At the end of 1849, the Cape Town, a merchant ship sailing from Hong Kong to California, USA, was drifting on the vast ocean.
The salty smell of sea water seeped into the narrow and dim cabin through the cracks in the deck.
What followed was a series of ups and downs. Liang Yao covered his mouth and almost spilled the bread and cooked food he had just swallowed into his stomach.
Liang Yao looked around, and under the dim light he saw many sallow, weak, and skinny faces.
"Third brother, you don't look well."
A middle-aged man with his hair braided on his head walked up to Liang Yao and asked with concern.
"Uncle, I'm fine."
Liang Yao waved his hand to indicate that he was fine. The middle-aged man's surname was Deng Mingyan and he was once a small captain in the Guangdong Navy.
Liang Yao's family background was much more prominent than Deng Yan's. Liang Yao's grandfather was a fifth-rank military official, and the Liang family was considered a prominent family of scholars in Xiangshan. Deng Yan was just a fisherman, and even Deng Yan's position as a captain was promoted from an outsourced captain to a captain by the Liang family through connections.
But this time, Deng Yan was dissatisfied with Shangguan's attempt to force his daughter to be a concubine, so he beat and killed Shangguan, and fled overseas with his entire family.
Because of cheating in the Guangdong provincial examination, not only did the Liang family's grandfather lose his official position, but the lives of the entire family were saved by selling their property. The Liang family fell into poverty and inevitably went bankrupt.
Although cheating in imperial examinations was rampant in the middle and late Qing Dynasty, once it happened, one would be considered lucky to be able to save the lives of the entire family.
"Your Liang family is the same. A son born to a wife is a son, but a son born to a concubine is not a son?
I heard that the United States discovered a gold mountain, but you, an 18-year-old boy, were forced to go to San Francisco to dig for gold. Why didn't you let the eldest and second sons go?
You also passed the imperial examination, and your ability to study is no worse than the eldest and second sons."
Looking at his young nephew, Deng Yan's eyes were full of pity. He felt indignant for his nephew, and of course, also for his sister who was a concubine in the Liang family.
When talking about the imperial examination, Deng Yan's wife Zhou hurriedly winked at Deng Yan, indicating that Deng Yan should not continue talking about it. After all, this was a sore spot for the Liang family.
This is the Liang family's pain, but not Liang Yao's pain. Coming to this desperate and suffocating era, leaving his hometown and going to California to start a career may not be a bad thing for him.
In his previous life, in order to escape the suffering of internal circulation, he also went from a first-tier city in China to Wall Street in the United States and became a low-level stock trader.
He never thought that there is no limit to the pressure, but only higher pressure, and the work intensity kept increasing. After arriving at Wall Street, the working hours changed from 996 to 007, until he suddenly died on the ferry on the way to work in Manhattan.
Perhaps in this life, in this virgin land of capital with golden opportunities everywhere, he can show his talents, make a difference, become a legendary tycoon, and live a life he never dared to imagine in his previous life.
Suddenly, a woman's shrill scream in the cabin brought Liang Yao's thoughts back to reality from his vague fantasy.
Liang Yao looked in the direction of the sound and saw his cousin Deng Ying, still in shock, curled up beside Zhou and wiping away tears. Behind Deng Ying were several ugly smiling faces.
"You are so pretty, little girl, and your butt is more comfortable to touch than that of a prostitute. No wonder General Zhang Qian fell in love with your Deng family. Why don't I marry you as my wife in Sanfan and live together? I don't mind that your Deng family is a fugitive."
The speaker was the wretched young man Wu Daqi, a local thug in Xiangshan. Due to his bad reputation and the difficult times in the world, he could no longer make a living locally. When he heard that a gold mountain had been discovered in the United States, he pooled some money with a dozen of his accomplices and bought a boat ticket to the United States to give it a try.
"Bah! You scabby dog!"
Deng Yan was furious and rushed forward with his fist raised. In the cabin, except for the five Deng family members who came forward to help, the rest of the neighbors and fellow villagers all looked indifferent and turned their heads to the side, pretending that they saw nothing.
Seeing that there were only a few people on Deng Yan's side, while his own side had a large number of people, Wu Daqi became more confident. He put his hands on his waist and laughed wildly without restraint.
Liang Yao was not used to riding on a ship, and was taken care of by Deng Yan along the way. Of course he could not stand idly by when his cousin was bullied.
Although he has the brain of a thirty-year-old from later generations, his body is that of an eighteen-year-old weak scholar. Wu Daqi and his men are outnumbered and powerful, so they will definitely suffer in a fight.
"You, a weak scholar, are here to join in the fun and ask for a fight?"
Seeing Liang Yao stand up and walk towards him unsteadily, Wu Daqi said with disdain.
In the past, he would never dare to speak to the official son in front of him in such a tone.
Thinking of this, Wu Daqi couldn't help but straighten his back and feel proud.
"Third brother, let us rough guys handle this kind of thing. You should go back." Deng Yan advised in a low voice. He was already satisfied that Liang Yao had this intention.
"After all, I am half a member of the Deng family. How can I just ignore it when my family members are bullied?" Liang Yao said in a firm voice.
Liang Yao's words won the favor of several Deng family members, but Wu Daqi still looked disdainful: "What do you have to control?"
The young thugs started laughing and didn't take Liang Yao seriously at all.
"Apologize to my second uncle and cousin, otherwise."
"What else?"
"Throw you into the sea to feed the fish!"
