1850 American Gold Tycoon.

Chapter 295
Liang Yao received these local Guangzhou merchants in Xiangshan Daying.

The Wu family and the Pan family who first came to California both reaped the dividends of the California Gold Rush, and the financial situation of the two families gradually improved as a result.

In addition to the gradually improving financial situation, the two of them also have a choice, instead of tying the whole family to the dead tree of Daqing.

Although the Guangzhou merchants who arrived later did not eat meat, at least they all got a share.

Those timid and cautious merchants who were still on the sidelines and did not enter the venue, their hearts became more and more restless.

During the meeting, there were quite a few Guangzhou merchants, even those from Guangxi, who had been waiting for a long time to ask Liang Yao about California affairs.

Liang Yao naturally welcomed these potential productive and high-quality immigrants.

Although it has been three years since he ran California, and California has the most basic industries, in general, California is still in its infancy.

Talents and funds are most lacking in the start-up period, and what is most lacking is opportunity.

Liang Yao noticed that Pan Zhengwei, Wu Yuanhua and others still looked preoccupied.

Presumably it was the contrast between the Qing Dynasty and the United States that plunged them into deep contradictions.

On the one hand, many of them have become naturalized citizens of the United States. On the other hand, they have a strong sense of homeland and cannot let go of their concern for their homeland.I hope to do something within my power to change the status quo in my hometown.

After the banquet was over, Liang Yao stepped out of the military tent, which was as warm as spring, blowing the damp and cold wind of December in the south of Lingnan.

The winter in Xiangshan in the middle of the 19th century gave him the most intuitive feeling that it was as cold as this world, at least much colder than the winter in Xiangshan in the early 21st century.

Pan Zhengwei knocked the long tobacco rod with the pipe in his hand against the stone twice, then stuffed it with a ball of tobacco leaves and pressed it tightly, took out a box of safety matches from his cuff, and struck three or four matches before successfully lighting the tobacco leaves .

After the tobacco leaves were lit, Pan Zhengwei took several puffs fiercely in order to make his head clearer.

"What you said to me at the beginning of the year was correct. You will never wake up a person who pretends to be asleep. I really regret that I didn't listen to you. I almost lost my head in the capital."

The trip to the capital made Pan Zhengwei completely lose hope in this walking corpse-like court.

"It's the rich and powerful in Manchuria who are pretending to be asleep, not all Chinese people are pretending to be asleep, and Tingyu did not pretend to be asleep." Liang Yao looked up at the deep starry sky, "Since those who are pretending to sleep don't want to wake up, let them sleep forever Bar."

The dark night is dotted with countless bright stars, which belongs to the clear and pure starry sky of the agricultural era.In the urban area of ​​San Francisco, California, when Liang Yao left San Francisco in the summer, it was difficult to see such a clear and clean starry sky.

"For the silver taels that Hong Junmen needs to purchase the arms, I will discuss with the merchants in Guangzhou to raise some silver taels for Hong Junmen."

Pan Shicheng found a secluded place to urinate and came back. Seeing that Liang Yao, Pan Zhengwei, Wu Shangrong, and Wu Yuanhua were all there, he stepped forward and said.

Pan Shicheng is now the general merchant of Guangzhou Shisanhang, and he still has this ability.

The Guangzhou merchants who had already taken root in California had a good relationship with Liang Yao. It could be said that they did not dare to offend Liang Yao. They were still willing to spend the small amount of money to buy arms.

Guangzhou merchants who have not taken root in California have also shown a strong interest in California, asking them to pay some money is to promote friendship with Liang Yao, and they are still willing to pay.

Pan Shicheng also knew that the arms industry in California was in the hands of Liang Yao, and the money they spent would eventually flow into Liang Yao's pocket.

"It's better to spend a small amount of money to buy arms and strengthen Guangdong's coastal defenses than to spend a lot of money to redeem the city from the British when the city of Guangzhou is destroyed, and to bear the apportionment of the imperial court's indemnity."

Wu Shangrong also agreed to raise some military expenses for the Guangdong authorities to strengthen the strength of the Guangzhou garrison.

In the 1841st year of Daoguang ([-]), the city of Guangzhou was captured by the British army. Yishan, the imperial envoy who succeeded Lin Zexu, worried that Emperor Daoguang would convict him. In order to take back Guangzhou city, he secretly signed an armistice agreement with the British plenipotentiary Yilu.

