North America 1849, from Gold Rush to Warlord

Chapter 18: Earning the First Pot of Gold
The next day, it was around eight o'clock in the morning.

The merchants who gathered on the second floor of "Barbara" tailor shop early in the morning were all dumbfounded!

Because the number of people coming to the auction today far exceeded their expectations!
The second floor space of 70 to 80 square meters was almost full, many times more than when they were invited here yesterday!
Thompson and McCoy, who were familiar with Anna, had been squeezed into a corner. Looking at the crowded scene, their faces looked very ugly.

McCoy's face was gloomy. "What's going on? Yesterday, we were the only ones who had a good relationship with Anna. Why are there so many people here today?"

Thompson looked helpless: "This is not good! The plan we discussed last night is not going to work!"

"So what should we do? We finally reached an agreement with those guys yesterday that we wouldn't bid against each other, and we could get the license at the lowest price. Now they want us to participate in the bidding?"

"What else can we do?" Thompson shrugged. "We all underestimated that Chinese guy! He fooled all of us!"

McCoy glanced around, his expression growing even uglier. "Damn it! It seems like half of San Francisco's business district has crowded into this place!"

"Ah!" Thompson sighed. "Who wouldn't want to make the money right in front of them? I have to say, a foot-operated sewing machine is really attractive!"

"Then how much money do we have to pay to get a spot?" McCoy hesitated.

Thompson thought about their financial resources and said, "It's definitely not enough just the two of us! Let's talk to our friends right away. Before we even start, we need to find a few more partners. That's the only way to have some hope!"

"Well, that's the only thing we can do!"

Seeing that the situation was not good, there were countless people at the scene who had the same idea.

There was a crowd of people at once, and those who felt that they were not strong enough took the opportunity to connect with each other and form a temporary alliance.

More than two quarters of an hour later, at exactly nine o'clock, the auction finally officially began!
As soon as the show started, the scene immediately became intense.

"I'll give you $800 and ten pedal-operated sewing machines!"

"One thousand dollars for ten foot-operated sewing machines!"

"One thousand two hundred, fifteen machines...!"

“One thousand five hundred…!”

A-Zu, who was standing on the stage presiding over the auction, had a more and more sincere smile!
Vivian, Jason, Harley and Vic's family standing around him became more and more excited!
"two thousand……!"

“Two thousand one hundred…!”

"Two thousand one hundred dollars, plus thirty-five pedal sewing machines, for the first time...!"

“The second time…!”

"Deal! Congratulations to this gentleman for obtaining the first authorized production license for a pedal-operated sewing machine!"

The next two auctions were sold at roughly the same price.

Three authorized production licenses were auctioned for a total of US$6,500, as well as 112 foot-operated sewing machines!
Based on the normal price of a sewing machine of around one hundred dollars, the total value is about seventeen or eighteen thousand dollars!

It seems like a considerable fortune, but for the businessmen who have won the authorized production license at the auction, they only need to sell seventy or eighty foot-operated sewing machines each year in the next three years to make back their investment!

Is it difficult? Not at all! And you can make a lot of money!

If he were not in urgent need of start-up capital, A-Zu would actually prefer to take a few dollars in patent fees from each sewing machine.

In the long run, this will undoubtedly make more money! But that's for the next step!
Cash is delivered on site and the contract is signed on site!
After seeing off all the businessmen, the family gathered together and counted a thick stack of US dollars, everyone was excited and happy!

"Oh My God! We're making money! Haha, we're finally rich!"

"Li, you really don't know any mysterious Eastern witchcraft? I think your way of making money is even more powerful than that of an alchemist!"

"Alchemist? Turning stone into gold is not as fast as making money with A-Zu!"

"I knew that as long as we followed Li, we would definitely become rich!"

In this era when the monthly salary is only a few dozen dollars (this is already an absolutely high salary in the world!), A-Zu earned more than 6,000 US dollars in cash and machinery and equipment worth more than 10,000 US dollars in less than two days.

It only took two days to earn more money than most people can earn in their entire lives. This is much faster than panning for gold!

Amidst everyone's awkward praise, A-Zu just smiled slightly. That was all!
The start-up capital was already in hand without even using the arranged childcare.

This is the first pot of gold in life, but that’s all.

Even if you make enough money, it is only the first step to changing your life.

In this era, when Chinese people are discriminated against and bullied everywhere, just having money is not enough!
A Chinese person who is merely rich will only become fat meat in the eyes of others in this age of the survival of the fittest, and will be eaten alive without any scruples!

So, facing everyone's awkward praise, A Zu just smiled faintly.

"The long pass through Xiongguan is really like iron, but now we are crossing it from the beginning!"

Suddenly, this line of poetry came out of his mouth.

No one else understood, only Vivian seemed to understand: "A-Zu, you can write poetry? Why didn't you tell me?"

"You have an uncle who is an archbishop. Didn't you tell me?" A Zu winked at her.

"Oh! I didn't know Uncle Evan was the Archbishop of the Bay Area. I always thought he was just an ordinary priest. Why? Do you mind that I have a bishop uncle?"

"No, no, no!" A Zu smiled: "It's a good thing to have such an uncle. We will have less trouble."

Ah Zu turned around and said to the crowd, "We have the start-up capital, and the sewing machines will be in place soon. Next, we need to quickly recruit and train enough tailors."

This is the real business, and everyone nodded in agreement.

"One hundred and twelve sewing machines, plus the existing ones after renovation, will make nearly one hundred and twenty. This means we'll need to recruit and train over a hundred tailors, plus people responsible for dyeing, quality inspection, transportation, sales, logistics, etc., so we'll need at least two hundred people."

A-Zu asked Anna, "How many pairs of trousers can a reasonably skilled tailor make in a day?"

Anna replied, "If you're a novice tailor, you can probably make seven or eight pairs of trousers a day. For a skilled tailor like me, twenty pairs a day is no problem."

A Zu did the math and said, "Then quickly find a way to recruit people. The minimum monthly salary is ten dollars. For every pair of qualified jeans produced, ten cents will be paid! If the pants produced are not qualified, five cents will be deducted!"

"The base salary for sales is still $10, and the bonus is five cents for every piece sold."

After A-Zu said this, everyone did some calculations: "A pair of pants is ten cents. A skilled seamstress like Anna can produce six hundred pairs of pants a month. Adding the base salary, that's seventy dollars!"

"Oh My God! How can a tailor be paid such a high salary?"

(End of this chapter)