1850 American Gold Baron

Chapter 356 I am not a good person

"You've been using this Vaseline for a while. How do you feel about it?" Liang Yao asked Aoki Ling about her feelings about using Vaseline.

At present, Vaseline has not yet been put into the market. Liang Yao only gave some to Aoki Ling and his maids.

However, oil workers have discovered that this stuff is miraculous in relieving the pain caused by burns and cuts, and also has a lubricating and moisturizing effect.

Many oil workers like to put some unknown mineral ointment on their hands and faces before working, and they also like to carry some with them to use as a plaster when they are injured at work.

But there is a difference between the Vaseline in Liang Yao's hand and the mineral ointment used by oil workers.

This is a mineral ointment specially formulated by Nobel in the laboratory according to Liang Yao's requirements for use in cosmetics and skin care.

Before the emergence of the chemical industry, the cosmetics used by humans were mainly mineral powders and animal and plant ointments. Compared with these cosmetics, Vaseline has great advantages.

Furthermore, it seems to Liang Yao that it is a bit wasteful to only refine kerosene, lubricating oil and asphalt from crude oil. He can completely refine other by-products within his ability.

What's more, the cosmetics and skin care products market is not small. Taking advantage of this market can make a lot of money and feed many people in California.

"Easy to use." Aoki Aya spoke highly of Vaseline.

"This ointment is different from the ointments I used in the past. No matter how carefully I stored the ointments, they would become moldy and hairy over time, and the smell was indescribable.

But this ointment will not grow hair or deteriorate no matter how long it is left on, and it also has a special fragrance, which makes it very comfortable to use and the effect is better than other ointments.”

After Liang Yao spread the news about opening up crude oil smelting technology, the powerful people in California were extremely excited.

Their excitement was no less than when Liang Yao provided mercury for the alchemy industry.

Hearing that Liang Yao would take the opportunity to establish the California Petroleum Association to disclose the kerosene refining technology, California dignitaries came to Tingtao Garden early and waited for the meeting to begin.

Since last year, the oil industry in Los Angeles has become as popular as the gold mining industry.

Many wealthy people from San Francisco and Sacramento have already settled in Los Angeles and purchased land in Los Angeles from Liang Yao to dig wells and search for oil.

However, they don’t make much money. The value of oil is the refined product, and the profits from crude oil are not that impressive.

The wealthy people in California have long been coveting Liang Yao's oil refining technology.

In their view, the so-called oil refining technology is the alchemy that can turn oil into gold.

Faced with huge profits from kerosene, some restless people even came up with the idea of ​​stealing Standard Oil's refining technology.

But this is just a thought. In California, even if these California rich people have this idea, they dare not put it into practice.

After sorting out his clothes, Liang Yao came to the living room.

Compared with the image of a group of gray-headed old haters three or four years ago, today's wealthy Californians have changed, at least in appearance.

They put on clean and tidy clothes, picked up the stick of civilization, put on expensive courtesy, and even their speech and behavior became much more civilized.

Of course, it's not just the external image of California's powerful people that is different from what it was three or four years ago.

Their ethnic composition has also changed.

Three or four years ago, the powerful people in California were all white, except for a few businessmen from Guangzhou.

Today, among the upper class in California, the ratio of Chinese to whites has been 50:50, and there are even two or three Indian chiefs.

California dignitaries are a relatively broad concept. Among the dignitaries present, there are not only dignitaries from California, but also dignitaries from the Oregon region.

For example, Thomas, the mayor of Eugene, is from Oregon.

As California becomes increasingly prosperous, it has become the economic center of the entire West Coast.

Before the rise of California, Oregonians had closer economic ties with Canada to the north, the British Hudson's Bay Company.

Since the Oregon region and the core area of ​​the eastern United States are only connected by a fragile Oregon Trail, transportation is very inconvenient. Therefore, Oregonians often sell their local furs, timber, and some agricultural products directly to the Hudson Bay for convenience.

company.

But after the rise of California, everything changed.

Although transportation in the Oregon region and the eastern United States is inconvenient, transportation in the Oregon region and California is very convenient.

Take the town of Eugene as an example. The town of Eugene has been connected to Sacramento by road. This road is wide enough to accommodate four freight carriages traveling side by side.

Moreover, the road is paved with asphalt specially transported from Los Angeles, so even if it rains, the road will not be muddy and difficult to travel.

In addition to highways, the railway between Eugene and Sacramento is also about to be completed, which will make business exchanges between Eugene and California more convenient.

Now, the town of Eugene has become the new economic center of the Oregon region, as prosperous as Portland, Oregon's first city on the lower reaches of the Columbia River.

California immigrants and industrial products continued to pour into the town of Eugene and into the Oregon region, greatly improving the living standards of the locals.

Furs from the Oregon region are also sent to garment factories in California, where workers process them into garments and sell them around the world. The wood is mainly processed on site into barrels and sold to Los Angeles.

Oregon's economy has become integrated with California's economy.

