For the gold mines in California, Yi Zhishu really has no interest, and spent a lot of manpower, material and financial resources to go to California to pan for gold, in his opinion, it is definitely a loss-making business, although he has a great interest in gold, but he does not like to do loss-making transactions. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

With a slight groan, he said bluntly: "I'm afraid I'm going to disappoint Brother Ziyuan, I'm interested in gold, but I'm not interested in gold panning." After a pause, he asked, "What's the situation in California right now?" ”

What do you mean? Where does gold come from without panning for gold? Wu Shaorong was confused, and groaned slightly, before he said: "Since the news of the discovery of the gold mine was confirmed and spread, the whole of California has gone crazy, and everyone has flocked to pan for gold, according to the San Francisco (San Francisco) newspaper "The Californian", the workers left the factory, the seafarers abandoned the ship in San Francisco Bay, the soldiers left their barracks, the servants left their masters, even the missionaries left the mission, and people flocked to the gold mine discovery site like crazy.

Nearly all the men flocked to the mines, factories were idle or closed, wheat fields were unharvested for cattle and horses to graze, houses were deserted, farms were deserted, and large numbers .....of people flocked to .....California every day in Oregon in the north and Mexico in the south.

The Sacramento River and its tributaries alone are home to tens of thousands of gold diggers, most of whom are indigenous, and according to statistics, the average person can pan one to three ounces of gold sand a day, almost one or two per ounce, while a laborer in the eastern United States earns only twenty or thirty cents a day, how many times is the difference? At least forty or fifty times! ”

No wonder it will trigger such a frenzied gold rush, the income of this gold rush is too disparity, however, it is not ruled out that there is a possibility of exaggeration, but even if it is exaggerated, at least one or twenty times the income is still there, it seems that California's golden sand reserves should not be ordinarily large.

Maybe you really should go for a piece of the pie, Yi Zhishu secretly thought in his heart, this run, in order to maintain his reputation, Yuan Qi successively threw more than one million taels of gold outward, not to mention others, it is good to be able to make up for this hole.

Seeing that Yi Zhizhi was silent, Wu Shaorong said unwillingly: "Brother Guocheng is interested in gold, why is he not interested in gold panning?" ”

Yi Zhixiang took out a box of cigarettes and handed one over, lit one by one, and then said: "Nanyang indigenous slaves can provide a large number of them, how many you want, and you can sell guns and ammunition, but the troops are unable to support, and they are currently conquering Nanyang, and the troops are stretched, so I really can't draw them, but I can show you a clear ......" ”

After a pause, he continued: "Three o'clock, as far as I know, there will be a musket battalion at three o'clock, you can contact them, one or two battalions of troops, they can take out, and they should also have a strong interest in California gold panning." ”

Three o'clock? Wu Shaorong was secretly surprised, and couldn't help but say: "Will Yuanqi have a relationship with three points?" ”

Yi Zhizhi said noncommittally: "The conquest of the South Seas will inevitably have an intersection with heaven and earth. As he spoke, he shifted his head, "Twenty or thirty cents a day for laborers in the eastern United States?" ”

Wu Shaorong nodded and said, "This is the wages of coolies, and factory workers, especially skilled technicians, are much higher, up to one dollar per day, and generally around sixty cents." ”

Thirty dollars a month? The wages of this skilled tradesman are really not low! At this time, one dollar is roughly equivalent to a Spanish silver dollar, eight dollars of silver, thirty dollars is twenty-four silver dollars, and the general one is about fifteen silver dollars.

The two talked all the way into Yanhui Building, Wu Bingjian, who was obviously much older, insisted on trembling and walked out to greet him, Yi Zhizu hurriedly stepped forward to salute and diligently helped him into the room, after sitting down, Wu Bingjian sighed lightly and said: "The old man is old, I'm afraid time is running out..... ”

The old man was almost eighty years old, and Yi Zhishu hurriedly relieved: "What is Pinghu Gong talking about, with your body and bones, you will definitely be able to live a long life......" ”

Wu Bingjian waved his hand and said, "Contentment doesn't need to be ..... the old man's heart. After a pause, he continued: "The emperor is also getting taller and taller now, and his body has not been very good, so he must be content and keep a low profile, and he must survive this dangerous period of alternating between the old and the new." ”

Yi Zhixiang hurriedly relieved: "Pinghu Gong rest assured, in the lower province, try not to clash with the imperial court head-on." ”

"Yuan Qi seems to be in full swing now, but his arms can't reach his thighs after all." Wu Bingjian said slowly: "Citigroup defeated Mexico and occupied a large area of land, and now it is already a big country in the West. ”

"Pinghu Gong reminds me." Yi Zhishu nodded and said: "I also have this intention in the next, and I plan to transfer some of Citi's assets." ”

"Okay, okay." Wu Bingjian showed a hint of a smile, "It is human nature to seek advantages and avoid disadvantages, and great disasters are coming, and the richer you are, the more unreliable you are......." ”

Xu is old and likes to nag, Wu Bingjian chattered for a long time, but in fact, he was not at ease, worried that Yuan Qi and the court would turn against each other, and the good situation created by hard work would be ruined.

