America 1881: Legend of the West

Chapter 405: The New Leader of the Knights of Labor in Stone Springs
Mine No. 3, on the hillside.

Manager Riley and the supervisor are hiding in the office.

An hour ago it was still a mess outside, with gunshots and screams ringing out all the time.

But with the sound of horse hooves and an indistinct shout, there was soon no movement in the direction of the residential area.

"Go and take a look again!" Riley poked the overseer in the butt with the barrel of his gun.

"Boss, I won't go!" The supervisor's voice was filled with tears. "Also, can you put down the gun first? I'm afraid you might accidentally fire."

"No! Go!" Riley yelled, "They gave us an excuse to hire a security company!"

"But if too many Chinese workers die, we have to find ways to find them elsewhere."

The supervisor was forced to have no choice but to walk out of the cabin again.

He carefully climbed up the hillside and looked down.

It was quiet.

The Chinese workers were cleaning up the area around their houses in an orderly manner, and the blood stains and corpses on the ground had been cleaned up.

If the wooden bridge over the river hadn't been blown into two pieces, the supervisor would have felt as if nothing had happened.

Most importantly, he vaguely saw that Well No. 6 on the other side of the river seemed to have resumed production.

"what's the situation?"

Seeing the supervisor standing on the hillside in a daze, Riley also walked out.

"It seems that everything is okay." The supervisor touched his nose, "Should we call for backup?"

"What do you call support when production resumes?" Riley put his hands on his hips and looked down the hillside.

"But someone seems to have died." The supervisor scratched his head.

"Just die. What month doesn't happen in the coal mine?" Riley walked down the hillside. "I'll send a telegram to the headquarters and report the situation."

He took two steps, remembered something, and came back: "By the way, you hurry up to the Chinese workers and ask them to come back to work!"

When the supervisor saw Riley leaving, he came to the Chinese workers' residential area.

"Hurry! Hurry! Get back to work!"

The overseer shouted to the Chinese workers standing outside the house.

However, these Chinese workers all looked at him with strange eyes, and then continued to do their own things.

The supervisor felt a little strange.

He shouted the same words again in less proficient Chinese.

Still no one paid attention to him.

The overseer was dumbfounded.

Although these Chinese workers are so dull and silent on weekdays, they are still very obedient as long as you let them work.

But why do they seem to suddenly not understand their own words today?
Not right.

"Where is Liao Dabai? Where did Liao Dabai go?"

The supervisor shouted as he rushed into the house where Liao Dabai usually lived.

Liao Dabaibai was actually in the house.

He was in the back room, standing beside the bed, as if he was bending down to pack something.

"Liao! What happened to your people today? Why don't you go back to work? I've been shouting outside for a long time, and no one paid attention to me. Don't you want your job anymore?"

the overseer angrily demanded.

Liao Dabai stopped what he was doing and turned around, still looking so downcast:

"Sir, we were attacked by white miners this morning."

"Hey, I know, the mine will take care of it. Get back to work quickly!"

the overseer urged impatiently.

But Liao Dabai stood there very respectfully, but his body did not move.

"I allow the injured to rest in the house while the others go back to work. Is this okay?"

The supervisor didn't expect that Liao Dabai, who usually didn't dare to let go of one more thing, also learned to bargain, so he had to "give in".

Liao Dabai still didn't move, he spread his hands.

"Sir, my men may be less willing to listen to me now, and"

He hesitated.

The supervisor walked to Liao Dabai's side.

He saw a few simple clothes and a small package on the bed.

"Are you ready to run away?" The supervisor looked at Liao Dabai with confusion.

"Well, not necessarily, maybe, it depends on the outcome of the strike." Liao Dabai was not very good at lying and told the truth.

strike?

Chinese trade unions on strike? !

The overseer's eyes almost fell out of their sockets.

He couldn't believe that this word would come out of Liao Dabai's mouth.

"Okay, you guys are awesome! Get back to work as soon as possible! Don't run away!"

The supervisor said a harsh word, walked out of the room quickly, and walked towards the direction of Mine No. 3.

Hanks was worried.

He craned his neck to look across the river.

Holly didn't bring anyone with him.

He went to the Chinese residential area single-handedly.

There has been no news since we set off in the morning.

Some white miners were ready to go back to work.

Hanks saw it and was anxious in his heart.

If this hole is opened, it will be difficult to gather the workers later.

He walked anxiously up and down the river.

The mud under his feet was almost plowed into a furrow.

