Wild North America 1846

Chapter 29 The Tricky Thing
What type of government agency is the San Francisco Civic Council?
This is actually a civil self-government organization that does not belong to any government and does not recognize the rule of the Mexican government. It is composed of a group of powerful white captains, lawyers, businessmen, farmers and gold diggers in San Francisco. The number of people varies from 22 to 26. , the current chairman of the council is John Sutter, a hardline white supremacist.

There are 5 vice-chairmen of the council, in addition to the well-known founder of Fangmeadow, Captain William Richardson, the defected cavalry officer, Second Lieutenant Alexander Madison, the Mexican leader Juan Carlos (native white), and the famous local Mr. Ranch, Mr. Ralston, and lawyer, Mr. Adam Tatum, are rich and powerful white men.

Fortunately, these people are not monolithic, and they have deep conflicts with each other, which gave Li Cha the opportunity to split up and sow discord.

Citizens' Council is a deformed product in a special historical period and under specific circumstances. The so-called existence is reasonable.

The capital of the Mexican government that rules the entire province of Upper California is in Sacramento. Due to the armed resistance of white immigrants, it has actually lost control of San Francisco and its surrounding areas.

The Civic Council is the highest decision-making body in San Francisco, and the private police under it are the law enforcement force of the new town.

The so-called law enforcement by private police depends entirely on personal likes and dislikes. There are neither ready-made legal provisions to enforce, nor an applicable legal system.To say you are guilty is to be guilty, and that you are not guilty to be guilty, and vice versa, is such arrogance.

The vast majority of mounted policemen are illiterate, and Sheriff John can tell them only 3 points, one is to kill and pay for one's life, two is to pay debts, and three is to obey orders.

living room

"Mike, since you have joined our Datang Club, please go to Fangcao to convey our deep cooperation sincerity to Captain William Richardson immediately after the meeting." Li Cha sat firmly at the top with a warm expression Nodding to Mike Rabiot, he continued as if he was an old friend;
"In the Bay Area, Datang does not seek to unite one party against the other, but only seeks fair commercial rights and the rights of the congregation to buy land and property, and legally mine gold. This is our basic appeal.

future development

Datang will seek inclusiveness, and will act as a positive force in building a fair, just, reasonable, and legal society, and work with like-minded partners to build this promising land.

If Captain William Richardson has the sincerity of cooperation, the two parties can meet at the right time to discuss in depth the details of cooperation in all aspects.

But no matter what, Datang would not want to turn against each other.

Mr. Mike, please convey my invitation to Captain William Richardson. The specific time and place of the meeting will be determined by him. "

"Mr. President, I will faithfully convey your will."Mike Rabiot stood up, leaned back and replied.

Li Cha raised his hand to signal: "Please sit down, Mr. Mike. Lao Gai was in a rush to report just now, what's the matter?"

"Master Qi, I will report to you about the confiscation of the property of the Agreement Hall." Gai Wangshan stood up and clasped his fists as a salute, then pulled out a few pieces of paper from his cuffs, and unfolded;
"From last night to this morning, Mr. He and I took a few people and took a few people with us. We basically copied all the property of the Agreement Hall, including the house of the dead ghost Lin Zhanhao. No one was spared.

A total of 7752 ounces of gold, more than 2300 taels of silver, more than 730 pieces of cloth and satin of various colors, various banknotes worth tens of thousands of dollars, 19 shops, and 9 houses (including four brothels) were seized.

In addition, 113 fine horses, 26 reining horses, 19 large animals such as donkeys and mules, 12 carriages, a silk cloth shop, 4 brothels, and two gambling stalls were seized.

In addition, more than 220 rifles, 137 short guns, more than 300 knives, more than 40 bows, and a large amount of rice, flour, grain and oil were seized.

The land deeds seized were mainly from the Rose Manor outside the city, with a total of more than 3600 hectares of land, as well as the deeds of more than 230 Chinese laborers in the manor, and some cattle and sheep.

The most important thing is the four brothels in spring, summer, autumn and winter. There are a total of 363 pigs who have a body, and there are 121 pigs who have just arrived. How to plan, I still ask the president to make up his mind. "

Now these 4 brothels are all closed and out of business. This is an urgent problem to be solved.

Li Cha knew that in this era, he could not be judged by the moral standards of future generations, so he took the lead in seeking everyone's opinions, including instructor Mike Rabiot.

As a result, everyone's opinions were unanimously unanimous, and they all advocated continuing to open this business, just be more open-minded, and don't over-squeeze those women who have fallen into the fire pit.

A profitable business, if you don’t do it, don’t do it for nothing!

Since ancient times
Regardless of whether it is domestic or foreign, prostitution is an ancient profession that has been passed down for thousands of years. Limited by vision and knowledge, everyone present here does not feel that there is anything wrong.

After considering everyone's opinions, Li Cha finally made up his mind;
At present, the women in the four brothels choose to be good according to their own wishes, and those who are willing to be good will be given back their life contracts, allowing them to leave freely or marry.

The voluntary practitioners are also issued a return contract, agreeing with the brothel to share the proportion and number of years, and they can leave freely after the expiration without any restrictions.

This unprecedentedly broad condition caused an uproar among the people present, and even Mike Rabiot exclaimed again and again: "Oh Maiga, this is incredible, you are simply the most benevolent brothel owner in the world."

