Chapter 573: Heart of the West

Chapter 566 Heart of the West

"You are more knowledgeable and see farther than my uncle. Without you, the Liang family would not be what it is today. What complaints can I have?" Liang Shaoyu shook his head and said.

"When it comes to complaints, you are the one in our Liang family who is most qualified to complain. Ten years ago, you came to a foreign country alone and had no one to rely on. Your situation at that time was much more difficult than what my uncle is facing today. You This arrangement is based on your own considerations, and I will just do what you say."

This is what Liang Shaoyu says in his heart. To say it is unkind, it would be really unkind if the Liang family sent a young boy like Liang Yao to go out to sea ten years ago.

At that time, no one from the Shao generation was willing to leave Xiangshan and go to sea.

Furthermore, when he came to the Utah Territory, Liang Shaoyu did not come alone. He had a professional immigration team and the American Group as his backing. His situation could not be said to be difficult.

Mormon affairs have always been handled by Stanford and Pan Baolin. He only needs to concentrate on the resettlement work and report Stanford's every move to Liang Yao. This kind of work is already easy.

"Uncle, do you know why I sent you to Utah instead of Russia and Liangzhou in the north, or Northern Mexico in the south?" Liang Yao said calmly.

"Sending me to the Utah Territory shows that you regard my uncle as one of your own," Liang Shaoyu said.

"Oh? Uncle, tell me what you think." Liang Yao's eyes lit up and he couldn't help but look at Liang Shaoyu with admiration.

"Ruzhou and Liangzhou are both on the west coast. It is very convenient to travel to these two places whether by boat or train. Although the British Empire is extremely powerful, the Columbia Territory to the north of Liangzhou is still far away from the mainland, and It is a bitter cold land with few resources. The British have always been interested in profit, so the threat they can pose to us is naturally very limited."

"Furthermore, the British Empire has colonies all over the world, so it is inevitable to focus on one and not the other. I heard that the uprisings in the Indian states this year have given the British a headache."

Liang Yao did not expect that Liang Shaoyu had such a level of understanding of the international situation.

British colonies were spread all over the world, and British Columbia was just an inconspicuous bead in Queen Victoria's crown.

If Britain increases its investment in British Columbia, whether it is building more colonial strongholds or sending more troops. It can only be due to political considerations, not economic considerations.

Increasing investment in British Columbia is not a good deal for London. There is currently no sign of the British Empire increasing its investment in British Glenbia.

If one day London increases its investment in British Columbia, it will be an honor for him.

"Let's talk about the south." Liang Yao's eyes fell on Mexico.

"South? Mexico? What's there to say about Mexico?" When mentioning Mexico, Liang Shaoyu said in a rather disdainful tone, "Although the territory of Mexico is acceptable, its folk customs are weak and internally divided. The top management is obsessed with There is nothing to fear from short-sighted people who are sensual and lascivious.”

Although Mexico's size is acceptable, based on Liang Shaoyu's contact with Mexicans, Liang Shaoyu does not believe that this gang of Mexicans can pose a threat to the west coast.

It is not impossible for those meat eaters in Mexico to sell the entire country if they are given enough money.

Liang Yao did not have the idea of ​​annexing the entire Mexico, but due to his current size, he still did not annex the densely populated areas in southern Central and Southern Mexico.

It would be easy to annex these places, but south-central Mexico is so populous that the cost of assimilating these areas is far greater than the cost of occupying them.

Of course, annexing Mexico will face huge diplomatic risks, and this is what he is most afraid of.

After all, it is not only the United States that is interested in Mexico. Britain and France are also very interested in Mexico. Due to geopolitical considerations, the politicians of these two powers will not sit back and watch him occupy and annex the entire Mexico.

Directly occupying the relatively sparsely populated northern region of Mexico to maintain influence and deterrence over the current Mexican government is currently the best solution to deal with the Mexican problem.

"Then where do you think the biggest threat to the west coast region comes from right now?" Liang Yao looked towards the eastern part of North America with a solemn expression.

"Of course it's the east, I think that's why you sent me here." Liang Shaoyu said, "From what I learned in the newspaper, there must be a war between the north and the south, and this war will inevitably affect us. I think you sent me here to explore the Utah Territory as a buffer for California."

"I do have this idea. In terms of economy, the economic value and potential of the Utah Territory is far inferior to that of Ohio and Liangzhou, but the strategic value of the Utah Territory is much greater than that of Ohio and Liangzhou." Liang Yao pointed to the map and said.

“The Utah Territory is located in the geographical center of the west. Once the Utah Territory is mapped out, we can use the Utah Territory as a transit point to transport immigrants to Idaho in the north and Colorado in the east, and then develop these two more sparsely populated territories. , and strive for a wider living space. And to the west and south, it can be connected with Nevada and Arizona.

