In addition to gold mining tools, what Liang Yao wanted most was a musket for self-defense.
At this time, California was the most remote place in the United States and was not even a state.
The mountains are high and the emperor is far away, and this is a gold-producing area. Naturally, there is no order in such a place. It is an absolute world of the survival of the fittest.
He is now weak and can't even deal with a few thugs on the ship, let alone the gold diggers from all over the world in the gold-producing area. Those who can survive and reach this place are basically not good people.
A rifle, preferably a short gun that is easy to carry, can at least give him a sense of security.
However, he could not afford the price of a musket with his current financial resources. For example, the Brown Bass musket that was about to be withdrawn from the British active service, the low-cost Indian Monkey version of the Brown Bass also cost about 2 pounds. And he didn't even have a pound now.
"Hello, Liang."
The third mate Sven who was coming towards him patted Liang Yao on the shoulder like an old friend they had known each other for a long time. Sven was a Dane, and his name did not suit his character. Although his name was Sven, he did not look gentle at all, but rather an unkempt and rough man.
Because Sven was easy-going and talkative, unlike the other arrogant British crew members on the ship who had an attitude of superiority and looked down on people of color, Sven became the crew member Liang Yao was most familiar with during this long voyage.
Of course, it is also a tool for conversation between each other to relieve boredom.
Somehow, Sven got along very well with the ordinary sailors on the ship, while the captain and the mates did not seem to like their colleague.
Sven was originally the first mate on the Danish Asiatic Company's merchant ship Würzburg. After the Danish Asiatic Company, which was the Danish East India Company, was dissolved, Sven, who was burdened with debts, came to work for the British Steamship Company to pay off his debts.
Could it be that this was related to Sven being Danish? Or was it because Sven was heavily in debt and they were afraid that Sven would borrow money from them, so they distanced themselves from him?
While Liang Yao was making random guesses, his eyes fell on the two percussion cap guns on Sven's waist, each less than a foot long. These were good things.
"Are you interested in it? This is a brand new percussion cap rifle from the famous Birmingham Arsenal! I bought it from a poor nobleman in Calcutta for a full forty pounds.
We are friends, and if you like it, I don't mind taking a loss and selling it to you for fifteen pounds."
Sven took a percussion cap out of the holster and introduced his gun to Liang Yao like an enthusiastic salesman. He could see that this oriental boy was very interested in his gun.
"It's very new. It's so new that the emblems and noble badges are worn away, and the rifling is worn smooth."
Liang Yao would not believe that Sven, who lived in such poverty that he had to water down his brandy and rum, could afford a huge sum of 40 pounds to buy a gun. However, the logo of the Birmingham Arsenal on the gun was real.
Liang Yao would never believe that a pistol was sold for forty pounds. Even if there was a premium for a noble custom-made gun, its value would not exceed ten pounds. Unless it was a famous noble, or the former owner of the gun had a legendary experience.
Obviously, this percussion cap rifle does not have this property.
Sven thought too highly of him. If he had fifteen pounds, would he have traveled thousands of miles to California to mine? Wouldn't it be better to just go back to Qing and buy a house, land, and concubines?
"Ten pounds! It can't be any lower!"
Sven said through gritted teeth, his painful expression as if someone had cut a piece of flesh from him.
"To be honest, I don't have even a pound on me right now," Liang Yao told the truth.
"roll!"
Sven rolled his eyes, put his gun back into its holster, and changed his attitude faster than turning the pages of a book.
"But I can share with you a business opportunity, a business opportunity worth thousands of pounds in exchange for your gun."
Liang Yao smiled faintly. He didn't have ten pounds, but he wanted Sven's gun.
Sven, who had been on the sea for many years, certainly did not believe that Liang Yao, a young man, had any business opportunities worth tens of thousands of pounds. He just thought that Liang Yao was bragging and did not take it seriously.
"You can buy a pan from Boston for only seven or eight cents, and a spatula for only a dozen cents.
But in the gold fields of California, a frying pan could easily sell for six dollars and a shovel for thirty dollars.
Of course, if you like gold, you can even exchange it directly for an equal amount of gold. The most valuable thing in the gold mining area is gold, and the least valuable thing is also gold. "
Liang Yao said in a serious tone.
