Chen Jingyun did not hide it, anyway, he wanted to buy ordnance, and immediately said: "Our army is indeed short of ammunition at present, and we want to buy a batch." I think that's the main reason why Mr. Henry is sitting here! ”

"Haha! Your Excellency the General is so funny! Henry laughed and said: "This is natural, but I don't know how much the general needs and how much he can pay!" ”

Now that the topic has turned positive, Chen Jingyun also put away his thoughts about gossip, and secretly calculated in his heart that even if he makes great efforts to rectify the machine bureau, it is not possible to make large-scale self-made arms in a short period of time.

After pondering for a long time, Chen Jingyun said: "What goods do you have in hand, and when will they arrive!" ”

Henry immediately replied: "Our Lihe Foreign Company is a German-funded enterprise, and the products sold on behalf of the company are mainly German companies, but if the general needs it, we can also buy ordnance from Italy, Austria-Hungary, and even Britain and France." As for the inventory on hand, there are all kinds of them, and there are quite a few of them! If the general needs it, I can even sell you the weapons of the Imperial Army in active service! ”

Hearing Henry's words, although Chen Jingyun didn't say it on the surface, he had already guessed that this person might be talking big, the active weapons of the German Imperial Army were not so easy to take out and buy! But in business, you don't have to pay taxes to brag, as long as you can see the arms, it doesn't matter what he says.

Chen Jingyun did not answer immediately, but secretly calculated in his heart the process of his own army expansion, now that he has expanded three brigades, the fourth brigade is being formed, and it will not be long before the formation of the fifth brigade will be put on the desk. In this way, five brigades plus one guard regiment, each brigade has a full strength of 4,600 men, and a mixed reinforced guard regiment of 3,000 men, which adds up to exactly 26,000. This number does not include the new army and the old army in Fujian Province in the future, and if it goes well, the surrender will probably be about one brigade. It should not be too difficult to raise 6 brigades and 1 regiment of 30,000 people with the financial resources of Fujian. As for how much it is, it is estimated that it will not be able to support a poor province like Fujian, and as for what it says in the future, it will attract investment to develop industries and increase fiscal revenue, and so on, that is a matter for the future, at least in the short term, Chen Jingyun will not be able to come up with more money to come to the armed forces. Even the 30,000 people in this plan, Chen Jingyun has no bottom in his heart, in short, he thinks the same as all the warlords in this year, how much can he raise.

Six brigades, according to the previous statement, are six associations, three towns. According to the unified establishment at the end of the Qing Dynasty, each town was allocated 8,500 long guns, more than 900 pistols, 36 75-mm field guns, 18 75-mm mountain cannons, plus 1,000 sabers, 500 military sabers, 1,000 short knives, 500 telescopes, and a large number of other fragmentary ordnance. However, this kind of ultra-luxurious configuration looks at the whole country and only the six towns of Beiyang and the Praetorian Guard gather the strength of the whole country to be complete, and the new armies in other provinces are all short of pounds and two, especially the artillery, which does not have any of the new army in the south, although the number of artillery in the eighth town with the most representative surname is fifty-four, but most of them are fifty-seven caliber guns, which cannot be compared with the Beiyang Army. It is this huge gap in equipment and training that enables the Beiyang Army to be proud of the whole country after Xinhai, and Yuan Shikai also relied on the Beiyang Army to force the southern peace talks and support him to become the president.

If it is said that the current Chen Jingyun is to be armed with three full formation towns, it is estimated that he will not be able to raise enough money to scrape the ground in the whole of Fujian and use his pants as pawns. Therefore, Chen Jingyun did not plan to form a division from the beginning, but used a small amount of artillery with a considerable number of heavy machine guns and light machine guns, with the idea of forming a mixed brigade.

According to Chen Jingyun's preliminary planning, each infantry brigade is about 4,000 rifles, 200 pistols, six mountain guns, 12 heavy machine guns, and 18 light machine guns.

