1850 American Gold Tycoon

Just as the whole country was rejoicing that the American army successfully launched an expedition to Japan and forced the Tokugawa shogunate to found the country, and the whole country was excited, Liang Yao's fleet had just arrived in Hawaii.

After arriving in Hawaii, there is only the last 4,000 kilometers of flight left to California.

Alexander, the nephew of King Kamehameha III of Hawaii, disembarked at Pearl Harbor and invited Liang Yao to have dinner at the palace.

It is said to be a palace, but in fact it is just a slightly larger manor, not as good as Liang Yao's Tingtao Garden in San Francisco.

The Kingdom of Hawaii originally had a decent palace, but it was looted and set on fire by the French troops who invaded Hawaii in 1850.

Kamehameha III wanted to renovate the palace, but the French compensation has not yet been paid off, and the Kingdom of Hawaii is in financial difficulty, so it is impossible to talk about repairing the palace.

After hearing that the United States defeated tens of thousands of shogunate troops in just one day and marched to the castle of Edo, Japan, the tone of Kamehameha III and Liang Yao's conversation became more respectful during the dinner. It can also be said to be fear.

Kamehameha III did not want the US military to land in Hawaii like the French army did three years ago, ransack his palace and steal his private yacht.

Japan, which is further away from the mainland of the United States, has a wider territory, and has a larger population and army, is unable to withstand the front of the American army, let alone a tiny place like Hawaii.

Liang Yao did not stop too much in Hawaii. After replenishing coal at Pearl Harbor, the fleet rushed to San Francisco.

After more than half a year, Liang Yao finally returned to California, where he had been away for a long time, and set foot on this long-lost land, but the air here was even more polluted than when he left.

San Francisco has changed a lot. Many of the swamps and wastelands near Jinshan Bay have turned into small settlements composed of log houses and even brick houses.

Even the urban area of ​​San Francisco is undergoing extensive construction, and many emergency simple wooden houses have been demolished and replaced by sturdier brick houses.

There are obviously many more buildings with more than three floors than when Liang Yao left San Francisco.

At the Port of San Francisco, citizens spontaneously flocked to the port to welcome the heroes who returned from the expedition to Japan, heroes who belonged to California and heroes who belonged to them.

Liang Yao stood on the front deck of the Roland, taking off his hat and waving to the crowd on the dock.

Cheers echoed throughout Jinshan Bay, and people waved California bear flags vigorously. Thousands of bear flags of different sizes sounded in the wind.

“Viva California!”

"Long live the Colonel!"

"Glory to California!"

Liang Yao stepped off the Roland amidst the cheers of the people of California. The officers and soldiers of the expeditionary force entered the city with their heads held high, welcomed by the people.

After showing his face ashore, the exhausted Liang Yao did not choose to return to Tingtao Garden to rest, but went directly to the San Francisco City Hall.

The architectural style of San Francisco is unique among many American cities.

The Western-style buildings and Chinese-style buildings in the city are in perfect harmony. The City Hall in the center of the main city is a model of the combination of Chinese and Western styles.

The main body of the city hall is a marble gallery-style building, a typical Western-style city hall. In front of the city hall stands a pair of towering Chinese watches and majestic stone lions.

Even the columns supporting the arcades are engraved with cloud patterns and coiled dragons.

The city hall area is divided into three parts, namely the office area of ​​the municipal management agency, the conference hall specifically for meetings, and the rest area for office workers and citizens to rest.

The rest area used to be an empty wasteland. Now there is a large fountain in the center of the rest area, and the periphery is a Chinese-style corridor and pavilion for cooling, and even a rockery.

The more Liang Yao looked at the layout of the rest area, the more familiar it seemed. Soon, Liang Yao realized that the rest area was built according to the layout of his manor.

After passing through the rest area, Liang Yao went straight to the conference hall, where California dignitaries were already waiting for Liang Yao.

Before Liang Yao could speak, Minister of Education Pearlman poured out his bitter complaints to him.

"Mr. Speaker, if you think about it, the teachers and staff of state schools have been without wages for two months. If it drags on any longer, those teachers and staff will not just come to my office and lift the table, but they will go on strike. Free payment The food for the children is almost gone.”

Industry Minister Fehr is not far behind, "Two subsidies to relevant industrial and mining enterprises have not been fulfilled. Business owners either block my office every day to ask for explanations, or they squat at my door waiting for me to come home. It makes me lose my home." I don’t even dare to go back.”

