At the end of September, in Limerick, the summer heat is fading and autumn is in full swing. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 infoOn a terrace in the "Forest Palace", Natsuki sat calmly in the sun in civilian military clothes, and on the wooden table in front of him was a shiny rifle and two rows of yellow bullets, in addition to the fragrant tea cup.

Springfield M1903 rifle, also known as the "Springfield rifle", is a standard weapon of the United States Army, which is a manual rear-pull rifle manufactured by the Americans with the German Mauser 1898 technology. The Springfield rifle in front of Natsuki's eyes is the A3 model, which was finalized in 1906, and it is said that more than 4 million units have been produced so far, and in addition to equipping the American army, it has also been supplied to the British Commonwealth army. As early as the Battle of the Azores, the Allied soldiers fully appreciated the advantages of this weapon in terms of shooting accuracy, and in the later battles of the Bahamas and Cuba and the Florida landing operation, the Allied forces won a devastating victory with superior naval and air forces and armored forces, and it was easy for small forces to suppress the American troops with semi-automatic and automatic weapons, but they still suffered from this manual rifle.

This time, the three Americans sitting across from Natsuki were all dressed in military uniforms, led by an old acquaintance, Admiral Pratt, and the other two were U.S. Army officers. After signing the military lend-lease agreement with Ireland, Admiral Pratt did not return home, but as the special representative of the United States in Europe, he visited the military and political leaders of the Allied countries and urged the Allied camp to maintain a goodwill neutral stance in the Pacific War between the United States and Japan. After more than half a month, he visited the King of Ireland again, for the sake of official affairs that still needed to be operated secretly.

Halfway through a cup of tea, Xia Shu reached out and picked up the rifle on the table, skillfully pulled the bolt, carefully examined it in the sunlight, and then loaded a row of bullets into the bolt, and repeatedly pulled the bolt, so that the unfired bullets jumped out of the chamber one after another, bouncing and rolling on the wooden floor with a pleasant sound.

"Has this gun ever killed anyone on the battlefield?" Natsuki asked suddenly.

The question obviously surprised the other party, and the two US Army officers looked at each other, and the older one replied rather cautiously: "Actually, the rifle we brought you has only been out of the factory for three or four months, and it was assigned to the 27th National Guard Division before, and this unit has never been on the battlefield, so this rifle has never been on the battlefield, let alone killed people on the battlefield." ”

Natsuki casually asked, it didn't matter to him what the answer was. Over the past three years, the Irish army has lost 140,000 casualties on various fronts, disabled 170,000 people, and more than 500,000 people who have been wounded and recovered, more than half of these casualties are due to the US military, and a considerable part of the casualties caused by the US army are caused by the Springfield rifle.

Weapons can kill people, but they can also save people. Ireland categorically does not need these outdated hand rifles, but those who are suffering from Japanese aggression need them, those warriors who are defending their country with their flesh and blood, and those who are facing the life and death of the nation!

Ireland's military products are mainly aimed at the international market, so Natsuki knows the price of various weapons in the international arms market before and during the war, a Springfield rifle with 1,000 rounds of ammunition is sold for about 45-50 US dollars, and according to the conventional profit margin of export arms, the manufacturing cost of the M1903-A3 is about 25 US dollars. Of course, these used rifles cannot, of course, be calculated according to the price of new guns, not to mention that the Americans intend to use them to offset part of the war reparations, and their value should be lower than the cost price. If you deliberately lower the price, it is not unreasonable to start at a lower price.

Natsuki didn't test fire this rifle, and he wouldn't test fire any weapons in his "Forest Palace", he put it back on the table as it was, and then said slowly: "For European countries, this war is over, everyone is busy reducing the size of their armies, and no one will buy more rifles at this time, so ...... The only destination for a million rifles and a billion rounds of ammunition is China, and as you know, with the current situation of the Sino-Japanese war, the Chinese government will not be able to come up with the money to buy these rifles in a short period of time, and it is basically a free gift. ”

At the time of the signing of the Berlin Armistice, the size of the U.S. military was at an all-time high, with the Army alone having 4.7 million active personnel and 5.9 million National Guards, and according to the terms of the armistice agreed between the two sides, the United States had to reduce the number of active personnel in the Army to 1.75 million and the National Guard to 850,000 by the end of 1935. After the U.S. military won the battle in the Eastern Pacific, a large-scale reduction of army personnel became possible, and with the massive reduction of troops, a huge number of weapons and equipment were disposed of. After repeated consultations, the Armistice Supervision Committee, which was dominated by the Germans, agreed that the United States would seal 2 million rifles, 400,000 machine guns, and 150,000 artillery pieces, along with 4.5 million tons of ammunition and supplies, as a national defense stockpile, and that the rest of the weapons and ammunition would be delivered to the Allies to pay part of the war reparations or destroyed under the supervision of the Armistice Supervision Committee.

