In the middle of the night, Cassigulam is quiet, and the slender peninsula of Santa Ildefonso stretches like a sword across a huge bay, surrounded by cliffs and rocky reefs.

It was supposed to be the dead of night, but a bonfire suddenly lit up on the shore near the sea, and the sea breeze swept by, and the flames were about to burn more intensely, reflecting the slightest detail within ten meters.

Liu Hengzhen found a big stone and took out a cigarette from his pocket and lit it, originally he didn't smoke, but since Sloe built a cigarette factory not long ago, he gradually got used to this faint smell of tobacco.

Behind him, Wen Xiu stood solemnly with several nighthawks, his eyes coldly swept over the Luzon people next to him, and faithfully played the role of bodyguards.

Katipunan, in Chinese, means the most honorable association of Filipino children, but Wenxiu didn't find any dignity in front of him, except for one or two well-dressed people who looked like gentry, the rest were more like hillbillies who had just come out of the deep mountains and old forests.

His gaze was first fixed on the Luzon man who was at the head of the group, and while he was secretly muttering the name Andrea Bonifaxiu, a thin line suddenly crossed his eyes.

The first target, the founder of Catipunan and the current leader of the Luzon armed forces, is said to have become his followers as many as 100,000 working and poor people, and even some low-level local officials in the colonial political axe are inextricably linked to him, and his ability cannot but arouse alarm.

His gaze shifted back to the man who looked well-dressed.

Emilio Aquinado, a gentry in the Luzon Horse region, owns a large tobacco plantation, and the local gentry and landlords under his control are the most important sources of funds for Catipunan, but Wenxiu is a little puzzled why the young master put him in the second target, and it stands to reason that Hacinto, the second person in Catipunan, should be in front.

I don't understand, Wen Xiu still firmly carved his shadow into his mind, and then turned to Hacinto, who was in third place, and just remembered the role of this Katipunane who was a bit like Mr. Li Enfu Lee, and the deep dark sea shone brightly.

After the light flashed three times, Liu Hengyun immediately beckoned everyone to light the two pyres next to him, and the people of Katipunan, who had been waiting impatiently for a long time, also stood up quickly, all with orange faces and shortness of breath.

Seeing the flickering lights getting closer and closer, there was a sound of gas motors on the sea, and soon two small boats appeared in everyone's field of vision. Looking at Liu Guishan, who was standing at the bow of the boat, Wen Xiu immediately nodded quietly to Liu Hengzhen, who also immediately breathed a sigh of relief and greeted him.

After the boat was stable, Liu Guishan exchanged views with Wen Xiu out of the corner of his eye, pretended to be rude, and shouted, "Who is Liu Hengyun." ”

"It's down there." Liu Hengzhen hurriedly answered and walked to the front.

"The goods have arrived." Liu Guishan pretended to glance at Liu Hengzhen, and then carried a pistol, and took a few companions to bypass each of the waiting Katipnan members, and repeatedly looked at Aguinaldo and the others, as if to firmly engrave these fat sheep in their minds.

Liu Hengzhen naturally knew that this was a method that Nighthawk came up with in order to memorize the leaders of Katipunan here, and in order not to let Aguinaldo and them suspect, he deliberately said: "Don't care, you guys, they are like this, they don't like to trade with strangers, but there is a first time, I believe they will not doubt it." ”

A few people who were furious in their hearts breathed a sigh of relief after hearing Liu Hengzhen's words, it turned out that they were in order to recognize themselves clearly and facilitate the next transaction, so they generously let everyone look at it.

Liu Guishan and the others went around a few times, and after memorizing several main members, they stood in front of everyone like a bandit, holding a pistol with both hands on their waists, and continued to shout: "Where's the money." ”

Liu Hengzhen hurriedly said a few words to Bonifaxiu and Aguinado in the local language, and the former immediately asked people to bring two suitcases, and when they opened the suitcases, they were neatly stacked with 100,000 pounds.

Looking at the neat bundles of banknotes, Liu Guishan laughed a few times, and immediately nodded to his companions, and everyone hurriedly took out a few long boxes from the boat and pried open them in front of Bonifaxiu and others.

