1850 American Gold Baron

"Dr. Robinson is such a kind and good man."

After seeing Robinson off, Strauss, who was following Liang Yao, looked at Robinson's tall back and sighed with emotion.

He couldn't help but express his confusion.

"Dr. Robinson does not accept gold and works thanklessly for people who have nothing to do with him. What is his purpose?"

"Everyone's pursuit is different. You and I pursue profit. Dr. Robinson has his own pursuit in life."

Liang Yao recalled the time when Robinson tried his best to treat Deng Wenyao despite Captain Weber's objections.

Because of gold, it is not uncommon for California brothers to turn against each other and friends to become enemies. But Robinson is still the same Robinson as before and has never changed.

Just as Liang Yao was about to turn around and go back to his house, Jones jogged all the way to see Liang Yao.

"Boss, this is a sample coin minted by the mint. Are you satisfied?"

Jones carefully held a small pine box in his hands and presented it to Liang Yao.

Inside the pine box, there is a row of exquisite large-denomination coins neatly arranged. Their denominations are consistent with the current US dollar denominations of gold coins, which are 20 US dollars, 10 US dollars, 5 US dollars, 3 US dollars and 1 US dollars respectively.

Of course, Liang Yao also had his own little idea. In addition to the required year of minting and the words "United States of America" ​​on the coin, there is also a line of words "Bank of China" in Chinese and English at the bottom of the back of the coin.

He is paving the way for his bank and the economic development of California.

Before the independence of the United States, the British colonial authorities prohibited the North American colonies from minting currency, resulting in a shortage of North American coinage and its legacy to this day.

At the beginning of independence, the most abundant metal currency in circulation in the U.S. market was not even the U.S. dollar, but the Spanish silver dollar. Even in 1850, there were still many Spanish silver dollars circulating in the U.S. market.

To what extent was early American coinage lacking?

Until the time of President Jackson (1829~1837), trade between the United States and the Qing Dynasty had to print precious metals into currency in advance before starting.

However, these metal currencies used for foreign trade are of the best quality among all metal currencies in the United States.

California is rich in precious metals, but few people would consider casting gold into currency. Most people use gold directly for transactions, and its value is agreed upon by both parties based on the fineness and weight of the gold.

This made Liang Yao feel like he was dreaming back to the Qing Dynasty.

Such a transaction method is inconvenient and inefficient, and is undoubtedly an obstacle to the development of California.

Liang Yao came to the Mint, and the Ues Mint (United States Mint) on the gate came into view. Because it had been abandoned for too long, the surrounding shrubs and weeds were as high as Liang Yao's waist.

In order to ensure the safety of the mint, Liang Yao specially allocated three teams (30 people) from his army to take turns on duty around this small factory.

This U.S. Mint does not belong to the U.S. federal government. It was built two or three years ago when the United States and Mexico were still at war. The then California commander, Colonel Mason, and some early local American immigrants built it. Sutter also participated.

in.

However, the mint later passed through several times and came into the hands of Brannan. Brannan also minted some gold coins at the mint, but these gold coins did not flow into the market.

Liang Yao found some scattered gold coins in Tingtao Garden. They were very new and almost unused. They must have been minted here.

The mint was very simple, with only a few old stamping machines and rolling machines. All the workers in the mint had long been gone, and he spent gold to recruit more than a dozen workers in the factory.

Jones called the director of the mint, whose face could not conceal his joy and excitement.

He knew very well what it meant for a bank to be able to mint money.

He admired the young boss more and more.

Don't look at the current simplicity of this mint, with not many workers, but California's huge gold production and the high purity of gold.

The metal coins produced by this mint will become popular in the United States and become the most valuable coins in the United States and even the world within three to five years.

By then, the name China Bank printed on the back of the gold coins will also be spread word of mouth among Americans.

This is their best advertisement for China Bank, one that no American can escape.

It was the first time for Wrigley, the director of the mint, to meet Liang Yao. It was the first time he met the rumored new king of California. Wrigley seemed a little nervous.

"Rigi, how many gold coins can we mint every day?" Liang Yao asked.

"Only five to six hundred coins can be minted. Many of the machines have been damaged, and we don't have a steam engine. The efficiency of manual coinage is very low." Rui Geli told Liang Yao the truth.

Minting five to six hundred coins every day was simply unable to meet Liang Yao's needs.

Even if all $20 gold coins were minted, the value of the gold coins minted every day would only be $12,000.

Seeing the troubled expression on Rui Geli's face, Liang Yao knew that he had other difficulties to talk about.

"If you still have any difficulties, you can tell me directly."

"In addition to these, we also need copper, tin, and iron. We only have enough raw materials in stock for another week. If you want to mint cents, we also need silver, a lot of silver."

Liang Yao nodded. Rui Geli's request was reasonable and reasonable. It was difficult for a clever woman to make a meal without rice. Without giving him the raw materials, he couldn't make coins for Liang Yao.

It's not difficult to get a small amount of copper, iron, and tin, but it's harder to get silver.

At present, the supply of goods produced by his small factories is tight locally, let alone trade with Mexico and exchange for Mexican silver through trade.

Of course, he can also choose a simpler and cruder method, which is to directly exchange gold and Mexico for silver of equal value.

"I will find a way to solve these problems. You just have to concentrate on coining. If there is a steam engine, how much can the efficiency of coining be improved?" Liang Yao asked Rui Geli.

"At least five times more. If you can add more machines and manpower, it will not be difficult to mint thousands of coins every day." Wrigley said, "Other mints are waiting for gold to start working. Only the California Mint needs gold.

Waiting in line outside the mint to be minted into coins."

After inspecting the mint, Liang Yao returned to his residence and saw Cai Mingsheng pulling a cart of rice to Tingtao Garden.

Encouraged by Liang Yao, many Chinese have reclaimed farmland and planted rice near San Francisco and Sacramento, but the rice planted this year has not yet matured for harvest.

Only a few early Chinese immigrants like Cai Mingsheng had a few acres of rice fields. If they wanted to change their taste, they could only buy fresh rice from them.

Cai Laixi's death was a huge blow to Cai Mingsheng, and Cai Mingsheng's temperament also changed drastically.

Cai Mingsheng has now resigned from his job at the guest house to Liang Yao and became the deputy police chief of San Francisco.

In the western United States, the appointment and dismissal of deputy sheriffs is very arbitrary, and only requires the nod of the sheriff, and at most there is another Sheriff's procedure.

As for Flagg and Griffin, it is not difficult to open their joints. It is nothing more than giving them more gold.

The relationship between the sergeant and deputy sergeant is not essentially different from the relationship between a colonel and those lieutenant colonels and majors. In the final analysis, they are the sergeant's assistants.

Not to mention now, even at the end of the 19th century, the appointment and dismissal of deputy sheriffs in the western United States was quite arbitrary.

It often happens that a wanted gangster moves from the wanted state to another state and becomes a deputy sheriff in a local town.

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