1850 American Gold Baron

Chapter 105 Preparations for Statehood

"Colonel Griffin, Governor Bell, you and Mr. Fremont? In addition to the above three, maybe I should also thank the Mexican government."

Liang Yao thought for a moment and then said.

He guessed that the combination of Colonel Griffin's repeated applications to the War Department to return home, the friction between the local squires in Texas represented by Governor Bell and the New Mexico region, and the minor frictions on the US-Mexico border contributed to Liang Yao's appointment as Army officer.

Colonel prepares the California Infantry.

Of course, there is no free lunch in the world, Liang Yao still knows this truth.

Congress and the federal government asked him to serve as colonel to prepare the California Infantry Regiment. They also hoped that he could share some of the border defense pressure with Colonel Mason stationed on the U.S.-Mexico border. This would free up Colonel Mason to deter local armed forces in Texas.

.

"Very true, but your appointment as a colonel in the American Army is mainly due to Mr. Fremont, and I played a minimal role in it." Gervin said.

"President Fillmore originally wanted Mr. Fremont to be responsible for preparing for the establishment of the California Infantry Regiment and to serve as the commander of the regiment. After all, Mr. Fremont had served in the Army for many years and was the most senior commander of the California Infantry Regiment.

The right person."

"Mr. Fremont declined?"

Liang Yao asked.

Fremont should have his own ideas. Moreover, the army is Fremont's sad place. It is reasonable for Fremont to be reluctant to serve as the commander of the California Infantry Regiment.

"As you said." Gwen nodded, "Mr. Fremont wanted to continue his exploration career after California became a state, so he recommended you to the President."

"Mr. Fremont wants to explore a railroad line from California to the East."

Liang Yao guessed.

Before he met Liang Yao, Fremont had repeatedly tried to explore a railway route from California to the eastern United States. Unfortunately, Fremont did not succeed.

"The two of you always have the same ideas." Gwen said with emotion, "Mr. Fremont is a very courageous person. When we ran into obstacles everywhere in Washington, I was already discouraged and ready to give up. I still stayed in Washington.

With the encouragement of Mr. Limont, I persevered."

He recalled the time he and Fremont lobbied around Washington.

"What about the money to build the California Infantry Regiment? It takes a lot of money to build an infantry regiment, as well as soldiers' salaries, weapons and equipment, and clothing and other supplies. These are all huge expenses."

Liang Yao was somewhat looking forward to how much military spending Congress would approve for him, but he was soon disappointed.

"You need to recruit the personnel of the infantry regiment yourself, and military pay will start from next year. The salary subsidy for each soldier is the same as other infantry regiments, which is 8 US dollars and 30 cents a month.

As for weapons and various equipment, part of it is paid for by the federal government, and the rest may need to be paid for at your own expense. After all, the federal government has been in financial difficulty in recent years and has to repay war loans owed to Britain and France during the U.S.-Mexican War.

"

Ge Wen said with some embarrassment.

"But the War Department has prepared a brand new colonel's uniform for you! The uniform and letter of appointment are in the hands of the War Department investigator. I think he will come to see you soon after meeting Colonel Griffin."

"It seems that I need to pay a lot of dollars for this set of colonel uniforms." Liang Yao said with a helpless smile.

Congress and the government are too stingy. Except for the fact that each soldier's military salary of 8 US dollars and 30 cents per month will be honored, the rest of the promises are probably just empty promises, and they will most likely have to pay for it themselves.

The salary of 8 dollars and 30 cents per month is simply not enough to support a soldier in California. Griffin's army is a lesson learned from the past.

However, as long as it was authorized by the Ministry of War and the Congress, Liang Yao did not want to worry too much about other aspects. He was not a fool, and his own army was naturally in his own hands. He would not let the federal government use an infantry regiment in vain.

Liang Yao's eyes stayed on the news about the shoddy project in the "California Daily".

California now not only needs his personal power to maintain operations, but also urgently needs a government to restrain these unscrupulous companies and speculators.

"Mr. Gervin, besides serving as a representative of Ohio, what other positions have you held before?" Liang Yao asked Gerwen.

"Except for working as a secretary to Mr. Lieutenant Governor for a period of time, I worked in some insignificant positions the rest of the time."

Gervin said that although he has a rich political resume, he rarely holds important positions in core departments. This is why he came to California to look for opportunities.

"Now that Congress has passed the bill for California's statehood, I think California should hold elections as soon as possible to set up California's government team. I hope you can serve as Secretary of State to organize the first election in this state." Liang Yao said.

Regardless of the outcome of the discussion in Congress about the Mexican government's land grant, he has already prepared for the worst.

The most urgent thing now is to build up California's government team.

"I have done similar work in Ohio before. I hurried back to California from Washington this time for the California statehood election. But now I am worried about two issues." Gervin said.

"What two questions?" Liang Yao asked.

"The first problem is that elections require a lot of financial support."

"I will find a way to solve the funding problem. It's not a big problem."

"The second problem is the eastern consortium, especially the consortium from New York. I am worried about the power of the New York consortium intervening in the California election.

After all, I, you and Mr. Fremont all want California to exist as an independent state, and we don't want California to become a place for Eastern corporations to make money."

This issue is what worries Gavin the most. Once a large number of people from the Eastern Consortium are embedded in the state Legislature, the state government, and the state courts, no matter what California does in the future, it will be handcuffed and will be influenced and restricted by the Eastern Consortium.

This is what Ge Wen does not want to see. It is also what Liang Yao and Fleet do not want to accept.

"What you said is very reasonable. Californians should be the masters of California. Leave this matter to me. You just need to concentrate on doing your job."

Liang Yao thought for a while and said.

Most of the remaining consortiums reached an agreement with him and left Sacramento to go deep into the interior to find new gold-producing areas. The only ones that needed to be on guard were the New York consortiums still in the Sacramento area.

The New York consortium is now working together to mine gold in one mining area. The personnel are very concentrated. It is not difficult to prevent them from intervening in the California election.

(End of chapter)