In mid-May, the War Department placed an order with the Horse Arms Company for a total of $3.5 million in military purchases, which included as many as 120 254-millimeter naval gun barrels in addition to conventional weapons such as rifles, light and heavy machine guns, and light artillery.

As early as the beginning of last year, Li Mu and Hayes discussed the issue of foreign expansion, when the relationship between Li Mu and Hayes was in the honeymoon period, the two had a surprisingly consistent view on this issue, and in the choice of objects, Li Mu and Hayes also unanimously chose Spain.

With the continuous development of the economy, American products need a broader market, and cheaper raw material production and commodity dumping sites, which can no longer meet the rapid development of commercial needs by expanding domestic demand, after all, the United States is a country of immigrants, and those new immigrants have no money to spare, and most of them came to the New World because they couldn't get along in the Old World, and it is unrealistic to expect to squeeze oil and water from these people, so the United States needs to expand abroad and need colonies. A large number of colonies.

The current world is a world system dominated by Britain and France, although the United States is a rising star, but there is no room for intervention, so if you want to expand abroad, you can only achieve it through war, at this time the choice of the object is very important, not only to show the determination of the United States, but also the strength of the opponent can not be too strong, Spain meets almost all the requirements.

Through the Cuban War of Independence, the United States was fully aware of the Spanish strength, so preparations for war began almost as early as the reign of Ulysses Grant, and Hayes only accelerated the process after taking office.

"I met with General Sherman in Washington yesterday, and General Sherman promised that in the next year, there will be at least more than $6 million in military purchase orders, and of course, before that, we need to prepare about 10 percent of the public relations costs, and considering the overall size of the order, I think 15 percent will be a more appropriate ratio." Henry, who had just returned from Washington, immediately returned to Governors Island, and his trip was very fruitful, not only receiving orders from the War Department, but also re-signing a contract with the Treasury Department to purchase automobiles, which increased the unit price by nearly one-fifth compared with the previous contract.

If you want to get a contract worth $1 million from a government department, then at least 10 to 15 percent of the public relations expenses must be prepared, which is about the same as tipping a restaurant meal.

"You and Zhang Leye can watch it, even if it is given to 20%, tell Zhang Leye not to go too far, otherwise everyone's face will not look good." Although he is already familiar with the road, Li Mu still has to give a warning, otherwise the people in the weapons company don't know what kind of moth they want to make.

It is not wrong to say that the wool comes out of the sheep, although the cost of public relations for the Ministry of War is high, but the price of selling weapons to the Ministry of War is also high, a magazine rifle produced by the Springfield factory costs $35 on the market, $45 to the Turks, $50 to the Ministry of War, and it is a carbine type with a short barrel, and the cost is even lower, so it is most cost-effective to sell weapons to the War Department.

Horse Weapons Company not only produces weapons, but also produces backpacks, blankets, raincoats, military leather boots and other military equipment, in the first half of this year, there was a batch of California National Guard ordered leather boots on the use of pig skin instead of cowhide serious accidents, although there is effective public relations of the public relations department, this matter did not have a major impact in the end, but it is enough to sound the alarm for the Horse Weapons Company, it is not a good idea to do tricks and feet in military purchases, Li Mu does not need to save costs from this aspect, on the contrary, Li Mu also hopes that those soldiers will become loyal customers of Junma Weapons Company after they are discharged from the army, so the quality of the products must pass.

"Unless Zhang doesn't want to get a salary for the rest of his life, I think Zhang will be serious." Henry didn't like Zhang Leye, and Henry never hid it.

After the military boots incident, the Junma Weapons Company carried out a period of "rectification movement", and Zhang Leye, as the general manager of the company, should have been suspended and transferred, but under the intervention of Li Mu, Zhang Leye was finally notified of criticism and fined 18,000 US dollars, which happened to be Zhang Leye's salary for one year.

