1850 American Gold Tycoon.

Chapter 727: Give your brother a hand!

"These ship dealers are really ruthless. A steamship with a displacement of only 50 tons is sold for 22000 Republic dollars, and even a raft used for short-distance bulk cargo transportation is sold for 1800 Republic dollars.

Brother, we are being slaughtered like pigs by the ship traders!"

Zhang Sixian's younger brother Zhang Siqi felt indignant when he looked at the steamship, three tugboats and eighteen wooden flat-bottomed boats anchored on the Missouri River.

Steamships and tugboats can be considered legitimate ships, and even if they are sold later, the single-cylinder, low-pressure steam engine on board can still be sold at a good price.

As for those wooden flat-bottomed boats that have no power and rely entirely on water flow or tugboats to move, can they still be called ships?

How could a ship be sold at such a high price of 1800 public dollars?

Zhang Siqi heard that these raft-like bulk carriers were disposable ships, and that after the bulk cargo arrived, they were dismantled on the spot and sold as timber.

"Have you bought the harvesters and mules and horses? If you have, move the harvesters onto the boats." Zhang Sixian said very calmly, "As long as we drive these boats to Dingbian City, it's not certain who will be slaughtered."

"I bought it. The price of the harvester is normal, even cheaper than in Denver," said Zhang Siqi.

"Brother, I don't understand why you bought a harvester? Even if we reach Dingbian and complete the reclamation before the end of the year, the earliest we can harvest the first wave of wheat will be next year." Zhang Siqi asked in confusion.

The reaper most commonly used on the central frontier was the Pratt reaper, an improved version of the McCormick reaper.

This harvester consists of a set of horizontally arranged serrated blades that reciprocate through a mechanical linkage to cut crop stems.

The cut grain is pushed to the platform by the reel (composed of wooden or metal spokes) and then bundled manually, which can greatly improve the harvesting efficiency.

The power source of the harvester is animal power, usually pulled by 1-2 horses, which drives the internal gears and cranks through the rotation of the wheels, driving the cutting rod to move.

In terms of materials, the main frame is made of wood (oak or hickory), and key components (such as gears and blades) are made of wrought iron or cast iron.

The McCormick reaper was first invented by Cyrus McCormick in 1831, and a factory was established in Chicago in 1847.

In 1857, Pratt Agricultural Machinery purchased McCormick's patent, improved the McCormick reaper by introducing adjustable reels and cast iron gears, increasing efficiency by more than 30%. It was renamed Pratt Reaper and put on the market.

In just four years, the Pratt harvesters produced by the Pratt Agricultural Machinery Factory captured more than 65% of the harvester market share in the Great Plains region.

Pushed Chicago's McCormick plant to the brink of bankruptcy.

普拉特收割机的收割效率极高，每日可收割10~12英亩（约4~5公顷）的地，是手工收割的8倍。

The demand for manpower is also relatively small, with only one person needed to drive the horse and 1 to 2 people to tie it up.

The fundamental reason for the great success of the Pratt harvester was its low price. Each harvester only cost 140 Republican dollars, which was affordable for small farmers with a little more money.

As for the shortcomings, there are also some.

Pratt harvesters are significantly affected by terrain and are only suitable for flat or gently sloping fields. Rugged terrain can easily cause blade jamming or even frame breakage.

At the same time, the Pratt harvester has poor adaptability to crops. It is good at harvesting upright grains such as wheat and oats, but has poor harvesting effect on lodging crops.

However, these two shortcomings are not considered too serious in the Great Plains.

"Do you really think that the Chairman asked us old immigrants to go to Dingbian City simply to reclaim wasteland there?" Zhang Sixian was too lazy to explain to Zhang Siqi and said impatiently.

"You will understand once you arrive at Dingbian City."

"Brother! The chairman wants us old immigrants to go to the military depot in Omaha to get guns and ammunition!"

As he was speaking, a tribesman came jogging over and said to Zhang Sixian.

These old immigrants do carry guns, but the white-collar workers would rather waste their guns and bullets.

Zhang Sixian called on his clansmen and brothers to go to the armory in Omaha to get guns.

In September 1861, as the Minnesota Western Army gradually gained strength, the Union defenders in Minnesota found it increasingly difficult to hold on and were forced to shrink their defenses and focus on defending important settlements.

Even so, the situation in Minnesota took a sharp turn for the worse, and the Western Army's vanguard was getting closer and closer to St. Paul in Minneapolis.

Minnesota Governor Alexander Ramsey continued to send telegrams to Wisconsin for help.

It’s just that Wisconsin’s situation right now isn’t much better than Minnesota’s.

The three Western Army infantry brigades, the 103rd Brigade, the Gold Mountain Militia Brigade, and the Sacramento Militia Brigade, sailed upstream along the Mississippi River and the Wisconsin River.

They successively captured villages and towns along the Wisconsin River, including Wachka, Muscoda, Spring Green, and Sauk City, and headed straight for Madison, the capital of Wisconsin.

In just ten days, the entire Grant County fell.