California can leave Oregon, but Oregon cannot leave California.

There have even been voices among Oregon folk calling for the Oregon region to be annexed to California.

But this hope is very slim. Currently, California is the second largest state after Texas. If it takes over the Oregon region, the resistance from the federal government will probably be very great.

The federal government in the 19th century was actually weakening local power, intentionally or unintentionally.

Texas is willing to be feared by the federal government because of its large territory. After Texas joined the family of the United States, the federal government has allocated several pieces of land from Texas and incorporated them into the territory.

Because Liang Yao swallowed up the western part of Nevada, the area of ​​California is about 110,000 square kilometers larger than the historical California, which is equivalent to the area of ​​Fujian Province.

It is impossible to say that the federal government is not concerned.

What's more, compared to Texas, California's current population size and economic strength are several levels higher than Texas.

Before Liang Yao appeared, the focal figure in the drawing room was Deng Wenshun.

Deng Wenshun is the president of Standard Oil Company and the mayor of Los Angeles. With either of these two identities, Deng Wenshun is worthy of the favor of these powerful Californians.

Just two years ago, Deng Wenshun was still a very marginalized figure in California, the mayor of a remote town in California.

"The Speaker is here!"

Someone shouted something from the crowd, and the lively living room fell silent instantly.

Everyone's eyes were focused on Liang Yao, waiting expectantly for Liang Yao to speak.

"Everyone of you looks like a bitch now, and you look more and more like upper-class people."

Liang Yao walked to the round table, found a seat and sat down, and said with a smile.

"In the United States, if you have money, you are upper class, and if you don't have money, you are lower class." After seeing Liang Yao sitting down, Feier also found a seat to sit down.

"Zhaoming, do you really want to disclose the secret recipe for refining oil?" Wu Yuanhua and Liang Yao called each other by words to draw closer to Liang Yao.

"When have I lied to you?" Liang Yao said with a smile, "I can tell you clearly that the rumors you heard are not groundless. We are all Californians. How can Liang make money without bringing everyone together to make money?

The truth.”

"What the Speaker said is absolutely true. Many of you here are California elders who followed the Speaker in founding the state. The Speaker will not treat us California elders badly," Sheriff Flagg said.

When Flagg first arrived in California, it was still California or a California region, and it was still a federal territory.

At that time, Flagg just wanted to eat and die in California. After the gold rush started, he just wanted to use his position as Sheriff to earn more gold and return to the East to retire.

I never thought that one day I would be a state legislator, a shareholder of a large mining company, and gain both power and wealth.

The other California dignitaries also nodded in agreement.

Following Liang Yao all the way, Liang Yao had indeed never treated them badly.

Liang Yao can eat meat, and they can also take a sip of soup.

Fremont, who was sitting next to Liang Yao, smiled and said nothing.

Liang Yao does not seem like a person who likes to eat alone, but he is not someone who can share wealth with others without any strings attached.

Based on Fremont's understanding of Liang Yao, it is indeed possible that Liang Yao will disclose the secret formula of oil refining, but there will definitely be additional conditions.

Liang Yao waved his hand, and Carnegie, his most junior assistant, brought four bottles.

The four bottles contained kerosene, petroleum jelly, lubricating oil, and asphalt.

These four products are currently the four most economically valuable commodities extracted from crude oil based on California's chemical industry level.

"What I want to tell you is that Standard Oil Company can not only extract kerosene from crude oil, but also extract cosmetics, lubricants for lubrication of mechanical parts, and asphalt for road paving. You must also know the commercial value of these four products.

clear."

Liang Yao introduced these four products to these California dignitaries, then clapped his hands, and the maids brought out the samples on trays, allowing the California dignitaries present to take them for themselves.

Kerosene and asphalt are no longer rare items in California, and these California dignitaries don't find them strange either. What are relatively rare are oil and petroleum jelly.

Especially Vaseline, many people have never seen it before.

Some of the more curious people directly stretched out their fingers, dipped Vaseline from the glass container and smeared it on their hands and face.

It seems to be quite comfortable, without the disgusting smell and feeling that animal fat brings to people.

"Do you really want to share these trade secrets with us?"

Fehr looked at Liang Yao suspiciously. Like the California dignitaries present, he originally only wanted to get the kerosene smelting formula, but he didn't expect that Liang Yao would be so generous and willing to share other formulas.

"This depends on your sincerity." Liang Yao said.

"California has been a state for almost four years, but it still does not have its own university. I think you also hope that your children can receive a good education in California in the future."

"You mean we fund the construction of a university?" Fremont's eyes lit up.

If they jointly fund the construction of a university, even if Liang Yao does not share the oil refining technology, he is willing to pay for it.

There is no doubt that California is now a powerful economic state in the United States. However, California's current educational strength does not match its own economic strength. It still does not have a single institution of higher learning.

The previous one was reviewed several times, which affected the writing progress of this chapter. Sorry, I will post the original text of the previous chapter directly to the group later.

(End of chapter)