The 1,000-ton steamship of the British Taikoo Steamship docked at the provincial wharf, carrying a large number of goods and passengers, including 10,000 rifles ordered by Chan.

Shanghai to Jiangdong provincial capital is one of the fixed routes of the Swire Steamship Company, Swire is a veteran British foreign company, there are special berths and warehouses in China's inland river ports, this ship anchored in the provincial capital, unloading passengers and unloading, but the more than 800 boxes of firearms hidden in the bilge have not moved, after refueling coal, the ship will continue to go north.

Responsible for escorting this batch of goods is the deputy general manager of Chuntian Foreign Bank Mu Yichen and Jiangbei logistics director Gong Zijun, two highly educated young people hit it off at first sight, talk very happily, it will take a while for the ship to refuel and unload, Gong Zijun warmly invited Mu Yichen to his alma mater to have a look.

Just as he was about to get off the ship, he suddenly heard a commotion, and then a gunshot rang out, and when he lay on the railing, he saw a man lying on the pier, blood on his white sailor's suit, half of his skull was torn open by a bullet, and the man was dead.

Gong Zijun and Mu Yichen looked at each other, secretly saying that it was not good.

Sure enough, the sirens sounded, the patrol followed, blocked the dock, strictly forbidding the people on board, and the British captain hurriedly disembarked and negotiated with the police before returning.

Mu Yichen hurriedly stepped forward to ask when the ship could be sailed, and the captain said that a sailor had died, and the case was serious, and he was afraid that he would have to stay in the local area for a few days.

"How can this work, we are waiting for this shipment in a hurry." Gong Zijun said urgently.

The captain shrugged: "Sir, it's useless for you to be in a hurry, this is the regulation of the steamship company, and we are obliged to cooperate with the local authorities in investigating the case." ”

Gong Zijun still wanted to argue, but Mu Yichen patted him on the shoulder: "Forget it, it's useless to say it." ”

Back in the cabin, the two discussed and were convinced that this was a ploy by the military envoy Sun, the purpose of which was to prevent the shipment of these guns to Jiangbei, and the danger would increase if the steamer stopped in the provincial capital for one more day.

"At this point, we can only hold the cargo while putting pressure on the steamship company to get off anchor as soon as possible." Gong Zijun said.

Mu Yichen said: "There are masters in the provincial city, they must be able to think of what we can think of, and this British ship is not insured." ”

Gong Zijun changed color and said: "Do they still dare to do anything to the property of the British." ”

Mu Yichen sneered and was silent.

The two didn't have the heart to get off the boat to play, so they lived on the boat to guard the goods, and the two hearts were uneasy, for fear that the provincial army would board the ship and rob them, and at midnight, suddenly the bell rang outside, and Mu Yichen, who was lying in clothes, jumped up and said: "It's not good, it's on fire!" ”

It was the fire alarm bell on the ship, the smoke in the corridor was billowing out, choking people couldn't get out, the two of them soaked their handkerchiefs with tea and covered their noses and rushed out, and saw the sailors extinguishing the fire with a hose under the command of the captain, the location of the fire was probably in the engine room, the fire was not big, and it was quickly extinguished, but unfortunately the machine burned out, and it could not be repaired locally, and it needed to be towed back to Shanghai by barge to repair.

The captain immediately made a decision to move the forty tons of cargo in the bilge to the shore, Gong Zijun and Mu Yichen persuaded each other, and the captain explained to them that the steamship company would send another cargo ship to transport this cargo, and you don't have to worry about it at all.

The two of them had no choice but to watch as the wooden boxes containing rifles were carried by the coolies to the warehouse on the shore.

Gong Zijun sighed: "It's over, this time it's a meat bun beating a dog." ”

The warehouse did not belong to Swire & Co., and the British could no longer help themselves.

The two got off the ship with their luggage and moved to the warehouse to take care of the goods themselves, and they didn't close their eyes for half the night, and in the morning they were tired and stubble, but they still came.

