Chapter 191 Sharpening the Knife to Wall Street (5K)

The people who greeted Liang Yao and the Qing envoy at the New York port were mainly divided into two categories.

One category is President Fillmore's cabinet ministers, that is, ministers of certain departments.

The other type is the New York rich and powerful.

In 1784, the American merchant ship Empress of China set sail from New York for the first time to China.

At the beginning of the founding of the United States, the United States was in a very difficult situation. Both the federal government and the states owed huge war debts.

Compared with war debts, what makes Americans feel more uncomfortable is that they have no friends in the international community, and naturally have no trading partners. Therefore, the new United States is eager to have a trading partner to alleviate its financial crisis through trade.

After all, during the colonial period, Britain had always used its North American colonies as a production and supply base for raw materials for the British Empire.

Without the British economic system, the American economy inevitably fell into crisis.

Britain and Spain were both hostile to the new United States, and America's neighbors were colonies of these two countries.

To the north was British Canada, to the south was Spanish Florida, and to the west was French Louisiana.

Unfortunately, after the founding of the United States, Spain and France, two wartime allies, fell out quickly and imposed a trade blockade against the United States.

Spain was worried that the United States would threaten Spain's colonies in North America, and after France's emperor who loved unlocking was guillotined, France's assistance to the United States was not as good as before, and it only reluctantly opened the door to American merchant ships. France in Spain

Several ports in the Indies.

Although France has opened these ports to the United States, it has strict restrictions on the tonnage of American merchant ships entering and leaving the ports: no more than 60 tons.

In desperation, the United States turned its attention to the East beyond the European continent to seek business opportunities, hoping to survive the economic crisis through trade with China.

Six years after the Empress of China sailed to China, that is, starting in the 1790s, the United States quickly surpassed the Netherlands and France and became the second largest trading country with China, second only to the United Kingdom.

Until now, the United States is still the second largest trading country with China.

Relying on furs and American ginseng, many early American businessmen made fortunes in trade with China, of which the Astor family is a typical representative.

Only later, as fur supplies became increasingly difficult to obtain and American merchants became greedy, the main commodities traded by the United States with China changed from furs and American ginseng to Turkish opium.

The trade with China at the beginning of the founding of the United States not only alleviated the economic crisis of the United States to a certain extent and passed the most difficult period in the history of the United States, but more importantly, the success of the trade with China gave the United States a new faith in America.

"The United States and the Qing Dynasty have a very happy history of trade cooperation. Increasing trade cooperation between the two countries is very beneficial to the governments and people of both countries.

The treasury of your government can become full, and the people can also benefit and benefit from the trade between the two countries."

After introducing the federal government dignitaries and New York dignitaries to the Qing Dynasty envoy, Webster said.

The federal government's fiscal revenue mainly relies on tariffs. The United States has repeatedly suffered setbacks in its trade with continental European countries. If it can conduct more in-depth trade with the Qing Dynasty, it may be able to alleviate the federal government's financial problems and improve the American economy.

"We heard that British businessmen have the right to negotiate your country's tariffs. Your country's move is too unfavorable and is not conducive to trade between the United States and China. It is also very unfair to American businessmen.

We sincerely hope that American businessmen can also gain the same status as British businessmen in your country and deepen the friendship between the two countries."

Webster's appetite was not small, and he immediately asked for tariff agreement rights.

Real officials of the Qing Dynasty may not understand how harmful the tariff agreement power was to the import and export trade of the Qing Dynasty, but for merchants such as Pan Zhengwei and Wu Yuanhua who have directly dealt with foreign trade, they have personally experienced the "Treaty of Nanjing"

After the signing, the British businessmen had the right to negotiate how much harm the tariffs would cause to the interests of the Chinese businessmen.

Pan Zhengwei had a sullen face and spat: "Damn it! The ghosts are all the same!"

But Webster couldn't understand Chinese, so he turned around and asked Liang Yao: "Your Excellency, Shangshu, seems a little unhappy. What did he just say?"

"Your Excellency, Shangshu, believes that you are not only trampling on his personal dignity, but also trampling on the sovereignty of a country. If the United States wants to obtain the same rights as the United Kingdom, just like the British, it must first fight a war with the Qing Dynasty's million-strong army.

"Liang Yao said in a very tough tone.

"A short sentence contains so much meaning?"

Webster was very surprised. He was indeed frightened by Liang Yao's talk of a million-strong Qing army.

The politicians in power in the United States are very ambitious, but they still know their own strength. There is a huge gap between the national strength of the United States and the United Kingdom.

"Because Chinese is very concise." Liang Yao replied.

