1850 American Gold Tycoon.

Chapter 144 Fencing (4k)

The success of the California Railway Company gave Liang Yao great confidence.

This success proves that it is possible to develop California's own industry while absorbing foreign talent, technology and enterprises.

It doesn't matter whether foreign capital needs to be introduced or not. What California needs most now is capital.

The introduction of a large amount of foreign capital is not a good thing for California. Liang Yao does not want California's local industry and manufacturing to be dominated by capital from other states.

On February 1851, 2, a special date for California, the railroad between San Francisco and Sacramento officially started.

The railroad will be built entirely by California Railroad, the state railroad company.

In order to shorten the construction period and complete the construction as soon as possible, the construction of the railway will start from San Francisco and Sacramento at the same time.

This is a big challenge for California railroad engineers, but the Calrail engineering team is confident.

Chief engineer Ward said in an interview with the "California Daily" that they have been preparing for the construction of the railway since November last year.

He believes that the California Railway Company can deliver a satisfactory answer to the people of California, and the California Railway Company will become the pride of all Californians in the future.

In Tingtao Garden, Liang Yao was fencing with Fremont. The two stalemate for a long time. Finally, Liang Yao found a loophole. While Fremont was distracted, he stabbed Fremont's heart with his sword.

Fremont is a good fencing player, and this is the first time Liang Yao has won against Fremont.

Liang Yao is now the colonel commander of the California Infantry Regiment. Just being a politician, businessman, or scholar is not enough to convince those soldiers. You have to have something of your own to convince these big soldiers.

Officers in this era have not completely broken away from the category of traditional generals. Horseback riding, fighting with cold weapons, and shooting are still their forte.

"Your fencing skills have improved a lot. Who did you learn from?" Fremont took off his protective gear, and the servant beside him handed him water to quench his thirst.

Liang Yao also put down the wooden sword, took off the bulky protective gear, moved his body and said, "Colonel Mason, I will practice fencing with Colonel Mason while you are away."

"It turned out to be Mason."

Fremont walked to a side gazebo and sat down.

"This guy is really a good fencer in the army. I was once defeated by him."

"But now he is our prisoner. There is no news from the Congress yet. I wonder if they have forgotten Colonel Mason." Liang Yao said.

"After Mason became famous, Congress dare not forget him." Fremont laughed. "Maybe Congress is still discussing the matter of Nevada land. The efficiency of the American Congress is very low. I think you should know this."

"It's very low, it's outrageously low." Liang Yao also walked into the gazebo to enjoy the cool air, "You had something on your mind just now, otherwise I can't beat you. Do you want to go on an adventure?"

"Yes, you know, I'm a restless person, and I'm very relieved to have you in California now." Fremont nodded and said, "Maybe when I come back from my expedition, the California Railway Company will be able to build a two-way line." It will be a miracle in the history of industry.”

"Connie, go to my study and get the map on my desk."

Liang Yao said to Kony.

Soon, Kony brought the map Liang Yao wanted.

Liang Yao spread out the map and spread it on the stone table in the center of the gazebo.

"The west is so big, you must have a clue when exploring the railway route. This is a route I have compiled based on the geographical data I have collected these days and the westward diaries of the gold diggers in the east. Maybe it can provide you with a reference."

Fremont looked carefully at the map Liang Yao provided him. The route Liang Yao provided Fremont was the famous 41-degree north latitude route of the later Pacific Railway.

The route starts from Sacramento, California, and passes through Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, and Nebragas, with a total length of 3000 kilometers.

Of course, the length of the railway route is only secondary. The regions that this route passes through, especially the areas along the western route, have very bad weather conditions, and the complex geographical conditions along the route are even more difficult.

The area along the western route needs to pass through not only solid granite mountains but also a large number of deep valleys. To build a railway here, it is necessary to open roads in the mountains and build bridges in the valleys. The project is extremely difficult.

"Although I am not a railway engineer, I still know your line. The engineering difficulty is too great, and your plan is too crazy."

Fremont had traveled this route before, and he was well aware of its conditions.

Fremont is not optimistic about the railway line provided by Liang Yao. He does not think that a railway can be built on this line with the existing technical conditions.

After all, Fremont still has distrust of bridge technology. He saw the collapse of the railway bridge over the Hudson River in New York State. He believes that building railways should avoid building too many bridges as much as possible, because thin bridges are not safe enough. .