Through this incident, Henry has also realized that Zhang Leye still occupies a certain position in Li Mu's heart, so Henry no longer targets Zhang Leye, but don't expect Henry to give Zhang Leye a good look.

"What has George been doing lately? Heard he went to California? "Li Mu hasn't been out of Governor's Island recently, so he doesn't know much about George Dewey's whereabouts, and I've only heard Will mention it once.

With the expansion of armaments, the army has also been replenished to a certain extent, and some people in Congress even proposed to disband the army's first cavalry division, so Will has repeatedly scolded some people in Congress on Governor's Island as "national thieves", but now Will does not need to scold, the army has expanded from one division to three divisions, the first division is still a cavalry division, and the second and third divisions are infantry divisions, although the strength is not as good as the cavalry division, but it is already a big progress for the army.

It's not all good news, according to the plan of the War Department, the two new divisions are under the command of the Navy, and I think that in the war against the Spaniards, these two divisions will accompany the Navy, so although these two divisions seem to be army units, they have nothing to do with Will.

Will hasn't realized what this means, but Li Mu clearly knows that this is probably the predecessor of the future Marine Corps, and the Army is fundamentally different from the Army, so Will is destined to be overjoyed.

However, at this moment, Li Mu did not need to remind Will that whether it was the Marine Corps or the Army, they were all under the command of the Ministry of War, and they all needed to order weapons from the Horse Weapons Company, and they were all Li Mu's customers, so Li Mu would definitely treat them equally, so that they could have a bowl of water.

"The War Department formed the Pacific Fleet in California, and George served as the commander of the Pacific Fleet, and it is estimated that George will be stationed in Hawaii in the future." Henry is more aware of the actions of the Ministry of War, if the Spaniards are smart now, and send someone to New York to kidnap Henry, then they will definitely know the preparations of the Ministry of War well, after all, a large part of the material preparation of the Ministry of War is completed through the Horse Arms Company.

"Isn't the base of the Pacific Fleet supposed to be in Guam?" Li Mu was confused again on this issue, and unknowingly confused the era.

"Damn, are you thinking it's time to change your child's diaper? Guam is now Spanish territory, and unless we drive the Spaniards out of the Pacific Ocean now, the Pacific Fleet will have to be in Hawaii. Henry couldn't laugh or cry, this kind of common-sense mistake is difficult to see in Li Mu.

Li Mu really remembered wrongly, before the capture of Guam, the headquarters of the Pacific Fleet has always been in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, the United States was through the Spanish-American War from the Spaniards seized Guam, and then the Pacific Fleet moved its station from Hawaii to Guam, during World War II, Guam was occupied by Japan, and the Pacific Fleet moved its headquarters back to Hawaii, after which Guam became an important fulcrum of the United States in the military system in the western Pacific.

"Ah, well, I remember wrong, but the Pacific Fleet has its headquarters in Hawaii, does that mean that Hawaii's importance is rising?" Li Mu changed his mistakes, saying that the world has changed for more than a hundred years, and Li Mu's history was not very good, but now because of Li Mu's intervention, the history has changed beyond recognition, and it is normal not to remember.

If it weren't for Li Mu's intervention, probably the Cubans would still be fighting guerrilla warfare with the Spaniards, the U.S. government would still be fighting with the Colombian government over the Panama Canal, Hawaii would still be under the rule of the Tu King, Japan would be in the process of the Meiji Restoration, and as for the Ryukyus—

Well, the Ryukyus should have ceased to exist during this period.

"Of course, Congress has decided to build the headquarters and military port of the Pacific Fleet in Hawaii, and I think it won't be long before Hawaii will be the focus of the nation." Henry confirmed that Hawaii was getting hot and that with the Pacific Fleet stationed, Hawaii had a promising future.

Hawaii was originally a world-famous tourist destination, where the sun and sand are unforgettable, and there are passionate Hawaiian girls, which is not well known to Americans, otherwise many people would be willing to move to Hawaii.

