Chapter 482: California Is Booming, Oklahoma City Is Prosperous

"Great! Thank you, boss!" Connie said, rubbing his hands excitedly.

"The American Bank can cooperate with you, but the working class has limited ability to bear risks. You are not allowed to sell pre-sale houses in California, but only ready houses. Once I find out that you sell pre-sale houses in California, the consequences will not only be as simple as terminating cooperation." Liang Yao knocked on Connie.

"Pre-sale houses?"

Hearing this unfamiliar word, Connie was confused at first, but soon naturally associated it with futures. When he figured it out, he suddenly realized it and opened his eyes. He felt that his Ren and Du meridians were opened.

The boss is the boss after all. He is really a genius. Selling pre-sale houses, why didn't I think of it? It turns out that houses can be played like this.

"What are you thinking about, kid? Don't have any crooked ideas." Seeing Connie's imaginative look, Liang Yao knocked on the table and scolded.

"I think your Qing Dynasty merchants are really black-hearted. They dare to sell pre-sale houses." Connie laughed.

"You are scolding me in a roundabout way, right? Get out!" Liang Yao ordered Connie to get out of the car.

At the same time, he also realized that he was a little too suspicious and talkative. There is no such thing as pre-sale housing in America now.

"Get out now, get out now." Connie left Liang Yao's private car and came to his and Carnegie's car.

When Liang Yao traveled by special train, Connie usually lived in the same car with Carnegie.

"Senior, the boss has said that pre-sale housing is not allowed. The boss always keeps his word. Don't run into the boss's gun." Carnegie kindly reminded Connie when he saw that Connie was still excited.

"The boss only said that we can't sell in California, not in New York, Philadelphia, Boston and other places." Connie took a deep puff of cigarette and muttered to himself, "If we sell pre-sale housing, the capital turnover rate can be improved a lot."

Eugene City is a city developed on the basis of Eugene Village.

This city is currently the largest, most populous and most economically developed city in Oregon.

This means that the city is not the capital of Oregon.

The economic centers of American states generally do not overlap with the administrative centers. For example, the capital of New York is in Albany, the capital of Texas is in Austin, and the capital of California is in Sacramento.

The capital of Oregon is in Salem, north of Eugene. Salem is currently the third largest city in Oregon after Eugene and Portland.

The distribution of Chinese in Oregon is relatively regular.

The farther south and closer to California, the higher the proportion of Chinese.

Eugene has a population of nearly 130,000, which accounts for nearly half of the population of Oregon.

Among these 130,000 people, 100,000 are Chinese.

The proportion of Chinese in Eugene is also much higher than the average level in Oregon.

Chinese prefer to call Eugene "Oklahoma City". In the past two years, the name of Oklahoma City has appeared in major newspapers and even official documents more and more frequently.

According to the scheduled itinerary, Liang Yao will conduct a short inspection in Oklahoma City when passing through Oklahoma City.

Since it was a foregone conclusion that Thomas, the old mayor of Oklahoma City, would become the vice governor of Oregon, Thomas resigned from the mayor of Oklahoma City two weeks ago.

The people of Oklahoma City elected their new mayor.

The new mayor is an immigrant named Xu Zicai from Majiayan, Nankang Prefecture, Jiangxi Province.

Xu Zicai is an idol of many immigrants from Oregon and even California.

Unlike Wu Yuanhua, Pan Zhengwei and others. Xu Zicai is a pure grassroots immigrant.

The Taiping Army and the Hunan Army fought fiercely in Jiangxi, and the prefectures of Jiujiang, Nankang, Raozhou, Nanchang, Fuzhou, Guangxin and other prefectures in Jiangxi Province suffered from the war and were almost in ruins.

There were many local Jiangxi people who went to the Fujian-Guangdong trading ports to immigrate to California in order to make a living. Xu Zicai was one of the vast immigrants.

An atypical successful immigrant can often resonate with the public more than a typical successful immigrant.

Xu Zicai can be said to have stacked up the DEBUFF of a successful immigrant. Starting with zero assets, he is not an immigrant from Fujian, Guangdong or Zhejiang.

Where there are people, there are underworld, and where there are underworld, there are gangs.

The first batch of successful immigrants in California were represented by Guangzhou merchants, some Fujian merchants, and a few Zhejiang merchants.

These people immigrated to California with assets, and were also the focus of Liang Yao's early cultivation and support. It can be said that they took off directly on the vent.

This group of people are now rich and noble, and have become the top Chinese representatives in California.

The second batch of successful immigrants was mainly composed of immigrants before 1851. This group of immigrants mainly came from Guangdong and Fujian provinces. They barely enjoyed the benefits of the California gold rush. Some lucky ones also accumulated the first pot of gold at this time and became rich and joined the upper class.

This group of successful immigrants can be regarded as paving the way for their fellow countrymen. Therefore, the immigrants from Fujian, Guangdong and Zhejiang who came to California later can get some care, and the start is easier than immigrants from other regions.

This is also the reason why most immigrants who made their fortunes in California came from these three provinces.

Xu Zicai does not belong to either of these two typical successful immigrants.

In order to gain more room for advancement, in 1853, after Xu Zicai made his first fortune in Carson, Nevada, he brought his fellow villagers to Oregon to develop, and took a different approach, successfully becoming a member of Oregon's upper class and achieving a curve overtaking.

After hearing about Xu Zicai's success in Oklahoma City, immigrants from Jiangxi came to Oklahoma City to seek refuge with Xu Zicai. Therefore, the proportion of Jiangxi immigrants in Oklahoma City was very high. Seventy thousand of the 100,000 Chinese immigrants in Oklahoma City were from Jiangxi.

Xu Zicai was instantly famous, becoming one of the powerful men in Oklahoma City and the idol of countless immigrants.

