The arrogance started from Chinatown

Chapter 660: Fire and say hello to them

When Chen Zhengwei was preparing to leave, DuPont and Rong Jiacai held a press conference to authorize smokeless gunpowder to the DuPont family.

When this news spread, it caused a huge response.

You know, other people have been coveting the smokeless gunpowder in Chen Zhengwei's hand for a long time.

"It has indeed been authorized!" Army Commander-in-Chief Philip Sheridan smiled upon receiving the news.

"Notify the Springfield Armory! They must get the smokeless powder as soon as possible and develop new weapons!"

This is an arsenal affiliated with the US government, mainly responsible for the production of rifles and other small arms.

As someone who had fought with Chen Zhengwei, Philip Sheridan knew better than anyone how valuable smokeless gunpowder was.

There is a gap in weapons between the U.S. Army and the army under Chen Zhengwei.

This was also an important reason why we lost so badly before.

And now that Louisiana was in the midst of a civil war, new weapons were needed.

This is also a good opportunity to experiment with new weapons.

At the same time, several Chinese people went to the Patent Office with their lawyers and applied for a large number of patents.

Including patents for smokeless gunpowder, structural patents for submachine guns and semi-automatic pistols, multiple patents for machine guns including structure, feeding and cooling systems, and some alloy patents.

Now that smokeless powder was being sold, it wouldn't be long before these weapons were developed.

Chen Zhengwei wants to see who dares to use his patent.

Subsequently, orders came in like snowflakes to DuPont. In addition to various arms companies in the United States, there were also large orders from Britain, France, Germany, and Spain.

Among them, Britain has made great progress in smokeless gunpowder research, but it is still not stable enough.

Ouyang Ming also sent a telegram to the Qing Dynasty.

……

Two days later, November 5nd.

Chen Zhengwei got up at nine in the morning, and Wanyun was not there beside his pillow.

After washing, I changed my clothes into a pink shirt, a beige vest and pants, without a jacket.

After looking in the mirror, Chen Zhengwei went downstairs.

Lin Changning and others had already packed up downstairs.

"Brother, brother, I want to go too!" Qiao Niang said weakly.

She had been agonizing over this for days, and now she felt as if she had a disease that would kill her if she didn't leave the house.

"Study hard!" Lin Changning spoke first without waiting for Chen Zhengwei to speak.

Chen Zhengwei glanced over and saw Li Xiwen standing aside in a gentleman's suit, with an excited look on his face.

A Long and A Hu were both in the yard, and they brought a lot of his men with them.

"There's nothing else to take, right? Let's go!" Chen Zhengwei walked out directly, and the firecracker immediately flapped its wings and flew over and landed on his head. Chen Zhengwei grabbed it by the neck and threw it into Wanyun's arms.

"Kill people...kill people...kill...warmth" The fireworks made a strange sound and then calmed down.

Changhong, on the other hand, was more honest and sat on Chen Zhengwei's shoulder in an orderly manner.

This time he will only be away for a few months, and now everything is on track, there is nothing for him to worry about.

Xiucai, A'long, A'hu and Green all stayed here, and he took Li Xiwen and Guan Qianbo with him.

When I'm not around, no one can cause any trouble.

If so, he'd be interested.

The group went out and got on the carriage. Halfway through the journey, Rong Jiacai blocked their way and squeezed into the carriage.

“Brother Wei, sister-in-law!”

"Brother Wei, this is from Churchill." Rong Jiacai handed a telegram to Chen Zhengwei.

Chen Zhengwei took it and took a look. It was Churchill who wanted to be the agent for smokeless gunpowder.

"Why does this guy want to be the agent of everything?" Chen Zhengwei curled his lips, and after thinking for a while, he said, "Telegram him back and we can talk, but it's not about authorizing him. Instead, I want him and I to set up a company together. I'll pay, and he'll do the work."

"Also, ask him to help find a way to communicate with the British ambassador to the Qing Dynasty and get him to cooperate with my actions in the Qing Dynasty."

"And help me connect with the Governors of Hong Kong and Singapore, and the Administrative Commissioner of the Malay States."

During this period, most of the Malay States were British colonies and directly administered by Britain, with the highest local official being the Commissioner of Administration.

"Also, send another telegram to the White House to urge them to let the Pacific Squadron and the Chinese ambassador to the Qing Dynasty cooperate with me."

The United States had a squadron in the Pacific with only six ships in total, all of which were old wooden gunboats.

