1871, New York City.
In a residential area next to a factory
in New York, the environment here is simi
lar to that of a slum, but no matter how di
rty it is, it is much better than a homeless
camp in the suburbs.
In this parallel world similar to the previous life, the United States is also beginning the process of industrialization
The sky in New York is gray, and ther
e are rows of factories in New York that a
re industrializing. Factory chimneys billo
w with thick smoke, constantly adding to
air pollution
On the roof of a two-story wooden building, two little boys about 10 years old,
wearing suspender jeans and newsboy hats, were lying
The boy on the left has blond curly hair, green eyes, and fair skin
The boy on the right has brown hair, gray-green pupils, and a little freckles on hiS face.
The brown-haired boy said, "Randy, has your family really decided to go to the West?"
Randy twisted his body and changed
into a more comfortable position before saying: "Yes, grandpa and father have already decided and are making preparations now."
The brown-haired child looked sad and said reluctantly: "Why go to the west? lsn't it very far there!"
There was no sad expression on Randy's face, because he knew that his friend
next to him named Billy McCarty would al
so embark on the journey to the West with his family.
The McCarty family came to the Unit
ed States earlier than the Ritter family, but in a worse economic situation.
Their family has not had a stable job in the past few years, and they will also decide to go to the west in the next few days.
In the future, he was called Billy the Kid because of his baby face.
This title will also become the most resounding name in the West and the representative figure of the Western Cowboy.
He is a hero in the hearts of Americans and a well-known legendary sharpshooter.
According to legend, it only took 0.3
seconds for Billy the Kid to go from drawing the gun to firing the safety and then pulling the trigger. Not only is the gun fast, but it is also extremely accurate, and it can
hit almost all targets at close range. In film and television dramas, he is even called a bug.
Randy turned to Billy and said, "Yes, the west is far away, but grandpa and the
others all want to go west and have a farm of their own.'
Billy the Kid looked puzzled. Although he was lrish, at his age, he still couldn't
understand the importance of land to the
Irish.
The lrish people who had experienced famine had a very strong desire for land
Since the promulgation of the Homes
tead Act, there has been a wave of immigration to the west.
However, in order to raise funds for travel and land purchase, the Leiter family
had to stay in New York.
The Homestead Act stipulates that A
merican citizens over the age of 21 can apply for an allotment of no more than 160
acres of western state-owned land by paying a registration fee of US$10. 0wnership of the land can be obtained by cultivating the land for 5 years or living on the land
for 6 months within 5 years and paying a
fee of $1.25 per acre
When the Leiter family came, it was just before the end of the Civil War. The market demand caused by the war was still
there, and the labor force was insufficient,
so the wages were not bad at that time.
Old Leite planned to make some money first, and then choose to pay the land registration fee and then buy some privateland.
In order to prevent the defeated southern farmers from going west to enclosure, the current federal government prohibited the governments of western states from selling land to people other than immigrants.
The railway company's land is given
away free of charge by the government, and a subsidy of about US$10,000 per mile
is also provided. Land brokers, who nowerve businessmen and farmers, are already buying private land for customers in the West.
In order to own a farm of their own,the Randy family was also trying every means to make money and had been frugaland frugal for a long time.
Grandpa Leiter worked as a craftsman in a small firearms workshop. Of course,
the guns were not patented and could
only be copied secretly.
At this time, the United States already had patent laws, and unauthorized products could not appear on the market openly.
The current law enforcement system
is not perfect, and the speed of informat
on dissemination is also very slow, so workshops are not afraid of being investigated, they just can't be too ostentatious.
The workshop where 0ld Leiter worked sold the guns produced to underground arms dealers, who then sold them to gangsters, criminals, or other people who could not afford genuine guns.
Today's guns are not produced on machine assembly lines. Even in arsenals such as Colt and Remington, it costs 8 to 10 US dollars to produce a gun.
Remington and Colt are competing for orders from the military. Even though the products are more cost-effective, the rel
ationship is still not as strong as Colt. After Remington failed in the bidding, it turned to the civilian market, and the official price was $15.
Colt priced the product at US$25 for the military, but later lowered the price to US$14.50 in order to capture the civilian
market. With a price difference of US$0.5
0, Colt captured nearly half of the market
share.
Of course, those prices are all ex-factory prices for wholesalers such as the military and arms dealers. Because the output is small, the guns circulating on the market generally cost around US$50 to US$1 00, which is more than half a month's sal
ary for ordinary people.
