Wild North America 1846

Chapter 62 Background of the Times
These days, Li Cha has been busy consolidating the achievements of the victory, enriching the strength of the Datang Association, planning various industries under the Datang Association, and re-training the troops and other matters. He is very busy.

The only thing neglected is to wipe out the old forces of John Sutter entrenched in the new town.

The main reason is that Fangcaodi, the other side of the Federation, has become ambiguous about quickly disposing of John Sutter's forces.

Among them, there is a fear of the rapid rise of the power of the Tang Dynasty.

What kind of person is Li Cha?

He has a clear understanding of these small calculations in the minds of William Richardson and Ronald Evanson, and he sees through them without telling them. These days, he has focused his energy on various construction matters of the Datang Club.

Whether I like to fight or not, I'm not in a hurry anyway.

Seriously speaking, there is no irreconcilable conflict between Richard and John Sutter's forces. There is neither revenge for killing his son, nor is there any strategic need to contain the US military.

What he valued the most was to develop a long-term friendly and intimate relationship with Britain, from which he received a lot of aid and trade facilitation, which could support the rapid rise of Datang, so as to dominate the west coast of North America and achieve the goal of spreading fame far and wide.

For myself, the prestige system is the big killer.

As a human being, if he has the ability, Li Cha is willing to do something meaningful for overseas Chinese, and lead them to create a new world on this fertile continent of North America.

In the original history, no Chinese could do this. The history of the development of overseas Chinese is a history of blood and tears, but Li Cha wants to try to change it...

"Your Excellency, we have carefully calculated that in order to complete Mr. Samuel Colt's ambitious construction plan, we need at least 850 meters to 1 construction workers, and it will take more than 10 months to complete the construction period. When all building materials are sufficient and complete. Now we obviously cannot meet such requirements." Architect Patsy Doherty put down the drawings in his hand and said with a regretful expression.

His gaze turned from the Yudai River to the small village not far in front of him, and he said with a serious tone;

"We don't have everything to build, no Portland cement, no steel, no masonry, not enough manpower. To be honest, I'm pessimistic about getting this done."

Patsy Dougherty pushed the gold-rimmed glasses on the bridge of her nose with her hand, and her round face looked a little frustrated.

He is a small man from Turin, Italy, with a slightly obese figure. He wears a bowler hat on his head.

But this does not prevent the fact that Patsy Doherty is an excellent architect. He once presided over the construction of many bridges and large buildings in Bolton and Philadelphia. He has been with Samuel Colt for many years. friends.

To put it bluntly, he was deceived.

In Samuel Colt's mind;
It is precisely because of the deep knowledge of this old friend's architectural level that Patsy Doherty is the best architect for the construction of the giant mushroom. This outstanding project must be him.

A conscientious architect is not afraid of the hard work that is inherent in construction work.

What he was afraid of was wasting time here and accomplishing nothing, and that would be really bad.

Li Cha smiled slightly when he heard the words, and said confidently;
"Dear Mr. Patch-Doherty, you don't need to worry about these things. It may take more than three months or as short as two months. The complete set of equipment for the cement plant and the steel plant will be in place soon, and the construction process will never be delayed.

During this period
I hope you can help me plan the distribution of industrial facilities in Grape Valley, mainly between Sidaoling Village and Wudaoling Village. I hope that a strong industrial processing capacity can be initially formed in a short period of time.

according to my idea;

Sidaoling Village will focus on industrial production, while Wudaoling Village will focus on agricultural deep processing. These two places have their own development characteristics, promote each other and develop together.

Toudaoling Village, Erdaoling Village and Sandaoling Village have relatively narrow development hinterlands due to limited geographical conditions, and mainly focus on the construction of residential villages and commercial industries, thus forming a relatively complete system.

In the long run
We will continue to develop into the depths of Grape Valley and build the area into an economic zone with a population of 10.

And this requires detailed planning, including the construction of roads, bridges and urban facilities, planning reservoirs and agricultural irrigation canals, planning urban commercial areas, living areas and residential areas. In the future, private construction will not be allowed, and homesteads must be sold according to the plan.

This will be a huge project, enough for Mr. Patch Doherty and your assistants to be busy for several months, and the Tang Dynasty will pay enough for it.

Uh... full board, how about $800 a month? "

"Thank you for your generosity, sir. My team and I are willing to take on this challenging job and will do our best to submit a satisfactory answer for you." Patch Doherty was overjoyed when he heard that, He agreed without hesitation.

How could a fool not agree to such a generous reward?
The average income of ordinary workers in the United States is 200-260 US dollars per year, but in big cities such as New York and Philadelphia, the weekly salary of ordinary blue-collar workers can reach 6-7 US dollars, which is much higher than the average level.

Usually, if a man works, he can afford a stable life for a family of 4 to 5 people, not to mention rich, and it is no problem to fill his stomach.

The salary level of architects is higher. To hire a team of architects at the level of Patch Doherty, the monthly salary is between 70 and 80 US dollars. It should be higher in the difficult areas of the west, but it will not be much higher.