A team of soldiers surrounded the warehouse, and it was Xia Jingqi who led the team, his riding boots were shiny, his military uniform was straight, and his face was radiant, and he didn't look at Mu Gong and the others, walked into the warehouse, picked up a crowbar with his white-gloved hand, personally pried open a wooden box, took out a rifle from it, and laughed: "Hard work, in the end, it's not about making wedding clothes for others." ”

Gong Zijun said: "Adjutant Xia, what do you mean by this, do you know whose goods this is." ”

Xia Jingqi pretended to be surprised: "Oh, isn't this the old classmate Gong Zijun Young Master Gong, which gust of wind blew you here?" ”

Gong Zijun said: "You are not close, let me tell you, this is the arms ordered by the Jiangbei Guardian Army Embassy Office, and your provincial army should not want to get involved." ”

Xia Jingqi sneered: "Of course I know that this is the arms bought by Chen Hujun's envoys, so I came to seal it, the marshal has an order to prohibit all departments of the provincial army from buying arms privately, you are knowingly committing a crime, and you are coming." ”

The soldiers shouted, "Yes! ”

"Seal it for me!" Adjutant Xia gave an order, and the soldiers pounced on them like wolves, put Gong Zijun and Mu Yichen out, and put a seal on the big iron door of the warehouse.

Mu Yichen said awe-inspiringly: "Adjutant Xia, how did you seize my goods today, and how did you send them back obediently another day." ”

Xia Jingqi said with a smile: "This is Manager Mu from Shanghai, he is not too old and not too young, you go back and tell Chen Zikun that this batch of guns has returned to the provincial army, and Sun Dujun asked me to give him a word, just two words: thank you." ”

After saying that, he laughed wildly, leaving a platoon of soldiers at the door of the warehouse to guard, Gong Zijun hated the root of his teeth: "The arms that I finally bought are cheaper than these guys, I'm really angry!" ”

Mu Yichen said: "Let's go, it's useless to stay here." ”

"Where are you going?"

"Back to Shanghai."

Gong Zijun wondered: "You should go back to Jiangbei to report to the big handsome." ”

Mu Yichen said: "You don't have to report to the marshal, they didn't rob our goods, but the goods of American businessmen, and they have their own Americans and Sun Kaiqin to fight a lawsuit." ”

Gong Zijun was even more strange: "Why don't I understand more and more." ”

Mu Yichen said: "When I signed the contract, I guarded against this, and specially added an additional clause, the goods are only ours after they are transported to the Nantai terminal for delivery, and they are still owned by the American businessman before that." ”

……

In the Overseer's Office, Sun Kaiqin was standing in the back garden in a black satin coat with a fox fur collar, with a large wooden box on the ground brought from the dock warehouse, and several American-made M1917 rifles with the US mark had been wiped fresh and placed in front of him.

Sun Dujun was born in the army, and in his early years he was a standard commander in the new army, from the 11mm black medicine Mauser gun to the latest Japanese 38 style, but this American rifle was the first time he saw it, he played with the new shiny rifle, and praised it repeatedly: "The walnut butt is so beautiful, this workmanship, this baked blue, no, the foreigner's stuff is good." ”

Adjutant Xia flattered: "You have a whole ten thousand of such good things." ”

Sun Dujun deliberately asked again: "How much?" ”

"Ten thousand! It's all brand new and unboxed. Xia Jingqi said.

Sun Dujun said: "So, where did so many guns come from? ”

"Hui Dashuai, it is the kid surnamed Chen in Jiangbei who respects your old man, and this batch of firearms is calculated according to the market price, at least one million oceans." Xia Jingqi said.

There was laughter in the back garden, and Duan Haixiang, the commander of the Second Division, laughed and tears came out: "I still think Chen Zikun is a character, it turns out to be a stupid donkey." ”

Sun Kaiqin said: "I also think highly of him, this kid is just a second goods, there may be two more times to charge into battle, play with his brain, he is far behind." As he spoke, he nodded his big fat head complacently.

