I was the Founding Father of the United States

Chapter 11 Land is worthless in the New World

Providence is a small city, and the carriage soon arrived at David's house by moonlight.

Located on the edge of the city center, near the new immigrant slums, this is just an ordinary two-story brick and wood house. It doesn't have the spacious porches and gardens of the mansions of the wealthy in Newport Harbor, nor is it as shabby as the simple wooden houses of the new immigrants.

David's family consists of only four people: David's mother Anna, David himself, David's brother Edward and sister Susie. David's father was also a sailor, but he died in the war three years ago.

Now the whole family is supported by the income earned by David's mother Anna running a suburban farm and by David's work as a sailor.

As a devout believer, Anna was very grateful to Pastor Jensen and Chen Wenbin for coming to her home. She thanked Chen Wenbin for saving David and enthusiastically added more candlesticks to the dining table. She also took Chen Wenbin and Jensen's hands and prayed together before the meal.

Chen Wenbin thoroughly enjoyed the meal. Although it consisted of simple dishes like stewed beef with potatoes, mutton soup, and bread, Anna's cooking was excellent, especially the beef, which was stewed until very tender, inexplicably satisfying his Chinese palate.

After dinner, as night had fallen, Anna insisted that Pastor Johnson stay the night, but he was eager to go home and refused. Anna then instructed David to drive him home in the carriage.

Before leaving, he told Chen Wenbin that he would come over early the next morning to discuss the factory site selection. He also said that he would hold a sermon at the Baptist Church the day after tomorrow to announce that Chen Wenbin had officially joined the Providence Baptist community.

Chen Wenbin knew the importance of this matter and immediately expressed his gratitude.

……

The next morning.

As usual, Chen Wenbin got up early, took his toothbrush and salt, and prepared to go to the well in the front yard to fetch water to brush his teeth. But when he went downstairs, he found that Pastor Johnson had already arrived in the living room and was talking to Mrs. Anna who was preparing breakfast.

Good morning, James! Good morning, Mrs. Klein!

"Good morning."

The middle-aged pastor looked at the toothbrush in Chen Wenbin's hand and smiled, "You still like cleaning your teeth so much."

Chen Wenbin shrugged and said, "It's a habit, hard to change. Mrs. Klein's beef was so delicious yesterday."

He nodded to the smiling Anna, then pointed to his teeth and said helplessly, "But I feel like there's some meat stuck between my teeth, so I'll have to brush them as soon as possible... Wait for me, I'll be done soon!"

After saying that, he went out to the well, drew water, and began to wash up.

In the living room, Jason looked at Chen Wenbin with some envy. To be precise, he was looking at the toothbrush in Chen Wenbin's hand. He had never seen a toothbrush made of that material before. He had heard that it was made of a very expensive and rare glue from the East... Sure enough, in terms of enjoying life, the Eastern aristocracy had a greater advantage.

Soon, after brushing his teeth and having a simple breakfast, Chen Wenbin and his companion said goodbye and left. David continued to act as the coachman, heading to a farm recommended by Pastor Jensen, located on the banks of the Providence River in the north, which met the requirements for building a textile factory.

Half an hour later, the carriage arrived at its destination along the dirt road.

"...The water flow here is neither too fast nor too slow, making it perfect for installing a water-powered spinning machine!"

After observing the area, Chen Wenbin stood on a patch of wasteland on the west side of the Providence River and said to Reverend Johnson beside him, "This place can also be used to build a dock, directly loading cotton yarn and cloth onto ships for sale to other colonial cities and Europe. This is it!"

Reverend Jason thought for a moment and said, "This place is indeed nice, only two miles from downtown Providence... Let's go see Mr. Smith! His family owns several hundred acres of land here, and if the price is right, we'll buy all the land along the river."

Chen Wenbin nodded, then pointed to the opposite bank of the river and said, "We'll also buy the land along the riverbank on the other side. We'll build other factories there next."

If the textile factory develops well, he also plans to build an ironworks, a machine shop, a gunpowder factory, and a sulfuric acid plant... If possible, he also wants to set up an arsenal and a shipyard to produce smoothbore cannons, smoothbore guns, and armed merchant ships.

As for the more advanced mercury fulminate percussion cap gun and breech-loading cannon, he has no plans to develop them for the time being.

Because releasing these weapon technologies ahead of time would only strengthen Britain and other European countries, leading to a series of unforeseen chain reactions. But the spinning jenny was different; the Englishman James Hargreaves would invent it in another year, so its early release would have little impact.

These factories were all designed to enhance his wealth and influence, and to build an armed fleet capable of long-distance voyages. Whether it was to bring immigrants from China to the west coast of North America or to profit from the future American Revolutionary War, these factories were indispensable.

After surveying the terrain, the two took a carriage to the estate of Henry Smith, the landowner.

Like many descendants of early immigrants, Henry Smith, an ordinary "land gentleman," did not live in Providence but rather on his own estate in the suburbs.

Although it was called a manor, it was just an ordinary two-story Georgian-style house with a few warehouses and livestock sheds, plus about a dozen European indentured employees.

When Chen Wenbin and his two companions arrived at the manor, the landed gentleman was directing the workers to tidy up the barns in preparation for the wheat harvest in August.

"Good day, Mr. Smith!"

Pastor Jensen greeted the farmer with the pitchfork, then introduced Chen Wenbin and briefly explained his purpose.

"This is Mr. Robin Chen. He invented a new type of spinning machine. Our church, Captain George Mills, Governor Hopkins, and other gentlemen have jointly invested in the establishment of the Jenna Textile Factory, hoping to purchase the wasteland by the river owned by your family..."

The farmer, a man in his forties with a rugged face, red hair, and seemingly of Irish descent, respected Reverend Johnson. After hearing that Chen Wenbin was an inventor, he looked closely at the latter's face but didn't react in any particular way.

Although Chen Wenbin's appearance is somewhat similar to that of Native Americans, his attire and demeanor are definitely those of a gentleman, something that Native Americans cannot fake.

He thought for a moment, then nodded and said, "Priest, I can sell the land. Anyway, more than half of my farmland is abandoned, and the land by the river is not suitable for growing wheat. Let's do it at one pound per acre, or five Spanish silver dollars per acre! I can sell up to twenty acres."

He didn't actually want to sell a single acre of land, but he couldn't ignore the influence of the church and the governor, so he agreed to sell the land.

"...Deal! Mr. Smith!"

Chen Wenbin and Pastor Jason exchanged a glance and readily agreed. The price of the wasteland could actually be negotiated, but Chen Wenbin wanted to get the factory done as soon as possible, so he didn't care about the money for the land... In the New World, land was the least valuable thing!