As the box opened, both Bonifa and Aguinaldo breathed rapidly. The guns, all rifles, were placed in the box one by one, and there were yellow-orange bullets next to them, and as the boxes were opened one by one, it seemed that even the air was filled with a unique smell of gun oil.

Liu Guishan found a big stone and sat down, and while he was fascinated by money, he said foul words: "20,000 rifles, 200,000 rounds of ammunition, damn, it's cheap for you." ”

Next to him, Wen Xiu looked straight at it and wanted to laugh, he didn't expect that Liu Guishan's pretending to be a bear was actually quite good, and he didn't expect that this batch of 20,000 guns confiscated from Yueben could be sold for a high price of 100,000 pounds, and even the actual value was directly doubled, it seems that selling arms is really a good business.

As the boat finished unloading the sample and left, a large freighter gradually appeared on the sea, and as the freighter approached the dock, the people of Katipunan could no longer control it.

"Bao, you are our great benefactor in the Philippines!" Bonifaxiu jumped up excitedly first, rushed forward and hugged Liu Hengzhen tightly, but his eyes could no longer be withdrawn from the boat.

In the past few years, after he and Jacinto and others founded Catipunan, they have been secretly seeking reading power in Luzon, printing newspapers, putting up slogans, secretly lobbying the local gentry, and rallying those at the bottom of society, until now there are hundreds of thousands of supporters.

But he knew that this was not enough, and that if he wanted to overthrow the Spanish colonists and defeat Spain and the Luzon rebellion they formed[***], he had to have strong armaments.

To this end, he used his influence to raise money to buy arms everywhere, but due to the blockade of the Spanish colonial political axe, he has only armed an army of less than 10,000 people so far, and most of the guns are old, and the ammunition is seriously insufficient.

In the past few years, he has been worried about arms, and it is impossible to evade the ears of the Spanish colonial government when purchasing arms from Europe, as for the United States, it is possible, but it is a pity that the price offered by the American [***] arms dealers is too expensive, and because of the relationship with Spain, such a large arms purchase, the arms dealers asked to ship it back.

If he can break through the naval blockade of the Spaniards and bring back the arms, do you still need to make a revolution?

Originally, he also planned to purchase arms from Yueben, but he didn't expect that Yueben was defeated by the Pacific Army that suddenly appeared, and he was incomplete, and he couldn't sell arms at all because he didn't have time to protect himself.

Who would have thought that at this time, Liu Hengzhen, who secretly provided explosives to himself and repaired firearms, suddenly came to the door and said that he had contacted a batch of guns, although the price was a little more expensive, but there were 20,000 guns.

The news had driven him crazy, and Katipunan had recently been discovered by the Spanish colonial government and was surrounded everywhere, so he didn't even think much about it, and rushed here with the 100,000 pounds raised and the main members.

When the bonfire was lit, he had been worried about whether Liu Hengzhen had lied to him, and wanted to take the opportunity to embezzle the 100,000 pounds he had so hard to get, until the boxes in front of him were opened one by one, and he suddenly breathed a sigh of relief.

This is simply pie in the sky, and with this batch of munitions, he believes that he will soon be able to launch an uprising and overthrow the evil Spanish colonial axe!

Compared with the Bonifa show, Jacinto, another real power figure in Katipnan, was even more excited and left tears, all along, the lack of guns and ammunition of the Katipunan organization army had to rely on broken weapons against the Spanish colonial army armed to the teeth, in just a few years to sacrifice thousands of people, and all of them were arrested because of lack of weapons, or were directly killed, such a scene is really sad!

Now with this batch of guns, although a little less than expected, it is enough to start a real reading uprising! Compared with the two senators, Aguinaldo, who had just contacted Catipunam, was a little cautious, if nothing else, for the Spanish flag flying on the munitions ship.

Unlike Jacinto and Bonifaxiu, Aguinaldo is not a clay leg, as the largest landowner and bourgeoisie in the local Philippines, he is well-educated, has ties to the Spanish colonial axe, and what makes his eyes widen is that the freighter that is slowly docking has been entrusted by him a few days ago to help him transport a batch of tobacco.

