1850 American Gold Tycoon.

Chapter 730: Central Giant

A layer of milky morning mist floated on the misty surface of the Mississippi River, like a milk can overturned by the Creator.

The sound of steam engines hummed across the broad river.

On the river section from Port Daven to Dingbian City, a luxurious thousand-ton steam ship was sailing upstream northward with billowing black smoke.

The large ship was surrounded by seven small Loach-class gunboats to escort it.

Each steamship flew a conspicuous white star flag, representing that these expensive inland steamships belonged to the American Republic.

In the entire American Republic, the number of people who can enjoy such treatment when traveling can be counted on one hand.

On the mudflats on the east bank of the river, dozens of Irish workers were unloading goods in knee-deep mud.

The heavy pine barrels were filled with kerosene from Los Angeles, California, and the Yaozhang Company's bamboo slip logo was clearly painted on the surface of the pine barrels.

Yaozhang Company is a company owned by Deng Wenyao, the first mayor of Los Angeles and the second richest family in the West. It is responsible for the production and sales of petrochemical products.

Although the civil war had been going on for more than three months, trade between the two peoples had not been interrupted, but had become more frequent than before the war.

Senior officials between the North and the West seem to be interested in maintaining the original economic exchanges between the two sides.

However, the goals of both parties are not exactly the same.

The West maintained trade with the Northern Confederacy primarily for the purpose of making money.

The main purpose of the North maintaining trade with the West is to maintain stability.

To put it more bluntly, the daily lives of many northerners have become inseparable from the high-quality and low-priced western products.

During Buchanan's time, local factory owners in the Northern Union organized a campaign to boycott Western products.

But the results all ended in failure. It is easy to boycott Western products, but it is difficult to produce substitutes for Western products.

There is a joke in New York State right now that once the Central Railroad of the American Republic stops providing maintenance services for Pioneer locomotives to the New York State railroads, more than half of the trains in New York State will be shut down.

This is not an exaggeration. Although the Northern Federation's industry still has a crushing advantage over the West in terms of scale, in some areas, the Northern Federation has lost its technological advantage over the West.

Once the Central Railway Company of the American Republic terminates the cooperation agreement, the railway transportation system of New York State and even all the northern federal states will indeed come to a standstill in a short period of time.

The Lincoln administration's economic policy was very pragmatic.

In terms of economy and trade, their attitude towards the West is to keep playing the music and dancing, while not forgetting to impose tariffs on incoming goods.

It is just that the tariffs imposed on Western goods are levied under the name of trade tariffs between states.

This shows that the Northern Federation does not recognize the legitimacy of the Western American Republic.

But the attitude towards the South, which is neither in competition with nor complementary to the North economically, is completely different: a complete blockade!

In theory, the economic structure of the South is complementary to that of the North, and the South can serve as a supplier of high-quality raw materials to the North.

But this is only in theory. In reality, the economic ties between the South and Europe, especially the UK, are closer.

Only a small portion of industrial raw materials were sold by the South to the North. Most of the bulk raw materials, mainly cotton, were sold to Europe, where demand was greater and prices were higher.

The Lincoln government's economic blockade of the South has achieved relatively obvious results.

Although the Confederate Army was triumphant on the battlefield, after obtaining a large amount of military supplies from an unknown source, it even began to force its way across the Potomac River to attack Washington, the capital of the Northern Union.

But in terms of people's livelihood, the performance of the southern government is dismal.

Residents of Southern states outside of Texas have complained about a marked decline in quality of life.

The German foreman smoking a clay pipe on the beach on the east bank of the Mississippi River did not have the ambition to be a real man when he saw the Western bigwigs parading in style on the river.

He just cursed the Irish laborers who were not working hard enough and complained about the late barge in a mixture of German and English.

On the sandbar not far away, a group of children were chasing egrets barefoot. The carefree children stopped to watch the fleet of the Western big shot with interest, and bet with each other on the identity of the Western big shot on the luxurious steamship.

“Just across the street is Illinois. Before the war, 40,000 to 50,000 Chinese settled in Illinois, and there was even a dedicated Chinese community in Chicago.

