African Nationhood

The person sent by Queen Taitu was a middle-aged black man. His skin was not dark, and he had thick lips and a thick beard.

This person arrived secretly, with only a few guards following him.

Liang Pushi didn't care about the origin of the guest. He just wanted to know how much arms the other party wanted to buy.

"Hello, Mr. Governor."

"Hello, don't know what to call you?"

"You can call me Mr. Sangma."

Liang Pushi nodded, "Okay, Mr. Sangma, please sit down. I have good black tea here. Maybe you like coffee. Of course, I also have Coca-Cola."

Mr. Sangma pondered for a moment and said, "Give me coffee, please."

Liang Pushi nodded, snapped his fingers, and a young soldier walked in from outside the door, "Commissioner, what do you need?"

"Make a cup of coffee and a cup of black tea each."

The orderly nodded and left, and soon he brought hot coffee and black tea.

The two waited for the drinks to cool down, and the room quickly became quiet. Liang Pushi had to take out the cigarette case from his pocket.

"Do you smoke? Do you mind if I smoke?"

Mr. Sangma shook his head, "Please feel free to do so."

When Liang Pushi lit his cigarette, he asked softly, "How many arms do you need to buy?"

"The quantity I need is quite large. The French were not willing to buy us new weapons before. I wonder if you are the same?"

Liang Pushi smiled and nodded, "This matter is actually easy to understand. If they sell you the latest weapons and you use them to deal with them, wouldn't they just pick up a stone and drop it on their own feet?"

Mr. Sangma nodded, "You are right. You haven't answered me yet. Are you willing to sell us new equipment?"

"Yes, of course I do.

As long as you give us enough money, we can sell our submachine guns, heavy machine guns and mortars. "

Hearing that Liang Pushi was so generous, Mr. Sangma hesitated.

He praised: "You are really different from those white people."

Liang Pushi nodded, "Yes, we hate white people. In order not to be enslaved by them, we worked hard to develop weapons to resist them. In the end, we proved successful."

Mr. Sangma smiled and said, "I admire you South Chinese people, and I also envy you South Chinese people. You have a strong and wise leader. You have made the right choice.

It's just that there are some problems with the health of our leaders, which makes the current situation a bit complicated.

Our domestic political opponents are hostile to us, so we need some powerful weapons to defend ourselves. "

Liang Pushi obtained some reference materials from the Military Intelligence Room and had some understanding of the current situation in Ethiopia.

The three factions do not fight each other, but Queen Taitu's faction is the most powerful and is likely to have the last laugh. That's why Liang Pu is willing to trade with the Queen's faction.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Sangma, I don't care about the situation in your country. I only care about how many weapons you want to buy?"

Mr. Sangma took out a piece of paper from his arms and handed it over. It was obvious that there was a list on it.

Liang Pushi took it and took a look. It was all written in English.

He secretly complained that these black people were not too backward.

The current emperor of Ethiopia, Menelik II, carried out many Westernization reforms, rapidly increased his national strength, and finally defeated Italy.

Moreover, most of their domestic nobles are proficient in English and believe in Christianity, and there are many Europeans and Americans serving them in the country.

If the emperor had not suffered a stroke and was unable to govern, their domestic situation would not be so bad.

After identification, Liang Pushi quickly figured out the number of weapons that Mr. Sangma needed, which were:

There are 1000 new rifles and 30 rounds of supporting ammunition.

There are 100 new light machine guns and 10 rounds of supporting ammunition.

There are 30 Maxim heavy machine guns and 5 million rounds of supporting ammunition.

There are 500 new pistols and 10 rounds of supporting ammunition.

200 submachine guns and 20 rounds of supporting ammunition.

There are 80 30mm caliber mortars and 3000 supporting shells.

75 20mm mountain guns, with 2000 supporting shells (explosive grenades, high-explosive shells).

10000 grenades.

These weapons were enough to arm a large army of two thousand people, and Liang Pushi was excited.

He found a pencil from the side and quickly wrote a quotation on the back. NH-90 rifle, 4.5 pounds each, bullets 0.45 pounds, 100 rounds.

J-96 light machine gun, unit price is 125 pounds each, bullets are 0.45 pounds, 100 rounds.

Maxim heavy machine gun, unit price is 300 pounds each, bullets are 15 pounds for 100 rounds.

S-96 pistol, unit price is 4 pounds each, bullets are 0.12 pounds, 100 rounds.

C-96 submachine gun, unit price is 60 pounds each, bullets are 0.12 pounds, 100 rounds.

