1850 American Gold Tycoon

Chapter 650: Another hardship for the people in the border areas

As the train passes through the mountains and reaches Denver, the terrain begins to flatten out and the population suddenly becomes denser.

The last time Liang Yao arrived in Denver was in 1859. At that time, Denver was the largest city in Colorado with a population of less than a thousand.

After more than two years of immigration development, Denver is now a large settlement with a population of more than 50,000. Even according to the most stringent California standards, Denver can meet the standards of a medium-sized city.

Along the way, the only settlement along the Pacific Railway with a population of over 10,000 was Provo, thousands of miles away. It can be seen that the climate in the Rocky Mountains is harsh and the population is sparse.

Since Liang Yao was not here specifically to inspect the development of the border areas, he had no plans to stay in Denver.

Liang Yao's third uncle, Liang Shaoyu, was in charge of the immigration and reclamation work in the border areas. The Border Immigration Bureau was located in Denver, which was relatively central, and coordinated the resettlement work in Colorado, Nebraska and Kansas.

Liang Shaoyu learned that Liang Yao had no plans to stay in Denver, so he temporarily handed over the work to his deputy Pan Baolin, while he boarded the presidential train to report to Liang Yao the development situation in the border areas.

"The railway from Denver to Tianhu City has been repaired and opened to traffic. The development of Tianhu City is better than that of Denver. Can Mr. President move to Tianhu City to guide the work?" Liang Shaoyu smiled brightly.

Thanks to the immigration work experience accumulated in Utah, the war in the Qing Dynasty, the outbreak of the civil war in the east, and the policy tilt of the American Republic, Liang Shaoyu's immigration work started very smoothly.

In the border areas under the actual control of the American Republic, the military leader is Kruger, and the civil affairs leader is actually him, the director of the border area immigration bureau in charge of immigration. In the Qing Dynasty, his current position is a proper official of the frontier.

Tianhu City was the original Fort Collins, the second largest settlement in Colorado. After the large influx of Han people, it was renamed Tianhu City because there was a large lake on the mountain to the west of the city, as if hanging on the horizon.

"I'm busy with military affairs. We'll see when we get back." Liang Yao smiled. There was nothing to beat around the bush in front of Liang Shaoyu. "What difficulties are there in Third Uncle's work?"

"In general, the immigration work is relatively smooth, but there are still difficulties." Liang Shaoyu handed the work report and map he had prepared to Liang Yao for Liang Yao to read.

“In the past two years, the Frontier Immigration Bureau has resettled no fewer than 700,000 immigrants in no less than 500 settlements, including 350,000 in Western Nebraska, 250,000 in Colorado, and 10 Thousands of people were resettled in the western Kansas area.

There is no shortage of people. As for the money and food needed to resettle the new immigrants, the central government's quarterly allocations and the confiscated Mormon church property are enough. The only thing that is tight is the transportation capacity. "

Liang Yao immersed himself in reading the immigration work report provided by Liang Shaoyu. The report provided by Liang Shaoyu was very detailed, including the source composition of the immigrants, the population of the settlement, the person in charge, and the location of the settlement on the map.

There are three main sources of immigrants for the Frontier Immigration Bureau. The largest source of immigrants is naturally the Han people arriving from the west coast, followed by immigrants from the east to escape the war, and finally the surrendered Indians.

For example, for the Cheyenne tribe north of Tianhu City, the Immigration Bureau even helped them build a fort on the spot, taught them farming and manufacturing, and expelled the nearby federal forces responsible for clearing out the Indians, allowing them to live a relatively stable settled life.

"Transportation capacity? You mean the transportation capacity of the Pacific Railway?" Liang Yao asked while flipping through the immigration work report provided by Liang Shaoyu.

"Exactly." Liang Shaoyu nodded, "Many things in the border areas cannot be produced by themselves, and materials are in short supply. The prices here are much higher than those on the west coast. The new immigrants who just came from the Qing Dynasty can still tolerate it. After all, their The requirements are not high, as long as you have food to eat and don't starve to death.

But the old immigrants on the west coast and the immigrants from the east wanted more than just food rations. Insufficient supplies will lead to sluggish industry and commerce, and subsequent tax revenue will be difficult to guarantee.

Fortunately, the current immigrants in the border areas are still mainly new immigrants from the Qing Dynasty. These people are easy to control, and we can maintain the stability of the new border areas for the time being. But I think this kind of stability is not what you want. You want the prosperity and stability of the West Coast. "

Different immigrant groups have different needs and purposes. For the newly arrived immigrants from the Qing Dynasty who were able to stay half full and not starve to death, they left their hometowns and traveled across the ocean with only one purpose, and that was to survive. The needs of these people are naturally best met.

It is easy to go from frugality to luxury, but it is difficult to go from luxury to frugality. For the old immigrants on the West Coast who have immigrated to America for some years, their purpose of choosing to come to the central border area is not just to meet the most basic physiological needs, but also There is a higher demand.

If the demand for old money on the West Coast cannot be met for a long time, these people will sooner or later return to the West Coast.

More people stay in the small West Coast region and become insurgent. This situation is indeed not what Liang Yao wants to see.

It has to be said that Liang Shaoyu's horizons have broadened a lot since coming to America, and he has been able to realize more deeply that the American Republic is founded on industry and commerce, and agriculture is only the most basic part of the Republic's economy.

"No one knows me better than my third uncle. I also understand what you said, but the border troubles in the border areas are the most urgent problem to be solved. The transportation capacity of the Pacific Railway still needs to be used by the army first." Liang Yao said helplessly, "Let the small number of people in the border areas suffer a little more, and life will soon get better after the border troubles are solved."

The transportation method with the largest transportation capacity and the lowest cost is undoubtedly water transportation, even in the 21st century.

Unfortunately, the central region is blocked by the Rocky Mountains and the endless Cordillera Mountains. There are many small and medium-sized rivers in the middle, but there is no large river that can directly connect the west coast region and the central border area.

There is currently only one Pacific Railway as the main transportation artery from the west coast to the central border area. Although the transportation efficiency of the railway is high, the transportation capacity is very limited. The military occupies more transportation capacity, and the transportation capacity available for people's livelihood is naturally less.

This is also the reason why Liang Yao stopped sending more troops to North Platte after recruiting the militia from West Mexico and Utah Territory. If he continued to send more troops, the logistics would not be able to supply them. The additional troops would not only fail to exert their due combat effectiveness, but would become a burden.

Liang Yao was not just making empty promises. He now gave priority to the army to use the precious transportation capacity in order to free up this part of the transportation capacity after solving the border troubles in the central region.

"If the war breaks out, is there a possibility of a protracted war?" Liang Shaoyu had been holding back this question in his mind for a long time. After hesitating for a long time, he decided to throw this question out so that he could have a better idea.