Everyone was a fart: "The handsome is wise, the handsome is wise." ”

Sun Dujun smiled reservedly, checked the rifle in his hand and said, "Get two guns to play, I'll try the accuracy of this gun." ”

Everyone applauded, and sycophants such as a hundred steps through Yang and Li Guang's rebirth in the world flocked to him.

The guard handed over a row of shiny Mauser 79 bullets, and Sun Kaiqin gestured and said, "It's not like this." ”

Xia Jingqi suddenly realized something, beads of sweat oozed from his forehead, and quickly checked the text on the wooden box, and said, "I used a 30-06 caliber bullet." ”

After all, Sun Dujun was an old soldier, and he sighed: "That's the same as the British." ”

The guns of the Jiangdong Army are very miscellaneous, British, German, Japanese, and Italian goods are available, and soon found five British .30-inch bullets, Sun Dujun skillfully pulled the bolt, loaded the bullet with a leaky clip, and pushed it up with a bang, did not push, and pushed it again, the bullet still did not enter the chamber of the gun, and it could not be pulled out.

"Xiao Xia, take a look at what's going on." Inspector Sun was a little disappointed and threw the gun to Xia Jingqi.

Xia Jingqi tossed for a long time, but he couldn't pull out the bullet stuck in the chamber, and the grappling hook couldn't catch the tail of the British bullet at all.

"Sir, maybe the British bullets can't be used." Xia Jingqi gave up his efforts, he had studied in the academy and knew that there was a difference between point 30 and point 30-06.

"Then find a few Japanese 65 bullets and try it." Sun Kaiqin was not in a hurry to test the gun, but wanted to find out whether this kind of firearm could be used by his army.

Xia Jingqi swallowed hard and said, "Dashuai, this gun uses a bullet of six two in seven millimeters, and it cannot be used in six or five calibers and seven or seven calibers." ”

Sun Kaiqin is not a person who does not learn and does not know anything, he knows some common sense of ordnance, and said: "Oh, that is the same as the bullets of the Russian water." ”

Xia Jingqi stubbornly said: "Although they are all bullets of seven dense miles and sixty-two, the length of the bullet case and the bottom edge are different, so they still can't be used." ”

Sun Kaiqin was faintly annoyed: "Then you kid tell me which bullet can be used." ”

Xia Jingqi said: "The guns of Americans can only use American bullets. ”

"Then go and buy it, buy him a million rounds first, you can't let these 10,000 guns become burning sticks." Sun Kaiqin finally understood that he couldn't use this batch of firearms at all, and his ecstasy was replaced by frustration, his eyebrows were twisted, and his voice was a little more stern.

"Yes!" Xia Jingqi hurriedly stood up and saluted.

Duan Haixiang was a little dumbfounded and said, "Big brother, why don't you use the box cannon to show the brothers how to shoot." ”

Sun Kaiqin waved his hand: "Forget it, I'm not in the mood today." ”

Just as he was about to disperse, the adjutant Zhang Pengcheng came, he observed the words and looked meticulously, and found that the handsome man had a displeased face, so he hid the telegram and did not mention anything.

The next day was the New Year, every household in the provincial capital was busy cleaning, sacrificing to the prince of the stove, preparing New Year's goods, the Overseer's Office was not working, and Director Zhang was busy buying New Year's goods for Sun Overseer's Mansion, and he forgot the telegram when he came and went.

After the New Year, there are six more days to celebrate the old calendar and New Year, all the organs in the provincial capital have entered a state of semi-vacation, the telegraph room is also on vacation, only a duty officer is left to send and receive urgent messages, there are firecrackers on the street from time to time, the New Year's goods in the store are piled up to the door, and the taste of the New Year is getting stronger and stronger.

In the Adjutant General's Office, Zhang Pengcheng was racking his brains to figure out which brand of rouge gouache to buy for the aunts and wives of the Overseers, when suddenly the door of the office was pushed open, and an officer rushed in and said, "Oh no, the American gunboats are coming!" ”