Chapter 424 Zhu Xianhai's Big Plan (First Update, Please Subscribe)

The 19th century was a time when the world was changed. Twenty years ago, it took at least a month to send a letter from the Governor's Palace in Alaska to Putrajaya, but now a telegram only takes a few hours. After purchasing Alaska, Nanhua invested hundreds of thousands of yuan to lay a telegraph line from Vancouver to Sitka, the former capital of the Russian colonial period. Two years ago, after Fuyang became the capital of Alaska, the telegraph was laid to Fuyang.

With the telegraph, Alaska is no longer a corner of the world.

On this day, at the estate outside Putrajaya, after lunch, Zhu Xianhai strode back to his desk, sat in the luxurious leather chair beside the desk, and glanced at the letter spread out on the record book. There was a wax seal on the envelope, and the markings on it were only understandable to him.

This is a secret message from the Governor of Alaska.

This secret telegram could be sent directly to Zhu Xianhai without the intervention of the secretariat. A few years ago, as the area controlled by Nanhua expanded, it became inevitable to send officials to the local areas. At the suggestion of Wang Yingjiu, the former governor of Zhejiang, Zhu Xianhai borrowed the "secret memorial system" of the Qing Dynasty.

In fact, it was just a reference. The secret telegrams sent by local "provincial governors" could reach the emperor directly without going through any institutions or personnel. This method was both fast and confidential, allowing Zhu Xianhai to obtain information more directly, improving decision-making efficiency and strengthening control over bureaucratic institutions.

When those senior officials took office, they would receive a code book and a corresponding mailbox. There would be dedicated decoders responsible for translating the telegrams, which would then be sealed with wax and sent to Zhu Xianhai.

"A telegram from Alaska?"

There was not a single word of nonsense in the letter. After all, telegrams are very expensive. The summary of the report was brief and to the point. A river was found in the Yukon Territory, and there was a lot of gold in the river. The only problem was that the river was located in the upper reaches of the Yukon River, a little distance from Alaska. Although there was a problem with the distance, there was a lot of gold in the river.

"Yukon River, Klondike River..."

Sitting in the swivel chair, Zhu Xianhai glanced at the report in front of him again and said softly:

"This... must be the so-called 'Klondike Gold Rush'!"

No one would answer his question.

Zhu Xianhai's knowledge of the "Klondike Gold Rush" came from Charlie Chaplin's "The Gold Rush". Then he did some research on the Alaska Gold Rush and gained some understanding of the distribution of gold mines in Alaska. For example, Juneau, the capital of Alaska, originated from the gold rush. An engineer named Juneau discovered a large amount of gold sand in the Avalanche Valley in the Alaska Panhandle, which triggered the "Juno Gold Rush".

Although he knew that there was gold in Juneau, Zhu Xianhai had no intention of developing it, because there were even bigger gold mines near Alaska. After gold was discovered in the Klondike River in Alaska on August 16, 1896, the news of the discovery of gold reached the United States in January 1897. In July of the same year, two steamships loaded with gold worth $15.5 million arrived in San Francisco. This news shocked the entire United States and triggered the gold rush. From 1897 to 1899, 100,000 immigrants went to the area, and this frenzy of gold rush lasted for about 70 years before it ended. The reason for the end was that the Canadian government banned gold rush on the grounds of environmental protection.

The gold sand reserves of the Klondike River are simply difficult to estimate. Even if it is "raided" by tens of thousands of people for decades, new gold mines will emerge after a period of time. In addition to gold, there are precious metals such as platinum and rhodium in the river. This is why the Klondike River is called the Golden River. Even in the 21st century, it has become a tourist destination. Tourists experience gold panning in the Klondike River. The gold they find is completely owned by individuals, but mechanical mining is prohibited. Some tourists only spent dozens of minutes here to pan for nearly 8 grams of gold.

"I didn't expect to find this golden river so soon..."

The news of Jin He's discovery not only did not make Zhu Xianhai happy, but even made him a little troubled.

"It's not a good thing to discover this golden river at this time!"

Standing up from his desk and walking across the room, Zhu Xianhai went to the map on the wall. He stared at the map of North America on the wall with a frown on his face.

Gold is a metal, but it is different from any other metal. It is valuable in any era. From ancient times to the present, it is the most popular hard currency in the world. Especially in this era, what is the settlement of international trade? It is gold!

Even banks rely on gold to issue currency!

Gold is precious!

But even so, Zhu Xianhai never mentioned the gold mine in Juneau. It was not because he did not want to mine the gold mine in Alaska, nor was it because he was well aware of the truth that "a child carries gold through the market", but because he still had an ambition in his heart - land!

"Hudson's Bay Company..."

Even on the world map, the Hudson's Bay Company's neighboring territories were still clearly marked - the total area of ​​its land was roughly equivalent to more than 3/5 of the territory of Canada in later generations, and more than twice the size of Louisiana purchased by the United States.

The Hudson's Bay Company was founded in 1670. It had a royal charter and could privately set up armed forces and build forts. After merging with the Northwest Company in 1821, the Hudson's Bay Company became the company with the largest land in the world.

Compared with the Hudson's Bay Company, Zhu Xianhai's American Company is simply not worth mentioning. Even though the land owned by the Hudson's Bay Company is almost the Siberia of North America, so what?

What’s important is that there is a lot of land!

However, having more land was of no use. The Hudson's Bay Company, which started out with the fur trade, fell into serious losses due to the decline of the fur trade.

That is why Zhu Xianhai set his sights on the 7.7 million square kilometers of land. But it is not easy to get a British company to sell land, especially to foreigners!

"This is millions of square kilometers of land! Compared to land, gold? It's simply not worth mentioning!"

Zhu Xianhai pursed his lips and his eyes became a little complicated.

In the past two years, at his instruction, the company took advantage of the Alaska border dispute to negotiate with the Hudson's Bay Company, trying to use the negotiations to eventually achieve the goal of acquiring the Rupert Area and the Northwest Territories. For the Hudson's Bay Company, which was suffering from serious losses, selling land was their last option to get out of the predicament.

But once the Hudson's Bay Company knew there was a large gold mine on their land, they would definitely not sell the land.

It was for this reason that Zhu Xianhai did not take action against Juno's gold mine, for fear that it would affect his grand plan.

But now Jin He’s discovery forced Zhu Xianhai to speed up his plans.

"Now, we must speed up the negotiation process..."

(End of this chapter)