Grape Valley

A wooden wall across the valley blocks the inside and outside traffic, this is the newly completed Shanhaiguan, which is connected to the mountains on one side, and about seven or eight meters deep into the sparkling Yudai River on the other, and many sharp wooden stakes are exposed on the turbulent river, which are wound with barbed wire.

At the end of April, when the snow melts in the Sierra Nevada, countless valleys and streams converge into a river, rushing down the river.

On the wide river, large fish more than a foot long often jump out of the water, and the wild flowers bloom on both sides of the river, making it a vibrant scene.

When Richard and his group of more than a dozen horsemen arrived at the pass, the guards on duty hurriedly stepped forward to salute, he waved his hand to let the guards retreat, then turned over and dismounted, and walked forward with great interest, watching the blacksmiths who were busy with construction.

The blacksmiths are cladding a thick layer of iron plates for the Shanhaiguan Gate, and the side facing the valley is completely covered, which is made of 10 small iron plates stacked on top of each other, and fastened with rivets as thick as the thickness of their fingers.

First of all, dozens of holes are drilled with a hand-cranked drill on the half-foot-thick wooden walled door, which coincide with the holes on the small iron plate, and then connected firmly with thick rivets.

So

The defense of the walled gate has doubled, and it can even resist the bombardment of small and medium-caliber artillery.

Now that most of the construction has been carried out, the swarthy iron door has begun to appear, giving people a sense of unbreakable peace of mind, and finally it is finally completed by applying rusty red paint and putting on brass door nails the size of the bowl.

Enter the Kannai

It can be clearly seen that the back of the gate is reinforced by a palm-wide iron bar, and the other end of the rivet that penetrates the gate is riveted to the iron bar, which is done to reduce weight and save money.

In San Francisco (San Francisco), the price of all steel-related items is unusually high, a pan costs 50 cents, a shovel costs $4.5, so how much does a small iron plate weighing 95 pounds cost?

The answer is 5.5 ounces of gold, which is worth about $110, which is still a good price.

The Coast Mountains on the Pacific coast are rich in iron ore, but there are no steel mills.

All steel products need to be shipped from the East Coast of the United States, transported via the Central American Panama Railroad to ports on the Pacific side, and then transported by Yerba Buena captains to the Bay Area.

As soon as this back and forth was tossed, the price turned over and went up.

The price of a ton of steel plate on the east coast of North America is 22~23 US dollars, almost one cent per pound, and in San Francisco, it is sold by pounds, and the price per pound is almost 1.1 US dollars, a difference of 110 times.

Therefore, when William Richardson offered to help Datang buy a set of steelmaking equipment, Richard immediately agreed and asked for two sets.

Who is too much of this!

Return to the hilltop camp

Several maids stepped forward to diligently help Richard untie his weapons, put on loose robes, and brought the freshly brewed fragrant tea, which made him quite useful.

These pretty maids are all willing to be good girls in the brothel, and they were originally doing the words of servants, but because they are still young, they have not yet combed and picked up customers.

These young girls had nowhere to go after returning the deed, so they all collected under the door of the Tang Society, doing some pulp washing, sewing clothes, kitchen help, sending and serving, and teaching some words in their spare time.

There are 6 smart and clever girls specially selected by Gaiwangshan, there are 6 on the camp side, 10 or so in the helmsman of the new town (including four girls in the back garden), and 6 on the Rose Manor, all of which serve as the maids next to President Richard.

With this flattery of his subordinates, Richard accepted all the orders and lived an enviable life as a big man.

These days, I got back the deed of sale, and there are more than 220 girls who are willing to be good, including nearly 100 women who have fallen into the dust, and some are still young.

Overall

The good girls accounted for a little more than half of the total number of women, and the rest were willing to run the meat business because those women could not endure hardships, could not carry their hands or shoulders, and voluntarily continued to engage in this trade with the brothel, and others could barely come.

Richard considered the way out for these virtuous women, so he added an order for 300 sewing machines and 50 looms to the procurement of materials, just to put these women together, set up a garment factory, and then set up a weaving factory, which can be regarded as an industry under the Datang Society.

Nowadays, there are many women under the banner of the Tang Society, there are more than 100 people in Rose Manor, and there are also some in Sacramento.

Without the protection of the Tang Society, it would be difficult for these weak women to gain a foothold in the chaotic and disorderly province of Upper California, and sooner or later they would become the fat prey of those villains.

These women were a vulnerable group that was originally attached to the power of the Protocol, and Richard believed that the Tang Society had a natural moral responsibility to these women, and should provide them with a stable job that would allow them to support themselves.

San Francisco has a long history of having more men than women, and the same is true among Chinese immigrants, and women are a scarce resource that has attracted countless people's hearts.

The benefits were obvious, and the Tang Dynasty would recruit gunmen to receive an enthusiastic response from Chinese immigrants, and the quota of more than 140 people was quickly filled, and formal military training began.

Normally

Military training was conducted in the Valley of the Vineyard and at the Rose Estate, with more than 320 men in the Valley of the Vineyard and more than 220 on the Rose Estate, rotating on a weekly basis.

Purely in terms of the armed forces in his hands, Richard has already chased after John Sartre, and the two are not much different.

But no one knows how deep and prestigious John Sutter is, and how many white cowboys will lead horses and carry guns to join the militia if he were to rise to the top?

Five hundred, one thousand, or more?

John Sutter's tenure as the chairman of the New Town's Citizens' Council is a matter of great righteousness, which is something that both Parkview Green and the Lobby are more afraid of.

On the main hall

Richard was holding a tea cup in his hand and was unhurriedly tasting the fragrant tea, Dai Changfu strode in from the outside, and said with both hands; "President, Zheng Laosi will report quickly, our people and Madison's people have fought, and there are casualties on both sides, so I ask the council to send reinforcements."

"Oh...... What is the situation? ”

"The conflict took place on our territory, at the mouth of Xiahe Bay, where Chinese gold diggers picked up several pieces of dog's head gold of different sizes in a row, so it was judged that this is a Jinsha rich area. For a time, many Chinese flocked here to pan for gold sand, and the harvest was extremely rich, which aroused the greedy appetite of the Alexander Madison gang, and there were several frictions for this. And this time, more than two dozen gunmen from Madison's gang came to seize the territory, and the two sides started to act without saying a word. ”

"What about the casualties?"

"Four of the armed horses were shot and wounded, one of them was seriously wounded, he was shot in the abdomen, and it depends on luck whether he survives. Three Chinese gold diggers were killed, and several of them were shot and escaped, with unknown casualties. ”

"Assemble the team, let's go to the scene to see, everyone brings three days' worth of dry food and prepares for battle."

"Yes!"

After Dai Changfu received the order, he immediately left in a hurry and went to gather the team to prepare for reinforcements.

Richard glanced at the frightened maid standing outside the door, frowned, and ordered; "What are you doing standing stupidly? Hurry up and change the clothes of Young Master Ben and prepare some dry food. ”

"Please forgive the young master, the slave will change the young master's clothes." The two little maids were startled, and hurriedly stepped forward to say a blessing, and immediately got busy with their hands and feet.