Red Alert 1895

Chapter 11 – Arms Business

After Wang Guorui started the plan of exchanging rifles for soldiers, officials all over Taiwan began to recruit qualified soldiers for Wang Guorui, and the number of volunteer soldiers in Wang Guorui increased rapidly. And Wang Guorui was also very happy, because with the increase of soldiers, his troops soon expanded to a regiment. Now that Wang Guorui has gradually expanded into a regiment under the situation of such a rapid increase in troops, Wang Guorui has also become a small warlord with more than 3,000 people. And this kind of army is still expanding, and the problems Wang Guorui encounters are even more headaches.

“Hey, the money is not enough!” Wang Guorui said with a headache.

Wang Guorui is also not in charge of the family and does not know how expensive firewood is. He thought it would be good to get 1,250 yuan every six hours for a mine cart, but now it seems that this mine cart is still too small. It took only six hours to get 1,250 yuan, and now with the expansion of the army, whether it is the Red Police soldiers or various military equipment, there is a serious shortage. And the army has been expanded into a regiment. According to the establishment of foreign countries, there should be an artillery battalion equipped with 75mm caliber, which should be equipped with field artillery and mountain artillery. But now Wang Guorui’s infantry regiment has no artillery battalion, but it doesn’t have a single artillery.

The current Red Police base is used to produce Red Police soldiers and various light weapons for soldiers. These weapons have already swallowed up all the wealth obtained by mining the mine carts, and there is no other money left to buy artillery. You must know that the price of a 75mm caliber field gun or mountain gun in the Red Police Base is as high as 1,300 yuan, which cannot be obtained in a single mining operation. If the mountain artillery is purchased, it means that thirteen Red Police soldiers are missing, which means that the standard equipment of thirteen pairs of soldiers is missing. And the result of this is that a squad loses a qualified squad leader, and the combat effectiveness of a squad decreases. This made Wang Guorui very hesitant, should he buy artillery or soldiers? This is a difficult topic to choose, so Wang Guorui also has a headache.

Now the expansion speed of Wang Guorui’s army depends entirely on the expansion speed of financial resources, but there is only one mining vehicle, and Wang Guorui is unable to produce mining vehicles. If mining vehicles are still mining at such a slow speed, there is no way to raise enough funds for development.

“Hey, there is no money! It seems that we have to find a way to make money!” Wang Guorui thought helplessly.

At this time, the master said: “Wangzhi County, the governor Tang Jingsong is looking for you and asked you to go to Taipei to see him!”

“Tang Jingsong looking for me?” Wang Guorui didn’t even know what this Tang Jingsong wanted to do.

Since it was Tang Jingsong who wanted to see him, Wang Guorui had no choice but to go. Because Tang Jingsong was the governor of Taiwan after all, as long as Wang Guorui hadn’t thought about rebelling for a day, he couldn’t ignore Tang Jingsong’s orders. What’s more, Wang Guorui would not rebel now, because if he rebelled at this time, it would be quick for relatives and enemies, and all he would lose would be his own country’s armed forces. However, although Wang Guorui was going to see Tang Jingsong, he was not unprepared, and he wanted to take some people there.

Wang Guorui selected more than 20 soldiers, all of whom were elite scouts among the Red Police soldiers, and asked them to put down their guns, and each followed Wang Guorui to Taipei with two pistols. Although Wang Guorui didn’t think that Tang Jingsong would attack him, after all, he was not afraid of ten thousand, just in case! So Wang Guorui took more than 20 soldiers to avoid all kinds of accidents.

Hsinchu County is very close to Taipei City, and it takes less than a day and a night to get there. When Wang Guorui came to Taipei, he met Tang Jingsong smoothly. Wang Guorui also knew about Tang Jingsong. He was originally a small Beijing official for eighteen years. Later, during the Sino-French war, he took the initiative to ask to appease Liu Yongfu to fight against the French, and this was also the kind of incense that Tang Jingsong and Liu Yongfu had for a while. Later, after the end of the Sino-French War, Tang Jingsong was transferred to Taiwan to serve as the Taiwan Governor.

At that time, Taiwan was not a province, but a prefecture of Fujian. Later, Japan and the United States began to find ways to invade and occupy Taiwan Island, and the Manchu Qing government also began to attach importance to Taiwan. Because of the increasing importance of Taiwan, the Manchu Qing government began to think about establishing a province in Taiwan. The establishment of Taiwan as a province has greatly improved Taiwan’s status, and it has also attracted the attention of the whole country. After all, a province and a state capital obviously have completely different status meanings. This was also the choice made by the Qing government in order to better protect Taiwan.

