1850 American Gold Tycoon.

Chapter 238 First Meeting Lincoln (4k)
Two lawyers, one tall, one short, one fat and one thin, walked into Liang Yao's office and accepted Liang Yao's interview.

There was no doubt that the tall lawyer was Lincoln.

Height is higher than 99.9% of his contemporaries. It is a remarkable feature of Lincoln. His height of 193 centimeters also makes Lincoln the highest altitude among the previous presidents of the United States.

The average height of the president of the United States has always been very high, exceeding 180 centimeters.

It's just that when God opened a door for you, he inevitably closed a window for you.

Compared with Lincoln's astonishing height, Lincoln's appearance can only be said to be indescribable. Lincoln has a thin face. Before he ran for the presidential election, Lincoln did not have the habit of growing a beard, which undoubtedly magnified Lincoln's shortcomings in appearance.

With that look, those sad eyes, the bitter face, and the baggy, ill-fitting suit, Lincoln was anything but likable.

On the contrary, the image of Herndon next to Lincoln, who is a head and a half shorter than him, is more pleasing. Although Herndon is obese, he has good features and decent clothes. What's more, Herndon's face is always Keeping a friendly smile is more likely to bring intimacy to others.

"Mr. Liang, hello, we are lawyers from Lincoln Herndon Law Firm."

Lincoln and Herndon briefly introduced themselves to Liang Yao.

"Both, sit down."

Liang Yao pointed to the sofa and signaled the two to sit down.

Lincoln and Herndon had heard that Liang Yao was young, but after seeing Liang Yao with their own eyes, they still showed very surprised expressions.

It is difficult for them to link the 21-year-old young man in front of him with the richest man in the United States and the speaker of the California State Assembly.

Lincoln recalled himself at the age of 21. He had no fixed job before the age of 25, and he did not clarify his life direction until he was 30.

Before the age of 30, he worked successively as a farmer, carpenter, sailor, salesperson, soldier, peddler, postmaster, blacksmith, customs inspector, lawyer and politician.

It can be said that he is rich in life experience and versatile, and he has been in contact with people from all walks of life.

Among the many occupations he had engaged in, Lincoln finally chose lawyers and politicians, because he deeply realized that only the last two occupations have hope if he wants to get ahead.

After the two sat down, Liang Yao closed the resumes of the two and put them on the walnut desk.

"I have read the resumes of both of you. To be honest, your resumes are very beautiful, but this does not impress me to offer you a contract. In New York, there are many lawyers with more beautiful resumes than yours. By the way In a word, how many lawyers does your firm have?"

"Just the two of us," Lincoln replied without thinking.

"Just the two of you?" Liang Yao couldn't help frowning,
"Compared with the resumes of the lawyers in your law firm, I value their abilities more. I don't care how beautiful your past resumes are. I only care about how many lawsuits you can win for me.

Other law firms have at least seven or eight lawyers, but you only have two. "

Edward of the sewing machine factory is the most famous patent attorney in New York, and the patent lawsuit of the American Group can be handed over to Edward.

But patent disputes aside, the Atlantic Railroad alone faced 165 lawsuits of various kinds, most of which were land disputes.How many lawsuits can two lawyers handle even if they are iron men who can work 24 hours?

"The two are only temporary and we will be able to recruit more lawyers soon."

Herndon said hurriedly.

As soon as Herndon finished speaking, Lincoln took over Herndon's words: "A mediocre lawyer can only settle seven or eight lawsuits a year, and my highest record is 51 lawsuits a year. I'm not saying You are boasting about my past, but you are stating the fact that one excellent lawyer with outstanding ability is worth seven or eight mediocre lawyers.

And compared to other lawyers, I have a unique advantage, that is, I have a wealth of experience in politics, I am familiar with how various government departments in the United States operate, and I know how to deal with people in government departments efficiently.

As far as I know, many lawsuits involving the Atlantic Railroad have involved various levels of government, and I thought this particular resume of mine would come in handy.

