Cuba

Only 760 kilometers southeast of Havana, in a hidden small fishing port in Marat Bay, there is a steam-iron steamer of several hundred tons quietly anchored, docked in the bay more than 200 meters from the shore, several wooden ships are busy transporting goods.

In the dense jungle on the coast, many Cuban rebels armed with muskets and spears and knives were vigilantly guarding against the sudden arrival of Spanish patrols.

For this important smuggled goods, the new president of the rebel government of the Republic of Cuba, de Cespedes, and his close comrade-in-arms, San Agustín del Brazo, commander of the Southeast Resistance Army, came to this small fishing port to welcome this important smuggled goods transported by Chinese businessmen.

On board

After they counted the quantities of the goods, they delivered 172 kilograms of gold, 550 kilograms of Spanish silver pesos, and some precious jewels, all of which were collected by the factory owners and plantation owners of the rebel army from selling their property, with a total value of 340,000 Tang Yuan.

The reason why the Republic of Cuba is willing to pay such a huge sum of money is because of the importance of the ship's smuggled goods.

The multi-hundred-ton steam freighter carried 6,500 front-loading smoothbore rifles, 720 Colt lever rifles (long-barreled), 200 revolvers and 45 barrels of black powder, in addition to 30 tons of flour and 20,000 precious cans of beef offal, as well as some tents, shovels, ropes and other miscellaneous items.

These materials were enough to equip two powerful smoothbore musket infantry divisions, which brought the Cuban rebels' combat effectiveness to a new level.

If it is used well, it may be possible to reverse the current passive situation of struggle.

Returning to the shore in a small boat, President de Cespedes' expression was still immersed in excitement, and he looked at his close comrade-in-arms San Agustín del Brazo standing beside him with a gloomy face, and couldn't help but ask;

"Dear St. Augustine, shouldn't you be excited right now? We finally have a large collection of muskets and weapons, as well as very durable canned beef offal, which can save lives at a critical time! In all of Central America, only Chinese businessmen are willing to do our big business. ”

"Damn it...... But these despicable Chinese merchants have also emptied our pockets, and the Southeast Resistance Army has more than 13,300 soldiers, but they can't even take out 1,000 silver pesos in their pockets. Under the blockade of the Spanish colonial army, our people have been nibbling sweet potatoes for a whole week. ”

"Things will always get better, trust me...... With this batch of weapons and equipment in hand, we can give the Spanish colonial army entrenched in the town a big surprise. The seizure of the grain and the wealth of the Spanish plantation owners, and the fact that the food problem can be solved will quickly increase our strength. ”

"Mr. President, do you know what I was thinking on the ship?"

"Oh...... Let me guess...... It can't be trying to rob those Chinese merchant ships, right? ”

"You're right, Mr. President, but the cunning Chinese merchants are very vigilant, and their sailors are heavily armed, and there are sailors with rifles in the cabins. Therefore, my people did not dare to act rashly. ”

"Thank goodness...... It is right to be cautious. Dear San Agustín, if we really offend the Chinese businessmen who are very influential in Cuba, there will be no one to smuggle and transport these weapons and equipment to us in the future. You don't know that there is a Chinese business chamber in Havana, and if you act recklessly, the whole Chinese business community will not want to deal with us, which is too bad. ”

"Is it that serious?"

"What do you think?" President de Cespedes asked rhetorically, then walked over to a large pile of wooden boxes placed on the shore and reached out to open the lids, which contained neatly arranged smoothbore rifles, scrubbed with gun oil to a shiny finish, and looked very good.

President de Cespedes reached out and took out a smoothbore rifle, opened the bolt and looked at it, and said with satisfaction; "Man, although it is a used old item, it is still a strong baby!"

"Mr. President, do you think these rags are treasures?" San Agustín del Brasso rolled his eyes when he heard this, and said dissatisfied: "As far as I know, the armed militia of the Tang Empire no longer uses breech-loading smoothbore muskets, and they are generally equipped with advanced lever rifles. After the North American War, the old-fashioned smoothbore guns in the warehouses of the Tang Empire piled up. Those black-hearted Chinese bought it back at the price of broken copper and iron, and then sold it to us at a high price, making a huge profit from it. ”

"Oh...... Poor St. Augustine, my friend, know that we don't have that much money for cutting-edge equipment, and it's good to have these smoothbore rifles. Rebel President De Cespedes smiled as usual, patted him on the shoulder and said comfortingly.

Before President Céspedes led the rebellion against the tyranny of Spain, he was a wealthy businessman who owned a sugar mill and several plantations.

The new Cuban government can only buy these three melons and two dates.

The shelves of Chinese businessmen in Havana are full of all kinds of weapons and even artillery, but they can't afford them, and they are out of touch with real needs.

The Cuban rebels were most urgently armed with muskets, not spears and broadswords to fight the Spanish colonial army.

The Chinese merchants could indeed get their hands on advanced king-style rifles, but the rifles were expensive, using equally expensive copper-cased cartridges, which were not even equipped by the Spanish colonial army, let alone the impoverished Cuban rebels.