That ship, a celebrity belonging to the Spanish authorities, who had recently bought a rubber plantation in his possession, was the nephew of the Governor of Guam, and was Mr. Slo, the big boss of the Philippine trading company that could no longer be described as making money, how could such a pure Spaniard transport arms for the rebels?

Is this a trap?

Aguinaldo subconsciously looked around, the dock was empty except for himself, it didn't look like there was an ambush, and he couldn't help but look at Liu Hengzhen suspiciously, surprised how he did it? Can the Spaniards transport arms for him?

Swept away by suspicion, Liu Hengzhen immediately knew what the other party was thinking, in fact, he also knew something about Aguinaldo, this person was not only the biggest gentry among the Filipino natives, but also hooked up with the Spanish authorities, belonging to the standard conservatives, so he was also a little curious, how could such a person get together with the radical Catipunan?

"Mr. Aguinaldo, please rest assured, they have leased this ship in the name of the Americans, and all the crew members have been replaced, all of them are Chinese from the Qing Dynasty." Liu Hengzhen smiled, interrupting Aguinaldo's doubts.

"I see." Hearing Liu Hengzhen say this, Aguinaldo breathed a sigh of relief, and became more curious about Liu Hengzhen, such a person, such a means, if it can be controlled in his own hands, then .......

Aquinato's thoughts were as the freighter slowly approached the dock, but because the dock was too small, it had to stop diagonally, and then use the ship's boom to load boxes of munitions onto the boat and transport them to the dock.

Soon, the dock was filled with boxes large and small, and when several heavy fifty-millimeter cannons appeared on the boom, almost everyone rushed over excitedly, eager to hold the cannons and kiss them.

As the wooden boxes were opened one by one, brand-new rifles appeared in front of everyone, and everyone shouted and shouted excitedly, until Liu Guishan finally counted the banknotes, said hello with a smile and was about to leave, everyone came to their senses.

"Wait." Liu Hengyun hurriedly pulled Bonifaxiu and others to stop Liu Guishan, and said with a smile: "This gentleman, I don't know if you still have any goods?" A few of my friends would like to buy some more. ”

"Still?" Liu Guishan pretended to frown, took out a cigar from his pocket, and Hacinto next to him hurriedly took out a match and lit the fire.

"How much?"

"Fifty thousand." During Liu Hengzhen's translation, Bonifaxiu hurriedly gave a slap and looked at Liu Guishan with shortness of breath. "Two hundred and fifty thousand." Liu Guishan thought about it and gritted his teeth suddenly: "Pounds!" ”

Two hundred and fifty thousand pounds!

Hiss~~!

After Liu Hengzhen's translation, not to mention the Bonifa show, even Aguinaldo, who claimed to be rich, took a breath of cold air, the previous 100,000 pounds had already made Katipunan almost squeezed dry, because the other party only needed pounds or gold, and the pesos in circulation could not be used, so at the moment, let alone 300,000, even 30,000 could not be made up.

"Can I pay in pesos?" Aguinaldo quietly pulled Liu Hengzhen and asked him to ask, Liu Hengzhen shook his head after asking a few words. Seeing that these Luzon armed forces looked disappointed, Liu Guishan shouted: "It's okay if you don't have pounds or gold, you can exchange them for people." ”

"Change?"

"Yes, three people have twenty rounds of ammunition for one gun, and one cannon for one hundred people has ten shells!" Liu Guishan burst out the price with a big grin, as if he was not afraid that the other party would not agree. Bonifa Xiu and Aguinaldo were also a little stunned, there are still people who don't want money these days? Besides, do they want so many people to do it?

After Liu Hengzhen's translation, the people of Katipunan quickly understood that some people in the Far East were recently recruiting a large number of coolies to build railways, and they could pay per capitation, so these people started the idea of exchanging people for guns, and found people to sell to Bei Rang as coolies to earn a high price difference.

