1850 American Gold Baron

"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 the blessings, share the hardships, go up the mountain of swords and go down the sea of ​​fire without hesitation, if it goes against today's policy

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 without hesitation cut off the humiliating big braid on his head! He was on the boat with this obstructive braid.

I just want to cut it off.

"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.

After cutting off the braid, he sharpened the scissors overnight.

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

After having his braids reduced, Liang Yao suddenly felt refreshed.

Except for Deng Wenyu, who was extremely talented and intelligent, and whose family reluctantly sent him to Shu Xiu and sent him to 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 join 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, about the same age as Liang Yao, or slightly older, or slightly younger, and their minds are often not very mature. This kind of plot that only happens in the novels told by storytellers appears in them.

Their blood boils.

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 board and lodging of the members and their families will be provided by the Loyalty Association.

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

...

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

In the Qing Dynasty, forming a party and establishing a meeting was a capital crime that would punish the Nine Tribes. However, Guangdong was already rampant in the world and the rulers in the north were beyond the reach of the rulers in the north. 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 have no control over the restoration of the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty here.

After reading out the articles of association, 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 pieces of silver hidden in the soles of their shoes, in the seams of their clothes, in their crotches and other strange places.

Liang Yao doesn't like these few pieces 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 out so much gold himself, is it possible that he will 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 is not much gold left that can be mined by manpower near San Francisco, and this is 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

The emerging gold mining area of ​​Sacramento is 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 have made a fortune by directly mining gold and reached the peak 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 did not want his hard work to be wiped out due to illegal occupation of settlements.

Although there is no cost in the short term for directly occupying land for gold mining, there is no need to pay any price, but 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 I'm going to get nothing."

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 died quietly. He was a sad and tragic figure.

"Saise! You damn worms! 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 employer."

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, and Liang Yao noticed the military temperament between Sartre's brows.

"This is the hired worker you want to introduce to me? That's great. My farm is short of manpower. The increasingly barren 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 as expected, Sartre 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 at Monzon High School in Massachusetts. My damn father ran up a pile of gambling debts and abandoned me and my younger siblings. At this time, I was in the newspaper.

After seeing the news that gold was discovered in California, I decided to come here with my compatriots to pan for gold for the sake of my younger brothers and sisters."

Liang Yao was weaving 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 lie. Are all the scholars in the Qing Dynasty so shameless? Are they just telling lies?

Sartre was not a particularly famous person in history, and Liang Yao did not know Sartre's life. He did not 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 America from the center of civilization in Europe during this period. He was also an immigrant from remote areas of America. 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 aristocrats who fled to America from Europe, but Sartre's image makes it difficult for people to associate him with the term aristocrat.

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 in Sartre's eyes, but all this was seen by Liang Yao, who was good at observing words and emotions. He guessed that this Sartre did have 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 selling not 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, California is now the richest and most powerful person in California."

The rich and powerful man is Mr. Sam Brannan."

When it comes to Brannan, Sartre is like a cat whose tail is stepped on, almost jumping off his horse. It seems that there are a lot of grudges between them. This is also a very good signal for Liang Yao. They have

People who hate each other are a very good basis for cooperation.

"It's just that these 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 revealed. Liang Yao only saw a few absent-minded Indian hired workers in Nuoda'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.

"Do you have 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 rubbed the sugar cubes and said.

"I would like to legally acquire a small piece of land from you for my countrymen and I to settle down. This land should preferably be on the banks of the American River. I will pay you ten percent of the gold mining proceeds 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 gradually encroach on your territory until you go bankrupt and become a pauper with nothing and heavy debts."