1850 American Gold Tycoon

"Is the collection of samples reasonable?" Liang Yao asked.

Deng Wenqi sighed: "They are all made according to the method explained by the third brother. Each barrel of mineral soil is collected separately."

Liang Yao felt unprecedentedly disappointed when he heard this. Could it be that his thinking was wrong?

Building levees to divert the American River not only cost him a lot of manpower and material resources, but also a lot of his time.

Such a huge investment only resulted in an increase in gold production of one-sixth, which was far from his expectations. He could not accept this result.

Liang Yao firmly believed that his idea was correct. There must be something wrong in some link. It must be like this.

He took off his shoes and prepared to fall into the river bed to investigate and find out the reason.

The Boston Company also brought their samples, and Robinson came to Liang Yao with the Boston Company's samples.

"I have good news and bad news to tell you. The good news is that your idea is correct. The gold content in the river bed is indeed much higher than that on both sides of the river. A large amount of gold is deposited in the bedrock below the river bed.

The bad news is that there is a layer of solid rock beneath the river bed, and it is not easy to dig out the gold manually. Compared to digging through these bedrocks, it is relatively easy to build a dam to divert the American River. "

"Overall it's still bad news. Our gold mining efficiency has not improved much."

It is easy to dig through a rock layer to extract samples, but if you want to dig for gold, you have to dig through all these rock layers, which is a huge waste of manpower.

"Yes, the shallowest rock layer is 1 meter thick, and the thick rock layer may be 2 meters, 3 meters or even thicker. It is not easy to obtain these because we do not have machines. These machines are only available in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. These big eastern cities have it.”

Dr. Robinson spread his hands and expressed his helplessness.

Knowing where the gold is but not being able to get it is more uncomfortable than not knowing where the gold is.

Now both the Boston Company and the old miners' organizations participating in the cooperation are anxious about this.

Liang Yao paced back and forth with his bare feet, thinking about more efficient ways to solve this problem, and soon he had a solution.

"Since there is no machine and manpower cannot effectively mine this gold on a large scale, then use gunpowder!"

Liang Yao had a black powder workshop and he had ready-made gunpowder.

Of course, using explosives would be more efficient and safer, but such highly efficient explosives would not be invented until 20 years later. Currently, he only has black powder available.

"Good idea. I'll go back and ask if anyone is skilled in using this kind of explosive."

Robinson thought it was a good idea to give it a try.

Black powder in California is expensive and can be called black gold, but it's worth using it to get more gold.

Moreover, he also knew that Liang Yao had a gunpowder workshop, which was the largest gunpowder workshop in California. They had no shortage of gunpowder.

"No, I can use gunpowder. Let me take a look at your gunpowder first. I need to know whether your gunpowder is suitable for mining."

Fremont became interested and eager to try these explosives. He was a senior expert in the use of gunpowder.

Liang Yao took Fremont and others to the gunpowder storage. What surprised Fremont was that except for a small amount of gunpowder that was more suitable for use as propellant for guns and artillery, the rest of the gunpowder was almost They are all specially formulated for mining.

Fremont was very curious about this, as if this young man had long thought of using gunpowder to mine.

"The ratio of your gunpowder is very reasonable. They are all high-quality gunpowder. Do you have people who are proficient in gunpowder?" Fremont couldn't restrain his curiosity.

Of course, Liang Yao would not tell Fremont that these gunpowders were prepared for future gold mining in the foothills of Nevada.

Although Sacramento’s gold reserves are abundant, there will always be a day when they are exhausted, so it’s wise to prepare early.

"San Francisco and Sacramento are undergoing large-scale construction projects, which require a large amount of stone as building materials. The gunpowder is used to blast the mountains to extract the stone."

"It seems that you are determined to build Sacramento and San Francisco into a very large city." Looking at the huge gunpowder reserves, Fremont said thoughtfully.

This explanation was reasonable and he couldn't find any flaws, but his intuition told Fremont that things were not that simple.

Fremont prepared the gunpowder with ease and calculated the yield to be used to ensure that while blasting through the rock formations, the scale of the explosion would remain within a controllable and safe range and would not harm innocent people.

After all work was completed, Fremont lit the fuse, which was successfully lit.

Everyone hid in a safe place and waited for the explosion to occur, praying to God and God that the gunpowder would successfully explode the bedrock.

However, something unexpected happened.

The gunpowder did not explode for a long time. An anxious Deng Wenkang ran forward with a box of matches to see what caused the fuse to go out. If it went out, he would relight the extinguished fuse.

"Deng Wenkang! What are you doing! Come back quickly! It's dangerous!"

Liang Yao shouted hurriedly.

"The second half is a quick twist! Even if you light the fuse, you will be killed! You don't want your life, little guy!"

Fremont didn't expect there to be such a stubborn person. He didn't have time to think too much, rushed forward, and skillfully threw Deng Wenkang down on the river bed.

Not long after the two of them lay down on the river bed, a dull explosion was heard from the explosion point not far away. The earth trembled, and the splashed sand almost buried the two of them.

"You little guy who is not afraid of death, if you were my soldier, I would fire you right now!"

Fremont picked up Deng Wenkang and said something that Deng Wenkang didn't quite understand.

Although he couldn't understand the words, he also knew that it was this ghost guy who saved him just now, and said to Freemont in half-baked English: "Thank you, sir."