However, for Chen Zhengwei, it still has some value, at least he can display it for others to see.

The carriage arrived at the dock, where parked was a passenger ship with a displacement of 5500 tons, a length of 142 meters, and a width of 16 meters. Its name was the Queen of Heaven.

This ship was built by Pacific Cruise Line in 1874. It was originally called City of Tokyo and mainly traveled between Asia and the United States. It was one of the two largest ships of Pacific Cruise Line.

It was rented by Chen Zhengwei a few months ago. Not only was the interior renovated, but even the name of the ship was changed.

Chen Zhengwei got off the carriage and stood at the dock to smoke a cigarette, then thought of something else: "Those students coming back from Hong Kong by boat, you should take care of them when the time comes."

More than 30 students are traveling by boat from Hong Kong to San Francisco.

Chen Zhengwei still cares a lot about these top students.

These are the elites among the Chinese.

After saying this, Chen Zhengwei took his men on board.

Once on board, you can see a large open deck with parasols, lounge chairs and tables. In the middle of the ship is a two-story cabin that is more than 50 meters long. However, most of it is connected, and together with the cabin below, it is divided into several large spaces.

In addition to more than twenty bedrooms, there are two restaurants, a casino, a cafe, a reading room and two indoor sports fields.

One of them is a bowling alley and the other is a golf course.

In addition, there are many fishing platforms on the boat.

The cost of just modifying and renovating this ship is equivalent to rebuilding a new ship.

There are nearly 300 staff members on board, including 100 crew members and more than ship service staff.

There are even more than a dozen chefs.

There are also doctors, wet nurses, and beautiful waitresses hired at high salaries.

The captain led the way and introduced the ship. There were thick carpets underfoot and the interior was decorated with precious wood.

Lin Changning was somewhat noncommittal.

"You spent a million on this boat?"

It costs so much money to renovate a ship. If it encounters a storm, the loss will be hundreds of thousands.

"Of course, I've been away for so long this time. But they gave me a discount!" Chen Zhengwei said with a smile.

After all, the shipyard for the modification is his, the workers are his, and most of the materials are produced by his own company.

In fact, he only spent more than $40.

Everyone put their things down, Lin Changning and Wanyun continued to wander around the boat, while Chen Zhengwei went to the bow to bask in the sun.

Half an hour later, with a whistle, the Queen slowly left San Francisco and headed for Hawaii.

After the Queen of Heaven sailed out of the port, it joined the fleet.

There was also the battleship Warrior, the cruisers San Francisco and Los Angeles, two freighters serving as supply ships, and four torpedo boats.

…On the sea, the sky was clear and even the seagulls were nowhere to be seen.

Only the fireworks stood on the mast and howled at the top of their lungs.

Chen Zhengwei was sitting in the bowling alley drinking juice, while Lin Changning, Li Xiwen and Guan Qianbo were playing bowling.

The dull sound of the ball rolling on the fairway was followed by the sound of ping-pong pins hitting the ground.

"Senior sister, your fighting skills are getting better and better!" Li Xiwen applauded.

Although Lin Changning had never had much experience with it before, she had excellent control over her body and could play it well once she got familiar with it.

However, the ship swayed with the waves on the sea, and the trajectory of the bowling ball on the lane was extremely difficult to predict.

"How did you do it? Teach me!" Lin Changning wiped his sweat with a towel and sat down next to Chen Zhengwei.

"It's better to learn from Wanyun than to learn from me!" Chen Zhengwei spread out his hands and said with a smile.

Chen Zhengwei was playing bowling on the boat and he always hit the ball.

Another one is Wanyun.

So no one took them out to play.

Chen Zhengwei felt that it would be easier to learn luck from Wanyun than from himself.

When a person is as strong as he is, it really takes away a lot of the fun of the game.

Lin Changning rolled his eyes at him.

Chen Zhengwei strolled out of the cabin and went to the deck to bask in the sun. He looked at the sky for a moment, feeling the information conveyed by the wind and the humidity in the air, and asked someone to call the captain.

“When will we arrive in Hawaii?”

"Afternoon or evening."

"Go at full speed! It looks like there will be heavy rain tonight." Chen Zhengwei ordered.

There will be heavy rain in the evening, not just in the area where I am, the scope of this rainstorm should be quite large.

The captain looked up at the sky but saw nothing.

The sea is always unpredictable. Even though he has been sailing on the sea for more than 20 years, he still cannot figure out the mood of the sea.