After talking for half an hour, Yi Zhishu got up to say goodbye, and came out of Yanhui Building, Wu Shaorong said with a smile: "The brothers and daughters of Guocheng accompany them to the garden, and they are afraid that they will not be able to finish the tour for a while, so they will have dinner here." ”

Yi Zhixiang smiled and said, "I came here today, but I want to have a long talk with Brother Ziyuan, so I want to find a quiet courtyard." ”

"That's very good." Wu Shaorong said with a smile, stretched out his hand and gave courtesy, "Brother Guocheng, please." ”

The two walked forward slowly, and Yi Zhizhi said casually: "In the past few years, Yuan Qi has also established a foothold in Citi, and thousands of international students, employees, and workers are sent to Citi every year. ”

"What else can you do? Nature is welcome. Wu Shaorong said with a smile: "Yuan Qi has a lot of money, and he has settled in Citi, bought real estate, and acquired factories, which not only greatly promoted the trade between the two countries, but also promoted the local economy.

A large number of international students are equivalent to giving them silver, and the international students are diligent and hardworking, with excellent grades, leaving an excellent impression, as for those workers, most of them are working in the factories opened by Yuanqi themselves, and they do not compete with Citi people for jobs, so they will naturally not be excluded. ”

Yi Zhicontentment said: "Are Chinese people discriminated against at Citi? ”

"Discrimination is inevitable, but it's less obvious than for blacks." Wu Shaorong said: "Citigroup is the supremacy of money, and rich is the uncle'......." Speaking of this, he smiled, "If you want to say that the most criticized thing is that they are too economical, and most of the wages are sent home." ”

Yi Zhicontent smiled: "I can't help this, I can't force them to consume." ”

"It's also worth reminding that there are too few women." Wu Shaorong said: "It doesn't matter if the international students are young, the staff and workers are all ..... of the age of strong blood. ”

Yi Zhishu nodded and said: "In the past few years, young women have been added to the personnel dispatched, and now the Mongolian schools in Guangzhou and Shanghai are recruiting female students, and the women's schools are also expanding year by year, and this problem will be gradually solved." ”

Wu Shaorong's words turned, "California, Brother Guocheng is really unmoved? ”

Seeing that he had brought the topic back, Yi Zhizhi smiled, "San Francisco is a good place, Yuan Qi will consider stationing, but will not go to pan for gold." ”

Wu Shaorong said puzzledly: "What do you do when you go to San Francisco without panning for gold?" It was nothing more than a town of a few thousand people. ”

"Naturally, it's trade." Yi Zhifen smiled and said, "I plan to organize a fleet to go to San Francisco to see if I can buy some gold." ”

"Isn't this a sacrifice of the basics?" Wu Shaorong chuckled: "Wouldn't it be more direct to organize people to pan for gold?" ”

Yi Zhixiang smiled, and did not explain, he did not want to be the gold digger, he was more willing to be the person who sold water on the gold panning road, for him, what he needed was gold, and it was more risky to trade for gold than to pan for gold.

After the first month of the New Year passed peacefully, it was only in February, and the sky of the entire Qing Dynasty seemed to be covered with a layer of clouds -- the cabinet issued an edict to all provinces directly under the government to check the deficit of money and grain -- and the governors of all provinces were to make up for the arrears accumulated over the years, and there was no delay, and those who failed to recover them were dismissed from their posts and retained in their posts.

Although last year the imperial court began to order the governors of the provinces to clean up the arrears of local states and counties over the years, but the provinces did not care too much about the arrears over the years because of the large amount of arrears over the years, after all, the arrears and deficits were not pulled down by their own appointments, after all, the amount was quite not small, and all provinces in the country were the same, almost no prefecture and county did not have arrears, and most officials did not take this matter to heart with the psychology of not being held accountable by the law.

No one expected that the imperial court would be so tough this time, regardless of the forcible liquidation of debts, and it was clearly stated that those who failed to recover would be dismissed and retained, and they immediately panicked.

Lei Garden, Changchun Garden, Changle Book House.

