Chapter 295: Dollar Launcher

Thanks to Liang Yao's money, the environment of the temporary resettlement site for immigrants in Xiangshan is not that bad.

Chinese immigrants are Liang Yao's capital to establish a foothold on the west coast of the United States. Liang Yao is still very willing to spend money on immigration.

However, due to the large number of people and the weak constitution of the refugees, some people still fall down every day and never stand up again, and they can't wait until the day to board the ship.

Especially in the cold winter, more people die.

When Liang Yao, Pan Shicheng and Liang Shaoqiong arrived at the resettlement site for immigrants, they ran into the management staff with face scarves on their faces, who lifted more than 20 cold and stiff bodies out of the resettlement site and cremated them on the spot.

The disheveled refugees have long been accustomed to this. People die here every day, but the difference is how many people die every day.

This is only the first hurdle for these refugees to immigrate to California. Even if they board the ship, some people will die on the ship.

Even if they arrive in California, not everyone can withstand the hurdle of acclimatization.

Liang Yao had personally experienced all these things. In 1849, when he took the Cape Town of the British Steamship Company to travel halfway around the world to California, a small number of people died on the way.

He saw with his own eyes that the British crew threw the dying and dying Chinese gold diggers from the ship into the sea like throwing away garbage.

The immigrants in the Xiangshan Immigration Resettlement Area were, to put it bluntly, refugees with nowhere to go.

Immigrants with a little money would not choose to wait here, but would choose to buy a ticket to California at their own expense.

No matter where, in which era, the rich always have more choices than the poor who have nothing.

The person in charge of the Xiangshan Immigration Resettlement Area is Hu Jinchen's cousin Hu Jinhou. Hu Jinhou, like Hu Jinchen, was a clerk at Jardine Matheson in his early years, and later came to Liang Yao to find a job.

Liang Yao's eyes swept across several fires where corpses were cremated, and finally stopped at Hu Jinchen who came out to greet him.

"The report you submitted to me said that no more than 50 people died here every day, but I saw at least 70 or 80 bodies with my own eyes. How do you explain it?"

"The boss hasn't had time to see the latest report yet. This is two or three months ago." Facing Liang Yao's questioning, Hu Jinhou answered calmly.

"Two or three months ago, the grain we bought in Hunan, Jiangxi, Jiangnan and other places could be transported to Guangzhou. Now the Taiping rebels are making more and more trouble in Hunan. The grain in these places can't be shipped out. It's also getting harder and harder to buy local grain in Guangdong. And more and more immigrants from all over the country are coming to Xiangshan after hearing the news. All we can do is to try our best to maintain the situation and try to keep more people alive."

"The harvests in Guangdong and Guangxi have been poor for years. The price of rice has soared this year. It's not easy to feed 30,000 or 40,000 mouths." Pan Shicheng looked at the resettlement site and said with the rosary that he had turned into a patina.

"It's hard to find rice in the Guangzhou rice market now. Besides, not all of these refugees died of starvation, some died of freezing."

"Global Shipping Company has sent people to Southeast Asia to buy grain, but it will take some time for the grain to be transported to Xiangshan." Hu Jinchen also said on the side. …

"How much grain is left in the granary?" Liang Yao asked

"8120 shi." Hu Jinhou blurted out.

"38,000 people, only 8,000 shi of grain, these grains can only last for two months at most." Liang Yao frowned and said, "Ask the Guangzhou government for some grain, tell them that if they don't give them food, the more than 38,000 refugees in Xiangshan will cause trouble, and we can't guarantee it."

These tens of thousands of refugees didn't cause a civil uprising, and the officials in Guangdong had to kowtow to Liang Yao. If they were stingy and refused to give any food, don't blame him for being rude.

"This" Hu Jinhou was a little hesitant.

"What are you afraid of?! You are a citizen of the United States. Citizens of the United States enjoy extraterritoriality in the Qing Dynasty. The laws of the Qing Dynasty cannot punish you, and the officials of the Qing Dynasty dare not touch you." Liang Yao raised his voice.

After that, Liang Yao turned around and told Hu Jinchen to send a ship to Japan to collect some food.

There will be more and more refugees in the resettlement area in the future. It is always good to prepare more food reserves in advance.

"I will also ask Governor Ye for some food for Mr. Liang in the name of training local militia." Pan Shicheng said.

"Thank you very much." Liang Yao bowed to Pan Shicheng to express his gratitude, "Please help me purchase some cold-resistant items."

"It's just a trivial matter, I will leave it to Pan." Pan Shicheng urged, "Mr. Liang, let's go and select local militia."

The resettlement area has a simple statistics of the refugees in the resettlement area. With the help of Hu Jinhou, Liang Yao and Pan Shicheng quickly completed the selection of local militia.

From more than 38,000 refugees, 150 people were selected as the foundation of the Yueyong.

These 150 people were at least literate and had a certain cultural foundation.

Although the illiteracy rate in the Qing Dynasty was high, it was still possible to select 150 literate people from more than 38,000 people.

"Is 150 people too few?" Pan Shicheng felt that Liang Yao had selected too few people and wanted to select more.

"Not enough, too much will not be enough, the most urgent task is to set up the framework of the Yueyong first." Liang Yao thought that 150 people were not too many or too few, just right.

