Outnumbered? I'll conquer America with an unlimited number of suicide soldiers.

Chapter 41 The Angry Governor and the Completion of the Coal Tar Plant

Noon, Sacramento.

The blazing sun shone down, and the air was filled with scorching heat.

Bigler stood smugly on the platform in front of the state government building, looking at the reporters and onlookers below, giving a passionate speech about his achievements, occasionally glancing at the prepared manuscript.

The defeat of the San Francisco American Party gave him more excuses to target American Party members throughout California in order to gain benefits for his party.

Moreover, he could use this as an excuse to attack John Neely Jensen, who is running for the next governor, in the November election and win over voters' votes.

Once labels like "incompetent," "condoning violence," and "endangering state security" are attached to him, it won't be easy for that bastard Jason to get rid of them.

Just as he was halfway through his speech, in the midst of his enthusiastic speech, someone suddenly rushed out of the building behind him and came to his side not far away, looking anxious.

Ignoring the questioning looks from the audience, he waved to Bigler, signaling to pause his speech.

Bigler glanced at him but ignored him.

He was getting to the crucial point, his emotions and rhythm were just right, so why did this idiot come here to cause trouble?

But the man continued waving and making gestures, and subtle commotion and whispers began to rise from the audience.

Knowing he could no longer ignore it, Bigler quickly forced a reassuring smile at the audience and raised his hands in a gesture of patting: "Please be patient, gentlemen, there is a small matter that needs immediate attention."

He interrupted his speech, walked up to the man, and reprimanded him in a low voice:

"Can't you see I'm giving a speech? What's going on?!"

The man swallowed hard and said in a low voice, "Governor, I'm terribly sorry, but this is an urgent telegram!"

"The remnants of the Vigilance Committee attacked the rally and speech of their American party colleagues in City Hall Square."

In the gunfight, the mayor, judges, councilors, and most of the executive, judicial, and legislative personnel were shot. Mr. Matthews and his team are receiving medical treatment, but it's unknown how many will survive.

"It's fair to say that San Francisco's official power has been completely paralyzed."

A look of shock flashed across Bigler's eyes, but he quickly regained his composure.

He immediately turned around, ignoring the surprised gasps behind him, and walked into the building, abandoning his speech altogether. He said, "Call all my staff over here, quick!"

"They're already waiting for you in the office!"

Soon, Bigler arrived at his office, unable to contain his anger any longer:

"What the hell is going on? Those American Party bastards with lead-filled brains, can't they even keep their own mad dogs in check?!"

And that bunch of idiots, Matthews, they can't even do the most basic security work properly. Are all his guards just sitting around doing nothing?!

The complete annihilation of the San Francisco government forces—Bigler understood this better than anyone.

According to the law and procedure, he must immediately initiate a special emergency election to re-elect the mayor, judges, prosecutors, members of parliament, etc., to fill all vacancies.

But the citizens of San Francisco just had a riot, and they are full of distrust and even hostility toward the Democratic Party!

If there's an early election, even an idiot knows what the outcome will be!

"Governor, anger will not solve the problem; it will only give your opponents an opportunity."

Without further ado, Gan and his team of advisors presented a plan. "We have drafted a preliminary response plan; please take a look."

"First and foremost, we must define this as a continuation of the San Francisco insurgency, and solidify this characterization through all available media channels."

At the same time, it targets the internal governance failures and the tradition of condoning violence within American political parties, leaving room for further action.

"Secondly, administrative takeover."

Given that San Francisco has lost its executive, judicial, and legislative capacity, we recommend that you immediately sign an executive order to establish a provisional governing council for San Francisco. This council will be directly accountable to you and will exercise all executive, judicial, and legislative powers of San Francisco.

Bigler quickly flipped through the documents: "What about the candidates for the interim committee?"

"Of course, they're all our people," Gan chimed in.

"At the same time, we should do our best to delay the election so that our people can control the grassroots forces. The police force, municipal employees, the records system, the tax channels..."

