"I have done what you asked me to do. Mrs. Flagg, that poor little woman, was frightened to death by us."
The itchiness on the soles of his feet made Sven feel very uncomfortable. He took off his shoes, scratched his itchy feet and continued.
"If it weren't for the gold and to repay my high-interest loans, I really wouldn't have the heart to hurt a little woman. Bullying a woman is not what a man should do.
Besides, Mrs. Flagg is just a little vain and greedy, and she is not a bad person. My conscience is deeply troubled by this."
"You didn't hurt her, you just threatened her. You don't have to blame yourself too much." Liang Yao pointed to a box of gold on the ground and said, "Well done, the gold is yours now."
Sven put on his shoes, rolled up his sleeves and moved the box, felt the weight of the gold, and then put the heavy box down.
"You gave too much. We agreed on 300 ounces of gold. I know you have a lot of gold, but I have my principles."
"We are old friends. You have helped me a lot. The extra gold is my gratitude to you as a friend. After paying off the debt, what are you going to do?" Liang Yao asked Sven what his future plans were.
Sven and Liang Yao spent more than three months together on the Cape Town, during which time they had a great time talking to each other.
Liang Yao is different from other Chinese people that Sven knows. This young man does not have the humility of most Chinese people and has his own unique ideas and ambitions.
Gold is certainly tempting, but these few months of gold mining have also made Sven realize that even in California where gold is everywhere, not every gold digger can get rich.
After all, the only ones who can make a fortune are those very few people like Liang Yao and Brannan who have unique vision and some means.
"You want to hire me?" Sven guessed Liang Yao's thoughts. He thought about it carefully and shook his head and said, "Compared to the mines, the ocean is more suitable for me. After paying off the debts and the penalty for breach of contract of the British Steamship Company, I will find another shipping company and continue to be a deputy on the ship."
Sven figured it out. The gold mine was not his destiny. He gave up his fortune through gold panning. Perhaps he was born to belong to the vast ocean. He should get out of this crazy place of California as soon as possible and return to a normal life.
"Have you ever thought about becoming a captain?" Liang Yao looked at the unkempt Sven and said, "I remember you once told me on the Cape Town that a first mate who doesn't want to be a captain is not a good first mate, even though you weren't even a first mate at the time."
"I didn't expect you to remember what I said."
Sven felt somewhat relieved, his cloudy eyes couldn't help but glow with a bright light. Every first mate has a heart to be a captain, and being a captain is his childhood dream.
When he was a child, repairing sails for merchant ships with his father, he always had an unrealistic idea that he would become a captain in the future, owning and commanding a large ship and bravely breaking through the waves in the stormy ocean.
Sven's family was not good. His father made a living by mending sails. As the number of steam ships increased, his father received fewer and fewer jobs mending sails.
As for his mother, she was a prostitute, and he was the accidental product of a one-night stand between his father and the prostitute.
Such an origin doomed Sven's career path to be bumpy. In this era, the sacred profession of captain, which he dreamed of, was still exclusive to aristocratic gentlemen.
Being the first mate was the ceiling that a low-class person like him could reach. His resume at the Danish Asiatic Company was perfect. His navigation knowledge and skills were better than many captains, but the Danish Asiatic Company had never considered promoting him to captain.
"Of course I remember. You are my first white friend and my only friend on the Cape Town."
Liang Yao wanted to change California's population structure before it was finalized, creating a fait accompli in which Chinese people occupied an important position in California.
To achieve this goal, the current immigration rate is far from enough. Although California has inconvenient transportation, white people still have a geographical advantage, and it is much more convenient for them to immigrate to California than for Chinese people who are thousands of miles away.
If we had our own shipping company and fleet, and opened a route directly from San Francisco to the five trading ports in China's eastern coastal areas, we could shorten the original three or four month voyage to two months, greatly speeding up the immigration process.
Liang Yao had this idea a long time ago, but he had no connections in the sailing industry and had to put the plan on hold for the time being.
The benefits of owning your own fleet go far beyond this. In the future, the transportation and trading of bulk commodities will also rely on shipping. Having your own shipping company will not easily be strangled in this regard.
Vanderbilt, the New York shipping magnate who was about to visit California, later used his monopoly on the U.S. railway transportation industry to raise freight rates to put pressure on his competitors and force them to submit. Even the later oil tycoon Rockefeller was not spared.
Of course, the ultimate winners in this classic business war were up-and-coming companies such as Rockefeller and Carnegie.
The more far-sighted Rockefeller acquired the pipeline company and boldly adopted pipeline transportation, a technology that was not yet mature at the time, to transport his oil, taking huge risks. He invested huge amounts of money to lay oil pipelines to the industrial areas of the eastern coast of the United States and the Great Lakes region, successfully breaking Vanderbilt's monopoly on oil transportation.
