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Chapter 0053 Arms for sister paper

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Li Weiguo rolled his eyes wide and smiled at Chen Wu: "I will greet my brother when I go back and say I will thank him for his kindness. Yong'an is too far away, so I can't go there."

Hearing Li Weiguo's tactful refusal, Hong Xuanjiao, Chen Wu and Fu Shanrui all showed disappointment, but they were mentally prepared. After all, no one likes to rebel if they are full, which is a death sentence for raiding the family and extermination of the clan. What's more, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom is besieged by 100,000 Qing troops in Yong'an. It's still a little bit whether they can persist. Li Weiguo's rebel is not right to follow you to rebel. This is even more impossible.

However, Liu Shaoting frowned, snorted coldly, and said, "What's too far away? Lord Li clearly doesn't want to join the Kingdom of Heaven and looks down on us!"

Oh my god, no one thinks you are mute if you don’t speak!

Can't you even hear such polite words? Do you have to make everything clear?

Li Weiguo rolled his eyes and grinded his teeth, and was very upset.

Chen Wu, Hong Xuanjiao and Fu Shanrui also frowned when they heard Liu Shaoting's words and showed displeasure. The former hurriedly changed the topic and said, "I will convey the truth to the truth. However, when I come here this time, my master will give another explanation. I hope Lord Li can help."

Li Weiguo thought that he would not go to the Three Treasures Palace for nothing, and the tunnel was: "Brother Chen has something to say, but it doesn't matter. Since it is my righteous brother's business, it is mine. If you can help, it's no problem."

Chen Wu glanced at Hong Xuanjiao and saw the other party nodding, so he said, "To be honest, our Taiping Army is currently besieged by 100,000 Qing troops. Although the troops are sophisticated and food are sufficient, there is a very lack of weapons and armor. Especially the batch of Western firearms that Lord Li gave us last time, the ammunition consumed huge amounts, and the firearms are constantly damaged in battle. There are currently no ten left."

"War of war is inevitable!" Li Weiguo nodded and said, "He is still very clear about the problem of weapon damage. It is important to know that in any battle, weapons and equipment will be greatly damaged. For example, after a knife cuts a few people, the mouth will collapse and even break, and it needs to be repaired and built. Especially the firearms, the parts have service life. This is why Li Weiguo only has 4,000 people under his command but equipped with 5,000 muskets. The extra 1,000 muskets are used for dismantling and repairing parts.

Seeing that Li Weiguo understood, Chen Wu stopped talking and went straight to the topic, saying, "So, my master hopes that Lord Li can help buy another batch of firearms."

It's true that I'm here to buy arms!

Li Weiguo had actually guessed the purpose of Chen Wu and others. Compared with the original intention of Li Weiguo and Su Sanlang to become sworn brothers, it was to build a bridge and link for friendly exchanges with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Arms trading was also the only means that Li Weiguo could impress the top leaders of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

"Is this what my righteous brother means or-"

Li Weiguo said and looked at Hong Xuanjiao, Liu Shaoting and Fu Shanrui. The meaning was very obvious. Brothers belong to brothers, and transactions belong to transactions.

Chen Wu hurriedly replied: "It is the meaning of my hall master, and it is also the meaning of our heavenly king."

Li Weiguo's heart was clear. It was probably because Hong Xiuquan was impatient by the Qing army. He saw the power of Western firearms from Su Sanlang, so he entrusted Su Sanlang to send Chen Wu to negotiate the firearm transaction with Li Weiguo.

Thinking of this, the tunnel: "Since the righteous brother and the king have spoken, I should help you with all my strength. I wonder how many firearms are needed?"

Chen Wu glanced at Hong Xuanjiao and Liu Shaoting, and saw the two nodding, so he replied: "We need 50,000 muskets, 500,000 kilograms of lead bullets, and 5 million kilograms of gunpowder. It would be even better if we could have artillery."

Are you really brave to speak?

Li Weiguo was startled. You should know that he only needed 10,000 muskets when he negotiated with the British, but it took a lot of effort. In the end, the British finally agreed to provide him with 5,000 muskets, and there was a prerequisite, that is, these firearms were not allowed to be enemies with the British, and if necessary, they had to assist the British in guarding the security of the concession.

Now the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom needs 50,000 muskets and artillery as soon as it opens its notice. Not to mention whether the British have so many weapons in the Far East. Even if they have one, they will definitely not sell it if they know that the Taiping Army wants to buy it.

