In a private mansion on Mason Avenue in San Francisco. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

A group of middle-aged men in their thirties dressed in suits made of high-end wool filled the air with the smoke of cigars mixed with the smell of whiskey.

Although they were gorgeously dressed, the manners of these men were so discordant, several of them drank and shouted loudly, and their mouths were slurred and spitting dirty words, and even a red-nosed guy ripped open the placket and unbuttoned the well-made white English muslin shirt, revealing a thick bronzed chest and the thick hair on it.

"Believe me, they will never do business with you, they will only earn every penny of your money, and then hide in a place where no one knows, even if they die, they will not even bury their bodies here!"

A curly-haired man, who had maintained a fairly decent description, gave a very serious speaker speech in an attempt to convince the audience.

But these spectators were clearly more interested in fine wine and cigars, or just staring at the waitress who occasionally came in to deliver wine.

A bearded guy spoke: "Hahaha, interesting. I can tell you that I am like this, and I will not be buried here when I die, do you have anything to say about that? Stanford! Do you want to say I'm a cancer in California, and if that's what you do, then I'm fine. ”

The man's words caused a burst of laughter.

Stanford was patient, quietly waiting for these people to finish laughing before he continued: "Carpenter, I know you employ a lot of Chinese, but have you thought about it, their government will definitely find you trouble." When you are approached by their consuls, how much more do you think you can get from the Chinese? They're going to make you have a lawsuit! ”

Carpenter didn't seem to be very happy: "Stanford, don't implicate us in your personal grudge with the Chinese." What about the railroad you promised, the main gate of the great American West that you promised? Also, let me remind you, my name is Carpentier. ”

Someone else laughed: "But when we met you, your name was Carpenter!" ”

Carpentier sneered, "Shut up, Hearst. Do you want to go to court too? ”

After saying the lawsuit, he looked back at Stanford defiantly.

Stanford raised his hand: "All right, Carpentier." I know you're a lawyer. But you should take a long-term view, join me, and vote to kick the Chinese out. Believe me, here they are, sooner or later, like locusts, eating up everything. ”

Carpentier was unmoved: "Then let them go to my mine and gnaw stones." ”

Everyone laughed together.

It's a bunch of California giants, it's their private club, it's something that's been popular since the East.

Carpentier and Stanford had some personal grudges in the past, because they were both local mining giants, and their peers were wronged peers, and it was inevitable that there would be stumbles, but the most important thing was that Carpentier did not have such a bad impression of the Chinese, and he liked to use those hard-working Chinese in his mines.

"What do you think, Hearst?"

Unable to convince Carpentier, a rich man and politician, Stanford turned to another, simpler guy, a lucky guy who started from scratch because he had landed a gold mine. The California Gold Rush is slowly receding, but the production of precious metals in California has not declined, because the gold and silver production here has changed from the gold panning of ordinary people to the large-scale mining of mining companies, and has entered the era of giants, and the poor ghosts have been out.

Hearst shook his head: "Don't mess with me, I didn't hire Chinese, it's no good to mess with them." ”

The behavior of the Daming Labor Export Company to protect the interests of expatriates in California makes these giants feel very strong and do not want to cause trouble, of course, unless there are enough benefits, the Chinese are not here, what do they care, and they are not poor Irish ghosts who want to grab food from the Chinese.

"You're going to regret it!"

Stanford's lobbying failed, he stood up, nodded, put on his hat in the Chamberlain, and turned to leave.

As soon as Stanford left, Hirst chatted with Carpentier: "It's really okay to hire Chinese, right?" ”

Carpentier sneered, "What can it be?" ”

Hearst wondered, "Can't you make it coolie?" It's illegal to hire coolies! ”

Carpentier said confidently: "Are there any coolies who have become American citizens?" ”

Carpentier was a lawyer, and he knew the consequences of hiring coolies, but if they pledged allegiance to the United States to the judges, they were Americans, and naturalization in the United States was so simple in this day and age that the formalities could be completed in any court in any small town, and the cost of bribing a junior judge was simply insignificant.

Hirst knew Carpentier's methods, Carpentier had always liked to be different, this was not a normal person, he was born in New York, his family was well-off, graduated from Columbia University, became a lawyer, but when the California Gold Rush broke out, he immediately ran to California and became one of the first lawyers here.

