Chen Jianqiu is a little annoyed now.

Of course, he didn't know how hard the Italian technician he had inadvertently fired had dealt to the illustrious DuPont family.

The counterattack of this behemoth caught him a little unexpected.

If the last fight with the Rockefellers ended in a draw because Rockefeller had no time to take care of anything else, or because he really didn't look down on the poor country of New Mexico.

The actions of the Gunpowder Association this time finally allowed Chen Jianqiu to see the hands of these capitalist families in the United States in the 19th century.

All suppliers of nitric acid and saltpeter, almost simultaneously, stopped supplying the Roswell Ordnance Works.

They will not offend the entire Gunpowder Association for the sake of a small company.

Chen Jianqiu originally thought about collecting some scattered and even handicraft things.

For example, in some states in the south, potassium nitrate is still extracted from the feces of animals, such as bats.

He even came up with the idea of the bats and toilets in the treasure cave before

But Chen Jianqiu found that these are all a drop in the bucket.

The sporadic supply was simply not enough to meet the production needs of the Roswell Ordnance Factory at present.

If it is not possible to produce a bullet without smokeless gunpowder, then Roswell 1882, there is no reason to sell it.

Browning can now see Chen Jianqiu in the workshop almost every day.

"Browning, how much stock of raw materials do we have?" Looking at the busy workers in the workshop, Chen Jianqiu asked.

"Yes, there are still quite a few." Browning pointed to the large warehouses outside the door, "But if you can't buy it again, it will be used up in a few months." ”

"You've got to figure it out." He looked at Chen Jianqiu with blank eyes.

Chen Jianqiu did not speak, but fell into deep thought.

If it really doesn't work, then I have to go to New York to find Astor and see if he can contact the seller in Europe.

But even if someone were willing to sell, the price would be staggering.

These capitalists have never been philanthropic, they are the best at taking advantage of the fire.

In addition, he had to watch out for the DuPont gang stumbling at the customs at the border.

Really, a bit of a hassle.

Walking out of the workshop of the ordnance factory, Chen Jianqiu rode along the streets of Roswell Town and rode a black radish to relax.

The town of Roswell now is nothing compared to the dilapidated town of a year ago.

The inhabitants of the town are close to more than 3,000 people.

Most of them are Chinese who have obtained citizenship through "special means", but there are also some whites and Mexicans, as well as Latinos.

Thanks to the fact that there are no gold or silver mines, the climate is dry, and the quality of the pastures is a mess.

Despite the railway, many people are still unaware of its existence, believing that it is nothing more than a desert spurned by God.

But in fact, the size of this town has far exceeded that of many other western towns.

Best of all, it's almost everything, and it's very safe.

Chen Jianqiu passed by the gate of the night school.

“abandon，a-b-a-n-d-o-n，abandon”

"Obey the command of all actions, do not take a stitch from the masses, and all seizures must be returned to the public!"

The sound of reading and singing came from inside the school.

Chen Jianqiu thought about it, but got off the horse at the gate and turned into the night school.

Originally, he had the idea of holding an "ideological and political" class.

But when he walked into the courtyard, he found Zhang Danian sitting on the steps of the house, holding a letter in his hand and enjoying himself.

Chen Jianqiu walked in front of Zhang Danian.

Zhang Danian, who was reading the letter, suddenly felt that the sunlight in front of him was blocked by someone.

He looked up, still smiling on his face.

"What's the fun? Uncle Nian? Chen Jianqiu sat down next to Zhang Danian and asked with a smile.

"Letter from an old friend." Zhang Danian rubbed the crumpled piece of paper with his hand and said, "There are some I don't know very well, so I came to the school to find someone to read for me." ”

"Done?"

"Hmm." Zhang Danian began to be happy again.

It seemed that he already knew what was written in the letter, but he might have sat here and savored it.

Friends?

Chen Jianqiu didn't understand too much.

