North America 1849, from Gold Rush to Warlord

Chapter 64 The Real Bloodbath

Azu responded to Edgar Allan Poe: "Not just San Francisco! Our cargo ships, while transporting goods, will also give away the inaugural issue of our newspaper to the surrounding cities free of charge!"

Azu waved his hand grandly: "Sacramento, San Jose, Los Angeles... wherever our cargo ships can reach, our flags will be plastered all over them!"

Edgar Allan Poe swallowed hard. "Lee, that would require printing at least twenty or thirty thousand newspapers. You know, our paper and ink costs are three times that of the East. Even if each newspaper costs ten cents, that would still require…!"

“Don’t worry about money…!” Azu patted Edgar Allan Poe on the shoulder and said earnestly, “My friend, don’t worry about money! We have money now!”

"All I want is for our newspaper to make a splash!"

"Not only are our inaugural issue being given away for free, but for the next month, we will also be giving away our daily newspapers for free to all cities in California!"

"Ellen, my friend, all you need to do is ensure the newspaper content is exciting and impactful enough. You don't need to worry about the money at all!"

Azu’s words once again shocked Edgar Allan Poe!
Edgar Allan Poe could no longer contain his curiosity: "Lee, I'd like to ask, how much gold have you actually found in these past three months?"

Aside from his own people in the gold-mining team, as well as Vic and Daisy, no one knows yet how much gold Azu has mined.

Everyone in the know kept the secret well, even Edgar Allan Poe was kept in the dark.

"Hehe, that's more than enough, enough for us to do a lot of things!"

Azu laughed and continued, "A month later, we will also publish our newspaper at cost price. Our Standard newspaper doesn't need to earn even a penny, and it doesn't matter even if it continues to lose money."

"What I want is to make our Standard the most influential newspaper in all of California in the shortest possible time."

"The newspaper itself doesn't make money, and that's perfectly fine. Because it will bring us lots and lots of money! And much more than just wealth!"

Edgar Allan Poe finally understood!

"So, Ellen, my friend, you're the newspaper's president and editor-in-chief, go for it! Just tell me how much money you need, including your own salary."

Edgar Allan Poe never encountered such a generous boss in his entire life.

Where can you find such a great boss who sets his own salary?

Even though Edgar Allan Poe had seen countless things and met countless people, at this moment he only felt excited and full of boundless energy.

I have never met a wise ruler in my life, but today I have met the BOSS, Poe, and I wish to become his godfather!

Sorry! I've switched channels!

Suddenly filled with boundless pride and feeling as if he had experienced a second spring in his life, Edgar Allan Poe could only force himself to remain calm and said in a deep voice, "Everything is as you wish!"

"Tell me, what other bad news is there?" Azu asked again.

Edgar Allan Poe's expression darkened: "Boss, you know, I have some important friends in the West, and I received some very bad news from their letters."

"what news?"

"Daniel Cameron, the youngest son of the elder Cameron, the major who served in Arkansas, has been transferred to California to serve as the battalion commander of the Northern California Rangers."

"what?"

Upon hearing this news, Azu's eyebrows shot up sharply!
“Northern California, Ranger battalion commander…what a great position, what a great job!”

After a moment's thought, Azu asked Edgar Allan Poe, "My friend, are you thinking the same thing as me right now?"

Edgar Allan Poe countered, "Boss, so what are you thinking about?" "Heh!" Azu turned to look in the direction of San Francisco: "What else could it be? A real bloodbath is coming soon!"
-
After returning to the shipyard, Azu toured the entire shipyard.

Jason bought this shipyard back in the Mexican era, long before the gold rush. In San Francisco at that time, land was practically worthless.

Therefore, the shipyard covers a large area, more than a thousand acres.

Three months ago, the shipyard was surrounded by only a low wooden fence.

Now, what appears before Azu is a thick log wall more than three meters high.

Like the gold mining camp, the wooden walls were also riddled with countless firing ports.

Along the base of a wooden wall, more than a dozen tall watchtowers were also built.

There are always people on duty at the watchtower.

"Pat pat!" Azu patted the tall, thick log wall and turned his head to ask, "Whose idea was this? They did everything I wanted to do ahead of time?"

Vic replied, "It was Mr. Edgar Allan Poe's opinion! He said that our company has several hundred people, almost all of whom are gathered in the shipyard. Without sufficient defense, we are easily coveted by others, especially in this turbulent and unpredictable time."

Azu nodded in approval, "Very good, excellent! Ellen, my friend, you truly deserve to be a top student from West Point!"

Edgar Allan Poe replied modestly, "I only offered a trivial suggestion; the actual work was done by Captain Vic and Miss Daisy."

“No, no, no!” Captain Vic interjected, “Mr. Edgar Allan Poe was a great help to us in setting up the newspaper! Under his personal organization and training, our company’s several hundred guns have become quite effective in combat, at least no worse than those militiamen.”

“And…!” Vic continued, “When Mr. Edgar Allan Poe learned that we wanted to get our hands on… cannons, he used his friend to buy several old, obsolete cannons from the army, which have already been loaded onto our merchant ships.”

"Our own galleon is fully completed. We were planning to launch it when you returned. It also has two old cannons mounted on it."

"Is it already built? Let's go take a look!"

Azu led a few people through the entire shipyard and headed straight for the dock.

The shipyard at this time was completely different from what it used to be. Hundreds of prefabricated houses of various sizes had been built, forming four streets running horizontally and vertically.

Besides the workers who are on duty, many families and children also live in the prefabricated houses and on the streets.

The sounds of cooking and laundry, and children running and playing, filled the once quiet shipyard with the breath of life.

Most of the children were Chinese kids wearing open-crotch pants, and there were also a few white kids wearing diapers. They were all playing and fighting together, and it didn't seem out of place at all.

In addition, several large factories and warehouses are under construction, with workers working overtime to complete them.

It was built for machinery factories and stockpiling supplies!
As for the newspaper's offices, they were located on the first floor of a three-story Spanish building, while the second and third floors were reserved for key personnel such as Azu, Vivian, and Vic's family.

The newspaper's printing equipment is temporarily installed in several large prefabricated houses, and will be moved in together once the factory is built.

The group arrived at the shipyard and saw the galleon, which was fully built and ready to be launched and set sail.

"Boss, this is the first ship we've built, can you give it a name?"

Azu thought for a moment, looked up at the ship, and spoke in a resolute tone.

"Let's name this ship 'South China Sea'!"

(End of this chapter)