Chapter 9: Good News and Bad News

Repressing his excitement, Liang Yao excitedly picked out the gold particles of all sizes at the bottom of the washing trough and put them into a glass bottle.

Deng Yan and the Deng brothers were all smiling, changing the previous dull atmosphere.

After the washing trough was put into use, their gold panning efficiency increased greatly, and they no longer had to sift the gold bit by bit with a frying pan.

Instead, they poured the gold-rich ore soil and sand directly into the washing trough, and the flowing water washed away the lighter sand and soil, completing most of the screening work for them.

All they had to do was to find the gold particles deposited at the bottom of the uneven washing trough.

It was a pity that the blankets were now used to keep warm, and Liang Yao did not have extra blankets to pad the bottom of the washing trough as a collection pad, otherwise the gold panning efficiency could be improved to another level.

However, these were not problems, as the nearby Indians had furs. The Indians did not know the value of gold at first, and the white people often deceived them with cheap small items in exchange for their valuable specialties, including furs.

Over time, the Indians gradually learned to trade with gold. Even Sartre's Indian employees and slaves no longer accepted physical compensation, but demanded that their wages be settled in gold.

As long as there was gold, it was not difficult to exchange some furs from the Indians. If there were enough sales channels and connections, he could even do fur business and sell these things to Europe and Asia. But it was too early to consider these things now.

"Third brother, a full 158 ounces of gold! This is really a gold mountain! Gold is everywhere!"

As a large amount of gold was panned out of the ore soil and sand, Liang Yao's status in everyone's mind also rose.

They now believed more and more that as long as they listened to Liang Yao and followed Liang Yao wholeheartedly, they would have a steady supply of gold.

"Is there really so much? Third nephew, did you weigh it wrongly, and mistakenly weighed the sand as gold?"

Deng Yan was unbelievable about this result. They had worked hard for more than half a month before, and only panned out more than 130 ounces of gold. One hundred and fifty-eight ounces of gold were mined today. No matter how you think about it, it's just a dream.

Many people think this number is exaggerated. In fact, early gold miners could usually mint about ten ounces of gold a day or even more. This is also the culprit for the crazy prices in California. With more gold, it is naturally less valuable.

"No doubt, it's filled several bottles." Deng Wenyu patted his chest and assured Deng Yan, lowering his voice and saying ecstatically, "We've made a fortune!"

Deng Yan straightened the musket strap on his shoulder. They have now developed the habit of keeping their guns with them. Then Deng Yan slapped himself hard and grinned, "It's really not a dream."

"Congratulations to General Deng, congratulations to Mr. Liang, and congratulations to everyone for finding a way to make money."

Cai Mingsheng congratulated them.

Liang Yao asked Deng Wenyu to bring two glass bottles filled with fine gold, weighing a full forty ounces, and wrapped them in a piece of rag and stuffed them into Cai Mingsheng.

"Thank you, Uncle Cai, for your troubles these days."

"We are all from the same village, so why worry or not? This is all the credit of Mr. Liang. Mr. Liang is very talented and has the ability to turn stone into gold."

Cai Mingsheng waved his hand to indicate that he didn't need so much gold. After several refusals, he knew Liang Yao's temper and accepted the gold.

Cai Mingsheng had been working for them in Sacramento for most of the month and had no home, so he temporarily said goodbye to Liang Yao and returned to San Francisco. Before leaving, Liang Yao asked him to find some reliable craftsmen.

It is not a long-term solution for so many people to live in tents in the winter. Now that he has a certain income, Liang Yao decided to build a house here.

"Don't be happy too early. There was a lot of gold in the ore soil at the beginning, but the gold in the ore soil will only get less and less later. If we want to get rich, we have to use our brains to think of other ways." Liang Yao poured a basin of cold water on everyone.

The temporary success did not make Liang Yao dizzy and lose his mind. This income was far from his goal. In his opinion, the gold-mining method of the ore-washing trough is not efficient enough.

"I understand."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Third brother, now that we have gold, why don't we rent more land from Sartre? Before, we could only wash 20 to 30 buckets of ore a day, but now with this ore-washing trough, we can wash 700 to 800 buckets of ore a day. Find some craftsmen to make the ore-washing trough bigger, or make a few more ore-washing troughs, and it won't be difficult to wash thousands of buckets of ore a day." Deng Wenyu suggested.

"You are the only one who is smart! Doesn't Sartre know that there is gold in his own land? Will he give you all these lands?"

Deng Yan knocked on Deng Wenyu's forehead in annoyance. What Deng Yan said made sense. Sartre was short-sighted, but that didn't mean he was a fool.

"These things should be considered in the long run. Starting tonight, you brothers will learn to speak and write in the language of the foreigners."

Some time ago, they had to pan for gold day and night to survive. Now with the ore washing tank, they can save a lot of time.

After having a relatively stable path of primitive accumulation of capital, Liang Yao also has to start planning and build his own small business empire before the big financial groups in the east come to California.

