America 1881: Legend of the West

He was followed by several security personnel with guns, looking around, always paying attention to the surrounding movements.

Blake put his hands behind his back and stared at the busy Chinese workers in front of him and the railroad tracks that were extending forward.

He was followed by several security personnel with guns, looking around, always paying attention to the surrounding movements.

"How far can it be laid in one day now?" Blake turned his head and asked the foreman behind him.

"Less than a mile, sir." The foreman came running up.

"The premise is that there are sufficient personnel." He added, "These Chinese workers are very skilled."

Blake nodded with satisfaction.

The two stood at the edge of the construction site chatting about railway laying.

"I heard that there are many people in the area who are dissatisfied with the railway company." the foreman asked cautiously.

"You don't have to worry about these, just lay your rails." Blake pointed at the armed men behind him, "They're just a bunch of mud-legged people."

"The farmers in New Mexico are really crazy," he muttered. "Do you think the price is too high? Don't use my trains to transport goods if you can."

He looked towards the Rio Grande behind him, on which several ships passed.

There is a dock near the construction site camp, and many of their rails and sleepers are shipped directly from the dock.

"Isn't it good to transport it by boat?" Blake said with a narrow smile, "Although there are no rivers south of New Mexico."

Blake's left eyelid has been twitching ever since Bourne brought two people to his office and said those words yesterday.

He met a blind old man with yellow skin who was very good at divination on the streets of San Francisco.

The old man asked him for 20 cents and accurately guessed his identity, his birth year and how many brothers and sisters he had in his family.

The old man told him that this was called "fortune telling" in their country.

He told Blake that if his left eyelid twitched, it meant a disaster would come.

Therefore, yesterday he asked all the security personnel at the station to prepare and come to the railway site to provide armed escort today.

"Boss, look over there!" The security guard behind Blake suddenly pointed at a group of people in the distance and said behind his ear.

Blake looked in the direction he pointed.

In the distance, a group of people sparsely appeared, walking towards them along the railway track.

They held various signs in their hands and shouted as they walked:

"Lower freight rates!"

"Reject monopoly!"

"Equal dialogue!"

"Are they armed?" Blake asked his security captain a little nervously.

"It seems, no." The captain put down the telescope in his hand, "Not even a dung fork."

"That's it?" Blake felt relieved and snorted, dismissively.

He was originally worried that if there were a large number of people in this group, he would not be able to handle it easily, but who knew it would only be three melons and two dates.

The Chinese workers who were busy with their heads down heard the noise in the distance and raised their heads one after another, only to be met with an angry rebuke from the foreman:

"What are you looking at? Get to work quickly!"

"Listen carefully. Later, you are standing near the construction site with a few people and guns. Don't shoot. Do you understand?" Blake ordered the security captain.

"But what if they attack the construction site?" The security captain hesitated.

"Then shoot into the sky! Do you understand?" Blake extended an index finger and pointed at the sky, "These are the people who ran away when they heard the gunfire."

In accordance with his request, the security captain led armed personnel to stand guard near the construction site, and they were ready.

Oliver Dunleavy, president of the Grange Society and the organizer of the protest, was at the front of the queue.

Bourne, the leader of the "Knights", broke his appointment and did not appear at the rally in the square. Only some people from the Fur Association and the Timber Association came, and they were also victims of excessive railway freight.

Dunleavy did not wait for the "Knights". When the time came, he took the people and set off.

But what surprised him was that when he was having a meeting in the square, there were not many people. But when he was approaching the construction site, he turned around and found that there were more and more people in the team.

"Do you know these people?" Dunleavy asked a young man next to him.

"I don't know, maybe they are people who sympathize with our situation." The young man took a look and replied, "We have been giving speeches in the square for several days, and there are always people who agree with our proposition."

Dunleavy nodded.

"If we disrupt their work as we discussed before, I don't believe we won't be able to see Blake." He said, "Speak louder, we need to publicize our ideas!"

The parade arrived in front of the construction site where the railroad tracks were being laid.

But when they saw the armed men with live ammunition, their slogans suddenly dropped by half.

"Dunleavy, it seems we don't need to find Blake anymore." The young man next to Dunleavy stared blankly at the construction site in front of him.

Blake, standing proudly on the river bank with the foreman.

Several armed men guarded him.

"Have you seen Bourne and his people?" Blake asked the security captain beside him in a low voice.

The security captain held up his hat and shook his head: "No, that person didn't come yesterday."

"Hmph, I thought he had some serious plan, but it turned out that he was going to put these idiots from the Farmers' Association in front." Blake's worries were lessened.

He looked at Dunleavy and the others, with his hands folded in front of his chest, his attitude extremely arrogant.

The two sides faced each other in front of the construction site, and the voice from Granchi's side became a little quieter until it disappeared.

The momentum he had just gained was suppressed.

Some of the farmers holding signs have begun to back down.

Looking at the guns in the hands of the armed men, they felt for a moment that the higher shipping cost was not unacceptable.

"Say something, Dunleavy, say something, or we will be finished." The young man next to Dunleavy whispered to him.

"Don't panic, I don't believe they dare to shoot!" Dunleavy took a deep breath and said loudly: "Blake, we came here today just to get an explanation from you."

Blakely didn't want to pay attention to him. He told the foreman: "Ignore that fool and let the workers continue to work."

"You take the land donated by New Mexico, use these Chinese workers, and enjoy the lowest interest loans from the state bank. Your costs are low, but you charge the highest freight rates to the farmers and businessmen on this land. You are not afraid Is the state sanctioning you?”

Dunleavy said, looking around.

"The farmers here have been working hard for a whole year, and all the profits are used to cover your shipping costs! You must give everyone an explanation."

The anger of the farmers, which had died down just now, has been stirred up again.

"Sanctions!"

"Price reduction!"

"Get out!"

……

Blake simply stopped looking at him.

My low cost is none of your business! I didn’t see you making trouble when there was no railway? Use it if you like. If you don’t use it, others will use it. For example, Rockefeller’s tank train.

Seeing that Blake ignored them, the farmers' emotions became more intense, and they began to approach the construction site.

"Snapped!"

The guard captain fired a shot into the air: "This railway is the private property of the Santa Fe Railway Company. If you dare to take another step forward or take any other drastic action, we will fight back to protect the company's assets!"

The Chinese workers who were laying the railway tracks squatted down with their heads in their hands.

"It has nothing to do with you, just keep working!" the foreman said to them.

The gunshot also calmed down the farmers who were about to take action.

These people were small farmers. They listened to Dunleavy and did not bring guns. However, these people were not forgiving.

Various swear words began to be heard over the construction site.

"Blake! You son of a bitch! That means I didn't bring the gun. If you were on my farm, I'd put a few more holes in your ass!"

"Blake, you're a piece of shit! You and your railroad are a piece of shit!"

"You guys with guns are Blake's dogs! Lick his XXX!"

……

The curse words became more and more vulgar and reached an ethical level.

Dunleavy found that he gradually began to lose control of the situation, and a demonstration with his own demands turned into a farce.

If this continues, it is likely that by the time they get tired of scolding, this parade will be nothing more than nothing.

However, something unexpected happened.

"boom."

There was another gunshot.

The security captain looked around with a blank look on his face: "Which one of you shot?"

Several armed men around him shook their heads.

"Yes, it's the opposite side." A guard standing at the front of the construction site turned back.

His hands were covering his chest, and blood was slowly flowing out from between his fingers.

The guard slowly fell to the ground.

"People are dead! Shoot to kill!"

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