The Iron-Blooded Army of Beacon Fire

Chapter 291 Buying Arms
"Happy! So happy! I've made up for the shortfall in the past few days!"

In the evening, in a private room of a restaurant in downtown Hanyang, Ding Lunshi spit out a few bones, touched the brand new suit that was pushed up by the fat on his belly, took a sip of tea with a satisfied look on his face, and kept shouting for pleasure, and He Wei and Tao Heiwa, who were sitting opposite him, looked at the mess on the table and were speechless.

He Wei brought Ding Lunshi to the restaurant. He originally planned to order a table of dishes and talk while eating, but he didn't expect that this guy was simply a starving Tuosheng. He just ate in silence, completely ignoring what the other person wanted. He Wei talked to him.

Although He Wei was a little impatient, he was about to ask for help from Ding Lunshi, so it was not easy to disturb him to pay homage to the five internal organs temple, so he could only wait patiently while eating.

"Refreshing, so refreshing!"

Ding Lunshi poured another cup of tea and drank it in one gulp. After roaring happily for a few times, he noticed He Wei who was looking at him with squinted eyes in front of him.

Immediately, Ding Lunshi forced out a greasy smile and said: "Brother, I'm making you laugh. After those bloody thugs tied me up, they gave me a meal of white water noodles every day. I'm a very good person." How can I bear this? Brother He, don’t worry, I will be very grateful to you for saving me this time.”

He Wei nodded and said: "Thank you very much. There is no need to mention it now. I am also a cheerful person, so I won't make any twists and turns with my brother. I heard from my brother that you are in the arms business, and you have the gift of courtesy behind you." He and foreign companies, as well as a trading house of his own, are really generous. To be honest, I intend to purchase a batch of arms. I wonder if I can help? "

After He Wei finished speaking, he saw that the fat on Ding Lunshi's face suddenly trembled, and he laughed unscrupulously in front of He Wei. After taking a look at the rank on the collar of He Wei's uniform, his smile became even wider.

The tractor-like laughter coupled with the fat face made He Wei wonder whether it was actually a very wrong decision to shoot to save him on the street.

Of course He Wei knew what this guy was laughing at. It was indeed a bit funny for a major to discuss the arms business with a comprador from a top foreign bank in the country. A small major officer wanted to buy arms, or a "batch" of arms, or even It can be said to be like a joke,

The arms business and the distribution of arms and equipment of the national army have always been handled by the Ordnance Department of the Ministry of Military Affairs. When did it become the turn of a major to talk so brazenly about the purchase of arms?

"Brother Ding, I'm not joking. I really want to purchase a batch of arms."

He Wei continued with a calm expression.

At this time, Ding Lunshi looked at He Wei, whose face was as calm as water, and slowly stopped smiling, and turned to full of suspicion, because He Wei was really serious about discussing this matter with him, and it didn't look like a joke or a joke at all. fake.

At this time, Ding Lunshi also became confused and serious.

"Brother, I'm really confused, but I'd like to explain some things to you first. First of all, I don't understand why you, a serving officer, would buy your own weapons. Judging from your appearance and dress, you must be a direct line member of the Central Army. As an officer, the weapons for the army are distributed by the government, so there is no need to purchase them yourself.”

"Secondly, brother, you have become a major at a young age. You really have a bright future, but after all, you are only a major. Even if you really want to buy weapons, I'm afraid you won't be able to buy many. Brother, I will show you the way. If you want to If you want to get a few guns, or dozens of guns, you might as well go to the black market and buy them. There are all kinds of guns on the black market. If you don’t want to buy them from me, even if I want to sell them to you, the foreign bank behind me won’t accept such a small order. This is not a black market or a grocery store. Once an order is placed, millions or tens of millions of goods will be sold. The weapons sold at one time are enough to equip one or even several divisions of your army. ”

"Again, I don't think you have the financial resources or motivation to buy a large number of weapons."

Ding Lunshi quickly returned to his true nature as a comprador businessman, and with a solemn expression, he gave He Wei a thorough analysis. Anyway, in one sentence, he did not believe that He Wei had the financial resources and motivation to purchase weapons.

Suddenly, there was a silence in the private room. He Wei's face was calm, but he was secretly complaining in his heart. This Ding Lunshi was worthy of being a comprador. As expected, he was shrewd and stepped on He Wei's pain point.

Indeed, if He Wei wants to buy arms, he must let the seller see his financial resources and reasonable motives for purchasing weapons.

