1850 American Gold Tycoon

Salt Lake City in December 1858.

The early morning sunshine shines over the city through the blue sky. The blue sky and white snowflakes set off each other, as if the entire city has been covered with a layer of silver gauze.

Large flakes of snow fell, dancing softly through the air until they settled on tree branches, rooftops and streets.

The eaves on both sides of the street are covered with crystal clear ice hangings, shining with a faint light. A thin layer of snow has accumulated on the roof, and ice crystals hang on the windows, reflecting the faint sunlight. It seems like every part of the city is decorated with ice sculptures.

Salt Lake City residents put on thick winter clothes, put on hats and gloves to keep warm and cold, put on their coats and walked out of the house to start a new day. The air exhaled by pedestrians on the road quickly condensed into a white cloud in the cold wind.

The snow on the road was already two to three inches thick. From time to time, carriages passed by with noisy bells warning pedestrians to avoid them, leaving two deep ruts on the snow-covered road.

It seemed like just another normal winter day for Salt Lake City residents.

Except for the cathedral built in 1848 in the center of Salt Lake City, this most magnificent building in Salt Lake City is particularly busy today.

Inside the Salt Lake City Cathedral, proud core Mormon figures gathered at the Salt Lake City Cathedral today to celebrate the birthday of their new elder. At this time, everyone in the church was celebrating, thinking about the bright future after the eight elders with outstanding abilities and officially appointed by the federal government joined the church.

The heaven of Utah is still the heaven of Mormonism.

"Congratulations, Elder Stanford."

Cai Mingsheng, who came uninvited, congratulated the smiling Stanford in a weird way.

Also coming uninvited was Liang Shaoyu.

"It turns out it's you two, rare guests, especially Chief Superintendent Cai. I didn't expect you to take time out of your busy schedule to come to Salt Lake City to celebrate my birthday. It's such an honor." Stanford didn't seem to notice Cai Mingsheng's face. Even though he was angry, Stanford, who was smiling, didn't forget to add something.

"I still prefer you two to call me Governor Stanford. Of course, if you two are willing to call me His Excellency Governor Stanford, that would be even better."

"Mr. Liang has returned to California. Your Majesty the Governor, not only did you join the Mormon cult, but you are still celebrating your birthday here with great fanfare. I want to see how you explain it to Mr. Liang then." Cai Mingsheng snorted coldly, his words and attitude All are quite bad.

"You don't have to worry about it." Stanford said calmly.

"I will give Mr. Liang an explanation, and I will also give you an explanation for the cases you have on hand."

Stanford was an extremely smart man. He guessed that Cai Mingsheng came to find him most likely because of the crimes committed by Mormons in California.

"Elder Stanford, I think these pagans are very disrespectful to you! This is the Salt Lake City Cathedral and our territory. The Chief Superintendent of California has no right to bark on our territory." Beth rubbed some. Xingkou, who was feeling a dull pain, said to Stanford.

"I'll have them kicked out!"

Beth was holding a tall glass wine glass in her hand. The brown wine in the glass swayed as he walked, and the brown liquid in the wine glass seemed likely to spill out at any time.

Mormonism advocates abstinence, but those cumbersome rules are used to restrain the lower class members and avoid wasting resources. You know, in the interior west, especially before the opening of the Pacific Railroad, tobacco, alcohol, and sugar were no different from luxury goods, and only a few people could enjoy them.

Mormon elders and their relatives are not bound by strict religious rules. Just like most legal provisions are used to restrain vulnerable groups. In the Utah Territory, Mormon canon law is the law for the majority of lower-class believers.

"No need, Elder Beth, these visitors are guests, and besides, they are also my old friends." Stanford said without hesitation, showing great magnanimity.

"Elder Stanford, we are almost here, please give a speech." Brigham Young came to Stanford with a smile.

"Since everyone is here, please take a seat and listen to my talk for a while." Stanford glanced at the packed seats.

It seems that the Mormon Church still gives this new elder a lot of respect, and basically all the core leaders who can come are here.

Stanford walked up to the podium, cleared his throat, and asked Brigham Young loudly: "Brigham Young, when and where were you on September 11, 1857? What did you do?"

Brigham Young?

In the Utah Territory, no believer dared to call the prophet by his name, including the powerful elders. As the leader of the Mormon Church, his status in the church is supreme and unique, and he is not just an empty figure.

Brigham Young was suddenly called by his first name by Stanford and was caught off guard. Brigham Young was furious.

"Stanford, what did you just call me?"

Brigham Young was furious and stood up. The congregants who had just sat down stood up one after another. Hundreds of pairs of eyes stared at Stanford. The air was filled with a chilling air.

"Young! Brigham Young! Please answer my question!" Stanford shouted out Brigham Young's name loudly and without any fear.

"Stanford, are you tired of living? Prophet! I am a prophet, please call me prophet! You have no superiors, no inferiors, and no dignity!"

Brigham Young slammed the wine glass to the ground, covering up the fear in his heart with anger.

He has a very good memory. He can memorize the Mormon scriptures backwards and forwards. He can remember the likes, dislikes and past of each Mormon elder. He can remember the property of wealthy believers in the Utah Territory. He can even remember all the budding projects in the Utah Territory. Beautiful young female churchgoer.

Of course he knew exactly what was done on September 11, 1857.

Stanford's stern questioning in public made Brigham Young panic. Stanford was a very smart and smooth man, so unusually, in front of so many middle-level and senior-level Mormons, he asked him questions like he was interrogating a criminal. What was his intention?

Pull him off the altar as a prophet and replace him?

