Chapter 42: Loyalty Society and Legion

It only takes seven hours to reach San Francisco by going west along the American River along the Sacramento Riverbank.

But going upstream from San Francisco to Sacramento, even if you take a steamboat, it takes sixteen or seventeen hours, or even longer.

There are endless steamboats and schooners on the American River. This inland route connects the two most important cities in California: San Francisco and Sacramento, greatly improving the efficiency of personnel and material exchanges between the two places.

The American River is 9 meters deep and is a navigable river. However, the river is not wide enough, with an average width of less than 20 meters, and the transportation capacity is limited.

If you want to further improve transportation efficiency, you still need to build roads and railways, especially railways!

"You took away the two best steamships in my fleet. Now my fleet only has five small sailboats of 300 to 400 tons and a broken and small paddle steamer! Where is the 1,000-ton steamship you promised me?"

The Sacramento arrived in San Francisco, and Liang Yao disembarked at the riverside pier in San Francisco.

Sven buzzed in Liang Yao's ear like a fly.

"Captain Sven, Mr. Vanderbilt will arrive in San Francisco within two days, and there will be news about your ship soon."

Strauss sent the noisy Sven away for Liang Yao.

On the riverside pier, Deng Wenshun and more than 30 members of the Loyalty Society wearing black Zhongshan suits and California black bear badges on their left chests were waiting on the riverbank.

Behind them were more than a dozen new members who had just passed the review and were preparing for the initiation ceremony.

After eliminating the remnants of Brannan, Liang Yao carried out a large-scale expansion of the Loyalty Society in order to effectively control San Francisco.

The initial members of the Loyalty Society were only Liang Yao and his five cousins. Even if the witness Deng Yan was counted, there were only seven people, and the hierarchy was not very strict.

After a new round of expansion, the Loyalty Society has developed into a large organization with 680 members.

The formal members of the organization wear black or gray Zhongshan suits.

If you want to further distinguish their status in the society, you can tell by the badge they wear on their left chest.

Those wearing the copper black bear badge are trainee members who have not yet officially joined the society. They have the lowest status and the lowest salary in the society, with a monthly salary of only 6 ounces of gold.

Although the monthly salary of 6 ounces of gold looks a lot, this is in California, where prices are exaggerating. If you want to live a decent life in California, you need a job with a monthly salary of at least 20 ounces.

Of course, considering that the Loyalty Society takes care of the food and accommodation of its members, you can have an income of 6 ounces of gold per month to cope with other trivial expenses, and you can live a life of food and clothing in California.

The main reason is that they can see hope in the Loyalty Society. Once they are promoted to become formal members, their monthly salary will reach 12 ounces of gold, and they will receive a silver black bear medal that only formal members of the Loyalty Society are eligible to wear.

The Loyalty Society provides food and accommodation. If they earn 12 ounces of gold every month, they can save a lot of gold in a year to send back to their hometown, buy a house and land in their hometown, and support their son's education.

However, this is the idea of ​​people with no future. People with future have already sent a message back to let their relatives and friends come to the United States to pan for gold, so that they can have someone to rely on.

Going up is the senior congregant who earns 20 ounces of gold per month and wears a gold black bear badge, also called Zhitang. To put it bluntly, they are the grassroots leaders of the Loyalty Society. It is also the ultimate goal of most people.

The more ambitious ones are to become middle and senior members of the Loyalty Society.

The middle and senior members do not wear black bear badges, but better-looking and more refined dragon head badges.

It is also divided into three types according to different levels: gold, silver and bronze. It is a supreme honor to be qualified to wear the dragon head badge.

As long as you wear the dragon head badge, you are eligible to participate in the dividends of Xiangshan Gold Mining Company, which is currently the largest gold mining company in California. As for how much income they can earn, it is not something that ordinary members like them can know.

Currently, only the five brothers of the Deng family, the legion leader, several clan leaders who follow the lead of the big dragon head, and the four foreigners who are extremely trusted by the big dragon head are qualified to wear the dragon head badge.

The legion leader is the big dragon head's second uncle Deng Yan, who manages a 150-man guard team for the big dragon head, also called the legion.

Becoming a member of the legion is another way to make a fortune, but the legion members have extremely high requirements for physical fitness. Of course, being able to read and be proficient in using muskets can be a plus.

The members of the legion not only manage their own food and accommodation, but also the food and accommodation of their immediate family members. The salary is also higher than that of ordinary members of the Loyalty Society. The salary of ordinary legion members is 18 ounces of gold per month, which is only slightly lower than that of senior members of the Loyalty Society.

But everything has a price. Not only are the members of the Corps strictly managed, but they also have to be trained by two foreign coaches every day. They either march or shoot guns. Life is very hard.

Of course, both the Loyalty Society and the Corps serve one person!

That is the big dragon head who just stepped off the steamer and wore a golden dragon head badge on his chest!

