After Wang Guorui began the plan to exchange rifles for soldiers, officials throughout Taiwan began to recruit qualified soldiers for Wang Guorui, and Wang Guorui's volunteer soldiers increased rapidly. And Wang Guorui was also happy, because with the increase in soldiers, his troops soon expanded to a regiment. Now Wang Guorui has gradually expanded into a regiment under the condition of such a rapid increase in troops, and Wang Guorui has also become a small warlord with more than 3,000 people. And this kind of army is still continuing to expand, and the next problem Wang Guorui encountered is even more of a headache.

"Hey, there's not enough money!" Wang Guorui said with a headache.

Wang Guorui didn't know that firewood and rice were expensive, and he thought that it would be good for the minecart to get 1250 yuan every six hours, but now it seems that this minecart is still too small. It took six hours to get 1,250 yuan, and now with the expansion of the troops, whether it is the Red Police soldiers or all kinds of ordnance and equipment, it is strictly insufficient. The unit has been expanded into a regiment, and according to the foreign establishment, there should be an artillery battalion equipped with a 75 mm caliber, which should be equipped with field artillery and mountain artillery. But now Wang Guorui's infantry regiment, although there is an artillery battalion, there is not a single artillery.

The current Red Alert base is used to produce Red Alert soldiers, as well as various soldiers' light weapons. These weapons have already devoured all the wealth obtained from mining by mining those minecarts, and there is no other money left to buy artillery. You must know that a 75 mm caliber field gun or mountain gun in the Red Police Base costs as much as 1,300 yuan, and this price cannot be obtained for a single mining. If the mountain cannon is purchased, it is equivalent to the loss of thirteen Red Alert soldiers, which means that the standard version of the equipment of the thirteen soldiers is missing. And what this brings is that a squad has one less qualified squad leader, and the combat effectiveness of a squad decreases. This made Wang Guorui very hesitant, whether to buy artillery or soldiers? This is a difficult topic to choose, so Wang Guorui also has a headache.

Now the expansion speed of Wang Guorui's troops depends entirely on the expansion speed of financial resources, but there is only one mining vehicle, and Wang Guorui is unable to produce mining vehicles. If mining trucks are still mining at such a slow pace, there is no way to raise enough funds for development.

"Hey, there's no money! It seems that we have to find a way to open up financial resources! Wang Guorui thought helplessly.

At this time, the master said: "Wang Zhixian, Governor Tang Jingsong is looking for you and asking you to go to Taipei to meet him!" ”

"Tang Jingsong looking for me?" Wang Guorui didn't know what this Tang Jingsong wanted to do.

Since Tang Jingsong wants to see him, Wang Guorui can't help but go. Because Tang Jingsong is the governor of Taiwan after all, as long as Wang Guorui does not think about rebellion for a day, it means that he cannot ignore Tang Jingsong's order. What's more, Wang Guorui will not rebel now, because if he rebels at this time, it will be the relatives and the enemies who will be happy, and the losses will be the armed forces of his own country. However, although Wang Guorui was going to see Tang Jingsong, he was not unprepared, and he also wanted to take some people well.

Wang Guorui selected more than 20 soldiers, all of whom were elite scouts among the Red Guard soldiers, and then asked them to put down their spears, each with two pistols and followed Wang Guorui to Taipei. Although Wang Guorui didn't think that Tang Jingsong would attack him, after all, he was not afraid of 10,000, and he was afraid of what happened! So Wang Guorui took more than 20 soldiers to avoid all kinds of accidents.

Hsinchu County is very close to Taipei, and it doesn't take a day or a night to get there. And Wang Guorui came to Taipei and met Tang Jingsong very smoothly. Tang Jingsong, Wang Guorui also knows something, he was originally a person who has been a small Beijing official for 18 years, he has been in the capital for 18 years, and he is depressed. Later, during the Sino-French War, he took the initiative to ask to appease Liu Yongfu to resist France, and this was also a period of incense between Tang Jingsong and Liu Yongfu. Later, after the end of the Sino-French War, Tang Jingsong was transferred to Taiwan to serve as the governor of Taiwan.

At that time, Taiwan was not a province, but a province under Fujian. Later, Japan and the United States began to find ways to occupy the island of Taiwan, and the Manchu government began to attach importance to Taiwan. Because of Taiwan's growing importance, the Manchu government began to ponder the creation of a province in Taiwan. The establishment of Taiwan as a province has greatly enhanced Taiwan's status and has also attracted the attention of the whole country. After all, a province and a state capital obviously have completely different status significance, and this is also a choice made by the Manchu government in order to better protect Taiwan.