Zhang Danian, a TPJ general, crossed the ocean to the United States, and lived incognito in Colorado, where did he come from?

Zhang Danian saw that Chen Jianqiu didn't speak, so he handed the letter in his hand to Chen Jianqiu.

Chen Jianqiu opened the letter and looked at it, and was immediately attracted by the neat handwriting on it.

The letter came from the Iquique region of Chile, South America.

The person who wrote the letter was named Weng Derong, and the content of the letter was suspected to be dictated by ghostwriting.

This old acquaintance of Zhang Danian, after escaping from that continent, crossed the ocean to the continent of South America.

They were sold as piglets to Peruvians.

Here they were not treated like ordinary workers at all, but became slaves in the saltpeter pits of the Iquique region.

Every day before dawn, they are forced to march down the 100-meter-deep pit with digging tools and carry out long-lasting high-intensity work under dim electric lights.

But as Chile, Peru and Bolivia fight over the saltpeter mines in the Atacama Desert.

They, uprising!

So, they are now part of the Chilean army!

Chen Jianqiu took a deep breath.

He didn't expect that on the other side of the continent, there was actually a TPJ fighting for his own survival.

"How did you get in touch?" Chen Jianqiu turned his head and asked Zhang Danian a little curiously.

"Didn't he have a firm foothold on his side, and the war was urgent, so he sent people all the way to find his old comrades."

Zhang Danian laughed heartily.

"He knows that some of us are in the United States, so he also sent people to the United States, do you remember that I was collecting people for you before, and his people saw it and came over, and we happened to meet like this."

"They brought this letter back to me from Colorado, the first letter, it's not easy, it takes a long time to come back and forth."

Zhang Danian said with emotion.

Chen Jianqiu originally wanted to ask Zhang Danian why he had never mentioned this matter to him before, but out of respect, he didn't ask this sentence.

Maybe the old man didn't realize it.

Perhaps, the old man thinks that the United States and Chile are so far apart that there is no point in any connection between the two sides.

Not anymore, though.

Because of his thoughts, the word "nitrate" and the letter "N" now appear in his mind all the time.

His eyes already have an automatic perception of these two things.

Therefore, on the letter paper just now, he keenly captured the words "saltpeter mine".

Far? What about far?

Where there is a mine, there is me! What's more, there is still Zhang Danian's deceased there.

"Holmes! Holmes! Chen Jianqiu stood up from the steps and yelled twice at the classroom.

The geologist poked his head out of the window on the second floor and looked at Chen Jianqiu standing in the courtyard with a blank expression.

"Meet in the council chamber in half an hour!" Chen Jianqiu shouted, then turned around and walked out of the courtyard.

Half an hour later, Roswell Chamber.

"In the Atacama Desert, located on the Pacific coast of South America, guano has accumulated on the dry desert for tens of thousands of years, forming an inexhaustible resource of saltpeter."

"Now the world's largest and most important saltpeter mineral."

Holmes used his professional knowledge to introduce the information there to Chen Jianqiu.

"Different from Indian saltpeter in Bangladesh, India, the main component of saltpeter produced here is calcium nitrate, which is more convenient for development and use."

Chen Jianqiu touched his chin.

He didn't expect that this place would be the world's largest supplier of saltpeter.

"DuPont must have gotten its hands on this, right?" Chen Jianqiu suddenly thought.

"Guess why the British Empire is supporting Chile in this war." The lawyer, who usually doesn't smile a lot, actually smiled, "The Chilean government and the federal government are not very good at dealing with each other, because our former president intended to support Peru." ”

Chen Jianqiu nodded again and again, with a smile on his face.

He has already made his decision.

"How long does it take to get from us to Chile?" Chen Jianqiu asked.

"If you go along the coastline, it's about a month, and if you get on a boat from California, it might take a little longer." Holmes replied, taking a rough survey of the shoreline.

Chen Jianqiu shook his head.

"We don't go California, we go Mexico."

(End of chapter)