1850 American Gold Tycoon

In Tingtao Garden, after a back and forth fight, Liang Yao finally put the wooden sword on Mason's neck.

This was his first fencing victory over Mason.

Fremont once praised Colonel Mason as a good fencer in the Army.

But based on Liang Yao's experience of fighting against each other several times, if the two of them failed to show off during their fencing training with him, he personally felt that Fremont's fencing skills were superior to Colonel Mason's.

Rumor has it that Fremont’s American-style Iaihe is also one of the best, and at least a dozen people have fallen victim to Fremont’s American-style Iahe.

It's a pity that Fremont has already gone to explore the route of the Pacific Railway. Otherwise, we can still see the swordsmanship between Mason and Fremont.

"You won. Your swordsmanship has improved a lot."

Mason took off the protective gear on his head and said breathlessly.

He is a bit old, and every time he goes through high-intensity exercise, he always feels exhausted.

California and the federal government have reached a settlement, and Mason is free.

According to the latest order from the Department of War, Mason's troops will be stationed on the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona and New Mexico and will no longer be responsible for border defense in California. This has relieved a lot of pressure on Mason.

After taking a moment to breathe heavily and recover, Mason continued: "You are a respectable opponent. I hope we will not be opponents again in the future."

Mason has seen the soldiers of the California Infantry Regiment. Although the California Infantry Regiment has just been established, it is undeniable that this infantry regiment has high combat literacy and fighting will.

This new infantry regiment is definitely an elite regiment among the fifteen or sixteen army regiments currently in service in the United States.

"No one can tell what the future holds."

Liang Yao said indifferently after taking off his protective gear.

It was not surprising that Mason was not tried by a military court. Unlike Sherman, the executioner in Los Angeles, he had a more noble and distinguished family background and wider connections.

Liang Yao didn't expect American law to be able to try Mason, who had an excellent background.

"I owe California an apology."

Mason bowed to Liang Yao and apologized with shame on his face.

Liang Yao turned his head and did not accept Mason's apology: "You should keep these words and talk to the dead American people in Los Angeles. Apology cannot make the dead come back to life."

"I'll be there in person in Los Angeles to apologize."

With that said, Mason ordered the black servant beside him to bring an extremely finely crafted Ames cavalry sword, and came to Liang Yao holding the sword in both hands.

"This is a gift from President Polk, which can also be said to be a commendation. I give this cavalry sword to you now. I am no longer worthy of holding this cavalry sword, but you are worthy of this cavalry sword." knife."

Liang Yao unceremoniously took the Ames cavalry sword held by Colonel Mason in his hand. The slightly curved blade was very light.

He pulled out the knife and played with it for a while. This knife was very suitable for slashing and stabbing. The gorgeous hand guard was not flashy and could protect the user's wrist well.

Of course, the most special thing about this knife is that it was a gift from Polk, the 11th President of the United States. The blade and handle are engraved with President Polk’s inscription, which is a symbol of honor. …Only senior Army officers who have distinguished themselves while serving in the United States and Mexico are eligible to receive this cavalry sword.

Liang Yao walked to a rose tree and slashed at the rose tree that had just been planted in front of him with his knife.

Liang Yao skillfully put the knife back into the scabbard as he raised the knife.

The rose sapling was cut in half with a knife, leaving a neat cut on the small trunk of more than an inch.

"Mason! If you lead troops to invade California and cause trouble in California in the future, your fate will be the same as this sapling."

After speaking, Liang Yao turned around and left without looking back. This was his last warning to Mason, hoping that Mason would behave well in the future.

Mason smiled bitterly and left Liang Yao's manor, ordering the black servants to pack their luggage and prepare to leave San Francisco by boat.

Invading California? Now that California has become a state, is this still possible? Unless there is a civil war in the United States and Liang Yao is still on the opposite side of the American federal government, he and Liang Yao will never fight each other again in the future.

"Sir, Mr. Vanderbilt asked me to ask you when the three thousand workers you promised him will be handed over. The Nicaragua side is waiting to start construction." As soon as Liang Yao returned to the study, Kony came forward. asked.

"I have asked Jinchen to take care of the labor matters. First, 1,500 workers will be handed over to Mr. Vanderbilt, and the remaining 1,500 workers will be transferred after the Global Shipping Company's fleet returns from Guangzhou. transfer."

