"I have completed the task entrusted to me by my humble duty, and come here to report back to my son." Li Dawei walked into the hall and said loudly.
"The Cavalry Regiment has done a good job, and I promise you that I will do the same, but this time I called you here for another thing."
Li Mingyuan briefly told them about the treasure.
"The cavalry regiment is marching at full speed. It will take most of the day to reach Lake Titicaca. Do you want to set off now, Prince?" Li Dawei said.
"There is no hurry. The brothers of the cavalry regiment have been working hard for several days. Let them rest tonight and set off tomorrow morning."
"yes."……
After returning from the meeting hall, Liu Pu called his two deputies to discuss matters.
In Liu Pu's residence, Liu Pu and his two deputies, Zhao Yan and Sun Bin, sat together, eating and chatting.
"Chief of Staff, do you want to find more trading partners? We will not easily suffer losses if we shop around." Zhao Ting said.
"Let us first release the news that we want to purchase weapons and supplies, but the final cooperation leader will still be Prussia." Liu Pu said.
"Chief of Staff, I don't understand why we must choose to cooperate with Prussia?" Sun Bin asked puzzled.
Liu Pu put down the wine glass that was about to be handed to his mouth and said, "Barangka has business representatives from the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Austria, Prussia, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy and other countries.
The British are the most powerful, and now the British are expanding their sphere of influence all over the world.
South American countries have been independent for nearly half a century, and each country has accumulated a lot of wealth. Moreover, South American countries are vast, sparsely populated, and have fertile land, making them natural agricultural producing areas.
Due to the American Civil War in the past few years, Britain lost its important agricultural production base and industrial products dumping market. Therefore, in the past two years, Britain has directed its expansion towards South America, which is in a virgin territory, and strives to expand trade and economy through South America.
, to make up for Britain's losses.
On the one hand, the ongoing Paraguay War is due to the territorial division issue between the warring parties, and on the other hand, it is because Britain and Paraguay rejected the British proposal on the freedom of navigation on the Parana River. The British were dissatisfied and supported Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay behind the scenes.
Three countries went to war against Paraguay.
As the biggest beneficiary of the current order in South America, Britain will not allow anyone to destroy the current order. Therefore, facing the war between us and the Peruvian government, the United Kingdom will fish in troubled waters and obtain the benefits of saltpeter and other minerals from the Peruvian government and will not support it.
Our expansion.”
"What the chief of staff means is that the British regard us as pawns to blackmail the Peruvians. Once the Peruvians offer a price that satisfies them, the British will not hesitate to support the Peruvians against us," Sun Bin continued.
"Yes, the British have been practicing balancing techniques on the European continent for hundreds of years, and they have a lot of experience in how to obtain maximum benefits." Liu Pu nodded.
Liu Pu read a lot of books, but he did not learn this knowledge from books, but what Li Mingyuan told him intermittently.
"What about other countries?"
"France is the most powerful country in the world after the United Kingdom, but the French are very arrogant. If we take the initiative to ask for a deal with them, on the one hand, their asking price will definitely be high, and on the other hand, the arrogant French will definitely not be willing to help our fleet.
convoy."
Emperor Napoleon died less than half a century ago. Under Napoleon's influence, the French are now very arrogant and consider themselves loyal to the world. Even the British look down on them from the bottom of their hearts. Naturally, they are unwilling to escort the Chinese fleet for some economic benefits.
"Austria is similar to France. They maintain their status as a thousand-year empire in Europe and will not help us escort. The Netherlands and Belgium are weak. Even if we ask them to trade, they will not be able to provide us with the supplies we need within a month. As for the Americans, they have just experienced
Due to the civil war, the economy has not yet recovered, so it can only take part of our orders."
The development of the United States was based on the aftermath of the Civil War. The current United States has just ended the war. The country is full of waste and has not yet entered the fast lane of development. It is difficult to meet the requirements of the Chinese Independence Army.
And there is another sentence that Liu Pu did not say. If the Chinese Independence Army wants to gain a foothold in the United States, it will definitely face attacks from American capital in the future.
Since the Monroe Declaration, the United States has always regarded South America as its back garden. If the Chinese Independence Army wants to develop and grow, it will definitely not be welcomed by the United States.
Therefore, from the beginning, Li Mingyuan tried his best to avoid getting involved with the Americans and not give them the opportunity to infiltrate the Chinese base areas.
After excluding the previous countries, only Prussia remains to be discussed.
Liu Pu took a sip of wine and continued, "Prussia united with the princes in the German region to carry out industrial construction and wanted to tie the various princes together through economic interests. Therefore, the Prussians have the ability and willingness to swallow up our big orders."
Down,
Moreover, we had good cooperation with the Prussians last time, and the Prussians will definitely not refuse when faced with a deal that is much larger than last time."
"The Germans' industrial products are good. The soldiers responded well to the rifles and artillery I bought from them last time," Zhao Ting said.
"We have a lot to buy this time, 20,000 rifles, 300 pistols, 100 machine guns, 50 nine-pound cannons, 30 12-pound mountain cannons, one million rifle bullets, and three machine gun bullets.
Ten thousand rounds, including two thousand nine-pounder shells, five hundred twelve-pounder shells, one hundred thousand custom-made military uniforms, and one thousand marching tents."
Liu Pu rattled off the list of supplies he wanted to buy in one breath.
"The number of Chinese has reached 120,000. According to the prince's previous habit, after excluding some weak ones, among the 120,000, there will be at least 100,000 soldiers. The daily consumption of the 100,000 troops is huge, so
No wonder the prince wants to purchase so many supplies." Sun Bin said with emotion.
Except for the two thousand rifles traded with the Prussians for the first time, the weapons held by the Chinese Independence Army were all captured from the Peruvians.
Relying on seizures, the Chinese Independence Army armed 70,000 soldiers, and the remaining Chinese soldiers had to simulate training with damaged rifles.
Among the 70,000 troops with rifles, there are 30,000 troops with intact firearms and 40,000 troops with old firearms.
Moreover, among the 70,000 rifles, there are arms from various countries. The most common ones are Enfield rifles produced in Britain, Spencer rifles produced in the United States, Dresser rifles produced in Prussia, and there are more than a dozen types of them.
very difficult.
"Don't you need to buy medicines? We don't have much medicine in stock." Zhao Ting said.
"Medicines and other daily necessities are listed separately and purchased separately from other countries."
"With so many supplies to buy, I'm afraid we don't have enough money." Sun Bin frowned.
"Your Majesty will take care of the money matter. Your task is to complete the procurement of materials."