The weapons Li Mu is currently purchasing are all purchased from the international arms open market, which is similar to the channels used by small European countries to purchase weapons. They do not need to be reviewed by domestic departments, and they do not seem to be related to Guofu. They do not allow others to speculate and raise prices.
Chance.
In fact, the weapons purchased by Guofu are so expensive, not only because others have raised the price, but also because of their own problems. After all, it is an old tradition to receive kickbacks.
Not only weapons, but cars too.
According to Li Mu, for example, current Ford cars have two prices at home and abroad. One car costs US$260 abroad and more than US$800 domestically.
This is not about setting prices abroad. After all, people sell hundreds of thousands of units a year and don't care about the thousands of units domestically. It's also not about the tariff being too high. During the Republic of China, the import tariff on luxury goods such as cars was only 20%.
The main reason is that domestic foreign companies and commercial firms have monopolized the purchase channels, and then increase prices step by step. The overseas purchase price is 260 US dollars, and the cost of shipping and customs is only more than 300 US dollars. However, domestic prices are directly increased to more than 800 US dollars. It is simply lying.
make money.
Moreover, this is not an isolated phenomenon, it is true in many industries.
It is said that because the profits from this are so huge, some armies and warlords in coastal areas often smuggle cars and other various materials.
As an important big city in the Republic of China, why did Guangzhou fall so quickly? It is said that there were smugglers leading the way. The little devils followed the army's secret smuggling route and penetrated into the hinterland of Guangzhou, causing Guangzhou to be captured in a very short time.
Of course, the principal at that time withdrew many troops from nearby areas to participate in the Battle of Wuhan, which was also a reason.
After thinking about it for a while, Li Mu spent US$72,000 to acquire these six Bofors 75mm mountain cannons, and then placed an order for thirty more mountain cannons. Why should he build an artillery regiment?
.
The shells were not cheap either. They cost fifteen dollars each. There were a thousand shells in stock, worth fifteen thousand dollars. Li Mu took them all.
After purchasing weapons, the next thing that needs to be purchased is cars and trucks.
At this time, the foreign automobile industry was already quite developed. Li Mu thought for a long time and chose to purchase Ford's light truck. It could carry 1.5 tons, was cheap, and was of decent quality.
This is not like purchasing domestically. There are no tariffs and no layer-by-layer price increases by dealers. You can get the goods directly from Ford's agents in Southeast Asia, which is not much higher than the ex-factory price.
However, the agent currently does not have much supply, only 80 vehicles, and Li Mu took them all for US$1,200 per vehicle, totaling US$96,000.
After looking at it again, I decided to purchase some more heavy-duty trucks, and finally chose the Mercedes-Benz L 6500 heavy-duty truck.
This vehicle came out in 1935. It was originally a civilian truck, and its basic design was mainly for civilian use. However, after the outbreak of World War II, the vehicle inevitably became a military vehicle and became one of the heavy-duty transport vehicles of the German army in World War II.
.
This type of heavy-duty truck is considered a very good civilian heavy-duty truck in this era. It is a two-axle truck, with dual tires on the rear axle, a wheelbase of 5.1 meters, and is equipped with hydraulic brake drum brakes.
The vehicle is 9.45 meters long, 2.5 meters wide, and 2.42 meters high. It weighs about 6.65 tons, has a maximum load of about 7 tons, a maximum driving speed of 75 kilometers per hour, and a fuel consumption of 38 liters per 100 kilometers.
Both speed and load capacity are very good. Of course, the price is not cheap either, at US$5,200, there are only ten units in supply.
Li Mu thought for a moment and took it down. After all, the load capacity of a light truck is only 1.5 tons. Some machines or weapons must be transported by heavy trucks.
We spent US$52,000 to acquire these ten heavy trucks.
Li Mu originally wanted to purchase some more Jeeps. This car was quite famous in later generations. Unfortunately, Jeeps have not yet been born and they have to wait for another two years.
The next step is to buy yourself a few cars. All the well-known brands of this era have already come out.
Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Chevron, Chevrolet... Li Mu even discovered Rolls-Royce Phantom, Bentley and Lincoln. This was the Republic of China.
The Rolls-Royce Phantom I was developed by Ford Motor Company in 1927. It could reach a speed of 120 kilometers per hour, but it was ridiculously expensive. At that time, there was only one model in China, and it was driven by foreigners.
There is also the Bentley Blowe produced in 1929, which has a top speed of 160 kilometers per hour and is the fastest in the world. It is also ridiculously expensive and was not able to enter China during the entire Republic of China era. For no other reason than that there were no roads in China that could run like this.
car.
The only luxury car that a very small number of people in China can consume is Lincoln. The car brands that account for the majority of the market are Ford, Chevrolet and Citroën. Mercedes-Benz will become even more famous in later generations. BMW's sales at this time were very small.
Compared with ordinary civilian cars, the prices of these luxury cars are also exaggerated, ranging from a few thousand dollars to tens of thousands of dollars. This is an era when one dollar is equal to one gram of gold.
Li Mu randomly purchased some, including Lincoln, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Chevrolet. Bentley and Rolls-Royce Phantom were not available and needed to be ordered.
Li Mu was quite curious about these two cars and what they were like in the Republic of China, so he ordered two of them.