If a war breaks out between the north and the south, we really can't escape. We can also rely on the delivery capabilities of the Pacific Railway to contain the armies on both sides in the Utah Territory to protect California and even the entire west coast. Of course, using the Utah Territory as a battlefield is already the worst situation I can think of.

I can only entrust such an important matter to the most trusted family members. ”

After the outbreak of the civil war, if the war spread to the west and the Utah Territory was used as a battlefield, Liang Yao's vision was already a very bad situation.

His ideal state is not to directly participate in the war between the North and the South, if either side of the South or the North, or even both sides, are really blind and have to fight the West. Of course, the battlefield is as far east as possible.

Of course, the possibility of a long-term tug-of-war between the North and the South against the West is not very high. After all, the contradiction between the North and the South of America at this time is far greater than the contradiction between the East and the West.

But when considering the problem, think of the worst situation, plan ahead, and make preparations in advance. There is nothing wrong.

Liang Yao's bottom line is to preserve the three states on the west coast, as long as the three states on the west coast are not destroyed and the industrial capacity is not destroyed. Even if the human resources in the West are not superior to those of both the North and the South. But with the Qing Dynasty, which is almost an inexhaustible human mine, he can use the local elite troops to stabilize the front line and continuously train cheap cannon fodder and consume the troops in the east.

"I don't understand military affairs. I only know to do the things you give me. "Liang Shaoyu said.

"How much of the Mormon church property fell into the hands of the Utah Territory Immigration Committee?" Liang Yao asked.

"A lot. Just the cash, gold, silver, jewelry, banknotes of major banks and other easily convertible property are worth as much as 3.16 million US dollars." Liang Shaoyu reported, "Brigham Young and his people have accumulated a lot of assets in the 12 years since they came to Utah Territory."

"3.16 million US dollars, this is really a lot." Liang Yao was satisfied with this figure, "How do you plan to use this money?"

"California has the Jinshan Metropolitan Area and the Los Angeles Metropolitan Area, Oregon has the Portland Metropolitan Area, and Liangzhou is also building the Liangzhou Metropolitan Area in Puget Sound." Liang Shaoyu said, "In the past two years, I have inspected the entire Utah Territory. The most suitable places for large-scale development in Utah Territory are nothing more than the flat land east and southeast of the Great Salt Lake, and the land north, east, and southeast of Utah Lake.

These places are not far apart, especially Salt Lake City and Provo, which have direct railroads.

I want to connect these places, with Salt Lake City as the center, to create a small metropolitan area. In addition, I want to build a railway. ”

“Where do you want to build a railway?” Liang Yao asked.

“A railway from Salt Lake City to Ogden. Ogden is the third largest city in Utah Territory, with a population of over 10,000, but it still has no railway. Moreover, building a railway to the north to Ogden will facilitate immigration to Idaho Territory in the future.” Liang Shaoyu expressed his idea.

“I hope that the American Group and the Utah Immigration Committee will jointly fund the construction of this railway. "

Due to the lack of railways, Ogden's development speed has lagged far behind that of Salt Lake City and Provo, which have railways.

Previously, Mormonism was very powerful in Utah, and Mormon leaders such as Brigham Young were worried that once the railway to Ogden was built, Ogden would be flooded with a large number of non-Mormon Chinese immigrants, just like Salt Lake City and Provo, weakening the Mormons' absolute control over Ogden.

Therefore, the plan to build the Salt Lake City-Ogden railway had to be shelved.

Now that the Mormons have been destroyed, the plan to build the Salt Lake City-Ogden railway should be put back on the agenda.

Liang Yao took out The large-scale map of Utah Territory and the ruler measure the distance between Salt Lake City and Ogden.

The distance between Ogden and Salt Lake City is about 64 kilometers (about 40 miles), and the terrain is flat. It doesn't cost too much to build a railway between the two places.

He also measured the distance from Salt Lake City to Brigham City, which is about 121 kilometers (about 75 miles), and the terrain is relatively flat.

"Since there is a plan to immigrate to Idaho Territory, there is no need to be so petty. Just build the railway to Brigham. A hundred miles of railway will not cost too much." After having a rough estimate of the cost in mind, Liang Yao waved his hand and said generously.

After the fall of Mormonism, Utah Territory officially entered a period of large-scale development, and a large number of jobs were needed. There was nothing wrong with building a new railway in the territory.

"Okay." Liang Shaoyu rubbed his hands excitedly, ready to do a big job.

"How has Pan Baolin been training with Stanford in the past two years?" Liang Yao asked about Pan Baolin's situation.