Zhao Jian has to admit that since he became an arms dealer, he has become more and more fond of corrupt officials! For no other reason, these guys are easy to buy. Just like the current Ferrari, the other party knew that Italy was about to go to war with Ethiopia, and Zhao's cargo should not be released without careful inspection, but he still opened this pass for his own selfishness.

Perhaps in the eyes of the other party, the victory or loss of this war has long been decided, and Zhao Jian's two hundred boxes of things, even if they are all weapons, cannot make up for the huge gap in military strength between the two countries. Unless he can send a few giant soldiers to Ethiopia, this backward East African country will definitely not be able to escape the clutches of Italy.

With the special pass he had just arrived, Zhao Jian left the Garesa Palace and prepared to return to the port. Along the way, in order not to show his feet, Zhao Jian slowly walked around the local market for a while, and bought a few handicrafts to take back to Hongling as a small gift. By the time he returned to the port, the cargo was almost unloaded.

"Young Master, you're back! What do you think? What's going on with the Governor? ”

"The Governor is very righteous, he gave us a special pass, but it may not be valid for two weeks, so we better hurry up...... The sooner the better! ”

"But young master, we can only hire a donkey cart, can we be in time?"

"Hurry up and hurry, it should be too late, Uncle Qin, you go and urge everyone."

"Alright!"

From Mogadishu across Somalia to Ethiopia, the straight-line distance is about 300 kilometers, but there are many mountain roads in the middle, and even if the donkey cart is tightened, it is estimated that it will take more than a week to complete. When they enter Ethiopia smoothly, as long as they identify themselves to the local army, they can basically deliver the goods and leave.

Counting the crew members who came down together and the coachman who had just been hired, Zhao Jian and his party of 58 people drove 30 carts to the mainland. The two "French temporary workers" on the ship even waved at them in a funny way, not knowing that they had been thrown to the Italians by Zhao Jian as an "outcast".

With the pass specially approved by the governor, the group went out of the city smoothly, but when they got out of the city gate, everyone saw a large line of hanged white people. Zhao Jian only glanced at it, and found that it was a "peer" hanging on his head.

"Master, that's not ......"

"Don't squeak, pretend you don't know."

The group of people hanging on the shelf, Zhao Jian, knew each other, and the other party was a colleague that Zhao Jian met during his "investigation" in the Soviet Union, and he could be regarded as an old-timer, but he never thought that Zaijian noodles would be this scene.

The leader is called Zayinov, a Russian veteran who has been frozen out of Siberia, and he has a good idea of how to hide goods and run away, but he has one thing that should not be done in this business, that is, "stinginess"!

If you can't give bribes, you won't give them, and if you have to give them, you have to find a way not to give them!

Zhao Jian felt that with the urine nature of his "iron rooster", it would definitely be a matter of time before he got rid of it, but now that this word had really come true, he couldn't help but feel embarrassed for it. After all, many people in this industry can't die well!

In just one week, the group crossed Somalia into Ethiopia. During this time, they passed 6 checkpoints, and although they had passes in hand, almost every one of them had to be a little difficult. In the most dangerous time, the Italian soldiers at the outpost asked them to leave two boxes of candied fruit to satisfy their hunger, but Zhao Jian was in a hurry, and proposed to take a little from each box on the grounds that "the number of boxes cannot be less", and gave them the amount of 4 boxes, so that the boxes were not taken away by the other party.

On the evening of the same day that the convoy entered the Ethiopian border, it finally met a local patrol. As soon as Zhao Jian saw the other party coming from afar, he took out the "power of attorney" that had been prepared long ago from his shirt pocket.

This power of attorney was approved by the Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie and was a "joint token" handed over to various arms dealers along with the order. Since the outbreak of the conflict, although the other side has pinned more hopes on the mediation of the League of Nations to resolve the war, the "second-hand preparation" has not been left behind.

As a backward landlocked country, Ethiopia has almost no industrial capacity and no access to the sea. There were only a few antique-class spaceships from the 18th century in the country, while Italy completed the blockade of Ethiopian airspace with only three light cruisers and several expulsions.

