The 19th century was a time when the world changed. Twenty years ago, it would have taken at least a month to send a letter from the Alaska Governor's Palace to Putrajaya, but now a telegraph only takes a few hours. After purchasing Alaska, Nanhua invested several
With one hundred thousand dollars, the telegraph line was laid from Vancouver to Sitka, the former capital of the Russian colonial period. Two years ago, after Fuyang became the capital of Alaska, the telegraph line was laid to Fuyang.
With the telegraph, Alaska was no longer a corner of the world.
On this day, in the manor outside Putrajaya, after lunch, Zhu Xianhai strode back to his desk, sat on the luxurious leather chair next to the table, and faced the record book spread out
He glanced at the letter. There was a wax seal on the envelope, and the markings on it could only be read by him.
This is a secret message from the Governor of Alaska.
This secret message can be sent directly to Zhu Xianhai's case without the intervention of the secretary's office. A few years ago, with the expansion of Nanhua's control area, it became inevitable to dispatch officials to local areas. In Wang Yingjiu, the former governor of Zhejiang
Under the suggestion, Zhu Xianhai learned from the Manchu "secret system".
In fact, it is just a reference. The secret messages sent by the local "frontier officials" can go directly to the imperial court without going through any organization or personnel. This method is both fast and confidential, allowing Zhu Xianhai to obtain information more directly, improving the efficiency of decision-making, and also strengthening the
control of the bureaucracy.
When high-ranking officials take office, they will be given a code book and a corresponding mailbox for receiving reports. A full-time decoder will be responsible for decoding the messages, and then they will be sealed with wax and sent to Zhu Xianhai.
"A telegram from Alaska?"
There is not a word of nonsense in the torn letter. After all, the telegraph fee is very expensive. The summary of the report is short and to the point. A river was discovered in the Yukon Territory. There is a large amount of placer gold in the river. The only problem is that the river is located
The upper reaches of the Yukon River are a little bit far away from Alaska. Although the distance is a bit of a problem, the river contains a lot of placer gold.
"Yukon River, Klondike River..."
Sitting on the swivel chair, Zhu Xianhai glanced at the report in front of him again and said softly:
"This...should be the so-called "Klondike Gold Rush"!"
No one would answer his question.
Zhu Xianhai's understanding of the "Klondike Gold Rush" came from Chaplin's "The Gold Rush". Then he did a little search for information about the Alaska Gold Rush, and also had some understanding of the distribution of gold mines in Alaska, such as Juneau, the capital of Alaska.
, originated from the gold rush. An engineer named Juno discovered a large amount of placer gold in the Avalanche Valley of the Alaskan Panhandle, which triggered the "Juno Gold Rush."
Although he knew there was gold in Juneau, Zhu Xianhai had no idea of developing it because there was a larger gold mine near Alaska. After gold was discovered in the Klondike River in Alaska on August 16, 1896,
News of gold reached the United States in January 1897. In July of the same year, two steamers arrived in San Francisco loaded with gold worth US$15.5 million. The news shocked the entire United States and triggered the gold rush. 1897-1899
100,000 immigrants went to the area, and this frenzied gold mining history lasted for about 70 years before it came to an end. The reason why it ended was because the Canadian government banned gold mining on the grounds of environmental protection.
The gold sand reserves in the Klondike River are simply difficult to estimate. Even if it is "swept" by hundreds of thousands of people for decades, new gold mines will emerge after a while. In addition to gold, there are also platinum and rhodium in the river.
and other precious metals. This is also the reason why the Klondike River is called the Gold River. Even in the 21st century, it has become a tourist destination. Tourists experience gold panning in the Klondike River. The gold found is completely owned by individuals, but machinery is prohibited.
Mining, some tourists found nearly 8 grams of gold in just a few dozen minutes here.
"I didn't expect that this golden river would be discovered so quickly..."
The news that Jin He was discovered not only did not make Zhu Xianhai happy, he was even a little worried.
"It's not a good thing to discover this golden river at this time!"
Standing up from his desk and crossing the room, Zhu Xianhai walked to the map on the wall and stared at the map of North America on the wall, his brows knitted together.
Gold is a metal, but it is different from any other metal. It is valuable in any era. From ancient times to the present, it has been the most hard currency in the world. Especially in this era, the settlement of international trade is
What? It’s gold!
Even banks issuing currency rely on gold!
Gold is precious!
But even so, Zhu Xianhai never mentioned the gold mine in Juneau. It's not that he doesn't want to mine the gold mine in Alaska, nor that he knows the principle of "a child holding on to gold in the market", but because there is still another thought in his heart.
Ambition - land!
"The Hudson's Bay Company..."
Even on the world map, the land adjacent to the Hudson's Bay Company is still clearly marked - its total land area is roughly equivalent to more than 3/5 of the territory of later Canada and twice the size of Louisiana purchased by the United States.
many.
The Hudson's Bay Company was born in 1670, with a royal charter and the ability to privately arm and build forts. After it merged with the Northwest Company in 1821, the Hudson's Bay Company became the company with the most extensive land in the world.
In front of the Hudson's Bay Company, Zhu Xianhai's America Company was simply not worth mentioning. Even if the land owned by the Hudson's Bay Company was almost Siberia in North America, what's the point?
The important thing is that there is a lot of land!
However, it was useless to have more land. The Hudson's Bay Company, which started out by relying on the fur trade, fell into serious losses due to the decline of the fur trade.
It is precisely because of this that Zhu Xianhai focused on the land of 7.7 million square kilometers. But it is not easy to get British companies to sell land, especially selling land to foreigners!
"This is millions of square kilometers of land! Compared to land, gold? It's simply nothing worth mentioning!"
Zhu Xianhai pursed his lips and his eyes became a little complicated.
In the past two years, under his instruction, the company used the Alaska boundary demarcation dispute to negotiate with the Hudson's Bay Company, trying to use negotiations to finally achieve the purpose of acquiring the Rupert area and the Northwest Territory.
For the Hudson's Bay Company, selling land was their last option to get out of trouble.
But once the Hudson's Bay Company knew that there was a large gold mine on their land, they would definitely not sell the land.
It is precisely because of this that Zhu Xianhai did not take action on Juno's gold mine because he was worried that it would affect his big plan.
But now the discovery of Jinhe forced Zhu Xianhai to speed up his plan.
"Now, the negotiation process must be accelerated..."
