America 1881: They Call Me Legend

Chapter 561 Lost Target
The matter of selling guns to the Chinese rebels went very smoothly until the last step.

The first batch of [-] rifles and bullets boarded a ship flying the Mexican flag and swaggered into the port of San Diego, which was still under Spanish control.

This time, besides Chen Jianqiu himself, there was also his wife Camilla.

When he got back to New York, he told Camilla about it.

The Puerto Rican beauty started packing her luggage without saying a word, preparing to go on this trip with her husband.

"I know it well there." Camilla said lightly while packing her luggage.

Her violet eyes blinked at Chen Jianqiu a few times, making Chen Jianqiu find no reason to refuse.

Regarding this matter, the happiest person is undoubtedly the son of the two, Chen Pengkun.

He thought that his parents were gone, and only the little Astor godfather who was obedient to him was left in New York.

I can be lawless.

Unexpectedly, Chen Jianqiu didn't play cards according to common sense.

They sent someone to send the young master directly to Hawaii and handed it over to Sean, and at the same time attached a letter asking him to discipline him strictly.

Chen Jianqiu also brought forty elite members of the Longchamp Group, pretending to be crew members, to escort the munition to its destination.

The ammunition box was traditionally stuffed into a pile of potatoes.

No one wants to open a pile of potatoes that are about to stink in the sun.

Not to mention that under the first layer of potatoes, there was an envelope stuffed with Cuban pesos.

Chen Jianqiu hired Santos, a Mexican who had been doing business in Cuba all year round, to handle the matter.

The guns and ammunition were unloaded and dragged to a warehouse that Santos had already found, ready to be loaded into a carriage the next day and transported out of the city.

Then, not surprisingly, an accident happened.

Lai Gubei couldn't find where his father's troops were.

According to the original plan, after arriving at the port of San Diego, Lai Gubei would go to the streets with members of the underground rebel organization in the city to obtain the latest address of the Chinese rebel army.

But when Chen Jianqiu and Lai Gubei came to a Chinese-style pharmacy along the crooked street, they found that the door of the pharmacy was closed, and even a seal was pasted on it.

"Hey, what's going on here?" Lai Gubei stood in front of the gate of the pharmacy and looked around.

He considered whether to go up and knock on the door.

But his shoulder was quickly embraced by Chen Jianqiu.

The latter lowered the brim of his hat, pointed to a Spanish-style church next to the pharmacy with a smile, and commented:
"The roof of this church is really beautiful, tsk tsk, the lines, tsk tsk, the materials!"

While commenting, Chen Jianqiu communicated with the bewildered Lai Gubei, as if he was a tourist from another place.

"Come on, let's get closer and take a look." He pulled the young man and turned into an alley next to the church unhurriedly.

"Mr. Chen, we."

Lai Gubei's body was out of his control, he was led away by Chen Jianqiu, his feet just walked subconsciously, he was a little unclear, so I wanted to ask.

"Be natural, don't look around, talk as you please." Chen Jianqiu quickened his pace and whispered to him, "We are being watched."

Lai Gubei had never experienced this before, and suddenly became nervous, so he had to follow Chen Jianqiu back and forth in the nearby alleys.

The streets of this city are quite distinctive, that is, none of them are straight from south to north, but crooked, and the direction is quite still.

But it's also great for getting rid of stalkers.

After turning around and he couldn't remember how many times, Chen Jianqiu's footsteps finally stopped in front of a building with orange tiles and white walls, which seemed to be a Tuscan style building.

Lai Gubei was still nervous and did not dare to look back.

But Chen Jianqiu calmly took out a cigar and lit it for himself:

"The man has been thrown away." He took a puff on his cigar and said, "That pharmacy is a scam now, and your underground stronghold should be gone. As for your comrades-in-arms, there is a high probability that they are in the prison of the colonial government."

Lai Gu's face to the north is like dead ashes.

"We also have backup points of contact, in the cane market, theirs"

His words were immediately interrupted by Chen Jianqiu.