Fremont shook off the wet mud and returned to the dry bank.

"Gold, so much gold!"

Deng Wenkang, who was thrown out by Fremont, noticed a faint golden light in the crack in the bedrock that had just been blasted, and he couldn't help but exclaimed.

He pried open the crack, and a huge piece of gold suddenly appeared in front of him!

It lay there quietly, emitting an attractive dazzling light in the sun.

Although California is a land rich in gold, this is the first time he has seen such a large amount of gold.

"I found it! Gold! What a big piece of gold!"

Deng Wenkang tried his best to move this huge piece of gold up, but the huge solid gold nugget was too heavy and it couldn't move after only a few steps.

"Oh My God!"

"my God!"

"Fuck!"

Everyone was stunned by this huge gold nugget. They had never seen such a huge gold.

Even Liang Yao couldn't help but marveled that this gold nugget was much larger than a real dog's head.

Liang Yao asked people to wash the soil off the gold nuggets and weigh them.

"145 pounds! This piece of gold weighs 145 pounds!"

145 pounds is converted into a metric weight unit of 77 kilograms, which is approximately more than 1,800 ounces.

This is heavier than Liang Yao's weight. It's no wonder that Deng Wenkang couldn't move it just now.

The largest natural gold nugget discovered during the gold rush weighed 151 pounds, which was slightly larger than the one in front of you.

But placing a 145-pound natural gold nugget in front of you is enough to shock you. California is such a great place.

"Mr. Liang, it seems that you are well versed in gold mining." Fremont sighed.

He has never seen such a huge piece of gold. The value of this piece of gold alone is as high as 60,000 US dollars. This is also a huge fortune for the wealthy families in the east. It is no wonder that countless people are crazy about it and are willing to risk it. Many dangers are pouring into the disorderly and barren land of California.

His first job was as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Engineering and Survey Corps. He remembered it very clearly, and the monthly salary of a second lieutenant was only a pitiful $15. Of course, the U.S. dollar would have been more valuable more than ten years ago, maybe. The equivalent of twenty-five dollars today, and no more than thirty dollars at most.

"I want to become a partner with you and set up a mining company to make a fortune together."

Fremont's heart was drawn to California's abundant gold reserves.

"It's a great honor, but as far as I know, Mr. Fremont's family is extremely rich, so they still value this little gold?"

Faced with Fremont's invitation, Liang Yao did not refuse.

Fremont was talking about establishing a partnership in a mining company, rather than investing in his gold mining industry, which did not touch his core interests.

It has to be said that Fremont had a high emotional intelligence. It is no wonder that this inexperienced political amateur could become the first candidate of the emerging political party of the United States, the Republican Party, six years later, in 1856.

Even the Democratic Party has tried to win over Fremont, hoping that Fremont can become the Democratic presidential candidate.

At that time, the Democratic Party and the Whig Party were the two major ruling parties in the United States. The Whig Party's golden period had passed, it was divided internally, and it was already in a state of death struggle.

If Fremont joins the Democratic Party, he will have a greater chance of successfully running. After all, the influence of the Democratic Party is far greater than that of the Republican Party.

However, the Democratic Party supported slavery at that time, which was contrary to Fremont's political ideals. Fremont eventually chose to join the Republican Party, which was still a small party.

Unfortunately, in the presidential election six years later, Fremont failed to achieve his wish and lost to his Democratic opponent Buchanan with a huge disadvantage of 9 state votes.

The Republican Party did not come to power for the first time until 1860, and its first president was the famous Abraham Lincoln.

"The family is the family, and I am me. I don't want to live under the protection of the family forever, otherwise I won't come to you." Fremont said firmly, "I want them to know that without the support of the family , I can also achieve a great career. Then it will not be me who is proud of being a member of the Fremont family or the Benton family, but my family will be proud of me!"

"You have such ideals and ambitions. I believe that the day will come and you will become a very influential figure." Liang Yao didn't know whether he could agree with this, and Fremont did do it later.

"Count me in!" Ge Wen took advantage of the situation and expressed that he was also willing to join the partnership. "Big shot, who doesn't want to be a big shot that shakes the world?"

"It's an honor, Mr. Ge Wen, no, it should be Senator Ge Wen." Liang Yao welcomed Ge Wen's joining.

He is looking for people who can give him political protection. Without political protection, it means that there is no one to speak for you in Congress.

Without the right to speak and influence in Congress, even if you are as rich as the country, in the eyes of those powerful financial groups, you are just a fat lamb. The fact that you still exist only means that you are not yet fat and have not yet been slaughtered.

Once you become a fat enough lamb, they will unhesitatingly reveal their long-hidden butcher knives in a so-called legal way, kill you mercilessly, and eat you to death.

There is no doubt that these two people are very suitable candidates for cooperation. Binding interests with them is exactly what Liang Yao wants.

"Today can be said to be a double blessing. Mr. Liang found the largest natural gold nugget in the history of the United States and perhaps the history of the world, and the three of us happened to be gathered in Sacramento on this wonderful day. I think this is God's will. ." Ge Wen showed a pleasant smile.

"I propose that on this great day we should celebrate."

Fremont was in a very happy mood. He did not find gold in the mountains, but here he not only found gold, but also found something more valuable than gold.