Chapter 682 We are free California to defend private property!

When Xianfeng (Zhao Si)'s carriage drove into San Francisco, the sun at noon made the stone road white. The ruts ran over the undried paint marks on the street - it was a newly painted slogan last night, with the words "Free California, State Rights First" reappearing over and over again, extending from the dock to the steps of the Zhenyoupai Cathedral. The aroma of caramel floated out of the bakery on the corner of the street. Two Japanese women wrapped their hair in a headscarf and trotted past the newly-baked rye bread basket, running towards a team of new recruits not far away.

"Stand at attention! The gun is on the shoulder!" The roar in the square made the horse snarl. Xianfeng lifted the curtain and saw a team of recruits from the "California Free Army" training on the instructor's beat. Their blue cloth uniforms were washed white, and the brim of the gray top hat was pressed very low, covering the eastern holes of half of the people. The wooden butt stock hit the shoulders, and a thin Mexican boy staggered and was immediately pulled out of the queue by the instructor: "Get out to the dock to move the shells! Your arm can't even lift the spindle of the girl!"

The grocery shop across the street was open, and the Chinese boss behind the counter was checking the accounts with an abacus, and bundles of canvas were piled up at his feet - the material for sewing tents for the Free Army. Three Japanese women sat next to the threshold, carrying sleeping babies on their backs, and quickly putting their military shoes on their soles. In the rustling sound of needlework, the boss's wife shouted in stiff English to pass by Irish workers: "Twenty cents a pair! Come and pick them up tomorrow!"

When the carriage turned over Kinmen Avenue, Xianfeng saw more than a dozen fishing boats floating in the waves of San Francisco Bay. The fishermen at the bow stood barefoot on the slippery deck, quickly trawling nets, and the salmon with silver light shining between the mesh was thrown into the wooden barrel. Several Mexican teenagers squatted on the shore, cutting the fish's belly with iron hooks, and splashing blood and internal organs on the reef, attracting a group of hovering seagulls.

"Stop!" Xianfeng suddenly shouted. His eyes were nailed to the pier - a group of soldiers from the Free Army were lifting boxes of ammunition, guns, and even iron plates baled with straw from a steam ship belonging to Jardine Mahjong, which had a rice flag. I don't know what they were for?

It seems that the blockade of the US Pacific Fleet still has a considerable loophole. Xianfeng thought to himself: "After all, the Pacific Fleet currently has only two large ships that are worth the bill, and they may not dare to fire on ships with British flags."

"Everyone is born equal." - A newly painted slogan on the exterior wall of the Zhenyoupai Cathedral.

Xianfeng said in his heart: "Hong Renzheng used to know beauty! Now, don't try to break away from the United States and make independence when he is angry."

However, when Xianfeng walked outside Hong Renzheng's office, he knew that he was wrong. Before he entered the door, he heard Hong Renzheng's roar at the door: "Why should King Luo Wu not allow us to build a 'north of heaven' in California? Now the Yang family has a North Korean Heaven, the Wei family has a Java Heaven, and the Shi family has almost the Luzon Heaven. What's wrong with our Hong family building a California Heaven?"

When Xianfeng opened the door, Chen Yucheng was looking at a Pacific chart on the wall with a wooden stick. The wooden stick hit the mark of the Panama Railway: "It only takes 30 days to transport troops from the East Coast to San Francisco at the fastest! It takes at least two months to transport troops from Shanghai to California. The most important thing for the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is to run industry, and they have no spare energy to fight the United States in North America!"

Huang Shiren and Lei Laohu both bit their pipes and said nothing. The burnt smell from the tobacco made the office look like a powder barrel.

"Nan Yijin Prince Consort!" Hong Renzheng's military uniform had some ink stains on his cuffs. It seemed that he had just drafted some manifesto. "Is there anyone on the front line shouting 'Long live the California Heaven'?" His fingers hit a note on the table. It was a decree sent by Tianjing. It was transported by Jardine Crews. Jardine Crew is now taken over by Jardine Crews. Although it is 100% "Chinese capital", it still has the brand "Foreign Crew" to be equipped with British capital.

Xianfeng grabbed the teacup and took a sip of cold tea: "Yes, but I pressed it." The tea dripped along his furry chin onto the map, "The United States is not the Netherlands. The Federation really wants to mobilize and fight a full-scale war with us. Can they transport 100,000 guns from the Panama Railway - what about us? Can the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom send 100,000 troops to America so far?"

Luo Dagang in the corner suddenly asked: "Monkey King Nan Yijin, if you put this down, will the people below lose their energy?"

"Master, you're over-concerned." Xianfeng said, "What do you think the white guys who are making trouble with us are trying to do? San Francisco County Mayor Smith wants to be governor, Mureta wants to be a senator, and the Irish union people stare at the judge's seat... They don't want to kowtow to Tianjing!" He broke a piece of chalk and wrote the word "state power" on the blackboard, "These people would rather be the local emperor in California than be controlled by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom!"