The unit price of 80mm caliber mortars is 100 pounds each, and the shells are 2 pounds each.

The unit price of a 75mm mountain gun is 1400 pounds each (including the gun carriage, bullet carriage and sight), and the shells are 3 pounds each.

The grenades cost £1 each. (Note 1)

"The total price is 68560 pounds. I wonder how you will pay?"

Mr. Sangma thought for a moment, "How about gold?"

Liang Pushi nodded, "Okay, 4.25 pounds per ounce, the British public purchase price."

Hearing this price, Mr. Sangma showed displeasure on his face, "The British are so overbearing and force us to accept their pricing power."

Liang Pushi nodded in agreement, "Well, indeed, they are bastards."

There are gold mines in Ethiopia. The royal family controls the gold mines, so they can use a large amount of gold to purchase supplies.

68560 pounds is equivalent to more than 16000 ounces of gold. The gold is very heavy and must be transported by rail.

"When will you be able to deliver?"

Liang Pushi thought for a while, "Within a week, we can transport them from the mainland quickly, but those mountain cannons are too big for you to receive them easily?"

Mr. Sangma nodded, "Yes, you just need to load it on the train and we can receive it."

"The gold for payment can be shipped by train tomorrow or the day after tomorrow."

Liang Pushi nodded, smiled and stretched out his hand, "Happy cooperation!"

On the third day, Liang Pushi received a sufficient amount of gold by train. He checked and confirmed that the purity of the gold was fine.

A few days later, a small cargo ship delivered the arms that Mr. Sangma needed. This mysterious businessman from Ethiopia was escorted back to Addis Ababa by train.

……

Next, Governor Liang, who had nothing to do, organized the black people in the country to mine salt in Lake Assal, the only high-value mineral deposit in Djibouti.

Covering an area of ​​54 square kilometers, the lake is located 157 meters below sea level, making it the lowest point in Africa.

The lake is mainly fed by groundwater, which is connected to the seawater of the nearby bay.

This place has a tropical desert climate with no rain all year round. People can easily lose water wherever they go.

Therefore, people will feel obvious discomfort if they go there for more than half an hour. If they are not careful, they can easily die from severe dehydration.

……

It is also because of this harsh climate that billions of tons of potassium salt have accumulated in this saltwater lake.

Indigenous salt merchants often come here to mine salt, and then carry it on camels to Ethiopia for trade.

Now the Djibouti Administrative Office wants to develop this place, so Governor Liang found Tadjoura Sultan and told him that the salt mine in this lake would be developed by him, and he would just need to pay the Administrative Office 1 pounds a year.

Sultan Tadjola was immediately stunned. His people could not stay in such a harsh environment.

But he couldn't disobey Governor Liang's words, so he could only admit it with his head hanging down.

Ten thousand pounds was too much for his country, and he could only squeeze the civilians below him desperately.

……

A month later, when Governor Liang was thinking of ways to make money, he suddenly heard that a coup had taken place in the Ethiopian royal family. Queen Taitu killed the opposition and took control of the government.

General Rasta Sangma became her close ally.

Governor Liang immediately realized that this General Sangma was probably Mr. Sangma who came to negotiate a deal with him.

In this way, South China has found a powerful figure who can influence the political situation in Ethiopia.

Note 1: After the September 80th Incident, the Liaoning Arsenal in Northeast China was attacked by the Japanese. At that time, the 450-caliber mortars manufactured by the factory cost 12 Republic of China yuan each, equivalent to 1 pounds in British pounds (37.33 pound = Republic of China yuan).

二战前德国生产的80口径迫击炮810帝国马克，折合74镑左右每门（1英镑=11.03帝国马克）。

In addition, in the first year of the Republic of China (1912), 1910 36-type seven and a half twenty-nine-caliber, long-barreled land guns were purchased (unit price of gun body: 8100 marks, unit price of gun carriage: 10000, unit price of aiming parts: 4950, gun Unit price of previous vehicle: 3500) 54 bullet cars, unit price: 8500;
54 submunition fuses: unit price 950, 11500 artillery shells (unit price of steel submunition: 47, 4300 rounds, large explosive bomb unit price: 41, 3600 rounds, unit price of blooming bomb: 27.45, 3600 rounds), approximately 2202604 marks (at this time 1 pound = 20.4 Deutsche Mark).

As for the price of the Bobosha submachine gun, I did not find out. I only found the SG42 of the same era, which cost US$100 each. Because this gun appeared in advance, the price was increased. (End of chapter)