Yi Zhizu put down the newspaper, glanced at Bao Shichen, and said: "Last year, the imperial court began to order an inventory of the shortage of money and grain in local states and counties, what is the total amount?" ”

"The total deficit of money and grain in the whole country is 30 million taels, not counting the grain in arrears." Bao Shichen said with a long sigh, "I'm afraid there will be chaos now." ”

Some are messed up? Yi Zhicontentment's heart lit up, all along, but whenever a major uprising broke out, there must be a direct cause, or a major natural disaster, or a major military failure, increased taxes and taxes, and the people were not able to make a living, he never understood what caused the outbreak of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement, is this the fuse? It's been 29 years since Daoguang, and it's already very close to the God-worshipping uprising!

After a slight groan, he said, "Why is Sir so lamenting? ”

"It's not clear?" Bao Shichen said slowly: "In order to collect the taxes of the year and make up for the previous deficit, the officials will never pay out of their own pockets, and they must try to apportionment them to the people." Although the big shopkeeper has been an official for many years, he has always been honest and does not know the filthiness of officialdom. ”

Speaking of this, he paused, and said in a deep voice: "The big shopkeeper and look, such a forced clearing of the arrears will inevitably lead to chaos, and the arrears accumulated for many years can be cleared by saying so?" However, any official who is a little more incorruptible, cherishes his feathers, and cherishes his reputation will inevitably pretend to be sick and take leave, and will be represented by the acting officer.

Since ancient times, there has been a saying among the people that 'acting officials are like robbers', because the officials can extort money at will regardless of the results of the examination, and if they finally have the opportunity, they will take the opportunity to enrich their own pockets, and they will inevitably take the opportunity of the inventory to apportionment and extort the people.

There is no difference between corrupt officials and acting officials, but they are slightly restrained, but they have the name of clearing up the arrears, and they are also unscrupulous, and the local officials are corrupt in their governance. ”

Speaking of this, he glanced at Yi Zhizhi with some suspicion, and said, "The big shopkeeper asked knowingly, could it be that he was looking forward to poking out some big mess?" ”

Yi Zhixiang smiled and said, "If you really want to make a big mess, the court won't have the heart to come to us for trouble." ”

This is also true, Bao Shichen nodded, and sighed a little before he said: "A few years ago, the imperial court was short of silver, and it was all Yuanqi indefinite loan ...... ”

"Term loans are not without restrictions." Yi Zhizhi said: "In recent years, the imperial court has been in debt, and the amount of silver owed to Yuan Qi has been as high as 70 million, not to mention that the imperial court needs 7 million a year to repay interest, and it does not dare to borrow more, even if the imperial court dares to borrow, Yuan Qi does not dare to borrow, and the amount of indefinite loans is too large, which will seriously affect the circulation ...... silver in the market." ”

Speaking of this, he frowned slightly, and said, "Mr. can see at a glance that there are huge drawbacks to forcibly cleaning up the arrears so much, is it not possible that all the Zhu Zi in the Manchu Dynasty is full of wine bags and rice bags?" ”

Bao Shichen listened to it and said, "What does the big shopkeeper mean?" ”

"I just want to ask, what is the use of the imperial court being so eager to clear the arrears accumulated over the years? I haven't heard of a catastrophe anywhere. Yi Zhizhi said in a deep voice: "Thirty million taels of silver!" ”

Bao Shichen said with a solemn face: "What does the big shopkeeper mean, is it aimed at Yuan Qi?" ”

Yi Zhizhi said in a deep voice: "In addition to using it for military salaries, I can't think of any other place in the imperial court that needs such a large sum of silver, and it is so urgent. ”

After a slight groan, Bao Shichen shook his head and said, "I'm afraid the big shopkeeper is too worried." After a pause, he said: "The imperial court ordered all provinces to check and inventory the local money and grain deficit last year, and it was before the big treasurer led the troops to go on the expedition. ”

Hearing this, Yi Zhizhi couldn't help but be content, and said, "Mr. is not mistaken? ”

"How can you be wrong about such a big event?" Bao Shichen said firmly: "There is no need to check the newspaper, it is indeed before the big treasurer sends out the army." ”

To say that the imperial court had already set out to eradicate Yuan Qi before he sent troops to conquer Nanyang, Yi Zhizhi didn't believe it, and after thinking about it, he said: "Could it be that I am suspicious?" ”

Bao Shichen pondered for a while before he said: "Yes, the big shopkeeper at that time suggested border political reform?" ”

Yi Zhishu also thought about his reminder, and said with a smile: "It seems that the imperial court raised this silver for the northwest. ”