1850 American Gold Baron

After the banquet, Liang Yao asked the servant to take Vanderbilt and his party to the packed guest room to rest.

Vanderbilt said nothing else except asking Liang Yao to send someone to bring Kony back from the brothel.

Strauss rummaged through the box and found a U.S. dollar draft and IOU. The draft was a $60,000 Citibank draft with Kony's signature on it, and the IOU was also a $60,000 IOU with Kony's signature on it.

Both the bill of exchange and the IOU are dated February 8, 1849.

"Mr. Kony owes the casino $60,000..."

Before Strauss could finish speaking, Liang Yao interrupted him.

"These things are of no use to Mr. Vanderbilt. After you get Cony back, you can go and rest. Tomorrow we will accompany Mr. Vanderbilt to Sacramento to visit the mine."

Strauss put the bills and IOUs on Liang Yao's desk with great discernment, walked out of the study and gently took them with him.

Liang Yao took out his pipe and smoked a cigarette.

Now that Vanderbilt is here, can other consortiums be far behind?

Two ambitious politicians, Gervin and Fremont, have already gone to the East to lobby for the establishment of Virginia statehood. As for the situation, it will take two to three months or even longer to wait for news.

After all, there is no wireless telegraphy yet, so he, Gervin and Fremont can only communicate through letters.

Liang Yao didn't intend to place all his hopes on Ge Wen and Fremont.

Gavin was born into a small family and did not have much power to begin with. The Fremont family was quite prominent, but they were political amateurs and their influence was limited.

In this case, it is particularly crucial to be able to pull Vanderbilt onto the pirate ship.

Vanderbilt's financial power and influence are far beyond what Gervin and Fremont can match.

I don’t know whether Vanderbilt did it intentionally or unintentionally. At the banquet, he only focused on bragging and complimenting him with his old friends, but other than that, he didn’t mention anything else.

Beneath this seemingly bohemian appearance, the Commodore actually hides a careful heart that is hard to fathom.

Liang Yao opened the drawer and took out a notebook. He opened the notebook and found that it was full of cut-out newspapers.

This newspaper clipping contains all the information he collected about Vanderbilt, including some gossipy tidbits.

"Due to a shortage of funds, the construction progress of the Polaris, which Mr. Vanderbilt is proud of, is slow and delivery is expected to be delayed by 5 months."

"Mr. Vanderbilt said he would suspend construction of the Cleveland train station, which would mean the loss of 800 valuable jobs in Cleveland..."

"Mr. Vanderbilt sold the steam liner Burlington for $176,510..."

"Mr. Vanderbilt, president of the Stonington Railroad Company, reduced his holding in the company by seven per cent..."

"Mr. Vanderbilt pinched the butt of Senator Sellers' maid again..."

"Mr. Vanderbilt touched Ms. Alice's breast..."

"Mr. Vanderbilt and Mr. Livingston had a big fight at the banquet. It was obvious that gentleman Livingston was no match for the old sailor when it came to fighting..."

...

Those tidbits aside, other information suggests Vanderbilt is strapped for cash.

This may be an opportunity. California lacks everything except gold.

In a sense, he and Vanderbilt both need something from each other. They are both good partners for each other.

It's just that Vanderbilt is not Sartre, so he's not that easy to fool.

Liang Yao is still not sure how big the appetite of this shipping king is and how much bait he needs to take the bait.

His bait is Xiangshan Gold Mining Company, and the bottom line is that he maintains controlling interest in Xiangshan Mining Company.

Guest rooms in Tingtao Garden.

Vanderbilt also didn't fall asleep. He had a good capacity for drinking, and even a little wine couldn't get him down.

"My old friend, according to your observations, is Mr. Liang worth cooperating with?"

His fellow countryman Van Daze drinks as much as he does.

In addition to rebuilding the California Shipping Company, the purpose of their trip is also to have a strong interest in gold. No one can resist the temptation of gold. Especially capitalists like them who have fallen in the eyes of money.

When in Nicaragua, Vanderbilt had two options, which was to choose a partner between Brannan and Liang Yao that they thought was more suitable for cooperation.

The plan could not keep up with the changes, and now Vanderbilt only has Liang Yao as an option.

"Liang Yao is too young. He may just be lucky to be able to temporarily control the gold mining area in Sacramento." Clark interjected from the side.

"We are not the only ones keeping an eye on this tempting piece of cheese. Other families will not let go of this tempting piece of cheese. They are more influential in Congress than we are. If we can get not much gold, we don't have to."

You’re taking risks for this.”

"Youth may mean that you are young and have insufficient experience, but it can never represent a young person's ability. According to my observation, Liang Yao has very rich experience, which makes me feel very strange."

Vanderbilt felt a little ashamed when he thought about his naive self at the age of 19. He paused and continued.

"Liang Yao is very ambitious and shrewd. He clearly knows the purpose of our trip, but he never mentioned a word about his bottom line."

"He is a qualified businessman who does not reveal his trump card easily."

Fan Daze affirmed this. According to his own observation, Liang Yao's performance is indeed very mature and he looks like a reliable partner.

“As for whether it’s worth cooperating, we have to go and see the situation in the Sacramento mining area tomorrow before making a judgment.

The old aristocrats in New York already regard California's gold as their own, why can't we get a share of it? I don't mind if I can use Liang Yao to disgust them. It's just that I don't know Liang Yao's hand yet.

Will the gold in my possession disgust them?"

Vanderbilt was also very interested in the gold in California. Running a shipping company was about making money, but digging gold mines was about making money directly. No matter how profitable a business is, it is not as fast as making money directly.

If he could obtain considerable amounts of gold in California, he could more easily defeat his opponents on the route from New York to California.

He already felt threatened by the Pacific Mail Line Company supported by Washington. He needed to eliminate this threat to ensure his monopoly on the American shipping industry.

He also intends to enter the railway transportation industry and connect towns in the west.

The development of the east has encountered a bottleneck. The stock market has dropped so much that people want to jump off the building. If you want to continue to make big money, you can only enter the west. The west is the hope of the future of the United States!

On land, tracks are routes and trains are ships. He wants to monopolize the railway transportation industry just like he monopolizes the shipping industry!

This is why he purchased the Stonington Railroad Company and engineered his own plan to become president of the company through behind-the-scenes operations.

To complete this grand undertaking requires U.S. dollars, an astronomical number of U.S. dollars are needed. But the U.S. dollars he can use now lying in the bank are only more than seven million.

Obviously, this mere US$7 million cannot support his grand ambitions.

－－－－－－Digression－－－－－

To make up for the missing updates on 4.18, I still owe a chapter of the helmsman update.

Read on! Read on! Read on! Friends!

If it can be continued, it is recommended to add five more updates!