Unlike the iron and steel railway bridges of later generations, the railway bridges of this period were basically wooden railway bridges. Naturally, the structure and strength of the bridges cannot be compared with the railway bridges made of steel.

"Then which is the ideal route in your mind?" Liang Yao asked.

"Of course it is a relatively flat route. The purpose of my expedition is to find such a route." Fremont said his ideal route.

Liang Yao now seems to understand why Fremont failed to explore the route several times, because there is no such a route from the west to the east of the United States.

"Fremont, give up your unrealistic thinking. To the east of California is the Sierra Nevada, and to the east of the Sierra Nevada is the Great Basin and the Rocky Mountains. There is no route with relatively flat terrain. If you want to successfully build this railway , The criss-crossing mountains are a hurdle we can't get around."

Liang Yao said to Fremont earnestly, hoping that Fremont would not avoid difficulties and waste energy on finding that unrealistic route.

If Fremont would not explore the 41st parallel, he would send his men to explore it himself.

"I will consider your suggestion." After thinking for a long time, Fremont accepted Liang Yao's map, "Let's go to the shooting range and shoot for a while. I don't know if your shooting skills are as advanced as your sword skills. Big."

--------------------------

Huang Shuigen was carrying a heavy pannier, which contained a pile of clothes to be changed.

He had just come to this legendary place where gold is everywhere and if you have hands, you will never die of hunger on a boat with smoking chimneys eight days ago.

And indeed, it was a place where you could never die with your hands, and the day labor he got in the laundry room earned three dollars and fifty cents a day.

This is only a very low income in Jinshan, but Huang Shuigen is already very satisfied with it.

He lives very frugally. After deducting the food expenses, he can still save about 2 US dollars every day. After eight days, he has saved 15 US dollars.

The gold coins here contain a lot of gold. If they were exchanged for silver, the foreign money in his hand could be exchanged for more than 9 taels of silver.

（1851年金银比价为14.13，19世纪白银不断贬值，50年代1英镑能兑换3两白银，到了80年代，1英镑能兑换将近4两白银，金银比价在1880年就超过了18。英镑与美元的汇率约为4.87。

The price issue in California has already been mentioned at the beginning of this book, so I won’t repeat it here. Prices in gold-producing areas must not be comparable to those in other places. When gold production declines later, prices will gradually return to normal levels. )
Saving more than 9 taels of silver in eight days was something Huang Shuigen could never dream of.

Here, as long as you have a pair of hardworking hands and are not infected with other bad habits, getting rich is not just a dream.

It's just that he heard that their group of immigrants will be arranged in a place called Los Angeles in batches.

There is no gold in that place, but Mr. Liang will distribute 5 acres of land to each of them on a head-by-head basis, which is just over 30 acres of land.

This is something he never dreamed of in Xiangshan. Huang Shuigen's family only has 17 mu of paddy fields in Xiangshan. Here, as long as they register at the immigration reception center, they can get 30 mu of land.

I heard that according to the law here, as long as you reclaim unclaimed land and cultivate it for 5 years, this land can become your private land, and in the first five years, the imperial court and the government will not tax the reclaimed land.

Thinking of this, Huang Shuigen is full of hope for the future, thinking that as long as he works hard for six or seven years, he can become a small landlord and live a happy life with his wife and children.

Huang Shuigen was immersed in beautiful fantasies, a few idle white men pointed at the braids on the back of his head to dismiss him, and happily picked up stones on the ground and threw them at Huang Shuigen.

One of the pebbles was thrown on Huang Shuigen's forehead impartially, and it hurt a lot.

But Huang Shuigen endured it, based on the principle of not causing trouble in other people's territory, it is better to have one thing less than one thing, forget it.

Unexpectedly, those white men were throwing stones more and more vigorously, one after another, the stones hit Huang Shuigen's body, which made him feel so painful that he almost cried out.

At this moment, several Chinese mounted police chiefs on horseback passed by, and he was accompanied by several mounted police officers, both Chinese and white.

The sheriff who passed by was Cai Mingsheng, the current Sheriff of San Francisco. After Fleger was promoted to the State Sheriff, Cai Mingsheng also followed him to heaven, and was directly promoted to the Sheriff of San Francisco.

