1850 American Gold Tycoon

Chapter 84 Meetings of the Citizens Committee
After the conversation, Liang Yao reviewed the training results of Isaac and Elvis.

Liang Yao's legion has [-] members, but there are only [-] members of the legion on the training ground.

For the arrangement of legion personnel, Liang Yao adopts a shift system.

The remaining [-] members of the legion are currently in charge of guarding the mint, bank and Tingtao Garden.

Every two weeks, there is a rotation between trainers and duty officers.

Under the command of Isaac and Elvis, the [-] legionnaires lined up in a neat formation and completed the tactical actions in the drills in unison.

These are just the basics. The two also wanted Liang Yao to demonstrate the formation switching between horizontal and column formations, deliberately breaking up the formations, and letting the small and medium captains of the legion complete the formation reorganization in a short time.

Elvis even showed Liang Yao his latest training result: skirmish line.

Liang Yao's guard force had already taken shape as a professional army, and he was quite satisfied with the result.

"I want to train another hundred of these guards."

After admiring the army's drill, Liang Yao said to Isaac and Elvis.

John brought seventy or eighty guards with him, and the consortium that arrived in California must have its own security forces.

Although every gold mining company and organization in Sacramento has its own armed forces, large mining companies like Xiangshan Gold Mining even have their own mine guards.

But Liang Yao still felt that it would be safer to send some members of the Legion to garrison in Sacramento.

"As long as you can afford the high salaries of these guards, it's fine," Elvis said.

What Liang Yao was worried about was not money, but weapons.

If he trains another hundred guards, his weapons will not be as unified as they are now, and he can only equip them with various types of outdated front-loading muskets.

He can now produce gunpowder and bullets by himself, but he can't produce more advanced muskets.

"Money is not a problem, what I worry about is the lack of weapons." Liang Yao said.

"Your Excellency, do you want to equip all the guards with rifled rifles?" Elvis saw Liang Yao's thoughts.

"The shooting accuracy of a well-made smoothbore gun is also very good. If you want to improve your hit rate, you can consider using the loading method of the American army."

"The loading method of the American army?"

"Every time you reload, in addition to loading a standard slug to the musket, add 3 to 5 small shotguns. During the North American colonial war 70 years ago, the American army used this loading method. They managed It's called Buck & Ball," Elvis said.

"This method is also used by the army of the British Empire, and the French also use it, but the French prefer to put two slugs directly into the barrel of the gun, and the Russians also distribute special shotgun bags to the soldiers, which can be used for long-distance shooting. Headshot, shotgun at close range."

Liang Yao quickly understood what Elvis meant. To put it simply, he used the musket as a shotgun to increase the hit rate with the ammunition density.

"I will pick another [-] outstanding young people to train with you," Liang Yao said.

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Representatives of gold mining companies, shop owners, and farm owners from San Francisco and Sacramento gathered in Tingtao Garden.

They also have another layer of identity, that is, the representatives of the citizens' committees.

Compared with the last time, there were significantly more Chinese representatives attending the meeting, occupying a full third of the seats.

The Chinese in San Francisco and Sacramento accounted for no more than one-fifth of the total population at most.

This is due to Liang Yao's support for Chinese immigrants. In addition to reclaiming wasteland and providing free tools and subsidized rations, the loan interest rate of Chinese gold panning companies and the land rent in gold-producing areas are slightly lower than other gold panning companies.

"John of the Astor family has met me. His attitude is very arrogant. I think this also represents the attitude of the Eastern Consortium, at least the New York Consortium."

Liang Yao, who was sitting on the chairman's seat, was the first to speak. On the left and right sides of him were the vice chairman Robinson and Sartre.

That is, besides him, the most powerful person in California.

"John approached me privately. He wanted to buy my land for five cents an acre, or in dollar bills. There are no banks in the East in California. That is, if I wanted to sell the land The money is cashed out, and I have to run to New York."

Sartre was also deeply dissatisfied with this.

When Liang Yao bought his land back then, he paid directly with gold, and the bid was much higher than John's. Even when Brannan approached him to buy the land, he asked for twice as much as John's.

"In this way, John is much more generous to you than to me. He wants to take away my gold production in the Sacramento area without paying any price." Liang Yao said, "At least he paid you a price, Sartre gentlemen."

The working committee representatives couldn't help laughing when they heard this, John, this is simply a naked robbery.

"John came to me too."

After Sutter, Robinson also stood up to speak.

"He hoped that the employees of the Boston company could come to work in his factory, but when he asked about the treatment of employees, he kept silent."

"Obviously, John, that is, the Astor family wants to monopolize our gold in California, and we gold diggers will become slaves in their factory." Liang Yao concluded.

The commissioners were all filled with righteous indignation. They came to California to get rich and have a bright future. Such a result was obviously unacceptable to them.

Working in a factory in California is better than going back to work in a factory in your hometown, and you can be with your family, and the entertainment in your hometown in the east is much richer than in California.

"When I rejected John's request, this bastard threatened me, saying that my land is illegal, and that Congress will directly take away my land." Sartre said angrily, "There is Congress behind him, I think , This is why he dared to be so rampant and arrogant."

"My old man, what did you do after hearing what the bastard had to say?"

Asked Jim, a representative of the Old Miners Gold Rush Company and Sartre's long-time friend.

Jim is an old immigrant who immigrated to California during the Mexican government.

His situation was similar to Sartre's. He sold most of the land to Liang Yao, and at the same time left a small part of land for himself.

It is said to be a small portion of land, but it covers an area of ​​three to four square miles, that is, more than two thousand acres of land.

These lands have farms, forest farms, and a small part of them are mines.

It can be said that these lands are the source of all Jim's income.

It was killing Jim when he heard that Congress would not recognize the land grants from the Mexican government.

"I punched this dog in the face and told him to roll!" Sutter said very happily.

"You're right, my old chap! I swear, if he came to me, I'd do the same." Jim clapped his hands.

"We will not only face John, but more consortiums will flood into California in the future, which will greatly squeeze the living space of us gold prospectors in California." Robinson said worriedly.

"According to the law, even if Congress does not recognize the legality of the Mexican government's land grant, these lands were first occupied by us gold diggers. John and the others have no right to take these lands!"

The news that Congress would not recognize the land grant from the Mexican government was widely known through the California Journal.

Robinson grew up in a law-abiding family. His father was a lawyer and his mother was a tutor. His parents taught him to believe in the law from an early age.

The law is Robinson's belief, and Congress will really hand over the land of California to the eastern consortium.His years of faith would be completely shattered.

(End of this chapter)