Sven was skeptical. Liang Yao could tell the price in such detail that it didn't seem like he was making it up. It was just that the profit was breathtakingly high. Even selling slaves and piglets was not that profitable.
"Oh my God!"
Sven's attitude towards Liang Yao immediately made a 180-degree turn, but he did not easily believe Liang Yao's words. Instead, he asked Liang Yao about the source of the information to determine whether the information was reliable.
"My relative told me that he was in California. It was he who wrote to us and asked us to go to California."
This sentence was half true and half false. The letter from his fellow villager telling him that there was gold in California was true, but the prices of items such as frying pans and shovels were made up by him.
"Gold is discovered in countless places around the world every year, but how many of them are real? Only those of you who are desperate are willing to sell your property in exchange for a ticket to the illusory gold mountain you talk about."
Sven had heard the news of the discovery of gold in California, but that was just hearsay. Unless he saw it with his own eyes, Sven would never believe these unreliable and exaggerated rumors.
Liang Yao shrugged, feeling a little disappointed. This rude-looking Nordic man was not as easy to fool as he had imagined.
"But given our friendship, I'm willing to take a gamble. If you lie to me, you'll end up like this seabird."
As Liang Yao was about to leave, Sven suddenly pulled out his rifle from his holster, put on the percussion cap, and pulled the trigger at the seabirds circling overhead.
As the thunderous gunshot rang out, a seabird fell into the sea, and the familiar splashing sound reached Liang Yao's ears.
The sudden gunshot made Liang Yao stop in his tracks. His legs under his robe seemed to be still shaking, and he felt a slight chill on his back.
"It's yours! I suppose the price of pans, shovels, and spades in Panama is about the same as in Boston."
Sven put the old musket with a hot barrel into Liang Yao's hand. The things Liang Yao mentioned were not valuable things, and he was willing to take a gamble. Even if he lost, he would not lose much.
A few curious British sailors were gathered at the cabin door, watching the Qing people fighting below the deck, and they would occasionally burst into playful laughter, as if they were watching a group of monkeys fighting.
Liang Yao returned to the cabin with a gun in hand, looking ferocious. The backs of the young men from the Deng family had already been knocked to the ground. Deng Yan's legs and right hand were tightly held by three thugs, and he could not move in the narrow cabin. His left hand, which was still able to move, tightly grasped Wu Daqi's braid.
Wu Daqi was not to be outdone, and used all his strength to punch Deng Yan in the face.
Wu Daqi was enjoying the fight when he was suddenly hit on his forehead with a club. He endured the pain and turned his head to attack, but saw the muzzle of a gun pointed at his head.
"Third brother, no, Third Master. Young Master Liang, spare me. I will never dare to do it again. I will apologize to you all now."
Wu Daqi didn't even care that Deng Yan was pulling his braid, and hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed to beg for mercy.
The rest of the accomplices were at a loss as to what to do and allowed the bruised and swollen Deng Yan to break free from them.
"Shooting you to death is too easy for you. Who in Xiangshan doesn't know about what you did in Xiangshan? You should be thrown into the sea and let the fish eat your flesh and bones one bite at a time!" Liang Yao said angrily.
Deng Yan had been a soldier, had used a musket, and had seen the power of foreign guns. He was worried that Liang Yao might get too excited and fire the gun. After all, they were on a foreigner's ship, and they had to act according to the foreigner's mood. If someone died, it would be difficult to end the matter.
"Third brother, let him apologize and forgive him this time."
Although he was beaten, Deng Yan still kept a cool head.
Liang Yao also took this opportunity to back off from the situation. Although the old fox Sven gave him the gun, he did not give him the percussion cap and bullets. The weapon in his hand could only be used to scare people.
"Uncle, it's their fault. You can't take this beating for nothing. The doctor on the ship is asking for a lot of money."
Liang Yaozhong's powerful voice echoed in the cabin, and his sharp eyes were directed at Wu Daqi.
"We brothers will pay for the consultation. We brothers will pay for it. It's me, Lu Daqi, who didn't control my hands and is a piece of shit."
