1850 American Gold Tycoon

"I, Liang Yao, swear an oath with my blood today in front of Guan Gong! From tonight onwards, I will live and die with all my brothers and uncles, advance and retreat together, share blessings, bear hardships together, and go up to the mountains of swords and the seas of fire without hesitation. If it goes against today's rules, You should be braided like this!"

Liang Yao solemnly swore in front of the statue of Guan Gong enshrined in Cai Mingsheng's home, drank the blood wine, picked up the scissors on the altar table and cut off the humiliating pigtail on his head without hesitation! He wanted to cut off this obstructive braid on the boat.

"Third brother, as long as you have this heart! Cutting off hair and braids is absolutely forbidden! How can your body, hair and skin be damaged by your parents?"

As a witness, Deng Yan saw Liang Yao cutting his braids and hurriedly stepped forward to stop him, but it was too late. Liang Yao had already cut off his braids at lightning speed and threw them into the brazier. In order to be able to cut off the braid neatly, he sharpened his scissors overnight.

"The hair can be broken, but the brotherhood between me and you cannot be broken!"

After having his braids reduced, Liang Yao felt refreshed all over.

Except for Deng Wenyu, who was talented and intelligent, and his family reluctantly helped him to pay Shu Xiu to study in a private school for three years, the rest of the Deng family were illiterate.

It won't work to talk about big principles with these people. On the premise of the relationship between cousins, forming a meeting and forming a party, and establishing a common interest group for them to jointly profit from private interests is an effective way to gather them around you. You must Not considering the seniority issue between him and Deng Yan, he even wanted to have a relationship with Deng Yan.

He didn't know whether the Deng brothers believed in Confucius, but they definitely believed in Guan Gong.

The Deng brothers are generally young, similar to Liang Yao, or slightly older, or slightly younger, and their minds are often not very mature. This kind of plot that only happened in stories told by storytellers made their blood boil when it appeared in them.

Liang Yao struck while the iron was hot, took out the charter of the Loyalty Association that he had already drafted, and read it out.

“One: You are not allowed to act without authorization and dig for gold without permission.

Second: All income earned is paid into the membership, and dividends are distributed at the end of the year.

Third: For all members who join the membership, the Loyalty Association will provide food and accommodation for the members and their families.

Fourth: No smoking of opium, prostitution, or gambling.

Anyone who violates this will be expelled from the Loyalty Association and will not be condoned. "

In the Qing Dynasty, forming a party and establishing a conference was a capital crime that would punish the Nine Tribes. However, Guangdong was already rampant in heaven and earth and was beyond the reach of the northern rulers. The Deng family did not feel much resistance to this.

What's more, this is California, which is 20,000 miles away from the Qing Dynasty. They can't even control the restoration of the Ming Dynasty here.

After reading out the charter, Liang Yao took out his only twelve ounces of gold as the initial funding for the Loyalty Association.

The Deng brothers hesitated for a moment and took out the fine silver coins hidden in strange places such as the soles of their shoes, the seams of their clothes, and their crotches.

Liang Yao doesn't like these few scraps of silver, but he must firmly hold the financial power in his hands.

"You still can't believe that Third Brother is one of our own? Third Brother has given so much gold himself, is it possible that he will still cheat on your few pieces of silver in front of Guan Gong?"

Seeing that two descendants of the Deng family were unwilling to part with their private money, Deng Yan stepped forward to support Liang Yao and gave all his belongings to Liang Yao.

Seeing this, the remaining two Deng brothers also took out a few grains of silver from the soles of their feet.

Liang Yao originally wanted to set up a company like other gold mining organizations, but considering practical factors, he decided to set up a party first.

There wasn't much gold left that could be mined by humans around San Francisco, and this was Brannan's territory. Although the transportation conditions here are convenient, Liang Yao does not plan to start and develop here. His ideal starting point for development is Sacramento, an emerging gold mining area more than 100 kilometers away from San Francisco.

But before that, he had to visit Sartre to obtain a legal piece of land.

Gold mining is not just about digging for gold in the physical sense. In fact, there are only a few lucky people who make a fortune by directly mining gold and reach the top of their lives.

Most of the people who made fortunes during the California Gold Rush were people like Brannan who did not directly participate in the gold rush and engaged in monopoly operations.

Liang Yao didn't want his hard work to be wiped out due to illegal occupation and settlement.

Although there is no cost in the short term to directly occupy land for gold mining, and there is no need to pay any price, we still need to look at the long term.

Furthermore, when he first arrived in California, he also needed a partner, and Sartre was a particularly suitable partner.

After Liang Yao arranged for Deng Yan to take the Deng family's children to purchase some necessary daily necessities in San Francisco, they went to Sutter's Fort in Sacramento under the guidance of Cai Mingsheng to visit Sutter.

"My former employer doesn't like gold diggers, so I'm afraid this time it will be a failure."

On the way, Cai Mingsheng vaccinated Liang Yao in advance so that Liang Yao could be mentally prepared.

In his previous life, Liang Yao relied on deceiving people to make a living, so he still had confidence in convincing Sartre.

Sartre's current situation is not good and he is on the verge of bankruptcy. This man discovered gold, but spent the rest of his life in unwillingness and poverty, and finally passed away sadly. He was a sad and tragic figure.

"Saise! You damn borers! Get out of my territory!"

An angry middle-aged white man held the reins of his mount with one hand and fired a gun into the air to drive away the gold diggers who invaded his private territory. This reminded Liang Yao of the typical American red-neck image in later generations.