"Tang people? An important cargo ordered by Emperor Bixia? ”

"Yes, Mr. Captain."

"Then come with us."

Perhaps having received a notice a long time ago, the leader of the patrol team glanced at the power of attorney twice, and then took his subordinates to escort Zhao's convoy back the same way. On the way, Zhao Jian followed behind these Ethiopian regular soldiers, silently looked at their weapons and equipment, and soon came to a conclusion in his heart.

If there is a conflict between himself and the other party, as long as he doesn't fight with bayonets and can pull away a little, Zhao Jian's men can completely annihilate the more than 100 barefoot Black Shu millet in 10 minutes. This is not due to arrogance, but to the disparity in equipment between the two sides.

When he went out, he was doing the most dangerous business, and Zhao Jian had invested heavily in his own people's equipment.

The 12 mercenaries under Zhao Jian, led by Di Rui, are all equipped with "fast and slow machines", that is, Mauser M1932 submachine pistols, and each person has two hands. They also had grenades, smoke grenades and explosives, as well as two Swiss K31 sniper rifles equipped with 3.5x scopes. This was specially obtained by Zhao Jian, but unfortunately there is no reliable sniper yet.

On the other hand, these Ethiopian soldiers, more than 100 people, only have more than 30 rifles, and half of them are breech-loaded birds, and the rest are carrying spears. There are no light machine guns, no mortars, and these guys just take off their dirty military uniforms, and they probably don't look any different from ordinary African natives.

According to Zhao Jian's prior investigation, Ethiopia's military liliang is relatively capable of fighting the 25,000-strong royal guards. Their equipment was purchased from Britain and Belgium, and they were relatively well equipped with light and heavy weapons, and even a few British-style light armored aircraft, but these indigenous militias in front of them did not have that treatment.

"That's it, I'm going to fight Italy! What's the difference with sending you to death? ”

"Shhh~! Lao Xue, don't talk too much, it's not good for them to hear it. ”

"What are you afraid of, they can't understand Chinese."

Hearing Xue Ba's complaint, Zhao Jian hinted that he should not talk much, but the other party was quite unimpressed, but Jin Zhengshu, who followed closely, unceremoniously made up for his fellow countryman.

"But they only have to look at your lewd look to know that you are speaking ill of them."

"Tsk! Lao Tzu has a black face and a good heart, unlike you, a kind face and a black heart, you pervert who controls young girls! ”

"You know a basket, I call it 'love the young', unlike you who are rare old ladies with pleats."

"Hey! If you call it love for the young, I will call it respecting the elderly, the older you are, the more flavorful! ”

"You two tease me all to shut up, my traditional Chinese virtues are not for the two of you to practice so badly!"

Glaring viciously at this pair of "respecting the old and loving the young", Zhao Jian couldn't wait to throw these two undisciplined guys out immediately, while the patrol captain who couldn't understand Chinese looked at these strange Tang people with a strange face.

Soon the convoy was in front of a military camp that is now the front line of the Egyptian army, on the back of a large mountain 55 kilometers east of the southern Ethiopian town of Negle, where about 30,000 soldiers are stationed. Although they are numerous, their equipment is extremely rudimentary, more than half of the soldiers still use cold weapons, and heavy weapons are even less pitiful.

If you pull out the big man among the short, Ethiopia is indeed a first-class power in East Africa.

Ethiopia's Emperor, Haile Selassie, was an idealistic reformer, who registered and abolished slavery at home and worked to build his own country, the only African country in East Africa to retain its political independence (which had actually been carved up economically). In the minds of many black people abroad, this is the holy place they are fascinated by, and Haile Selassie is worshipped as the "Messiah" of black people.

Although Haile Selassie is not dark!

After entering the barracks, Zhao Jian hoped to hand over the goods as soon as possible, and as long as he got the acceptance form, Zhao Jian could receive the remaining balance from the Swiss bank as an intermediary. But what they didn't expect was that the officer did not give them a certificate right away, but conveyed an invitation from Emperor Bixia to Zhao Jian.

"Your Emperor Bixia is in the barracks now?"

"Yes, Bixia happened to be patrolling the barracks today, and I heard that you came from afar, so I want to express my gratitude in person."

