1850 American Gold Tycoon.

Chapter 298 Dollar Launcher

Thanks to Liang Yao's money-making ability, the environment of Xiangshan's temporary resettlement site is not that bad.

Chinese immigrants are the capital for Liang Yao to gain a foothold on the west coast of America. In terms of immigration, Liang Yao is still very willing to spend money.

However, due to the large number of people and the weak constitution of the refugees, some people still fell down every day and never stood up again, and they could not wait for the day to board the ship.

Especially in the cold winter, more people died.

When Liang Yao, Pan Shicheng, and Liang Shaoqiong arrived at the resettlement site, they bumped into the administrators with face scarves on their faces, and lifted more than two dozen cold and stiff corpses out of the resettlement site, and cremated them on the spot.

Unkempt and unkempt refugees have long been accustomed to this. People die here every day, but the difference is how many people die every day.

This is only the first checkpoint for these refugees to immigrate to California. Even if they board the boat, some people will die on the boat.

Even if they arrive in Beijing or California, not everyone can withstand the level of acclimatization.

Liang Yao had personally experienced these things. In 1849, when he himself traveled halfway around the world to California on the Cape Town of the British Steamship Company, a small number of people died on the way.

He had seen with his own eyes the dead and dying Chinese gold prospectors thrown by the British sailors from the ship like rubbish into the sea.

Immigrants in the Xiangshan resettlement area, to put it bluntly, are desperate refugees.

Immigrants with a little money will not choose to wait here, but will choose to buy a boat ticket to California at their own expense.

No matter where and in what era, rich people always have more choices than poor people who have nothing.

The person in charge of the Xiangshan resettlement site is Hu Jinchen's elder brother, Hu Jinhou. Hu Jinhou, like Hu Jinchen, was an employee of Jardine House in his early years, and later he came to Liang Yao to find a job.

Liang Yao's eyes swept over several pyres where the corpses were being cremated, and finally stopped on Hu Jinchen who came out to meet him.

"The report you submitted to me said that no more than fifty people die here every day, but the corpses I see now are at least seventy or eighty. How do you explain it?"

"My boss hasn't had time to read the latest report, right? This is the old calendar from two or three months ago." Facing Liang Yao's question, Hu Jinhou replied calmly.

"Two or three months ago, the grain we bought in Lianghu, Jiangxi, Jiangnan and other places could still be transported to Guangzhou. Now Changmao is getting more and more troubled in Hunan. The grain in these places cannot be exported, and the local grain in Guangdong is also not available. It is getting harder and harder to buy, but there are more and more immigrants coming to Xiangshan from all over the world. What the small ones can do is to try their best to maintain the situation and let as many people as possible survive.”

"The harvests in Guangdong and Guangxi have been poor for several years, and the price of rice has soared this year. It is not easy to fill the mouths of [-] to [-] people." Pan Shicheng said, looking at the resettlement site, with the string of rosary beads that he had wrapped out in his hand.

"Now in the Guangzhou rice market, it's hard to find a lot of rice. Besides, not all of these refugees died of starvation, but some died of freezing."

"The Global Shipping Company has already sent people to Nanyang to buy grain, but it will take some time to transport the grain to Xiangshan." Hu Jinchen also said aside.

"How much grain is there in the granary?" Liang Yao asked.
"8120 stone." Hu Jinhou blurted out.

"Thirty-eight thousand people have only [-] shi of food in stock, which can only last for two months at most." Liang Yao frowned, "Ask the Guangzhou government for some food and tell them that if the food is not given, Xiangshan will lose [-] shi. We can't guarantee what kind of chaos will happen if there are too many refugees."

These tens of thousands of refugees did not have a civil uprising, and the officials in Guangdong had to give Liang Yao a slap in the face. If they refused to give them any food they searched for, then don't blame him for being rude.

"This..." Hu Jinhou was a little hesitant.

"What are you afraid of?! You are a citizen of the United States. Citizens of the United States enjoy extraterritorial rights in the Qing Dynasty. The laws of the Qing Dynasty cannot rule out your crimes, and the officials of the Qing Dynasty dare not touch you." Liang Yao raised his voice.

After finishing speaking, Liang Yao turned around and told Hu Jinchen to send a boat to Japan to collect some grain.

In the future, there will only be more and more refugees in the resettlement areas. It is always good to prepare more food reserves to prepare for a rainy day.

"In the future, I will also ask Governor Ye for some food for Mr. Liang in the name of training the bravery of the village," Pan Shicheng said.

"Thank you so much." Liang Yao bowed his hands to Pan Shicheng to express his gratitude, "Please trouble General Manager Pan to help me purchase some more warm things."

"It's not a trivial matter, and this matter is on Pan." Pan Shicheng urged, "Young Master Liang, let's choose Xiangyong."

The resettlement area has simple statistics on the refugees in the resettlement area. With the help of Hu Jinhou, Liang Yao and Pan Shicheng quickly completed the selection of Xiangyong.

From more than [-] refugees, [-] people were selected as the foundation of Yueyong.

These 150 people are at least proficient in writing and ink, and have a certain cultural foundation.

Although the illiteracy rate in the Qing Dynasty was high, it was still possible to select [-] literate people from more than [-] people.

"Could there be too few people on number 150?" Pan Shicheng felt that Liang Yao had chosen too few people, and wanted to choose more.