Li Weiguo knew very well that at the beginning of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom movement in history, British and French teams had already gathered to prepare for armed intervention. However, later, because the Taiping Army suddenly expeditioned the Qing court, the Qing army was defeated again and again, and the Taiping Army was powerful and the great powers did not understand the Taiping Army. The great powers shocked the great powers for a while, making them dare not act rashly. Later, when the great powers saw that the Taiping Army were inferior to the Qing army, they were preparing to attack the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, but they did not expect that the Crimean War suddenly broke out, forcing Britain and France to give up the initiative to attack the Taiping Army for the second time. When the Crimean War ended, the great powers were ready to send troops to attack the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the conflicts with the Qing government suddenly intensified, and the second Raven War broke out, which led to the great powers not attacking the Taiping Army and temporarily living in peace with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, but it was also prohibited to export arms and materials to the Taiping Army.

Li Weiguo knew the general direction of history, so it was impossible to buy weapons from foreigners and sell them to the Taiping Army. If the foreigners knew about it, they would definitely have endless cooperation with Li Weiguo, which would affect future cooperation.

From the beginning, Li Weiguo's plan was to build a military factory and sell arms to the Taiping Army to make huge profits. However, the problem was that Li Weiguo's military factory had not been established yet, and it was impossible to sell arms to the Taiping Army on a large scale.

Thinking of this, Li Weiguo sighed and said, "Sorry, this arms transaction is too large to be done."

"I just said it's impossible! It would be nice if a small county magistrate didn't report it to us and ask for credit and reward. How could he sell arms to us?" Liu Shaoting said with a sneer.

"Don't be rude!" Hong Xuan scolded Liu Shaoting and turned to Li Weiguodao: "Mr. Li, I don't know how much you can provide us. Please rest assured that we will never treat you badly."

Li Weiguo thought for a while and said, "Five hundred muskets!"

"Five hundred muskets? You think you are a beggar!" Liu Shaoting said in a strange voice again, his tone was obviously not good.

Li Weiguo frowned immediately, his face unhappy, and thought to himself, "You are so damn good." If you want to figure out whether it's good, you are here to beg me, but not me!

Hong Xuanjiao scolded Liu Shaoting again and said, "Mr. Li, there are too few 500 muskets. Our Taiping Army has a total of 300,000 troops and really lacks weapons and equipment. If there are too many 50,000 muskets, then 20,000 muskets are fine. Another 30,000 muskets can be replaced with swords and weapons."

Li Weiguo asked back, "You won't treat my place as an arsenal, right?"

Hong Xuanjiao refused to answer, but continued: "Twenty thousand muskets, one million kilograms of gunpowder, and thirty thousand weapons, we will pay three million taels of silver!"

It is indeed more than enough to buy these weapons and equipment for three million taels of silver, three times higher than the market price.

Li Weiguo thought that the Taiping Army was indeed rich, and 80% of them had looted many landlords and wealthy businessmen, but he still couldn't agree. He smiled bitterly and said, "It's not a question of money, but I really can't bring out so many weapons and equipment."

"What are you pretending to be? You recruited 4,000 new recruits, bought a large number of muskets and even artillery from foreigners. A few days ago, so many foreign merchant ships on the dock had unloaded goods for a whole day, and we all saw it." Liu Shaoting said coldly again, his tone was already very unkind.

Li Weiguo glared at Liu Shaoting angrily, thinking that you are here to beg me, and you are so arrogant? Fortunately, you didn't think about joining the Taiping Army at the beginning, otherwise you would be angry with him if you weren't killed by this girl.

This time, Hong Xuanjiao did not say anything to stop Liu Shaoting. Obviously, she also felt it was necessary to talk to Li Weiguo in a different way.

Fu Shanrui said at this time: "I said brother-in-law, since you can get so many firearms from foreigners, why can't you sell them to the Taiping Army? We are not not giving money!"

"Yes! Sir, we will never treat you badly!" Chen Wu also echoed, obviously he also thought that Li Weiguo could do anything.

Seeing that his elder brother-in-law also spoke, Li Weiguo remembered that he had joined the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. Originally, Li Weiguo supported Su Sanlang's firearms just to give the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom a good impression and cooperate in the future, but now it seems that he is a slut.

Thinking of this, Li Weiguo smiled bitterly and said, "Forget it, let me tell you the truth. I currently only have five thousand muskets on hand. In addition to leaving 4,000 muskets for my soldiers, I can only give you one thousand muskets."

