North America 1849, from Gold Rush to Warlord

Chapter 55 My First Piece of Gold
Ah Zu thought the old man across from him, who had only a few teeth left, was quite wise!
Weren't the white colonists flocking here precisely because of the gold and silver?
For the sake of gold, the indigenous people of South America were almost wiped out by white people!

Both the Mayan civilization and the Aztec Empire were destroyed by the Spanish because of gold.

In the struggle for land, Native Americans in North America were almost completely wiped out.

If they still possessed a large amount of gold, the consequences would be entirely predictable.

"Elder Bearskin, if you don't trust anyone else, why do you trust me?"

Faced with Azu's question, Elder Bearskin answered quite directly: "Li, we don't completely trust you, it's just that you look so similar to us that we naturally have a good impression of you."

"That's it……?"

"Yes, that's it! We have no other choice!"

Elder Bearskin's face darkened: "No one is willing to treat us fairly! The white people seized our land, drove us from our homes, and slaughtered countless members of our tribe... Their weapons are too powerful, and their numbers are too great. We see no hope!"

As he spoke, Elder Bearskin stared at Azu with his cloudy old eyes, which gleamed: "But here, I see fairness. Your compatriots and white people are panning for gold together, living in peace, without oppression or discrimination against each other!"

"So, I think you can be just as fair to us Blackfoot tribes!"

“Fair treatment, a fair deal, that’s not much we want, is it, Lee?”

Ah Zu nodded heavily, suddenly feeling a pang of sadness in his heart.

So, Azu stood up and embraced Elder Bearskin's withered body tightly.

"Respected elders, welcome to your clansmen joining my gold-digging team!"

"As you wish, I will treat Blackfoot people just as fairly as I treat my fellow countrymen and white people!"

"You will receive enough food, alcohol, guns, and grenades!"

Azu said, word by word, "I believe we have all made an absolutely wise decision today! Because of this decision, the Blackfoot tribe will definitely live a better and better life!"

"You will no longer go hungry, no longer freeze, and no longer be easily driven away and slaughtered!"
-
Two days later, Blood Eagle returned with more than twenty Blackfoot tribesmen.

Then, the three elders left, leaving Blood Eagle and his twenty-odd companions in Azu's gold-mining team to work!

Blood Eagle and his men were completely bewildered!
Even if they didn't bring back the razor's scalp, they shouldn't be abandoned by the elders, right?
If Elder Bearskin hadn't explained everything to them, they might have really gone EMO.

"Li, my brother from the far east, does that mean I have to call you BOSS from now on?"

Blood Eagle lowered his head, looking unwilling.

"Of course!" Azu tried his best to keep a straight face.

"Then, are you still my brother?"

"Of course!"

Bloodhawk hesitated before saying, "Well, Razor ran away, taking his treasure with him from the lair. I didn't bring back his scalp. You won't blame me, will you?"

“If you bring your brothers and work hard, I won’t blame you.”

"And also, that... that thing...!"

"Speak plainly. Aren't you a warrior of the Blackfoot Clan? Why are you speaking so hesitantly, like a woman?"

Blood Eagle reluctantly continued, "Well... I said I'd trade my razor's scalp for that woman. Now that I don't have the scalp, how about I give the woman back to you?"

"What...?" Azu's eyes widened: "You used it and you're giving it back to me like this? Do you think I'm a junk collector?"

Blood Eagle shrugged: "I've already slept with her, so what do you say we do about it?"

Azu patted his strong, broad shoulders: "Consider it a debt you owe me! If you and your brothers don't work properly for me and fight with Chinese or other white people, I'll settle the score with you all at once!"

"Hehe!" Blood Eagle breathed a long sigh of relief: "Boss, don't worry, the warriors of our Blackfoot Clan have plenty of strength and can definitely get the job done!"

Blood Eagle and the Blackfoot tribesmen were actually the most simple-minded and easily fooled, without much guile. The gold-mining team not only didn't shrink but actually grew, with more than sixty people working.

Azu sent old Martinez to work with Blood Eagle and lead the Blackfoot tribe, as he was the only one who could communicate with them.

Gold panning is essentially a simple physical activity.

The silt and sand are dredged from the bottom of the lake and pushed into the feed inlet of the ore washing machine by handcart... This process is repeated over and over again, requiring absolutely no technical skill.

As for sending them to the watchtowers for shifts, that's even simpler.

Every Native American boasts that he has eyes like an eagle, ears like a cougar, and a nose like a bear!
Therefore, they adapted very quickly.

However, some of the white people in the group couldn't help but mock and ridicule these Blackfoot people.

Fortunately, the Blackfoot people did not understand English, so there was no major conflict.

After several days of heavy fines imposed on people by Ah Zu, no one mocked each other or started conflicts for no reason anymore.

With the increase in manpower, and the increasing gold content at the bottom of the lake.

That evening, as usual, Azu and Jason were shutting down the mining machine and extracting the gold they had panned that day.

After the ore washing machine was turned off, Azu just opened the gold tank cover!
A huge, bright, and glaring thing appeared right under my eyes without any restraint!
"This...this is...gold nugget!"

Even though I've seen plenty of gold, this is the first time in my life I've ever personally panned out such a large nugget of gold!
Ah Zu's hands were trembling slightly as he carefully held the gold nugget, which was bigger than his palm, in his hands!

It's so heavy, it feels so heavy in my hand!

It feels like it weighs at least seven or eight pounds!

It's bigger than the lump Jason hangs on the wall!
"Old Jason! Look, isn't that the gold nugget?"

Ah Zu felt his voice trembling slightly!

Jason, who was on another mining machine, heard the sound, turned around, and suddenly saw the huge, golden-yellow thing that Azu was holding in his hands!
"Crack...!"

Jason's cherry wood cigarette butt fell onto the metal sheet of the mining machine without him even noticing.

"Dog...dog's head gold!"

"This...this is such a huge nugget of gold!"

Jason jumped off the mining machine and ran to Azu.

"It's...it really is gold nugget!"

Jason carefully took the gold nugget, examined it closely, and his expression changed from shock to ecstasy.

"Li, this is the biggest gold nugget I've ever seen! Hahaha, it's so big, it must weigh at least ten pounds!"

Ah Zu and Jason examined it closely and discovered that the gold nugget actually resembled a fierce golden tiger with its fangs bared!

"Li, this is such a big nugget of gold, and it looks so much like a tiger, it's worth a fortune!"

Ah Zu quickly asked, "Approximately how much is this gold nugget worth?"

"This huge nugget of gold is almost ten times the price of ordinary gold!"

"And gold nuggets with unique shapes are much more expensive, and their prices can only be determined at auction!"

Azu was still unwilling to give up and pressed on with the question.

"Quickly estimate how much it's worth!"

(End of this chapter)