After purchasing a car, it is natural to purchase gasoline.
In recent years, gasoline prices have been quite stable. In fact, during World War II, oil prices were quite stable without any major fluctuations.
For example, the price of crude oil was US$1.02/barrel in 1939, and reached US$1.05/barrel in 1945. The highest price during this period was only US$1.19/barrel in 1942.
This price lasted for a long time, and even in 1960, the price of oil was still US$1.90 per barrel.
It was not until the Fourth Middle East War broke out in 1973 that oil-producing countries took measures such as production cuts, causing oil prices to soar from about US$3 per barrel to about US$11 per barrel in less than three months, triggering the first oil crisis.
Crisis. This crisis led to the worst economic recession in the world since the war.
However, this is only the price of crude oil, not gasoline. Crude oil must be refined to become gasoline, and the price of gasoline is also much higher than that of crude oil.
At present, the measurement unit of crude oil in the international market is generally "barrel", and one barrel is equivalent to approximately 159 liters. Calculated based on the world's average proportion of Saudi Arabia's 34-degree light crude oil, one ton is equivalent to approximately 7.33 barrels.
Specifically, since the volume of a barrel is fixed, the capacity of a barrel is exactly 42 gallons, so: 1 barrel = 42 gallons (US) = 158.97 liters. 1 US gallon = 3.785 liters.
Equivalent to a liter of crude oil, the price is only US$0.0063.
Refining crude oil into gasoline involves certain costs and losses, plus some taxes and fees, so it is naturally a lot more expensive, but it's okay.
The current international general capacity of refined oil is 200 liters, which is stored in a round oil drum with a height of 930mm and a diameter of 580mm.
A barrel of 200 liters of finished gasoline costs US$3.2. Don’t think it’s cheap. Now one US dollar is equivalent to one gram of gold. In later generations, one gram of gold has risen to more than US$60. It is equivalent to a barrel of 200 liters.
Gasoline costs two hundred dollars. Even though there is a gap of seventy or eighty years, the price has not changed much in terms of gold.
Li Mu spent US$64,000 to purchase 20,000 barrels of gasoline, which he could use for himself or sell.
Due to the sharp decline in import channels and the continuous war, the current domestic oil price is ridiculously high. Especially in the central and western regions, for the army and warlords, gasoline is a hard currency stronger than gold. In some places, the price has even doubled.
More than ten times.
The next step is to purchase power generation equipment. Since the Nanyang area will have a greater demand for electricity in the future, those small and medium-sized gas and diesel generators will naturally be excluded.
Finally, we chose a coal-fired steam turbine generator unit. The superheated steam generated by the boiler enters the steam turbine and expands to do work, causing the blades to rotate and drive the generator to generate electricity. After doing the work, the waste steam passes through the condenser, circulating water pump, and condensate water pump.
The water supply heating device, etc. is sent back to the boiler for recycling.
Li Mu visited many trading houses, but none had any in stock. The Far East Trading Company busily contacted many trading houses in Southeast Asia and finally bought four turbine generator sets.
Two of them are 500-kilowatt turbine-generator sets. The other two are, one is a 1,000-kilowatt turbine-generator set; the other is a 1,500-kilowatt steam turbine-generator set.
A 500-kilowatt turbine-generator unit, operating at full power, can generate 500 kilowatt-hours per hour and 12,000 kilowatt-hours a day; a 1,000-kilowatt turbine-generator unit can generate 24,000 kilowatt-hours a day;
A 1,500-kilowatt steam turbine generator unit can generate 36,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity every day.
It is said that the electricity generated by these four turbine generator units is enough to meet the production and daily needs of Nanyang area in the short term.
However, it is still a bit sparse and too fragmented.
Li Mu thought for a moment and ordered two more 3,000-kilowatt turbine generator sets before giving up.
Next, he purchased a batch of transformers and wires, and Li Mu began to purchase telephones and wired telegraph machines. Wired telegraphs have been around for nearly a hundred years, and wired telephones have been around for more than fifty years. In fact, these two technologies have become very mature.
, large-scale production has long been popularized abroad, and the prices of various equipment are naturally not expensive.
Wireless telegraph machines, on the other hand, were relatively new and a bit expensive, but Li Mu ordered ten of them anyway. They would be indispensable in future wars.
Finally, Li Mu also wanted to buy some fighter planes and form an air force. The European War did not break out, and the United States did not end up. Many powerful weapons, including fighter jets, had not yet appeared.
Li Mu is a tall boy, so he finally chose the Hawker 75 fighter, which is a relatively advanced all-metal low-wing fighter designed by Curtiss Hawker Company in 1936. It is an upgrade of the Hawker 2 and Hawker 3.
type.
On the eve of the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, he came to Jinling to perform a promotional performance, and was spotted by Ms. Song. She spent $40,000 to buy it and gave it to Chennault, the man who formed the Flying Tigers, as his exclusive aircraft.
The maximum flight speed of this aircraft is: 480 kilometers per hour, and the maximum range is 1,300 kilometers. It is better than the Japanese aircraft in every aspect.
At present, it is very suitable for purchasing.
Li Mu thought for a moment and placed an order for twelve aircraft at US$40,000 each, for a total of US$480,000.