At least going to Hawaii and being neighbors with beautiful women is much more interesting than going to Montana and being neighbors with Indians.

"Looks like I have another island in Hawaii." Li Mu suddenly remembered, it seemed that there was such a thing.

Indeed, compared with the price of islands in the 21st century, the islands of this year are almost like giving away for nothing, every time Li Mu hears similar news, there is always a feeling of not buying and suffering, over the years, Li Mu has almost gone to buy everywhere, the Far East, Hawaii, the Bahamas, the Caribbean, etc., etc., maybe until the day Li Mu died, the island in Li Mu's hands is also comparable to the "island king" who has more than a thousand islands in his hands in the future.

Of course, although the number of islands in the hands of the "island king" is large, the quality of these islands in Li Mu's hands is incomparable, Li Mu owns Treasure Island in Cuba, Grand Bahama Island in the Bahamas, Molokai Island in Hawaii, etc., these islands can be taken out at any time in the 21st century to completely destroy a number of "island kings".

"Molokai, 260 square miles, has about 50 residents on the island, all of whom are lepers, so — I'm sorry, this asset hasn't brought you even a penny of profit so far." Henry didn't approve of Li Mu's extravagance, in Henry's opinion, it didn't make any sense at all, although Henry had heard Li Mu describe the black sand beaches on Molokai Island, but so what? Henry was not in the slightest interest in thinking of the lepers on the island—not even in the mention of Molokai, as if the name would be tainted with bad luck.

"Nonsense, there is no leper above, your information has lagged behind, the latest situation is that the island has built a new resort that can accommodate 200 people at the same time, this year our Junma Group will have 100 outstanding employees to get the reward of going to Hawaii for vacation, they can also bring a family member, this is only the welfare of our Junma Group." Li Mu is triumphant, Molokai Island really can't make money for Li Mu, but Li Mu will never ignore the value of Molokai Island, the behavior of buying islands everywhere seems a bit of a loser, in fact, those islands are high-quality assets, Li Mu's ideal is that even if Li Mu's descendants are not angry in the future, there are so many islands as real estate, even if they are losers, they can lose a few more years.

After buying Molokai Island, Li Mu paid for all the lepers on the island to be moved to nearby Lanai Island, and Molokai Island became Li Mu's private domain.

Although after the removal of leprosy patients, Molokai Island is already an uninhabited island, but there is a steady stream of migrant ships from the Pacific Company, the construction of Molokai Island has never stopped, the current Molokai Island, there is a considerable size of the pier, next to the pier in addition to the simple houses for the temporary transit of immigrants, a resort has been built near the black sand beach, the construction of this resort is completely in reference to the leisure concept of the 21st century, the resort not only has a gym and leisure and entertainment facilities, There's also an 18-hole golf course nearby, and in the 19th century the resort was a paradise where many newcomers from the Far East would have made their home on Molokai if it weren't for the Pacific Company's mandate.

Speaking of this, it is actually quite contradictory, it is said that Molokai Island is also a territory of the United States, and immigrants settle on Molokai Island, which can also enrich the strength of the Chinese in the United States, but this does not match Li Mu's expectations, in Indiana and Illinois, Li Mu still has a large area of uncultivated land in a state of abandonment, so these new immigrants are destined to have no chance with the blue sky and white clouds of Molokai Island, unless they perform well in the future, then they may be able to come to Molokai Island for vacation as excellent employees.

"Are you sure you want our new employees to go to Molokai? I have to warn you that leprosy is contagious. Henry disagrees with Li Mu's idea, and Henry has no objection to providing benefits to employees, but Henry definitely doesn't want this kind of welfare.

"God, are you a furnishing in our biology lab? They may not be able to cure leprosy now, but prevention is no longer a problem, and many infectious diseases can be avoided with proper hygiene. Li Mu is not worried, although leprosy is terrible, it has not yet reached the point where Li Muwen has changed his color, if it were not for the biological laboratory, leprosy would have become history a long time ago.