In the evening, a brilliant sunset fills the sky.

The scenery along the banks of the River of America is beautiful, with its clear water flowing and the bright redwood trees on the banks of the river.

On the riverbank, the rich smell of boiled meat fills the air, and a large crowd of gold diggers, both Chinese and white, gather and whisper excitedly, as if it were a festival.

Four large cauldrons were lined up along the river beach, all of which were boiled large pieces of beef and mutton, and on the bed not far away, high dough cakes had been piled up, piled up like a hill, baked brown and soft, tempting the appetite.

Richard has never been a stingy person, since there are so many gold diggers who watch the excitement, the atmosphere is particularly strong, he arranged for someone to go to Shanghewan Village to drag 5 barrels of beer back.

It can't be said that you can drink heartily, at least one cup is enough for one person.

The Kahns nailed a few tables with door panels and laid out plaid sheets, and skillful women gathered wildflowers of various colors from the forest to decorate the tables.

More than a dozen cleaned pans, containing all kinds of meat pieces, mashed potatoes, mushroom bean soup, braised beef, eggs mixed with wild onions and other dishes, Chinese chefs from Shanghewan Village are preparing to stir-fry, what onion water fried beef tendon, fried tripe, mushroom stewed beef offal, etc., to take care of it.

According to Oriental tradition, this is the main table of the banquet.

As the most distinguished guest, Richard sat at the main table surrounded by everyone, and there was only a wooden pier under his buttocks, and the other Chinese captains sat in a row on either side.

It was a special courtesy to leave an empty seat next to Richard, the seat reserved for old Kahn.

The sons and nephews of the Karn family sat at the tables on either side, and today they were full of meat and wine to drink to their heart's content.

With a wave of his red hand, Old Karn announced the beginning of the feast, and three bonfires were lit to the cheers of the crowd, and when the bonfires were blazing, the feast began.

The four cauldrons are boiling beef offal soup, which is fragrant with potatoes and wild shallots, and the gold diggers at the banquet can make a large bowl of soup and half a dry cake for free.

If the bowl is not enough, wait for others to finish eating, take the empty bowl and then serve the soup, a large pot of beef offal soup is finished, and a new pot is poured into it to boil, and the roaring bonfire reflects everyone's happy faces, which is a day of celebration.

The well-fed boys danced around the bonfire and to the beat, venting the heavy pressures of life on this rare and happy day.

Main table

Richard raised his head and drank a few large sips of ale, put down his glass, looked at old Karn with his eyes and said; "Karn, I'll give you a quota of 100 cavalry, try to recruit as many as possible these days, I just want those down-to-earth and obedient peasants, you are an old soldier, you should know what kind of people can't stand it."

"Rest assured, sir, I will not trouble myself, and will definitely choose those soldiers who are the most obedient."

"That's good, the Datang Club I founded will be of no race, no matter of color, as long as you are willing to follow in my footsteps and open the door to welcome you to join. In this wasteland of North America, we must make our own decisions. ”

"Understood, sir, the Karn family is always at the call."

"Well, the recruited personnel will be concentrated in Shanghewan Village for training, and the logistics equipment and supplies will be replenished as soon as possible, I ask you to take out all your previous skills and train this group of rabbit cubs well......"

Richard sat at the table and talked eloquently, the glittering bonfire against his youthful face, outlining a sharp outline.

At the table beside him, Brienne Kahn, the fourteenth youngest sister of the Kahn family, looked at him with her big beautiful eyes, and fell into the enchantment of the little girl;

The young master of the Karn family, as handsome and handsome as a prince in a fairy tale, was deeply imprinted in the little girl's heart.

Early the next morning

Richard led more than 50 horsemen of his personal guard to leave Shanghewan Village and rode in the direction of Grape Valley.

Grape Valley

The camp across the entire valley mouth is like an iron lock, the entire grape valley mouth is closed, and the rust-red iron-clad iron gate is inlaid with 9981 bowl-sized copper nails, which looks solemn and solemn, and is unusually strong.

The plaque along the gate reads the three big characters "Shanhaiguan" with the dragon flying and the phoenix dancing, which is extraordinarily magnificent under the sunshine.

Richard led a group of 10 horsemen through the pass, and did not stop at Toudaoling Village, but went deeper, until the open terrain near Sidaoling Village lowered the speed of his horse.

The entire vineyard is a long, narrow valley about 100 kilometers long until it joins the mountains of Nevada.

It is generally spindle-shaped, with a small entrance and a large valley plain in the abdomen, which shrinks again near the Sierra Nevada until it joins the mountains.

The villages around Sidaoling Village are relatively flat and open, suitable for the construction of firearms factories, brick kilns, hydraulic lumber mills, hydraulic mills, oil mills and other facilities to support the construction of the valley.

