Chapter 75: The Arrival of the Eastern Consortium

After two years, the Pacific Mail Steamship Company's ships reappeared in California.

Aspinwall, the president of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company and the president of the New York Shipping Association, raised his monocular telescope and looked at the busy port of San Francisco not far away.

"I first came here in 1848. At that time, the war between the United States and Mexico had not ended, and there was no gold rush. The port city in front of me was just a small village, but now it has become a large city."

"My men told me that your nemesis Vanderbilt sold three large steamships to a Chinese named Liang Yao.

This is a dangerous signal. If the two of them cooperate, one is responsible for the route from the eastern United States to Nicaragua, and the other is responsible for the route from California to Nicaragua. They will be a strong competitor of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company."

The speaker is John Jacob Astor III.

At this time, the Astor family is the leading aristocrat in the United States, and is the absolute C position in the upper class of New York and even the whole of the United States. The most important banknote in the old New York banknote.

Although the founder of the family, Astor Sr., died of illness two years ago, the influence and status of the Astor family in America have not diminished. John's father, Astor Jr., took over the scepter from Lauster and continued the expansion of the Astor family.

The last words left by Astor Sr. to his descendants were to buy the most valuable land in all the big cities in America.

Although San Francisco is not a big city in America yet, Astor Jr. believes that there is gold there and San Francisco will soon become a big city in America.

Born in such a family, John can be said to be born with a golden key.

"If I compete fairly with that rude sailor, I admit that my Pacific Mail Steamship Company is not the opponent of that sailor.

But our Pacific Mail Steamship Company has a ten-year franchise for the Panama route granted by Congress and the government, and an annual order of $199,000 from the federal government. It is still unknown who will win.

As for the Chinese man named Liang Yao, I don't think he can make any waves in America." Aspinwall said with great confidence.

Unlike Vanderbilt, who started from scratch, the Pacific Mail Steamship Company was established with a capital injection of $400,000 from the New York State Senate.

When the Pacific Mail Steamship Company was first established, thanks to the influence of New York legislators, the company received a large mailing order from the government as soon as it was established.

Thanks to the strong support of the government, in just two years, the capital of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company expanded sharply from $400,000 to $2.2 million, becoming a truly large shipping company.

Aspinwall believes that with the company's monopoly on the routes from the eastern United States to California and even Oregon, the Pacific Mail Steamship Company will further develop and grow.

"Mr. Aspinwall, I think you are too confident. That commodore is not an easy character to deal with.

Back then, Livingston and Fulton also had the monopoly privilege of the Raritan River route granted by New York State, but didn't Vanderbilt tear a hole in it?" John said.

"I heard that your prospecting team's prospecting work in California was not going well?" Aspinwall led the topic from the sea to the land, and the two began to mock each other.

"It's not going well. The gold mining area near Sacramento and most of the real estate in San Francisco were bought by that guy named Liang Yao.

That rubbish Adal has brought me bad news. They haven't found a mining area with considerable gold reserves so far." John said with a frown.

"Liang Yao is this annoying guy again. He is a Chinese. He dares to get involved in gold and shipping at the same time when he is still young. What will he do in the future? It's unimaginable!"

After arriving in Panama, Aspinwall often heard the name Liang Yao. He is particularly disgusted with this name now.

It's okay for Vanderbilt to intervene in California's shipping. Liang Yao, a Chinese, dared to touch the cheese of shipping.

On this point, John and Aspinwall reached a consensus. One of them wanted to monopolize the shipping in California and even the entire west coast of the United States, and the other wanted the gold and real estate in California.

Now the largest gold producing area in California is controlled by Liang Yao, and the Global Shipping Company owns three large steamships purchased from Vanderbilt.

This is undoubtedly a huge threat to them.

"Perhaps he still doesn't understand that a big appetite can easily lead to death. It's time to teach him a lesson and let him know who is the real master of America! Don't think that you are an American just because you have become an American citizen." John said angrily.

"I heard that the main real estate in California, especially the gold producing areas in Sacramento, are all in his hands. He has the legal title deed from the Mexican government. I think this is a headache for you."

Aspinwall said with a hint of gloating, he was waiting to see the show.

The Astor family never suffers losses. He doesn't believe that John can swallow this breath and give up the existing gold producing areas in Sacramento, spending more time and more costs to find new mining areas.

The Astor family likes to pick the ripe fruits of other people's homes the most.

Aspinwall also hopes that John can take away Liang Yao's land, no matter how.

Shipping companies, especially those that mainly operate steamships, are money-eating monsters. Before they can obtain stable returns, the initial investment costs are very high.

The maintenance of ships, the fuel for steam turbines, the training costs and salaries of crew members, etc. are all huge expenses, which is why many shipping companies still use sailing ships as their main operating ships.

Because the maintenance cost of sails is cheaper than that of steamships, and no additional funds are required to purchase coal as fuel, these two items alone can save a lot of money.

This is crucial for those shipping companies that are just starting out and small and medium-sized shipping companies.

As for why the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, which has just been established for more than two years, can afford the maintenance costs of steamships and make huge profits.

The reason is also very simple. In addition to the New York consortium providing strong capital support for the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, they also have fixed government mail orders and the monopoly of navigation on lucrative routes.

With such a unique advantage, even if the management of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company is a group of fools, they can make the Pacific Mail Steamship Company bigger in a short period of time.

Liang Yao's Global Shipping Company spent a huge amount of money to purchase three steamships of more than 1,000 tons just after its start. Aspinwall had to admit that Liang Yao was very courageous.

But this courage has a price. If Aspinwall guessed correctly, Liang Yao's Global Shipping Company must be operating at a loss now.

And the losses of Global Shipping Company must be made up by Liang Yao's gold industry if nothing unexpected happens.

As long as John takes away Liang Yao's land, Liang Yao's gold industry will suffer a fatal blow.

Without Liang Yao's gold industry, Global Shipping Company is a golden eagle, but it is a golden eagle stripped of feathers and wings, and it can't fly even if it wants to.

There is only one ending waiting for Global Shipping Company, that is bankruptcy!

John laughed up to the sky when he heard this, as if he heard a particularly funny joke: "Headache? I don't have a headache at all. As long as Congress does not recognize that the Mexican government's land grant is legal, those lands buried with gold are no man's land!"