towards Edo Castle.

"stop……"

Just when Li Zihao was tempted and was about to follow Mr. Turtle, a serious voice came from behind.

"Brother Lu!!" Li Zihao saw the man behind him, who seemed to have found a backbone, and immediately said hello happily.

"You kid, you don't know how to learn well every day, just like others visiting the brothels!!" Lu Mushan looked at Li Zihao in front of him, and cursed with a bit of hatred. He had seen what happened between Li Zihao and the Japanese turtle just now, The reason why he didn't come up was just to see how this kid's concentration was. He didn't expect that he could be deceived so easily with so much coaxing.

"Brother Lu..." After being scolded, Li Zihao immediately blushed and lowered his head. He admitted that he had been tempted when the Japanese turtle man said he had a yellow girl...

"Sir, do you want to play too?" The Japanese turtle couldn't see the situation clearly yet, thinking that Lu Mushan and Li Zihao were friends, and he made two business deals at once.

"Our Yamada Izakaya is the best Izakaya in the local area. The wine is delicious and the people are good-looking..." After the introduction, the Japanese Kame Gong winked at Lu Mushan.

"Thank you for your kindness. We have to go on our way, so there won't be any trouble." Lu Mushan looked coldly at the Japanese turtle in front of him who made him feel sick, and then refused, "Zihao, let's go..." Lu Mushan then said Taking Li Zihao beside him, he headed towards the wooden house prepared for immigrants like them.

"Hey..." After the Japanese turtle saw Li Zihao and Lu Mushan leaving, he immediately shouted anxiously, "Two gentlemen, there are really many beauties in our Yamada Izakaya..." No matter how the Japanese turtle shouted, The two of them just didn't stop. In the end, the Japanese turtle had no choice but to give up on the two of them and continue to look for other targets on the dock who could be guests.

It stands to reason that with thousands of immigrants arriving at one time, you can find a lot of customers anyway, but Mr. Gui has been in this business for a long time and knows who can do this kind of thing.

The first is the rich, the second is the young, and they have to be fair, fat, and well-marked. It is best that they are incompatible with the poor people on the dock. From this look, there are only people like Li Zihao. After sneaking out, the landlord's silly son is considered a qualified guest.

"What did you look like just now? It's like you've never seen a woman before." Lu Mushan scolded Li Zihao on the street, "You just believe what they say about a yellow flower girl? Damn it... I'm stuffing it in my butt." Pig blood, I said I am a woman, do you believe it?" Lu Mushan continued to lecture Li Zihao. In his opinion, Li Zihao is really easy to deceive. He can be tricked into spending money with just one sentence. There is Chang'e in the izakaya, is he going to sell off his property? !
"I..." Li Zihao couldn't raise his head after being scolded, "I just want to see what Japan is like. The sage said that reading thousands of books is worse than traveling thousands of miles. I am also imitating the sage!! "Li Zihao finally found a lame excuse for himself, and the more he said it, the more righteous he felt.

"Sage, which saint said that?" Lu Mushan looked at Li Zihao with a sneer and asked, "Besides, people have traveled thousands of miles. When you get there, you have already traveled to the brothel..." Lu Mushan looked at Li Zihao. Some people scolded him for not living up to expectations.

"I..." Li Zihao had no choice but to shut up in the end, and then followed Lu Mushan with an aggrieved look on his face.

"Zihao, I'm not telling you, did you come here from Hangzhou just to do these stupid things?" Lu Mushan sighed and said to Li Zihao in a kind tone, "When you said you were going to America, you were going to America. That Liujiabao has been pestering me for three days. I told him that the road was dangerous and I might be in danger of my life. Tell me, if a man dies, he will die, but if nothing is accomplished, it is better to die early." Speaking of begging him to go with us in Hangzhou. Li Zihao, Lu Mushan's face was full of admiration. Being able to say such words at the age of 17 will definitely make him famous in the future.

"But now, you are being deceived by others just because you are a young girl. I think you are really lustful and greedy!" Lu Mushan continued to say to Li Zihao, hating the iron that cannot be broken.