It was against this backdrop that Pratt and his entourage came to Limerick to sell a million second-hand Springfield rifles to the Irish government. Of course, the Irish army, which is one of the best in Europe, does not need these hand rifles, but since the Japanese army launched the war of aggression against China in the 20s, Ireland has hardly interrupted military assistance to the Chinese government. This million seven or eight percent of the new Springfield rifles, plus a billion rounds of 7. The standard rifle cartridge of 62 mm caliber is a relief to the Chinese army, which is desperately short of weapons, and for the Irish government, which has benefited a lot from this war, only writing off a small part of the war reparations has not only sent the US government a favor, but also helped friendly countries a great favor, and it is by no means a loss-making deal.

Although the number of soldiers put into the battlefield at the end of the war was not as good as that of Austria-Hungary and Italy, it participated in the war for far more time than other Allied countries other than Germany, and the military casualties and material consumption during the war were second only to Germany, so it directly received 59.7 billion from the total war reparations of 668.3 billion marks, and then liquidated the arms purchase funds, and the German government transferred the 30.5 billion marks of war reparations attributable to its own country to Ireland, so that the war reparations of Ireland due to the United States reached 90.2 billion marks. That's the equivalent of Ireland's GDP for more than three years!

"Since Japan's invasion of China, many countries, including the United States, have provided assistance to the Chinese government. Your Majesty should be well aware of our current situation, with huge war reparations and huge government debts, there is really no way for us to do justice when we are in crisis. Pratt said with a sad face that the United States was suffering.

Natsuki picked up the teacup noncommittally.

The Americans didn't know what the double champion thought, so they had to keep their heads down and drink tea silently.

After a few moments, Natsuki asked, "But after buying these million rifles and a billion rounds of ammunition, how do we get them into the hands of the Chinese government army?" ”

This is not something that Americans should worry about, but with the foreshadowing of the earlier meeting, Pratt is well aware of the real purpose of this deal, and he said slowly: "If your country is willing to pay the corresponding freight on the basis of the transaction price, we can find a way to send these firearms and ammunition to China, but we will not bear the losses incurred during transportation." ”

"Do you already have a specific transportation plan?" Natsuki looked at Pratt.

Pratt hesitated for a moment, then replied truthfully, "We'll figure it out." ”

Natsuki shook his head. The net weight of one million Springfield rifles is 3,500 tons, plus the wooden box packaging is 5,000 tons, and the net weight of one billion rounds of ammunition is 25,000 tons, counting the packaging of about 30,000 tons, a large ocean-going freighter can be loaded, and it does not take much effort to transport them to China in peacetime, but the problem is that the Japanese army has now occupied all the ports along the coast of China, and whether it is carried out by ship and land transportation in the name of the Central Powers or neutral countries, the probability of such a large number of arms not being detected is basically zero. If the ship is sunk in transit, the ordnance and ammunition on board will be wasted out of thin air at most, and if it is intercepted by the Japanese army, it will become a murder weapon against the Chinese army and the massacre of the Chinese people. This is Natsuki's biggest concern at the moment.

"It looks like you're going to have a hard time helping." Natsuki said in a low tone, "Then, we can only accept a total price of no more than $3,500, and all payments will be written off from the war reparations that your country should pay to our country. ”

Pratt spread his hands and said with great regret: "But this is not a purely commercial transaction, but a mutually beneficial cooperation." ”

Xia Shu put down the teacup and said quickly: "If it is calculated based on the weapons and equipment actually delivered to the Chinese army within a year, one million rifles and one billion rounds of ammunition, I can accept the price of 70 million US dollars." ”

The two U.S. Army officers were surprised to hear this, but Pratt's expression was calm. As a veteran admiral of the U.S. Navy, he served as president of the Naval War College, commander-in-chief of the fleet, chief of military orders, and other important positions. In addition to the extremely risky sea and land transportation, there are currently two feasible routes, one is to enter from northwest China through Soviet Russia, and the other is to enter from western China through the turbulent West Asia, these two routes have a considerable mileage without railways and modern highways, which has caused a situation of high transportation costs and low efficiency, and it is not surprising that the transportation costs are equal to or even exceed the price of goods.

After a moment of silence, Pratt asked rhetorically, "Perhaps...... With His Majesty's extraordinary ingenuity, he has already thought of a solution to the problem? ”

Natsuki said vaguely, "If I were a god, these problems would not be difficult for me at all, but unfortunately I am not." So, there is no better way to solve this thorny problem than political diplomacy. ”

Pratt looked at Natsuki with a confused expression, now that both Soviet Russia and the Ottomans have territories bordering China, it may be a bit troublesome to borrow from Soviet Russia, but there should be no problem for Ireland from the Ottoman border, if the sea route is chosen, then even if the cargo ship is under the banner of the Germans, it is impossible for the Japanese to let it go without inspection. What kind of mysterious means is the so-called political and diplomatic strategy of the double champion?

(End of chapter)