Chapter 611 Core Population

Chapter 604 Core Population

After reading the report submitted by Wu Yuanhua, Liang Yao was very satisfied with Oregon's development and achievements.

The Oregon population data provided by Wu Yuanhua is from last year, that is, in 1859. The three states on the West Coast are all states with large populations of immigrants, and a large number of new immigrants are pouring into the West Coast every day.

At the end of 1859, Oregon had a population of 730,000, and now that number is only higher.

"Strauss, how is the situation in Liangzhou?" Liang Yao put down the report on Oregon and looked at Strauss, who was sipping tea.

Liangzhou, the original Northern Oregon region, later Washington State. The name Liangzhou was given by western dignitaries to flatter Northern Oregon when it was first established as a state.

Earlier, the federal government did not officially recognize the state name Liangzhou, and it was referred to as Northern Oregon in official documents.

However, with the increasing rise of the West Coast region and the people in the east becoming accustomed to the state name Liangzhou, in the second year after Buchanan became president, the federal government officially accepted the state name.

"With Oregon State in front of it, Liangzhou's achievements are really lackluster and there is nothing to say."

Hearing Liang Yao call his name, Strauss hurriedly put down the tea cup and presented the report he had prepared. Strauss spoke Chinese quite fluently. If he didn't look at his face and just listened to his voice, Liang Yao would even feel that he was not a Jew but a Cantonese person talking to him.

Strauss's report is the same as Wu Yuanhua's. The data in the report are all from the end of 1859.

By the end of 1859, Oregon had a population of 520,000, of which 310,000 were young adults. In addition to the militiamen who had been incorporated into the 103rd Brigade, there were currently 3,600 registered reservists and militiamen.

Compared with Oregon, Liangzhou is not rich in mineral resources, and its agricultural conditions are not as good as Oregon.

Even so, Strauss still racked his brains and led Liangzhou to fight a bloody road.

Although Liangzhou's mineral resources are not as rich as Oregon's, Liangzhou's industrial capacity is stronger than Oregon's.

Liangzhou has large steel mills, shipyards, machinery manufacturing plants, and even arsenals. Liangzhou has a relatively complete industrial system, but its industrial strength and scale are far behind California.

In general, Liangzhou can be regarded as a small version of California.

In terms of agriculture, although Liangzhou is not currently able to export as much as Oregon and California, it can still be self-sufficient.

Liangzhou also has its own strong industry, which is the fur industry.

Liangzhou was developed relatively late, so Liangzhou has richer wildlife resources than California and Oregon. These wild animals include beavers, otters, foxes, bears, etc. The furs of these animals are excellent materials for making fur products.

In addition, because the population of Liangzhou is mainly concentrated near Puget Sound, Liangzhou, the capital of Liangzhou, is closer to other high-quality fur producing areas, such as Idaho Territory, Montana Territory, British Columbia, and Alaska. . Liangzhou City became the fur trade center on the west coast.

Unlike Oregon, which focuses on making beaver fur hats, Liangzhou makes almost all fur products.

Liangzhou's fur coats, woolen hats, top hats, fur earmuffs, gloves, satin, leather blankets, leather shoes, and leather boots are very popular. When the western military expanded last year, the western military purchased a large number of fur products from Liangzhou.

Liang Yao roughly estimated the current core population he can control: California has 2.8 million, Oregon has 730,000, and Liangzhou has 520,000. The combined population of these three states alone is 4.05 million. However, not all of these 4.05 million people are Han Chinese, 750,000 are immigrants from the east.

In addition, the areas east of the three states on the west coast, such as Nevada Territory, Utah Territory, Colorado Territory, and Platte Valley area, have a total of about 300,000 Han residents.

The northwest Mexican region occupied during the Second Mexican-American War also had about 200,000 Han Chinese and millions of Mexicans. There are also 30,000 to 40,000 Han Chinese living on the Hawaiian islands.

As for Borneo Island and Ezo Island (Hokkaido Island) controlled in the name of Umbrella Corporation, Liang Yao currently does not want these two overseas areas to be involved in civil war.

There is no other reason. Slavery was practiced in these two regions. Getting these two regions involved in civil war would easily bring unnecessary pressure from public opinion, negatively affect his image, and even cause political trouble. Moreover, these two regions are isolated overseas, far away from the mainland, and their economy and industry are not very developed. Even if they are involved in civil war, they will not be able to provide much help to Liang Yao.

By this calculation, excluding Mexicans, the core population he can effectively control in the entire western region is more than 4.6 million people. The population size is already equivalent to that of a medium-sized European country. In the early 1860s, Belgium's population was only between 4 million and 4.2 million.

Of course, there is still a big gap between this population size and that of the south and north. However, relying on the industrial strength accumulated by the West Coast region's ten years of industrialization at all costs and the natural dangers of the Rocky Mountains and Cordillera Mountains, even if diplomatic factors are not taken into account, the west may not be without the power to defend itself.

For the past ten years, he has done what he should do. What he needs to do next is to pay attention to the situation in the East, to use static to control dynamic, to win the greatest benefits for the West in the upcoming true founding war of the United States, and to protect and even expand the living space for the Chinese in North America.

In October 1860, on the eve of the election day, the entire United States seemed to be a bow that was stretched to the extreme. Before the election results came out, no one knew whether the bow would shoot the arrow or the bowstring would break before the arrow was shot.

People of insight from all walks of life in the United States have realized that the result of this most tense election since the founding of the United States will determine the future direction of the entire country and the fate of every citizen of this country.

At this moment, whether it is northerners, southerners, or westerners, they are all like gamblers sitting at the gambling table waiting for the results, waiting nervously for the results.

The election day for the sixteenth president of the United States was November 6, 1860.

In the weeks before the election, Lincoln learned from the lessons of his predecessor William Seward to avoid unnecessary mistakes due to excessive tension and irreparable losses. Lincoln, who has always been very active, chose to remain silent and said nothing at the last critical moment of the election.

Because Lincoln knew very well that any new remarks or repetitions of previous views at this time would lead to deliberate misinterpretations and attacks by competitors. Even though he was good at speeches and debates and was eloquent, he could not withstand the deliberate nitpicking of a group of competitors.

You know, his competitors Stephen Douglas, John Bell, John Breckinridge, John Fremont and others were also eloquent and not easy to deal with.