"Your Excellency, Mr. Shangshu, is tired. He needs to go to Mr. Vanderbilt's house to have a rest first. The purpose of the Qing Dynasty's visit to the United States is that your Excellency, Mr. Shangshu, will only interview the president of your country." Wu Yuanhua said to Webers impatiently.

Te said.

Dozens of beautiful and exquisite manors are scattered on both sides of the Hudson River. This is the wealthy area of ​​New York State.

Rich locals from New York and from other states live here.

It seems that there is a tradition in America that wealthy people like to live in the suburbs.

Everyone arrived at Vanderbilt's new estate in a gorgeous carriage.

"This is my largest and newest property in New York State. I spent a total of $350,000 to buy this manor."

Vanderbilt proudly showed off to Liang Yao.

He owns properties in Staten Island, New York's Fifth Avenue, and even the Washington area.

What surprised Liang Yao was that there seemed to be black slaves working in Vanderbilt's manor.

The reason why Liang Yao is so sure that these black people are slaves and not free people is because the black people who are busy in the manor have traces of being slaves on their backs: whip marks.

The price of a black slave depends not only on physical health and age, but also on the whip marks on the back.

The more whip marks, it means that the black slave is difficult to tame, and buyers will often lower the price.

"Hasn't slavery been banned in the north? Why are there still so many black slaves in your manor?"

Liang Yao couldn't restrain his curiosity. The number of black slaves owned by Vanderbilt was no less than those of the plantation owners in Texas.

"Black slaves are a symbol of wealth. I am one of the richest people in New York. What's so strange about some black slaves? The number of black slaves I own is relatively small compared with Backhouse and Fish.

.”

Vanderbilt said matter-of-factly.

“Although the Compromise Act of 1850 prohibited slaves in free states, it was for after the bill was signed. The government still recognized the black slaves in free states before the bill was signed.

And in the slave market in the Washington area, as long as you have enough money, you can still buy some good slaves."

"Mr. Liang, I have written you many letters, but why don't you reply to any of them?"

While Liang Yaozheng was talking to Vanderbilt, Elizabeth came out of the manor and asked Liang Yaoxing for his crime.

"Miss Elizabeth, I'm afraid you have to ask your father about this matter."

Liang Yao spread his hands helplessly, with an innocent expression.

He did not receive any of the letters Elizabeth sent him.

"Father, what is going on?" Elizabeth looked at Vanderbilt in confusion.

"Ahem."

Vanderbilt coughed twice and lowered his voice.

"Elizabeth, I'm sorry, I threw all your letters into the sea."

After learning the truth of the matter, Elizabeth was furious and turned back to the manor angrily: "Father, you have gone too far!"

After sitting down in the living room of the manor, the newspaper president Henry, who came all the way from Washington, gave Liang Yao the latest issues of the newspaper.

These newspapers include newspapers from his own newspaper and newspapers from other newspapers.

"What is the current exchange rate between U.S. dollars and gold in the market."

Liang Yao casually flipped through a copy of the New York Post and asked Henry.

"117:100."

Liang Yao specifically told Henry to pay attention to the recent price of gold in the gold futures market. Henry knew the price of gold very well.

It's just that Henry doesn't understand why Liang Yao pays so much attention to the price of gold futures and has a special liking for gold futures.

New York's finance is very developed. Compared with the immature gold futures, which have just appeared and are not optimistic, there are still a lot of financial games to play.

"Kony, go to Barings Bank to withdraw US$100,000, and then find me two reliable and experienced brokers from Wall Street."

Liang Yao took out a check from Bahrain Bank from his pocket and filled in the amount.

The leverage ratio of up to 1% is a major loophole in the New York gold futures market. As long as it is used properly, the entire New York gold market can be leveraged at a very small cost.

After raising the price of gold, all we have to do is wait for the Treasury Department to step in to rescue the market and harvest the gold from the federal treasury.

Kony nodded, took the check Liang Yao gave him and left the manor, heading to the Bahrain Bank in the city.

After Kony left, Liang Yao took advantage of the break before the dinner started to read the newspapers carefully. He was attracted by the list of the richest Americans in the New York Post.

In this latest rich list, Liang Yao topped the list with a net worth of US$30 million.

Liang Yao had also seen this so-called list of America's richest people when he was in California. In California, he had the habit of buying big magazines from the eastern region and reading through them.

Although the cost of ordering major Eastern magazines in California is high, Liang Yao feels that the expense is worth it. What he buys is not these newspapers and periodicals, but the information in them.

In previous lists of America's richest people, Liang Yao has always been ranked third.

The reason why Liang Yao was attracted by this latest list was not because it placed him at the top of the list.

It's because this list is relatively accurate in estimating the wealth of the rich.
To be continued...