Li Cha gave a monthly salary of 800 US dollars (for the entire designer team), which is already a very generous salary.

In other parts of the United States, the purchasing power of the dollar is quite amazing.A pair of ordinary leather shoes and a men's shirt or pair of trousers of ordinary materials cost around one dollar.

Sixteen to eighteen cents can buy a twenty-pound bag of flour, and two cents a quart of milk.

Of course, this is the price in other parts of North America.

In this ghostly place of San Francisco, it is basically necessary to multiply the above price by 10 or more, but in the case of the management including food and housing, 800 US dollars is still a very generous remuneration.

After finishing the tasks at hand, Li Cha returned to the Toudaoling Village camp with the cavalry of the personal guards. After learning that the 300 healthy horses promised by the British and the arrival of a large number of military uniforms and other military supplies, he ordered the American River to The cavalry team returned to Grape Valley for intensive training.

through this stage of development
The established Musketeer Team has grown from more than 230 to 300 people, all of whom are Chinese soldiers. A team of 100 people is divided into three teams, and each team has one officer, two officers and three captains in charge.

One of them was stationed in New Town, and the other two were stationed by the American River.

There are three squadron leaders of the Musketeers, Duan Debiao, the leader of the first team, George Rabiot, the leader of the second team, and Wu Degao, the leader of the third team.

Dai Changfu served as the captain of the musketeers, who unified the three squadrons of musketeers, in addition to musketeers stationed in Grape Valley, New Town and Sacramento, there were about a hundred people in this part.

The established cavalry team has increased from more than 160 to more than 360 people. After subtracting the more than 60 guard cavalry, it can be organized into three hundred-man cavalry teams. Each team also has one officer, two officers, and three captains in charge.

There are three cavalry squadron leaders, namely, Gao Shiheng, the leader of the first squadron, Zheng Laosi, the leader of the second squadron, and Kahn, the leader of the third squadron.

The cavalry team is unified under the command of the French captain Mike Rabiot. After receiving the order from Richard, he has led the whole team back to Grape Valley to participate in the training.

In addition, there are personal guard squadron leader Liu Wu, deputy squadron leader James Kahn, and deputy squadron leader Xiazi, who are directly under the command of Li Cha.There are also squadron leader Zheng Xiaoqi and others stationed in Sacramento, which basically constitute the overall military force of the Tang Dynasty, with a total of about 760 people.

Among them, there are more than 400 musketeers and more than 360 cavalry.

Such a lineup is already the strongest armed force in San Francisco. After receiving more than 300 horses from the British Canadian colony, more than 10 British officers and a large amount of military equipment, they began to fully refit and train.

The British North American colony is just to the north of Upper California. Its geographical scope includes Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and Oregon in the Northwest of the United States, a total of 5 states. , This includes the coastal cities of Portland, Seattle, etc., which are very important areas for the UK.

The land of these five states plus Vancouver covers an area of ​​more than one million square kilometers. In early 1846, when Polk took office as the President of the United States, he aggressively demanded the sovereignty of the area from Britain.

And has repeatedly declared in public; "From the east coast to the west coast, the United States has a natural moral responsibility to unify the North American continent. Our only goal is to take up the rifle and drive out the British colonists..."

This is the general background of the current era. The expansion policy pursued by the United States has caused a huge threat to the British Canadian colonies, especially the western city of Vancouver, which is an important area that London must protect.

But the ruler is long and the inch is short.

Britain has never been famous for its powerful army. In addition, the current era coincides with the early days of Queen Victoria. London pursues an aggressive policy of global colonization, in South America, Eastern Europe, West Asia, South Asia, the Indian subcontinent, East Asia, and The Pacific region, dominated by Australia and New Zealand, is fully colonized and expanded, and the British Army's total strength of 10,000+ is stretched.

only in these few years
From 1840 to 1842, the Anglo-French coalition forces launched the Opium War, followed by the first Anglo-Burmese War, launched multiple colonial wars in the Indian subcontinent, attacked the French Indian colonies and local princes, and continued to expand in the Indochina Peninsula .

In the mid-19th century, the British began to expand their colonies in South Africa. After Britain annexed the Republic of Natal in 1843, it attempted to annex the other two republics, which sharpened the conflict between Britain and the local Boers.

In short, the United Kingdom implements an aggressive expansionist colonial policy on a global scale. In Europe, in order to deal with the increasingly heated Crimea issue and prevent the Tsarist Russian army from invading the Black Sea region, the United Kingdom must ensure a considerable force to deter it.

The British Army has a total of only 26 to 27. It is expanding everywhere like peppercorns around the world, resulting in a serious shortage of troops. The Canadian colony (including five northwestern states such as Oregon and Montana) has an area of ​​tens of millions of square kilometers. There are only 3450 More than British troops were stationed.

Such a small number is really unbelievable, but this is the harsh reality at present.

And all of this is the real reason why the United States can threaten the British Canadian colony.

It’s not too early to make money, which is also the original intention of the British to support the independence of Upper California.

(End of this chapter)