After Li Mingyuan led the cavalry regiment to set off, Sun Bin and Zhao Yan also set off for Barangka.
First, they negotiated a small business deal with several countries including the Netherlands and Belgium, and then the two of them came to the Prussian Commercial Representative Office in Baranca.
The Prussians have a strict character, even the houses they built
Also in a simple and practical style, the Prussian Commercial Representative Office is a three-story castle building.
The appearance of the castle is clear-cut, with semicircular, barrel-shaped or cross-vaulted doors, windows and arcades, giving people a thick, solid and steady feeling.
"Please inform Mr. Hoffman that representatives of the Chinese Independence Army are here to visit." Sun Bin asked the Prussian guard guarding the gate in front of the castle.
"Wait a moment, I'll notify Mr. Hoffman." After the guard finished speaking, he turned and walked towards the castle.
"How sure is Brother Sun of convincing the Prussians to cooperate with us," Zhao Ting asked after the Prussian guards left.
"We are 70 to 80% sure that we need a lot of goods and the Prussians will not give up the deal with us easily."
"The matter of asking the Prussians to use their navy to escort us must be kept secret and cannot be known to people from other countries."
"I will explain it to them during the negotiation." Sun Bin nodded.
"Two gentlemen, Mr. Hoffman invites you to come in." Sun Bin and Zhao Ting said a few words, and the Prussian guard guarding the door came back and said.
Sun Bin and Zhao Ting followed the guards, bypassed more than a dozen rooms, and arrived at Hoffman's office.
"What do you two gentlemen want from me?" Hoffman said straight to the point after entering the room.
Hoffman is a middle-aged man in his forties, tall and thin, with a traditional Prussian beard and wearing a large German windbreaker.
After taking a look at Hoffman, Sun Bin said, "I come to the Three Treasures Hall for nothing. I am here today to discuss a big business deal with you on behalf of the Chinese Independence Army."
"You have come to the right place to discuss business. The Prussians have the highest reputation for doing business." Hoffmann said with a smile.
"We need a lot of supplies. This is the purchase list. Please take a look." Sun Bin handed over the list.
Hoffman glanced at it and said, "You want a lot of goods. I need to spend time arranging them from other places. It will take at least a month for the supplies on the list to be ready to be shipped to Barangka."
"We can wait for a month. The key is to ensure the quality of the weapons we need." Sun Bin said.
"You can rest assured about the quality of the weapons. We are in business for the long term and will not compromise our brand just to make more money."
"We will start discussing the price of weapons now," Sun Bin said.
"Okay," Hoffman sat down and pointed to the list. "Mauser breech-loading guns are twenty taels of silver each, seventy-five millimeter steel cannons are two thousand taels each, and nine-pound mountain cannons are one thousand taels.
There are eight hundred taels of machine guns.
The weapons we want to buy this time are 20,000 rifles, 300 pistols, 100 machine guns, 50 nine-pound cannons, 30 75mm mountain guns, 1 million rifle bullets, and 30,000 machine gun bullets.
2,000 rounds of nine-pounder shells, 500 rounds of 12-pounder shells, 100,000 sets of custom-made military uniforms, and 1,000 marching tents.
Add it all up and remove the fractions, and you’ll get one million taels of silver.”
One million taels of silver, converted into gold, is equivalent to twelve thousand taels, or one thousand two hundred kilograms of gold. With so much money, the wealth accumulated by the Chinese Independence Army was suddenly wiped out.
"Mr. Hoffman, we believe in your credit. Since you said one million taels of silver, we will not bargain with you, but you must agree to one condition."
Sun Bin felt heartbroken when he heard the price of one million taels of silver, but the money was spent for the future development of the Chinese Independence Army, so he had to spend the money no matter how reluctant he was.
"Please speak." Hoffman said politely.
"After the transaction is completed, I would like you to send several warships to help escort our fleet."
"Mr. Sun, I cannot agree to your request. Prussia adheres to its neutral position and will not interfere in the war between you and the Peruvians."
Hoffman thought Sun Bin wanted the Prussian navy to help them fight the Peruvians, so he decisively refused.
"Mr. Hoffman misunderstood. I didn't mean to let your army attack the Peruvians. I just wanted your army to escort our fleet and help us pass through the Pacific coast."
"In this case I can promise you."
As long as he didn't interfere in the war between the Chinese workers and the Peruvians, Hoffman didn't have to worry. As for the Chinese hiring the Prussian navy to escort them to the Pacific coast, Hoffman thought the Chinese wanted to escape, so he simply agreed.
"Haha, thank you very much Mr. Hoffman for your sincerity, and congratulations on our successful cooperation."
After successfully completing the task, Sun Bin was very happy. He stood up with a smile and shook hands with Hoffman.
"I am also very happy to cooperate with you. I hope we will have the opportunity to cooperate next time." Hoffman shook hands.
"Looking forward to our next cooperation." Sun Bin said.
Lake Titicaca, a Chinese figure emerged from the clear and deep blue lake.
Chen Sen took a breath and said, "Your Majesty, there is no trace of the treasure in the lake."
Chen Sen was a captain of the Chinese fleet and was well versed in water, so Li Mingyuan specially brought him and a dozen other water experts to explore the bottom of Titicaca.
"Call all the brothers up, we won't go into the water today." Li Mingyuan said disappointedly when he didn't find any gold.
"Your Majesty, is the legend of the treasure true? Our brothers searched an area of thirty miles and found nothing."
After searching for seven or eight days near Lake Titicaca, no clues about the treasure were found, and Li Dawei became anxious.
"The treasure is not that easy to find. We will search nearby for two more days. If we can't find it, we will go back." Li Mingyuan said, not wanting to return in vain.
"Yes" knew that he would have to search for another two days, so all the soldiers around him retreated to rest.
Under a forest on Lake Titicaca, thirteen or four sailors from the Chinese Independence Army gathered together to talk.
"Sir Chen, I haven't found the treasure after searching for seven or eight days. Has the treasure been stolen by others?"
"I think it's possible. The Inca Empire has been destroyed for more than three hundred years. How can the treasure be hidden?" another soldier said.
"Whether the treasure is still there or not, we will wait for two days as requested by the Crown Prince," Chen Sen said.
"Boss, I do believe the treasure is here."
"Oh, why are you so sure?" Chen Sen asked curiously.
"Today at noon, I picked up a gold jewelry under a waterfall not far from Lake Titicaca."
"Li Ergou, why didn't you hand over the gold you picked up?" Chen Sen said with a dark face.
"Boss, I'm not reporting to you just after I picked it up." Li Ergou smiled playfully and took out the gold sign he picked up, which was a bracelet made of gold.
"You're lucky kid. No one else found anything, but you picked up the gold." Chen Sen stood on tiptoe to check the weight of the bracelet. It was about three taels heavy.
"Boss, do you want to report to the Crown Prince now?" Li Ergou said.
"Don't disturb the Crown Prince yet. Let's go to the waterfall and have a look. It won't be too late to tell the Crown Prince after we find out the whereabouts of the treasure."