The latter glanced at him with a cigar in his mouth, and said bluntly:
"Young man, let me tell you that the first point of doing underground work is never to easily disclose the name, location, etc. of the contact person to a third person."

He stared straight at Lai Gubei:
"This habit of yours will kill them."

Chen Jianqiu was faintly worried.

If the level of intelligence personnel of the Chinese rebel army is like that of Lai Gubei, I am afraid that the whole old bottom will not be turned upside down by the Spaniards.

"Sorry, Mr. Chen, I was in a hurry just now." Lai Gubei soon realized that his behavior was too reckless, and apologized.

"Don't contact them at the backup contact point for the time being." Chen Jianqiu smoked a cigar, leaned his back on the white pillar, thought for a while and said, "Let me see if there is any new way."

The two walked along the alley towards the hotel where they were staying.

"Our troops should not be too far from here, because my father's mission is to contain the Spanish army here."

On the way, Lai Gubei whispered to Chen Jianqiu.

"Before I left, I made an agreement with my father that he would wait for my equipment near San Diego."

Chen Jianqiu walked, listened, and nodded.

They passed a newsstand.

Chen Jianqiu bought a copy of each of the newspapers on the newsstand.

These newspapers are all in Spanish.

And the Spanish that Chen Jianqiu knew was limited to some simple or rude greetings.

Such as "Good morning, baby!" and "Fuck you."

The former was taught by Camilla, and the latter was self-taught after dealing with the gang of Mexican gangsters for a long time.

At this level, it is natural that these newspapers cannot be read.

Chen Jianqiu rolled them up, held them in his hands, and stuffed the part that couldn't fit directly to Lai Gubei.

The two returned to the hotel quickly.

This hotel, the largest hotel in the Port of San Diego, is close to the port, next to the warehouse where they store their guns.

Chen Jianqiu asked Lai Gubei to rest first, then climbed up to the second floor and returned to his room.

At this time Camilla was packing their luggage.

Including clothes and weapons.

"How is it? Is it going well?"

Camilla took out three improved grenades from the box and put them into another box like soap.

Chen Jianqiu shook his head.

He told Camilla all about the situation.

"Here are the newspapers for the past two days. See if you can find something useful for me." Chen Jianqiu threw the bought newspapers on the bed and spread them out one by one.

Camilla put down what she was doing, straightened her skirt, sat on the edge of the bed, and began to quickly retrieve the contents of the newspaper.

Sure enough, she soon found some useful information.

"The leader of the Santiago garrison is Francis, the rank of colonel. According to the information disclosed in the newspaper, the number of Spanish troops stationed here is about 2."

Camilla said while flipping through the newspaper.

"However, according to Colonel Francis, these 2 people are not used to defend the city, but to take the initiative to deal with those 'rebels who don't know what to do'."

Chen Jianqiu raised his eyebrows:

"Can these be seen in the newspaper?"

"Yeah." Camilla nodded, pointed to a piece of news in the newspaper with her slender fingers and began to read:
"Colonel Francis told the rebels in the city who tried to attack: If you surrender, it is still too late, if you are still wishful thinking, sorry, I have found you, you scum, wait to go to hell!"

"'I have found you'?" Chen Jianqiu thought about this sentence.

It seems that my guess is still reasonable,
Rule out the possibility of intimidation.

Colonel Francis did not try to drive out the rebels in this way.

He wished he could go straight to the main battle, and then beat the rebel army to the point of death.

Whether it was the people in the drugstore that was taken away mutinied and provided the specific address of the rebel army; or the colonel obtained the address through some other means.

Anyway, the Spaniards knew the address, at least the colonel did.

So, just get the colonel's mouth right.

Chen Jianqiu was prepared for this matter.

He walked to the bed and took out two things that looked like ID cards from the interlayer of the box.

"The press card of the famous "New York World"." Chen Jianqiu said with a smile.

Camilla took it over and took a closer look.

The name of the "New York World" is printed on the ordinary hard paper that cannot be more ordinary, and its unique pattern is impressive.