As for the dark history of killing his fellow gold diggers in Carson on a dark and stormy night in order to monopolize the gold, creating an unsolved case, it will be buried forever in Xu Zicai's heart as a secret.

Ordinary immigrants may feel that the heights of Liang Yao, Wu Yuanhua, and Pan Zhengwei are out of reach and difficult to reach no matter how hard they try. But Xu Zicai's height is something they can achieve through hard work.

This time, it was the new mayor Xu Zicai who served as a tour guide to take Liang Yao to inspect Oklahoma City.

There were many reports about Xu Zicai in newspapers, and Liang Yao had also heard about this person.

But Xu Zicai's experience made Liang Yao feel that it was too smooth, thinking that Xu Zicai must be hiding something. concentrated

Especially Xu Zicai suddenly became very rich after returning from the Carson gold rush.

As someone who has experienced gold mining, he intuitively told him that there must be something fishy about Xu Zicai's experience, and Xu Zicai was by no means as honest as he claimed. His first pot of gold was most likely stained with blood.

Liang Yao is also a grassroots immigrant. Along the way, he has had a lot of blood to reach his current status.

From the blood of Brannan Brandon to the blood of Burnett Mason's regiment, from the blood of the Japanese to the blood of the Javanese Dutch, he had not missed a drop.

"Oregon is quite prosperous."

After leaving the train station and entering downtown Oklahoma City, Liang Yao said while observing the customs and customs of Oklahoma City.

The urban architecture of Oklahoma City is dominated by Chinese-style buildings, but a Spanish-style Catholic church and arcade-style city hall still remain in the city center. concentrated

If he hadn't known that this was Oregon, Liang Yao would not have doubted that he was wandering in the city of his homeland.

The streets of Oklahoma City are bustling with people, traders and pedestrians are passing through, and the market is very lively, which shows that its commerce is developed.

Even if Oklahoma City were placed in California, it would become the fourth largest city after San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Sacramento.

"With California's glory, California will prosper, and Oregon will also prosper." Xu Zicai's answer was very appropriate.

"Today you will guide me around Oklahoma City and introduce to me the situation in Oklahoma City." Liang Yao said with his hands behind his back.

"I wonder what aspects of the situation in the city the general wants to focus on? I can also make arrangements to satisfy the general." Xu Zicai asked.

"Economy." Liang Yao said without thinking. concentrated

He is a very utilitarian and vulgar person. He is not very interested in local customs and customs. What he wants to know most is the economic situation and industrial structure of Oklahoma City.

Oklahoma City is the most representative city in Oregon. As long as you understand Oklahoma City, you basically understand Oregon and the economic connections between Oregon and California.

"Then General, you have found the right person." Xu Zicai said with a smile, "General, please mount your horse."

Liang Yao nodded and mounted his horse, taking the accompanying people to visit the city.

Xu Zicai rode on his horse and led Liang Yao to the mines and smelters around Oucheng. He introduced them while visiting.

“Yocheng is very rich in resources, including iron ore, copper ore, and a large amount of coal.

Surrounding these natural resources, Oklahoma City has several relatively mature steel plants and copper smelting plants. concentrated

We have followed the successful experience of San Francisco and set up a special industrial zone. Although we are imitating others, the effect is remarkable.

This is the largest industrial park in Oregon, but I heard that Portland is also developing an industrial park, saying it will surpass Oklahoma City within three years and become the largest industrial city in Oregon.

Those bastards don't sell their fish and wood properly, and are always thinking about how to surpass our city. "

"Speak seriously." Liang Yao interrupted Xu Zicai.

Xu Zicai saw that Liang Yao didn't like competition within Oregon, so he returned to the topic wittily: "The copper, iron, and coal I just mentioned are the most important resources in Oklahoma City and our pillar industry.

Oklahoma City and Oregon cannot digest so much copper and iron. Most of this copper and iron is still sold to Sacramento and San Francisco by train, or goes into the arsenal to cast cannons, or goes into the factory in San Francisco to be made into various machinery, or Used to lay railroads.

The same goes for coal. We cannot digest much coal locally and most of it is sold to California. concentrated

This is why I say that only when California thrives can Oregon thrive. Without California, Oregon would not be able to develop on its own. "

After visiting the mines and smelters, Xu Zicai took Liang Yao to visit the lumber factory and woodware factory.

“Lumber is the most important industry in Oklahoma City besides the above-mentioned industries. The main purpose of these lumber is to make barrels and transport them to Los Angeles to fill oil for the oilmen in Los Angeles.

These woodwork factories originally made wine barrels, but the oil business in Los Angeles was so booming, and the oil guys paid more generously than the liquor dealers, that they rarely did the liquor dealers' business anymore.

Of course, Oklahoma City also has pastures, farms and vegetable gardens, but the profits from these industries do not account for the majority. "

"I heard that you also established a railway company three years ago?"

Liang Yao stood at the lumber factory on the mountainside, admiring the beautiful scenery of Oklahoma City and said casually. concentrated

"You mean the Oregon Railway Company? I took the lead in establishing it," Xu Zicai said.

"When the California Railroad Company built the railway to Oklahoma City, which was still called Eugene at that time, I thought there was a lot of potential in building railways, so I discussed with my fellow villagers and jointly established a railway company. The railways from Oklahoma City to the state capital Salem and from Salem to Portland were all built by the Oregon Railroad Company.

Speaking of these two railways, it was not easy to build them. At that time, we were poor in Oklahoma City and could not raise enough money to build railways. In the end, it was the Bank of America and the Bank of Boston that helped us.

We mortgaged our mines to the bank and got low-interest loans from the Bank of America and the Bank of Boston, so that we could build the railways."