Chapter 299: Mixed Feelings and Joys

Just as the whole of America was rejoicing over the successful expedition of the American army to Japan, forcing the Tokugawa shogunate to open the country, Liang Yao's fleet had just arrived in Hawaii.

After arriving in Hawaii, there was only the last 4,000 kilometers of sailing left to California.

Alexander, the nephew of Hawaiian King Kamehameha III, disembarked at Pearl Harbor and invited Liang Yao to the palace for dinner.

It was called a palace, but in fact it was just a slightly larger manor, not as good as Liang Yao's Tingtao Garden in San Francisco.

The Kingdom of Hawaii originally had a decent palace, but it was looted and burned by the French army that invaded Hawaii in 1850.

Kamehameha III wanted to renovate the palace, but the French indemnity had not been paid off, and the Hawaiian Kingdom was in financial difficulties, so there was no way to talk about renovating the palace.

Hearing that the United States defeated tens of thousands of shogunate troops in just one day and approached the Edo Castle in Japan, Kamehameha III and Liang Yao spoke in a more respectful tone during the dinner. Or it could be said to be fear.

Kamehameha III did not want the US military to land in Hawaii like the French army three years ago, plunder his palace, and steal his private yacht.

Japan, which is farther away from the mainland of the United States, has a wider territory, a larger population and a larger army, was unable to resist the American army, not to mention the tiny Hawaii.

Liang Yao did not stay in Hawaii for too long. After replenishing coal in Pearl Harbor, the fleet rushed to San Francisco in a hurry.

After more than half a year, Liang Yao finally returned to California, which he had been away from for a long time, and set foot on this long-lost land, but the air here was more polluted than when he left.

San Francisco has changed a lot. Many swamps and wastelands near Jinshan Bay have become small settlements composed of log houses or even brick houses.

Even the city of San Francisco was undergoing massive construction. Many emergency shacks were demolished and replaced with more solid brick houses.

There were obviously many more buildings above three floors than when Liang Yao left San Francisco.

At the port of San Francisco, citizens spontaneously flocked to the port to welcome the heroes returning from the expedition to Japan, heroes belonging to California, and heroes belonging to them.

Liang Yao stood on the front deck of the Roland, took off his hat and waved to the crowd on the dock.

Cheers echoed throughout the Jinshan Bay, and people waved the California Bear Flag vigorously. Thousands of bear flags of different sizes fluttered in the wind.

"Long live California!"

"Long live the colonel!"

"Glory to California!"

Liang Yao stepped off the Roland amid the cheers of the people of California. The officers and soldiers of the expeditionary force entered the city with their heads held high, welcomed by the people.

After showing his face on the shore, Liang Yao, who was exhausted, did not choose to return to Tingtao Garden to rest, but went directly to the City Hall of San Francisco.

The architectural style of San Francisco is unique among many American cities.

The Western-style buildings and Chinese-style buildings in the city complement each other, and the City Hall in the center of the main city is a model of the combination of Chinese and Western styles.

The main body of the City Hall is a marble-structured arcade-style building, a typical Western-style city hall, and in front of the City Hall stands a pair of towering huabiao and majestic stone lions.

Even the surface of the columns supporting the arcade is engraved with cloud patterns and coiled dragons.

The City Hall area is divided into three parts, namely the office area of ​​the municipal management agency, the conference hall for meetings, and the rest area for office staff and citizens to rest.

The rest area used to be an empty wasteland. Now there is a large fountain in the center of the rest area, and the outer periphery is a Chinese-style corridor and pavilion for cooling off, and even a rockery.

The more Liang Yao looked at the layout of the rest area, the more familiar it seemed to him. Soon, Liang Yao realized that the rest area was built according to the layout of his own manor.

After passing through the rest area, Liang Yao went straight to the conference hall, where the California politicians had been waiting for him.

Before Liang Yao could speak, Minister of Education Pearlman complained to him.

"Mr. Speaker, you are finally back. The teachers and staff of the state schools have not received their salaries for two months. If it is delayed any further, they will not just turn over the table in my office, but will probably go on strike. The free meals for the children will soon be out of stock."

Minister of Industry Fell was not to be outdone. "Two subsidies to related industrial and mining enterprises have not been paid. The business owners either block my office every day to ask for explanations or squat at my door waiting for me to go home, making me afraid to even go home."

