1850 American Gold Tycoon

Chapter 54: Shoulders of Giants
Although Vanderbilt was fifty-six years old, his strength was still great.

Liang Yao's hand was a little painful from Vanderbilt's clamp, but he still pretended to be calm and persisted.

I don't know if this Mr. Vanderbilt has ulterior motives, or is it that everyone likes to shake hands in this strange way when they meet for the first time?

People in later generations have mixed evaluations of Vanderbilt. Some people regard him as an American hero, while others denounce him as an American scum.

But evaluation is subjective, while facts are objective. No matter how you evaluate it, it will not change the fact that Vanderbilt changed American society in the 19th century by himself.

No American had ever done it before Vanderbilt.

As for the old aristocrats like Astor, perhaps their current assets can still be compared with Vanderbilt, but what they have changed is only the fate of a family, not the entire society.

And the focus of these families' investment is real estate. The essence is that the government and business are a big landlord. They are only responsible for blood-sucking, not blood-making.

Their existence is instead a stumbling block to social progress.

Even if these old big families and big consortiums have raised the land price in New York to be higher than the land price in the whole of the UK.It will not change the fact that the United States is now lagging behind the United Kingdom. It will only increase the cost of living of the American people, and finally arouse public resentment and shoot themselves in the foot.

What really pushed the United States into the world's hegemony were the advanced factories that sprung up on the land of the United States like mushrooms after the second industrial revolution and the industrial products that were continuously manufactured in the factories.

Only industry is the cornerstone of a great country.

This is the case with the United Kingdom, the United States, the Soviet Union, and any future world hegemon will be the same.

Even Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, and Morgan, whose wealth exceeds Vanderbilt, regard Vanderbilt as their predecessors, and humbly declare that they have achieved these achievements by standing on the shoulders of Mr. Vanderbilt.

Undoubtedly, he is the most successful representative of the "American Dream" in this era.

It shows the world how a poor Dutch descendant in the United States climbed from the bottom of society to the upper class through his own hard work, similar to Shuangwen's script.

Although the so-called high society still refuses to accept Vanderbilt, they also have to admit that Vanderbilt's wealth and huge shipping empire have great influence on the United States.

"Father, your old problem is happening again!"

Elizabeth rolled her eyes at Vanderbilt before breaking the awkward handshake.

Vanderbilt laughed heartily, and patted Liang Yao on the shoulder vigorously a few times.

"The young man is quite strong."

"You are more like a captain or a sailor than a businessman. I will have a carriage prepared for you and this lady."

With his hands behind his back, Liang Yao moved his aching right hand out of Vanderbilt's sight.

"No, the road here is very good. Let's go all the way to your manor. Let me introduce, this is my daughter Elizabeth."

Vanderbilt introduced Elizabeth to Liang Yao.

"Hi Miss Elizabeth, nice to meet you."

"I am also very honored to know you, Mr. Liang. I have seen many reports about you in the newspapers, and those newspapers without exception described you as a rude thug and an uneducated upstart."

Elizabeth pinched the small minibus, pursed her lips slightly, and looked curiously at the light under the street lamp. She really couldn't think of any words to describe the man in front of her.

At least in terms of appearance and demeanor, it is difficult to give him a suitable label.

Call him gentle, dress casually like his father, call him rude, and treat people with good manners.

"At least you look more refined and cultivated than my father."

This made Liang Yao couldn't help laughing, and Vanderbilt gave Elizabeth an angry look.

Although Vanderbilt dropped out of school to work at the age of eleven and had no education, a person's self-cultivation cannot be linked to his education level.

However, it is true that Vanderbilt has a strong sense of the world, which is one of the reasons why New York's upper class scoffed at him.

"Honestly, California is doing better than I thought it would be, and there's really a lot going on here."

Vanderbilt walked briskly, and while talking, he walked side by side with Liang Yao towards the Tingtao Garden on the seashore.

"It's not a big deal. California is the future of America. A dollar invested here will return ten or even hundreds of dollars in the near future.

The Nicaragua route you opened will also bring you at least one million dollars in revenue every year. "

Liang Yao is not exaggerating. The Nicaragua route helped Vanderbilt through the difficult years of his life in the [-]s.

This route can bring at least millions of dollars in profit to Vanderbilt every year.

The gold in California gave the United States the opportunity to stand on the gold standard stage and compete with Great Britain, defeating the two largest silver empires in the world: the Qing Empire and Spain.

From New York-Nicaragua-California route, he had already started to plan the layout two years ago, and established a deep friendship with the leaders of Nicaragua and several surrounding Central American countries to pave the way for this.

Based on Vanderbilt's superb emotional intelligence and money-making ability, what Vanderbilt says in these countries is more effective than the White House.

One of the secrets of Vanderbilt's success is a keen business sense and always one step ahead.

But no matter how good his vision is, he still can't stop his son cheating on his father, so his route has not yet been completed.

"But I don't monopolize this route. There are seven large shipping companies competing with me on this route. As for small and medium shipping companies, there are countless, but this is not the most critical."

There was a look of concern on Vanderbilt's face.

At this time, Vanderbilt was already one of the richest men in the United States, and his shipping empire was well-known throughout the United States, but he had not completed his monopoly on the US shipping industry.

It will take until the mid-[-]s for Vanderbilt to fully complete its monopoly of the US shipping industry.

In the shipping field, he still has many strong competitors.

The existence of these competitors forced him to slow down his foray into the rail transport industry.

"You mean the Pacific Cruise Line, which has a monopoly on the Panama route?"

At this time, the information collected by Liang Yao with a huge sum of money came in handy.

One of Vanderbilt's formidable competitors was the Pacific Lines Line, which is not a long-established shipping company.

In fact, the Pacific Cruise Line was only established in 1848, and its purpose was to specialize in the New York-Panama-San Francisco route.

It stands to reason that a shipping company that has just been established will not pose a threat to Vanderbilt, a shipping giant.

But behind the Pacific Cruise Lines Company is the United States Postal Service, which has a strong government background, and the company's shareholders are those wealthy aristocratic consortiums in New York, and these consortiums are at odds with Vanderbilt.

This is the source of Vanderbilt's concerns.

The Pacific Cruise Company later also obtained the franchise rights for the route from the United States to China and Japan. The piglets of the Chinese laborers who built the Pacific Railway were transported from China to the United States by the Pacific Cruise Company's ships.

Until the [-]st century, the Pacific Mail Line still existed, but changed its name to American President Lines (APL).

"How did you know this?"

Vanderbilt was deeply surprised by this. Unexpectedly, in California, where information is blocked, there are still people who know that the newly established Pacific Cruise Line monopolizes the Panama route.

His interest in Liang Yao became more and more intense.

(End of this chapter)