After that, this Tang Jingsong was also prosperous in official fortune, taking advantage of the opportunity of Taiwan's gradual establishment of a province, and then from Taiwan Province, he was promoted to the prefect of Taiwan, and later came to Taiwan as a political envoy, and finally became the governor of Taiwan. And this process also came step by step, making him a feudal official. However, Wang Guorui knows that this Tang Jingsong, the governor of Taiwan, will not be long in time, and Taiwan will be ceded soon, and in the end, he, the governor, will also end up dying after living idle for several years.

"I've seen the Governor!" Wang Guorui took the initiative to salute and said.

Tang Jingsong said lightly: "No courtesy! ”

"What is the important task of summoning the lower officials?" Wang Guorui asked.

Tang Jingsong took the initiative to ask: "Recently, your Taiwan Anti-Japanese Volunteer Army seems to have expanded very rapidly, right?" ”

"Well, it's okay, do you have anything to ask?" Wang Guorui asked.

Tang Jingsong drank a cup of tea, and then took the initiative to say: "Your recent army should have more than 3,000 people, can you afford it?" ”

Wang Guorui immediately looked complaining and said, "Lord Tang! Xiaguan has recently raised soldiers to cry for his father and mother, and Hsinchu County is a small county that can't afford too many soldiers at all. And more than 3,000 soldiers are already the limit of our Hsinchu County, and I have been trying to get money all this time, and if there is no money, the hearts of the army will be scattered. But now that the Japanese may land in Taiwan at any time, as an official of the imperial court, I must be responsible for defending the territory, no matter how difficult it is, I must grit my teeth and support it! ”

And Tang Jingsong then asked: "How is the armament of your army?" What kind of rifle are you holding? ”

Wang Guorui's eyes rolled, and he immediately said: "Lord Tang, those troops have been able to handle one gun per person, but they are all the tattered things of those Westerners ninety years ago, and they are better than nothing!" ”

Of course, Wang Guorui will not say that he uses the most advanced rifle of the Germans, and even the Germans are not equipped with them. If Wang Guorui dares to say this, then this Tang Jingsong will inevitably order Wang Guorui to hand over the rifle immediately, and Wang Guorui will not hand it over at that time? If Wang Guorui didn't want to hand it over at that time, it would be forced to rebel. So of course Wang Guorui can't say it, otherwise he will be unlucky. Wang Guorui knew that he was holding a rifle to change soldiers, which was already very much attracting the attention of others. Therefore, Wang Guorui means that he uses the kind of rifle flintlock pistol that foreigners used ninety years ago, so that everyone thinks that these things are tasteless and it is a pity to abandon them. This kind of ninety-year-old rifle was also tasteless for Manchu officials, and it was a pity to abandon it. Although they will be a little curious, they will not be able to investigate it thoroughly.

"Where did you get these things?" Tang Jingsong asked.

Wang Guorui's nonsense came as soon as he opened his mouth, saying: "I have hooked up with a Westerner arms smuggler, and he can help me get a lot of foreigner arms, and he is willing to sell them to me at a relatively low price." And as much as you want, this old rifle from ninety years ago is what he sold me. ”

"Oh? Where's the smuggler, can you introduce me? Tang Jingsong asked.

Wang Guorui immediately said: "Lord Tang, no! Those arms smugglers are doing illegal work, even in the West, and it is very taboo. And they are elusive, they have great powers, and every time they come to me, not me. Every time they delivered, they asked me to give him a list of goods for the next transaction, and he delivered it soon after. ”

"Will he be able to get his hands on the most advanced rifle?" Tang Jingsong asked.

Wang Guorui immediately said: "Yes, but it costs one hundred and fifty silver dollars!" It's too expensive for us to use, so I'm only able to use the old rifles I used from ninety years ago. ”

Wang Guorui directly increased the price of the Mauser 98 rifle by five times, anyway, he meant that he didn't want to sell it. And Tang Jingsong also frowned, obviously a little surprised by this, but one hundred and fifty silver dollars is also very expensive.

"What about your ninety-year-old rifle?" Tang Jingsong asked.

Wang Guorui began to ponder in his heart, how much is the asking price. Because these old-fashioned rifles from 90 years ago, they were all sold by the pound. A silver dollar can get more than a dozen, and this kind of tattered kingdom rui is not rare. But if you can use it to get some money, that's fine.

"About ten silver dollars a handful!" Wang Guorui said carefully.

Tang Jingsong then muttered alone: "Ten silver dollars, if you take them to the mainland, then you can sell them for at least thirty taels of silver." ”

Wang Guorui secretly scolded himself for asking for a low price, but since the words came out, it was naturally impossible to retort. However, if it is ten silver dollars a hand, then he will have almost a hundred times the profit, after all, these tattered rifles are sold by the pound in the barracks.

"Okay, you can help me tell the smuggler from the West that we in Taiwan are going to buy these rifles in large quantities. We will eat as much as they bring. After all, how can we not do such a lucrative business? Tang Jingsong said.