The Union 3rd Wisconsin Cavalry Regiment stationed in Grant County, Wisconsin was vulnerable.

Facing the aggressive Western Army infantry.

The more than 3 cavalrymen of the rd Wisconsin Cavalry Regiment of the Union put up only a brief symbolic resistance and then hurriedly retreated to Madison, the capital of Wisconsin.

Before the withdrawal, the commander of the 3rd Wisconsin Cavalry Regiment did not even order the destruction of the lead mine in Grant County, leaving the local lead mine and its machinery intact to the Western Army. To make matters worse, tens of thousands of Western Army "militia" followed the regular army into Wisconsin.

These Western Army "militia" actually carried harvesters and other tools with them.

They brought harvesters and tools to farms and factories on both sides of the Wisconsin River, harvesting the ripe wheat fields and dismantling equipment in the factories in full swing.

Some people who claimed to be the directors or managers of the Dingbiancheng Factory of the Iowa Production and Construction Corps even offered generous conditions to recruit workers locally.

Many workers in the occupied area of ​​Wisconsin were attracted by the favorable conditions offered by these people who claimed to be factory managers, including a monthly salary of 15 Republican dollars, free housing plots, and an interest-free loan of 300 Republican dollars for house construction after they were hired. They actually signed labor contracts and took boats to the so-called Dingbian City.

The reason is simple: these people who claim to be factory directors and managers of various factories in Dingbian City gave too much.

Workers in northern federal factories were not treated well. The average worker in factories in major northern cities such as New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Chicago earned only eight or nine dollars a month, in federal dollars.

For workers in factories in small cities in third-tier states like Wisconsin, if they can get a monthly salary of 6 federal dollars with full attendance, they are considered to have worked in a conscientious factory.

How could one not be tempted by triple the salary and the generous condition of providing housing?

As for patriotism, these northern workers who are struggling to make ends meet believe that the northern factory owners who are wealthy and well-fed have a greater obligation to consider this issue than ordinary workers like them.

They just want to live a more decent life and provide better living conditions for their wives, children and the elderly.

There is no essential difference between working for a factory owner in the north and working for a factory owner in the west. In this case, why don't they choose to work for a factory owner who can offer them higher wages and better living conditions?

As villages and towns along the Wisconsin River fell one after another, Madison, the capital of Wisconsin, which was only 34 kilometers away from the Wisconsin River, fell into chaos.

On the main street of Madison, the sound of horseshoes hitting cobblestones was as dense as a rainstorm, and the shops along the street had long since closed.

Flocks of geese and ducks, their nests scattered across the streets of Madison.

A whole company of guards stood around the telegraph office in Madison.

The telegraph office was one of the few places in Madison that still had some order.

In the telegraph office, twelve Morse machines were trembling like spasms under their glass covers, and the copper wires on the telegraph machines were hot enough to make pancakes.

Decoder Billy chewed licorice root for the tenth time to refresh himself. Ink dripped from the broken tip of his pen onto his crotch, forming a shape that resembled the map of Wisconsin.

"The Minneapolis line is completely broken, and now even the Sauk City line is broken... My God, their last telegram said that the vanguard of the Western Army has left Sauk City and is marching towards Madison City!"

Billy's right hand holding the pen trembled, and the pen fell to the ground with the tip facing the ground, completely breaking.

"Is the line still open to Chicago and Springfield?"

Alexander Windermere, the governor of Wisconsin, who was guarding the telegraph room, grabbed the telegraph operator Billy's shoulder and roared.

Alexander Windermere was the first governor of Wisconsin, and he personally drafted the first state constitution of Wisconsin.

He is the undisputed number one political figure in Wisconsin.

"The telegraph line to Chicago is still open, Governor!" Billy replied quickly.

"Send a telegram to Chicago and Springfield! Ask them for help! Let Illinois help us!"

The troops along the Wisconsin River were in a state of disastrous defeat, and Alexander Windermere had lost his composure.

"If Wisconsin falls, Illinois will be next!"

Minnesota Governor Alexander Ramsey, with support from Wisconsin, delayed the Western advance in the Minneapolis area.

Windermere was still complacent, thinking that the Western Army was nothing special.

The defeat of the Omaha Army was due to McClellan's incompetence. If he was the commander of the Omaha Army, he might have been able to defeat the Western Army.

Unexpectedly, the Western Army had not made smooth progress in Minneapolis before. The main reason was Ramsay's improper strategy. At that time, the Western Army was divided into four directions, which dispersed its forces. This made the Western Army's attack in the direction of Minneapolis not smooth.

After the Western Army launched its attack, the true colors of both Minnesota and Wisconsin were revealed.

The Western Army was able to annihilate the Northern Federation's first-line troops even though they did not have an advantage in terms of manpower. The second-line troops in these states were no match for the Western Army at all.

Windermere placed its last hope on its southern neighbor, Illinois.

Windermere is a lawyer and a core member of the Republican Party.

His identity is absolutely correct.

Illinois is the Republican base and former stronghold, and Windermere believes that Illinois' political brothers will help him and lend him a hand just as he helped Minnesota.

(End of this chapter)