Chapter 345: City on the Oil Field

The decisive and tough attitude of the Ottoman Sultan Mejid surprised Menshikov.

Menshikov couldn't even believe that what he saw was real.

In his script, the plot should be like this: the tough diplomatic attitude of the Tsar's plenipotentiary envoy would frighten the weak Sultan and then succumb.

The final result would be that the Russian Empire would win without fighting, obtain the right to protect the Orthodox residents in the Ottoman Empire, and legitimately station troops in the Ottoman Empire.

Afterwards, the Russian Empire could slowly encroach on the territories along the dark coast of the Ottoman Empire, and even seize Constantinople, the former capital of the Eastern Roman Empire.

And he himself would return home with honors, receive rewards and medals from the Tsar, and become a hero of the Russian Empire, on par with his great-grandfather and Marshal Kutuzov, who led the Russian army to defeat Napoleon's army in the Patriotic War of 1812.

But reality did not follow the script that Menshikov had imagined.

Nicholas I firmly believed that Britain would stand on his side on the issue of the Near East because he had given the British enough sweetness.

Once Britain stood on his side, the attitudes of other powers on the European continent would be insignificant.

France was defeated by Russia. The failure of the anti-French war severely damaged France and has not yet fully recovered. As for Prussia, it is just a small country.

Not to mention the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In 1848, he had just helped the new emperor Franz Joseph to suppress the revolution in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This young man owed him a huge favor.

If the Austro-Hungarian Empire wanted to take sides, it would stand on his side.

Menshikov also believed in Nicholas I's views and believed in the Tsar's judgment.

Unexpectedly, he suffered a setback when he just came to the Ottoman Empire.

The Ottoman Sultan Mejid dared to be so tough in his attitude towards him. Where did his confidence come from?

After a while of thinking, Menshikov vaguely had the answer.

There must be a great power standing behind Mejid to support him, and the strength of this great power is very strong, at least not inferior to Russia.

Thinking of this, Menshikov couldn't help but feel a chill. There are only two such great powers in Europe, that is, Britain or France.

After thinking of this, Menshikov was still deceiving himself, and continued to deceive himself, thinking that this great power must be France.

If it is France that supports the Ottomans, then there is nothing to be afraid of, after all, France was once defeated by the Russian Empire.

That's right, it must be like this, it must be the French behind the scenes.

Thinking of this, Menshikov was relieved a lot.

His waist instantly hardened again, and he said to Mejid arrogantly: "Sultan, please don't forget that the French were once defeated by our Russian Empire. I advise you not to have too high expectations of the French. I will give you three days to think about it. Come to my battleship to find me when you think clearly!"

After speaking, Menshikov angrily waved his sleeves and left.

Menshikov returned to the Mosets frigate. He did not leave Constantinople immediately, but stayed there, waiting for Mejid to change his mind and respectfully invite him back to the palace.

But the result was not what Menshikov wished. Mejid had the British's support this time, and was not afraid of Menshikov's blackmail.

Three days later, Menshikov, who was ashamed and angry, had to leave Constantinople in disgrace.

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On the other side of the ocean, Liang Yao brought Lionel, James, August and others to Los Angeles.

In just three years, Los Angeles has undergone earth-shaking changes.

In 1850, the population of Los Angeles was only more than 1,600 people, and this was still due to the gold rush in San Francisco and Sacramento.

In 1852, the population of Los Angeles soared to more than 30,000 people, becoming the third city-level administrative unit in California after San Francisco and Sacramento.

This is the population counted in 1852. Now that 5 months have passed in 1853, Liang Yao estimates that the current population of Los Angeles is around 50,000, or even more.

The growth of Los Angeles' population is not due to the gold rush in San Francisco and Sacramento, nor is it due to forced immigration, but to the local oil industry that has attracted so many people.

When you get off the boat, you will see countless wooden oil derricks that are as dense as a jungle.

These wooden derricks extend from the Los Angeles beach to the inland.

Under the derricks, there are busy oil workers with red faces and happy smiles.

The exploitation of oil has also caused the lush forests near Los Angeles to disappear, and the price of local wood has risen more than tenfold in a year.

Many people even dug wells in their backyards, hoping that this black liquid would gush out from their backyards.

Once an oil well is dug, it means that the wealth of oil has been completely realized.

Los Angeles people also call this black liquid oil black gold, water gold, and liquid gold.

The discovery of oil also triggered a round of "gold rush" in Los Angeles.

As soon as he got ashore, the pungent smell hit him in the face and went straight into Liang Yao's mouth and nose.

Due to the rise of petrochemical industry in Los Angeles in 1852, the Los Angeles City Government, which was originally financially tight, suddenly became wealthy, and the original simple fishing village wharf was expanded.

Last year, due to the slow increase in gold production, the fiscal revenue of San Francisco, Sacramento, and even Nevada was not very optimistic.

Only Los Angeles went against the trend and became a new economic miracle in California.

After the expansion of the Los Angeles wharf, the entire wharf is much more spacious than before, and the supporting facilities are more complete.