The British agreed to withdraw from the city of Guangzhou on the condition that Yishan pay the redemption fee of 600 million silver dollars and compensate the British merchants for the loss of 30 taels of silver dollars, and the money must be withdrawn within seven days.

If the 600 million silver dollars cannot be paid in full within seven days, an additional 700 million silver dollars must be paid.If the payment is not made within 800 days, an additional payment of 900 million silver dollars will be required.If the payment cannot be made within [-] days, an additional payment of [-] million silver dollars will be required.

Yishan naturally couldn't afford the money, so he set his sights on the merchants in the Thirteenth Bank in Guangzhou, anyway, these merchants are the imperial court's purse.

The merchants of the Thirteen Banks in Guangzhou eventually borne one-third of the redemption fee, and the Wu family alone paid 110 million silver dollars for the redemption fee.

Of course, this is just the beginning, and the follow-up Jiangning article, that is, the compensation for the "Nanjing Treaty" was also apportioned to the Guangzhou merchants.

The heavy burden of reparations and donations is the most direct reason for the rapid decline of Guangzhou Thirteen Bank.

The irony is that Yishan, the imperial envoy of the imperial family, was not ashamed to redeem the city of Guangzhou through such a humiliating means.

This further caused the Qing court to misjudge the form of the war, thinking that I had the advantage, and rejected the British request for peace talks.Seeing that the Qing court refused to surrender, the British army continued to march northward, plundering the coasts of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, until they captured Zhenjiang, the key point on the canal.

"Young Master Liang, do you think the British will stir up trouble again?"

Wu Yuanhua can be said to suffer from PTSD for the compensation. Although the Wu family has a strong family background, they can't help but toss about it.

After enjoying a rare sense of security in California, Wu Yuanhua was not willing to be the emperor's south library honestly. No matter how much money there was in the emperor's south library, it was the emperor's, not his own.

"That depends on how the British guys' goods are sold in the Qing Dynasty." Liang Yao did not directly answer Wu Yuanhua's question.

The four of them looked at each other silently, and their expressions became more and more ugly.

They already had the answer in their minds. The Guangzhou Thirteen Bank was still doing business with the British East India Company, and they handled many of the goods of the British East India Company.

They knew very well how the goods of the British were selling in the Qing Dynasty. Except for opium, the sales data of other commodities of the British East India Company in China were very bleak.

In other words, the goal of the British in the first Opium War was not realized, and the performance of the Chinese market was far from what the British expected.

The war twelve years ago seemed to be over, but in fact the war between Great Britain and Qing had just begun.

"There are long-haired gangsters making trouble inside, and British guys watching outside. It's really troublesome." Pan Shicheng sighed.

Pan Shicheng, who has dealt with the British since he was a child, is very aware of the nature of the British. The British are greedy and hypocritical, and they can do such a thing for profit.

Pan Shicheng believed that Liang Yao's judgment was correct. As for Wu Yuanhua and Pan Zhengwei, they had seen with their own eyes how Liang Yao gained a foothold in the United States, and they also believed in Liang Yao's ability to judge and grasp the current situation.

"Why is Mr. Pan bothered? It's only during the eventful autumn that although there are many things, there are also more opportunities."

Liang Yao withdrew his gaze from the starry sky and said to Pan Shicheng.

Pan Shicheng is an outlier among Guangzhou merchants. Compared with other Guangzhou merchants, Pan Shicheng has a stronger interest in politics.

This is also due to the family tradition of the Pan family. Although Pan Qi, the founder of the Pan family, was born in a reckless family, he paid special attention to the education of his descendants after he made a fortune.

In the second generation, Pan Qi's second son, that is, Pan Zhengwei's second uncle Pan Youwei, was admitted to Jinshi very competitively, and opened the way for the Pan family to be both an official and a businessman.

If the Pan family had a choice between officials and merchants, they would choose officials without hesitation.

During the period when Pan Youdu, the second-generation head of the Pan family, wanted to give up business several times, and even stopped the Tongfu Bank, completely lost the identity of the Pan family's merchant family and fully integrated into the scholar-bureaucrat group.

Helplessly, the imperial court refused to give up the cash cow of the Pan family, so the Pan family could only bite the bullet and continue to run Tongfuhang.