It's not big news to exchange people for guns, let alone change guns these days, there are a lot of people to exchange for opium, but if you want to make up enough guns and ammunition left, you need at least 100,000 people! So many people, where do they go?!

Bonifaxiu really wanted to refuse such a deal directly, but now he doesn't dare to guarantee whether the uprising will succeed with these arms, you must know that the Spanish political axe is very severe during this time, and every time there are members of Katipnan killed or captured, if you don't do it again, I'm afraid that Katipnan will be killed before it starts!

But if that compatriot went to change guns and ammunition, if it was known, then Katipunan's good reputation would probably be tarnished, and the impact would be very great, so he was a little hesitant all of a sudden.

What to do?!

Bonifaxiu looked at the richest of all, Aguinaldo, who didn't know what he was paying attention to, and shook his head to say that he would definitely not be able to come up with the money.

Seeing this, Liu Hengzhen immediately approached Aguinardo's side: "Mr. Emilio, I heard that many places in Medan are still in a state of wilderness, and some large tribes have tens of thousands of people, is it true?" ”

When Aguinaldo heard this, his body shook violently, and two sharp eyes pierced Liu Hengzhen. However, Liu Hengzhen did not show his timidity, but hooked the corners of his mouth: "Mr. Emilio, please give me all due diligence, as far as I know, there are many big tribes that have taken refuge in the Spaniards, and they all have a very big influence in the local area, and it is always a hidden danger for these people to stay there. ”

"And most importantly, if we take power, what do we do with them? Do they still give them power, so that the country continues to be in a state where power cannot be unified? And don't you think that our soldiers need some basic training when they get their guns? ”

Looking at Liu Hengyun, who was talking eloquently, Aguinardo's eyes gradually narrowed into a thin line, especially about the unification of power and training, which hit him in the heart even more.

He was an ambitious man, and from the very beginning he never thought of really cooperating with the mud-legged people of Katipnan, who in his opinion did not know how to run the country at all, and who were the people who supported them? If the unemployed workers, the uneducated peasants, and the idle and idle hooligan ruffians are in power, what will happen to them? You must know that those people are almost all opponents of the gentry and landlords!

Therefore, on the surface, he supported Catipunan, but he did not want to take the opportunity to seize power and take this power completely into his own hands, so he would never willingly hand over power to someone like Bonifazus, nor did he want to see a government that could not leave Luzon after driving out the Spaniards.

He wants to be the most powerful man in all of the Philippines, not the most powerful man in Manila!

Thinking of this, he suddenly turned around and walked towards Bonifaxiu and Jacinto, and pulled them into a corner, and then he heard a fierce quarrel, and then the quarrel gradually subsided until the three of them reappeared in front of everyone.

"Mr. Po." Bonifaxiu looked at Aquinado with a gloomy face, biting his lip, and took a deep breath before saying, "Please tell them for me, let them take the goods to Medan, and I will do my best to prepare what they need." ”

Bonifaxiu's words made Liu Hengyun breathe a sigh of relief, what the young master said was indeed right, in the face of power and temptation, for Luzon, which has a complex ethnic composition, and for Catipunan, it is indeed difficult to resist selling a small number of other tribes and nationalities in exchange for greater success! Especially when the Spanish army has already begun to liquidate!

As the sky grew brighter, the narrow wharf was soon filled with large and small wooden boxes, and when the last box of shells was unloaded, Liu Guishan agreed with the other party on the details of the transaction in Medan, patted his ass and led the two boxes of money to set sail.

Looking at the hill-like munitions, Bonifaxiu even forgot about the unhappiness just now, and at the same time as the organizers carried away, they began to discuss the time and plan for launching the uprising on this pier.

"Mr. Bonifaxiu, with all due respect, I feel that we should launch it immediately, rather than continue to wait." Listening to several people discussing the plan, Liu Hengzhen interjected.