In fact, He Wei has both financial resources and motivation. The problem is that there is really no way to show it to Ding Lunshi on the bright road. He is not short of money, but he can't drag this guy to the spy camp at this late night. Go see the money.

As for the motivation, He Wei's motivation for buying weapons and ammunition is naturally to equip his future troops and enhance the combat effectiveness of his future troops, but his mother He Wei's awards, promotions, and even his future appointment and command of the troops are all In the operation of Minister He, there was no way to show Ding Lunshi's true intentions.

He Wei was calm on the surface, but he was thinking about countermeasures in his heart. Just when he was at a loss, suddenly, Ding Lunshi in front of him poured another cup of tea and drank it, and said with unfinished meaning: "Hey, if there is wine, I can It’s more refreshing.”

Hearing Ding Lunshi mention wine, He Wei remembered the meal He Shaozhou invited last night. Suddenly, He Wei had an idea and came up with a plan. Then, He Wei showed a hint of disdain towards Ding Lunshi. Laughing, He Wei then looked at Tao Heiwa who was eating and drinking at a separate small table not far away.

"Hei Wa, bring me the invitation Mr. He gave me!"

Tao Heiwa immediately wiped her hands, wrapped her hands in a napkin, took out the invitation from her bag and handed it to He Wei. This invitation was exactly the same invitation that He Shaozhou sent to He Wei yesterday.

After receiving the invitation, He Wei pushed it to Ding Lunshi and said at the same time: "Brother, you will know after reading this invitation whether I have the financial resources and motivation to buy weapons."

He Wei's tone was relaxed and his movements were very leisurely, but his heart was not at all as calm as on the surface.

Now, he has no other choice but to rely on the tiger skin of Minister He. Since Ding Lunshi does not believe in any Wei, He Wei can only pull the tiger's skin and pull the flag. It just so happens that he has been getting very close to Minister He and He Shaozhou recently, and He Shaozhou's 103rd Division is being replenished and expanded. The need to replenish a large number of weapons was also an excellent excuse for He Wei. He Wei simply pretended to be working for He Shaozhou to purchase weapons to scare Ding Lunshi.

Ding Lunshi frowned and took the invitation. After scanning it, his expression changed subtly. He cared about all the official words and clichés on the invitation, but He Shaozhou's signature on the invitation was really surprising. Ding Lunshi felt that the young major opposite him was definitely not simple, and his expression was stagnant.

Of course Ding Lunshi knew who He Shaozhou was, and even more clearly knew that He Shaozhou's second uncle was the current Minister of Military and Political Affairs.

The Lihe Company that Ding Lunshi worked for had two agencies in contact with China's arms sales business. One was the Ordnance Department under the Ministry of Military Affairs, and the other was the Ministry of Finance.

It goes without saying that the Ordnance Department under the Ministry of Military Affairs is involved in the arms business. It is its own job, but the Ministry of Finance has a lot to say.

The reason why Lihe Yang Company exported arms to the Ministry of Finance, which was out of reach, was because the Ministry of Finance controlled the Nationalist Government’s foreign exchange, and secondly, the Minister of Finance, Song Ziwen, controlled a field force independent of the Nationalist Government’s regular troops. The army is also known as the Tax Police Corps of the Ministry of Finance.

This field force, which is independent of the Central Army's field forces, is not only quite large, but as an armed force directly under the Ministry of Finance that Song Ziwen focused on building, its equipment is even better than that of the Central Army's troops. Few of the light and heavy firearms are domestically produced, and almost all are. Imports from abroad, therefore, the Ministry of Finance handles imported weapons and equipment, even more than the Ministry of Military Affairs, which specializes in weapons and equipment business.

However, after the Anti-Japanese War began, because Chang Kaishen was extremely afraid of Song Ziwen's personal armed forces in the Ministry of Finance and would never allow the Ministry of Finance to have such an armed field force that was not under his control, the tax police group was gradually split up. After being annexed into the Central Army, the arms handling business of the National Army was gradually concentrated in Minister He's Military and Administrative Department.

In other words, the current major customer of Lihe Yang's arms business is the Ministry of Military Affairs. In addition to the right to allocate funds and payment, the Ministry of Finance has all its original arms procurement rights revoked and transferred to the Ministry of Military Affairs. The Ministry of Military Affairs The top leader is none other than Minister He.

Of course, Ding Lunshi, who was a big comprador of the Lihe Company, knew these things very well. He immediately took a good look at He Weigao, so Ding Lunshi squeezed out a slightly flattering smile and said He tentatively asked: "Brother, are you working for Minister He?"