Oil flowed to thousands of households in the United States through these pipelines, and wealth also flowed into the pockets of the Rockefeller family through these pipelines, making it another wealthy family after the Vanderbilt family, rich enough to rival a country.
Opportunities often favor those who dare to take risks and have foresight. Liang Yao never thought that these super-rich tycoons were able to stand out from the wild era of the 19th century when industry was booming because of the times, but rather that they were the best trendsetters of the era, and they and the era they lived in complemented each other.
"Your current financial resources are more than enough to set up a shipping company. Although San Francisco has several so-called shipyards, they are all very small. The ships they build are not only small, but also of questionable quality, and the technology is far behind. These small boats are not capable of ocean transportation." Sven reminded Liang Yao.
"I don't want to become a big fat man in one bite." Liang Yao also understood this point. Advanced large steamships are definitely not available in California. "As long as the two or three hundred ton boats built by the San Francisco Shipyard can go along the coast to Mexico and the New Granada area, it will be enough."
"You want to use these small boats to buy supplies directly from these places? That's a good idea." Sven listened attentively, and two streams of clear snot flowed from his nostrils. He sniffed hard and then raised his hand to wipe away the snot. "It would be great if there were a big ship. A thousand-ton steam ship can transport goods with the same efficiency as several small boats like these, and it's safer and less risky."
"Big ships will be available soon. If you are willing to manage this fleet for me, I can get a large steamship within two months." Liang Yao knew that Sven was obsessed with big ships.
The shipyards in California are more like small docks than shipyards. The ships repaired and rebuilt in these small docks can be used as a start-up, but if you want to become bigger and stronger, you still need big ships.
Liang Yao was not just making empty promises to Sven. He really had a chance of getting a steam ship of over a thousand tons.
The last thing that shipping magnate Vanderbilt, who will be visiting California soon, lacks is ships.
Vanderbilt was making great strides into the railway industry, and he had a considerable number of transport ships that he wanted to sell off for cash. As long as the negotiations could be successful, Liang Yao could still take over some ships from this shipping tycoon.
"If that's the case, I'm very interested in your shipping company." The temptation to lead and manage a fleet alone was too great for Sven, and he couldn't resist it.
Liang Yao gave Sven too many surprises. Liang Yao boasted that he could get a big ship within two months, and Sven also thought it was possible.
After all, when he was on the Cape Town, he could never have imagined that a skinny boy who had traveled across the ocean to seek gold with only eight Spanish silver dollars on him would become a millionaire in just four months.
"I can solve the problem of the ship, but I can't do anything about the problem of the crew and sailors. You know, I don't have any connections in the shipping industry." Liang Yao has a lot of things to worry about now. As for recruiting sailors and crew members, Liang Yao plans to let Sven solve these trivial matters himself.
"Among the gold prospectors, there are many who secretly got off the ship to pan for gold after landing. I know them. Like me, they did not make a fortune in the gold panning and lived in poverty. As long as you have gold, this is not a problem."
Gold prospectors in California each had their own small circles. During the four months of gold prospecting in California, Sven mainly hung out in the circles of fugitive sailors and crew members.
"In that case, our shipping company can be established and we can sign the contract today."
Liang Yao took a puff of his cigarette and put his pipe on the table.
"Of course, but what shall the shipping company be called? The California Shipping Line?"
"Too petty." Liang Yao shook his head. He was not satisfied with the name.
"American Shipping Company? American Shipping Company?" Sven said two more names.
Liang Yao continued to shake his head, saying, "You're still stingy."
"Pacific Shipping Line? Isn't that a pretty impressive name?"
"It's much better than the previous one, but it's still not grand enough. Let's just call it Global Shipping Company."
Global Shipping is the name of another shipping group in later generations.
"Global Shipping Company. It's really more impressive. It's a good name."
After completing the contract, Sven officially became a senior employee of Liang Yao, and his long-cherished dream became within reach.
"Are you ready to go to war with Brannan? Once the arrow is shot, there is no turning back. Brannan's influence in California is so great that I couldn't survive without him when I was in San Francisco. If you make this choice, the backlash will be huge."
Out of kindness, Sven did not forget to remind Liang Yao that, except for the Sacramento area, almost all gold diggers in California lived under the shadow of Brannan, and Liang Yao was the only one who could break this situation.
"The Public Security Committee has set its sights on Chinese businesses in California. They will take action soon. I hope you are well prepared."
Sven added that this was his personal judgment based on what he saw and heard in San Francisco.