Brigham Young quickly rejected this idea. Brigham Young had been running the Mormon Church for more than ten years. His status and influence in the church could not be shaken by Stanford, who had just joined the church and became an elder.

Stanford's charity has won the favor of many believers, but his teaching foundation is still shallow and cannot replace his position.

Even if Stanford has this ambition and idea, it does not have the ability.

If Stanford doesn't want to be a prophet, then why?

Eliminate the Mormons?

A terrible thought flashed through Brigham Young's mind.

Brigham Young suddenly reacted. In the name of celebrating his birthday, Stanford gathered all the middle and high-level Mormons here. This was to wipe out all their Mormons!

Oops, it’s Stanford’s fault! Brigham Young complained endlessly.

This guy is really fucking good at pretending. He is familiar with Mormon scriptures. He spent more than a year and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars just to bring all the core figures of Mormonism together today. So, you can catch them all in one go!

That must be the case!

Thinking of this, unprecedented fear suddenly surged into Brigham Young's heart.

His hands trembled involuntarily.

Brigham Young had been leading the charge in Utah for a long time, and fear was a long-lost and unfamiliar feeling to him.

The last time I felt scared was when I was slapped by Krueger at the opening ceremony of the Pacific Railroad.

"Prophet? Bullshit prophet! How dare you claim to be a prophet? Brigham Young! Since you have a bad memory, let me recall the memories for you." Stanford said coldly.

"On December 28, 1857, you attacked Alexander Donlon's emigrant party.

This group of immigrants from the Arkansas region was destined for California, not the Utah Territory. They only passed through Salt Lake City.

But you forced them to convert, surrounded them, cut off their water, forbade everyone to trade with them, and forbade them to leave Utah territory.

They refused to join the Mormon cult, and you brutally killed the disobedient young adults and the old men who were of no use to you. 140 people, a total of 140 people were brutally murdered by you! Their blood dyed the mountains and grass outside Salt Lake City red!

Then you raped the women in the team, forced them to be wives, and forced them to become your playthings.

Those children were also taken to so-called missionary schools for brainwashing.

In addition, you have illegally plundered all their property! You robbed them of 965 cattle, 164 horses, and 106 carts of supplies, not even a single cart wheel was spared! "Stanford enumerated Brigham Young's crimes in a stern voice.

The tragic incident that occurred outside of Salt Lake City last year became known as the Mountain Meadows Massacre.

Due to the large number of victims and the egregious circumstances of the case, Arkansas representatives and even Buchanan continued to pressure Stanford to investigate the matter thoroughly.

However, this massacre was only one of the larger crimes committed by Mormons in the Utah Territory. Similar large-scale massacres occurred almost every month.

"Stanford! Let's see!"

Brigham Young left the meeting angrily with a guilty conscience, and was about to leave the Salt Lake City Cathedral with more than a hundred loyal and intimate armed believers.

Stanford smiled contemptuously, raised his hand, and the four machine gun groups lurking on the roof of the church lifted off the copper oilcloth covering the machine guns, quickly inserted the magazine and turned the crank.

There was only a burst of machine gun fire, and twenty or thirty of the personally armed believers around Brigham Young were knocked down in an instant and fell dead in the snow.

This unheard-of cannon-like weapon horrified the Mormons present.

The quick-eyed and quick-witted Xiao Bri led a dozen die-hard believers to open the door of the church and wanted to escape from this place of right and wrong. Unexpectedly, Kruger and his Arizona Infantry Regiment had already cleared away the believers they had posted outside the church and were waiting at the door of the church for a long time.

Three machine guns with loaded magazines, and a group of heavily armed Arizona regiment soldiers were aiming their guns at them. There seemed to be cannons behind them.

Seeing that the gate was surrounded by heavily armed soldiers, Peregrine wanted to escape through the back door. Unexpectedly, there was also a major of the Arizona Infantry Regiment at the back door commanding his soldiers to stand ready.

"We are surrounded!" Peregrine said with a trembling voice, his face ashen.

"Hmph! Prophet? How many regiments do you have?"

Kruger led an entire battalion into the church and disarmed the Mormons inside.

These Mormons are not professional soldiers, but a group of lords who bully the weak and fear the strong. Their military quality is not even as good as the militias of the eastern northern states.

Surrounded by heavy siege, they did not dare to resist in the face of professional soldiers who had experienced the flames of war and were full of murderous intent.

In the name of celebrating his birthday, Stanford successfully eliminated most of the core Mormon loyalists.

At this time, the Mormon outposts still at the train station and at various traffic arteries in Utah were disarmed and captured by the Chinese militiamen of the Arizona Infantry Regiment and the Utah Militia without their knowledge.

Businessmen who frequented the Utah Territory felt it most keenly. They suddenly discovered it almost overnight.

The Mormons who usually forced them to pay taxes and took the trouble to preach to them suddenly disappeared without a trace. They were still a little unaccustomed to this sudden happiness.

Is the Utah Territory about to change?

In the Salt Lake City Cathedral, 516 upper-middle-class Mormons and die-hard guards were shackled like slaves and driven into the church.

The Salt Lake City Cathedral, once a holy site for Mormons, is now a prison for them.

In order to encourage residents of Utah Territory to report the crimes of Mormons and provide evidence to show their attitude of officially declaring war on the Mormons.

Stanford assisted the young Justice Pan Baolin in quickly holding a public trial in the central square of Salt Lake City.

Before the residents of Salt Lake City could realize what was happening, the first batch of Mormons to be put on trial were shackled and dragged like dead dogs by strong soldiers to the main square of Salt Lake City.