Riverside of the Americas

On April 8, a week after the burning of Hewan Village, an even larger camp was erected on the site of a ruin, covering an area of 12 acres, 25 times the size of the original Hewan Village.

It was built by the American River Gold Rush Company mobilizing more than 2,000 gold diggers and hundreds of soldiers for a week, and was named "Shanghewan Village".

Nowadays, only the walled wall has been built, the ground is being cleared and compacted, and the roads are planned with lime, and the commercial area, the town office, the security office, the post and telecommunications office, the gold panning company and the residential area are mostly neatly arranged tents.

The first to build is the commercial district, the unified construction is a two-storey wooden building, learn the lesson of the previous Hewan Village was burned into a white ground, the planned village and town buildings are mainly in the shape of "Hui", composed of 12~16 houses, and the fire escape is 5 meters apart from each other, and it doubles as a village road.

The advantage of this is that in the event of a fire, at most 1~2 HDB flats will be affected, instead of burning down the entire village, causing irreparable losses.

Besides

Richard hated the unhygienic practice of open defecation, and personally presided over the planning of more than a dozen public toilets in villages and towns, strictly prohibiting open defecation, and severely punishing violators.

He plans to arrange for someone to clean up the cow and horse manure on the streets. In the future, if conditions permit, a special livestock pen will be set up next to Shanghewan Village, and a paid deposit method will be adopted, and ox carts and horse-drawn carts will be prohibited from entering the village, so as to completely improve the poor sanitation situation.

Housing construction is now in full swing, and all Chinese gunmen of the Tang Dynasty and armed men of Fangcaodi have the right to get a piece of homestead foundation in the newly built village and town for free to build their own houses.

The homestead is given to you, but it is up to you whether and when to build, and if you do not build a house within three years, it will be repossessed by the American River Gold Rush Company for free and used for other purposes.

This is Richard's move to win the hearts and minds of the people, as long as he follows him, there will be rewards for fighting to the death, and he can also get shares in the gold rush company and homesteads, and have all kinds of privileges next to the Americas.

In the hellish place of San Francisco, everything is expensive, especially artificial.

But the Chinese gunmen of the Datang Society thought of a good way, that is, mutual aid to build houses, which can greatly save costs.

What is Mutual Aid Building?

According to the establishment of the armed horse team and musket team of the Datang Society, 10 people are a team, a squad leader is appointed, and a deputy squad leader is responsible for commanding, with a total of 12 people. Usually food, housing and training are all together, and the allocated homesteads are also together, which is basically a group in the shape of a "return".

Most of these Chinese know how to work as carpenters and masons, and it is not difficult to build a house together, and it takes more than a month to do so.

I have to admire that these overseas Chinese are really smart, and soon spontaneously formed a "housing cooperation group" based on the squad.

More than 20 "housing cooperation groups" worked together, and together with the recruitment of laborers to build the commercial street belonging to the American River Gold Rush Company, dozens of houses were erected at the same time in Shanghewan Village, and the construction boom was in the ascendant.

It won't take long

A new village will rise on the banks of the River of America, and will become the base camp of the federation to control the situation in the region, bringing together gold diggers, eating, drinking, and merrymaking, with wine, women, food, and Sands exchange and storage services.

This is a bank founded by Richard privately, and its full name is "San Fernandez Sequoia Bank", which means that the bank thrives like a North American redwood tree, growing into a large lush forest.

The bank accepts the deposit service of gold diggers and the exchange of bills, mainly relying on a kind of securities called "Sequoia Bank Golden Bill".

There are four types of gold tickets: one dollar, two dollars, five dollars and ten dollars, and the value is equivalent to the securities issued by other insurance companies in the United States, which are guaranteed by the American River Gold Rush Company and used to exchange the gold sand in the hands of gold diggers.

Sequoia Bank was the only employer in the entire village and town to build solid stone buildings, and at Richard's request, all salaries of the Federation's personnel would be paid with Sequoia Bank gold stamps, and they would be used in the general stores and other places of business in Parkview Green and the Lobby Club, including protected brothels, taverns, restaurants, etc.

In this move, Richard tried to amass a large amount of wealth and lay a solid economic foundation for the next step of military expansion.

In April, the riverside of the Americas was crowded with more and more gold prospectors from new towns and other areas, totaling nearly 20,000 people, creating a raging gold rush.

After the situation calmed down

The village of Shanghewan also ushered in a new round of recovery, with large numbers of white gold diggers, Chinese gold diggers and Mexican gold diggers pouring into the village, shopping spree in tent shops, stumbling in tent taverns, and having fun in tent brothels.

Due to the poor conditions, only a curtain could be hung in the tent and brothel, and there was not even a bed.

Spread some straw on the ground, throw a mat on it, and the woman began to pick up customers.

Such humble conditions still can't stop the enthusiasm of the gold diggers, the price of $10 at a time has climbed to $15, and there are still a large number of men waiting outside the tents, and the business is a hot mess.

Ah Cai, a brothel owner who brought the girls from the new town to do business, invented a new business, which was to watch naked women for 15 minutes, and the naked women stood on the table and scratched their heads, and they were not allowed to touch them, for $2 each time.

A large tent can accommodate up to 30 guests at a time and can charge $60 for 15 minutes. There are still many hungry men waiting in line outside, and their hands are weak when they really receive the money.

