1850 American Gold Tycoon.

Chapter 229 Arizona Infantry Regiment

In the second half of 1851, there was a wave of building new railroad tracks in the eastern United States.

Sections of the old poor-quality track were removed and replaced with new-style rails that could be matched with new locomotives.

Not only did the Big Three in the railway industry do this, but even the struggling small railway companies had to build new tracks to survive.

Forced to accept the industry standards exported by the Big Three.

Liang Yao's Atlantic Railroad and Vanderbilt's Central Railroad reached an agreement allowing the lines of the two railroads to connect.

This is undoubtedly a bolt from the blue for other railway companies, including the Erie Railway Company, one of the Big Three.

The Atlantic Railway Company and the Central Railway Company have already mastered several very valuable railway routes, such as the New York-Boston, New York-Philadelphia, Baltimore-Cleveland routes held by the Atlantic Railway Company, and the short-distance routes in New York State held by the Central Railway Company. The New York-Chicago route is a route of great commercial value.

The Atlantic Railway Company and the Central Railway Company are already very powerful railway companies. The combination of the two companies is a terrible news for other railway companies in the industry.

Liang Yao and Vanderbilt were condemned by other railroads after the news of the connection between the two railroads was announced.

But it's just a mild condemnation.

The Erie Railway Company was dissatisfied, but it still did not directly condemn Liang Yao and Vanderbilt.

The Erie Railroad's new tracks between New York and New Haven will be completed by the end of next month if all goes well.

The Yili Railway Company was still waiting for Liang Yao's train locomotive factory to supply them with the Pioneer locomotive and supporting carriages, so there was no need to offend Liang Yao for those small and medium-sized railway companies.

At the end of September 1851, Liang Yao received a reply from President Fillmore. The Congress allowed him to recruit an infantry regiment in the name of the Arizona Infantry Regiment, which would be fully responsible for the border defense of the Arizona Territory, guard against Indians, and ensure the safety of American immigrants in the Arizona Territory. .

However, the federal government is financially tight and cannot provide enough food and pay for the soldiers of the Arizona Infantry Regiment. It can only provide each soldier with a monthly allowance of $5.

The remaining costs, logistics, and even weapons had to be settled by Liang Yao himself.

If it were any other army colonel, he would never accept such harsh conditions.

But Liang Yao accepted, as long as the formation of the standing infantry regiment can be obtained, the rest will be some minor issues.

As long as the soldiers are raised by him and obey his orders, this infantry regiment will be firmly in his hands. In the future, even if the president orders, it is impossible to transfer his soldiers without his nodding his approval.

The army is his future self-protection capital in the civil war, although after the outbreak of the civil war, both the North and the South quickly mobilized and expanded their armies.

However, the gap between veterans and recruits is obvious, especially in the north where the number of troops is rapidly expanding. At the beginning of the war, it did not show a record that matched the national strength and industrial strength of the north. Instead, it fought very passively on the Virginia battlefield on the Eastern Front and in the south.

The reason for this is that apart from the fact that the generals in the north were not as capable as the south in the early days, the quality of the soldiers is also a very important reason.

Naturally, the consumables for the north to pull a rifle from the street and let them go to the battlefield can't expect them to have strong combat effectiveness.

In the south, in addition to the generals being an all-star lineup, most of the middle- and lower-level officers are small and medium-sized slave owners who participated in the Mexican-American War and even the Second War of Independence. .

With the approval from the Congress and the documents from the Ministry of War, Liang Yao sent people to major cities and towns in the southern states to recruit troops to form his Arizona Infantry Regiment.

After the Mexican-American War, the federal government carried out a large-scale disarmament, and a large number of active-duty professional soldiers were dismissed and sent back to their hometowns.

These soldiers have already undergone formal military training and have actual combat experience. It only takes a short time to recruit these forced retired soldiers to form combat effectiveness.

Of course, the most critical reason is that these southern veterans are cheap and good value for money.

Except for the special case of the California Infantry Regiment, the salary of ordinary soldiers in other American infantry regiments generally ranges from $7 to $10.

Whether the big soldiers get $7 or $10 a month depends on whether the colonel of the infantry regiment has strong financial resources and conscience.

Liang Yao’s salary for ordinary soldiers of the Arizona Infantry Regiment is 12 dollars a month, and officers are not included. Although this salary is far worse than that of the California Infantry Regiment, it can be said to be very generous compared to other Army Infantry Regiment. Soon enough veterans could be recruited.

As for why Liang Yao chose to recruit soldiers from the southern states, the reason is simple, that is, compared with the source of soldiers in the north of the United States, the source of soldiers in the south is more abundant in martial arts.

In addition to the Arizona Infantry Regiment, Liang Yao also recruited an artillery company from California, as well as several officers who graduated from the Engineering Surveying Department of the West Point Military Academy and the Virginia Military Academy to build an engineering company.

Infantry Liang Yao himself can be trained into an army in a short period of time, but these technical units cannot be trained overnight.

The fastest way is to directly recruit retired veterans.

Liang Yao flipped through the list of the trip to the east in his hand.

Railroads, eastern markets, sewing machines, talent, education, land purchases in Mexico, expeditions to Japan, recruitment for military expansion.