However, the name column is currently empty and needs to be filled in by hand.

"Let Nigo make it fake?" Camilla glanced at Chen Jianqiu and asked.

Chen Jianqiu shook his head:
"These two books are really true."

"I had dinner with Pulitzer at Little Astor's house before. When he heard that I was going to Cuba, he immediately took out two blank press cards from the clothes behind him."

"He sent you off directly?" Camilla was a little puzzled.

"Yes, he not only sent a press card, but also said that in Cuba, I was his reporter, and I even negotiated salary with him."

Chen Jianqiu said with a smile.

"He was disappointed that none of the established journalists he had brought wanted to come to Cuba."

"This guy drank too much when he left. I still remember what he said to me at the time: You give me a picture, and I will give you a war."

Camilla found a pen from nowhere on the table of the dressing table, and wrote her name on the press card.

"The "New York World" correspondent in Cuba, Camila." Camilla showed her husband the press card with her name on it. "Mr. Chen, you'd better be my servant honestly."

"Of order." Chen Jianqiu saluted Camilla with a smile.

Under normal circumstances, the top commander of a city's army is not easy to date, because these people are often afraid that they will say something they shouldn't say in interviews and chats.

But Colonel Francis of Spain was an exception.

He is very keen to exaggerate his achievements to the outside world, and he is often outspoken about many things.

Because he simply looked down on the Cuban rebels, especially the Chinese volunteers near Santiago.

Therefore, as a former bullfighter, Colonel Francis felt that it was only a matter of time before these people were dealt with.

At that time, Spain and the United States had not completely tore apart their faces.

The New York World is also a very famous newspaper in the Americas.

But what finally made him decide to take this interview was that he heard his subordinates describe in detail the astonishing appearance of the female reporter who requested an interview.

Which "successful man" can refuse a female reporter?

The interview was arranged in the colonel's office in the middle of San Diego.

Not surprisingly, in front of Camilla, the colonel tried his best to show off his abilities, just like a male peacock in heat showing off the hair on his ass.

"We will be able to clean up the rebels near Santiago soon." The colonel vowed, "They are mainly Chinese. According to our latest news, these rats have drilled out of the Sierra Maestra. "

"Then where are they?" Camilla smiled at the colonel, "Can you tell me?"

Half of Colonel Francis' soul was almost lost.

"I'm telling you, as long as you know it, don't write it in the newspaper." The colonel winked at Camilla "playfully", "In Saji, a small fishing village."

Captain Lai Hua put his hands behind his back and looked at the deserted and ruined village in front of him.

Surrounded by ruins, most of the houses have been burned down, and the remains of buildings are scattered on the winding road.

The road has been destroyed and it is impossible to tell what the road used to look like;

The scorched earth extended to the outside of the village, and instead of the lush green that should have appeared at this time of the year, the field was barren, which was particularly dazzling under the setting sun.

It used to be a small fishing village.

Lai Hua has brought the team here more than once.

It was originally peaceful and calm.

But their new opponent, the new governor "The Butcher" Wyler, in order to prevent the rebels from obtaining soldiers and supplies, forcibly concentrated the residents of those villages near cities and towns with Spanish troops.

The life of these Cuban residents who lost their land is naturally miserable.

Thousands of people died of starvation.

But the "butcher" didn't care.

He would rather leave a piece of scorched earth for the rebels, and he does not want the Spanish rule here to end so simply.

The current situation of the rebel army is very bad.

As a Chinese soldier who followed General Maceo from the first Cuban War of Independence, he witnessed the hardships of the Cuban War of Independence in the past 30 years.

From the "Ten Years' War" to the "Little War" and now the "Second Cuban War of Independence".

From solidarity, to internal division, to renewed hope, to now
Lai Hua vaguely remembered.

He was a young man in his twenties when he led a group of Chinese laborers working in the plantation to join the rebel army with hatchets and axes.

Now he is already gray at the temples.

What he is most worried about now is his son.

(End of this chapter)