"Immediately?" Bonifaxiu shook his head: "Bao, didn't you just say that we should use those tribes to train soldiers?" You must know that the soldiers need to be familiar with these munitions, and if they do it now, there will be a lot of casualties. ”

"The more casualties you have, the happier I am." Liu Heng said in his heart, but his face was still very solemn, and said: "Yes, I know, but we don't have time, because when I went to the United States not long ago, I heard a news that there has been a riot in Cuba, and the Spanish political axe is sending troops there on a large scale, and I heard that there are at least 50,000 people!" ”

"This is a great opportunity for us!" Liu Hengzhen accentuated his tone.

Several people, Liu Hengyun, took a bite and said, "We." They were all very satisfied, but when they heard the news that Liu Hengzhen deliberately exaggerated, they were shocked one by one, and the Spaniards wanted to increase their troops by 50,000 Cubans!

Not only Aguinaldo, but even Jacinto, who was the least military aware, widened his eyes, and everyone knew that if the Spaniards increased their troops in Cuba, it would mean that their power in Luzon would be even weaker.

Now the Spanish army stationed in Luzon is no more than 10,000 people, even if you add those rebels [***], it is only more than 30,000 people, if you take advantage of this time to launch, wouldn't it be said that the success rate is much higher!

Seeing that several people were stunned by the news they had made up, Liu Hengzhen felt the need to add another fire, and said: "In my opinion, we are not ready, and the Spaniards are also not ready, while they don't know that we have obtained this batch of arms, we can just catch them off guard, as for training soldiers, we can send people to Medan while fighting, so that not only can we urgently need to purchase arms, but also have enough well-trained soldiers to use them in case of problems." ”

Aguinaldo was first moved by Liu Hengzhen, the largest gentry in the Philippines has learned some art of war, and knows that the biggest advantage at present is undoubtedly that the news of this batch of arms has not yet been known by the Spanish authorities, but if the soldiers are trained and armed on a large scale, the news will inevitably be leaked, and if you want to defeat the prepared Spanish army at that time, the price paid will definitely be not small, so he said: "I agree with Po's idea and immediately launch an uprising to catch the Spaniards by surprise." ”

"But don't forget, the Spaniards have a fleet, and our forces are too small?" Another Katipunan veteran, Jacinto, said with some concern.

Liu Hengzhen just wanted to speak, but Aguinaldo had already preemptively said: "It doesn't matter if the fleet is fleet, they can't hit the land, as long as we act quickly, take advantage of Spain's increase in Cuba, gain enough advantages, seize some cities, and establish our own bases!" We can't go into hiding, if we are to get the support of all Filipinos, we have to launch an all-out offensive, and even if they reinforce here, the soldiers we trained in Medan will be ready for use!

Liu Hengyun's eyes flashed, this Aquinasto is worthy of being named by the young master, and he can actually see through the biggest weakness of the current Katipunan at a glance, that is, the lack of a base that is enough to support a big war!

"If you do it immediately, I can contact Chinese businessmen to raise some military expenses! And you can also ask the Chinese to help you do it together! Liu Hengzhen retracted his gaze and pressed the biggest resource in his hand.

The Filipino Chinese have always been the richest class in the country, and even after the Spanish occupation, they slaughtered many Chinese, but they still firmly controlled nearly one-third of the country's wealth, and there were also a large number of private armed forces, if these people could join the rebellion against the Spanish, it would undoubtedly greatly increase the success rate of the uprising.

After calming himself down for a while, Bonifaxiu glanced at the people in front of him and waved his hand fiercely: "Then let's do it!" ”

After getting the news of the confirmed armed uprising, the generals of Katipunan next to him cheered one by one, and Liu Hengzhen was also relieved, and his heart was even more vigorous, "Rebel quickly!" Because they don't rebel and don't fight to the death with the Spaniards, how can the young master have a chance to get involved here!

When the munitions began to be transported away by the small boats, and seeing that Bonifaxiu and the others were gradually leaving, Aguinaldo suddenly walked to Liu Hengzhen's side, patted him affectionately on the shoulder, and said with a smile: "Bao, if you have time, how about going to my house as a guest?" ”

Liu Hengzhen's pupils tightened suddenly, and a smile crossed the corner of his mouth, he knew that Aguinaldo was ready to win him over, who would have thought that the proud and noble Filipino daughter was already doomed to split before she started!

(To be continued)