"So we have to let the 'free California' legal system run ahead of the federal bayonet!" Xianfeng put the teacup heavily, "We have to promulgate the California Citizenship Law to issue citizenship to all Chinese participating in the war, and then elect the New State government before the 1860 election - let the Washington masters know that we are not rebelling, but 'defending state rights'! If we can set a successful example of 'defending state rights', then the Democrats in the South dare to roll up their sleeves and do it! Only when the white Americans work themselves can we Chinese become bigger in the three states on the West Coast."

Hong Renzheng opened the drawer silently and took out a letter covered with the fire lacquer of Mount Lu: "The same is true for King Luo Wu... But he wants us to kill more white people in the Battle of Sacramento River!"

"Of course you have to kill more." Xianfeng stared at the state army stronghold marked on the map. "The dead whites will not vote on the voting day." He paused and said, "Articine, we probably have to transfer the army to Stockton as soon as possible!"

Chen Yucheng turned around and asked, "What? Weller can't wait to come and die?"

Xianfeng nodded: "Sacramento has not much food in stock, and he must fight before the food is over!"

Chen Yucheng smiled and said, "Okay! I'm afraid he will huddle in Sacramento and not come out!"

Sacramento, capital of California.

The mill on the Sacramento River has already stopped, and the water wheel leaves are full of spider webs. In the underground warehouse of the state government building, the grain storage is decreasing at a visible rate - although the four major families in California have handed over the grain they have in Sacramento to the state government, the quantity is still far from enough. Sacramento is a city that has flourished with the mining industry, not a grain-producing area in California. In the past, Sacramento had to rely on the Sacramento River to transport. But now, the water transportation has been completely cut off, and the capital of California can only rely on the small amount of grain left to maintain the grain stored by the four major families in other parts of California.

Governor Weiler stood in front of the arch window on the third floor, looking at the sparse crowds on the street. Five state soldiers in gray uniforms searched the shops that were stocking up on the food door to door. An Italian shop owner held a flour bag and refused to let go. He was hit by the butt and his nose was hit by the butt, and blood was on the recruitment poster of "Everything for California".

"Governor!" Commander Bigler's coat was stained with horse manure. "Several farmers in the north refused to hand over the grain, saying that they wanted to keep the seeds in spring."

"Send Sherman's cavalry." Weiler didn't look back, "hang two, and the rest will be honest."

He had just finished his orders, and the office door was pushed open again. This time it was Sherman who was holding a piece of paper torn from somewhere in his hand - a piece of notice.

"Governor." Sherman said, "Look at this is the Free California Declaration!"

"Free. California?" Weiler asked hurriedly, "Do they want to make an independent case?"

Sherman shook his head: "Sorry, no."

Bigler quickly took the paper with the "Free California Declaration" printed on it and read it in a hoarse voice: "Letter to the citizens of all counties in California: The Weller government brazenly abolished the jury trial and confiscated the property of Chinese people with the Special Wartime Act. This is a trampling on Article 5 of the Constitution! Today, San Francisco and San Jose and other twenty-one counties have established 'Free California' to restore the elected parliament and defend private property and state rights to the death. Counties are asked to send representatives to San Francisco cities and counties before the 25th of this month to vote for the new governor and parliament. God bless California County Mayor William Smith, Liberty California militia colonel Mureta, and Ireland Free Trade Union President State Senator Patrick O'Leary."

After Bigler finished reading the statement, he crumpled the declaration into a ball and threw it into the wastebasket: "Governor, it's meaningless to wait! Those people are more cunning than foxes! And our food is only enough for two months. Either the battle will be fought quickly or the food will be exhausted and the people will be dispersed!"

Weller grabbed the paper cutter and inserted it into the Sacramento River on the map: "Then set the final battle on the north bank of the Sacramento River - Colonel Sherman. We have few people and it is impossible to attack Stockton, so you have to find a way to attract those yellow-skinned monkeys to cross the river to fight."

"Yes, Governor!" California militia chief of staff Sherman thought for a while, "we can pretend to go to Napa County to grab grain!"

"Okay, that's it!"

At dawn the next day, the army gathered on the Sacramento River was like a group of miscellaneous beggars. Only one-third of the 13,000 militia were wearing uniform blue jackets, some of the rest wearing hunting suits, and some wearing Mexican cloaks. Sherman rode on the skinny war horses and watched the soldiers wrap their blistered feet in rags.

"Start!" Bigler's saber pointed forward. There was no military band, no cheer, only the creaking sound of wheels running through the gravel. At the end of the team, more than a dozen teenagers carried homemade flags, with the words "Brown bears and "Defend homes" on them.

As they walked past the last intact bridge, a little blonde girl suddenly rushed out of the crowd and stuffed a bunch of wild flowers to the passing soldiers. "Dad said to be brave." Her voice was drowned by the footsteps of the march.

In the bushes across the river, the scouts sent by Zhenyou were rustling on paper with pencils: "The enemy's artillery has twenty-four guns, and the number of cavalry is 3,000, but the war horses are generally thin, and half of the infantry have no boots."
Chapter completed!