Even if our people are ousted after a new election, the grassroots forces that hold real power and resources will still be in our hands. The worst outcome would simply be a return to the way things were before.

"Moreover, we can use this attack as a pretext to further hold the American party accountable."

Bigler was still furious, roughly lighting a cigar for himself: "What a fucking fuss! That Matthews idiot with a head full of shit, I'm even considering going back on my promise to him about the tax cuts!"

"Governor, I advise you not to."

Gan shook his head and advised, "You still need his soldiers to maintain a semblance of order and suppress any potential street protests or riots."

"Therefore, I suggest that you maintain a good relationship with him. In fact, to win him over, you could have his people appointed as temporary police chiefs or other official positions."

Bigler rubbed his temples, paused for a moment, and then said, "Alright, call San Francisco back. Let's move on to the next thing."

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

An urgent telegram was sent from the telegraph room in Sacramento and sped along the telegraph line to the San Francisco telegraph office, ninety miles away.

The translated telegram was then quickly sent to the city hall and delivered to Hosea.

He took the telegram, glanced at it, and couldn't help but sneer inwardly. Then he began to reminisce about the past.

"My lord, just as Guilliman predicted, Bigler has chosen to establish a temporary governing council and send people from Sacramento to control the politics of San Francisco."

The familiar voice rang out: "Then just follow Guilliman's plan. When the governor's men gather and set off, have the assassins kill them."

"clear."

Hosea said, "There's one more thing. Arthur has sent a request. They've found Mr. John Sutter's last enemy, but it's proving tricky, so they're requesting more manpower."

"Troublesome?"

I blinked once, and my interest was piqued.

During this period, he focused his main energy on integrating the forces in Chinatown and dealing with the situation in San Francisco, and indeed hadn't paid much attention to Arthur's side for a long time.

With this in mind, he accessed the memories of the Van der Linde gang, flipping back to after Valentine Craig's death, and began watching it like a television program.

He used to read very quickly, dozens of times faster than the average person, but he could see every frame, every sound, and every emotional fluctuation clearly.

In the past few days, Arthur and his group have practically traveled all over the mountains, valleys and mining areas of Northern California.

Because John Sutter's enemies were scattered throughout Northern California, they naturally hunted them down everywhere.

In addition, they also robbed all the gold mines they passed by.

Several meticulously planned raids not only eliminated the armed guards at the mine and seized gold and cash worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, but also rescued many Chinese miners who were working like slaves there.

These people were temporarily placed at the mine where Yuan Guang worked, and he was asked to take care of and observe them.

As for the Sart rifle squad that was supposedly chasing them, Arthur and his men ignored them completely because they hadn't encountered them yet.

The memory finally settled on the last piece of information about the target. The "tricky" situation that Hosea had described now took on a concrete form.

Samuel Brannan.

John Sutter's last enemy.

This name is a household name in California.

A key figure in the Mormon Church in California, he was the first to use newspapers to sensationalize the discovery of gold in California, thus igniting the California Gold Rush.

The largest land speculator and businessman in early San Francisco, and the first person in California to become a millionaire during the Gold Rush;

He was also the founder and first chairman of the San Francisco Vigilance Commission.

Today, he is a major donor to the California American Party and a senior senator, wielding considerable influence in California's political circles.

Intelligence indicates that Senator Brannan is not based in Sacramento, but prefers to live in his luxurious estate in the Calistoga Valley.

It is about ninety miles from Sacramento, with beautiful scenery, a pleasant climate, and, more importantly, easy to defend.

Brannan had been operating there for many years, and his estate housed more than a hundred armed guards.

Many of these guards were veterans of the Mexican-American War, well-equipped and highly trained.

In addition, the estate had an even larger number of workers employed by him and slaves he bought, who were responsible for tending the vineyards, wineries, and other places.

The entire estate is less a residence and more a small, highly guarded private fortress.

"Wow, what a coincidence."

He once whistled and got rid of the second chairman of the Vigilance Committee, but he never expected that he would soon be going to take down the first chairman.

