The Winter Solstice Festival of 1928 came in a blink of an eye. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Hong Kong's most prosperous Central business district and Victoria Bay North and South Ferry Terminal are full of festive atmosphere, but all the festive content has nothing to do with the traditional winter solstice festival, and the shops and restaurants in the streets and alleys celebrate the upcoming Christmas in the West.

As the winter rain continues at dawn, the silver ghost of Hong Kong's one-of-a-kind limousine slowly pulls out of the ferry terminal and into the wide Nathan Road intersection, gradually accelerating.

Zheng Yi still had an irrepressible smile on his face in the back seat of the car, and the gloomy sky and wet streets seemed to have turned into a beautiful scenery, which made him feel happy and pleasing to the eye.

Xu Maofu, who had been away from Hong Kong for 70 days, finally returned smoothly, bringing back not only the full amount of the second batch of arms delivered by the Gui family, but also the 40,000 pounds of arms settlement money and a deposit of up to 250,000 US dollars paid by the Huhai Feng family.

To Zheng Yi's special please, the 150-ton patrol speedboat that had been refitted and refurbished was successfully sold to the Nanjing Garrison Headquarters at a price of 950,000 oceans.

The patrol boat's beautiful appearance, ultra-fast speed, and advanced firepower have won high praise from the Nanjing military.

Finance Minister Song Ziwen personally boarded the ship and liked it very much, and even ordered two more ships from the agent seller Yinghua Foreign Company to equip the newly established Customs Anti-Narcotics and Anti-Smuggling Bureau, which shocked Mr. White, general manager of Yinghua Foreign Company, and sent three telegrams to Zheng Yi in a row, saying that he came to Hong Kong before Christmas to discuss with Zheng Yi and strongly asked for a piece of the pie.

The silver ghost slowly stopped in front of Huafeng's office building.

The young bodyguard in the passenger seat quickly got out of the car, and at the same time as closing the door with a "bang", he opened the black automatic umbrella imported from the United Kingdom, walked two steps quickly to the back door with the umbrella, and gently opened the door to shield Zheng Yi, the boss who got out of the car.

The seven or eight clerks standing at the door of the company automatically divided into two rows and bowed respectfully to Zheng Yi, who was striding over.

"I said don't come to this set, let's disperse, what should I do." Zheng Yi was very dissatisfied with Lai Dingbang's set, glared at Lai Dingbang, who was still happy, and stepped inside.

Lai Dingbang quietly waved his hand to his subordinates who were still standing respectfully, and quickly followed Zheng Yi up the stairs to the office on the second floor, reporting in a low voice as he walked:

"Maofu said that he was hungry, and when he saw that you didn't come, he went to the beef rice noodles shop on Guangdong Road with Lao Xu to have breakfast, and he probably came back soon."

"Is there any report from Ziqing?"

Zheng Yi asked as he walked, his old subordinate Song Ziqing is now the head of the Hong Kong Intelligence Station, and the instructions given by the central government to Zheng Yi will be transferred to Zheng Yi or Lai Dingbang through Song Ziqing, Cao Mancheng, who went north with Xu Maofu forty days ago, is still stranded in Huhai, and it seems that he will not be able to return for a while.

Lai Dingbang replied that he had not seen any notice, and immediately made a cup of superb Tieguanyin for Zheng Yi after entering the office: "First drink a cup of tea to warm up your body." ”

Zheng Yi took a sip and asked in surprise, "Good tea!" Shangguan entrusted someone to send it? ”

Lai Dingbang held a cup of the same hot tea and sat opposite Zheng Yi: "Shangguan specially ordered Maofu to bring you, there are only three cans, all of which are carefully crafted tin can packaging, each can is only half a catty, I look at the greed and secretly open a can to try it, don't scold me!" ”

"The other two cans can't be moved, my old man likes Tieguanyin the most, I have to take it back and exchange some benefits with him." Zheng Yi nervously admonished.

Lai Dingbang smiled again: "I'll say it first, the can I just opened belongs to me, haha!" There is another thing to report to you, the construction company next door asks for 15% progress payment, do you see it or not? ”

"The end of the year is approaching, the workers need money for the New Year, and the construction materials also need to be settled, which is completely understandable, pay them...... The original agreement was to pay 30 per cent after the completion of the foundation works, and now that the first floor of the office building and the three warehouses are almost completed, we have only paid 20 per cent. ”

Although Zheng Yi has only been in Hong Kong for a short time, he has already established an excellent reputation in the business community.

Lai Dingbang put his mind at ease and said with emotion: "If it weren't for the construction of the ten acres of ponds and two acres of vegetable land behind the warehouse, our funds would not be so tight, but now it seems that your decision is right, since we bought the pond and vegetable land behind the warehouse, the price of the surrounding land has risen by more than three percent, and now there is no land to buy if there is money." ”

Zheng Yi also sighed at his crooked investment: "In fact, I also gritted my teeth and bought the ...... of the 12 acres of ponds and vegetable fields."

"When the old house was demolished, a large number of broken bricks and tiles needed to be transported to the seaside ten kilometers away for a freight to be dumped, and my old man changed the design of the shipping building and turned the six-story building into a nine-story building, so that the foundation needed to be dug 15 meters deeper, and a large amount of soil dug out also needed to be transported away in time, so I simply bought the ten acres of ponds and two acres of vegetable land behind it, and used the remaining bricks and tiles and a large amount of soil dug out to fill in a freight yard."

"I didn't expect this unexpected move to drive up the surrounding land prices, which can be regarded as an unexpected joy!"

The two chatted for a while, and Xu Maofu hurriedly arrived, and came to Zheng Yi's side with a proud face and sat down: "Boss, that time-honored beef rice noodles in Guangdong Road are really boring, if it weren't for the cold weather, I would like to pack it back for you, I suggest you try it when you have time." ”

Zheng Yi threw Xu Maofu a pack of good cigarettes: "Okay, let's get down to business when I'm full, and then go to the bank as soon as possible, I have to rush to the machinery company at noon, and I must send two sample guns to the Governor's Palace before Christmas, and whether the British army can increase the order depends on this time." ”

"Why, the semi-automatic rifle can be finalized?" Xu Maofu's eyes were full of hungry green light, he was the first person to see the blueprint of the air-conductive semi-automatic rifle, and he knew very well the significance of such a semi-automatic rifle that could easily fire thirty rounds in one minute.

Zheng Yi nodded: "After a month of testing and improvement, it can be finalized, but mass production still needs to wait for the batch of second-hand machine tools purchased from the UK and two sets of state-of-the-art boring machines to arrive, plus the time for installation and commissioning, it will not be mass-produced until after the Spring Festival at the earliest." ”

"At present, only fifteen sample guns have been produced, the best nickel steel and walnut are used, and the forged three-edged spear spikes are chrome-plated, ten of which will be given as gifts to the governor and the garrison generals, and the remaining five are the sample guns we use for sales, and I will take you to the shooting range to enjoy it when the time comes."

"Is there a model name?"

Lai Dingbang asked tightly.

Zheng Yi nodded: "It's the same as in the patent application, it's called the M1929 semi-automatic rifle, and the patent application has been approved......"

"I dare not say that this gun is the world's first semi-automatic rifle, but I can assert that it is the world's first semi-automatic rifle that can be mass-produced, and that it is technically mature, well-designed, and the most reliable, even after 20 years."

Lai Dingbang and Xu Maofu were overjoyed, they knew very well what Zheng Yi's words represented.