In Tianjing-Pukou, Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang held the Northern Expedition oath meeting. War drums were beating, trombones were beating in unison, and horns and horns were intertwined into a majestic vocal music that floated over the venue.

The horse infantry of Lin and Li was neatly lined up and majestic. In the sun, bright red turbans and locked gold coats shine together. Long hair, broadsword, etc. shine with a scorching brilliance. The banners of the armies fluttered in the wind, making waves like waves, and the horses of the battle flags neighed and shook their long manes as if they were as eager as the warriors.

"Kill the demons! Kill the Dog Emperor of the Qing Court! "The shouters of the heavenly soldiers are full of enthusiasm and fighting spirit, and they all believe that as long as the army of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is pointed at, they will be invincible and invincible.

"Shizi, why are you here, aren't you going to go to the west!" Lin and Li walked off the stage and saw Yang Xiaoshan coming over.

"I'm in charge of tail cutting this time, and I'm going to leave a few days later, so I'll come and see you." Yang Xiaoshan was in a complicated mood, he knew that the future of the Northern Expeditionary Army was bleak, and he wanted to come over and take care of Lin and Li for a few words.

"Shizi, look at our army, everyone is working hard to fight the Qing Demon to the end this time, they are all old brothers who have come all the way with us, the East King said, it is up to the two of us to destroy the Qing Demon." Lin Fengxiang said excitedly.

Yang Xiaoshan glanced at him, knowing that the East King must have poured ecstasy soup on these two people, he was fooling the two of you, how could he really attach so much importance to only sending the two of you to bring more than 20,000 people?

But Yang Xiaoshan couldn't bear to poke these out, the current war couldn't extinguish his prestige, he patted the shoulders of the two: "Brothers, I asked Lao Wu to allocate thousands of catties of grain and grass to you from the Holy Treasury, you bring enough grain and grass, and the battle will be more at ease." The north is not as good as the south, and the Qing court has a lot of influence there, and it is difficult to win the support of the people, so you two should be extra careful. Yang Xiaoshan still tactfully reminded the two of them of their difficulties in the future.

And Lin and Li didn't realize the difficulties yet, and still said confidently: "Don't worry, Shizi, we are calling all the way from Guangxi, and we know how many catties and taels those Qing soldiers are." The prince is waiting for the good news from the two of us. ”

Yang Xiaoshan knew that they would definitely not be able to listen to anything now, but he still cared for it again: "This Northern Expedition, you don't care about one city and one pool, you can fight if you can, and go around if you can't." Pick out the weak points of the demon, if you really can't beat it, go back to Tianjing, don't care about face, the most important thing is to preserve your strength. ”

"The two of us know, thank you for your concern." Lin and Li replied.

Yang Xiaoshan didn't know that the two of them could listen to a few words, he had done his best, hoping that the two of them could create a miracle. After drinking Zhuangxing wine with Lin Li, Yang Xiaoshan sent them out of Pukou, and then returned to his camp.

Yang Xiaoshan returned to the camp and began to think about his own situation, thinking about it, he smiled bitterly, feeling that he was more worried about himself than Lin Li. Lin and Li took away most of the old brothers in Guangxi, and Luo Xuan's strong team was still in Zhenjiang. Now most of the soldiers on hand are new recruits, and the combat effectiveness of my team is declining rapidly.

"It's too late to train now, and Charles doesn't know when to bring the weapon back, so it's better to buy a few hundred foreign guns and use them first." Yang Xiaoshan pondered. This era is the era of the transfer from cold weapons to hot weapons, and the long-haired broadsword will eventually be eliminated, first arm their own soldiers, let them be familiar with foreign guns, and then promote them throughout the army when they are used to it.

"Shizi, do you want to buy 300 foreign guns?" Yang Xiaoshan found Lao Wu and asked him to contact a foreign company in Shanghai to purchase arms.

"Yes, Charles has been gone for a few months, and he doesn't know when he will return to China, and now he can't wait for the westward expedition. Buy some first, let the soldiers use it first, and see how it works? Yang Xiaoshan said.

"The compradors of those foreign banks are black, these two devils are darker than foreign devils, do you want to think about it, now the cost of the kingdom of heaven is very large, and your former army is not much." Lao Wu is an insider, and knows what it is like for Chinese compradors to blackmail Chinese.

"Old Wu, why don't I know? The last time I talked to Charles's high comprador was three times the price, but this time I admit it, and the situation is not up to anyone. Yang Xiaoshan knew that there were too many recruits in his team, and his own soldiers were the only ones he could count on at critical moments, if they were all proficient in using foreign guns, then their combat effectiveness could be improved rapidly.

"Okay, I'll bring a message to the foreign bank for you." Lao Wu gritted his teeth and replied.

Merchants are unprofitable and cannot afford to be early, and when they heard that there was a big business, the compradors of England, France, and Deutsche Foreign Firm all arrived in Tianjing.

"Shizi, the three people who came this time all quoted forty-five taels of silver and a rifle in Shanghai. This is three times the usual price. Lao Wu came to inform Yang Xiaoshandao.

Yang Xiaoshan was mentally prepared, and he gritted his teeth to buy it at three times the price, but he also prepared a "bidding". In the past, enterprises often used the method of competitive bidding to lower the purchase price and reduce costs.

Yang Xiaoshan met with the three compradors in turn. The comprador of the British foreign company recommended the Krenswick rifle, which was a breech smoothbore gun. The compradors of the French foreign company brought with them the Mini rifle, which was a breeched rifled gun. The compradors of the German foreign firm were trying to sell the Dresser rifle, which was a back-loading rifle.

Yang Xiaoshan first crossed out the Krenswick rifle recommended by the British comprador in his heart, not only the smoothbore gun is also a breech, it is a gun that is about to be eliminated, although the comprador hinted that he could pay back the price, but Yang Xiaoshan did not want to buy such an obsolete product.

The remaining French comprador Minnie rifles and German comprador Dresser rifles were on par. Both guns are historically famous. The Mini rifle shone in the Crimean War, while the Dresser rifle became even more famous, making a name for itself in the German-Austrian War, making a big contribution to the elimination of front-loading guns from rear-loading guns. Both are famous guns that have stood the test of battle.

Yang Xiaoshan's heart is slightly biased towards the German Dresser rifle, after all, the rear loading is the trend, but the Mini rifle in this era is still the main rifle of various countries, and the performance is also very good.

"Three gentlemen, please go to your room and write the final price under your sign. However, I would like to emphasize that you only have one chance, and the lowest bidder will win this bid. Yang Xiaoshan isolated the three of them and bid separately.

Bidding is a test of people's hearts, and they may only regret losing the opportunity to trade. Therefore, the more fierce the bidding, the more water can be squeezed out, and some companies can save 30% of the cost by relying on this hand. Yang Xiaoshan is very confident that he can reduce the price a little.

When it was time to show the mark, Yang Xiaoshan went to the rooms of the three compradors to see the prices, what he didn't expect was that the prices of the three compradors were very uniform, all of them were ninety taels of silver, not only did not reduce the price but doubled.

"Didn't your offer in Shanghai be forty-five taels of silver? Why is it ninety taels now? Yang Xiaoshan asked, feeling like he was being teased.

"Shizi, that's the price in Shanghai, the foreign guns you want to come to Tianjing, and you can't be skinned by the officials along the way, so the price in Tianjing is ninety taels a piece." The compradors' answers were surprisingly unanimous, and seemed to be well-founded.