Liang Yao said this very seriously, and then he heard a burst of laughter. It was obvious that Wu Daqi and the others did not take Liang Yao's words seriously. "Just you?"
"Last month, the foreigners suspected that Chen Awei had the plague, and they threw him into the sea without saying a word. In the eyes of those foreigners and pilots, we are not human beings at all, but white silver and golden gold."
At this point, the smiles of Wu Daqi and others finally froze, and they began to chew on Liang Yao's words.
Although he didn't know if the boy's words had enough weight to make the foreigners throw him into the sea, it was true that the foreigners threw Chen Awei into the sea. Wu Daqi still felt scared when he thought of the sound of him falling into the water.
On the entire ship, the only person who could talk to the foreigners was this young boy, except for the pilot who worked for them.
"Liang Yao, Captain Frank is looking for you."
The pilot Zhang Bingliang stomped his feet on the deck, stuck his head out and shouted to Liang Yao in the cabin, then left covering his nose in disgust, not wanting to stay in this damn place any longer.
"It's up to you whether you want to make amends or die without leaving a complete body. "
Liang Yao said something harsh and left the cabin without looking back.
Liang Yao naturally knew why Captain Frank wanted to see him.
The weigher on the Cape Town fell ill while passing through Malacca, so Frank had to leave him in Singapore. The sanitary conditions of the era were limited, and there were too many uncertainties in long-distance voyages, so crew reduction was common.
Frank originally planned to recruit weighers in Singapore, and Liang Yao volunteered to say that he could be qualified for the position of weigher.
After all, he only had eight Spanish francs that his mother had stuffed into his pocket before he left, and the monthly salary of ordinary crew members on the ship was much higher than this figure.
Liang Yao wanted to earn some money to buy some supplies, but California was still a wild place, and supplies were extremely scarce. Even if there were supplies, the prices were extremely high due to the gold rush. With the eight Spanish silver dollars in his hand, he could only afford a few meals there.
At first, Frank refused to hire Liang Yao, who had no experience, as a weigher. Even when Liang Yao demonstrated his English proficiency and accounting skills, Frank still shook his head in nonono. It was not until Liang Yao made a condition that he could not refuse that he only wanted half of the weigher's salary that Frank smiled for the first time in a long time and nodded his head in a long-lost "yes".
"If nothing goes wrong, the Cape Town will arrive in Panama tomorrow. This is the list of tomorrow's shipments. Go to the cargo hold and check the cargo."
The captain's room at the stern is spacious, bright and clean. Although it is on the same ship as the so-called "guest cabin" below, it is like two different worlds.
With the previous experience, Frank was very confident in Liang Yao, and he even proposed to hire Liang Yao as a crew member. After all, he often sailed on the Chinese route, and it would be very helpful for him to have someone on board who was fluent in English and the local language.
The key point is that this young man from the Qing Dynasty is really cheap and can do things efficiently and beautifully. Hiring him is definitely a good deal with no loss.
"We will be in Panama tomorrow. If only Panama could build a canal, we would be in California by now."
Liang Yao was not unfamiliar with Panama, but there was no sign of the Panama Canal now. When the canal was completed and opened to navigation, the Qing Dynasty had already fallen and World War I was in full swing.
During this period, the Qing people were still ignorant of the outside world, and only a few people could name the names and capitals of several major Western countries.
Arrogant and ignorant, this was Frank's view of the Qing people during this period. It was beyond Frank's expectation that this Qing boy knew so much about Panama.
In the early years, President Bolivar of Gran Colombia had the idea of building the Panama Canal. Later, the Republic of New Granada also proposed that Britain, France, the United States, Spain and other countries work together to build the canal, but in the end it was shelved due to various factors.
"Yes, your job will be over after tomorrow's work is done. Here is your salary." Captain Frank took out a bag of coins and threw it on the table, squinting his eyes and revealing a smile that was hard to conceal.
"You served the Cape Town for fifty-seven days from Singapore to Panama. I am always generous and I paid you two months' salary for your fifty-seven days' service. This is the 13 shillings you deserve."
Frank was a typical example of a traitor who took advantage of the situation. The contract they signed was a 26 shillings per month contract for the entire voyage, including short-term allowances, which was the total for a normal weigher. According to the contract, the money was also paid by the British Steamship Company, to which the Cape Town belonged.
Liang Yao weighed the 13 shillings in his purse and knew that the rest of the money would naturally go into the pocket of Frank, the great philanthropist.
However, Liang Yao had no intention or ability to argue with Frank, so he just took the opportunity to ask Frank to go ashore to purchase some supplies for California tomorrow. Frank, who was in a good mood, readily agreed to this reasonable request.
13 shillings and 8 Spanish silver dollars, this was all Liang Yao had, his first pot of gold.
Liang Yao was thinking about how to spend the money. His knowledge of the history of the California Gold Rush was very superficial.
It's not that people in later generations don't understand American history, but their understanding focuses on World War II and the United States that became the world hegemon after the war, and they know very little about the United States before its rise.
Liang Yao was no exception. He was familiar with every major military operation the United States participated in and every economic policy it implemented during World War II and afterwards, but he only had a relatively superficial and vague understanding of the United States at that time.
After thinking for a while, Liang Yao decided to use the money to buy gold panning tools such as frying pans, shovels, and pickaxes.
Sam Brannan, the first millionaire in the history of the American West and an ordinary store owner, made his fortune by monopolizing gold mining tools. He bought these things and sold them in California, making a lot of profit.
This is an internally signed work, so you can invest with confidence.