Richard and his party drove the horses with live ammunition, and there were two dead bodies on the saddle, and they didn't seem to be easy to get along with.

Pedestrians and cowboys along the way avoided and kept their distance on guard.

No one came up without opening their eyes, asking this and that, just silently watching them leave.

San Francisco has a Mediterranean climate, warm winters and cool summers, and plenty of sunshine, and Chinese immigrants also called it "San Francisco".

It is a wrapping bay topography, and the entire bay area is dotted with several settlements, scattered along the coast like strings of pearls.

Europeans first arrived in the Bay Area in 1542, which was part of the Spanish province of Alta California in the 16th century and has not been developed due to its remote location.

On March 28, 1776, the Spanish explorer Juan Bautista di Anza arrived and chose two construction sites in the Bay Area, one for military use and the other for missionary and living purposes.

The precipitous highlands in the northern part of the Bay Area are called fortified areas, and there are still remnants of the military forts built by the Spaniards.

Now it is deserted, the grass grows taller than people, and there are often some horse bandits and gangsters who haunt it, doing some illegal deeds of killing people and stealing goods.

The first church and living quarters built by the Spaniards were the new towns that Richard and others had just left, and which was also the main town of San Francisco.

With the continuous influx of white immigrants, the urban area was rapidly expanded, and all kinds of cows, ghosts, snakes and gods were mixed in.

Among them, there are three white forces and one Mexican force, as well as some other lone rangers and adventurers, seafarers and gold diggers from Britain, the Netherlands, France, Italy, Germany, Spain and other countries, and the situation is very complicated.

John Sutter, the grocery store and plantation owner, is a white force in town, and John Sr., the sheriff, is his sharp minions, a tough old thing to deal with, with a stinking and hard temper.

Richard's blatant murder on Old John's territory was tantamount to a naked slap in the face, which undoubtedly touched Old John's sensitive nerves.

The more than a dozen gunmen who followed should have been his people, and although they were startled back by the gunfire, the matter was not over.

Having embarked on this dangerous path to fame, Richard was not afraid to offend people, and in fact there was no escape from it.

The identity of the "protector of the San Francisco Chinese gold diggers" is destined to be less than the same pot as the white and Mexican forces, and sooner or later they will have to fight knife to knife and gun to gun.

The that I blew out is about to be round with tears.

In the western part of the peninsula, about 10 kilometers from the new town, is a rolling hilly area, where the British captain William Richardson established his first private residence in 1835.

The "Yerba Buena Land" is a predominantly British-style residential area where merchants, captains, ranchers and dentists from England and France live, and is a separate white force from the new town.

Richard's destination was not here, but the Napa Valley, a few kilometers away from the "Yerba Bauenada", which was called the "Grape Valley" by the Chinese because of the production of many wild grapes, and was also the place where Richard lived in his lair.

It won't be long

The beautiful Grape Valley is a long, narrow hilly valley with snow-capped mountains in the distance, a clear river with plenty of water winding through it, and the grass on both sides of the river is dotted with wooden houses.

More than half of the Chinese population of San Francisco live here, more than 1,400 people, as well as some Mexicans and Indians, forming more than ten villages, large or small, stretching for dozens of kilometers and living near the water.

Generally speaking

The Chinese villages were closer to the mouth of the valley and closer to the new town, while the Indian camps were deep in the valley and were distinct from each other with little contact.

Back to the village

Richard and his entourage immediately attracted the attention of everyone, he silently rode on the horse and slowly advanced, playing a cold image, while his subordinates Dai Changfu and others couldn't wait to shout loudly;

"All the old and young masters, come here and listen to me......

Master Richard has said it a long time ago;

We Chinese have to huddle together when we go out, otherwise we will be oppressed and bullied by white people, and if we don't hold a group, even those Mexican bandits will ride on our necks to and make a fortune.

Have we Chinese suffered less evil in recent years?

What is the exchange for resignation?

The bullying and contempt were doubled, the hard-earned golden sand was snatched away, and the people were beaten half to death.

If you are unlucky and lose your life, you can't even leave a corpse in the mountains, so you can only be a lonely ghost in a foreign land, how miserable is it?

How can white people treat us as human beings?

When we arrive in the new town, we have to be exploited, squeezed, and the price of buying some rice oil is doubled, and women dare to pull our braids and laugh, what kind of life is this?

Look at these two, it was too late when the young master took us to rescue, one had already been tortured and died, and it was hard to say whether the other would survive or not.

What capital crimes did they commit?

It's not because you picked up a piece of dog's head gold, but it turned out to be a disaster, think about it, if such a thing is put on you, what kind of consequences will it be?

Master Richard has disclosed his new identity, that is, the "San Francisco Chinese Gold Prospector Protector", from now on we have the backbone, and we are no longer afraid of being bullied.

You don't know......

Today, the young master took us to the town, which is majestic, isn't this gang of bandits in Ferguez arrogant? Haven't you been beaten into a dead dog yet?

Ah, when we broke in......"

