North America 1849, from Gold Rush to Warlord

Chapter 75 In Big Trouble
"Your Excellency, you're in deep trouble!"

Upon hearing Azu's words, Bishop Evan's thick eyebrows twitched violently.

"Lee, do you know what you're saying?" Evan's anger flashed across his face.

"Of course I know what I'm talking about!"

Azu calmly replied, "Your Excellency, in order to obtain the high interest promised by Mr. Ross, you deposited most of the church's working capital into a Bay Area bank, right?"

Archbishop Evan's lips twitched, and he remained silent.

"If my information is correct, the funds you deposited in the Bay Area Bank exceed a full six hundred thousand dollars!"

"Right now, Bay Area banks have collapsed! Your Excellency, in the face of the bank run, how much of the more than six hundred thousand dollars did you manage to recover?"

Bishop Evan's lips twitched even more violently!

"If my sources are still accurate, because the incident happened so suddenly, the Bay Area Bank collapsed so quickly, and the church reacted so slowly, even if His Holiness the Bishop personally met with Mr. Ross, he only managed to withdraw less than $100,000, right?"

"How did you know?" Bishop Evan was genuinely surprised this time.

Only a handful of people know how much money the church deposited in Bay Area banks and how much it withdrew.

Where did this young Chinese man in front of me get such accurate information?

Haha, even Ross, who was on the run, was caught alive at sea. What information can't they get out of him?

Azu continued, "In other words, because of the Bay Area Bank incident, His Excellency the Bishop has lost more than half a million dollars!"

"How does Your Excellency plan to cover such a large deficit? If you can't, and the Church investigates, will Your Excellency still be able to remain in your position?"

Bishop Evan's deeply wrinkled forehead was covered with fine beads of sweat!
Azu continued, “Your Excellency, you are an absolutely lucky man! You were just transferred to San Francisco, a godforsaken place, and here they discovered an inexhaustible gold mine.”

"Gold attracts people from all over the world, people bring wealth, and wealth causes real estate and various industries to appreciate continuously!"

“Your Excellency, because real estate and various industries in San Francisco were worthless before, the church was able to occupy countless properties and industries.”

"And these properties and industries have become increasingly valuable and precious in just over a year!"

"Your Excellency, you are very lucky; you've landed on a mountain of gold! Your diocese must now be one of the richest in the world!"

"Your Excellency, you are also unfortunate! Countless eyes throughout the Church are watching your diocese, which is built on a mountain of gold."

Upon hearing what Azu said, Bishop Evan's hands trembled slightly.

"I wonder how many people are waiting for the bishop to make a mistake so they can take his place? Perhaps, soon, the church will send people down to audit the accounts and find the deficit!"

"If Your Excellency does not have a solid foundation, those who covet the position of Bishop of the Bay Area will cast you into the abyss, where you will never be able to escape!"

"Unfortunately, Your Excellency doesn't have a very strong foundation within the church. Otherwise, when the Bay Area was still a desolate wasteland last year, you wouldn't have been assigned to such a remote diocese!"

Bishop Evan trembled slightly: "Lee, I...we clergy do not covet power, much less money!"

“Your Excellency, before this, I believed you were absolutely a pure clergyman, so you had no complaints whatsoever about coming to serve in such a remote diocese!”

"But once you've tasted the power and money, can you still maintain your original intentions and remain as pure as before?" "I...I...!" Faced with Azu's questioning, Bishop Evan closed his eyes in anguish.

Azu got up, refilled his empty glass, and then filled Bishop Evan's glass as well.

“However…!” Azu sat down opposite Bishop Evan, took his aged hands in his, and said, “However, Your Excellency, you are still lucky in the end!”

“What do you mean?” Bishop Evan looked up and asked.

"Because you have a lovely little niece!" Azu smiled and said, "Vivian's maternal uncle is my maternal uncle too!"

"I will not stand idly by in the face of such a predicament!"

A glimmer of hope ignited in Bishop Evan's eyes: "Lee, you mean...?"

"What I mean is, I have a way to get you out of your current predicament and help you fill your huge deficit!"

"Really? What's the method?" Bishop Evan quickly asked.

Ah Zu, unhurriedly, took a sip of his drink and then pulled out a map of San Francisco from his pocket.

Azu pointed to a large area on the map, including Clarke Quay, and said, "Your Excellency, as far as I know, this entire area is church property, is that right?"

"Yes!"

In fact, not only this area, but almost half of San Francisco is church-owned property.

Nearly a century ago, when the Spanish built the city here, the first two buildings were a military barracks and a church!

Over the years, the Spanish military camps have long since disappeared, but the influence of the church has taken root, sprouted, and grown stronger here.

When the entire city of San Francisco was still a desolate wasteland, the church occupied large tracts of land here almost without any cost.

Therefore, the church is the biggest landlord in the entire San Francisco and the entire Bay Area!

The area that Ah Zu pointed out was the site of what later became Chinatown and the surrounding area!
Azu pointed to this large area and said, "Since it's church property, hasn't His Excellency the bishop considered selling this property to make up for the deficit?"

The glimmer of hope that had just ignited in Bishop Evan's eyes was instantly extinguished, and he said with a sigh, "I thought you would come up with some good ideas, but it turns out that's all I've got!"

"To be honest, I have considered selling some of the real estate to cover the cash deficit."

"But that newly emerged newspaper, the Standard, is desperately clamoring that Major Daniel Cameron is about to return to take revenge and will definitely massacre the entire San Francisco."

"At a time like this, when even one's own life is in danger, who would risk buying real estate? Who has such a large sum of cash to cover a deficit of over $500,000? Even if someone were to buy, they would only offer an extremely low price!"

Azu smiled, pointed to his own nose and said, "Your Excellency, haven't you ever thought about selling this large piece of land to me?"

“You…?” Bishop Evan said unhappily, “Lee, don’t joke with me at a time like this!”

"I know your company is doing well, but it's only been established for four months. How could you possibly come up with such a huge sum of cash, more than five hundred thousand US dollars, in such a short time?"

(End of this chapter)