Minister of Agriculture Chen Baoliang continued to follow up, "subsidising farmers and farmers with farm tools, free seeds, and subsidies for water conservancy facilities had to be temporarily suspended due to funding issues. Farmers and farmers are now very vocal."

Robinson sighed and reminded Liang Yaodao, "The salaries of government employees have not been paid for two months."

Everyone poured out their complaints. Although each department has its own difficulties, so many difficulties are ultimately due to the same reason: the California government is out of money.

Liang Yao was quite surprised when he learned in Xiangshan that the California government had no money. In 1851, the California state government's fiscal revenue was still US$4,788,752, and its surplus reached an astonishing US$2,145,015. Unexpectedly, a fiscal deficit would appear one year later, and The situation does not look promising yet.

"Minister of Finance, where is last year's financial report?" Liang Yao looked at Finance Minister Deng Wenyu.

Deng Wenyu awkwardly handed over the financial report that he had already prepared.

The noisy quarrels in the conference hall made Liang Yao uneasy. Liang Yao knocked on the table heavily to signal everyone to quiet down, and then immersed himself in carefully reviewing California's 1852 financial report.

After carefully reviewing the 1852 financial report, Liang Yao quickly found the crux.

He and all California politicians were overly optimistic about California's fiscal situation.

At the beginning of 1852, the Treasury Department estimated that fiscal revenue in 1852 would reach at least $7 million.

As a result, it was discovered at the end of the year that, let alone US$7 million, it had not even reached US$6 million.

In 1852, California's fiscal revenue was only 5.13 million U.S. dollars, a very limited increase compared with 1851's fiscal revenue of 4.78 million U.S. dollars.

Income has not increased much, but expenses have increased.

Compulsory education subsidies, industrial and agricultural subsidies, skilled immigration subsidies, government employee salaries, infrastructure construction, a US$5 million land purchase loan in Nevada, etc., any one of them is a considerable expense.

Some of these expenditures were not available in 1851, such as compulsory education subsidies, and the loan to purchase the Nevada Territory was repaid starting in 1852.

Then there are the existing fiscal expenditures in 1851. By 1852, not only were there no shortages, but the amount of expenditures was also greater.

For example, regarding skilled immigration subsidies, Liang Yao himself also made mistakes in his judgment in this regard.

In 1850, the number of skilled immigrants was less than a thousand, most of whom were employees of the American Group. In 1851, with the rise of the California Coal and Steel Union and the California railroad industry, this number surged to 3,500.

At the beginning of the year, Liang Yao estimated that the number of skilled immigrants would reach about 8,000 in 1852. Actual results proved that Liang Yao was somewhat conservative.

The number of skilled immigrants in California in 1852 reached an astonishing 15,000, nearly twice what Liang Yao expected.

California's skilled immigrants are actually mainly industrial workers, and their previous main source was the northeastern United States.

In 1852, for the first time, the main force of skilled immigrants came not from the eastern part of the United States, but from Europe, mainly immigrants from Britain and France.

There are many reasons that prompted these European immigrants to flock to California. At this time, due to the discovery of gold mines in California and the booming development of the railroad industry, the United States was gradually emerging from the global economic crisis in the mid-19th century, and its economy resumed rapid growth.

In contrast, the old Western European powers, mainly Britain and France, are still shrouded in the haze of the economic crisis. Domestic strikes continue and the political situation is turbulent. Napoleon III even declared himself emperor in December last year and restored the French Empire, which caused a stir in the entire West. The world shakes.

Once the global economic crisis spreads and is not resolved in time, it can easily lead to a war. After all, politicians all know that war is the most effective medicine to save the economy, but this medicine is a bit expensive.

At this time, Britain and France were already expanding their armies and preparing for war, preparing to resolve the Crimean issue and prevent the expansion of Tsarist Russia's power westward and southward.

In 1851, the number of British troops was 200,000 and the number of French troops was 400,000. By 1853, the number of British troops reached 236,000 and the number of French troops reached 447,000.

Of course, Tsarist Russia was even more heavyweight. The number of Russian troops soared from 560,000 in 1851 to 1.11 million in 1853.

At the same time, the number of the American army, including the navy, was only more than 20,000 regular troops, not even a fraction of others.

Many immigrants who fled Europe and flocked to California not only wanted to get rich by digging for gold, but also wanted to avoid military service and stay away from the war.