As for the most important artillery support, Chen Jingyun plans to organize and train a standard reading artillery regiment, which will be temporarily assigned to the main front during wartime! It is used to fight against the main force of the enemy. The artillery regiment is organized according to the standard artillery regiment, with 36 field guns and 18 mountain guns!

The core of this plan is that a single infantry brigade can fight the same number of infantry units as other warlords, and deploy on the secondary front, and on the main front, if the enemy army is facing a main force like the six towns of Beiyang, then two or three brigades with artillery regiments will be concentrated to form a temporary corps, so as to gain an advantage!

Of course, this plan sounds good, but it is actually a helpless choice without a large number of artillery.

Six infantry brigades, a reinforced guard regiment, and an artillery regiment required about 26,000 rifles, 2,600 pistols, 42 light mountain guns, 36 medium field guns, 18 medium mountain guns, 84 heavy machine guns, and 126 light machine guns.

Excluding the existing and stockpiled equipment, Chen Jingyun will need about 20,000 rifles, 2,000 pistols, 36 light mountain guns, 30 medium field guns, 12 medium mountain guns, 72 heavy machine guns, 126 light machine guns, 10 million rounds of ammunition, 50,000 rounds of various artillery shells, and other matching ammunition and other fragments such as command knives, binoculars and other supporting ordnance!

Immediately, the above figures are the equipment needed for active service, and a batch must be reserved for replacement, so Chen Jingyun pondered for a moment before saying: "In the short term, I need 30,000 rifles, 3,000 pistols, 90 artillery pieces of various types, 80 heavy machine guns, 150 light machine guns, 15 million rounds of ammunition, 60,000 rounds of various artillery shells, and other ordnance that can equip three infantry divisions!" ”

Business, naturally, is exaggerated, and the quantity is large enough to reduce the price.

Henry originally drank tea while listening to Chen Jingyun's words, but when he heard Chen Jingyun's number reported, he almost squirted out the tea, without him, Chen Jingyun's appetite was too big! If this batch of arms can be sold, the total amount will be at least 6 million or more, which is still a bargain, and if he Chen Jingyun wants good goods, he will not be able to collect 7 million! Henry is also an old qualification in China, knowing that a few years ago, the Qing court ordered only tens of millions at a time, and the order of millions at a time was to purchase equipment for a town.

If this business is completed, your position in the company and your income will be greatly improved. Immediately put down the teacup, and after his face returned to normal, he said: "Although it is a little difficult to complete such a large amount of arms in a short period of time, it is not impossible!" ”

Although he said so, but in fact, it is still a bit troublesome to meet Chen Jingyun's needs, after all, no one will have nothing to pile up a large pile of arms in their own warehouse, although more than ten days ago when the Wuchang Uprising, the company has already met the Far East, an ancient country, because of the outbreak of large-scale conflicts and make arms sell, so the company even did not get an order to urgently transfer a batch of arms to the Far East.

"It's just this price, I don't know what the general thinks!" Henry carefully considered his words: "And the ability to pay!" ”

Chen Jingyun said directly: "Although Mr. Henry only says yes, even if the business fails, benevolence and righteousness are still there!" ”

Hearing Henry say this, his expression did not relax but became more cautious, he had already heard that although Chen Jingyun's words were polite, the implication was already obvious, if the price was not satisfied, it would definitely be no fun.

After thinking about it, Henry began to quote: "For rifles, we have the latest product of the Mauser company, G98, that is, the active rifle of my German army, the surname can be advanced and reliable, eighty yuan each, and the artillery I recommend the Krupp company's 1908 type seventy-five mm field guns and mountain guns of the same caliber, their weight is extremely suitable for the Far East, and your country is also equipped with a large number of original 1903 types of this gun, each is 23,000, and the heavy machine gun has MG08 produced by the German Arms and Ammunition Company (DWM), 3,500 yuan each, and the pistol personally recommends Luger pistols, 100 yuan each. The prototypes of the above equipment are also equipped with a large number of equipment in your country, and as far as I know, the general's army is also equipped with a considerable number of Type 1888 rifles, Krupp 75-mm guns and a small number of heavy machine guns. ”

Speaking of this, Henry remembered the light machine gun and continued: "This light machine gun, there is no suitable product in China at present, but we can buy the Danish one, and the caliber can also be unified with the current 7.9 mm caliber in our country, and the price may be slightly more expensive, about 700 yuan a piece." ”

After Henry said these approximate figures, Chen Jingyun listened and calculated silently in his heart, before he could calculate the price, Lin Chengkun's face next to him changed, according to the price that the foreigner said, it would be six or seven million, and the military and political axes could get so much money, but he heard Anwarin say some time ago, saying that there are only three million left in the treasury now, and he has to raise so many troops and political axes.

