Chapter 308: Rich Area

"Business? I do have a big business to discuss with you and the Bank of Bahrain." Liang Yao paused.

He wanted to sell kerosene to Europe, where he needed agents, and more than two agents.

The most important thing was that his kerosene agents needed to have a good influence in Europe, because the sale of kerosene would squeeze out the whale oil market.

The whaling industry in the West has a long history, and millions of people make a living from the whaling industry. Its influence cannot be underestimated. To move this piece of cake, Liang Yao must consider the pressure from these traditional industries.

At present, Liang Yao's kerosene has limited production capacity and is mainly sold in California, and there was no decent whaling industry in California before, so there was naturally no resistance.

But when the kerosene production increases and the kerosene is sold to Europe, these problems will gradually become prominent.

After all, what he is competing for is not a market of millions or tens of millions of dollars, but a market of hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars.

Furthermore, the Rothschild family and the Baring family not only have more connections in Europe than Liang Yao, but also in the eastern United States. They have considerable influence in various states, and perhaps they can also provide some help for Fillmore's re-election.

The Vanderbilt family has many properties in New York, but they only live in two places, one is the former residence on Staten Island, and the other is the wealthy villa area beside the Hudson River.

Perhaps it is not appropriate to use the villa area to describe this area of ​​New York's wealthy people, because it is more like a manor group than a villa.

But compared with the large manors of the southern slave owners that can easily reach thousands of acres and can't be seen at a glance, the manor group on the Hudson River seems a bit pocket-sized, ranging from tens of acres to hundreds of acres, and there are very few large manors of thousands of acres. After all, this is New York, and the land in New York has always been very valuable.

Liang Yao came to the Vanderbilt family's manor on the Hudson River. Speaking of which, he is still a neighbor of Vanderbilt in New York.

When Liang Yao first came to New York two years ago, he bought a piece of land next to Vanderbilt's manor to build a manor. Now most of the main buildings of the manor have been completed and can barely be moved in.

Liang Yao came to Vanderbilt's manor with gifts. Liang Yao lived in Vanderbilt's manor for a period of time two years ago. The manor's housekeeper also knew Liang Yao and quickly informed the owner of the manor of Liang Yao's visit.

Vanderbilt was not in the manor today. The one who came out to greet Liang Yao was the mistress of the manor, Sophia Johnson Vanderbilt, who was Vanderbilt's wife.

Sophia's surname Vanderbilt was not changed to follow the custom of her husband's family after marrying Vanderbilt, but she was originally named Vanderbilt.

Before marrying Vanderbilt, Sophia, who was one year younger than Vanderbilt, was Vanderbilt's cousin.

Connie's congenital epilepsy was caused by the close relatives of the two. In addition to Connie, their youngest son Washington seemed to have some hearing problems in his right ear.

Fortunately, except for Coney and Washington, the other children of the Vanderbilt family are still healthy.

Sophia has the virtues of hard work and thrift of the Vanderbilt family women, although their family is already one of the richest families in America.

Usually in the manor, Sophia is still dressed like an ordinary housewife, wearing a simple headscarf on her head, and it seems that she just came out of the kitchen, with an oily apron tied around her waist.

"It turns out that our neighbors are here, please come in."

When Sophia speaks English, she still has a hint of Dutch Lowland accent.

This is related to her early years living in the Dutch settlement on Staten Island. As an immigrant city, people who come to New York often like to live with their fellow countrymen.

The Dutch like to live in the same area with the Dutch, the English like to live in the same area with the English, and the French like to live in the same area with the French.

However, after one or two generations, the wealth gap and social status of immigrants gradually widened, and this way of living together based on race was eventually broken by class.

By the time of Connie's generation, Liang Yao could hardly find any trace of the Dutch imprint in them.

"Mrs. Vanderbilt, this is a gift I prepared for you. I hope you will accept it."

Liang Yao asked Connie to present the gift box.

"Thank you, you are so polite." Sophia accepted Liang Yao's gift with a smile.

"General!"

Vanderbilt's youngest son Washington saluted Liang Yao in a proper manner, which made Liang Yao feel amused.

Liang Yao had to return a military salute to the 13- or 14-year-old boy and let him put his hand down.

It had only been a few days since he was officially appointed as a brigadier general by Fillmore, and everyone in the eastern region had already known about it.

"General, I have heard about your heroic deeds. I want to become a soldier in the California Infantry Regiment and serve you." Washington said very seriously.

"It's a pity that you are not yet old enough to serve in the military." Liang Yao said, touching the red hair on Washington's head.

Washington was more lively and clever than the taciturn William, and more obedient and sensible than the trouble-making and idle Connie in New York.

No wonder Vanderbilt favored Washington among his three sons.

"I can apply for West Point first, where the age requirement is more relaxed," Washington replied.

Although he is still young, he already has a clear plan for his life.

At this point, the expression on Washington's face became a little frustrated: "It's just that I don't know if West Point Military Academy will want a deaf person with a little difficulty in hearing. My classmates said that the Military Academy will not want a disabled person."

Hearing deficiency makes Washington feel inferior among his peers. Of course, this is the only place where Washington feels inferior.

Liang Yao took off the saber from his waist, squatted down and handed the saber to Washington's hand: "Don't believe those nonsense from your classmates. When I was a colonel, my colleagues often laughed at my age and race. When your When your classmates tease you about your physical defects, it only means that they are jealous of you. "

"What you said makes perfect sense." Hearing what Liang Yao said, Washington was immediately relieved. He happily accepted the sword presented by Liang Yao, then looked at Elizabeth Yin behind him, then at Liang Yao and said.

"My sister has not seen you for so long. She must miss you very much. I won't disturb the tryst between the two of you. My father and eldest brother went to Broad Street and I'm afraid they won't be back until later."

"George, what are you talking about, you nuisance?" Elizabeth Yin, who was behind Washington, said angrily. She was about to reach out and grab Washington's ears, but Washington had already disappeared out of sight.