The poor devils who had come here to pan for gold with the dream of making a fortune fished the gold out of the river, and Carpentier set up a bank and minted the gold into gold coins, and in the end the golden sand was piled up in his vault.

But Carpentier was even more powerful in that he built a city and firmly controlled the city, which was called Auckland.

Hirst knew that Carpentier was in nearby Auckland, and that was the way it was in the West, where these rogue capitalists and railroad tycoons were the rulers.

But there is one thing he doesn't understand: "Carpentier, why do you think the Chinese government doesn't want their workers to join the well-paid mining industry?" Don't their governments want their people to get rich? ”

The Daming Labor Export Company, which is managed by the local consulate in various places, often directly represents the official.

Carpentier snorted coldly: "I have studied Chinese culture, this nation is a very low-key nation, this is the characteristic of the Eastern people, they are used to obedience, do not like to take risks, mining will kill people." ”

Hearst worried: "Do you think it will be like what Stanford said, the Chinese are colonizing California, and they have ambitions here!" ”

Carpentier snorted, "You go out for a walk and you can bump into a bunch of Italians, Irishmen, Scots, Germans and French, all of whom came to colonize?" You don't care what they want to do, they want land, there's a lot of land here. If they want to, I welcome them to go to Auckland to farm, as long as they pay taxes. ”

Hearst asked, "Are you really not working with Stanford?" The two of you have enough tickets combined. ”

On the surface, those congressmen hold the right to vote, but in fact they do not dare to vote at will, and the votes in their hands have long been bought by political brokers, and every big broker does not have a dozen or twenty votes in their hands, and with these votes, they can make money by selling the law.

Carpentier laughed: "If Stanford had built the railroad back then, I'm afraid he wouldn't have had to work with me." It's a pity that he fell out with the Chinese back then, who knows what happened between him, and he has been fighting with the Chinese all these years. He wants my ticket, and I want his mine. ”

Hearst sighed: "Yes, if the railroad had been built back then, our minerals would not have to take months to transport from here to New York, at most ten days." You say the Union Pacific Railroad can't get through those tunnels. You say that if Stanford had recruited enough Chinese workers, would it have been able to build this road? ”

Carpentier rolled his eyelids: "God knows!" ”

Because the two major railroad companies have collapsed in the Sierra Nevada, everyone thinks that this is an impenetrable field, and the local Indians even claim that it is impossible to cross the mountain, and after the construction of the railway in history, the Indians have blocked the railway, obviously they do not want to see such a monster that goes straight to both sides of the mountain.

Geographers and railway experts say that it can be built theoretically, but it will also be an engineering miracle. Historically, Britain has rated the Pacific Railway as one of the seven wonders of the world in the industrial age.

"You're talking about the Union Pacific Railroad? Don't you know that they built a bridge over the Mississippi River, and that would make their stock go up? ”

Another wave of people who gathered to chat heard the railroad and couldn't help but interject.

The same financial oligarchy, Mills, the most famous local banker, who made a fortune selling goods to gold diggers in California, immediately established the D.O. Mills Bank in Sacramento, and soon after partnered with Carpentier to establish the Bank of California in San Francisco, and overtook the local bank, Wells Fargo, to become the largest private bank in California.

"Are you interested in the Pacific Railroad?"

Carpentier heard something else from his partner's words, and it was clear that the two were all too familiar to be unaware of the other gold mining giants such as Hirst.

Mills smiled mysteriously, "I've heard that someone is interested in the Pacific Railroad. He was looking for someone to help him secretly buy the company's shares. ”

Mills had worked at the bank that released Cousin Rota's in South New York before setting up a bank in California, and it can be said that Mills was a banker who was always the first to hear from New York.

The news was important, but Carpentier wondered who would be interested in the railway. After being divided by the Sierra Nevada, the railroad can only operate separately on both sides, not connected to the ports of the western United States, there is no hope for this railroad, and who would invest money in this hopeless railway?

"Is the message accurate?"

Carpentier asked.