"Uh...... Isn't that right? ”

"Please don't refuse."

In this way, Zhao Jian was invited to the Ethiopian emperor. This middle-aged uncle didn't seem surprised when he saw Zhao Jian so young, after all, there are many people who are married under the age of 10 in the local area, Zhao Jian is 14 years old this year, and it stands to reason that even children should be able to play soy sauce.

After a few brief polite words between the two sides, Selassie I brought the conversation to the main topic, and sure enough, as Zhao Jian expected, the other party's purpose was not just to thank him in person.

"Mr. Zhuge , I hope to have some more orders, I don't know what you think?"

Selassie I had distributed a total of hundreds of orders before, and less than 30 were willing to accept orders, but so far only three of them could be delivered, including Zhao Jian, and the number of those two people was very small. In addition, Zhao Jian and his gang came from the territory of the Italians, and such a comparison between the two boxes suddenly highlighted Zhao Jian's ability.

In fact, this is a misunderstanding caused by pure habitual thinking. Italy was indeed Ethiopia's main enemy, but Britain and France, driven by appeasement, were also blockading Ethiopia and working more rigorously than "stupid", which led to the end of the arms traffickers who wanted to enter Ethiopia from the British and French colonies.

"Do you still want a rifle and bullets?"

"Nope! I want to order some heavy weapons this time, can you get me artillery? ”

"Uh...... That's a bit difficult! ”

"Price is not an issue."

"But it's really not about the price, Bixia!"

Heavy weapons are not as small in size, light in weight, and easy to conceal as light weapons. A rifle is only 3 or 5 kilograms, and a machine gun is only a dozen kilograms, but even if a cannon is a 37-mm small-caliber rifle gun, the weight is dozens or hundreds, and a large-caliber howitzer can even exceed a ton, so the difficulty of smuggling can be imagined.

"To tell the truth, heavy weapons have always been a shortcoming in our armaments, in case the League of Nations mediation fails in the future, the soldiers of our army can only use flesh and blood to resist the aircraft artillery of the Italians, so I need to strengthen the armament as soon as possible."

"Hence the need for cannons, huh?"

"Yes, the more the merrier! Therefore, I do not limit the quantity of this order, how much you can ship to me, I will accept all the orders, and I will never break my promise! ”

Reaching out to the attendants to bring the tray over, Selassie I peeled off the red cloth to reveal a pyramid-shaped pile of gold nuggets underneath. Emperor Haier stretched out his hand to Zhao Jian and asked him to take a look, Zhao Jian weighed it, and the piece weighed almost half a kilogram, and then Selassie I quoted his price.

"1 rifle under 57 mm and 5 pieces, 57 ~ 105 mm 10 pieces and 1 gun, more than 105 mm, I will give you 30 pieces for one. I'll buy as much as you can bring at this price, and I'll never break my word! ”

In an instant, Zhao Jian felt the unprecedented "power of local tyrants", and the price offered by Haile Selassie was more than ten times higher than the normal price, which also proved from the side how serious the blockade of Ethiopia was, and the other party had begun to exchange important gold reserves for artillery.

"Bixia, I have to admit that the price you offered is really attractive, but if I let me say in good conscience, the price you offered is really a bit excessive."

"I know this very well, I have been to Western Europe, and I have also been to your motherland Datang, and I know what the real price of a cannon is. But I also know that I can't buy these things from regular sources now, and you have to risk your lives to bring the arms here, and the extra money is the reward I pay you for your life! ”

Feeling the heavy weight in his hands, the temptation of the gold nugget made Zhao Jian's heart struggle fiercely. The war meant that Ethiopia was a lucrative market, but it was also an easy pit to fall into. Picking up gold nuggets from the fire pit without causing you to burn yourself requires a lot of skill, but luck is also crucial.

Zhao Jian, who was in thought, was silent for a long time, during which Selassie I did not disturb him and patiently gave him time to think about it. At this time, several palace attendants walked in with dinner plates, Zhao Jian looked up and meowed, his eyes immediately fixed on a goblet, and suddenly thought of something.

"Bixia, do you need a lightweight mortar?"