But Li Zihao just lowered his head in shame. He was also reflecting in his heart, was what he just did too stupid? ?
Being deceived so easily, and even by a low-level Japanese, no one should be deceived by those dwarfs! !
"Brother Lu, don't worry, I won't be like this again." Li Zihao suddenly raised his head and solemnly replied to Lu Mushan, "If I don't make a name for myself when I go to America this time, I won't trust Li!!" Li Zihao He swore to Lu Mushan with a serious expression.

Lu Mushan nodded with satisfaction, a pleased expression on his face.

squeak……

The two came to a clean Japanese wooden house, took out the key given by the immigration officer when they disembarked, opened the lock, and opened the door directly.

The room is not large in size. Because it is a room for two people, it only has a larger tatami, two rice husk-filled pillows, and a simple thin quilt. Since it is summer, I can make do with it. .

There is no kitchen or bathroom in the room, firstly because of cost, and secondly for safety.

In terms of cost, it is very simple. It is simply about saving money. The most important thing about safety is that the entire house is made of wooden structure, and the houses of immigrants are relatively close together. Once it catches fire, there may even be a chain reaction. This is absolutely unacceptable. Accepted.

After all, each immigrant is worth 15 taels of silver. This is without the large-scale establishment of 15 taels of silver at the end of the [-]th century and the beginning of the [-]th century. A better cattle is worth only a few taels of silver. One immigrant is equivalent to A few cattle that can be used for farming...

Although it is inappropriate to compare immigrants with cattle, from the perspective of money and value, it is indeed the case.

After paying such a high price, Han State must recoup the cost, so the safety of immigrants has become a top priority.

Not only the various arrangements during the immigration journey, but also the arrangements for living on the ship. Forty large ocean-going merchant ships only brought more than 1 immigrants. If the Western colonists followed the way of selling slaves in African colonies, it is very likely that A third more, or even more...

The increase in the number of people means that living conditions are greatly reduced, and the consequence is that slaves die in large numbers and the mortality rate is extremely high...

This also led to the fact that the price of hey slaves was extremely high at the beginning, higher than the price of many livestock. It was not until those American farmers started to breed them on their own that the price came down.

What Han wanted were citizens who would contribute to the country in the future, not the so-called slaves who got sick on the ship and died when they got off the ship.

Therefore, the Han Dynasty was very concerned about the health of the immigrants. Not only was it equipped with doctors when they set off, but after arriving in China, Hu Junding also used gold and dollars to recruit many local doctors to accompany them on the ship, and also purchased a batch of sufficient supplies. Immigrants insist on bringing medicinal materials to the Americas. Everything is for the immigrants to arrive in North America and Han in a healthy and safe manner! !And all this was seen and remembered by those who were interested, and Li Zihao and Lu Mushan were part of it.

Li Zihao is the son of the owner of a silk and satin shop in Hangzhou in the Qing Dynasty. He has lived a life without worries about food and clothing since he was a child. It is never too much to open his mouth with a word of clothing and stretch his hand with a meal.

But this eldest son, who was so valued by his father Li Wenhua, accidentally learned about Liu Jiabao's immigration to America. He made a decisive decision and took Lu Mushan, whom he had known since childhood and was five years older than him, to leave. He moved home, leaving only one letter.

Wrote in the letter...

"Father, seeing words is like seeing each other..."

"The child is over seventeen years old. Although he was born into a wealthy family, he has loved watching heroic stories such as the Three Kingdoms, Sui and Tang Dynasties since he was a child... However, in Hangzhou, a place where fireworks flourish, the heroes' bones have also turned into my daughter's tears. I don't want to I just want to enjoy my life, and I have no intention of taking the imperial examination to help the emperor to abuse, so I follow the example of the sages... and create a foundation in the American continent. If one day, the child succeeds, he will return to his hometown and worship his parents... If he fails, he may be buried in the sea. Being fed into the belly of a fish, I can only sigh that my children are not blessed... I will repay my parents' kindness in the next life!!"

"The important things in the family and the inheritance of my parents can also be inherited by my second brother. The second brother is talented and intelligent and will definitely be able to carry forward my Li family's property."

"My child, I bow down to you!!"

You can imagine how Li Wenhua felt after seeing this sudden farewell letter. It would not be an exaggeration to call Li Zihao irresponsible and unfilial.

