PFC Chapter 48 On what grounds can one claim territory?
Chapter 48 On what grounds can one claim territory?
While on the ship, Zhang Zongyu carefully observed the situation at Langleyburg using binoculars.
This so-called fortress actually had no brick or stone walls, not even rammed earth walls.
They used sharpened, thick wooden sticks, which were planted in the ground in a row and tied together with two horizontal clamps to form a dense wooden fence with some firing holes.
(The photo shows Langley Fort, rebuilt a few years later, but these trading posts were all roughly the same; just knowing what they looked like is enough.)
There was no sign of any cannons, and even if there were cannons inside, they wouldn't be very large, otherwise they would have been fixed to the wall.
The yard is quite large, probably more than ten acres.
However, there are not many houses to be seen, and there may be large areas of farmland in the yard.
After Zhang Zongyu led his troops ashore, they lined up and stopped about 300 meters from Langley Fort.
Ten militiamen were assigned to escort Yu Yang, the interpreter of the Siyiguan (Foreigners' Office), as they slowly made their way to Langleyburg, carrying flags.
The founder of Langleyburg, and also the Hudson Bay Company's chief agent in Langleyburg, was named James McMillan.
McMillan was behind the fence, using binoculars to observe the situation outside through the firing port.
After he discovered that Zhang Zongyu's soldiers had landed, they immediately followed orders to quickly form ranks and march forward in orderly steps, which further convinced him that they were a regular army.
Looking at the soldiers' appearance and clothing, McMillan judged that they should all be of East Asian descent, but why would these East Asians be in North America?
Did they come by ship across the Pacific? That would be a huge problem for the Hudson Bay Company…
Shortly thereafter, the enemy stopped with their soldiers outside the range of the shotguns, and then ten soldiers escorted a civil official in a long robe, carrying a flag, as they continued forward.
Although the flag was not the white flag commonly used in Europe, McMillan could guess that the other party most likely wanted to communicate.
McMillan did not order his men to fire, but waited for Yu Yang's communication team to continue approaching, until they were a dozen meters away from the walls of Fort Langley.
McMillan then had Henry stand on the pile of wood, stick his head out from over the wall, and shout outside:
"Stop! Who are you? Where are you from? What do you want?"
The interpreter, Yu Yang, immediately waved his hand to stop the militia from advancing.
The soldiers carefully observed and remained vigilant at Fort Langley, preparing to open fire at any time and cover each other's retreat.
Yu Yang then shouted at Henry on the wall in a rather strange-sounding British English:
"We are the Great Han militia, and we have built our third settlement in the Americas downstream of this river."
"At the same time, our exploration team discovered your building here."
"Our commander believes we should ascertain each other's situation to avoid unnecessary conflict."
Yu Yang's few words revealed a great deal of information.
Upon hearing this, Henry and the surrounding company employees instinctively screamed in alarm:
"They're Chinese! How did they end up in America?!"
"Downstream! Three settlements!"
"What does 'a thousand-household officer' mean? Is it an officer in charge of a thousand soldiers?"
McMillan yelled at those around him:
"Quiet!"
Everyone immediately quieted down, and McMillan gave Henry a few more instructions, telling him to continue shouting outside:
"This is British territory, and you cannot settle here."
Yu Yang had some understanding of Westerners, but he wasn't prepared to communicate using Western logic:
"You're wrong. This is the land of the Great Han."
"Wherever the sun and moon shine and rivers flow, that is the land of the Great Han."
"Unless you, Britain, are a vassal state of the Han Dynasty, you cannot settle and live here."
Henry and the Britons around him couldn't help but shout again:
"What a load of rubbish! What kind of nonsense is this!"
"What do you mean by saying that any place with rivers and the sun and moon is the land of the Han Dynasty?"
"These people are incredibly arrogant!"
McMillan shouted again:
"Shut up, all of you!"
The people around stopped arguing again, and McMillan continued to have Henry shout to Yu Yang outside:
"Stop talking nonsense here. This is British territory."
"We Britons discovered this place decades ago and have lived and traded here for a long time."
"We have never seen any Han Chinese here in the past few decades."
"On what basis do you claim this as your territory?"
Yu Yang knew that Henry was just a messenger, so he spread his arms wide towards the wall:
"You have never seen us Han Chinese before, and we have never seen you Britons before."
"But now we've all seen each other, haven't we?"
"As for why we claim territory, it is because of the soldiers behind me, the warships on the river, and the sailors and cannons on those warships."
"If our soldiers launch an attack under the cover of artillery fire, can you hold them off with this rudimentary fence?"
"We, the Great Han, believe this place belongs to the Great Han, while you claim it belongs to Britain."
"So, does Britain intend to become a vassal state of my Great Han, or does it intend to declare war on my Great Han?"
Henry didn't know how to answer, so he looked directly at McMillan after hearing the reply.
McMillan was also worried.
The enemy had three hundred soldiers, and there were three boats on the river, each clearly carrying more than one cannon.
This is indeed the basis for the other party's claim to territory, and it is very convincing.
If I confront them head-on, I will definitely fail.
McMillan remained silent for a while before letting Henry speak out again, sentence by sentence:
"Everyone here is just an employee of Hudson Bay Company."