After that, Tang Jingsong became a prosperous official. Taking advantage of Taiwan’s gradual establishment of a province, he was promoted from Taiwan to the prefect of Taiwan, and later to Taiwan’s political envoy, and finally became the governor of Taiwan. And this process also came step by step, leading him to become a big official in the frontier. However, Wang Guorui knew that this Tang Jingsong had been the governor of Taiwan not long ago, and Taiwan would be ceded in a short time. In the end, he, the governor, would end up living idle for several years and then die.

“I’ve met the Governor!” Wang Guorui offered to salute.

Tang Jingsong said lightly, “Excuse me!”

“My lord, what’s the important thing to do when you summon an officer?” Wang Guorui asked.

Tang Jingsong took the initiative to ask: “Recently, your Taiwan Anti-Japanese Volunteer Army seems to be expanding very rapidly, right?”

“Well, it’s not too bad, do you have anything to ask?” Wang Guorui asked.

Tang Jingsong drank a cup of tea, and then took the initiative to say: “Your nearest army should have more than 3,000 people. Can you afford it?”

Wang Guorui immediately complained, and said, “Master Tang! I have been raising soldiers so much that I cry my father and mother recently. Hsinchu County is a small county, and it can’t afford too many soldiers. And more than 3,000 soldiers, It’s already the limit of our Hsinchu County, and I’ve been doing it all this time to make money. If I don’t have money, the army’s hearts will be lost. But now the Japanese pirates may land in Taiwan at any time. As a court official, I must be responsible for guarding the land. No matter how difficult it is, you have to grit your teeth and keep going!”

And Tang Jingsong then asked: “How is your army armed? What kind of rifles are you holding?”

Wang Guorui rolled his eyes, and immediately said: “Master Tang, those troops can already have a gun in each hand, but they are all the junk of those Westerners 90 years ago. Nothing is better than nothing!”

Of course, Wang Guorui would not say that he was using the most advanced German rifles, and even the Germans did not install them. If Wang Guorui dared to say that, then Tang Jingsong would definitely order Wang Guorui to hand over the rifle immediately. Will Wang Guorui hand it over? If Wang Guorui didn’t want to hand it over at that time, he would be forced to rebel. So of course Wang Guorui couldn’t tell, otherwise he would be the one who was unlucky. Wang Guorui knew that he was already attracting the attention of others by changing soldiers with a rifle. So Wang Guorui said that he used the kind of rifle flintlock that foreigners used 90 years ago, so that everyone thought that these things were tasteless to eat and it was a pity to throw them away. This kind of rifle from ninety years ago was also tasteless to Manchu officials, and it was a pity to discard it. Although they will be a little curious, they won’t want to investigate thoroughly.

“Where did you get these things?” Tang Jingsong asked.

Wang Guorui opened his mouth and said, “I got on line with a Western arms smuggler. He was able to help me get a lot of arms from foreigners, and he was willing to sell them to me at a relatively low price. And what’s the price?” How much, this kind of old-fashioned rifle ninety years ago is what he sold to me.”

“Oh? Where is that smuggler, can you introduce me?” Tang Jingsong asked.

Wang Guorui immediately said: “Master Tang, you can’t do it! Those arms smugglers are doing illegal work, even in the West, they are very taboo. And they are elusive and powerful, and they are the ones who come to find them every time. I, instead of me, went to find them. Every time they delivered the goods, they asked me to give him the list of goods for the next transaction, and he delivered them soon after. UU Reading www.uukanshu. com”

“Then can he get the most advanced rifle?” Tang Jingsong asked.

Wang Guorui immediately said, “Yes, but it costs one hundred and fifty silver dollars each! It’s too expensive and we can’t afford it, so I can only use the old-fashioned rifle from ninety years ago.”

Wang Guorui directly raised the price of the Mauser 98 rifle by five times, anyway, he meant that he didn’t want to sell it. And Tang Jingsong also frowned, obviously a little surprised by this, but one hundred and fifty silver dollars is also very expensive.

“What about your old-fashioned rifle from ninety years ago?” Tang Jingsong asked.

Wang Guorui began to ponder in his heart, how much should be the asking price. Because these old-fashioned rifles ninety years ago were sold by the catty. One silver dollar can get more than a dozen, and this kind of shabby Wang Guorui is not uncommon. But if you can use it to get some money, that’s fine too.

“About ten silver dollars each!” Wang Guorui said carefully.

Tang Jingsong then muttered to himself: “If ten silver dollars are taken to the mainland, they can be sold for at least thirty taels of silver.”

Wang Guorui secretly scolded himself for asking for a low price, but since the words were spoken, it was naturally impossible to turn back. But if it is ten silver dollars a piece, then I will have almost a hundred times the profit by then. After all, these tattered rifles in the barracks are sold by the catty.

“Okay, help me tell that smuggler from the West that we want to buy these rifles in large quantities in Taiwan. We will eat as much as they ship. After all, how can we not do such a profitable business?” Tang Jingsong Said.