Mills nodded: "It should be accurate, because a friend asked me to help, and you know that there are some railroad shares that are still in the hands of Californians." For example, don't you have a batch of stocks in your hand? ”

Carpentier asked, "Will the stock go up?" ”

When the railroad was hot, he also bought shares in the Central Pacific Railroad founded by Stanford, but in the end, Stanford preemptively sold all his shares and betrayed them as investors, which is the reason why Carpentier and Stanford have a bad relationship. Because Stanford ran away on his own, they were all locked up, and finally the Union Pacific Railroad exchanged their Central Pacific Railroad shares for Union Pacific's, but they refused to give them cash, and those railroad stocks are still a piece of waste paper. Now that someone buys these stocks, he has to figure out whether the shares will go up before he can decide whether to sell them or not.

Mills didn't dare to guarantee: "The other party's bid is not high." It's just that the commission given is good, and I believe I'm very interested. ”

Carpentier wondered, "Did the Gould men do it?" ”

Gould and others were notorious speculators in New York, who were good at manipulating the shares of railroad companies, arbitraging money, and trapping many Americans, and even British, and now Gould's controlled Ellie Railroad has become a Wall Street slut, and no one dares to ask for it.

I can't be sure that someone like Gould will put his mind on the head of the Pacific Railroad. If this is the case, Carpentier thinks it's better not to play with them.

Mills shook his head: "Probably not, their agent in New York is Drexel Morgan Bank." ”

Morgan was able to grow because he did not engage in speculation and had good credit, so from the 1870s onwards, British investors often used Morgan as their agent, and they did not dare to invest unless it was a stock underwritten by Morgan and a company in which Morgan was a director.

This is the quality that Morgan Sr. cultivated for Morgan, who made a gold investment when he was young, and although he made millions of dollars, he was reprimanded by his father and told him not to make this kind of money.

After the bankruptcy of Jay Cook, which monopolized government bonds, the Drake-Sel-Morgan Partners in New York and the London-based Junius Morgan Company joined forces to promote U.S. bonds to British and American investors, making a lot of profits, replacing Jay Cook with a monopoly on government bond issuance.

If Morgan had been involved, Carpentier immediately thought, "Is it the British?" ”

Mills shook his head: "I don't know. Anyway, if you want to sell, just look for me. ”

The atmosphere in the club became serious, because more and more people joined the business discussion, and at the beginning, Stanford was fooled, and many California giants bought railroad stocks, so later Stanford ran away, which made everyone very dissatisfied with him, and to a certain extent, Stanford was squeezed out by these rogue giants.

Stanford knew his predicament, but if he hadn't done it, he would have gone bankrupt. And after he sold, he also told these people about the situation as soon as possible, and it was the Union Pacific Railroad that refused to buy it with cash, regardless of his Stanford affairs.

But these people hated him, and it was difficult for him to do it in the past few years.

"Stanford, long time no see!"

He had just walked up Mason Avenue and was about to get into the carriage, when he had a few friends who were going to meet for a while, when he was suddenly stopped by a familiar voice.

"Crowk!"

Stanford was surprised to see the man who was standing next to his carriage, as if he was waiting for him.

Crowk was one of the four giants of the Central Pacific Railroad and the legal counsel of the railroad.

But after the Central Pacific Road Company was merged by the Union Pacific Railroad, Crocker left the railroad company and accepted Chinese employment instead. Since the railway company was merged, the relationship between the original partners has been much weaker, and Clauk has been mixed with the Chinese, so Stanford has not contacted him in recent years, but he did not expect to meet here today.

Is it a coincidence?

Not like!

Stanford didn't speak, since the other party was waiting for him here, there must be something to find him, and he waited for the other party to say.

"Do you still want to build the Pacific Railroad?"

Crowk asked.

Stanford never expected this to be the question, and he didn't know how to answer it for a while.

Crocker smiled: "If you are still interested in building a railway, someone wants to invite you to be a partner, and everyone will join forces to take over the railway, and the other party is willing to nominate someone to continue as president." ”

Stanford suddenly understood: "The Chinese want the Pacific Railway!" ”

He exclaimed, his heart suddenly filled with resentment, he said that the Chinese had always had trouble with him in those years, and it turned out that the Chinese were interested in the railway in his hands.

The defeat on the Pacific Railroad dealt a great blow to Stanford's power, and it has not recovered to this day.

But Stanford is not a willful person, even if he doesn't like the Chinese, but it does not prevent him from cooperating with the Chinese, as long as it is profitable, what about doing business with the devil?

It's just that he can't understand why the Chinese suddenly want to cooperate with him now, which medicine is this selling?