But for now

Lacking the necessary manpower, the Chinese went to the rivers of America to pan for gold, and these planned production facilities remained only in the imagination and had not yet been put into practice.

From Toudaoling Village to Wudaoling Village, there are less than 280 male laborers left in the valley today, and except for the Chinese soldiers recruited by the Tang Dynasty, thousands of others have all poured into the American River to pan for gold.

Today, there are nearly 447 women stranded in the Grape Valley, including prostitutes and maids in the new town, 111 women who were trafficked in the Rose Estate, 10 beauties sent to Sacramento by the Association Hall, and some local women, all of whom are now living in the Grape Valley, most of whom are housed in houses near Sidaoling Village.

The weaving mill, garment factory, and textile factory that Richard planned to set up will also be settled in Sidaoling Village in the future, including the weapons processing factory, and will be built into an industrial village.

The reason why it is considered this way

First, it is because Sidaoling Village is close to Gukou, only less than 10 kilometers, and it is only 267 kilometers away from the new town, so the traffic is very convenient.

The second reason is that there is a small coal mine in the neighboring village of Wudaoling, where the coal used for cooking in the nearby villages comes from, which is shallow and of high quality, and can provide sufficient industrial fuel supply.

Further into the valley, you will enter the territory of the indigenous Indian tribes, where they will be attacked by the natives and even brutally killed in the dense forest.

Therefore, so far, for security reasons, Chinese immigrants rarely go deep into the valley, and they do not know much about the valley.

Sidaoling Village

The arrival of the cavalry attracted the attention of many women in the village, and the women stood in front of and behind the houses with "chatter", commenting on these young and vigorous cavalrymen, and from time to time burst into irrepressible laughter.

Those girls who have never been out of the cabinet are a little shy, and among them are extraordinary and good women, they have been in battle for a long time, and what they talk about in private is what makes people blush.

That look was eager to swallow these boys in one bite.

The cavalry of the guards were divided to the sides, and the tall and straight Richard turned down from his horse, and looked around with a handsome face, and the women around him suddenly became silent, and then looked respectful.

Speaking of which, all the women here have to thank Richard for saving them from the fire pit and returning them to the deed, so that they can be decent women from now on.

Richard's tall figure stood out from the crowd, and his temperament was particularly outstanding, and he bowed slightly to the women around him, and strode into the courtyard of the village office.

At this time, the voices of the surrounding women suddenly became louder.

"This is the young master, he looks so handsome!"

"Hmph, do you still want to say this, a fox? Of course, the young master is a first-class figure in heaven and earth, handsome and strong, those ghosts can obey him! ”

"Have you heard, the young master slaughtered thousands of people in a war by the river in the Americas, and he was really a fierce god, and those ghosts were so frightened that their souls flew when they heard the young master's name."

"What thousands of people, I heard that more than 3,000 people were killed, and the rivers of America have changed color."

"Ah...... Is it so fierce? I'm so scared! ”

"What are you afraid of? The young master is not fierce to us, everything is for us Chinese, if it weren't for the Tang Dynasty founded by the young master, when would those ghosts treat us well? ”

"That is, with the young master in North America, we Chinese can have a good life!"

Regardless of the fact that these women were chewing their tongues excitedly and inexplicably, over there, Richard strode into the courtyard and saw several white people coming out.

The man next to Odom Russell, the Federation's head of logistics, was a middle-aged man in his 30s with a full beard and a decent black tuxedo, and this person was probably Samuel Colt, Richard's Grandmaster of Weapons Design.

After a pleasantry, the guess was really good.

Samuel Colt not only arrived in San Francisco in person, but also brought with him his close assistant Rodelin, as well as the skilled workers and equipment of the entire weapons factory.

And all of this, Richard paid for, including all the cost of their trip to the west coast of North America and the ferry ticket.

Before that

Samuel Colt had long since gone bankrupt due to business failure, not only sold his weapons factory, but also took on huge debts, leaving only a dozen patents for the invention of the revolver musket.

"Welcome, Mr. Colt, your talents can only be fully exploited in the Wild West.

You are a talented designer, extraordinary talent should not be buried, and I am really looking forward to more excellent design firearms, and I am sure you will be able to do it.

We need you here, we need you, and I see this as the biggest opportunity for Colt to take off again, provided that we maintain a relatively close cooperation......"

Richard gave a warm welcome speech, put a high hat on Samuel Colt, and expressed sincere expectations for cooperation, which quickly won the respect and trust of the guests.

Don't say anything else

It was with this large sum of money that Samuel Colt was able to buy a complete set of stamping and milling equipment for weapons production, as well as 20 steam engines, and recruited all the skilled workers of the former weapons factory, and came to the West of North America with the ambition to do a big job.