These items have been successfully completed, and the last two items are left.

One is the retail industry promised to Van Dazer, and the other is to acquire steel plants in Pittsburgh and Ohio, and transfer some production capacity to California.

Liang Yao asked Elizabeth to inform Fan Daze to investigate the retail industry in New York.

As soon as Fan Daze heard that Liang Yao was finally going to set foot in the retail business, he hurried over immediately.

"Thank God, you finally remembered what you promised me in California." Van Daze's face was full of joy.

Although Van Dazer is now a well-known millionaire in New York State, his income is still considerable.

But a large part of his income comes from dividends in the Staten Gold Mining Company and a grocery store in California.

The original New York grocery store has not improved in recent years, and it is not doing well. This is a heartache in Fan Daze's heart.

"The scale of your stores in New York is too small, and the management is too weak. This kind of business model is not suitable for New York. If you don't make changes and stick to the rules, you may be able to barely support the dozen or so. They will be eliminated sooner or later after the next year."

Liang Yao carefully analyzed the reason why Fan Darze had a good supply channel and had a good relationship with suppliers, but he couldn't expand his shop.

This is not Liang Yao's alarmist talk. After the American Civil War, the rise of large shopping malls will deal a head-on blow to small shops in big cities.Small shops, even small chain stores, will only get harder and harder.

"Which business model is suitable for New York?" Fan Daze carefully chewed what Liang Yao said just now.

"Your grandfather inherited these shops from your father. After your father passed away, you took over these shops from your father." Liang Yao asked.

"Have you ever wondered why your family's grocery store operates in exactly the same way, why it can grow bigger and bigger in the hands of your grandfather and your father, but not in your hands."

"I am also very confused. Like my father and grandfather, I have always been very trustworthy and have a good reputation. It is these shops in New York that have been in a half-dead state and barely maintain their operations." Fan Daze clutched his bald head , Puzzled.

"I seem to understand." Elizabeth on the side seemed to understand the reason.

"Tell me." Liang Yao signaled Elizabeth to continue talking.

"Uncle Vanderzer, you told me that your stores in San Francisco and Sacramento are doing better than those in New York, and I guess it has something to do with the size of the cities.

When New York was in the hands of your grandfather and father, the population was much smaller than it is today. Forty or fifty years ago, the population of New York was almost the same as that of San Francisco. At that time, there were not many shops in New York, and people tended to be more familiar shops to buy shops.

But today New York is a super metropolis with a population of more than 70. There are dozens or hundreds of shops on every street, and New Yorkers have more choices.

And immigrants who just moved to New York, they don't know that your store is good and cheap. "

Elizabeth said after sorting out her thoughts.

"The scale of New York is expanding, but your store is still the same. It is strange to be able to grow bigger." Liang Yao said to Fan Daze, "Your family has a good reputation in the industry in New York, and you have reliable and low-cost supply channels. , These are the capitals to become a retail giant.”

The word retail giant is full of temptations for Fan Daze, why doesn't he want to become a giant in the industry like Vanderbilt and Liang Yao?
Standing at the top of the industry is the ideal of every aspiring businessman.

"Retail giant." Van Derze muttered to himself.

"As long as you are willing to give up half of your family's shares, I will cooperate with you to build our own retail empire in New York, even Philadelphia and Boston."

Liang Yao proposed his cooperation conditions. When he was weak, in order to cooperate with Vanderbilt and others to fight against the consortium in the east, he sincerely took out the shares of Xiangshan Gold Mining Company.

And Xiangshan Gold Mining Company is still a physical existence that is making money day by day.

Feng Shui took turns, and now it was his turn to eat the shares of these people.

He is in business, not in charity. If Fan Daze wants to cooperate with him, he must show enough cooperation sincerity.

The retail industry in the United States has a big plate. The first retail tycoon, Alexander Turney Stewart, started to get involved in the retail industry in 1846. By the time of his death in 1876, he had saved a huge fortune of 8000 million US dollars.

Ranked sixth on the list of richest people in the United States, ahead of him are Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, Asta, Gillard and Carnegie.

At the same time, Stewart was not the only one who ranked among the richest people in the United States in the retail industry. Marshall Field, a retail tycoon in Chicago, ranked tenth, but this buddy not only did retail, but also engaged in real estate.

The well-known American retail giant Walter Sam Moore Wal-Mart also ranks at the forefront of the American rich list for its retail industry, while Wal-Mart ranks fourteenth.

The reason why Liang Yao is willing to cooperate with Fan Daze is because he likes the huge retail market in New York, as well as the supply channels and network foundation laid by the three generations of the Fan Daze family in New York's retail industry.

If Van Darze is willing to cooperate, his retail business in New York will get twice the result with half the effort.

If you are not willing to cooperate, the big deal is to do it yourself, but it will take more time and energy to start from scratch.

"Half the shares?" After thinking for a long time, Fan Daze made up his mind and said through gritted teeth.

"I am very happy to cooperate with you, but this industry is not just mine, but the entire Van Dazer family. I need to hold a family meeting to make a decision. This is not an excuse for me to refuse. Please give me a day time.

Even if other members of the Van Daze family are unwilling to take out so many shares in the end, I will leave the family and take out my part of the assets to work with you. "

(End of this chapter)