The walruses are a boundless green grassland, dark green. The wind is not strong, and silver-white waves are rippling. Chen Wenqiang raised his head and all the moving parts of the sky are revealed. There are high cirrus clouds hanging in the sky, which appear high, vast, deep, and with eternal confusion, holding all the clouds, clouds, rain, frost, snow, wind and thunder in his heart.

In the process of confronting the great powers and suppressing the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom movement, the Qing government realized the advanced nature of Western armaments and embarked on the road to purchasing foreign arms. Purchasing arms from then on became one of the important sources of the Qing army's new equipment. Faced with China's huge arms market, the great powers started fierce competition.

In the early days of the Qing government's arms purchase, Britain and France were in an advantageous position, especially Britain almost monopolized ship procurement. At this time, Germany had just completed national reunification and had no energy or strength to participate in competition. In fact, just as the First ** War ended, German merchants had already begun to pay attention to China's huge arms market. The Cologne Chamber of Commerce emphasized the importance of the Chinese market in its document on the position on trade with China. Germany can participate in competition in many aspects, and arms is one of them.

When the UK embargoed China on arms, the Qing government turned to Germany. Germany finally got a good opportunity. They responded quickly and quickly obtained huge orders with the help of the Chinese ambassador to Germany. The Krupp cannon was an important magic weapon for Germany to gain sales advantages in arms. As the Krupp cannons were continuously imported into China, Germany gradually established its dominant position in selling arms in China. By the end of the 19th century, Germany's rifles were divided into third and fourth positions, and the gun body was in the first place.

The success of German arms sales in China seriously threatened the economic interests of other great powers, thus triggering fierce competition among the great powers for China's arms market. In Shanghai, the main foreign companies selling arms include: Dies, Madensi, Xintailai, Naineng, Madron, Qiongji, Swire Foreign Company, Tailai, Desheng, Hong Kong Nanli, New York, and Linmington Manufacturing Factory; in Tianjin, German foreign companies mainly engaged in arms trade, such as Lihe, Zenchen, Shichang, Zengmao, Xinglong foreign company, etc.

In order to consolidate the market, the German side actively established connections within the Qing court. Before the Boxer Rebellion, the German government had a harmonious relationship with the Qing Dynasty's previous ministers in Germany, and maintained the smooth flow of arms sales channels.

The arms trade supported by governments is only one aspect, while the private arms trade between various foreign companies and China is another aspect. Since the Xiaodaohui Uprising in Shanghai, the arms trade between foreign merchants and the rebel army can be regarded as the origin of the private arms trade in Shanghai in modern times.

Obviously, profit-oriented is the essence of foreign merchants, and it is certainly impossible to conduct arms transactions with the rebel army from good motives and justice. Foreign merchants in the "median" position not only sold arms to the rebel army, but also to the Qing army. They set a price on the ground and made huge profits from it.

During the war between the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the Qing Dynasty, many foreign merchants took the risk of engaging in arms trade, selling arms to the Taiping Army, earning ten times the high returns. Among these foreign merchants, there were ordinary "self-employed (foreign unemployed vagrants)", rich financial resources, and even diplomats stationed in Shanghai (the merchant of the American Qichang Foreign Business and Deputy Consul in Shanghai, Ke Ninghan). It can be seen that how many people would drive it under the huge profits.

In such a historical context, it is not very difficult to get a gun. But to get a job, what is needed is not a small amount of weapons and ammunition, which is very difficult in purchasing, transporting, and hoarding, and is also very easy to be exposed.

Therefore, Chen Wenqiang adopted a multi-channel, multi-method, multi-batch, multi-objective approach. Some were ant moving style, some were casting nets and multi-party procurement and slowly concentrated, and some were transported in large quantities using ocean-going ships directly.

The German Karls is just one of the purchase targets, compradors, foreign merchants, brokers, and foreign companies, all of which are the targets of the Revival Association to purchase arms. Juan Di Huihe, here, here, there are ten or twenty branches, and there are seven or eight branches. After multiple purchases in installments, the total number is also quite large.

Wanzhou canning factory has been established, and guns and ammunition that were dismantled into parts were transported to the ashore in disguise as various mechanical accessories and buried secretly. So far, there have been more than 300 guns in length.

"It's been more than five months." Chen Wenqiang sighed. Although he was in contact with the headquarters of the Fuxing Association during this trip to Southeast Asia, he was not so timely and detailed. He was very rewarding and really wanted to return to Shanghai soon to learn about a more comprehensive and detailed situation report.

"I'll be back home soon." Xu Aishi replied lightly. He had adapted to the sea voyage, not to mention that it was just a short distance, from Balibaban to Seribaga Bay.

From these two place names, many people may guess that Chen Wenqiang's purpose was not just to receive these dozens of weapons. Yes, oil, these two places are both rich places for oil. At that time, the value of oil was not as valuable as coal. In terms of mining and utilization of oil, Mobil Oil Company only had a decades of history, while Shell Oil Company had not yet been established.

Even so, Mobil Oil Company in the United States has not had a good time. A reform movement against unfair competition and corruption in the United States forced the Mobil Oil Trust to be disbanded. As a representative of "fraud, high pressure, and exercise of privilege", Rockefeller was criticized first, and Senator Roosevelt (not yet president) even proposed to completely eradicate Mobil Oil Company, which monopolizes the market and colludes with railways.

Although in fact, Rockefeller's oil empire still exists, and the disbanded branches are still in concert and work together; the revenue of each company is still managed by Rockefeller-centered client, the severe situation cannot be ignored. This also allows Chen Wenqiang to recruit some exploration technicians from the former Mobil through intermediaries such as Romai and Lina, and start oil exploration in Balibaban and Brunei. Some Chinese wealthy businessmen in Southeast Asia invested in this emerging Sino-US oil joint company under the auspices of Chen Wenqiang's underwriting and making a fortune, and some people invested in rubber plantations.

The raising of bank funds, the investment layout of oil and rubber, and the joint shipping company with the Zhang brothers of Sumatra, is mainly a connection with overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia, which is the main gain of Chen Wenqiang's trip to Southeast Asia.

With the smooth future operation and the cheating of Chen Wenqiang by Chen Wenqiang, the overseas Chinese who made a fortune will gather more closely around Chen Wenqiang, form a powerful force and become a strong consortium.
Chapter completed!