Take a step back

It is possible to purchase a Prussian Mauser rifle with a paper cartridge or the M1841 rifle, also known as the Dresser firing pin rifle. The gun was developed by Johann Nicholas von Dreiser in 1836 and remained in service with the Prussian army until 1868, when it was massively reloaded with Mauser rifles.

With a length of 142 cm, a weight of 4.7 kg, an effective range of 600 meters, a manual bolt and a rate of fire of 10-12 rounds per minute, the Dresser Needle Rifle is a very advanced breech-loading rifle.

But the rifle is also expensive, and the use of paper-based cartridges requires imports entirely from Prussia, which Cuba has no local production capacity, which is a fatal weakness.

Once the Spaniards had completely blockaded the sea, the advanced rifles in the hands of the rebels ran out of bullets and turned them into burning sticks.

These old smoothbore rifles, which used black powder and lead bullet, had low logistical requirements and were just right for the Cuban rebels.

The batch of munitions in front of you can be seen to have been carefully wiped and maintained before being sold.

Although this batch of guns has been around for a longer period of time and may be older than everyone present, as long as it does not affect the use, it is a good gun, which shows that the Chinese businessmen are still very reliable.

on a steam freighter

Zhu Fengchen, who once appeared in the Chaoshan Chamber of Commerce in Havana, was dressed as a captain, wearing a wide-brimmed cowboy hat on his head and a briar pipe in his mouth, sitting in the captain's room, watching the busy scene of unloading cargo at the bow of the ship with vigilant eyes, and chatting with the helmsman with a pair in his mouth.

The helmsman, who is also a member of the operation team under the General Security Bureau, asked in a relaxed mood; "Boss, can we take a break this time?"

"I can't take it for a while, the Spanish blockade is very tight, and land transportation is basically cut off. The rebels on the north side of the island are about to break down, and they have to find a way to go back and load a boatload of grain. ”

"Alas, when will we be a head when we are fighting fires everywhere like this?"

"Huh...... Don't worry, the situation will improve soon. The rebel army will not be idle when they get this batch of weapons, which is enough to turn the southeastern provinces upside down. Look...... There will be more such weapons business in the future! ”

"Boss, anyway, I don't like these Cubans, there are few decent people you see, looking around with suspicions, what's the difference between them and the bandits and thugs running around?"

"No matter how much, let them fight with the Spaniards first!"

Zhu Fengchen put one hand on the revolver, took off the briar pipe with the other hand and looked out, only to see the guys at the bow of the ship waving their hands, meaning that the shipload was finished after loading.

So Zhu Fengchen pushed open the hatch of the captain's room and walked out, standing on the railing and shouting loudly to the engine room behind; "Guys, boost the boiler, start the steam engine, we're ready to return!"

"All right, Captain." There was a loud response from the engineer in the engine room.

The small and medium-sized coastal steam freighter was heavily guarded by 33 armed sailors, and the Cubans on shore were largely afraid to move.

After the last small wooden ship full of cargo left, a large cloud of white smoke rose from the steam freighter, the copper steam pressure valve sounded a screech, and the regular sound of the reciprocating "pit, pit" of the steam engine was heard, and the power transmitted to the propeller at the stern pushed away a large splash.

The men in the bow wrung the anchor together, and the steam freighter drew a clear semi-circular track in the bay towards the blue ocean in the distance.

from top to bottom

The steam cargo ship did not raise the flag to identify itself, and under normal circumstances this is a black ship, that is, a smuggling ship.

The Spanish sea power had not yet reached the point where they could completely blockade the area around the vast island of Cuba, and could only cruise around important cities, such as Havana and Santiago, and could not do anything about other vast remote areas.

It was precisely by targeting these vacancies that the smuggling ships of the General Security Service could easily deliver supplies and weapons to the rebels, provided that they had money.

This seems logical, otherwise it would not explain why the Chinese businessmen continued to send supplies to the Cuban rebels at the risk of being discovered by the Spaniards, and it was a good reason to be motivated by money.

Shangfeng did not want ordinary Chinese businessmen in Cuba to get involved in the operation to aid the rebels, and the starting point was to protect these Chinese businessmen, because they did not have the ability to resist risks.

Ordinary Chinese businessmen have limited capacity, and even if they can provide some guns, ammunition and food, the amount is very limited.

If the Spanish authorities get all the stolen goods, there will definitely be no good fruit to eat.

At this time, the news of the Cuban colony was closed, and even if the diplomatic representative office in Havana had great powers, it could not timely learn about the movements of many remote Chinese estate owners or businessmen, let alone rescue them in time.

On several occasions, the Spanish Governor's Office had obtained conclusive evidence and confessions, which were almost undeniable, which put the diplomatic representative office in a very passive position, and could only force its mouths to ask for help.

The transportation of large quantities also had to rely on armed smuggling, which kept Cuba in the turmoil of war for a long time......