Since Pan Shicheng is interested in politics, he is not stingy to give Pan Shicheng some advice.

"I also ask Mr. Liang to enlighten me." Pan Shicheng cupped his hands towards Liang Yao.

"I have inquired about the long-haired rebellious bandits. I heard that this kind of rebellious bandits is unusual and is especially good at winning people's hearts. The bandit leader Hong Xiuquan also has many people who are good at using soldiers. The current long-haired rebellious bandits can be said to be the best in Hunan. It's like entering the land of no one, and it is said that there are millions of people." Liang Yao said slowly.

"Millions of people may be a bluff, but I think there are still hundreds of thousands of young and strong people." Pan Shicheng said.

"Pan Zongshang thinks that relying on the Eight Banners and the Green Camp alone, can the imperial court put down the Changmao Rebellion?" Liang Yaoming asked knowingly.

"Ahem, the Eight Banners were useless during the Emperor Kangxi's reign. As for the Green Camp, it was very difficult to suppress the White Lotus Sect during the Qianlong Emperor's reign. This time, the Chang Mao's troubles are much worse than the White Lotus Sect. In my opinion, they want to rely on the Green Camp to suppress the Chang Mao sect." Mao, it's difficult." Pan Shicheng shook his head and said.

It seems that Pan Shicheng is quite insightful, Liang Yao is satisfied with Pan Shicheng's answer.This Pan Shicheng is worthy of his advice.

"The Eight Banners Green Battalion is unusable, the long hair has to be leveled, and the imperial court has no money at the moment. In the end, the imperial court will definitely let go of regiment training in various places." Liang Yao said to Pan Shicheng meaningfully.

In fact, in November, Xianfeng decreed to let go of group training to prevent long-haired bandits, but Guangzhou is far away from the capital, and Emperor Xianfeng's decree has not yet spread to Guangzhou.

"You mean, let me do group training?" Pan Shicheng quickly responded.

"For two hundred years since the founding of the Qing Dynasty, the Hanchens have never been able to lift their heads in the court. It is all because the Hanchens have no military power in their hands. The long hairs are in chaos, and the Eight Banners of the Green Camp are useless. If the imperial court encourages local training regiments, it is not right. Is it a good time for the Hanchen to regain military power?" Liang Yao was persuasive and persuasive.

"General Merchant Pan is a wealthy party with strong financial resources, so there is no need to elaborate. There are many refugees from Guangdong and Guangxi, so there is no need to worry about the source of troops. The arsenal in California can provide General Merchant Pan with guns and even warships. This is a gift from God to Pan. Great opportunity for business owners.”

Tuanlian has existed since ancient times, and it can be understood as the militia in ancient China.

During the Qianlong and Jiaqing dynasties, because Feila's unbearable Eight Banners and Green Camp were unable to quell the White Lotus Rebellion, the Qianlong and Jiaqing dynasties used a lot of local group training.

However, although the Qing Dynasty allowed local regiment training to assist the Eight Banners Green Battalion in combat, it had strict restrictions on the scale of local regiment training and combat in different places.

This is also the reason why although the local government organized group training during the Qianlong and Jiaqing dynasties, the group training did not develop into a local separatist force in the Qianlong and Jiaqing dynasties.

This situation was not broken until the appearance of Zeng Guofan's Hunan Army. At first, the imperial court was also very defensive against Zeng Guofan's Hunan Army.

Zeng Guofan, as a servant, is a registered servant, and he is like an ordinary man, who lives in his house. With a shout, there are more than ten thousand people who follow him. I am afraid it is not the blessing of the country!It was the general mentality of those in power in the capital when the Hunan Army first showed its strength.

Of course, Emperor Xianfeng was aware of this, but there was no other way. The Eight Banners and the Green Battalion were really unusable. To pacify the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Emperor Xianfeng had to use the Hunan Army, had to allow the Hunan Army to fight in Hunan, and let the Hunan Army train from a local regiment to become a regular army.

Use it for use, the high-level Manchu Qing people always took precautions against the Hunan Army, cutting off the Hunan Army's food and wages every three and five times to beat the Hunan Army.

The food and pay of the Hunan Army only came from the lijin collected by setting up cards, and the local gentry were extorted, looted on the spot, and even massacred the city.