In just one day's work, he earned more than $1,600.

Nowadays, the Federation has customized two kinds of badges, one is the Federation Military Personnel Badge, which represents the identity of armed personnel from the Tang Society or Fangcaodi, and has the right to maintain law and order in the American River, Yerba Caodi, Grape Valley and even the new town, arrest lawbreakers, fight against dissident forces, and clear out bandits wandering in the wasteland.

One is the American River Gold Rush Co. badge, which is worn by law enforcement officers belonging to the American River Gold Rush Company, who play the role of police, tax officer, and civil dispute mediator in this gold-rich watershed.

It is the gold mining company personnel who maintain law and order in Shanghewan Village, and they patrol back and forth every day in full gear to ensure that these gold diggers are in good hands.

About 20 kilometers downstream of Shanghewan Village, a camp of the same scale was also established and named "Xiahewan Village".

Xiahawan Village is a larger village, with an area of 15 acres, located on the high ground by the riverbank, and the current construction progress is similar to that of Shanghewan Village, which is also in its early stages.

With these two villages and towns as the core, within about 80 kilometers of upstream and downstream rivers, it is the area with the richest gold reserves in the entire American River, accounting for more than three-quarters of the total gold sand output.

The American River Gold Rush Company set up checkpoints at both ends of the 80-plus kilometre stretch, according to Richard;

This is a strictly controlled area, and if you want to pan for gold here, you must abide by the rules of the gold mining company.

What are the rules?

Free gold miners entering the area must pay a regular fee of 2 ounces of gold on a monthly basis, known as the "mineral resource tax".

Generally speaking

In the American River region, where gold mineral resources are abundant, it is easy for ordinary people to pan for 1~2 ounces of gold every day, which is average.

If you are lucky, it is possible to mine tens or hundreds of ounces of gold a day, but this is not common.

Therefore, the mineral resource tax of 2 ounces of gold per month is not high, and credit is allowed in the first month, and it is paid at the beginning of the second month, but you have to pay an extra ounce of gold late fee, and two months of tax plus late fee is 5 ounces of gold.

Taking advantage of the prestige of the Alexandria-Madison gang, the Federation swept across the American River basin within a week, purging a dozen disobedient groups and then enforcing the policy.

Gold diggers outside the strict management area only need to pay a "mineral resource tax" of one ounce of gold every month, and the fee is halved.

On this basis

The American River Gold Rush Company is responsible for maintaining law and order throughout the Golden River, cracking down on robbery and other illegal activities, in order to completely clean up the chaos within the gold mining area and embark on the development path of orderly mining.

The "mineral resource tax" alone is expected to make an annual income of 35~380,000 ounces of gold.

And in the vicinity of the village of Upper River Bay

Three tall waterwheel-style buildings have been erected, which is the waterwheel-type gold panning trough under construction, and seven will be built in a row along the dozens of kilometers of Jinsha-rich river bay area, from Shanghewan Village to Xiahewan Village, which is the main business of the American River Gold Rush Company.

"Karn, I've given you three more days to think about it, and I've shown enough sincerity, whether I'm willing to join the Datang Club and work together, I'm waiting for your answer."

Richard, wearing a light-colored cowboy hat on his head and a plaid scarf around his neck, walked up to old Kahn who was standing by the river, looking out at the green jungle and the towering Sierra Nevada mountains in the distance, and said in an unhurried tone.

Standing beside him was a tall and burly old Karn, with thick hair like a lion's, his height about Richard's, but half as wide horizontally and vertically, and his chest as thick as a hill.

Old Karn turned his face to look at Richard, and there was no discoloration on his young face, and his brow was already wrinkled into the word "Chuan", and he said in a loud voice;

"God, can't you just make the Karn house a little quieter? As soon as we find enough gold, we will leave here, perhaps buy a large plot of land next to the Rose Manor and live a quiet life without contention. ”

"Karn, you may not know that a war is about to break out between the United States and Mexico, and who do you choose to help when the time comes?"

"I wouldn't have chosen anyone, when I came here all the way from Texas with my family, the Republic of Texas had not yet been established, and I didn't have a good opinion of the United States or Mexico, and they were at war with me."

"The Federation's goal is to form an independent republic in California, would you like to join in, man?"

"I don't want to help anyone, I just want to stay quiet, please don't disturb the Karn family anymore, is this small request too much?"

"Hehe......" Richard looked at the frightened birds flying in the distance, and suddenly smiled meaningfully, and said with a mocking smile on the corner of his mouth; There is an old saying in the East; On the side of the couch, how can you allow others to sleep soundly? If the Kahn family doesn't join the Tang Society, then what are the intentions of these forty or so white gunmen you have secretly gathered, are they preparing to play the house? Karn, I've given you a chance, and I hope you don't make mistakes again and again. ”

Between words

Richard revealed a powerful aura, and the heavy pressure converged on the old Karn's body, which was the murderous aura formed by killing hundreds of people, and the old Karn was a little breathless.

Which one goes and which one obeys, it is related to the lives of more than a dozen sons and nephews of the Kahn family and more than 30 relatives and friends.

How can the eagle of freedom be willing to be trapped on a certain mountain: this decision is not easy to make!