He is the one who has the final say in the Loyalty Society and the Corps.

The Chinese can hold their heads high in California and are not bullied by foreign devils. It is all thanks to this big dragon head. Even the foreign sheriff has to say hello to the big dragon head politely when he sees him.

Since Brannan's death, the situation in California has changed. It's not that the Chinese are afraid of foreigners, but that foreigners are afraid of them!

Why? It's because of the Big Dragon! The Big Dragon is now the richest and most powerful person in California!

"Hello, Big Dragon!"

On the riverside pier in San Francisco, dozens of members of the Loyalty Society shouted from the bottom of their hearts.

"Hello, brothers!"

Liang Yao raised his hand in response, indicating the start of the initiation ceremony for new members.

The incense table and the statue of Guan Gong had already been placed on the pier. Liang Yao took the lead in offering incense to Guan Gong and kowtowed.

The new and old members of the Loyalty Society followed closely. Although the two old Russian new members did not understand and did not know which oriental god was placed on the table, they also kowtowed in imitation, but the action looked funny.

The two old Russians believed in the Orthodox Church, but in front of gold, faith was no longer important.

After believing in God for so many years, they still haven't seen God bless them to get rich. As long as they kowtow to the unknown oriental god in front of them, they can join the Loyalty Society and live a life of superiority. No matter whether it is the Americans, Irish or Mexicans, they dare not oppress them anymore.

After worshipping Guan Gong, there is a ceremony of cutting the braids to show their determination. The old members cut the braids of the new members.

When it was the turn of the two old Russians, the old members were in a dilemma. One of the two old Russians was bald and the other was bald. There was nothing to cut.

In the end, the old members holding the scissors focused their eyes on the thick beards of the two old Russians. If they had no hair, they could cut their beards. Anyway, they would cut hair.

After the fifteen new members had their braids cut, Liang Yao felt that they looked much better. The big braids of the Zhongshan suit looked awkward no matter how they looked at it.

Deng Wenshun walked to Liang Yao with the newly cast black bear bronze badge and asked Liang Yao to award the badge to the new members.

Liang Yao put the numbered black bear bronze badges on the new members one by one in order.

"Wen Shun, the Loyalty Society needs to set up new halls in Los Angeles and Tijuana. You will be in charge of the new hall in Los Angeles."

Los Angeles will be the second largest city in the United States after New York in the future. It is the cultural industry center of the United States and the world. Hollywood, Disney, Universal and other industrial groups representing American cultural symbols are all located in Los Angeles.

History has proved that Los Angeles has the same development potential as San Francisco.

However, Los Angeles is now just a small town with only 1,500 people, or a village. He needs to control Los Angeles as soon as possible.

As for Tijuana, it is a small border town on the US-Mexico border in Baja California.

At present, Canada is still a colony of Britain. The focus of the British Empire's development in Canada is the Hudson Bay region in southeastern Canada. Western Canada is a wilderness with few colonial outposts.

The Pacific Railway is still nowhere to be seen. Vanderbilt is working on opening a route from the eastern United States-Nicaragua-California. It is still under development and has not yet been opened to navigation.

Liang Yao wanted to trade with foreign countries and obtain necessities that could not be produced by himself for the time being. He could only choose Mexico and several countries on the Isthmus of Central America.

"What about Tijuana? Leave it all to the foreigners?"

Deng Wenshun asked.

"Wait for Wen Yao's contract with Sartre to expire, and send Wen Yao to Tijuana for training."

At the beginning, Deng Wen Yao was ill for more than half a month, and his employment contract with Sartre had not been terminated so early. Sartre was unwilling to let him go, so Liang Yao could only wait until their employment contract expired before sending Deng Wen Yao to Tijuana.

Liang Yao was indeed not very reassured that Tijuana was completely handed over to a Mexican Loyalist member.

San Francisco is now a melting pot of races. Everyone came here from all over the world for gold. In addition to Americans and Chinese, there are Russians, French, Australians, Peruvian Indians, Indian Brahmins, Japanese, Mexicans and Maori.

The Loyalists also absorbed many members of these ethnic groups. Of course, the majority were still Chinese.

Two steamboats of about 500 to 600 tons sounded shrill whistles and entered the port of San Francisco, as if in protest.

A white employee came to Liang Yao to report the situation. The employee spoke French. Strauss relayed the situation to Liang Yao with a complicated look.

"The fleet of the Eastern Consortium has arrived in San Francisco."

"Do you know which family they are from?"

Liang Yao frowned slightly. Wouldn't the Eastern Consortium arrive in San Francisco at the earliest by the end of the year?

It's only June now. How did they bypass Cape Horn in South America and reach San Francisco so quickly?

I remember that Vanderbilt's plan to dig a canal in Nicaragua to connect several water systems and lakes in Nicaragua was still on paper at that time.

Did these people from the Eastern Consortium fly over?