1850 American Gold Baron

Chapter 513 My uncle is the deputy minister

Author: fish nest

January 1, 1857.

After Christmas, the next most important festival on the West Coast is the Spring Festival.

Since the population structure of the entire West Coast region is dominated by Chinese, unlike other regions in the United States, the Spring Festival atmosphere in the West Coast region is stronger than Christmas.

In California, the Spring Festival has even been legislated as a holiday.

The newly established states of Oregon and Liangzhou have also put the proposal of establishing the Spring Festival as a legal holiday on the agenda.

If nothing else happens, the people of Oregon and Liangzhou will also enjoy a half-month holiday during the Spring Festival next year.

Unlike in the past, Liang Yao will not spend the Spring Festival in San Francisco this year, but will choose to spend it in his new home in Sacramento.

Although Sacramento is not as prosperous as San Francisco and Los Angeles, as the third largest city in California and the administrative center where California dignitaries gather, Sacramento is still quite lively.

The streets are full of residents buying new year goods.

Liang Yao originally wanted to take advantage of the free time in the past few days to accompany his mother and two daughters-in-law to buy New Year's Eve shopping. Unexpectedly, his third uncle Liang Shaoqiong sent a telegram, saying that he had bought New Year's shopping for Liang Yao and was now heading to Sacramento.

On the road.

"Mom, I can't accompany you to buy New Year's goods. My third uncle is coming to Sacramento, and I have to pick him up at the train station." Liang Yao said to his mother who was about to go out.

Liang Yao couldn't buy New Year's goods together, so Elizabeth and Zoe were a little disappointed following Deng Lan.

Deng Lan was also a little displeased: "Third uncle is here, just ask your father to pick him up. He is idle anyway."

"Why are you scolding me when you have nothing to do but talk nonsense? Who is idle? I am now a tycoon managing a multi-million dollar industry!"

When he heard his mother-in-law scolding him, Liang Shaochen, who was drinking tea with his legs crossed, immediately stood up and retorted.

"Who are you talking about, old lady?"

Before Liang Shaochen could straighten his waist for three seconds, Deng Lan used a feather duster to greet Liang Shaochen, and Liang Shaochen repeatedly begged for mercy.

Elizabeth and Zoe couldn't help but smile as loud as they could. Liang Yao's five-year-old daughter Liang Qianqian had a closer relationship with Deng Lan because she was usually supported by Deng Lan. The half-year-old daughter also imitated the same example.

Like Deng Lan, he picked up a feather duster and chased Liang Shaochen to hit him.

"Haha, little bastard! If your grandpa can't cure your grandma, why can't he cure you?"

Liang Shaochen suddenly hugged Liang Qianqian, lifted Liang Qianqian high and sat on his neck.

"Keke, grandpa is riding as a horse for me! Drive~drive~"

Liang Qianqian was very excited. She used a feather duster as a riding whip and directed Liang Shaoqiong forward as if she was riding her own pony.

"Put the child down quickly! Don't let the child fall!" Deng Lan was afraid that Liang Shaochen would not be able to hold Liang Qianqian steady and would drop her baby, so she threw the feather duster and asked Liang Shaochen to put the child down.

"Mom, my third uncle is also an important member of the imperial court. When he comes to California this time, he must have something important to discuss with my son. It would be more appropriate for my son to receive him in person." Liang Yao said to Deng Lan.

After Guangdong Yong participated in the military operations to annihilate the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, he won successive victories. Yue Yong's strength also increased day by day, arousing the fear of the Qing court.

In addition, the two chief officials of Yue Yong, Liang Shaochen and Pan Shicheng, who was also in the same industry, were not from well-established academic backgrounds. It was inevitable that there would be unaccustomed scholar-bureaucrats in the court who fanned the flames around Emperor Xianfeng.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Liang Shaoqiong took the initiative to resign and return home on the grounds that his father was old and needed service.

Emperor Xianfeng borrowed a donkey to go downhill, granted Liang Shaoqiong's request, and issued a decree to commend and reward Liang Weiming and Liang Shaoqiong with some royal items as consolation.

