The Iron-Blooded Army of Beacon Fire

Chapter 290 Arms Comprador
"What? Arms business?"

As soon as the fat man in the suit finished speaking, He Wei, who was about to start the car, stopped and cast a curious look at the fat man in the suit with great interest.

Somehow, when the fat man in the suit saw the look in He Wei's eyes, the fear of being kidnapped and robbed suddenly disappeared, replaced by a sense of arrogance and complacency, as if he had just been chased by that group of fierce people. It's not him at all like a lost dog.

"That's natural, brother. I don't lie to you. What we are doing is an arms business."

The fat man in the suit said proudly to He Wei, shaking his head left and right, and addressing He Wei from "sir" to "brother".

He Wei could see the fat man's funny performance all at once. The smug look, the messy middle-parted head and the fat body made He Wei think that this guy was probably not a good person.

Of course, what made He Wei even more curious was that the fat man was actually an arms dealer. His identity as an arms dealer really aroused He Wei's strong interest. However, He Wei only half-believed his words.

What is the arms business? That's a hugely profitable business. Nowadays, most of the Chinese military's arms are imported from abroad. Can this fat Chinese be an arms dealer? Besides, what if he is really an arms dealer who can make huge profits from just one business? Will he be kidnapped and blackmailed by others at random, and beaten to a pulp?
In short, He Wei really didn't believe it.

The fat man in the suit seemed to notice He Wei's doubts, so he looked at the pistol case on He Wei's waist, then put on a smile that was uglier than crying, and said to He Wei: "Brother, I know you I don’t believe it. After all, anyone who does big business will be chased all over the street and beaten. This is human nature. However, this time I really capsized in the gutter. Let’s put it this way, brother, the gun in your waist should be me. Purchased by hand."

"Oh? Brother, why don't you explain it in detail?"

Seeing that this guy was so confident that his gun was purchased by him, He Wei asked with more interest.

"Brother, if my guess is correct, your pistol is a 1932-type automatic combat pistol produced by the German Mauser factory. It can shoot fully automatically or semi-automatically. The ammunition supply method is a twenty-round magazine. It is also called a wooden shell gun because the grip of this gun can be put together with the matching wooden shell gun box. This batch of guns should have been shipped to China in 1935. There should be English engraved on the bottom of the gun box. The letters l and h.”

The fat man in the suit said slowly.

Hearing what the fat man said, He Wei also curiously grabbed the wooden box of the pistol at his waist and carefully scanned the bottom of the gun box. He saw that where the gun box and the pistol were stuck together, there was indeed something engraved in capital letters. The English letters "L" and "H".
Damn, this guy was really right!

"How's it going? Brother, I didn't lie to you, did I? To be honest, brother, this gun of yours is really not cheap. This one costs twenty-five dollars. The imported 79 rifles we sold to the national army are just that. Thirty dollars. Those 79 rifles were also produced by Mauser in Germany. I remember they were called 1924-style rifles. The pistol on your waist is really not cheap. A short gun is more expensive than a long gun. Speaking of which, back then I personally picked up this batch of pistols with the TV passport issued by Mr. Song Ziwen and Song."

The fat man in the suit said showily.

He Wei listened to what the fat man said and had some thoughts in his mind. This guy was probably not bragging. I'm afraid he was indeed a businessman who dealt in arms.

First, he could actually know the letters engraved on the box of He Wei's gun. He Wei himself had never cared about this thing. Moreover, the fat man could accurately report the exact model number of the twenty rings, which shows that he was indeed right. Have a certain understanding of weapons and equipment.

Not only that, this person can also report the model of the Mauser 1924 rifle. This model of rifle is the Mauser M standard rifle. The Nationalist Government specially purchased a batch of this model. The rifle is used to equip the most elite training corps of the Central Military Academy. The official rifle is also a replica of the gun. This fat man can actually tell it like a treasure. Ordinary liars may not have this level.

