The people attending the meeting rushed in and sat down.

A waiter dressed in white closed the door to the room after all the bosses had entered the room, blocking out other unrelated idlers.

The Governor walked over to the middle seat.

Chen Jianqiu found a chair furthest from the governor.

He pulled out a palm-sized comic book from his bosom and began to flip through it under the table.

This comic book was drawn by Astor Jr. based on his drawings and is said to have sold very well in New York.

When Chen Jianqiu returned from Europe and passed through New York. Little Astor said that he stuffed him with seven or eight copies.

He flipped through two or three of them on the train and found them surprisingly interesting.

Seeing that everyone was seated, the governor began today's topic.

He stood up straight, his butt not touching the chair from the moment he entered the room.

"Ladies and gentlemen, as I wrote to you, a strike of unprecedented scale will soon be in California."

The governor put his fingertips on the table and said in a sonorous voice.

"I don't want the trams to stop running in the city and a bunch of people take to the streets, holding signs!"

This sentence sets the tone first.

I am a politician, and stability is a priority.

"All of you here are also people who have made considerable contributions to the development of California, and you will also bear the brunt of the strike, which is why I informed you of this news in advance."

The second sentence reassured the businessmen present.

Many of these people provided significant financial support for the election of governors.

"So, I brought everyone together to give everyone an opportunity to discuss a plan together to properly solve the problem of the strike."

The governor looked around the room again.

He noticed that everyone was watching him, except for the Chinese at the very end of the table, who kept his head down.

This caused some discomfort to the governor, but it did not prevent him from continuing to speak.

"That's all I have to say, then, you can discuss it yourself."

With that, he walked straight out of the door of the room.

Come in a hurry, go in a hurry.

The merchants understood the governor's behavior.

The government, especially the state government, was reluctant to throw itself into the muddy waters of labor, which violated the norms of non-intervention of the government at that time.

After all, this is a matter between workers and capitalists.

If the government can be a referee, it will try to be a referee, and if it can, it will not be a referee.

Unless the fire actually burns on them.

The presence of the governor here already says a lot about things, and there is no need for more statements.

So, after the governor left, the venue began to get noisy.

Everyone was discussing this matter in groups, but they did not realize that the owner of the house, Jack Brannan, had quietly sat in the chair seat where the governor had just stood.

"Everyone, everyone, if you discuss like this, you can't get any results." He cleared his throat and said loudly, "Everyone, be quiet. ”

Only then did everyone turn their attention to him.

This "rich second generation" is in his thirties, with a boxy face, thin lips and pointed ears.

The merchants looked at him differently, but their expressions were basically the same.

It's basically like: Why are you sitting in that position?

"I'm the host, just everyone's recorder at the moment." As if he had read everyone's thoughts, Brannan said with a smile.

But his face soon changed.

"However, all the information about the strike, I told the governor."

As soon as this sentence came out, the expressions of the businessmen present changed.

It turned out that the governor was just a platform for this person, and he was the real convener of the meeting.

"I just think the workers are united, and if we don't unite, we won't be able to fight them." Brannan said seriously.

"You're not afraid of workers, are you? What year do these guys not make trouble? Which one was the last one to succeed? "One lumber mill owner was a little unimpressed.

"Do you have any good suggestions?" Brannan asked, placing his fingers crossed on the table.

"The old way, they don't do it, some people do it, let's recruit some Chinese workers." "They're cheap and easy to use." ”

Brannan shook his head: "It's not good this time, not to mention that the bill has expelled many Chinese workers from California, judging from the recent situation, those Chinese workers and white workers have chosen to stand together, and it is not so easy to deal with." ”

"What about the division unions? As we all know, those people are never monolithic inside. We just have to find a way to buy their leaders, and we can solve the strike. ”

Brannan shook his head again: "In the past, strikes were played by the unions of various industries and various organizations, but this time it is different, the union organizations in California are unified, and now there is only one organization of the Knights of California Labor, as for the leader"

He paused.

"This man's identity is suspicious, but his leadership position in the union organization is quite strong at the moment."

"He once led the strike in Stone Springs perfectly, and the victims of that strike were on our site."

After that, his eyes began to look for Chen Jianqiu's trace in the venue, and finally found it in the corner.

"Mr. Chen, have you dealt with that person?" Brannan asked.

"Nope." Chen Jianqiu didn't even raise his head, "I asked my manager to deal with it, but he sold me." ”

"Then the manager will be fired by me when he comes back." Chen Jianqiu owed, still looking under the table, "This bastard has caused me to lose a lot of dollars. ”

"But that's not what you said to the Carben Mining Association at the time."

Brannan's eyes were playful.

"Or else? Did you admit to those fallen guys that you were cheated? ”

Chen Jianqiu still didn't mean to look up.

The Pacific Railroad's majority shareholder seems to have a particularly good temper.

So the conversation returned to the strike itself.

"Is it possible to go through the courts to declare the unions illegal? I know that's what some states in the east do. ”

Brannan didn't say anything again.

The experience of the eastern states does not apply to California.

The laws are different in every state.

In California, if there is no particularly outrageous thing going on with the unions, you have a hard time holding the of an illegal organization on their heads.

"This doesn't work, that doesn't work, it's better to just let the governor send the police and the army to do the budget!"

A hot-tempered aquatic product owner complained.

This person is from a fish seller's background, he has no level, and he is reckless.

After saying this, everyone looked at him like fools.

If willing to intervene directly, what else is the governor going to go?

Only Brannan and Chen Jianqiu did not express too obvious emotions.

Brannan crossed his hands over his chest and looked silently ahead, not knowing what to think.

Chen Jianqiu, on the other hand, was looking at comic books.

No one here knew anyone like the governor better than him.

As a former commander of the Federal Military District,

If the situation really reaches an uncontrollable level, such a person is extremely happy to bring the police and militia to the scene.

Of course, the premise is that it is uncontrollable.

At the end of the day, he's still a soldier.

Sometimes, all it takes is one reason for these people to go on a killing spree, so that they can gag the people in a high-sounding manner.

This is not surprising.

It's this rich second generation named Brannan, Chen Jianqiu is a little interested.

This person seems to know a lot about the affairs of the trade union, and has done an investigation on the relationship between himself and the trade union, although he has not found anything, but he also has his own judgment and speculation.

It seems that on Holly's side, most of them are ghosts.

The group discussed it for a while, but still didn't come up with a reason.

Eventually, on Brannan's initiative, it was decided to form an anti-strike coalition.

Come here every other week for meetings between now and the strike.

They elected Brannan as the commander-in-chief of the anti-strike coalition in response to the strike action of the Knights of Labour.

"Mr. Chen, do you have any opinions?"

Brannan named Chen Jianqiu.

Chen Jianqiu's comic book is finally finished.

For the first time in the whole meeting, he raised his head with a relaxed smile on his face:

"Nope."

(End of chapter)