But the good times did not last long. After Liang Shaoqiong lost his job and Yue Yong became passive and sabotaged, the war situation quickly took a turn for the worse.

Naturally, the wastes of the two camps in the south and north of the Yangtze River cannot be counted on. The only thing the Yue Yong court can count on is Zeng Guofan's Hunan Army.

Unfortunately, the Hunan Army failed to live up to expectations, and was forced to fight back from Anhui to Hunan by the foreign rifle team led by Yiwang Shida, losing three important towns in Anqing, Jiujiang, and Wuchang.

Even Changsha, the provincial capital of Hunan, the home base of the Hunan Army, was in crisis for a time.

In desperation, the Hunan Army rushed to the hospital due to illness and hired foreigners headed by the American Wall to form a foreign gun team. However, these foreigners did not achieve much except burning, killing, looting and stirring up public dissatisfaction.

Results.

In order to reverse the situation of the war, the Qing government had to consider asking Liang Shaoqiong to go out again to destroy Changmao.

Liang Shaoqiong declined the court's invitation on the grounds of filial piety.

It wasn't until Prince Gong Yi came forward to secure Liang Shaoqiong the title of Right Minister of the Ministry of War and promised not to interfere with Yue Yong's specific decisions.

Only then did Liang Shaoqiong burst into tears with gratitude, saying that since ancient times loyalty and filial piety could not have both sides, and he was willing to go out to share the emperor's worries and be loyal to the Qing Dynasty.

Liang Yao asked his servant to prepare the carriage and headed to the train station, then he ran into Vanderbilt who was in a hurry.

"I'm looking for you." Vanderbilt said, grabbing Liang Yao's shoulder.

"Something happened at the Crystal Palace."

"Which Crystal Palace? The one in New York? The one in Philadelphia? Or the one in Boston?" Liang Yao asked with a frown.

After the success of the Crystal Palace Mall business model in New York, Liang Yao followed suit and successively opened Crystal Palace Malls in Philadelphia and Boston.

It's just that the Crystal Palaces in New York and Philadelphia are owned by himself, Vanderbilt, and Vanderzee.

The Crystal Palace Mall in Boston is owned by himself, Vandaze and Robinson of the Boston Group.

"Vanderbilt from New York just sent me a telegram. The Crystal Palace shopping malls in Philadelphia and Boston have stepped up security," Vanderbilt said angrily.

"Damn it, when I get back to New York and find out who did it, I have to kill him! How dare you burn down my shopping mall!"

"Burned?" Liang Yao asked.

"It burned a little, but luckily we were prepared and discovered it in time, and the fire was put out in time," Vanderbilt said.

"Did Fan Deze say how much the loss was?" Liang Yao asked.

"The property and goods lost, plus the cost of repairing the Crystal Palace, total direct losses of at least 150,000 to 60,000 US dollars." Vanderbilt said with some distress.

"If you only want to make money, I'm afraid it will be difficult to find out which bastard did it. If you set fire to the shopping mall, I think it is most likely a competitor in the same industry."

"There are only a few big retail businesses in New York, so it's not difficult to find out," Liang Yao said.

"There is no need for us to personally investigate this kind of thing. Over the years, the taxes our Crystal Palace Mall has paid to New York have not been stolen or leaked. Let the New York police investigate.

We cannot just swallow the loss of 150,000 to 60,000 US dollars, find a good lawyer, sue the New York City Government, and ask the New York City Government to compensate for the losses."

"Given the nature of the New York City Government and the Police Department, they must first spend money to investigate the case proactively." Vanderbilt nodded.

"I have a lot of old friends in New York, so leave this matter to me, but I heard that your Chinese Chamber of Commerce has been on strike for a few days, and the attitude of the federal government doesn't seem to be very clear yet."

"It's something that is expected." Liang Yao said calmly, "Previously, major merchants had more or less stocked up on Chinese businessmen's inventory. Once these stocks were used up, their attitude became clear. I think they underestimated this.