Secondly, China's current customs import and export business is completely controlled by Minister of Finance Soong, and imported arms must have a passport issued by Soong before landing at the customs. Soong's English name is Tse-ven Soong, whose initials are TV Song, so Song Ziwen is also called TV Song. Passports with Song Ziwen's signature are also nicknamed TV passports. If this guy can talk about TV passports, he has probably really used a passport issued by Song Ziwen. .

This guy acted bravely on the road and saved an arms dealer?

He Wei's mind suddenly became alive. Although his future has not yet been determined, and it is not clear how many troops he will be able to control in the future, after fighting the Japanese on the battlefield for such a long time, He Wei also deeply felt that the Chinese army was inferior in weapons and equipment. shortcomings.

In the future, the main weapons and equipment for his own troops will definitely depend on the allocation of weapons and equipment by the Ministry of Military and Political Affairs. However, in addition to the equipment allocated by the Ministry of Military and Political Affairs, He Wei is also happy to use his own means to obtain some weapons and equipment that cannot be produced domestically. Increase the combat effectiveness of your own troops.

Moreover, he has really made a fortune recently and is not short of money. Today he rescued an arms dealer, which is also a good opportunity to realize He Wei's request. He Wei thought that he might as well get in touch with this guy.

"Brother, it's not very elegant for you to look like this. We are destined to be together. Why don't I take you to Hanyang city to take a bath and have a meal? What do you think?"

He Wei said with a smile.

The fat man naturally agreed: "Yes! Yes! It's all up to you, brother!"

So, He Wei turned the car around and drove towards Hanyang city again. He took him to take a bath first, and then took the fat man to buy shoes and clothes. He Wei, who originally planned to return to the camp, was stunned because of this guy. Walking around the city, tossing around.

After leading this guy around all afternoon, buying clothes and asking for a bath, He Wei's relationship with this fat man became closer. Along the way, He Wei either made insinuations or inquired about the fat man's details. A lot came out.

This guy's real name is Ding Lunshi. It's true that he said he owned a trading house. However, he said he was an arms dealer. According to He Wei's judgment, he was probably bragging. This guy's true identity should be Considered a senior salesperson. Of course, under the special background of the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, his profession had another name - comprador.

When He Wei first saw this fat man, he felt that this guy was not a good guy, and his status as a comprador also proved the accuracy of He Wei's intuition.

The profession of compradors can be said to be a special class of brokers, with the dual identities of employees of foreign banks and independent businessmen: as employees of foreign banks, compradors can receive protection from foreign powers and are not subject to Chinese laws; as independent businessmen As compradors, they can also buy and sell goods in the mainland on behalf of foreign banks, or come forward to rent houses, purchase real estate, etc.

The group of compradors has grown continuously with the war and economic aggression of Western countries against China. Because their functions are mainly to help foreign banks purchase local goods and sell foreign goods, they have become one of the tools of capitalist aggression, and China's wealth has been plundered. , people's lives are becoming increasingly poor, while compradors are accumulating huge wealth as foreign banks make huge profits in China, and a considerable part of them have become the comprador capitalist class.

In short, under the current deformed economy and strange national political ecology of China, the group of compradors is an indispensable and very active group.

But at the same time, the birth of the comprador profession was accompanied by foreign aggression against China, so its professional characteristics also have some "traitor" and "terrorist" overtones.

In some later film and television works, the role of comprador in the plot is basically equated with traitors and Japanese devils. It is not a positive image anyway.

And standing behind the fat comprador is Lihe, a well-known company in China today. The German Mauser twenty-ring fast and slow machine gun on He Wei's waist is engraved with "L" and "H" on the box. , is the first letter of the word "Lihe", and this engraving also represents that He Wei's gun is sold by Lihe Company.

Foreign banks in China are agents for foreign businessmen engaged in trade in China. Simply put, they are equivalent to agencies in China for various industries and trades. The scope of their business is quite wide.

Lihe & Co., Ltd. is one of the top foreign companies. Its head office is located in Hamburg, Germany. It is a German foreign company and has branches in most countries around the world.