"With over a hundred professionally armed men, plus the manor's advantageous location and workers, it's no wonder Hosea said it was a tough situation. Even if every single one of Van der Linde's few dozen men were skilled, their chances of winning a direct assault on a fortress of this size would be slim."

After a moment's thought, he directly connected his mind with Arthur, who was resting in a remote valley somewhere in Northern California.

"Arthur, take your men and get to San Francisco as fast as you can. Replace all the muzzle-loading guns and revolvers in your hands first."

"As for Samuel Brannan, if you can't find any weaknesses in his manor's defenses, just retreat. There's no need to launch a full-scale attack."

"That foreigner will eventually go out; we can just send a few people to snipe him from a distance then."

In the valley, Arthur, who was wiping his revolver, paused slightly and nodded, saying, "Yes, my lord."

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

After losing contact with Arthur, she turned her attention back to him.

He was currently at Point Portrero, southeast of downtown San Francisco.

It is about five or six kilometers from Chinatown, facing the bay. There are many factories here, but most of the area is still large tracts of wasteland.

After employing some minor tactics, a large tract of wasteland returned to John Sutter's ownership and came into his hands.

On the wasteland, a factory built of red bricks and giant logs had been completed. Su Song was outside the factory directing his assassins to carefully move the coal tar distillation machine into the factory.

These machines were manufactured by the mechanical team working day and night, including a series of equipment such as distillation furnaces, by-product recovery coke ovens, steam boilers, and condensation systems.

In addition to producing coal gas and kerosene, it can also systematically separate and recover a variety of basic chemical raw materials such as ammonia and crude benzene.

Benzene, in particular, is indispensable for the production of trinitrotoluene and sulfonamides, making its strategic value immeasurable.

It could be said that Su Song made this coal tar factory dumpling just for the sake of this bit of vinegar.

Therefore, from handling to installation, Su Song repeatedly emphasized that the machine must be handled with care and precisely calibrated, and he dared not allow it to suffer the slightest damage.

"Speaking of which, Jianyuan..."

He turned to Jianyuan, who was standing guard nearby, and asked, "We run a coal tar factory. Where does the coal we use as raw material come from?"

Jian Yuan said, "My lord, there are two options. The first is to import coal from places like England, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Although the price is a bit higher, it's all high-quality bituminous coal, so the coking rate and gas production are guaranteed. Buying it won't be a loss."

"Secondly, we'll go and mine coal ourselves."

I was stunned: "Coal mining? There are coal mines in California?"

He knew that California was full of gold mines, but this was the first time he had ever heard of coal mines.

Jian Yuan nodded and said, "Yes, it's in Contra Costa County, across from San Francisco, at Diablo Mountain."

About three years ago, explorers discovered exposed coal seams there. Preliminary assessments indicate that the coal is of medium quality and suitable for coking and gas production.

But for some reason, the area remains in the sporadic exploration stage, with no substantial mining activity observed.

"However, as long as we send people to the site and build a railway to solve the transportation problem, we will be able to transport the coal out very quickly."

He once stroked his chin and asked, "Does that Diavolo Mountain have an owner?"

Jian Yuan shook his head: "I asked Hosea to investigate, and there's no such thing. Even the people who were exploring for coal there only have non-exclusive general exploration permits issued by the state government; they haven't obtained mining rights for any specific plots of land."

I once thought that opening my own coal mine would mean a significant reduction in raw material costs, a more secure and controllable supply chain, and would also create some jobs for my fellow countrymen in Chinatown.

"Thinking about it that way, it's worth taking it."

He paused for a moment and said, "However, opening a coal mine is no small matter. Let's find a few people who understand geology and mining to go there and conduct an on-site survey first."

"We must know the exact location of the coal seam, the approximate estimate of its reserves, its burial depth, the difficulty of mining, and the specific analysis of the coal quality."

"At the same time, investigate how long the railway should be and calculate the cost."

"Yes, my lord!" Jian Yuan solemnly accepted the order.