1850 American Gold Tycoon.

Chapter 338 The City on the Oil Field
Menshikov was very surprised by the decisive and tough attitude of the Ottoman Sultan Mejid.

Menshikov couldn't even believe what he was seeing was real.

In his script, the direction of the plot should be like this. His tough diplomatic attitude as the tsar's plenipotentiary envoy will make the weak sultan frightened and then succumb.

The final result will be that the Russian Empire will surrender without a fight, gain the right to protect the Orthodox residents in the Ottoman Empire, and justifiably station troops in the Ottoman Empire.

Afterwards, the Russian Empire could slowly encroach on the territory along the dark coast of the Ottoman Empire, and even seize Constantinople, the former capital of the Eastern Roman Empire.

And he himself will return home full of honors, be rewarded and honored by the Tsar, and become a hero of the Russian Empire, standing shoulder to shoulder with his great-grandfather and Marshal Kutuzov who led the Russian army to defeat Napoleon's army in the Great Patriotic War in 1812.

It's just that the reality didn't go according to the script Menshikov envisioned.

Nicholas I firmly believed that on the Near East issue, Britain would stand on his side, because he gave the British enough sweetness.

Once the United Kingdom is on its side, the attitude of other powers on the Europa continent is irrelevant.

France was defeated by Russia. The failure of the anti-French war severely damaged France, and it has not yet fully recovered. As for Prussia, it is just a small country.

Not to mention the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In 1848, he had just helped the new emperor Franz Joseph suppress the revolution in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This junior owed him a great favor from Nicholas I.

If the Austro-Hungarian Empire wants to stand in line, it will also stand on its side.

Menshikov also believed in the views of Nicholas I, and he believed in the judgment of the Tsar.

Unexpectedly, he suffered setbacks when he first came to the Ottoman Empire.

Sultan Mejid of the Ottoman Empire dared to be so tough when facing himself. Where did his confidence come from?
After a while of thinking, Menshikov vaguely had an answer.

There must be a big power standing behind Mejid to support Mejid, and this power is still very powerful, at least not inferior to Russia.

Thinking of this, Menshikov couldn't help feeling chills. There are only two such powers in Europe, and that is Britain or France.

After thinking of this level, Menshikov is still deceiving himself and others, and continues to deceive himself, thinking that this great power must be France.

If it is France who supports Ottoman, then there is nothing to fear. After all, France was once the defeat of the Russian Empire.

It is so, it must be so, the French must be behind it.

Thinking of this, Menshikov felt a lot relieved.

His waist became stiff again in an instant, and he said to Mejid arrogantly: "Sultan, please don't forget that the Frenchman was once defeated by our Russian Empire. I advise you not to report too much to the Frenchman." Hope. I will give you three days to think about it, and if you think it through, come find me on my battleship!"

After speaking, Menshikov threw up his sleeves angrily and left.

Menshikov returned to the Mosets frigate. He did not leave Constantinople immediately, but continued to stay in Constantinople, waiting for Mejid to change his mind, and respectfully invited him back to the palace.

It's just that the result didn't go as Menshikov wished. Mejid hugged the thigh of the British guy this time, and he was not afraid of Menshikov's extra blackmail.

Three days later, the ashamed and angry Menshikov had to leave Constantinople in despair.

————————————————————————

On the other side of the ocean, Liang Yao brought Lionel, James, August and others to Los Angeles.

Los Angeles has undergone tremendous changes in just three years.

In 1850, the population of Los Angeles was only 1600 people, which was still affected by the gold rush of San Francisco and Sacramento.

In 1852, the population of Los Angeles soared to more than 3 people, becoming the third city-level administrative unit in California after San Francisco and Sacramento.

This is still the population counted in 1852. Five months have passed since 1853. Liang Yao estimates that the current population of Los Angeles is around 5, or even more.

The growth of Los Angeles' population is not due to the gold rush of San Francisco and Sacramento, nor is it due to forced immigration, but because of the local oil industry to attract so many people.

Stepping off the boat, there are countless wooden oil derricks that are densely packed like a jungle.

These wooden derricks extend inland from the beaches of Los Angeles.

Under the derrick, there are busy oil workers with red faces and happy smiles.

The exploitation of oil has also caused the original lush forests near Los Angeles to disappear, and the price of local timber has risen by more than ten times in a year.

Many people have even dug wells in their own backyards, hoping that the dark liquid will erupt from their own backyards.

Once an oil well is dug, it means that wealth oil has been fully realized.

Los Angeles people also call oil, a black liquid, black gold, water gold, and liquid gold.

The discovery of oil also led to a "gold rush" in Los Angeles.

As soon as he got ashore, the pungent smell came over his face, directly entering Liang Yao's mouth and nose.

Due to the rise of the petrochemical industry in Los Angeles in 1852, the city government of Los Angeles, which was originally financially strained, became rich in an instant, and the pier of the original small fishing village was also expanded.

Last year, due to the slow increase in gold production, the fiscal revenues of San Francisco, Sacramento, and even Nevada were not very optimistic.

Only Los Angeles bucked the trend and became California's new economic miracle.