Dai Changfu was surrounded by more and more Chinese, and the other three gunmen also scattered to preach, alarming hundreds of people in the village, and faintly heard the cry of a woman, who seemed to be the family of the deceased.

Richard ignored these things, these things can be done by his subordinates, since he has offended the sheriff John Sr., then he must expand the team as soon as possible and increase his strength.

With a single person, how many nails can he hit even if he is covered in iron?

Richard rode alone to a hut near the woods, then turned over and dismounted, led his mount to the hay shed next to the hut, removed the cowhide saddle, and tied the horse to the hut.

Then he fetched water, cut the grass, and brought a small pot of black beans to add some nourishment to the horse, and when he was done with these things, he wiped the fine beads of sweat from his forehead, slung the cowhide horse bag on his shoulder, and carried the double-barreled flintlock spear into the wooden house.

The furnishings in the wooden house are very simple, there is a fire pit in the hall, where the rice and water are cooked, and there are some gray wood ashes left in the black fire pit over the years, and an iron shelf in the middle can be used to put both kettles and iron pots.

Richard walked to the water tank, scooped a scoop of cold water and drank it, which was the clear mountain spring water flowing from the Sierra Nevada, with a slightly sweet and silky feeling, which quenched his thirst.

He drank more violently, cold water overflowed from both ends of the scoop, and Richard wiped the water stains with his hands without care, feeling refreshed.

At this time, his stomach rumbled uncontrollably, obviously hungry.

Richard took out a match and lit the fire, and put the wooden blocks by the fire pit into it one by one, and the bonfire burned brightly.

Put a few scoops of cold water on the iron pot rack, cut a large piece of beef with salt and cut it into pieces, throw it into the water and blanch it, and then pour out the hot water in the iron pot.

Put the iron pot back on the fire, put in a large piece of boiled white lard, then add ginger and jalapeño crumble to fry the washed beef, and finally put a few scoops of water, then cover the pot and cook slowly.

A busy day

The red bonfire reflected Richard's young young face, and his eyes revealed a calmness that did not match his age, showing a particularly heroic charm.

A pot of beef soup was already simmering, and Richard looked out through the doorway of the hall, and under the grassy slope in the distance, Dai Changfu and others were crowded with people, and it seemed that this intuitive demonstration had a very good effect.

The dead Chinese gold digger had been placed on the door panel, and the seriously injured one had been sent to the village's traditional Chinese medicine practitioner "Erdao" to see if there was any help.

According to Richard's estimate;

This person's injury has spread to the internal organs, and he keeps coughing up blood along the way, and nine times out of ten, he can't bear it.

He shook his head slightly, stood up and headed for the back room.

The wooden house is arranged in a row of three rooms, with the hall in the center, Richard's bedroom on the left, and the bedroom of the four of his men on the right.

Next to the hut there was a stable--hay shed with large bales of hay stacked, and on the other side was a utility room with some tools and food.

Richard's bedroom was similarly simple, with a bed, a chair and a table, the bed was covered in thick sheepskin, and it was warm to sleep on such a soft bed in the cold of early spring in March.

He sat down in his chair, put the two revolvers and the captured Ferguez cowhide armed belt together, then leaned the heavy front-loading twin flintlock pistols against the edge of the table, took out the gun oil and the tong, the gun cloth, and began to carefully maintain the gun.

In this era, there were no fixed bullets, and it would take a few years to do it, the revolver used black powder and iron projectiles, and each bullet in the revolver had to be loaded in advance, and a primer was added, and about 3.8 grams of black powder was compacted, spacers, and finally an iron projectile was put in.

These tedious and meticulous tasks cannot be completed during the battle, and can only be used with confidence in their leisure time, one by one, and one foot by one.

If there is too much black powder, it is easy to cause explosions, and the fun will be great.

Richard was very attentive in doing these things, he carefully removed all the gunpowder residue, carefully lubricated the barrel, bolt and hammer with gun oil, and then wiped it with a gun cloth, and carefully loaded the bullets one by one.

After all three revolvers were loaded, he began to carefully care for the double-barreled flintlock rifles, these are life-saving guys, and he can't be careless.

Just when Richard had done all these things, the room was already filled with the rich smell of beef soup, seducing the greedy worms in his stomach and screaming, he couldn't bear it anymore, and finally put down his work and stood up.

Remove the lid

The beef broth is full of aroma, large chunks of beef tumbling in the milky broth, sprinkled with some salt, pepper and chopped wild onions, and the beef broth seems to have a soul and becomes more intriguing.

Filled with a large bowl, Richard couldn't wait to blow the hot air on the side of the bowl and take a sip, and couldn't help but moan intoxicatedly, it was so delicious.

Bison from the Sierra Nevada Mountains and crystal clear mountain spring water give this pot of beef soup an authentic flavor and rich flavor, and the pepper and chopped wild onions are just the finishing touch.

Leave it to cool down a bit

Gulping down the beef broth, feasting on the beef cubes splashed with the soup, and eating the bread in the beef broth was equally delicious, Richard killed three bowls and ate four pieces of bread like a cloud, and then patted his stomach with satisfaction and was full.