Every few times he walked back and forth, he would look up at the other side of the river, or look in another direction. If Holly took a detour, he would probably come back from that direction.

"Mr. Hanks! Look, what is that?" a knight officer next to him suddenly shouted.

Hanks quickly raised his head and looked in the direction pointed by the officer.

On the Beit River, a dozen small wooden boats suddenly appeared, floating over from the upstream direction.

The people on the boat were all fishermen from nearby villages.

They paddled and parked the boat on the other side of the river.

A black man jumped out of one of the boats, said something to the fishermen, and then walked towards the Chinese residential area.

After a while, Holly, whom he missed so much, and dozens of white miners appeared on the outskirts of the Chinese residential area.

These miners were all disarmed and looked a little embarrassed.

Appearing with them was the lunatic who was standing on the roof before and a dozen heavily armed Chinese militiamen.

At this time, the madman was chatting and laughing with Holly, while the miners were following behind them, not daring to show their anger.

A group of people came to the river bank.

The white miners boarded the ship in batches.

Chen Jianqiu and Holly shook hands cordially, watched them leave by boat, and said goodbye to them with a smile.

The fishing boat ferried Holly and the others across the river.

Hanks hurriedly walked up with the officials.

"I brought you the man." Holly pointed to the Swedish miners behind him.

"You have helped me a lot!" Hanks couldn't wait to hug Holly and kiss him.

Holly waved his hand at Hanks and said slightly tiredly:

"They are all working for the Knights of Labor, as they should be."

"How did you get them back?" Hanks asked anxiously, "They didn't hurt you, did they?"

"Do we look like we're hurt?" Holly turned around in front of Hanks.

He briefly described to him the entire negotiation process.

The scene was very "dangerous".

After Holly entered the Chinese workers' residential area, he and the captured miners were surrounded by fully armed Chinese.

The Chinese on the other side are also organized.

The leader is the madman.

He questioned Hawley why the Knights of Labor, who were also workers, targeted Chinese workers so viciously.

Mr. Holly faced the gun without fear, neither humble nor arrogant, and argued with reason. He finally settled the matter and brought the white miners back safely.

As Holly said this, the white Swedish miners looked at him with admiration.

Hanks sincerely admired the young man who came to support from the California Knights.

It seems that age is not a hindrance to being a hero. To be able to be the vice president in California, he must be quite capable.

"Did they make any demands?" he asked.

"Yes!" Holly answered as he walked, "They asked us if we could join the strike!"

Hanks was dumbfounded.

"Don't they agree to strike? I asked several times, and the answer I got was that Chinese workers have no tradition of strikes, and have no plans to strike."

"Now we have it." Holly stopped and looked at Hanks, "and according to what the Chinese leader said, he will provide material support for this strike."

This sentence made Hanks even more confused.

Material support? What is that? A slap in the face followed by a reward?
He was a little dazed for a moment.

Where is this place? Is this America?

"What do you think?" Holly's question quickly interrupted Hanks' thoughts.

Hanks slapped his thigh and gritted his teeth.

No matter what, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. As long as we are willing to stand on the same front, we are good brothers.

"Hold the meeting, I accept!" Hanks said.

The bell at the town entrance rang again.

Compared with the huge crowds last time, there are much fewer people coming this time.

After being cheated once, many workers are unwilling to do it again.

Hanks had no choice but to run to Mine No. 6 and persuade some people to come over one by one.

In addition, since the bridge was broken, the workers of the No. 3 Mine were still resting in the dormitories or at home.

Finally, we managed to gather some people together.

Hanks wiped the sweat from his head and was about to speak, but Holly stood up unexpectedly.

He spoke:

“My dear brothers, this morning, we were taken advantage of by someone with ulterior motives!

"We should not be provoked and let go of the real enemies. As workers, we should unite and face the enemy together, and we should not discriminate based on skin color!"

Holly made an impassioned speech as if he were the leader of the workers here.

The workers in the audience looked at him and talked about him.

"Isn't that him? The one who rescued those Swedish workers this morning?"

"Yeah, he's so young!"

Hanks stood beside him and wiped his sweat again with some embarrassment.

He found that his secretaries were also staring at Holly in the middle of the circle, and suddenly he felt dazed again.

Do I look a little redundant?
"This morning, I have reached an agreement with the Chinese workers on the other side of the river to strike together! Until the mine agrees to our terms!"

Holly pumped his fist.

Some workers were still hesitating, but the miners, led by the Swedish workers, had already started shouting.

"Strike! Strike!"

(End of this chapter)