Now the Los Angeles wharf can dock merchant ships with a displacement of 2,000 tons.

When Los Angeles Mayor Deng Wenshun heard that Liang Yao was coming, he greeted Liang Yao at the Los Angeles wharf early.

"Third brother, put on a mask, the smell here is strong."

Deng Wenshun handed Liang Yao and the guests who came to Los Angeles a snow-white cotton mask.

"You have gained a lot of weight recently. You are getting better and better in Los Angeles." Liang Yao patted Deng Wenshun's sturdy shoulders.

When they first came to California, the five brothers of the Deng family were malnourished like him, and they were barely able to work.

Now Deng Wenshun no longer looks malnourished.

"That's right. Recently, the gold industry in Nevada and Sacramento is not as prosperous as before. Now at least two to three thousand people flock to Los Angeles every month to ask for food. I can hardly accommodate them here." Deng Wenshun said with a smile.

In the past, he begged Liang Yao for people, hoping to become mayor as soon as possible. Now Liang Yao wants to send people to Los Angeles, I'm afraid he will have to think about it.

"Two to three thousand people every month? With so many people pouring in at once, can you maintain the situation in Los Angeles?"

The growth rate of immigrants in Los Angeles really surprised Liang Yao, which has caught up with the population growth rate of San Francisco at the time.

With so many immigrants pouring into Los Angeles, Liang Yao can't help but worry about the local security in Los Angeles.

"I am in charge of 500 to 600 militiamen in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Police Department also has more than 300 policemen, and there are about 800 brothers from the Loyalty Society, as well as three companies that my third brother dispatched here to guard the refinery. It is not a problem to rely on these people to maintain order in Los Angeles." Deng Wenshun answered confidently and calmly.

"Los Angeles is not like San Francisco and Sacramento. 90% of the people here are Chinese immigrants, and it is much easier to control them than the foreigners."

The original population base of Los Angeles was not large. When the state was established at the end of 1850, the population of Los Angeles was less than 2,000.

At that time, Sherman's massacre of the village also caused a sharp decline in the local Mexican population. Later, the immigrants in Los Angeles were mostly Chinese. Therefore, until now, the population of Los Angeles is still dominated by Chinese immigrants, accounting for about 90% of the total population.

In San Francisco and Sacramento, the proportion of Chinese population is about 40% to 50%.

The composition of immigrants is also what makes Los Angeles different from San Francisco and Sacramento.

Chinese immigrants are relatively honest. They traveled across the ocean to California just to have enough food and live a relatively decent life. Few of them cause trouble. Therefore, with the same population explosion, the current public security situation in Los Angeles is better than that in San Francisco.

Although it is not said that people do not pick up things on the road and do not lock their doors at night, at least it is not as outrageous as when Liang Yao first arrived in San Francisco, when gold diggers killed, robbed, dueled, and even burned down residents' houses on the street.

Of course, this is also related to the fact that Los Angeles has established relatively complete administrative and law enforcement agencies.

After hearing what Deng Wenshun said, Liang Yao also relaxed. He pointed at Lionel, James and others and said, "These are big capitalists from Europe. They are very interested in our kerosene. Take these distinguished guests to see how our kerosene is produced. If they are satisfied, we can get at least 1 million pounds of investment."

"1 million pounds?" Deng Wenshun took a breath, "No wonder I heard those foreigners say how good Europe is. They almost praised Europe as the Western Paradise. There are not many rich people in America, right? How many oil wells can be drilled and how many refineries can be built with 1 million pounds?"

"Stop talking nonsense and open their eyes." Liang Yao said.

"Gentlemen, please follow me."

Deng Wenshun straightened his collar and said to Lionel and James in fluent English.

While walking through the streets, James carefully glanced at the price of kerosene in the street shops and the shelves of the shops.

The price of kerosene in Los Angeles is shockingly low. The price of kerosene in several stores is generally between 10 cents and 13 cents per liter.

And the shelves are full of kerosene, and it seems that there is never a shortage of stock.

The cheapest store even sells it at an ultra-low price of 8 cents per liter.

Those who come to these stores to buy kerosene are not individual customers, but come to buy with freight wagons.

It can be seen that kerosene is abundant in Los Angeles.

"This is simply a city dedicated to the production of kerosene." James exclaimed.

He originally thought that Liang Yao was just going to take them to visit a factory, but he didn't expect Liang Yao to take him directly to visit a city.

Perhaps the kerosene production that Liang Yao provided to August was still conservative.

In fact, this is indeed the case. The California kerosene industry only appeared in Los Angeles last year, at the end of March 1852.

When Liang Yao discussed the kerosene business with August and Hills in the Chinese Teahouse of the Crystal Palace, he provided August with data from 1852.

In 1852, the annual kerosene production in Los Angeles was more than 8 million liters, which was less than 9 months of production to be more precise.

"In the future, the kerosene produced in this city will illuminate the nights of countless cities, making more cities like Paris and London, cities that never sleep." Liang Yao said confidently.