Song Biao is not the kind of person who will often rush with blood, he is calm, he is alternative, he has a stubborn and unique understanding of the rules of the world and the laws of human competition, but he also has his own bottom line, and it is always stupid to touch this bottom line.

A few months ago, he reached an agreement with the French company Schneider's agent, the French company Fled, stipulating that the French side would provide him with a long-term supply of 75mm grenades at a price of 17.5 francs (about 5 taels of silver) each, and that he had booked a contract for a production line of 40,000 rounds of artillery shells per year and related technical training.

The French initially signed this contract because they had misestimated the Russo-Japanese war and had a large stockpile of artillery shells in the warehouse of a foreign company in Shanghai, but after supplying 20,000 shells to digest these stocks, Schneider immediately tore up the contract, raised the price of each shell to 33 francs during the Russo-Japanese War, and demanded that the Northeast New Army sign a new contract for a total of 400,000 shells for three years at a time, because the original contract did not clearly stipulate the total amount of trade between the two sides, and in principle did not constitute a breach of contract.

Song Biao could not understand what Schneider thought from a commercial point of view, and the only answer was that the French regarded the Chinese as an inferior people who could not even produce screws, and had no choice but to accept the terms of civilized people.

Therefore, Song Biao decided to completely change the supplier at one time, and decided the matter in a way that rejected public opinion, and refused to negotiate any form of arms business with Schneider and Fleder Foreign Company.

Song Biao doesn't care about the other party's momentary high price, what he cares about is that the other party's stubborn prejudice has lowered their IQ, so that they will continue to do all kinds of stupid things.

In the past two days, the logistics office of the Northeast New Army has been sending telegrams to various [***] fire companies, asking about the price of 75mm howitzers, and is willing to adopt a long-term contract to purchase a minimum of 100,000 rounds of artillery shells per year in the next five years.

On the afternoon of that day, Masayuki Akiyama, chief of staff of the First Fleet of the Navy, suddenly arrived in Mukden City, asked to see Song Biao outside the military headquarters, and asked the sentry to declare that he had come to thank Song Biao for saving his brother Akiyama Yoshiko.

When Shu Fangde reported the matter to Song Biao, Song Biao looked a little incredible, and at this time, he was comparing the reply orders sent by several American companies with Liu Gengyun, who was in charge of the logistics department.

The New Haven Gunpowder Company of Connecticut had the lowest offer, offering a long-term contract of $4.50 per shell, but not ocean freight. If you include the freight, it is still roughly lower than Schneider's earliest quotation.

The problem is that this company does not have a high reputation, it can only be regarded as one of thousands of firearms and artillery companies in the United States, and whether the other party has the ability to fulfill a huge contract worth millions of dollars is a question.

Suddenly heard that someone like Akiyama Shinyuki was coming, Song Biao must have been very strange, he really couldn't think of any reason for the other party to come, was it just because he didn't shoot the other party's brother when he was in Shen Danbao?

What a strange thing!

Song Biao had no reason to refuse to meet with the number one hero and genius staff officer of the Saimoto Navy's victory, and after a short moment of consideration, he decided to personally greet the famous Admiral Saimoto named Mayuki Akiyama.

When Song Biao changed into a new military uniform, Akiyama Mayuki had been picked up by the carriage of the military garrison battalion to the military headquarters office area, and Song Biao hurriedly walked down with several staff adjutants, just in time to meet Akiyama Mayuki who was wearing a white naval system.

Although it is said that Akiyama Shinyuki himself is a myth that he constantly myths, there are two points that are very special: first, he once had been active in the Northeast for a long time and served as a spy, and second, he once served as the military attache in the United States, these two points determined that Akiyama Shinyuki was not only a naval staff officer, but also had various necessary elements for espionage activities, which was also the reason why he later secretly contacted Sun Yat-sen on behalf of the Saymoto Navy and supported Sun Yat-sen in various ways to carry out the revolution.

The etiquette requirement of the army has always been to respect those with high ranks, regardless of whether they belong to a country or not, even if they meet a general with a higher rank than themselves in a prisoner of war camp, they should still salute first.

