1850 American Gold Baron

Brannan stood on the towering observation deck, where he often looked at the passing merchant ships and at the lighthouse in the port, overlooking the tiny city of San Francisco below.

He witnessed with his own eyes the rise of San Francisco from a small city with a population of less than a thousand to a large city with a population of more than 40,000.

He now also experienced firsthand the decline of the Brannan family.

There are no more ups and downs in life than this.

Brannan's face regained the confidence and calmness it had when he was the King of California.

When he learned that Liang Yao and Griffin's soldiers had looted his shops, casinos, and brothels in San Francisco, he just smiled in return.

It seems that these huge properties have now become worthless to him.

Brannan returned to the house and opened his private vault.

Even his closest and trusted family members don't know about this small treasury.

The small vault neatly stores U.S. dollar bills and bank notes from Citibank, First United States Bank, and Kentucky Insurance Company.

Underneath these U.S. dollar bills and bank notes, there is a locked wooden box about one foot long, one foot wide and half a foot high.

Open the lock, and a box full of gold coins and US dollar coins stored in the wooden box is in front of you.

"This is 230,000 U.S. dollars in U.S. dollar bills and bank notes. This box contains gold coins and U.S. dollars. These are the life-saving money that my brother has slowly accumulated over the past two years. He has not told anyone."

Brannan smiled a little bitterly. The money at the bottom of the box was what he planned to use to meet unexpected needs. He would never use the money unless absolutely necessary.

If possible, he would never use this money and let it lie here quietly until he dies and then pass it on to future generations.

Although there is a lot of gold in California, there are not many U.S. dollar bills and bank notes with high credibility.

After all, there are no branches of big banks or big companies here. The only institution that has anything to do with banks is Liang Yao's China Bank.

"With this money, we can make a comeback."

Little Brannan rubbed his hands excitedly. He was very excited, but he didn't expect his brother to have a back-up hand.

"What you said was right at the beginning. Maybe you should give up when you see good things. My brother may not be so miserable now. But if I could do it all over again, I would still choose to fight Liang Yao to the end. You know, my brother has been competitive since he was a child. He will not

Accept defeat."

Brannan has no regrets at all about his original choice.

Brannan kept these dollar bills and stuffed them into the suitcase along with a box of gold coins and dollars, and then handed the heavy suitcase to his most trusted brother.

"The Brannan family deserves a comeback, but not here."

"What's the meaning?"

Brannan's cheering up rekindled young Brannan's fighting spirit and filled him with hope. His elder brother is the backbone of the family. As long as his elder brother does not fall, the Brannan family can stand up again.

But Brannan's words were like pouring cold water on little Brannan, causing his mood to fall completely to the bottom.

Young Brannan did not try to persuade him. He understood Brannan's character. Once he made a decision, no one could make him change his mind.

"From now on, you should assume the responsibility of the Brannan family. You are the head of this family."

Brannan struck a match, lit his pipe, and took a long drag.

"Take your sister-in-law and nephew to the east. That is the center of the United States. A merchant ship will arrive here in two days. The captain and I have a good relationship. If you take my letter, they will send you safely to the east.

New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and Portland are all great places where you can settle down and start a family as soon as possible."

With that said, Brannan walked up to little Brannan, grabbed little Brannan's shoulders and continued.

"You use part of this money to start a business or have fun, and the other part is used to educate Oliver and support my wife.

When you arrive in the east, remember your brother's today's warning. He just suffered the disadvantage of being uneducated. He must send Oliver to the best school to receive the best education. If necessary, find the best tutor for Oliver.

"

"Don't worry, brother, I will definitely take good care of my sister-in-law and Oliver."

Brannan Jr. made the promise in front of God.

After explaining all this, Brannan felt relieved and smiled very easily.

He hadn't laughed so heartily for a long time.

Two days later, Brannan secretly sent his family away, and now he has nothing to worry about.

Brannan, who returned to the manor, took out all the fine wines and delicacies in his cellar to reward his hired guns.

Most of his hired gunmen have escaped, and the remaining gunmen are either evil-doing and have nowhere to go, or they are truly loyal to Brannan.

Brannan does not treat these hired gunmen lightly. In this regard, like Liang Yao, he is willing to spend money.

He collected all the valuable gold and silver utensils in the manor as well as the arty paintings and books he had painstakingly collected and placed them neatly in the hall.