"These people are trained as grassroots non-commissioned officers. As long as these people are trained, even if the number is quickly expanded tenfold in the future, the Yue Yong can still guarantee a certain combat effectiveness. Furthermore, the sudden recruitment of thousands of local Yongs may lead to disaster,"

Although Pan Shicheng obtained permission to compile and train Xiangyong, the Manchu and Qing officials still had concerns about the large-scale opening up of Xiangyong.

Recruiting a large number of local warriors from the beginning would easily arouse the vigilance of the top management of the Qing Dynasty, which was not a good thing for Pan Shicheng and Liang Shaoqiong.

It is better to be cautious in this initial step.

Pan Shicheng was a smart man and quickly understood Liang Yao's intentions: "Master Liang is still thoughtful, but Pan is a little impatient and a little complacent."

"Wang Shu!" Liang Yao called to Wang Shu, the commander of California's first company. "Your team of instructors will stay in Guangzhou to assist Mr. Pan in training Guangdong Yong. Don't compromise on training. Train these new recruits according to the standards of the California Infantry Regiment."

"Yes, Colonel!" Wang Shu replied forcefully.

Liang Yao transferred fifteen squad leaders from each company of the California Infantry Regiment to form a team of instructors to help Pan Shicheng and Liang Shaoqiong train the first batch of rural warriors. …

The California Infantry Regiment was basically composed of early Chinese immigrants, while the Arizona Infantry Regiment was composed of veterans recruited by Liang Yao in the eastern and southern United States.

Obviously, the non-commissioned officers of the California Infantry Regiment are more suitable for training Yue Yong than the Arizona Infantry Regiment. After all, they are all Chinese and there is no language communication barrier.

Pan Shicheng looked at these strong and well-groomed instructor team with great envy.

He was very satisfied with Liang Yao's carefully selected team of instructors. Pan Shicheng knew that the California Infantry Regiment was the unit Liang Yao relied on most. Selecting non-commissioned officers from this army shows Liang Yao's sincerity.

"A good horse must be equipped with a good saddle, and a good soldier must be equipped with a good gun. Since we use Western methods to train troops, we should also use Western fast guns. I wonder if Mr. Liang can sell me some Western fast guns to arm the Yue Yong?"

Pan Shicheng told Liang Yao about the purchase of weapons.

"The gun is not the problem. I can give Mr. Pan Shangyun 500 Walter M1852 rifles first, but the guns and bullets are not cheap." Liang Yao said.

The Walter M1852 rifle is a breech-loading single-shot rifled gun self-developed and produced in California. In this era when the major powers have not fully popularized rifled rifles, the performance of the Walter M1852 can be said to be very advanced.

Among the rifles in active service by the major powers, the performance of the Walter M1852 is only slightly inferior to the Dresser needle gun equipped by the Prussian army.

The musketeers of the Qing Dynasty are still equipped with matchlock guns from the pre-Ming Dynasty. If Yue Yong is equipped with this gun, it can be said to be a dimensionality-reducing blow to all armed forces in the Qing Dynasty.

Even if the great powers come, Guangdong's bravery is worthy of pure infantry against infantry.

There are two versions of the Walter M1852 rifle. One version uses metal-rimmed needle bullets, and the other version uses paper shell bullets and linen bullets like the Dresser needle gun.

The official name of the version using paper shell bullets and linen bullets is M1852E, which is a foreign trade version specially produced by Liang Yao for export. The cost of the foreign trade version is about 25% lower than the ordinary version, with each costing $15.

Liang Yao directly sold the full-blooded Walter M1852 rifle to Pan Shicheng, which can be said to be very generous.

Of course, the full-blood version of the Walter M1852 rifle also has disadvantages, that is, it is expensive. The price is not only reflected in the gun itself, but also in the bullets.

Metal bullets are advanced, but advanced often means expensive.

The cost of each metal-rimmed needle bullet is 5 cents, which is a full four times that of paper shell bullets and linen bullets.

Therefore, the crews of the Universal Shipping Company who were already equipped with Walter M1852 rifles gave this gun a very apt nickname: the Dollar Launcher.

"Money is not an issue. As long as you can train Guangdong Yong, the money will be well spent." Pan Shicheng said happily.

Compared with the donations to the imperial court and the indemnities from foreigners, the money spent on buying weapons is not worth mentioning.

After the arrangements for Guangdong Yong were completed, Liang Yao sent Pan Shicheng away.

"Fifth uncle, my nephew has tried his best to do whatever he can for you. If the Yue Yong can be trained, they will be the most powerful army in the Qing Dynasty."

After Pan Shicheng left, Liang Yao said to Liang Shaoqiong in a serious voice with his hands behind his back.

"How far the Liang family can go in the future depends on the fifth uncle's ability and luck."

Liang Yao was not sure what impact the flapping wings of the Guangdong army's butterfly would have on the future.

But he hopes that the situation on this land will develop in his favor in the future.

"Uncle Wu has been doing nothing for half his life and has accomplished nothing. Training Yue Yong is the biggest thing that Uncle Wu has done in his life." Liang Shaoqiong clenched his fists and said with excitement.

"For the sake of our old Liang family, and for the sake of reputation, your fifth uncle will take care of Yue Yong even if he is exhausted!"

"The fifth uncle has such a heart, and my nephew is very relieved." Liang Yao showed a happy smile on his face.