Of course, my country is not doing very well in this regard, we are very simple, and we respect you very much when we send a bowl of rice.

Seeing Song Biao, Akiyama Shinyuki saluted first, and only bowed down after Song Biao returned the salute and said: "Thank you for your benevolence and righteousness in the war, I also came here to convey my respect to you for my brother, although that guy doesn't like to say that he is in Hunjiang, and he is very uncomfortable being placed under house arrest and other angry words, but he still respects your move not to kill prisoners of war." ”

Jiang Fangzhen accompanied Song Biao and briefly translated Song Biao.

Song Biao nodded slightly, and said, "I'm glad to have the opportunity to meet with your brothers, I think you may not just come here for this matter, please come to my reception room to talk." ”

"Then bother you!"

Akiyama Shinyuki replied immediately, bowing down to thank him, obviously he could understand Kanto dialect, but he might have spoken it very poorly.

This is something that Song Biao has never thought of before, but this guy has always been known for being extremely smart, it is said that when he was studying at the Navy Non-commissioned Officer Academy, although he usually studied very hard, he was always known for accurately guessing the examiner's test questions and getting high scores.

It is true that a large number of such eccentric and extremely intelligent people were born in this era.

Song Biao sighed in his heart that this kind of thing made him very unhappy, and still invited Akiyama Shinyuki Navy Nakasa to go to the reception room of the agency together, and negotiate with the other party here, in line with the stubborn idea of "if you can't share the weal and woe with the soldiers, then you can't let the soldiers kill the enemy with you", Song Biao hardly has any additional decoration in his own agency building, even the general reception room is simply like a teahouse on Northeast Street.

Here he invited Akiyama Shinyuki to sit down and have tea first, and then talk about problems and so on.

Akiyama Mayuki obviously didn't expect that this was the reception room of the Northeast New Army, and he used a very special large tea jar to pour tea for him, which made him feel very nonsense, but very interesting.

So, there is always something more special about someone very special.

Akiyama Mayuki thought about it for a while, looked at the reception room, and said to Song Biao very frankly: "To be honest, your reception room is really a bit simple, but I heard from the group of fools in the army that when you were in Liaoyang, you took away tens of millions of yuan in military expenses, so you shouldn't be so short of money, right?" ”

Song Biao snorted, and didn't intend to deny it, he crossed his legs, sat in a wide chair and drank the strong tea in the big tea pot, and after a while, he said to Akiyama Makochi: "All that money is used to invest in factories, and there is also a school to run, except for the cost of military uniforms, training and soldiers' food, the rest of the money that can be saved, I have saved every silver dollar." Even those bayonets, kettles, and even bedding that you threw away in the past have been reused by me, and it is shameful to waste, especially for a country like China, where there are so many people that it is difficult to even have enough to eat. ”

"Ahh

Akiyama Shinyuki looked more and more surprised, and said after a while: "Your Excellency the Governor, I have never been able to understand how you defeated my eldest brother, but at this moment, I think I have understood, although that guy is also a stingy person, if he has a bowl to eat, then he will definitely not let me buy another bowl, but compared to you, it should still be a little worse." ”

Song Biao laughed, he laughed a lot, but he had to say that these genius generals were really a group of very strange people, and their speaking routines were very special.

He thought for a moment, put the teacup aside, and said to Akiyama Shinyuki: "Akiyama Nakasa, I know that you have previously worked as a spy in China and a military attache in the United States, and you must have a special job this time, so please don't go around in circles with me, time is a bit too extravagant for me." In other words, I am a person who would rather waste time lying on the Northeast Kang for a day than gossip with others. ”