Minister of Agriculture Chen Baoliang continued to follow up with "Subsidies to farmers and farmers for agricultural tools, free seeds, and water conservancy facilities have also had to be temporarily suspended due to funding issues. Farmers and farmers are now very dissatisfied."

Robinson sighed and reminded Liang Yaodao that "government employees' salaries have not been paid for two months."

Everyone was complaining. Although each department had its own difficulties, so many difficulties ultimately came down to the same reason: the California government had no money.

Liang Yao was also quite surprised when he learned in Xiangshan that the California government had no money. In 1851, the California state government's fiscal revenue was still $4,788,752, and the surplus reached an astonishing $2,145,015. Unexpectedly, a fiscal deficit appeared a year later, and the situation did not look optimistic.

"Minister of Finance, where is last year's fiscal report?" Liang Yao looked at Minister of Finance Deng Wenyu.

Deng Wenyu timidly handed over the financial report that had been prepared long ago.

The noisy quarrels in the conference hall disturbed Liang Yao. Liang Yao knocked on the table heavily to signal everyone to be quiet, and then he buried his head in carefully checking California's 1852 financial report.

After carefully checking the 1852 financial report, Liang Yao quickly found the crux of the problem.

He and all California politicians were too optimistic about California's financial situation.

At the beginning of 1852, the Ministry of Finance expected that the fiscal revenue in 1852 would reach at least 7 million US dollars.

As a result, it was discovered at the end of the year that not only did it reach 7 million US dollars, but it did not even reach 6 million US dollars.

California's fiscal revenue in 1852 was only 5.13 million US dollars, which was a very limited increase compared to the fiscal revenue of 4.78 million in 1851.

The revenue did not increase much, but the expenditure increased.

Compulsory education subsidies, industrial and agricultural subsidies, technical immigration subsidies, government employee salaries, infrastructure construction, and a $5 million land purchase loan in Nevada, etc., all of which are considerable expenses.

Some of these expenses were not in 1851, such as compulsory education subsidies, and the loan for purchasing Nevada was also repaid from 1852.

In addition, the fiscal expenditures that had already been in 1851 were not reduced in 1852, and the amount of expenditure was even greater.

For example, in terms of technical immigration subsidies, Liang Yao himself made mistakes in this regard.

In 1850, the number of technical immigrants was less than 1,000, most of whom were employees of the American Group. In 1851, with the rise of the California Coal and Steel Union and the California railway industry, this number soared to 3,500.

At the beginning of the year, Liang Yao estimated that the number of technical immigrants in 1852 would reach about 8,000, but in reality, Liang Yao was still a little conservative.

The number of technical immigrants in California in 1852 reached an astonishing 15,000, nearly twice what Liang Yao expected.

In fact, the skilled immigrants in California are mainly industrial workers, and their main source before was the northeastern United States.

In 1852, the main force of skilled immigrants was not from the eastern United States, but from Europe, mainly British and French immigrants.

There are many reasons for these European immigrants to flock to California. At this time, the United States was gradually emerging from the global economic crisis in the mid-19th century due to the discovery of gold mines in California and the booming railway industry, and the economy resumed rapid growth.

In contrast, the old powers in Western Europe, mainly Britain and France, are still shrouded in the shadow of the economic crisis. There are constant strikes in the country and the political situation is turbulent. Napoleon III even openly proclaimed himself emperor in December last year and restored the French Empire, which shocked the entire Western world.

Once the global economic crisis spreads and is not resolved in time, it is easy to lead to a war. After all, politicians know that war is the most effective medicine to save the economy, but this medicine is a bit labor-intensive.

At this time, Britain and France were already expanding their armies and preparing for war, preparing to solve the Crimea issue and prevent the westward and southward expansion of Tsarist Russia.

In 1851, the number of British troops was 200,000 and the number of French troops was 400,000. By 1853, the number of British troops reached 236,000 and the number of French troops reached 447,000.

Of course, Tsarist Russia was even more powerful, with the number of Russian troops soaring from 560,000 in 1851 to 1.11 million in 1853.

At the same time, the number of American troops, including the navy, was at most more than 20,000 regular troops, not even a fraction of them.