"We have no right to declare war on behalf of Britain, nor do we have the right to make Britain a vassal state of another country."
"As you can see, we have fortresses and houses here, and we have indeed lived here for a long time."
"People from the civilized world should help each other in this wilderness."
"We do not want to have a conflict with you."
The Hudson's Bay Company is indeed a company, but it is a specially authorized colonial company.
The Kingdom of Britain has always regarded land controlled by such companies as its territory.
Of the thirty-odd people now in Langley Fort, more than half were originally British soldiers.
But now the other side has a huge number of people and is very powerful.
McMillan could only use the flexibility inherent in the nature of the company to try and preserve the company's assets, as well as his own life and that of all his colleagues and subordinates, through compromise.
Yu Yang noticed that the other side had conceded on the claim, no longer demanding to represent Britain in claiming territory, so he immediately stepped forward and said:
"You are merely employees of a private trading company and cannot represent the United Kingdom in negotiations regarding territorial sovereignty."
"But we are soldiers of the Emperor of the Great Han Dynasty, and I am an official of the diplomatic mission of the Great Han Dynasty. We are here on behalf of the Emperor of the Great Han Dynasty and the court, declaring that this land belongs to the Great Han Dynasty."
"You'd better accept our rule for now until the King of Britain sends an envoy to negotiate with us."
It is only natural that a disputed piece of land should be under the jurisdiction of the current controlling party until the parties involved in the dispute reach an agreement to clarify its ownership.
The two thousand militiamen sent by the Han Dynasty were able to effectively control the land on both sides of several nearby bays and rivers.
When McMillan verbally backed down, he had already accepted reality in his heart, so he doesn't question this statement now.
McMillan turned to look at his other companions:
"They had three hundred soldiers, all dressed and armed, marching in perfect formation; they were a real army."
"With the ship-borne artillery on the river, we had absolutely no chance to resist."
"If they launch an attack, we won't be able to stop even one charge."
"The gap is too big. In this situation, fighting is not brave, but foolish and reckless."
"We are just company employees, not generals or soldiers."
"In order to preserve company assets as much as possible, we should have the necessary flexibility and compromise."
McMillan's companions were in a state of confusion, some seemed indifferent, and some were trembling with fear.
But no one voiced any objection, no one wanted to die; they came here seeking wealth, not to risk their lives for the king.
So McMillan instructed Henry, who was on the wall, to continue speaking to Yu Yang and making his demands:
"We can temporarily accept your jurisdiction until the Kingdom of Britain and the Great Han Empire complete negotiations and clarify the ownership of the territory."
"But you need to sign formal documents with us, promising to protect all of our company's assets, as well as the personal and property safety of all our individuals."
Yu Yang hesitated for a moment:
"No problem, we can issue an official document promising to protect your personal safety and property, but this does not include your land ownership in the local area."
"Because the Han Dynasty did not recognize private land ownership, all land in the world belonged to the emperor, and all other people and institutions only had the right to lease and use it."
"However, we can promise that the land you currently use for construction and farming will continue to be used by you during the negotiation period between the two parties."
"We allow you to continue operating your existing businesses, but you must accept the supervision of the Great Han and pay taxes."
Yu Yang deliberately raised objections to the details, the key being the demand for taxation, mainly to enhance his credibility.
Macmillan also understood the logic of national land ownership; theoretically, all the land in Britain belonged to the King.
Any land transaction required the king's authorization, which made the land buying and selling process very complicated.
Therefore, most land transactions in Britain are carried out in the form of "leasing".
A lifetime lease is for 99 years, while a permanent lease is for 999 years.
Therefore, McMillan instructed Henry to accept Yu Yang's request:
"We can accept it."
Yu Yang said to the gate of Langleyburg with great satisfaction:
"Now open the door, and let's draft and sign the agreement right here."
Macmillan instructed Henry and John to remove the support pole behind the gate and open the camp gate.
They also sent someone to move a table and fetch paper and pens.
Yu Yang led the soldiers around him forward and stopped three meters away from the gate of Langley Fort.
McMillan then walked out the door with a dozen or so companions.
The two parties first introduced themselves to each other, and then drafted a very simple agreement on the spot.
The content is just the few sentences that the two sides just said.
Before the Great Han and the British government completed negotiations and signed an agreement to determine the ownership of the local territory, Langley Fort was under the jurisdiction of the Great Han's Third Village in the American Bay.
The Great Han levied reasonable taxes on Langleyburg to ensure the personal and property safety of relevant personnel and institutions.
Write it in Chinese characters and British script on the same piece of paper.
The Chinese characters were written by Yu Yang, while the British script was written by James Murray Yale, the clerk and chief merchant of Langleyburg.
There are many surnames among Europeans and Americans. People with less common surnames who share the same surname are often related by ancestry.
This Yale is a distant relative of the founder of Yale University; he is a descendant of the other party's uncle.
After the draft was finalized, Yu Yang, the interpreter of the Four Barbarian Hall of the Court of State Ceremonies of the Han Dynasty, used his seal.
James McMillan, Chief Agent of the British Hudson's Bay Company at Langleyburg, and James Murray Yale, Chief Merchant and Secretary, signed the document.
This document is actually a ceasefire agreement, or even a surrender document.