Cai Mingsheng took out the six-shot revolver on his waist and fired into the sky.

The loud gunshots frightened the white men, who were about to run away.

"Get down!"

Cai Mingsheng pointed a gun at the right hand of the white men and ordered them to get down.

"Idle around, pick quarrels and stir up trouble, arrest them!"

As soon as Cai Mingsheng gave the order, several mounted police stepped forward and arrested these idle white men and put them in handcuffs.

"Sheriff, I heard that the railway company needs manpower to repair the railway. Send them to the railway company. Anyway, these guys are idle." A mounted policeman said to Cai Mingsheng.

"You take them back to the police station first."

Cai Mingsheng got off his horse and said to the mounted policemen under him.

He has experienced Brannan's indiscriminate revenge against the Chinese during the Brannan period, so he can't see the Chinese being bullied in California.

"You worthless guy! Why don't you fight back when you bully you so much?"

Cai Mingsheng looked very disappointed at the young guy in front of him who was much taller than him and had a strong body. He was really blinded by his body.

"When I was bullied by foreigners in Guangdong, the government always favored foreigners. I'm used to it." Huang Shuigen said with his head down, avoiding Cai Mingsheng's eyes.

"It's different here, the government here is more partial to us." Cai Mingsheng said, "Look up! From your accent, are you from Xiangshan?"

"The younger generation is from Xiangshan, and this poor man is also from Xiangshan?" Huang Shuigen wiped his eyes, then raised his head and replied.

"It's really embarrassing for Xiangshan people, go back and cut off this pig's tail, and don't call me poor man, I am the police chief of Jinshan City!"

Cai Mingsheng didn't like the title of poor man, he always found it strange, he glanced at Huang Shuigen's braid and said.

"You are Chief Cai?!"

Although Huang Shuigen has only come to San Francisco not long ago, he has heard of Cai Mingsheng's name for a long time, and he heard that Cai Mingsheng and Deputy Governor Liang have a good friendship.

And Deputy Governor Liang is the one who can make the foreigners here tremble.

"Captain Cai, the young one is willing to do errands for Chief Cai, the young one has run errands for foreigners in Guangzhou, answered some foreign languages, and the young one has studied in a private school for three years! Can write and count!"

Huang Shuigen gritted his teeth and knelt down in front of Cai Mingsheng, wanting to find a job under Cai Mingsheng's hands. As long as he put on the skin of Chief Cai, he wouldn't have to worry about being bullied in the future.

This is what Huang Shuigen thinks now,

"Get up, the United States is not the Qing Dynasty, and kneeling and worshiping are not practiced." Cai Mingsheng raised his hand and said, "You can write English?"

"Yes! I can do some simple ones! I learned from foreign monks in a foreigner's temple!" Huang Shuigen hurriedly picked up a branch and wrote on the ground, proving that he could write in English.

Cai Mingsheng carefully looked at the English written by Huang Shuigen on the ground: In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth
"You don't need to write. Of course, I can keep you in the police station to work, but since you are educated and young, I will miss your future by leaving you in the police station. Right now, you have a better choice." Cai Mingsheng He helped Huang Shuigen up and said.

"A better choice? According to the arrangement, in half a month, when the ship arrives, I will be arranged to go to Los Angeles. I heard that everything is good there. There is a lot of wasteland, but there is no gold." Huang Shuigen said a little disappointed.

"That's not the way. Didn't you read the notice on the square?" Cai Mingsheng said, "Colonel Liang wants to select young people under the age of 20 who have a solid foundation in education, and invite special teachers to teach these young people, and let them attend the West Point Military Academy next year. and Virginia Military Academy exams."

"I've never read the notice. Inspector Cai means to let me apply for a foreigner's school? Have a better future in the future?" Huang Shuigen shook his head and said puzzledly.

"The military academy is not an ordinary school. As long as you enter the military academy, you will be able to become an officer next to Colonel Liang in the future, which is much more promising than being a mounted policeman under my command." Cai Mingsheng said to Huang Shuigen earnestly, "Come with me." , I’ll take you to sign up, and you don’t need to worry about making a living, you can do errands for Colonel Liang, you’ll get food and lodging, and you won’t die of hunger.”

　The 4k chapter is here!Stop calling me short!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)