North America 1849, from Gold Rush to Warlord

Chapter 66 Buyout Contract
Ah Zu's words gradually brought the crowd, who had just been celebrating their windfall, back to their senses.

After Ah Zu finished speaking, it was the turn of the others to tell their stories.

The company is now very busy, and it's impossible for just a few of them to handle everything. Each of them has one or two capable assistants under their command.

Vivian was in charge of recruitment, Vic was in charge of shipping and supplies procurement, Daisy was in charge of accounting, Anna was in charge of jeans production, and Edgar Allan Poe was in charge of the newspaper and military training.

Jason was supposed to be in charge of the boat and prefab house production, but his foremen were quite capable and hardly gave him any trouble.

So, Ah Zu put him in charge of all product sales from then on.

Vic began by saying, "Now, our shipping company also has four coastal and inland waterway merchant ships, and in the past three months, we have also made many trips on surrounding routes. We have already made trips as far north as Canada and as far south as Mexico."

"Our jeans and Eden House are also quite popular in other cities, and sales are good. I'll let Daisy give us the specific figures later."

“During this period, we purchased and stockpiled supplies worth about $200,000 from local markets in San Francisco and other cities. These supplies mainly consisted of food and steel, but there were also a considerable amount of firearms, ammunition, and explosives.”

“We have reached agreements with suppliers in other cities who will continuously deliver the supplies we need at market prices. It won’t be long before our existing warehouses are insufficient.”

"I support continuing to build and buy merchant ships, but the main problem now is that we can't find enough captains and crew!"

With that, Vic spread his hands helplessly and said, "The allure of gold panning is just too great! Not to mention the local San Francisco sailors, even many of the sailors on merchant ships from out of town head straight to the gold panning sites as soon as they jump off the ship at Clarke Wharf!"

"You can't earn as much as panning for gold as you can as a seaman! In fact, quite a few captains have sold their ships to go panning for gold," Vic said with a wry smile. "Those who are still willing to be seamen these days are mostly older and can't pan for gold anymore!"

Vivian chimed in, "The captain is right! It's not just the crew; almost everyone comes here to strike it rich. It's very difficult for our factory to recruit people. Even though we offer much higher wages, we only hire women or people who are too old and not in good health. Very few young and strong people are willing to come to our factory."

Ah Zu couldn't help but ask, "The people in the shipyard seem alright, and there are quite a few of them!"

Vivian pouted and complained, "You didn't see how much effort I put in to recruit these people! Even after they joined our factory, quite a few of them are still thinking about striking it rich!"

This is indeed a big problem!

The severe labor shortage has always been a major problem. This problem will persist throughout the United States and even throughout North America for a long time.

That's why the United States engaged in the large-scale slave trade and captured a large number of slaves in sub-Saharan Africa.

Even after the United States officially passed legislation banning the overseas slave trade, Southern plantation owners continued to smuggle enslaved Africans semi-openly.

The Civil War, which took place more than a decade later, can be seen to some extent as a struggle between Northern capitalists and Southern plantation owners for Black labor.

This is why hundreds of thousands of Chinese laborers came to America to do the hardest and most tiring jobs.

In San Francisco today, there are already few people who can do the work, and most of them have been attracted to go out and seek their fortune. The few remaining people have to compete with other companies and other industries...!
Whenever he thinks about this issue, Azu misses his hometown terribly and desperately hopes to bring the abundant and high-quality labor force there to this place as soon as possible.

Shipbuilding, jeans and prefab houses, machine factories, future pharmaceutical factories, mines... everywhere needs a large workforce!
But right now, there are still no boats! There are people on the other side of the sea, but they can't be transported over! As for the Blackfoot Indians, they can help with gold panning, but we can't exactly have them working in factories screwing in screws, can we?
Thinking of this, Azu said, "Captain Vic, could you find a way to buy a few ocean-going ships to deal with the emergency and transport as many of my compatriots as possible over?"

"I can only try to think of a way! After all, ocean-going vessels are different from coastal vessels; there aren't always people willing to sell them!"

In those days, the profits from ocean trade were exceptionally high. As long as you could safely complete four or five ocean routes, you could basically recoup your entire investment.

Captain Vic risked everything, even incurring high-interest loans, because he was eyeing the lucrative profits of long-distance trade. Otherwise, given his character, he wouldn't have taken such a huge risk.

Since ocean trade is very profitable, fewer people are willing to sell their ships. Unless they have already made enough money and don't want to take the risk anymore.

Azu pondered for a moment, then said, "Then there's only one emergency way to recruit people."

"any solution?"

"Buy the indentures of the Chinese laborers at high prices from the captains who sailed the Eastern routes!"

Ah Zu himself was a Chinese laborer who was sold into slavery, so of course he knew the ins and outs of it.

Chinese laborers wanted to board ships bound for the Americas and make a fortune in the gold mines, but they couldn't afford the high fare, so they had no choice but to sign a "contract of servitude" that would last for several years.

When they finally reach the other side of the ocean, the captains will resell this indenture to capitalists who need labor.

Thus, the Chinese laborers paid the price of working for free for several years in exchange for the right to set foot on this land.

A labor contract for a Chinese laborer varied in price depending on age, physical condition, strength, and so on, and was essentially no different from the buying and selling of slaves.

On average, a contract for a healthy Chinese laborer for about five years costs around one hundred US dollars.

To be honest, Ah Zu loathed this "selling piglets" approach.

But there was no other way at the moment. Rather than letting Chinese laborers be exploited and enslaved by other capitalists, it was better to buy all their contracts.

At least here, Chinese laborers do not suffer any discrimination or mistreatment, which is much better than anywhere else.

It's important to understand that conditions at sea during those times were extremely harsh. A staggering 30% of Chinese laborers died at sea! Of ten Chinese laborers who boarded a ship, at most seven would disembark alive.

After arriving at the shore and enduring several years of brutal exploitation, no more than half of them will survive and escape the constraints of the contract.

By buying these Chinese labor contracts, Ah Zu was able to allow the vast majority of his fellow Chinese laborers to live and start a new life.

So, Ah Zu concluded, "Captain Vic, spread the word in the shipping industry that we'll buy all the Chinese labor contracts at double the price!"

(End of this chapter)