Even the gold-inlaid lace on the walls and arms was chipped away with his chisel.

"Today will be the last day you serve me. After the last hard battle tonight, these are all yours!

Liang Yao took away everything that should belong to us, and he should pay with his life for it!"

After completing the brainwashing of more than 30 extremely vicious people, Brannan took advantage of the darkness and quietly went to Liang Yao's residence.

Liang Yao was well prepared. He had already cast the net and was waiting for Brannan to take the bait.

Griffin's troops have returned to the fortress, and now no one can stop him from destroying Brannan.

"Brannan is really crazy."

Under the moonlight, Flagg sighed softly, feeling sorry for Brannan.

"But this madman made California."

Liang Yao pressed down the hammer of the revolver with his thumb.

California should be grateful to this madman, who single-handedly ignited the gold rush in the United States and around the world.

The California Gold Rush might have come without him, but it would have been delayed for several years.

Brannan is not a mediocre person. His biggest tragedy is not that he met Liang Yao, but his overly inflated ambition.

Even without Liang Yao, Brannan's final ending in history was not much better.

In order to obtain Brannan's land, the large conglomerates from the east did not hesitate to collude with Congress, sent Brannan to prison in the name of the law, and obtained a large area of ​​Brannan's land at a very low price.

Just the day before he was imprisoned, Brannan naively wanted to negotiate the price of land with representatives of these large consortiums. In the end, what he waited for was not the quotations from the consortium representatives, but a pair of cold handcuffs and a piece of arrest paper.

make.

Those large political and business conglomerates are the real winners in the gold rush.

The door to the courtyard was violently opened, and Brannan finally invaded Liang Yao's private property.

The gunmen who were already ambushing the second floor and surrounding areas, the mounted police did not hesitate to shoot at Brannan and his loyal hired gunmen.

A bloody massacre was staged in San Francisco Liang Yao's private residence.

The moment he heard the gunshot, Brannan knew he had been trapped.

This opponent really did not disappoint him. Isn't it an honor to die under such an opponent?

Brannan was unfortunately shot in the thigh during the fierce battle. He only staggered, did not fall, and could not feel the strong pain caused by the gunshot.

Brannan's hired guns kept falling like wheat in the harvest, but none of them chose to back down.

Like a medieval knight, he was unafraid and marched forward bravely, calmly facing the enemy's hail of bullets, and continued to pull the trigger on the enemy until the last bullet in the wheel was fired.

This is not a battle, but an unjust massacre.

After the massacre, Deng Yan led the Chinese people to strengthen the dying wounded to end their suffering.

After experiencing the baptism of several battles, these warriors with peasant names gradually lost their true character.

The simple farmer who used to tremble when he heard the sound of gunshots and hesitated to shoot a human target is now able to calmly pull the trigger when faced with a flesh-and-blood person.

After the gunshot, even though he was covered in blood, there was no wave in his heart.

They are used to the role they play now.

Liang Yao walked to Brannan's body. Brannan had been beaten into a sieve, covered in blood and flesh, and almost no good meat could be found.

He still held the gun tightly in his hand, and he was still facing them in a fighting posture before he died.

Liang Yao took off his hat and covered Brannan's eyes.

"Bury them well and find Brannan the best priest in California."

－－－－－－Digression－－－－－

The plot of the first volume is over, and now we have to face a more powerful enemy!

I agree to reply to the book friends’ questions about the international status of the Chinese. The international status of the Chinese did not plummet after the first crow. The decline of the status of the Chinese is also a step-by-step process.

After Yiwu, the international status of the Chinese declined, but Yiwu lost to Great Britain, which was invincible at the time. Just like today, which country loses to the United States, it is not that embarrassing. At that time, there were still a number of client countries around the Qing Dynasty. Although the Qing Empire

Across the country, it is also one of the great powers. After all, its size is there...

After the Second Crow War, its international status further declined. This time, the capital was occupied and the Old Summer Palace was burned down.

The American Chinese Exclusion Act was signed in 1882.

What really caused the Qing Empire's international status to plummet was its defeat in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1898.

The United States in 1850 was not as powerful as everyone thought. The main domestic conflict at this time was the struggle to abolish slavery and how to digest the newly swallowed California, New Mexico, and Texas areas.

The issue of Chinese people is not on the table at this time. After all, at this time in the United States, only California has a small number of Chinese who came to gold rush, accounting for less than one thousandth of the population of the United States.