Lu Mushan, who went to North America with Li Zihao, was not as rich as Li Zihao. He was an orphan since he was a child. In Hangzhou City, he relied on three points of spirit and seven points of means to create a reputation as a little Taibao. However, because of his background, the society The status is basically over.

After Li Zihao begged Lu Mushan to go to North America together, Lu Mushan quickly agreed. Without him... Lu Mushan also had great ambitions and wanted to entrust the name of a gangster. In Hangzhou City and even the Qing Dynasty, It's impossible, and the only way now is to immigrate to North America.

As Li Zihao said, he created a foundation that impressed everyone and never dared to look down on him again! !
"Hey, why do these Japanese live on the ground? Why don't they even have a bed?" Li Zihao sat down on the tatami and looked at the empty furnishings in the room. Although he had been mentally prepared for it, he still couldn't accept it.

"This is how the Japanese live. I heard from the soldiers on the ship that the Japanese are very polite and bow at every turn. What else can they say?" Lu Mushan heard Li Zihao's words and immediately said that he was there On the ship, I heard what the escort soldiers said about the situation in Japan. When they said a certain sentence in Japanese, they suddenly stopped.

"Is it called Smith Marseille??" Li Zihao replied to Lu Mushan without hesitation. At the beginning, the Japanese turtle man seemed to have vaguely said this, and Li Zihao wrote it down.

"Yes, yes...it's this Smith Marseille!!" After hearing this, Lu Mushan immediately agreed, "I say Zihao, you can really do it, your memory is good enough, and you can even learn Japanese so quickly. ." Lu Mushan praised Li Zihao on the side.

"It's a joke, it's a joke!!" Li Zihao replied with some pride, "By the way, Brother Lu, I heard from those people above that after we passed through Japan, there were no big places along the way except some small islands. Stopped, we have to drive for more than ten days, to what Hawaii?" Li Zihao mentioned to Lu Mushan what he heard from the immigration officers on the ship.

"I don't know about this. I only know that we bought an island in that country called Hawaii. It is said to be several times bigger than Macau. I don't know if it is true or not." Lu Mushan immediately replied to Li Zihao What he knew about the Kingdom of Hawaii, "I really don't know what these foreigners think, can their country be sold??" Lu Mushan was very surprised that the Kingdom of Hawaii was selling its territory.

You must know that in China, the land has always been sacred. You can sell it at any time. This is not betrayal of the country. What is it? ?

"Who knows what these Hawaiians think." Li Zihao mentioned the Hawaiian Kingdom, curled his lips, and replied with some disdain, "But this Hawaiian Kingdom is a small country as soon as you hear it. Naturally, this small country has no choice when facing a big country." Li Zihao then continued to reply to Lu Mushan, in his opinion, in this world, whoever has the biggest fist will listen to him.

Now these Liujiapu people have big fists, so they naturally want to listen to the Liujiapu people. Could it be possible to listen to those Hawaiians? ? (The news of the establishment of the Han Kingdom had not yet spread.)
"What do you think these Liujiabao people are like, Brother Lu?" Li Zihao suddenly asked Lu Mushan what he thought of Liujiabao.

"My opinion?" When Lu Mushan heard Li Zihao's words, he was stunned for a moment, and then replied: "If you look at it, these people are definitely stronger than the Qing Dynasty!!" Lu Mushan's face changed when he mentioned the Qing Dynasty. He showed a mocking smile.

"Oh, how come you can see it??" Li Zihao heard this and asked Lu Mushan with great interest.

"If we don't talk about anything else, let's just talk about the immigration... The care taken along the way is beyond what the corrupt officials of the Qing Dynasty can do." Lu Mushan and Li Zihao mentioned the treatment of the Han Dynasty on them during the immigration journey. Take care of him, "Good guy, you have two dry meals and one thin meal every day. This is on a ship. You don't have to work, but you can still eat so much. And every few days, you can still see some meat. This is in our Qing Dynasty, then This is a life that only landlords can live." Lu Mushan mentioned the food on the ship and said to Li Zihao in disbelief.

In his opinion, if those Qing lords came to immigrate, apart from other things, they would never be able to eat so well. It would be good to give you two thin meals a day. If you want to see some meat, there is no way.