After the expansion of the Los Angeles terminal, the entire terminal is much more spacious than before, and the supporting facilities are more complete.

Now the Los Angeles terminal has been able to dock merchant ships with a displacement of 2 tons.

When Los Angeles Mayor Deng Wenshun heard that Liang Yao was coming, he greeted Liang Yao at the Los Angeles pier early.

"Third brother, put on a mask, the smell is strong here."

Deng Wenshun handed out snow-white cotton masks to Liang Yao and the guests who came to Los Angeles.

"Recently, you have gained a lot of weight. You have become more and more nourished in Los Angeles." Liang Yao patted Deng Wenshun's sturdy shoulder.

When they first came to California, the five members of the Deng family were all malnourished, just like him, so they were barely able to work.

Now Deng Wenshun no longer shows any sign of malnutrition.

"That's right. Recently, the gold industry in Nevada and Sacramento is not as prosperous as before. Now at least two or three thousand people flock to Los Angeles every month to beg for food. I can hardly settle here." Deng Wenshun said with a smile.

In the past, he was begging Liang Yao for someone, and wanted to become the mayor as soon as possible. Now that Liang Yao is going to Los Angeles to fill in people, I'm afraid he has to think about it.

"Two or three thousand people a month? With so many people pouring in at once, can the situation in Los Angeles be maintained?"

Liang Yao was really surprised by the growth rate of immigrants in Los Angeles, which had caught up with the population growth rate of San Francisco back then.

With so many immigrants pouring into Los Angeles, Liang Yao couldn't help being a little worried about the local security in Los Angeles.

"I am in charge of the five or six hundred militiamen in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Police Department also has more than three hundred police officers, and about eight hundred brothers from the Loyalty Church, as well as the three companies that the third brother dispatched here to guard the oil refinery, relying on these people to maintain The order of living in Los Angeles is not a problem." Deng Wenshun replied confidently and calmly.

"Los Angeles is no better than San Francisco and Sacramento. Ninety percent of the people here are Chinese immigrants. It is much easier to control than ghosts."

The original population base of Los Angeles was not large. When the state was established at the end of 1850, the population of Los Angeles was less than [-].

After the massacre of Sherman’s village that year, the population of local Mexican residents dropped sharply. Later, the majority of immigrants in Los Angeles were Chinese. So until now, the population of Los Angeles is still dominated by Chinese immigrants, accounting for [-]% of the total population. into about.

In San Francisco and Sacramento, the proportion of the Chinese population is between 40% and 50%.

Immigrant composition is also what differentiates Los Angeles from San Francisco and Sacramento.

Chinese immigrants are relatively honest. They travel across the ocean to California just to be able to eat well and live a relatively decent life. Few people cause trouble.Therefore, the population is also skyrocketing, and the current security situation in Los Angeles is even better than that of San Francisco.

Although it is not to say that the road does not pick up lost items and does not close the house at night, at least it is not as outrageous as when Liang Yao first arrived in San Francisco, the gold diggers murdered, robbed, dueled, and even burned residential buildings in the street.

Of course, this is also related to the fact that Los Angeles has established relatively complete administrative agencies and law enforcement agencies.

Hearing what Deng Wenshun said, Liang Yao felt relieved. He pointed to Lionel and James and said, "These are big capitalists from Europe. He is very interested in our kerosene. Bring this Several distinguished guests have a look at how our kerosene is produced. If they are satisfied, we can get an investment of at least 100 million pounds."

"One million pounds?" Deng Wenshun gasped, "No wonder I heard those ghosts say how good Europe is, and they almost praised Europe as the Western Paradise. There are not many rich people in the United States. One million pounds. How many oil wells and refineries can this be built?"

"Stop talking nonsense and open their eyes." Liang Yao said.

"Gentlemen, please follow me."

Deng Wenshun straightened his collar and said to Lionel and James in fluent English.

As he walked through the streets, James glanced carefully at the price of kerosene in the street store and the store shelves.

Local kerosene prices in Los Angeles are ridiculously low, and the price of kerosene in several stores is generally between 10 cents a liter and 13 cents a liter.

And the shelves are so full of kerosene that it never seems to be out of stock.

One of the cheapest stores even sold it for as low as 8 cents a liter.

Those who come to these stores to buy kerosene are not individual passengers, but they come by pulling a wagon.

It can be seen that Los Angeles is rich in kerosene.

"This is simply a city specializing in the production of kerosene." James sighed.

He originally thought that Liang Yao was just showing them a factory, but he didn't expect Liang Yao to show him a city directly.

Perhaps the kerosene output provided by Liang Yao to August was conservative.

In fact, it is true that the California kerosene industry only appeared in Los Angeles at the end of March 1852 last year.

When Liang Yao discussed the kerosene business with August and Sears in the Chinese teahouse in the Crystal Palace, the data he provided to August was the data in 1852.

In 1852, the annual output of kerosene in Los Angeles was more than 800 million liters. To be precise, the output was less than 9 months.

"In the future, the kerosene produced in this city will light up the nights of countless cities, making more cities like Paris and London that never sleep." Liang Yao said confidently.

(End of this chapter)