When He Wei heard this, he thought there was a way!

Immediately, He Wei's expression changed, and he said with some displeasure: "Brother Ding, be careful, the proprietor of this post is Commander He Shaozhou and Commander He, who is also my senior student in the first phase of Huangpu. Now I am working for Commander He. Although Chief He Shaozhou's second uncle is Minister He of the Ministry of Military Affairs, after all, public and private matters are different. How can I be said to be Minister He's person when I serve Chief He Shaozhou? I have often met Minister He and often received some teachings from Minister He. Although he is kind-hearted and treats others kindly, he is also most taboo about not distinguishing between public and private affairs. Brother Ding must not talk nonsense. "

"Remember, I am serving Chief He Shaozhou, not Minister He."

He Wei emphasized very solemnly that although on the surface he was trying his best to distance himself from the relationship with Minister He, he was actually showing off his close relationship with He Shaozhou and Minister He.

"understand."

Ding Lunshi smiled and said with a very respectful tone, defining He Wei's identity as He Shaozhou's trusted lieutenant in his heart.

"Brother, I didn't know why you were serving your commander just now. It's really disrespectful. I'll apologize first. However, there are some things I still need to ask. Brother, why on earth are you buying arms? Is it because of Shao Shao? Commander Zhou is buying arms?”

Dean asked.

He Wei nodded: "Brother is joking. I understand that businessmen must be extremely careful when doing business. I understand. As for why I want to purchase arms, this is easy to say. Brother may not know. He Shaozhou Commander He, was recently promoted to the division commander of the Army's 103rd Division. The invitation you see is the one he sent to me. This division was withdrawn from Jinling not long ago. There are more than 10,000 people in the division. There are only more than a thousand people left, and the weapons and equipment have also been lost. They are in urgent need of replenishment. This time I want to ask Brother Ding to buy arms for this reason. "

Ding Lunshi continued to ask with some confusion: "Brother, although I am not your soldier, I have been dealing with the arms business of the national army for a long time, and I also have some understanding of the system of the national army. The weapons and equipment of your direct troops are all controlled by the Ministry of Military Affairs. The weapons and equipment issued to the troops by the Ministry of Military and Political Affairs are either imported from abroad or manufactured by domestic arsenals. However, there is no precedent for the troops to purchase equipment on their own. Besides, you probably don’t have this authority either. Bar?"

Ding Lunshi was indeed an expert, and he immediately caught the loophole in He Wei's excuse. However, He Wei had already been prepared. As soon as Ding Lunshi finished speaking, He Wei continued to make up the nonsense with extremely skilled acting skills. He said: "That's true. Our military's equipment procurement and replenishment system is just as Brother Ding said. However, there are exceptions to everything, and it's a long story."

"Commander He Shaozhou personally led the 103rd Division in a bloody battle with the Japanese invaders in the Battle of Jinling. During the battle, he deeply felt that our army's firepower was insufficient and was very different from the Japanese army. Therefore, this time the 103rd Division was rebuilt and supplemented. Commander He Based on the combat experience in the Jinling Defense War, he summarized a number of weapons and equipment that our military troops urgently need to purchase in the future Anti-Japanese War, and submitted a report to Minister He. However, our country’s national strength is poor, and Chief He Shaozhou proposed to purchase the weapons. The equipment is extremely expensive and our country cannot purchase such weapons and equipment in large quantities. Therefore, Minister He did not adopt the suggestion of Chief He Shaozhou and included such weapons and equipment in the category of imported weapons of the Ministry of Military Affairs.”

"However, although this kind of weapons and equipment cannot be imported into the vast national army, Commander He Shaozhou, who was recently promoted to division commander, could not bear the lack of firepower and equipment for his officers and soldiers, so he specially sent me to bypass the Military and Political Department and purchase the necessary equipment at my own expense. Weapons and equipment to equip the 103rd Division."

"It is precisely because of this that I am doing the extraordinary thing I am doing now."

Ding Lunshi listened to He Wei's explanation and understood what was going on.

The co-author is He Shaozhou. Young Master He suffered a big loss because his weapons were not as good as those of the Japs on the battlefield, so he wanted the Ministry of Military and Political Affairs to buy some awesome weapons and equipment from abroad. However, the Ministry of Military and Political Affairs could not afford them, so they rejected He Shaozhou's proposal. , and then the young master planned to bypass the Military and Political Department and spend his own money to buy equipment for his troops.

Tsk, tsk, now, Ding Lunshi was also entangled in his heart.

(End of this chapter)