Akiyama Mayuki sighed, coughed dryly with a smile, and said, "Then let's get down to business, Your Excellency the Governor, first of all, I want to state that those fools from the War Department commissioned me this time, because they really want to buy back a batch of 31-year-old rapid-fire guns from you. If our information is correct, Schneider will open its mouth to us like a lion, and quote you and your army a new price as if jokingly, in short, we will all think that the French must be crazy. So, although we have had fierce exchanges of fire in the war before, now that the war is over, let's consider our real needs, you definitely don't need so many artillery, and our poor army idiots are almost out of artillery to train artillery non-commissioned officers, in the case of financial constraints on both sides, please allow us to exchange shells for some artillery, plus the plan to exchange bullets for rifles, this is a very good thing for both sides, there is really no need for both sides to be slaughtered by the French, This kind of thing is driving the Army Office idiots crazy. I have even heard that Yoshimasa Oshima, the new Minister of War, is already roaring about preparing for a private fight with the French Minister to the Ambassador. ”

Song Biao sighed, always feeling that this matter must have his share.

He guessed that the situation of the matter might be like this, first of all, the French gave Yue himself a very high price, this is because the French held a large amount of debts and forced Yue Ben to accept their various contracts, and Yue Ben couldn't bear it, so he decided to pull Song Biao into the water together, and deliberately leaked all kinds of information and intelligence of the Northeast New Army to the French, so that Schneider Company suddenly discovered that Song Biao was also a big fat sheep.

In addition, it is really difficult for Song Biao to imagine why the French Schneider company has undergone such a big change in a short period of time, a few months ago, the Schneider company was also trying to strive for long-term cooperation with the Northeast New Army, and did not hesitate to lower the price of equipment transfer and technical training, squeezing Germany out of the competition.

The result is obvious, Schneider company should have finally discovered that Song Biao's Northeast New Army had no way to cooperate with other companies except them, considering that the Northeast New Army had almost picked up more than 400 75mm mountain guns worth tens of millions of taels of silver for nothing, it was really not fun not to slaughter the Northeast New Army with a knife, and, after all, it was all a benefit, and it was entirely possible for the Northeast New Army to accept this knife.

When Akiyama Mayuki appeared in front of Song Biao, Song Biao figured out the mind of Schneider's company, and it turned out that he just had enough information.

Damn, they're all a bunch of brutes.

Song Biao thought for a moment in his heart, and always felt that this matter was really difficult to do, and he promised that the French would suffer a loss, and he promised that he would also suffer a loss, no matter how he chose, he was very unhappy.

After thinking about it, Song Biao and Akiyama Shinyuki asked, "What is the situation of your offer?" ”

Akiyama Mayuki immediately took out a printed draft of the draft contract from the brown document bag he was carrying, and handed it to Song Biao with respectful respect, saying: "Although the people in the War Department have always been known for being stupid, I have seen their offers, and it is indeed rare to be so kind and sincere, so since I have come to ask you for them to come and ask you, I can only ask you to fulfill it." ”

"That's it!"

Song Biao also felt that Akiyama Mayuki's logic was very strange, but he was still very curious to take a look at the preparatory contract drawn up by the Ministry of War, and read it very carefully, in terms of terms, it was indeed very good.

They hope to redeem 162 31-year-old rapid-fire guns, 150 Hatch Chase machine guns, 40,000 30-year-old rifles, and 12,000 war horses from the Northeast New Army, and as a condition for redemption, they will supply the Northeast New Army with a total price of about 5.6 million taels of ammunition and equipment, including the Murata Type 22 rifle and ammunition production equipment that the Northeast New Army has eliminated, and some of the transferred 75mm grenade production machines. As well as all the corresponding training, it was agreed that in this series of state-run arsenals, workers appointed by the Northeast New Army would be arranged for internships for a period of three years.

In addition, the army plans to exchange more than 6,000 uncastrated stallions for 12,000 war horses, and appoint technicians from the War Horse Breeding Section to work in the Northeast New Army to engage in the corresponding personnel training affairs and implement a long-term war horse cooperation plan.

The advantage of such cooperation is that neither side needs to spend additional foreign exchange expenditures, which is particularly critical to the capital, and when the capital has to carry out large-scale disarmament and reduce spending to cope with the huge national debt, physical transactions are always the best option to avoid silver and foreign exchange outflows.