Hearing his words, Li Cha's entire face turned dark;

He would rather not do this kind of business, and he also didn't want Datang to have anything to do with the brothel. The "brothel owner" had a bad reputation.

Since the Datang Society is extremely disgusted with the many evils of the Agreement Hall and the behavior of forcing the good into prostitution, it is natural that they cannot join in with them and let themselves be depraved.

The final result of the discussion was that Gai Wangshan would come forward to find someone to take over the four brothels, or these prostitutes could contract them, as long as they paid the protection fee on time every month.

In this case, it can be said that Datang will disregard the relationship with the brothel.

As for gangs, collecting protection fees is a routine operation, and no one can single out the thorns, right?

In San Francisco, where the law and order are extremely chaotic, without strong military protection, the brothel can't go on for a day.

it's here

Chinese prostitutes are not limited to the four brothels opened by the Agreement Hall. There are also many scattered Chinese prostitutes working in the "community hall" or rooms facing the street. The safety is not guaranteed, and prostitutes are often killed or maimed

This kind of low-level Chinese prostitutes solicit customers in small rooms on the side of the street. The furniture in this kind of room is sparse, only a washbasin, a bamboo chair and a hard bed. often have to raise their legs), most of them recruit customers from the daily laborers and crew class, the price is low and they often don’t get money, but they are often robbed.

The brothels run by the Agreement Church, usually located above ground floor shops, have spacious rooms, teak and bamboo furniture, and embroidered pillows, an "exotic" atmosphere and relatively reasonable (compared to white brothel) prices , Attracting a large number of white and Chinese gold diggers.

This kind of brothel is equipped with powerful armaments, the kind of customers who run away without paying, as long as the woman shouts, the Chinese gunmen stand upstairs and shoot her in the back, killing them and throwing them on the street Showing it to the public can guarantee that it will be safe for half a month.

Those "old tricks" are not enough. Although there are some male fellows who guard the gates, they only dare to scare the white people with knives and sticks.

After all, there is no big force behind these people, and killing a white man is not a joke.

If it falls into the hands of Sheriff John, the family will go bankrupt at least, and his life will be over at worst.

Two-phase comparison
It is safer to stay in a formal brothel. Although the brothel charges are very high, as high as 7-8%, the environment is good and there is no need to worry about it all the time.

Under the persuasion of everyone, considering that there are still many women who are self-sufficient and depraved, they have no skills to make a living, can't endure hardship, and can't stand poverty. ?
Thinking about what his subordinates said made sense, Li Cha could only hold his nose and admit it, but he insisted;
That is to say that all women's life contracts must be returned, and whether they continue to work is entirely voluntary, and no compulsion is allowed. Datang will never do things such as forcing women into prostitution, and it cannot bear this infamy.

Li Cha directly made arrangements for the three matters that Dai Changfu asked for instructions;

Organize a referee committee to conduct a public trial of the evil backbone and minions of the Protocol Hall, and allow victims (including prostitutes) to come to the stage to complain, so as to set the record straight.

three days later

That is, at 3:19 p.m. on March [-], all the above-mentioned criminals will be hanged, which will be carried out by the team members anyway.

The new team members and the old team members are mixed, and there are about 170 people in total. A small number of people can be added to make up the number of 300 people.

Among them, there are 200 armed cavalry and 100 musket infantry.

The reason why so many people are needed is because the Datang Society now has a large territory. In addition to the daily protection of Grape Valley and Shanhaiguan, the gold panning area by the American River also needs the Datang Society cavalry on duty, and San Francisco's... Ahem, daily security missions, the protection fee can't be paid for nothing!
A large sum of money has been seized, and now the Datang Society is not short of money. Is it still a matter of recruiting some people?
After agreeing on these things, the leaders of the Datang Society will handle them separately, and they will all be scattered.

Richard personally led a horse team of more than 30 people straight to the Rose Manor in the suburbs. As for the matter of the Citizens' Council, he arranged for Mike Rabiot to deal with it, and he did not show up at all.

Knowing that the other party has malicious intentions, how could Li Cha send him to the door to seek abuse?

say unpleasant words

Li Cha has such a short temper, he really can't stand others stepping on his head, if he pulls out his gun and blows that old white man's head off, wouldn't it be a war?
Even if war is to be waged, now is not the time.

The Tang Dynasty must digest the fruits of victory in the raid on the Agreement Hall, eradicate the hidden danger of Lin Zhanyuan, and while strengthening its own strength, reach a tacit agreement with Fangcaodi or the Mexicans to advance and retreat together, so as to meet the conditions for war.

There are more than 8600 white immigrants in San Francisco, of which more than 1760 are in Fangcao, and no less than 2500-2600 in New Town, and the rest are panning for gold by the American River.

How many Chinese are there in New Town?

There are no more than 730 people in total, and there are more than 400 women among them. Most of the rest are armed personnel or shop employees of the Datang Society, and their strength is very limited.

As the weather gradually warmed up and the peak gold rush season came, most of the Chinese would go to the American river to pan for gold one after another, leaving few migrant workers.

Therefore, with this malicious invitation from Sheriff John, Richard came to take advantage of it and let Mike Rabiot, a Frenchman, argue with him.

The most urgent task at the moment is to eradicate the hidden danger of Lin Zhanyuan.

(End of this chapter)