For a stable job like Lao Leiter, the m
onthly salary is only about US$150.
The surge in the number of immigrants has made the jobs of other people in the family less stable.
Now the combined salary of father Hax Leiter and uncle Bouvier Leiter is only
about US$100, which is a big drop from their previous income.
After her grandmother Frisa passed a
way, her mother Margery took care of the
housework and stopped working as a fe
male worker in a textile factory.
Although the job in the textile factory
was stable, the long hours, dirty environment, and low wages made it not a good place to be.
Now, after excluding expenses, the Randy family has about US$200 left every
month.
Except for the year when I first arrived in the United States, I had little money Ieft. In the past few years, I have accumulated a fortune of about US$3,000.
The sky is starting to get darker and it's probably going to be evening.
Billy stood up, stretched his body and
said, "Randy, it's getting late. Today is my
birthday. I have to go back early."
"Well, happy birthday to you, Billy," Randy said, standing up as well
"Thanks Randy, see you tomorrow
After Billy the Kid came home, Randy
walked to the back yard and looked at the
four horses in the stables and an empty caravan frame next to them.
These were prepared for going to the
West. A horse is now worth about $70 to
$150 in the eastern United States
Four horses plus two saddles and a f
our-wheeled caravan frame cost a total of
$450.
It made my mother Margery feel distressed for a long time, but buying it was more cost-effective than renting it, otherwise I would still have to buy it when I went to the vast west.
For the upcoming journey to the west, guns and horses were indispensable.
It now costs at least US$100 per vehicle to rent a fleet of horse-drawn carriages to Kansas City in the west.
A journey that takes nearly three mon
ths will definitely require an escort. Of course, if you don't need an escort, the cost
will be less.
The road to the west is full of horse thieves and robbers. The end result of being unprotected is to be robbed.
Don't underestimate horse thieves Who pose the least threat. If they are caught stealing a horse, they will even take the initiative to shoot.
Because the fate of being caught is not much better than that of other criminalS.
Nowadays everyone in the West is a Iaw enforcer who will draw his gun and open fire as soon as he has the right excuse.
According to the legal standards in the East, theft is not considered a capital crime, but in the West it is basically the result of being hanged.
Even escorted convoys will be harassed by robbers. If you are unlucky and encounter a combined gang, the entire convoy will be robbed.
People who choose to go to the west
do not all want to farm and herd, but their
lives are more difficult in the east, and they are deceived by the immigration policies of some western state governments.
If you want to go west without sufficient preparation, you may even lose your life.
Old Leiter used the convenience of the firearms workshop to prepare three imitation long guns and four revolvers for his
home outside of his working hours.
The long guns are all Winchester 186
6, caliber .44, with an ammunition capacity of 15 rounds. The effective range is about 400 meters, suitable for long-distance
sniping.
The Winchester 1866 is the most ico
nic long gun of the Westward Expansion,
rivaling the Peacemaker Colt 1873 revolver that appeared two years later
The revolvers are three Colt 1860s and one Remington 1858..
Because Randy liked the Remington
1858, 0ld Leiter gave him the right to use
the Remington revolver on his birthday last week.
For Randy, who has a phobia of insufficient firepower, the reason he likes the Remington 1858 is its reloading speed. You can directly disassemble the polished
magazine and replace it with the loaded
magazine to increase the firepower.
Lao Leiter also prepared two additional bullet chambers specifically for this gun.
In the past two years, when they had
free time, the men of the Leiter family would go to the countryside to practice shooting
I didn't plan to take Randy there beca
use his Remington didn't have any bulletS.
Old Leite and the others were still afr
aid that he was ignorant and might hurt people. With Randy's strong request and guarantee, he was allowed to join them and go to the countryside to practice shooting together.
Although Randy was an ordinary social animal in his previous life, he was also
a firearms enthusiast and had a deep understanding of many weapons
He often goes to some live-fire clubs
for target practice and is very proficient in
the shooting methods of some guns.
Of course, Randy's marksmanship ca
nnot be compared with professionals, but
it is definitely much better than ordinary people who have never touched a gun.
Although I have never experienced actual combat, I have participated in simulated gunfight game competitions with many shooting enthusiasts.
Even after crossing over and switching to a revolver, his level still didn't drop much.
He went to gun practice with Lao Leiter and the others, just to find an excuse f
or himself to be good at shooting, so he deliberately missed the target when he first started shooting