Liang Yao wants to train his cousins ​​to become the core management of his future team. Illiterate people are difficult to be competent for those management positions, and it is difficult to deal with those foreigners if they do not know or write English.

"Foreigners' foreigners look like bean sprouts. They are all similar. I know them, but they don't know me."

Deng Wenkang, the youngest, wanted to quit.

"I'm a rough guy, you can learn the ghost guy's words and calligraphy, while I dig for gold."

"Good-for-nothing!" Deng Yan gave Deng Wenkang a hard kick. "You want to make a living here. If you don't know Gui Lao, how can you do it if you don't know Gui Lao's handwriting? Digging for gold, wait until the day when the gold is dug out. What should you do to support yourself?"

Deng Yandang felt that he was deeply inconvenienced because he could not read. Sometimes when official documents came from the superiors, he had to ask literate people to read them to him. Now he saw that Liang Yao was willing to teach the children of the Deng family to read and digitize, but the children of the Deng family were still unwilling to learn, which made him very angry.

"I want to learn too, count me in." Deng Yan took the lead in setting an example and expressed his willingness to learn.

"Fifth brother, if you want to study in a private school in Xiangshan, you have to submit to a private school teacher. Now that Brother Yao is willing to teach us how to read and digit, it is our blessing. Brother Yao's family has been a high official in the capital. If you want to You are a scholar at a young age and you are very knowledgeable."

Deng Wenkang's brother Deng Wenqi also advised Deng Wenkang.

"I'm willing to learn." Deng Wenkang could only nod his head and agreed.

"I want to learn too." Deng Ying, who was lighting the fire at the side, came over in disgrace when she heard their conversation and said timidly.

When Deng Yan was about to reprimand, Liang Yao stopped Deng Yan. Of course he knew what Deng Yan was going to say in this era of patriarchal attitudes.

"Yingmei is a female student who is willing to learn. If you guys don't learn, then you are no better than a female student." Liang Yao said with a smile.

Liang Yao's joy did not last for a few days. The San Francisco Mounted Police rode to Sacramento and brought very bad news to the miners who were panning for gold.

Recently, more than 40 deserters stationed in nearby military fortresses have fled their camps.

Logically speaking, this news is not surprising. In 1850, the salary of ordinary soldiers in the U.S. Army was a pitiful $6 per month.

As for joining the gold mining team, as long as you are not a super African sheikh, you can easily earn dozens or hundreds of dollars a day. With such a huge income gap, deserters are inevitable.

After the Mexican-American War, the U.S. government had at least 800 troops stationed at major military fortresses in California. Most of them are now gone.

Not to mention the garrison in California, there were also many deserters from neighboring Oregon and even from the eastern United States who came to California.

It's just that this time the deserters chose a simpler and cruder method of gold mining, that is, grabbing it directly. It's not as fast as grabbing it directly by panning for gold by yourself.

What's even worse is that officers were also involved. They stole a large amount of arms from the arsenal before escaping the fortress.

Ordinary gangsters are not scary, because most of them are loosely organized violent groups that will disperse when something goes wrong.

Obviously, these deserters were not ordinary gangsters. They were well-organized, had good military training, had actual combat experience in the U.S.-Mexico War, and were even led by professional officers.

Professional soldiers act like bandits, and dealing with loose gold diggers like them is a dimensionality reduction attack.

Many leaders of gold mining companies and hired gunmen have also served as soldiers, and many of them are officers with actual combat experience. For example, Captain Weber of the Boston Company next door was an experienced officer. The five or six gunmen they hired had either served in the armies of various countries or participated in actual combat as mercenaries.

But these people are scattered in different gold mining companies and organizations. They are just scattered sand on the side and cannot form much combat effectiveness.

"Those daring guys, guess what they did? They actually dared to attack San Francisco! They also ransacked many shops. Even our police chief was unfortunately shot! Fortunately, no vital parts were hurt! My God! These damn deserters should all be hanged.”

Since Liang Yao gave twenty ounces of gold to these mounted policemen running errands, these mounted policemen were also willing to reveal more details to Liang Yao. Of course, there is some exaggeration in it.

"Oh my God, take me to say hi to Chief Flagg and I will pray to God for a speedy recovery! California needs Chief Flagg and you honest police officers, without you , the security situation in California is unimaginable!”

Liang Yao said with a grief-stricken expression and tone, as if without Flagg and these mounted policemen, the entire California sky would collapse.

"Mr. Liang, I will take your words to Chief Flag. I believe he will be very happy to hear it."

Although Liang Yao's words were very exaggerated and disgusting, these mounted policemen were very useful.

"We are very poor and don't have anything good to give to Chief Flagg to thank him for everything he has done for us in California. We can only give Chief Flagg some gold to express our gratitude." Liang Yao reluctantly took it again. Take thirty ounces of gold and entrust these troopers to deliver it to Flagg.

Flagg's injuries are not serious and will not be life-threatening. California will not replace the police chief in the short term, and there will be no disadvantages in maintaining a good relationship with Flagg.