However, after the war, more than half of the Chinese chose to move westward for fear of retaliation from the whites. Now it is estimated that only more than 20,000 Chinese remain in Illinois. " Chen Lisong pointed to Illinois on the east coast and said to Liang Yao with regret.

"Yizhou is the largest granary and meat depot in the border area. What a pity."

Chen Lisong was one of the first Chinese businessmen to come to border areas in search of opportunities.

In 1853 he came to Kansas City, opened a restaurant and laundry, and made friends with local celebrities.

During the Kansas Civil War, the North and the South did not trust each other. Chen Lisong got the opportunity to act as a middleman, taking advantage of both sides and rising to become a business giant in the central frontier region.

In just a few years, Chen Lisong, with his outstanding personal abilities, established sales channels in major cities in Kansas, Missouri, Illinois and even Indiana to sell products from the West Coast.

The kerosene carried by Irish workers on the riverbank not far away was distributed to Illinois by Chen Lisong.

In 1859, Chen Lisong became a rare millionaire in the central frontier region and was elected president of the local Chinese Chamber of Commerce by the Chinese in the central frontier region.

Before the war, the leaders of the nearby border states all gave him some face, and he was considered a prominent figure in the central border region.

The thousand-ton luxury yacht that Liang Yao is currently riding on is Chen Lisong's private property, and is worth up to $35.

At the same time, Chen Lisong has another identity, that is, the director of the Central Frontier Bureau of the Central Intelligence Agency.

Most of the intelligence Liang Yao saw about the central border area was collected and provided by Chen Lisong.

"What's there to regret? In less than ten years, our White Star flag will be raised on the other side of the river." Liang Yao leaned on the railing and gazed at the thousands of miles of fertile fields of Illinois, his heart pounding.

One step further is Lincoln's base, the core ruling area of ​​the Northern Federation.

"Illinois Governor Richmont is quite aware of the current situation and can see the situation clearly," said Chen Lisong.

"Most of the governors of the border states are Republicans. You travel to the central border states all year round. How much do you know about people like Ramsey, Richmond and Windermere?"

Liang Yao withdrew his gaze from the wheat field on the opposite bank that looked like a honey cake and turned to Chen Lisong.

The Republican Party was Liang Yao's main focus when it was rising.

However, Liang Yao's focus on Republicans is more on core members of the central government such as Lincoln, Seward, and Chase.

The level of understanding of local Republican leaders such as Ramsey, Ridgemont, and Windermere is not as deep as that of the core members of the Republican Central Committee.

The Western Army's loss in Minnesota could be largely attributed to the fact that the top leaders of the American Republic, headed by him, did not understand and pay enough attention to the local pillars of the Republican Party.

Liang Yao admitted that he did look down on these local Republican leaders.

Although the Republican Party was a new party that came to power for the first time, its ruling base seemed quite stable compared to the Democratic Party and the Whig Party, which had previously been out of touch with the states.

The Republican Party has performed very poorly on the battlefield since it came to power. Without the support of strongholds like Wisconsin and Illinois, the Republican Party would probably have fallen apart by now.

To take a step back, after occupying the central border area, the territorial border of the American Republic will be directly adjacent to Wisconsin and Illinois.

For a long time to come, the American Republic's contacts with the governors of Wisconsin and Illinois would be even more frequent than with the central government of the Northern Federation.

These talents are the opponents that the American Republic needs to face directly.

It is very necessary for Republican leaders to know their opponents.

"Ramsay, Richmont and Windermere are close friends, but after this incident, it is hard to say what the relationship between them is," said Chen Lisong.

"These three are governors who get things done. Their schedules are very busy. Even I don't have many opportunities to interact with them directly. Most of what I know about them is just hearsay."

The breeze from the Mississippi River made Liang Yao feel a little uncomfortable, so he turned and walked into the cabin and lit a Havana cigar.

"No problem, tell me about it." After Liang Yao sat down, he pointed to the seat opposite him and motioned Chen Lisong to sit down and talk in detail.

"Although these three are governors who get down to work and are of similar age, all around 50 years old, they are in their prime, but they each have their own strengths and abilities." After sitting down, Chen Lisong told Liang Yao all the information he knew, like pouring beans out of a bamboo tube.

(End of this chapter)