You've eaten everything. What does the master above eat? ?
"And you can also take a hot shower on the ship. Although you only take a bath every ten days and only give half a bucket of water to wipe yourself every day, it is better than the Qing Dynasty." Lu Mushan continued to mention the hygiene on the ship to Li Zihao, "Zihao, let me tell you something you don't like to hear. You come from a rich family. You don't know how difficult it is for ordinary people to take a bath. People in the city have to buy firewood and charcoal. It's okay in summer, just pour cold water on it. But in winter, It's been a normal thing not to take a shower for a month." Lu Mushan, who was born in a lower-class city, is very aware of the difficulties of the people at the bottom, so he also understands the significance of Han's actions.

This is really treating them as human beings! !
"Besides these, have you noticed anything different about the men on the ship?" Lu Mushan then asked Li Zihao.

"What's the difference??" For Li Zihao, who came from a wealthy family, he really didn't feel any difference. It was just that the guys were not as polite to him as they were in Hangzhou.

"It's respect!!" Lu Mushan replied to Li Zihao with tears in his eyes, "It's about treating us as human beings, respect!!" Lu Mushan said to Li Zihao excitedly.

For someone like Lu Mushan, who comes from the lowest level, although he has escaped the fate of starving to death on the streets through his own efforts, he can still feel the slight contempt for him from the big shots. This contempt is not because of Otherwise, it's just because he comes from a humble background and lives in the market.

Many lower-class people in the Qing Dynasty had the same experience as him, or even worse. The wealthy families were stinky with wine and meat, and people were frozen to death on the road. This is not just a talk in our Qing Dynasty, but a story that is played out every day.

And after discovering that these Liujiabao soldiers treated them as if they were human beings, Lu Mushan's originally cold heart suddenly became hot. He wanted to do something big, in America, in that place called Liujiabao. Place, do something great for the people there! !

This is the wish Lu Mushan made one night on the ship, looking at the mottled wooden boards above his head in bed, a wish just for everyone to be human! !
It seems that it has nothing to do with Li Zihao's glorious ancestor and going to America to do something great and upright, but his intention is more simple and great! !

"Respect??" After listening to what Lu Mushan said, Li Zihao thought a little confusedly. For a kid from a rich family like him, it is really difficult to understand what respect is...

"Brother Lu, do you think these Liujiapu people can succeed in America?" Li Zihao then asked Lu Mushan a question that he had been thinking about, that is, according to what he knew from the French missionaries in Hangzhou, America In total, there are more than a dozen countries, and in North America, where Liujiabao is located, there are three major forces.

One is called the United States of America, and the other is a colony called the United Kingdom. (Li Zihao doesn’t know what a colony is, he just treats it as a place similar to a frontier)

The other one is the Republic of Mexico where Liujiabao is located. Although this Liujiabao temporarily defeated the Mexicans, I heard the French missionary said that there are a lot of silver mines in Mexico. Hey, won't the silver mines be worth money? ?

This Mexican foreigner has a steady stream of money dug from the ground. Wouldn't it be the same as beating the Liujiapu people? ?
Li Zihao, who was born in a merchant family, didn't know anything else, but he still knew about the power of money. If you have money, you can recruit soldiers and raise more troops. Liujiabao has only been established for a short time, and the situation in North America is very complicated. It's complicated. Don't let him go and be destroyed...

Li Zihao told Lu Mushan all the worries in his heart.

"I don't know if Liujiabao can win." Lu Mushan replied to Li Zihao with a complex expression, "But I only know that Liujiabao means a lot to us poor people. It's not easy for someone to treat us as equals." Court, I will never let him die... Even if he dies fighting the foreigners, I will not hesitate to do so!!" Lu Mushan replied to Li Zihao again with a heavy face and a hoarse voice. His expression was quite serious, as if he was really serious. It's like going to America to fight.

"I..." Li Zihao was speechless by the sight of Lu Mushan in front of him, "Brother Lu, I don't understand what you mean by respect, but I still say the same thing... If a man dies, he will die, but nothing will be accomplished. It's better to die early, I went to North America to gain fame that will last forever!!" Li Zihao said to Lu Mushan with firm eyes.

(End of this chapter)