It is not an exaggeration to say that the murderousness of the Xiang army's slaughter of the city made an outstanding contribution to the family planning of the Qing Dynasty.

There is no specific data on how many people died in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement in this catastrophe, and there are claims ranging from ten million to hundreds of millions.

Even with a very conservative estimate, the number of people who died directly or indirectly must have reached tens of millions, while the total population of the United States at the same time was only over [-] million.

It is undeniable that the sharp decline in China's population during the same period was the result of various forces such as the Taiping Army, the Hunan Army, the Eight Banners, the Green Camp, the regiment training in various places, and the Nian Army.

However, as the mainstay of the Qing Dynasty during the Xiantong period, the Hunan Army had the widest range of operations and the most records of massacres. It was definitely the most sinful member of these forces.It is not for nothing that he shaved his head.

Compared with Zeng Guofan, known as the butcher of the North, Sherman, who killed the Confederacy directly and broke the defense, even the North itself could not stand it, can be regarded as a great benevolent person.

After hearing Liang Yao's remarks, Pan Shicheng was moved, but he still hesitated and couldn't make up his mind.

"The imperial court has strict restrictions on the number of people training in groups and where they reside. Changmao has hundreds of thousands of young and strong at least. How useful are hundreds of thousands of training groups?"

Pan Shicheng also had Pan Shicheng's concerns. Right now, the long-haired rebellious bandits are sweeping across the southeast, and governors from all over the country can't avoid it.Everyone is not a fool, and they all know that the Eight Banners and Green Battalions stationed everywhere are useless, and no one wants to be the first bird to come forward to suppress Changmao.

Of course, Pan Shicheng also understands that it is precisely because no one is willing to be the first bird that an official from a merchant like him has the opportunity to lead the army.

"I don't think so. The number of soldiers is not large, but the strength is good. The strength of my expedition to Japan is only two regiments of more than [-] people. Why don't we smash tens of thousands of elite soldiers from the shogunate and force the Tokugawa shogunate to sign a treaty in Edo Castle." Liang Liang Yao said, "Furthermore, if the imperial court is in a hurry, they may not let go of the scale of group training."

"Young Master Liang, I heard that the mercenary system is very prevalent in Western countries. Can you directly hire the California Infantry Regiment for regiment training?" Pan Zhengwei's eyes lit up, and he expressed his thoughts.

"The California Infantry Regiment belongs to the Ministry of War. How can it be hired at will? If hired, how can I explain to the Ministry of War?" Liang Yao flatly rejected Pan Zhengwei's proposal.

The California Infantry is his most important unit, and he will definitely not hire it out easily.He needs a strong army to ensure his absolute control in California.

Furthermore, the issue of the Mexican purchase of land was still pending, and he also needed an elite army to maintain California's border security.

"It's because I didn't think about it." Pan Zhengwei also felt that his proposal was too reckless.

"But I can form a teaching team to help Mr. Pan practice group training. If the group training is successful, Mr. Pan can be the minister of ZTE in the Qing Dynasty, and he can be separated from one side if he retreats. Pan Zongshang's sum is indispensable." Liang Yao continued to fan the flames.

"Your money is your money only if you have a strong army in your hands. Otherwise, no matter how much money you accumulate, it will be useless. Sooner or later, the imperial court will suck it up."

Liang Yao was able to say such outrageous words, and Pan Shicheng and others were not surprised at all. Earlier, Liang Yao also bluntly referred to Emperor Xianfeng as the emperor's old man.

Liang Yao's words also touched their sore spot.

No matter if it is the Pan family or the Wu family, even if they are the richest in the world, so what?They are nothing more than Emperor Nanku, and to say they are lambs to be slaughtered is flattering them.

The lamb has to be fattened and killed, and the money bag, as long as you want it, you can put your hand in it whenever and wherever you want.

"It's a big deal, let me think about it again." Pan Shicheng, who was conflicted in his heart, wrestled with the rosary in his hand, twirling the smooth rosary with his thumb quickly.

Seeing Pan Shicheng's attitude, Liang Yao knew that Pan Shicheng had ideas.

"This world is the world of the Manchus, not the world of the Han people. This world is the world of the Manchu nobles and scholar-bureaucrats, not the world of merchants and ordinary people."

Liang Yao turned around and walked in the direction of the residence, speaking outrageous words loudly.

(End of this chapter)