Disarmament does not mean that the army must be abandoned, but at least it is necessary to maintain the original establishment of 12 divisions and regiments, but it is necessary to reduce the personnel by half and ensure the regular equipment of rifles, artillery, machine guns, and so on, so as to retain the basic defense and deterrence of the homeland, including maintaining the regular training of the troops.

If the problem of lack of artillery and war horses cannot be solved for a long time, the army will seriously lack qualified artillery and cavalry in the next five years, and at least one cavalry brigade will be retained.

Just on paper, the "Army Equipment Redemption Plan" submitted by the Ministry of War is still very generous, and it is also an excellent choice for the Northeast New Army, and all the details formulated by the other side are very perfect, and it is obviously very well thought out for a long time, and the plan is very detailed, and there is a perfect budget for how many technicians and shepherds to be trained for the Northeast New Army every year, and they are willing to fully open the Zhenwu School, the Non-commissioned Officer School, and the Army University to the Northeast New Army, and the two sides can negotiate the number of overseas students. In particular, the opening of the Imperial Army University was still very attractive to Song Biao.

After carefully reading this "Draft Plan for the Redemption of the Army's Equipment", Song Biao pondered for a moment, and in these few minutes, he assessed the possible surnames in all aspects, and then replied to Akiyama Shinyuki: "I think this plan is still good, but we need to continue to consider the details, so let's do it, please rest in our department for two days first, and let me further discuss in the staff office before answering." ”

Akiyama Shinyuki smiled and said, "Of course, this is a very reasonable thing, only those fools in the War Department will think that you will agree to this plan with a slap in the head, but I would like to take the opportunity to visit your army and the Far Eastern Army Non-commissioned Officer School that you preside." ”

Song Biao didn't intend to refuse, and said: "Very good, I will let someone arrange the itinerary, then we won't waste our time, I will treat you to a meal of Kanto people's farmhouse food at noon, and arrange someone to accompany you to visit our army in the afternoon, and visit the non-commissioned officer school tomorrow." We'll talk about that separately tomorrow night. ”

Akiyama Mayuki couldn't help but admire: "Your Excellency the Governor, you are really an efficient general, I really admire you, in this book, we call you 'Shina God General', although my brother always refuses to admit such praise, but I really think this is the fairest evaluation, if it weren't for this praise of you, those generals of the army would probably have to dig a hole in the open space outside the shrine and bury themselves." ”

Song Biao smiled, and then got up to send off the guests.

After sending out Akiyama Shinyuki, an extremely clever naval lieutenant, and specially arranging for Shu Fangde, who had an excellent level of speaking, to accompany him, Song Biao immediately called Jiang Fangzhen, Cai Yi, Jiang Yanxing, and Zhao Tingzhu to his office, and asked them to take turns to read the transaction contract submitted by the War Department.

Although there are more and more generals under Song Biao's command, and even Wu Peifu is deliberately detained from the Russian prisoner of war camp, the real most trusted people around him are the original group of old generals.

After reading this contract, everyone agreed very much, and even Cai Yi, who had always been more wary of Yueben, couldn't help but propose to Song Biao first: "Junzuo, I think this contract is really good, but I believe that Yueben can continue to make concessions, so we might as well expand the scope of the transaction." For example, we can also select suitable international students from the three eastern provinces and assign them to study in Yueben. For Chinese students, it is still very convenient to study abroad, first of all, the tuition fee is relatively low, and the cost of living may be lower than in China, and secondly, in terms of language, it is very easy to adapt, and most of the textbooks can be directly understood. ”

Song Biao nodded yes.

He had to admit that if China really wanted to develop rapidly, sending a large number of students to Japan was definitely the fastest way, and there was no one.

As for the matter of training technicians for the three eastern provinces proposed by the Ministry of the Army, although the level of military manufacturing is also very low, there is no problem in teaching the three eastern provinces, especially in the field of rifle manufacturing, and cooperation in this regard is still worth considering.

Thinking of these things, Song Biao suddenly felt that he really had to make such a perverted choice all the time in his life?

(To be continued)