Liang Yao frowned and said.

"The time agreed between us has not come yet. Tell Mr. Vanderbilt that I will keep the agreement and ask him not to be anxious. The American Group is also in short supply of labor right now."

Not only was Vanderbilt short of labor, Liang Yao also faced a labor shortage after the railroad started.

After the construction of the railway between San Francisco and Sacramento was completed, the construction of two more railway lines was also put on the agenda, one was the railway line from Sacramento to Nevada, and the other was the railway line from San Francisco to Los Angeles. .

The demand for labor will only increase in the future.

Fortunately, Vanderbilt's five large steamships have already crossed Cape Horn and will be able to reach San Francisco before July this year. The addition of the five large steamships will greatly increase the shipping capacity of the Universal Shipping Company and speed up immigration. Speed ​​can slightly alleviate the problem of labor shortage.

Originally, it was impossible for Liang Yao to accept five large steamships from Vanderbilt before this fall.

Among these five large steamships, three were orders from other shipping companies. However, due to the economic downturn in the United States, many shipping companies were in a difficult situation. When the ships were launched, these ships placed orders with the Vanderbilt shipyard. Shipping companies have gone bankrupt.

So Vanderbilt handed over all three newly launched boats to Liang Yao.

Universal Shipping Company is now the major financier of the Vanderbilt Shipyard. Liang Yao has placed orders at the Vanderbilt Shipyard, which have been scheduled until June 1853.

Liang Yao is still discussing cooperation with Vanderbilt on training crew members. After all, so many ships have been built, and enough crew members are needed. …The principal vessels of the Universal Shipping Company at present are steamships.

Although steamships can sail without watching the wind, they can sail in any season.

But early steamships had a very serious problem, which was low fuel utilization and high coal consumption.

Low fuel utilization is a common problem of steam engines, especially early steam engines.

This is why many early steamships still did not give up sails, because using sails when the wind was favorable and using wind power to sail could save a lot of coal.

The Pacific immigration route that Liang Yao took was an extremely long voyage without any fuel supply points in the middle. Last time, Si Wen's fleet was insufficiently supplied for this reason.

Burning coal took up a lot of space on the ship, allowing the ship to carry fewer supplies.

If Liang Yao wants to operate this route for a long time, he must build a suitable supply point in the Pacific to refuel and provide supplies to passing steamships. Only Hawaii can handle this supply point.

On the surface, the construction of a supply depot in Hawaii is an issue between California, the United States, and the Kingdom of Hawaii. In fact, it is a matter between the United States, Britain, and France, and it has nothing to do with the Kingdom of Hawaii.

While Liang Yao was thinking about the supply depot in Hawaii, Gibson, a banker from Barings Bank, and Le Goff, a banker from Banque de France, came to visit.

The two men were named bankers and were actually pioneers of colonization.

This is also an old tradition in the West. What Barings Bank actually does is similar to the British East India Company. The difference is that the authorization obtained by Barings Bank is far less than that of the East India Company, and its business is relatively simple.

The first purpose of the two people coming to visit Liang Yao was to protect the Umbrella Company, which was the Australian Gold Rush Company.

The second is for the Kingdom of Hawaii.

“Those prisoners and country bumpkins in Australia are so hateful, they actually want to monopolize Australia’s gold.

Australia is a colony of the British Empire and a jewel in Her Majesty the Queen's crown. The gold in the colony should belong to the British Empire and Her Majesty the Queen. "

After sitting down, Gibson said indignantly.

Australian colonial officials concealed the news of the discovery of gold and wanted to make a fortune in silence, which made Gibson very angry.

Of course, what he was really angry about was that he and Bahrain were unable to obtain Australia's gold.

Before the discovery of gold, Australia had not been taken seriously by the British authorities. After gold was discovered, the situation was different.

Remote Australia will soon become a hot spot, attracting the greedy eyes of British capitalists and aristocrats.

"Didn't Governor Augustus promise to cooperate with us in developing gold in Southwest Wales?" Liang Yao said with a smile.

"If you hadn't told me this news, I'm afraid I wouldn't have known about the discovery of gold in Australia until now. I really don't know how long these damn country bumpkins would have concealed this news."