You don't have to sign a contract with me too early, you just need to give me a chance, a chance to prove my ability, prove that I am enough to impress you with my ability, and win this contract. "

Because the vast Midwestern region of the United States is sparsely populated and there are no fixed courts in many places, the circuit court system is generally adopted in the Midwestern region of the United States.

The lawsuits that Lincoln participated in in his early years were basically carried out in circuit courts. Under this system, Lincoln can still achieve an astonishing result of resolving 51 lawsuits a year, which is enough to illustrate his ability.

Of course, Lincoln's work experience in government departments, state legislatures and Congress also moved Liang Yao.

Liang Yao decided to give Lincoln a chance. He pulled out a document from the walnut desk, and Connie walked over and handed the document to Lincoln.

The document was about a land title conflict between the Delaware-Hudson River Company, now known as the Atlantic Railroad, and a large rancher in New York State.

In order to encourage and support the development of the state's railway industry, the New York state government hastily approved the route application of the Delaware-Hudson River Company and promised the land along the company's railway, including those lands that are now the burden of the Atlantic Railway Company. Land of the Lord.

After browsing the documents intently, Lincoln looked up and asked Liang Yaodao: "Are most of the other lawsuits of the Atlantic Railway Company also the lawsuits of this kind of land dispute?"

"Most of these are lawsuits of this kind. Of course, there are also disputes over licenses and franchises, assessments and taxation," Liang Yao said.

"Can you give me more cases like this?" Lincoln said.

Lincoln's self-confidence exceeded Liang Yao's expectations. Liang Yao couldn't help but said, "Many law firms may not be able to solve a case in half a month."

"That's why they didn't find out, or deliberately avoided the root of the problem. On the surface, these land disputes are disputes between the railway company and the land owner, but in fact the biggest responsible party should be the place where the land was awarded to the railway company. Government," Lincoln said.

"The efficiency of going to court with landowners one by one is definitely very low, and not all of them may be successful.

But if you unite the landowners in various states, take the state government as the defendant to the court, turn the civil lawsuit into an administrative lawsuit, and then use your power in the press to put pressure on the government, as well as the professional capabilities of our law firm, think It is not impossible to efficiently resolve these annoying lawsuits.

Laws vary from state to state, but in all the states I know, administrative proceedings have shorter deadlines than civil ones.

Maybe some of my colleagues also know this, but they are afraid of trouble, don’t want to go to administrative litigation, and don’t know much about the relevant laws. I am different. I am a person who likes trouble by nature. Handled many administrative litigation cases. "

Liang Yao pulled out five such cases of the Atlantic Railway Company in New York State from his desk and handed them to Lincoln.

After taking over these cases, Lincoln said to Liang Yao: "If I can solve these cases within a month, I hope you will pay more agency fees."

"If you can handle these cases within two months, I will pay an agency fee of US$100 for each case." Liang Yao agreed.

Lincoln and Herndon couldn't help but brighten their eyes when they heard the agency fee of $100 per case. The rich man was indeed as generous as the rumors said.

What Liang Yao valued was efficiency. The top priority was to lay the railway as soon as possible and seize the market. As for the agency fee paid to Lincoln, it was nothing more than an insignificant amount of money to him.

In the end, Liang Yao still added: "If you lose more than two cases, I will remove your law firm from my shortlist, and I will not consider offering you a contract."

In the evening, Alex, Isaac, and Edward brought the first sewing machine off the production line of the sewing machine factory to the manor for Liang Yao to have a look at.

Due to cost considerations, the mass-produced sewing machines have made some simplifications of unnecessary structures to reduce costs and facilitate mass production.

Alex and Isaac opened the wooden box that packed the sewing machine and moved the sewing machine out of the box.

In addition to the necessary packing box, according to Liang Yao's request, the sewing machine is also equipped with an illustrated manual.

Although the mass-produced sewing machine has been simplified, it is a new type of pedal sewing machine after all, and its design is relatively mature. Compared with the hand-operated sewing machine produced by the two before, this pedal sewing machine is still much more refined.

There is a butterfly pattern printed on the body of the sewing machine, and below the butterfly pattern is a word printed in cursive: butterfly (butterfly).