"This is my former club."

Cai Mingsheng pointed at the middle-aged white man and said, "He is my former boss Sartre."

"Mr. Sartre, I brought you the wooden utensils you asked me to make." Cai Mingsheng unloaded the wooden utensils from the carriage and said to Sartre.

"Cai, you are always so reliable and punctual in your work. If only all my employees were as reliable as you. Those damn lazy people, all of them just went to dig for gold and stole my things!"

Seeing Cai Mingsheng, Sartre's face became much kinder. Liang Yao noticed the military temperament between Sartre's brows.

"Is this the hired worker you want to introduce to me? That's great. My farm is short of manpower. The increasingly deserted land needs people to cultivate, and the livestock also needs people to feed. It's just that his body is a little weak."

Sartre looked at Liang Yao up and down like a piece of merchandise, thinking that Liang Yao was a hired worker recommended to him by Cai Mingsheng.

"Hello Mr. Sartre, unfortunately I am not the employee introduced to you by Mr. Cai. In fact, I am also a moth, a moth obsessed with gold."

Liang Yao stated his identity very frankly, and Sartre, as expected, did not give Liang Yao a good look.

"Then what do you want from me? Damn you little moth."

Sartre did not immediately order Liang Yao to leave for Cai Mingsheng's sake, but he also looked very impatient.

"Just six months ago, I was a student studying at Monzon High School in Massachusetts. My damn father owed a bunch of gambling debts and abandoned me and my younger siblings. At this time, I I saw the news about the discovery of gold in California in the newspaper, and for the sake of my younger brothers and sisters, I decided to come here with my compatriots to pan for gold.”

Liang Yao weaved his lies without changing his expression, while Cai Mingsheng on the side was stunned for a while.

Liang Yao's family background, Cai Mingsheng, knew very well that studying in Massachusetts was a fiction. Are all scholars in the Qing Dynasty so shameless? Lies come out of your mouth?

Sartre was not a particularly famous person in history, and Liang Yao didn't know Sartre's life. He didn't get much information from Cai Mingsheng. He only knew that Sartre came from the German-speaking area of ​​Europe.

In other words, Sartre was a European immigrant who came to the Americas from the center of civilization in Europe during this period. He was also an immigrant from remote areas of the Americas. He either committed a crime in his home country or left his hometown due to huge debts or other reasons.

Of course, there are also a very small number of down-and-out nobles who fled to the Americas from Europe, but Sartre's image makes it difficult for people to associate him with the term noble.

At Sartre's age, he probably already had a family in Europe and came here after abandoning his wife and children. This was Liang Yao's guess based on the information Cai Mingsheng told him.

A trace of imperceptible pity flashed across Sartre's eyes, but all this was seen by Liang Yao, who was good at observing words and expressions. He guessed it right and found out that Sartre had a family in Europe.

"So you are still a poor little worm, but what does this have to do with me? I am not your gambling mother." Sartre said coldly.

"I got some reliable news in Boston. The eastern consortium will soon be stationed here. Their machinery and equipment have been shipped out. California will soon be established as a state. As long as you can hold on to your legal land before they arrive. , become a voice in California, and you can make a fortune by selling more than just a little bit of land.”

Liang Yao stared at Sartre's slightly moved face, paused and continued.

"At that time, as long as you can still speak in California and have a little money, you will be one of the first legislators in California and become one of the richest and most powerful people in California. But as far as I know, the most powerful person in California is now The rich and powerful man is Mr. Sam Brannan.”

When it comes to Brannan, Sutter is like a cat whose tail is stepped on, almost jumping off his horse. It seems that there are a lot of grievances and disputes between them. This is also a very good sign for Liang Yao. They have people they hate in common, which is a very good basis for cooperation.

"It's just that those gold-mining bugs now think that the West is a terra incognita, and they wantonly invade your legal land and steal your sacred and inviolable private property. These guys who deserve to be hanged really do all kinds of evil!"

"Come on, little moth, come sit in my castle and drink some coffee. I can't believe you are still a middle school student."

Sartre turned his horse and walked slowly towards his farm, thinking that if his children in Europe were half as smart as Liang Yao, they would at least have enough food and clothing.

The ruined image of Sutter's castle, Sutter's manor, was already visible. Liang Yao only saw a few absent-minded Indian hired workers in Noda's manor. After discovering gold, everyone went crazy for it and rushed into the gold rush. Among them, no one is willing to be Sartre's hired servant anymore.

"Tell me, little sir, what can you give me? What do you need from me?"

Sartre took a sip of coffee, crossed his legs and asked.

"Any sugar cubes? Mr. Sutter."

Liang Yao took a sip of coffee, and the extremely bitter taste was difficult for him to accept.

Sartre complied with Liang Yao's request and brought two sugar cubes to Liang Yao. Liang Yao said while rubbing the sugar cubes.

"I would like to legally obtain from you a small tract of land for my countrymen and I to settle, preferably on the banks of the American River, and I will pay you ten percent of the proceeds from the gold rush as land rent.

In return, when we have enough gold, we will buy this land from you at a price that satisfies you. When necessary, my compatriots and I will also take up arms to assist you in defending us. rights and interests.

Of course, you can also choose to reject me as a reliable partner. At that time, those barbaric gold diggers will encroach on your territory step by step until you go bankrupt and become a pauper with nothing and heavy debts. "