Gibson's attitude towards Liang Yao was very polite. Liang Yao is now not only a partner of Bahrain Bank, but also a major customer of Bahrain Bank.

Liang Yao deposited 200,000 pounds in Bahrain Bank, which is 60,000 U.S. dollars when converted into U.S. dollars, less than 1 million U.S. dollars. … Barings Bank was the ceiling of private banks during this period, with assets of approximately £5 million.

Liang Yao deposited a huge sum of 200,000 pounds into Bahrain Bank alone. It is not an exaggeration to say that he is a big customer of Bahrain Bank. Looking at the world, there are not many such big customers in the Bahrain banking industry.

Liang Yao didn't deposit the money in Bahrain Bank because he had a lot of money and no place to put it.

In the future, if he wants to purchase supplies from the UK, he will still have to settle through Barings Bank, and Barings Bank has branches in major cities around the world. This is also an advantage that Barings Bank, a long-established bank in an old colonial empire, has.

"Your bank has reached cooperation with America Group. The umbrella company under America Group will leave for New South Wales soon. I think you will be able to receive gold from Australia soon." Liang Yao said.

"I want to know when you said soon. I saw that your gold mining team has already gone to the Nevada area, which makes me doubt your sincerity in cooperation." Gibson said with a frown.

"Every day we waste here, God knows how much gold those rubes and prisoners are going to steal from us."

It has become difficult for California-based Gold Gibson to get involved. He now only hopes that the umbrella company jointly held by Barings Bank and Americas Group can enter Australia as soon as possible to obtain Australian gold.

Gibson believes that the advanced gold mining technology and rich gold mining experience accumulated by America Group in California can ensure that Umbrella Company maintains its advantage in the Australian gold mining field.

"Mr. Gibson, you are too impatient. There is an old saying in China that haste makes waste. The personnel adjustment of Xiangshan Gold Mining Company also takes time, especially the change of management personnel. This is a very troublesome matter.

Many managers of Umbrella Company are transferred from Xiangshan Gold Mining Company. I think you also hope that in the future, the managers of Umbrella Company will all be a bunch of losers. "

California is Liang Yao's base, and it is impossible for Liang Yao to give up his gold mining business in California for Australia.

"excuse me."

Gibson bowed slightly to Liang Yao and apologized.

"Australia is a colony of the British Empire. I hope that after the employees of the Umbrella Company arrive in Australia, Barings Bank can coordinate the relationship between the Umbrella Company and the Australian colonial authorities."

Liang Yao said that this is why he is willing to cooperate with Barings Bank. No matter how high the sky is in Australia, it is still a British colony. It will be much more convenient for the umbrella company to do business in Australia if it has a British background.

"That's natural. Governor Augustus also owns 10% of the shares of the umbrella company. I think for the sake of gold, this country bumpkin has no reason to stand idly by." Gibson said.

"Gold mining requires a lot of manpower. Australia does not have enough manpower, and the criminals are not reliable. This is really a headache. I am worried about it now." Liang Yao said.

"Then have you thought of a solution?" Gibson asked eagerly, "If there is really a shortage of people, I can find a way to buy some people from the Indian states. I also have some connections in India."

"Indians are too lazy and not suitable for this job." Liang Yao said with a smile.

"We can hire some laborers from the Qing Dynasty. You have also seen the miners of Xiangshan Gold Mining Company. They work very efficiently. But I need you to negotiate with Governor Augustus to help these laborers come to Australia. The legal place of origin of Dalifa.”

Gibson thought for a moment, scratched his chin and said, "I can come forward to negotiate with Augustus about the workers' place of origin. However, there should not be too many Chinese workers naturalized in Australia. Is there anything else that we need to resolve?"

"I want to buy land in Australia for investment, and then build a large manor. As you know, the winter in California is too humid and not very comfortable." Liang Yao said, "It's summer in Australia when it's winter in California, so it's very Perfect for a vacation.”

"If you see any suitable investment projects in Australia, please be sure to cooperate with Bahrain Bank. We will always be your reliable partner."

Gibson stood up and shook hands with Liang Yao with a smile.

"Definitely, definitely." Liang Yao said.

"Are you done talking between you? I think it's time for us to talk about Hawaii."

Legoff, who was left standing aside, couldn't help but speak.

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