He didn't know why Chen Zhengwei said that, but he knew what his attitude should be.

"At your command, sir!"

In the evening, when the sun was setting and only a ray of afterglow remained, Chen Zhengwei's fleet arrived in Hawaii.

Chen Zhengwei looked ahead with a telescope, and seeing the port with few empty seats, he turned to the henchman next to him and said, "Notify the Warrior to fire and say hello to them."

A moment later, the gun bay doors of the Warrior opened, revealing cannons, followed by a series of deafening gunshots and shells landing on the sea in the distance.

The sound brought everyone else in the cabin up.

Guan Qianbo told his men to prepare for battle, and then he walked to Chen Zhengwei and looked into the distance with a serious expression:
"Boss, what happened?"

"Don't be so nervous, smile more. You are not even 30 years old, but you look like an old man. You have more wrinkles than the bulldog that the scholar raises." Chen Zhengwei said with a smile.

"I just informed Hawaii that I'm coming and asked them to make some space at the port!"

"Boss, the Warrior didn't fire a blank shot!" Guan Qianbo's face was full of helplessness, and he waved to the men behind him.

"Don't you know that firing blanks will damage the barrel?"

Hawaii was in a panic at this time. In fact, they had discovered Chen Zhengwei's fleet before and were waiting for them to send someone to contact them while preparing to free up a few positions.

At least a few ships can enter the port first, and the rest can enter tomorrow.

However, the American fleet at sea opened fire directly.

And it's a solid shell.

Although it fell on the sea outside the port, the gesture was full of warning.

The businessmen in Hawaii were also surprised when they heard the sound of the cannons, and they all looked into the distance with binoculars in their hotels or high places.

In the corridor of the hotel, an American businessman who came to buy sugar frowned after looking through the window at the end of the corridor with a telescope for a long time.

"Why is he here?"

"Who is it?" asked his companion.

"Mr. Chen from San Francisco!" the businessman said after a moment of hesitation.

"This is the San Francisco fleet, and they fired before entering the port. This is obviously their style. He should be on the ship." After looking through the telescope for a while, he quickly went downstairs to the hotel lobby, where he saw many businessmen gathered to discuss the fleet on the sea.

The sugar merchant shouted:
"Whose boats are in berths B1 to B5?"

"The Seagull on B2 is my ship. What's the matter?" A British businessman turned around and walked over after hearing the words, then pushed through the crowd.

"The fleet outside is about to enter the port. I suggest you change berth!" The sugar merchant smiled.

"I'm British!" said the British businessman, puffing out his chest.

"I know, but they may not listen! This is just a well-intentioned advice!" The American businessman smiled.

“You must have heard of China Chen in San Francisco!”

"So what?" the Englishman asked arrogantly.

"He's firing before he even enters the port. I guess he's in the fleet. He wants to enter the port now, but it seems there aren't enough berths," the American businessman continued.

The British businessman's face changed: "Can you give me your business card?"

"Of course!" The American businessman laughed and took out his business card and handed it to the other party.

"Thank you!" Then the British businessman left quickly.

Chen Zhengwei's fleet and Chen Zhengwei being in this fleet are two different things.

Then two more people came over and took the American's business card, then quickly left the hotel.

The other party's reminder saved them a lot of trouble.

In the corner of the hotel, several short Japanese men in gentleman's suits watched all this. An older man asked, "What are they saying?"

A young man quickly recounted what had happened.

"San Francisco, Chen? Who is that?" the Japanese asked.

The Hawaiian kings have always tried to introduce external forces to strengthen their rule over Hawaii.

At the end of March, the King of Hawaii visited Japan and signed a labor agreement with Japan to introduce Japanese workers.

These Japanese came because of this.

They brought over 900 workers to see if there were any business opportunities.

"He's a Chinese American with great influence. I've seen him in the newspaper before," said the young man.

"Is it a big influence?" the older man murmured.

"Go find out about his specific situation."

Japan during this period had already begun to expand actively.

On the one hand, after undergoing modernization reforms and adopting Western training methods and technical equipment updates, Japan began to feel superior to the Qing Dynasty.

On the other hand, Japan began to try to weaken the Qing Dynasty's influence in Korea and use it as a springboard to enter mainland China.

Therefore, when I saw so many foreigners in the hotel were nervous about the arrival of a Chinese, I immediately wanted to know the specific situation of Chen Zhengwei.

He was sure that this was a very important person.

(End of this chapter)