The branch in the United States is in New York, the British branch is in London, and the French branch is in Paris. The largest number of units are located in China. There are branches in major commercial ports, such as Songhu, Tianjin, Guangzhou, Hankou, Nanjing, Chongqing, Taiyuan, and Shenyang. , Qingdao, Kunming, etc.

Its business operations in China range from ships, motorcycles and munitions to sewing needles and wooden yarn balls, as well as large and small hardware and daily necessities. Many world-famous large companies and brands operate in China. by its agent.

For example, the German Krupp steelworks, the "Zeiss" optical equipment factory, the "Imoc" chemical raw materials, the "Yedexila" company's Snake brand health and medical equipment, the Swedish Bfors gun factory, and the American "Guteli" Car tires and rubber products, products produced by the British "Stoughney" oil factory, and leading companies in the industry such as the Hamburg Steamship Company, have all entrusted their sales operations in China to Lihe Company.

As for Lihe & Matheson, the most important and most profitable business in China was arms.

Since the late Qing Dynasty, China has had a tradition of importing arms and equipment from Germany. In the 1930s, because the Nationalist Government was determined to adopt German army-style tactics and organizational systems to train the army, the German army and German equipment were The influence in the Chinese army was further intensified, and a fanatical German trend arose in the army.

As a German foreign company, Lihe Company also happened to be on the forefront of the trend. Through its connections with German consultants in the Chinese army, it successfully sold a large amount of German arms to the Chinese government, and even almost seized the Chinese army. The vast majority of weapons and equipment imported from abroad.

During the Sino-German honeymoon period from 1931 to 1937, the Nationalist Government ordered a large number of arms and equipment from Germany through the Lihe Bank, including 380 Bofus 7-5 caliber mountain cannons. Each door costs 16,000 U.S. dollars, and the Seven Lives and Five Mountains cannon shells cost 36,000 U.S. dollars each. Bofus has thirty-six 7-year-old anti-aircraft guns at a cost of US$30,000 each, and 18,000 rounds of 7-year-old anti-aircraft artillery shells at a cost of US$35 each. Krupp has twelve mobile fortress guns priced at US$35,000 each, and six thousand fortress shells priced at US$35 each. Military optical equipment (telescopes, artillery scopes, sights, etc.) is worth more than three million U.S. dollars. AEG produces more than one hundred sets of searchlights with a diameter of one and a half meters and generators, each costing $18,000. Thousand dollars.

In addition to these large-scale arms equipment, Lihe Matheson also exported a large number of 79-caliber rifles, Mauser pistols, ammunition, military trucks, military motorcycles and a large number of training equipment to China.

In just the past six years, the total amount of arms and equipment exported by Lihe & Co. to China has reached 270 million German gold marks, which is equivalent to more than 90 million U.S. dollars.

The actual amount is actually far more than that, because not only the regular troops of the Chinese army are purchasing large quantities of weapons from Lihe, but some irregular troops, such as Song Ziwen's Tax Police Corps of the Ministry of Finance, are also ordering large amounts of weapons and equipment through them.

Even other departments of the National Government are ordering various supplies they need through Lihe. The Department of Health and the Military Medical Administration buy precision microscopes and optical equipment from Lihe, and the Ministry of Railways buys train locomotives and rails from Lihe. The committee bought mining machinery and mountain drill bits.

For a time, this ritual and foreign companies were really in the limelight, and it was almost impossible for foreign companies in other countries in China to come close to it.

Just now, He Wei sneered at Fatty Ding, but after finding out a little bit about this guy, he couldn't help but look at him.

Not to mention that this guy can clearly understand his own cannons and guns. I am afraid that most of the equipment used by He Wei in his military career is inseparable from the Lihe foreign companies behind Fatty Ding. It can even be said that, Basically, all the German weapons and equipment used by He Wei were purchased by this Lihe foreign company.

Even people like He Wei, who didn't have much interest in business and production, had heard of the name of Lihe Matheson.

He Wei never expected that he would save such a person by acting bravely.

So, after He Wei led this guy to buy clothes and take a shower, he also led this guy with his own purpose and Xiao Jiujiu to find a good restaurant and got a private room to discuss in detail. .

(End of this chapter)