Every time a war breaks out in Europe, the number of immigrants from the United States will increase dramatically. Europeans in this era like to run to the United States when their lives are not going well in Europe, treating the United States as a safe haven.

The increase in European immigrants is also a good thing for Liang Yao. It can at least dilute some of the influence of immigrants from eastern America in California.

Of course, the premise is that California can successfully absorb these immigrants, otherwise these immigration dividends will become a burden. Only immigrants who can pay taxes can create value for California.

According to the Bureau of Statistics, California's total population has now reached 510,000. How to accommodate and digest this population and allow California's economy to continue to maintain rapid growth is a very severe test for the California government.

California's prosperity is based on policies of light corvee and low taxation, as well as huge financial subsidies. While enjoying rapid economic growth, it is inevitable to bear some costs.

The peace and tranquility of some people are always based on the burden-bearing efforts of others.

Currently, it is the California state government's finances that bear the burden for California, and California's finances and taxes are mainly contributed by gold mine owners and gold prospectors.

Five full years have passed since the gold rush started in 1848. Basically, all the rich minerals that are easy to find and have low mining costs have been mined.

California's gold mining industry also has periodic bottlenecks.

After the gold in San Francisco was almost exhausted, the gold prospectors moved to both sides of the American River near Sacramento. After the gold on both sides of the American River was almost exhausted, people built dams to force the American River to change its course, and panned under the American River bed. of gold.

The gold mining in the American River was almost complete, and large-scale gold-producing areas were discovered in Nevada. Many gold prospectors picked up their tools and bags and rushed to the Nevada area to pan for gold.

Now, the output of existing gold-producing areas has stabilized, and no new large-scale rich ore areas have been discovered yet. California's gold mining industry has once again encountered a bottleneck.

Liang Yao knew that this was not a problem with California’s gold reserves. California’s gold reserves were enough for Californians to mine for more than a century.

The problem lies in the level of gold mining technology and exploration capabilities. With the current level of technology and exploration capabilities, California gold prospectors can only explore relatively easy-to-find gold mining areas and pan for gold in shallow layers on the earth's surface.

This is the disadvantage of a single industrial structure and over-reliance on a single industry to boost the economy.

Gold mining is currently a pillar industry in California, contributing about 80% of the California government's tax revenue. Once the development of this industry encounters a bottleneck, the blow to California's finances will be disastrous.

"As of now, the California state government's finances already have a deficit of US$3.7 million. If we don't find a way to solve it, the California state government will go bankrupt this year. Please brainstorm and tell us what you think." Liang Yao said after closing the financial report.

He wanted to hear what these California dignitaries had to say.

"Perhaps we can ask the California Customs Department for help? I heard that the Customs Department's revenue last year was very considerable. If they are willing to lend a helping hand, our life will be much easier." Deng Wenyu thought for a while and said.

"What a bad idea, no way."

This unrealistic idea was quickly rejected by Liang Yao. In California, tariff revenue is the second largest tax after gold mining revenue.

But this is federal government money. Is it so easy to get federal government money?

The relatively harmonious relationship between California and the federal government is based on the fact that the federal government can successfully receive tariffs in California.

If you move the federal government's tariffs, the poor guys in the federal government will fight you tooth and nail, and they might even support new consortiums to move into California and replace them.

Not only Liang Yao didn't want this to happen, but everyone involved probably didn't want to see such a result.

Although Liang Yao has some soldiers on hand, his current strength is not strong enough to compete with the federal government. The tariffs that should be collected by the federal government should still be collected by the federal government.

"To make gold mine owners and gold prospectors suffer further, increase the gold mining tax rate?" Education Minister Pillman proposed.

"California's gold mining tax is already very high! We must not continue to increase it!" The Minister of Industry first jumped out to object. Pillman himself is not engaged in gold mining. He said this clearly because he stood up and talked without pain, and did not understand the gold mining industry. current situation.

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“In the past two years, gold mine owners and gold prospectors have been the absolute largest taxpayers in California, and they have contributed a lot to California. Continuing to increase taxes will have incalculable consequences.

Furthermore, the reason why California's population can grow rapidly is because people firmly believe that they can get rich by gold mining in California, and they can see the hope of changing their lives in California.

Every time we raise taxes, it will reduce the hope of gold diggers. This is an act of drinking poison to quench thirst. I firmly oppose raising gold mining taxes! "