Many immigrants who fled Europe and poured into California, in addition to the purpose of panning for gold and getting rich, also had the idea of ​​avoiding military service and staying away from war.

Every time a war broke out in Europe, the number of American immigrants would surge. Europeans of this era liked to run to America when they were not doing well in Europe, and regarded America as a safe haven.

The increase in European immigrants is also a good thing for Liang Yao, at least it can dilute the influence of some immigrants from eastern America in California.

Of course, the premise is that California can successfully absorb these immigrants, otherwise these immigrant dividends will become a burden. Only immigrants who can pay taxes can create value for California.

According to the data from the Statistics Bureau, the total population of California has now reached 510,000. How to settle and absorb these people and keep California's economy growing rapidly is a very severe test for the California government.

California's prosperity is based on the policy of light taxes and huge financial subsidies. While enjoying rapid economic growth, it is inevitable to bear some costs.

The peaceful years of some people are always based on the burden of others.

At present, the financial burden for California is the financial burden of the California state government, and California's financial tax revenue is mainly contributed by gold mine owners and the vast number of gold diggers.

It has been five years since the gold rush in 1848. Basically, the rich mines that are easy to find and have low mining costs have been mined.

The gold mining industry in California also has periodic bottlenecks.

After the gold in San Francisco was almost mined, the gold diggers turned to the banks of the American River near Sacramento. After the gold on both sides of the American River was almost mined, people built dams to force the American River to change its course and mined the gold under the riverbed.

The gold in the American River has been almost mined, and a large gold-producing area has been discovered in Nevada. Many gold diggers have picked up their tools and bags and rushed to Nevada to pan for gold.

Now, the output of existing gold-producing areas has stabilized, and no new large-scale rich mining areas have been discovered for the time being. California's gold mining industry has encountered a bottleneck again.

Liang Yao knows that this is not a problem of California's gold reserves. California's gold reserves are enough for Californians to dig for more than a century.

The problem lies in the level of gold mining technology and exploration capabilities. With the current level of technology and exploration capabilities, California gold diggers can only explore gold mining areas that are easier to find and extract gold from the shallow surface.

This is the disadvantage of a single industrial structure and over-reliance on a single industry to boost the economy.

At present, gold mining is a pillar industry in California, contributing about 80% of the California government's tax revenue. Once the development of this industry encounters a bottleneck, the blow to California's finances will be catastrophic.

"As of now, the California state government has a deficit of 3.7 million US dollars. If it is not solved, the California state government will go bankrupt this year. Let's brainstorm and speak directly if you have any ideas." Liang Yao closed the financial report and said.

He wanted to hear the opinions of these California politicians.

"Maybe we can ask the California Customs Department for help? I heard that the Customs Department had a considerable income last year. If they are willing to lend a hand, our life will be much better." Deng Wenyu thought for a while and said.

"What a bad idea, no."

This unrealistic idea was quickly rejected by Liang Yao. In California, tariff revenue is the second largest tax after gold mining revenue.

But this is federal government money. Is it so easy to get federal government money?

The relationship between California and the federal government is still harmonious because the federal government can smoothly receive tariffs in California.

If you touch the federal government's tariffs, the poor ghosts of the federal government will fight you to the death. Maybe they will support new consortiums to enter California and replace them.

Not only Liang Yao does not want this to happen, but everyone who is doing it must not want to see such a result.

Although Liang Yao has some soldiers, his current strength is not strong enough to compete with the federal government. The federal government should take the tariffs.

"Let the gold miners and gold diggers suffer more and raise the gold tax rate?" Minister of Education Pierman proposed.

"California's gold tax is already very high! It must not be increased further!" The Minister of Industry was the first to jump out to oppose. Pierman himself is not engaged in the gold mining industry. It is obvious that he is talking without any pain when he says this. He does not understand the current situation of the gold mining industry.

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"In the past two years, gold miners and gold diggers have been the absolute major taxpayers in California. They have contributed a lot to California. If the tax is further increased, it will cause incalculable consequences.

Moreover, the reason why California's population can grow rapidly is that people firmly believe that they can get rich by panning for gold in California and can see the hope of changing their lives in California.

Every time we increase taxes by one cent, the hope of gold diggers will be reduced by one cent. This is an act of drinking poison to quench thirst. I firmly oppose raising the gold tax!"