"It's quite a lot. If you want too much, you can't chew it. The most urgent thing is to set up Yueyong's airs." Liang Yao thinks that there are no more than one hundred and fifty people, which is just right.

"These people are trained as low-level non-commissioned officers. As long as these people are trained, even if the number of people is quickly expanded tenfold in the future, Yue Yong can still guarantee a certain combat effectiveness. Moreover, if thousands of townsmen are recruited suddenly, it may cause disaster,"

Although Pan Shicheng obtained the permission to train Xiangyong, the high-level Manchu Qing officials still had many concerns about the large-scale opening of Xiangyong.

Recruiting a large number of township braves from the very beginning may easily arouse the vigilance of the high-level Manchu Qing, which is not a good thing for Pan Shicheng and Liang Shaoqiong.

In this first step, it is better to be cautious.

Pan Shicheng is a smart person, and he quickly understood Liang Yao's intentions: "It's Mr. Liang who is thoughtful, but it's Pan who is a little impatient and gets carried away with complacency."

"Wang Shu!" Liang Yao called Wang Shu, commander of the California company, "Your team of instructors will stay in Guangzhou to assist President Pan in training Yueyong. Don't compromise on the training. Train these recruits according to the standards of the California Infantry."

"Yes, Colonel!" Wang Shu replied sonorously.

Liang Yao dispatched [-] squad leaders from each company of the California Infantry Regiment to form a team of instructors to help Pan Shicheng and Liang Shaoqiong train the first batch of township warriors.

The California Infantry is basically composed of early Chinese immigrants, while the Arizona Infantry is composed of veterans recruited by Liang Yao in the eastern and southern United States.

Obviously, the non-commissioned officers of the California Infantry Regiment are more suitable for training Yueyong than the Arizona Infantry Regiment. After all, they are all Chinese and there is no language barrier.

Pan Shicheng looked enviously at these strong and well-groomed instructors.

He was very satisfied with Liang Yao's carefully selected team of instructors. Pan Shicheng knew that the California Infantry was Liang Yao's most important unit.The selection of non-commissioned officers from this unit shows Liang Yao's sincerity.

"A good horse is equipped with a good saddle, and a good soldier must be equipped with a good gun. Since we use Western methods to train soldiers, we should also use Western quick guns. I wonder if Mr. Liang can sell some Western quick guns to arm Yueyong?"

Pan Shicheng talked to Liang Yao about purchasing weapons.

"Guns are not a problem. I can give Mr. Pan five hundred Walter M1852 rifles first, but the guns and bullets are not cheap." Liang Yao said.

The Walter M1852 rifle is a rear-loading single-shot rifle developed and produced by California. In this era when rifled guns were not fully popular among major powers, the performance of the Walter M1852 can be said to be very advanced.

Among the rifles in active service of the major powers, the performance of the Walter M1852 is only slightly inferior to the Dreiser needle gun equipped by the Prussian army.

The Musketeers of the Qing Dynasty are still equipped with matchlock guns from the pre-Ming period. If Yueyong is equipped with this gun, it can be said to be a blow to the various armies in the Qing Dynasty.

Even if the great powers come, Yue Yong is worthy of pure infantry against infantry.

There are two versions of the Walter M1852 rifle, one version uses metal edge needle bullets, and the other is the same as the Dreiser needle gun, using paper shells and linen bullets.

Using paper shell bullets, the official name of the linen bullet version is M1852E, which is a foreign trade version specially produced by Liang Yao for export.The cost of the foreign trade version is about 25% lower than that of the ordinary version, and each cost is 15 US dollars.

Liang Yao directly sold the full-blooded version of the Walter M1852 rifle to Pan Shicheng, which can be said to be very generous.

Of course, the full blood version of the Walter M1852 rifle also has disadvantages, that is, it is expensive, not only in the gun itself, but also in the bullets.

Metal bullets are very advanced, but advanced often means expensive.

The cost of each metal-side needle round was 2.5 cents, a full four times that of paper and linen rounds.

Hence the very apt nickname given to the gun by Globe Lines crews already equipped with the Walter M1852 rifle: the Dollar Launcher.

"Money is not a problem. As long as you can practice Yueyong, it will be worth the money." Pan Shicheng said happily.

Compared with the donations to the imperial court and the indemnity paid by foreigners, the money for buying weapons is not worth mentioning.

After Yueyong's affairs were arranged, Liang Yao sent Pan Shicheng away.

"Uncle Wu, my nephew has done everything I can for you. If Yueyong can be trained, he will be the most powerful army in the Qing Dynasty."

After Pan Shicheng left, Liang Yao said to Liang Shaoqiong with his hands behind his back.

"How far the Liang family can go in the future depends on Uncle Wu's ability and luck."

Liang Yao didn't know what kind of impact the butterfly's flapping wings of the Cantonese Army would have on the future.

But he hopes that the situation on this land will develop in his favor in the future.

"Uncle Wu has been doing nothing and accomplishing nothing in half of his life. The compilation and training of Yueyong is the biggest thing that Uncle Wu has done in his life." Liang Shaoqiong clenched his fists and said excitedly.

"For the sake of our old Liang's family, and for the sake of gaining popularity, even if your fifth uncle is exhausted, he still wants to run Yueyong!"

"Uncle Wu has this kind of heart, and my nephew is very relieved." There was a gratified smile on Liang Yao's face.

(End of this chapter)