Lu Daqi hurriedly took out two eagle dollars and a few silver coins, and urged his accomplices to take out money. Under Lu Daqi's urging, his accomplices reluctantly gathered some silver coins.
Liang Yao knew when to stop. Seeing that Lu Daqi and the others had paid the money, he did not force them into a desperate situation. Even a rabbit will bite when it is cornered.
Fighting among Chinese people was a minor matter, but pulling out guns was a different matter. Soon, a white sailor who was watching the fun informed Captain Frank of the situation.
"What's going on?!"
The pilot, also known as the immigration agent Huang Bingliang, followed Frank and questioned everyone in the cabin in a harsh voice with the power of a bully.
"Where did you get your gun?"
Frank noticed the rifle hidden in Liang Yao's clothes. Since Liang Yao knew English, Huang Bingliang no longer translated the conversation between Frank and Liang Yao.
"This is a gift from Third Officer Sven." Liang Yao replied in English, "It's just a gun, without a percussion cap or bullets."
Flack's expression eased after hearing this. Seeing that nothing serious had happened, he left after saying a few words of reprimand. He was unwilling to interfere in the affairs between the Chinese.
All he cared about was how many people could make it to California alive and how much commission he could get from it, that's all.
After Frank left, Liang Yao pulled up the cloth curtain in the middle of the cabin and called Deng Yan and several young men from the Deng family to come to the stern of the cabin.
"This money is divided among you. Tomorrow the ship will dock. You can go ashore and find a good doctor to treat your injuries."
There was a ship's doctor on the Cape Town, but he was an extreme racist and a white supremacist. The most common way he used to treat the Chinese was to cover his nose from a distance and command the sailors to carry the sick Chinese out of the cabin and throw them into the sea.
Liang Yao didn't expect such a person to be able to treat these Deng family members.
Liang Yao divided the money into six parts and asked them to take one part each.
"They are just superficial injuries. No injuries to the bones or muscles. They are not a big deal."
Deng Wenyao said that it was okay, but his body was honest and he reached out for the money.
Deng Wenyu stopped him: "Without Third Brother, we don't know how this matter would end today. Third Brother should have a share of the money."
Deng Yan also agreed with this and took out three silver coins: "If Third Brother doesn't accept this money, we and other family members won't dare to take it."
"In that case, then count me in."
Liang Yao did not act shy and accepted the three silver dollars generously.
After everyone had divided the money, Deng Yan said to Liang Yao with a worried look on his face, "Wu Daqi and his men only gave in when they saw you had a foreign gun in your hand. They said they gave in to you, but in their hearts they wanted to chop you into pieces. You still have to be careful of him in the future."
Liang Yao smiled bitterly, shook his head and said, "It is difficult for Wu Daqi and his ilk to achieve great things. It is not worth mentioning. What I am worried about now is not Wu Daqi, but what to do after arriving in Sanfan."
How to gain a foothold after arriving in California is what Liang Yao is most worried about now.
It was now late 1849, and nearly two years had passed since James Marshall first discovered large amounts of gold in the American River in January 1848, and they had lost their lead in the gold rush.
Many gold prospecting teams from the eastern United States not only have professional gold prospecting knowledge, but also have more mature organizational forms and, of course, more people. How can he compete with those 49-year-old miners?
If he can unite and organize the more than 120 Chinese workers on the ship, it will be a force that cannot be underestimated.
But this idea is nothing but a fantasy. The composition of the Chinese on the ship is very complex. In addition to people from Xiangshan, there are also people from Guangzhou, Chaoshan, Zhaoqing, Hakka from northern Guangdong, and even a dozen people from Fujian.
With his current prestige, it would be nothing but a pipe dream to want to unite people from different regions and clans.
A more realistic idea is to unite these members of the Deng family and gain a firm foothold in San Francisco first.
Deng Yanchang sighed, "It's rare that you can think of this at such a young age. It's getting late, go to bed early. Your second uncle can't guarantee it for outsiders, but he can still unite these Deng family members into one."
Liang Yao also felt a little sleepy, so he said no more and climbed onto the Manila canvas hammock with his musket.