California is indeed one of the most pleasant states in the United States. It was already winter, but Liu Yifeng didn't feel cold at all when he got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom.

"Is this a Mediterranean climate?"

"What sea climate?"

Liu Yifeng turned around and found that it was Zheng Zhilong.

It can be seen from his neat hair that he has not slept yet. In ancient times, men had to loosen their buns when sleeping. Of course, Liu Yifeng doesn't have this trouble. His hair may be quite long in later generations, but it is still eye-catching here.

He has short hair, so he always wears a hat when facing outsiders.

"Still not asleep?"

"Well, I can't sleep a little bit."

Liu Yifeng looked up at the sky. The moon had just passed its highest point, which meant it was about 1-2 o'clock.

"Something on your mind?"

"I have something I want to talk to you about."

Zheng Zhilong did have insomnia, but he saw Liu Yifeng get up and chased after him on purpose. Everyone was too busy during the day, busy scanning for gold in the water, busy taking turns on duty, busy cutting down trees to build wooden sheds, and busy hunting.

Fishing to improve food meant that he never had time to chat with Liu Yifeng alone.

"Old Zheng, what do you want to talk about?"

"Liu Yifeng, what are you going to do with this batch of gold?"

This question is something Liu Yifeng has been thinking about.

It is impossible to sell it. Dongshan Prefecture is not a local area and there is no powerful force that is not afraid of the imperial court and dares to collect gold. Therefore, the gold can only be handled by the Maritime Safety Administration.

But when it was handed over to the Maritime Safety Administration, Liu Yifeng felt that the current quantity was not enough.

"To be honest, I haven't thought about it."

Seeing that important things were discussed, Liu Yifeng's drowsiness disappeared and he simply found a sleeping tree and sat on it.

"Old Zheng, what do you think the Maritime Safety Administration will give us after we turn over the gold and how to pan for it?"

Zheng Zhilong shook his head, saying that he didn't know either, with a hint of speculation in his tone: "A separate courtyard?"

Dongshan Prefecture is engaged in land finance, which is something they all know.

"That's too stingy."

"Then what do you want?"

"A privilege."

"What privilege?"

"I haven't thought about it yet, but we have proven that there is a lot of gold in the waters near Jinshan City. If we hand over this information, we should be able to exchange it for privileges."

In fact, Liu Yifeng had thought about it. The privilege he wanted to exchange for was one that would allow them to find a place to build their own city. He even chose the location of the city, which would become the famous Los Angeles in later generations.

The geographical environment of Los Angeles is very good. Although it is located in the southernmost part of California, the temperature is no different from that of the entire California. The dry and mild temperature with little rain, abundant sunshine throughout the year and developed water system make the plains around Los Angeles full of good agricultural land.

.In later generations, there were many farms around Los Angeles, and all kinds of vegetables and fruits grew well even without chemical fertilizers.

In fact, in his mind, the best location for building a city was San Francisco, which is now Gold Mountain City. Gold Mountain City is adjacent to the Central Valley, which is the best farm. Later California agriculture relied on less than 4% of the arable land in the United States to provide

It accounts for 10% of the country’s food, with the Central Valley contributing a huge amount.

In the future, Jinshan City will slowly become the economic center of Dongshan Prefecture, just because of the existence of a gold mine. The food in Tuoshan City can indeed supply Jinshan City, but Liu Yifeng believes that the food grown in the plains around Jinshan City will grow rapidly.

The speed replaced that of Tuoshan City.

He also has an ambition in his heart, which is to trade grain with the Indians in the south in exchange for gold. But he knows very well that gold is really everywhere in North America. To exchange cheap grain for gold,

This business is so profitable.

In the history of North America, there are often records of Indians exchanging gold with European colonists. The reason is that gold has no value in the eyes of the Native Americans.

Over tens of thousands of years in the Americas, natural crustal movements caused a large amount of gold from the ground to flow to the surface in various ways. This has actually happened in Asia and Europe. The difference is that humans in Eurasia have all evolved civilizations.

, gold has slowly become a precious metal in human civilization in various ways.

Once something becomes valuable, it will gradually become scarce. The gold on the surface of the Eurasian continent has been swept away by humans within thousands of years, but there is no such sweeping process in the Americas.

Although some Native American civilizations also collect gold and use it as metal, in general the Native Americans regard gold as earth and stone. Those who find it interesting pick it up and play with it, and those who are not interested throw it away. That's why there is a large amount of gold.

When the Indians came into contact with the early colonists, they exchanged gold for cloth, iron products and small handicrafts that they considered valuable.

However, these later colonists, with the greatest greed, completed the sweep of gold from the surface of the Americas in just one hundred years, helping the Native Americans to make up for this lesson.

"Liu Yifeng, we can't keep digging for gold. What do you want to do next? Continue to open a store?"

Liu Yifeng heard the implication of Zheng Zhilong's words and asked directly: "Old Zheng, do you have something you want to do?"

Zheng Zhilong was silent for a while and said: "Yes, I want to buy a boat, and I want to be the captain!"

Liu Yifeng sincerely praised: "You are ambitious!"

Can you be ambitious? In today's Ming Dynasty, there are many people who want to be captains, but few have achieved it. The reason is that a shopkeeper who owns a ship is essentially the same as a shopkeeper who owns a piece of land in Fifty City District to open a trading house.

No difference.

Boats are expensive. How many people have sold all their belongings to buy a small boat. For these people, they no longer have a home, and the boat is their home. They do not have a business shop, and the boat is their shop.

"Liu Yifeng, let's work together. You will be the shopkeeper and I will be your captain!"

This is what Zheng Zhilong wants to talk to Liu Yifeng alone. His financial resources are not enough to support him in getting a boat, but he has inexplicable confidence in Liu Yifeng. He thinks that Liu Yifeng will be able to earn money for a boat sooner or later. He hopes that Liu Yifeng

If he could buy a boat, his dream would come true. Even if he really had to work under someone else for Liu Yifeng, he would happily accept it.

"Buy a boat and run a business?"

Liu Yifeng thought about it and felt that after the city was built, he would indeed need a boat. But buying a boat was not a high priority in his mind. He looked at Zheng Zhilong and saw that he was staring at him with bright eyes, and he couldn't bear it.

To dampen his enthusiasm, he said: "Old Zheng, it's not clear what benefits this gold can bring. It's too early to say this now."

Zheng Zhilong was a little disappointed that Liu Yifeng didn't agree to it immediately, but he also knew that Liu Yifeng was right. It was unclear what reward the Maritime Safety Administration would give them, and it might not even be enough to buy a boat.

"Whether we want to buy a ship or not, in short we need to dig more gold. At least we have to prove to the Maritime Safety Administration that our gold mining method does not produce less gold than Zhang Xianzhong's gold mine vein. Only in this way can we realize your dream and mine."

He patted Zheng Zhilong on the shoulder and said, "Go to bed early. We will go back to Jinshan City tomorrow. We need to buy some supplies and hire more people."
Chapter completed!