The patterns and fonts are all brand trademarks that Liang Yao spent 300 US dollars specially designed by a well-known designer in New York. The moment he saw the finished product, Liang Yao felt that the 300 US dollars was worth the money.

In addition to the sewing machine body, a large roll of front thread and a 500ml bottle of whale oil for lubricating mechanical parts are also included with the sewing machine.

After trying out this sewing machine, Liang Yao was very satisfied with the performance of this sewing machine, both in terms of appearance and use.

"Boss, can this sewing machine be put on the market directly?"

Isaac asked anxiously, he had inquired about Liang Yao's character from Coney, and Coney had told him that Liang Yao was a demanding and picky person.

"Yes." Liang Yao said very satisfied, and then asked Isaac and others, "How much is the production cost of this sewing machine?"

"All costs added up to $35 and 50 cents."

Isaac is well aware of the production cost of the Butterfly sewing machine. After all, they built the production line of the Butterfly sewing machine themselves.

"The price is set at 150 US dollars." Liang Yao said after thinking for a while.

"$150?" Edward scratched his chin when he heard the words, "Will it be too high? If the price is too high, I'm worried that sales won't go up. $150 is a lot of money for a middle-class family."

"Not high." Liang Yao said with a smile, "As far as our current monthly output is 150 units, we don't have to worry about sales. If we want to seize the sinking market in the later stage, we can launch a simplified version. Market, nor offend consumers who have already purchased sewing machines.

Furthermore, our price of US$150 includes three years of after-sales service. If there is any problem with the sewing machine within three years, it can be sent to the repair center in the factory to provide consumers with free after-sales service. "

If there is a strong competitor, Liang Yao really has to weigh it when pricing the sewing machine.

The problem is that he has acquired the only two manufacturers in the United States that have the ability to manufacture sewing machines. The threshold for producing sewing machines is high, and Liang Yao now has the protection of the Patent Office.

In a short time, he doesn't have to worry that other machinery factories will copy his products, and he has the final say on how to set the price.

Furthermore, the price of hand-operated sewing machines for both Isaari and Alexa reached 50-70 US dollars before, and Liang Yao’s pedal-operated sewing machine has doubled the efficiency of hand-operated sewing machines. There's nothing wrong with doubling the selling price.

"Good idea!" Alex took out his pen and notebook and wrote down what Liang Yao said just now. The boss always has so many novel ideas.

For the sake of the factory's reputation, although some parts of the first batch of sewing machines have been simplified, the materials are still very solid, and there is indeed room for further compression.

In the later stage, the proficiency of workers increases, and the output can be further increased, which can be considered as a disguised reduction in production costs.

In addition to making progress on the sewing machine, Walter and Nobel also made progress on developing a new gun.

The two of them brought a sample to Liang Yao.

When he saw this gun for the first time, Liang Yao thought it was a flintlock gun and was a little disappointed.

But when Walter opened the chamber of the gun and took out a copper-cased needle-side bullet from his pocket and stuffed it into the breech, Liang Yao realized that this was a rifle that used breech-loading needle-side bullets, but only used flintlock. The shot of the gun ignites.

"Sir, try this gun. This gun is so powerful that it can bring down an American bison with one shot!" Walter handed the gun to Liang Yao.

After seeing the caliber of bullets that Walter stuffed into the gun chamber just now, Liang Yao has no doubts about what Walter said. The caliber of ammunition used in this gun has reached an astonishing 15 mm. Machine gun category.

"Too bad we can't get bison in New York."

Liang Yao said with some regret.

The best large animals to get in New York are horses. Liang Yao asked Coney to get an old and sick horse.

Liang Yao ordered people to tie the old sick horse to an open space 150 meters away, and aimed at the horse's lungs and pulled the trigger.

After a gunshot, the old sick horse, which was hit by a 15mm caliber bullet, let out a mournful cry and was relieved.

Rao was mentally prepared for the recoil of the gun, but Liang Yao still involuntarily leaned back.

(End of this chapter)