1850 American Gold Tycoon.

Chapter 740: Standing Firm

"William, I still remember that when Elizabeth and I got married in New York, only a few newspapers, including the New York Evening Post, believed that I was the undisputed king of California gold. Most newspapers believed that I was just a knight of the shipping princess."

Before returning to Sacramento, Liang Yao hosted his brother-in-law, William Vanderbilt, at Pratt.

William Vanderbilt was the eldest son of the Vanderbilt family.

America does not have the tradition of primogeniture, but the eldest son often has the first-mover advantage. As long as the eldest son's performance is not too bad and his ability is acceptable, it is basically a foregone conclusion that he will inherit the family business.

Therefore, it is very common in America for the eldest son to inherit the family business.

To be fair, William Vanderbilt, as the eldest son of a wealthy American family, is one of the more outstanding ones.

His ability is roughly on par with that of the second generation Backhouse of the Astor family.

The two have many similarities in their personalities, both belonging to the second generation who are very stable and conservative.

Likewise, they lived their entire lives under the shadow of their father.

Despite William's good performance, he was never Vanderbilt's first choice for succession until Vanderbilt severed his relationship with his youngest son, Washington.

Vanderbilt favored his youngest son, Washington Vanderbilt, and Vanderbilt always trained his most beloved youngest son as the future heir to the family.

Unfortunately, after the outbreak of the Civil War, Vanderbilt severed his relationship with his second son Cony, who was doing business in the West, and his youngest son Washington, who served as a colonel in a machine gun regiment in the Western Army.

The only option left for the Vanderbilt family's heir is the eldest son William.

To be honest, Liang Yao played a vital role in William becoming the heir to the Vanderbilt family, and William should thank Liang Yao very much.

"At that time, both the public and the business community believed that your marriage to our Vanderbilt family was an attempt to marry into our upper class." Without his father by his side, William's every move revealed the confidence and composure of a young man from a wealthy family. He spoke slowly, shaking the wine glass in his hand.

"It turns out that they are all a bunch of blind people. My father and sister are the ones who have the foresight to recognize talent. My father was very wise, but his most successful investment in life was not investing in shipping to make a fortune, nor was it completing the transformation from a shipping tycoon to a railway tycoon, but investing in you."

William was not trying to flatter Liang Yao. The future of the Northern Federation was unclear at the moment.

But one thing is certain, William's second brother Connie is a real estate tycoon and arms tycoon in the West, his third brother is a senior military officer, and his father is one of the biggest financiers of the Northern Federation.

Whether the West or the North becomes the winner of this war for North America, the Vanderbilt family will remain standing.

There are many wealthy families in America, but only a handful of them may have both options.

"How is father's health?" Liang Yao asked casually.

As Liang Yao's most important partner in the early days, Vanderbilt did provide him with a lot of help, especially in the shipbuilding and shipping industries.

"Although not as good as before, I'm still healthy and strong." William gently put down the wine glass, and after a moment of silence, he spoke with regret.

"Father cut off ties with you and your brothers and sisters for his own reasons. I hope you don't hold a grudge against him."

"He is a businessman and he sticks to business. I don't mind it." Liang Yao did not blame Vanderbilt for publicly making a statement to sever ties with him, nor did he care.

Vanderbilt was not acting on impulse. The business base of the Vanderbilt family and his group of old friends was in the North.

At the beginning of the war, the Vanderbilt family was always the focus of public opinion due to its special status.

Vanderbilt had no option of remaining neutral between the West and the North and could only choose sides.

"President Liang made a special appointment to meet with me this time. I don't think it's just to talk about family matters." The family affection has been laid out, and William wants to get to the point and talk about business.

"Newspapers in the north are talking about you being the prince of the railway empire, or more precisely, the mediocre prince of the railway empire." Liang Yao's words were like a silver needle that pierced the most sensitive and fragile nerve in William's heart. William, who had a strong sense of self-esteem, wanted to say something but stopped. Liang Yao's words touched his sore spot, and he wanted to refute Liang Yao's statement.

But I can't find any examples to refute it.

Liang Yao was right, even though William had been managing the Vanderbilt family affairs for more than ten years.

But in the past decade or so, the business projects he handled were basically given to him by Vanderbilt. William still independently completed a successful business project that attracted the attention of the business community and made Vanderbilt take notice of him.

The newspaper media's evaluation of him is not unfair.

"You're going to give me a business project like a father?" William's tone gradually became cold.

"It's not charity, it's cooperation. I really can't do this business project." Liang Yao said with a smile.

"Whether you can do it or not depends on your ability."

"What project? What do I need to do?" William became interested.

"It's very simple. The coking coal in Pittsburgh is of very good quality. As long as you can find a way to transport the coking coal from Pittsburgh to Suhu City, which was formerly Duluth, I can provide you with a long-term order for ten years. Within ten years, I will buy as much coking coal as you can transport." Liang Yao pushed the contract on the table in front of William.

"You can let Jones and Garrett do this. They are fully capable of doing so." William said as he flipped through the contract pushed by Liang Yao.

Vanderbilt was America's leading railroad tycoon, and William also ran the New York Central Railroad Company.

Most of the New York Central Railroad's rails came from Pittsburgh, and William had some knowledge of Pittsburgh's steel industry.

Lake Su City is the largest lake port city on the shores of Lake Superior in Minnesota. Minnesota also has world-class high-quality open-pit iron mines. William naturally knows why Liang Yao wants to import coking coal for a long time.

"They will naturally do it, but Jones and Garrett are my people after all. The long-term confrontation between the North and the West is a foregone conclusion. In addition to them, I need a safer and more reliable channel." Liang Yao said frankly.

"Of course, besides you, I have other options, but you are my brother-in-law after all, half brother, so I don't want to let outsiders take away your wealth."

Liang Yao is using all the national strength to build a steel production base in Minnesota.

The amount of coking coal required must be extremely huge. If it can be done, it is not impossible to make a profit of hundreds of thousands or even millions of Republican dollars every year.

Such huge profits were very tempting to William, who was always eager to prove his ability.

With the connections he had accumulated while working for the New York Central Railroad, it was not difficult for him to acquire several high-quality coking coal plants in Pittsburgh.

As for transportation, William is also a veteran. He has been involved in shipping on the Great Lakes and even the current railway transportation. It is relatively easy for him to ease the transportation.

This project can be said to be tailor-made for William.

"I need some time to open up production and transportation channels." William agreed after thinking for a long time.

After the deal was done, William stood up and was about to leave.

"Don't you want to go to Sacramento to see your sister and brother?" Liang Yao called out to William.

"No, I feel relieved to have you taking care of them. Please say hello to them for me." William walked away without looking back.

Liang Yao seemed to understand why William’s relationship with his other brothers and sisters was not very harmonious.

Perhaps it would be more to William's liking if Elizabeth, Connie, and Washington stayed in the West.

(End of this chapter)