The Chinese merchants were determined to go on strike, thinking that I, Mr. Liang, was just showing up."

These days, American businessmen in the east are sending telegrams to Liang Yao more and more frequently, and the tone of the calls urging Liang Yao to resume supplying them has become more and more urgent. It means that their inventory is running low, and this result is exactly what Liang Yao is doing.

What Yao wants to see.

Want to resume supply? Then put pressure on the federal government and ask the federal government to agree to all the demands made by the Chinese Chamber of Commerce!

Today, California is no longer just a state of gold. It has made great achievements in manufacturing.

Especially in the fields of high-end machinery manufacturing and chemical industry, it is the leader in the United States and even the world.

For machine tools, sewing machines, bicycles, kerosene, Vaseline and other products, American businessmen in the east have been unable to find any other suppliers besides Liang Yao for a long time.

This is where Liang Yao's confidence lies.

To put it bluntly, the kerosene provided by Kerosene California will make the nights in eastern cities look bleak!

"Can you endure this?" Vanderbilt asked tentatively.

"What can't I resist?" Liang Yao said with a smile, "My kerosene, Vaseline, bicycles, and sewing machines, the British and the French are queuing up to get them, wishing I were on strike all the time."

"Yes, only your America Group can provide these things." Vanderbilt's concerns were dispelled, and he asked about another thing.

"Are you sure you won't invite President Buchanan to attend the opening ceremony of the Pacific Railroad next month?"

"No please." Liang Yao said very decisively.

"Buchanan's position as president will not last long. My father-in-law must support me in this matter no matter what."

"I trust your judgment." Vanderbilt smiled.

"Where are you going when you prepare your horse and go out?"

Judging from Buchanan's overall performance from the election to taking office, he is indeed not a politician worth investing in. Vanderbilt and Liang Yao agree on this point.

"Go to the train station to pick up the Vice Minister of War of the Qing Dynasty. Are you interested in meeting him?" Liang Yao joked.

"Yes, of course." Vanderbilt said, squinting his eyes and feeling a little strange at the same time.

"The Vice Minister of War of the Qing Dynasty came to visit. How come I didn't hear anything about such a big thing?"

"It's not an official visit, they just come to celebrate the New Year with me." Liang Yao said with a smile.

"The Deputy Minister of War of the Qing Dynasty came all the way to California just to spend the New Year with you?" Vanderbilt asked in confusion.

Liang Yao didn't say much and invited Vanderbilt, who looked suspicious, to get in the car and go to the Sacramento train station together.

Sacramento is not a big place, and soon the two of them arrived at the train station.

"Sacramento has changed a lot."

After getting off the carriage, looking at the bustling crowd at the train station, Vanderbilt couldn't help but sigh.

Vanderbilt visited Sacramento several times in the past few years, so he had a deep impression of the city.

"This is just the beginning." Liang Yao said without any humility.

The local population of Sacramento is not large, only a few hundred thousand. The reason why there are so many passengers at the train station is that Sacramento is the transfer station from San Francisco to Oregon.

"I have been thinking these past few days about where to build a city as a supply station after the opening of the Pacific Railway." Vanderbilt said ambitiously.

"As the only transportation artery between the east and west in the near future, the commercial value contained in it is immeasurable."

"We will discuss this matter in detail after we go back. Father-in-law, my third uncle is here." Liang Yao said.

Liang Shaoqiong wore a long gown and had pigtails, and the accompanying servants also wore pigtails. He stood out among a group of Californians wearing Hanfu, Western suits, and no pigtails.

As soon as Liang Shaoqiong stepped off the train, Liang Yao found Liang Shaoqiong from the crowd.

"Your uncle?" Vanderbilt was a little confused.

"My uncle is the Deputy Minister of War of the Qing Dynasty." Liang Yao explained.

Vanderbilt suddenly realized, no wonder this guy said that the deputy minister of war of the Qing Dynasty was coming to spend the New Year with him, and the deputy minister was his uncle.