Chen Jingyun also felt that the price was too expensive, it was not feasible at all, first of all, this rifle, G98 cost eighty yuan, and this price can buy two other models, you must know that Hanyang is only about forty yuan, and the three-eight is only about fifty, in this regard, he has no heart to bargain and said directly: "According to Mr. Henry's offer, I think we can't do this business!" ”

Henry was also a little anxious when he heard this, you must know that based on the large amount requested by Chen Jingyun, he did not open his mouth to quote indiscriminately, and even gave Chen Jingyun a small discount within his authority.

"General, business, naturally it can be discussed, as long as the general speaks, I can naturally ask the headquarters for a price, and it is feasible to make a discount!" Henry persuaded.

However, Chen Jingyun still shook his head: "Don't be afraid of Mr. jokes, the price of this batch of arms is beyond the range I can afford, and it is no longer a matter of a little discount!" ”

When Henry heard this, he didn't fold, Chen Jingyun said that he couldn't say that he sold it to him at a loss! After thinking about it, his heart lit up and he immediately asked: "I wonder if the general is interested in decommissioned ordnance?" ”

"Decommissioned ordnance?" When Chen Jingyun heard this, he asked, "I don't know how the quality is?" ”

When Henry heard the joke, he immediately said: "The list I reported before is the latest active weapons, and the price is naturally more expensive. However, since the general's finances are tight, he can purchase retired second-hand ordnance, such as the 1888 rifle has not been in service in our country for a long time, in recent years, China has reinstalled a large number of 1888 rifles after the G98 has been retired, many of which are even brand new, the quality is absolutely guaranteed, and the price is also guaranteed! ”

Chen Jingyun's mind was also active after hearing this, he is not a pedantic person, if it is easy to use and cheap, let alone retirement, even if it is scrapped, he wants it.

Immediately asked again: "The key is the price!" ”

I talked with Chen Jingyun for nearly an hour, and I could see that Chen Jingyun had no money in his pocket and wanted a large number of weapons at the same time, so he immediately thought about it and said: "The inventory of a brand-new 1888 rifle costs thirty-eight yuan, and the used second-hand 1888 rifle can be reduced to eighteen yuan each, and the heavy machine guns have MG01 and 99 types, about 1,000 yuan each, as for artillery, this is a little difficult, and I have to consult the country, the price is 10,000 yuan, and it is also possible. I think the Imperial Army would be more than willing to trade their stockpiles of old munitions for brand new equipment! ”

According to this price, Chen Jingyun was already moved, but he still said: "Guns, to ensure the quality, I don't want the rifling to run out, the cannon must be withdrawn, it must be usable, it is best to unify the caliber of 75 mm, and the heavy machine gun also means this." If the quality can be guaranteed, I can also ask for this batch of second-hand goods! ”

Hearing Chen Jingyun say this, Henry was already overjoyed, this list has a show! Although he himself did not know where to go to find such a large number of decommissioned second-hand munitions.

"But this price, we have to negotiate again!" Chen Jingyun didn't look at Henry's face and said directly: "I think the brand-new 88 rifle is suitable for thirty-five yuan, and the second-hand fifteen yuan can also be improvised, and the heavy machine gun is not high at eight hundred, and I can't say the artillery, but it is still difficult to accept the seventy-five mm field gun exceeding eight thousand!" ”

Seeing that Chen Jingyun cut it in half, Henry didn't show a bitter face, business, I said 10,000 and I cut 5,000, and it is not the final price until the end.