Hong Xuanjiao finally said: "It is rare that Lord Li told me so frankly, but I believe Lord Li can buy more firearms from foreigners. Don't worry, you will never give it to you less. A musket on the black market costs thirty taels of silver. No matter how expensive foreign firearms are, it will not exceed fifty taels of silver per piece. We are willing to pay an extra fifty taels of silver for 100 taels of silver. The bullets and gunpowder are also double the price. What do you think?"

Li Weiguo glanced at Hong Xuanjiao and knew that he had to give her an explanation, otherwise he would offend her completely and would not be able to do business with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in the future. So he said, "Since Hong Junshuo said that, if he doesn't agree, he will not give face. Even so, my negotiations with foreigners cannot be completed in a short time. Please allow me to have a while."

Hong Xuanjiao immediately smiled and said, "This is natural, and we are not unreasonable, so it's a blessing for Lord Li."

"No!" Liu Shaoting suddenly stood up and said, "I have hundreds of thousands of Taiping Army soldiers fighting bloody battles and need this batch of arms urgently. Since Lord Li can buy arms from foreigners, why not hand over the five thousand muskets on hand and other arms to us first, and then Lord Li will go and buy them from foreigners, so that both of us will be happy."

Liu Shaoting was obviously arrogant and even had the idea of ​​Li Weiguo’s new army’s weapons and equipment!

Li Weiguo was furious and glared at Liu Shaoting coldly and said, "Mr. Liu, it's too much! I respect you as a hero of the rebel army who dared to resist the Qing court. I am willing to sell the arms to your subordinates. It is also for the sake of my righteous brother. I sell your arms to be in love. If I don't sell your arms, it's my duty. I have the final say on how much you sell, and it's not your turn to make trouble."

"Is it too much? I don't think so!" Liu Shaoting spread his hands and continued with a flat expression: "But since Lord Li has sold a batch of arms for us, he is our friend. Even if you don't regard us as friends, the Qing dogs will think you are our group. Isn't the adult recruiting soldiers in Chongming County just to join us to fight against the court?"

"Fuck! You dare to threaten me!" Li Weiguo stood up and shouted angrily, but was shocked. He suddenly felt that everything he had done recently was a little too impatient. Even Liu Shaoting could see that, then the Qing court officials were not all fools, so they would inevitably have suspicion.

Fortunately, the Qing court did not think that the Taiping Army could succeed, and had always used a large army to encircle and suppress the news tightly. Therefore, the civil and military officials in the territory of the two rivers and three provinces did not know about the Taiping Army. Even if they knew a little, they would not be related to these small actions of Li Weiguo.

However, once the Taiping Army successfully breaks through Yong'an and the Qing court can no longer block the news, Li Weiguo's small actions in Chongming County will arouse their alertness.

Li Weiguo was thinking deeply, and others were also thinking deeply, and even felt nervous. After all, what Liu Shaoting said just now was almost a threat, which was equivalent to a showdown. If one thing was not done well, this place would become a battlefield, and both sides would become enemies from then on.

Seeing the atmosphere in the room becoming tense, Hong Xuanjiao shook her head, gave up the idea of ​​persuasion, and instead started drinking tea leisurely. Chen Wu and Fu Shanrui also had no intention of persuasion. Everything seemed to have been planned before. Although they were extremely nervous and afraid that the talk would collapse, they were not surprised.

"This is not a threat, this is just a kind reminder!" Liu Shaoting suddenly said with a look of trying to stop Li Weiguo, "We are a family. Your righteous brother serves as the commander of the army in our Taiping Army. If your elder brother Fu Xuexian gets things done this time, he will be named Marquis by His Highness Dongwang when he returns and will be appointed as the Minister of Rites."

"Fu Xuexian?" Li Weiguo looked at Fu Shanrui with confusion, thinking that his elder brother-in-law was not called Fu Shanrui?

Fu Shanrui smiled bitterly and said, "I wanted to finish the business and tell my brother-in-law. In fact, in order to avenge my father, I went south to join the Taiping Army. In order to avoid the pursuit of Qing dogs, I changed my name to Fu Xuexian and now serve under the tent of the East King."

Fu Xuexian, the future Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Fu Tianhou, turned out to be his eldest brother-in-law!

Li Weiguo was silent.

At this time, Fu Shanrui, no, should have called Fu Xuexian. He looked at Liu Shaoting carefully, and saw the other party nodding, then said to Li Weiguo: "Brother-in-law, have you been looking for your wife all the time?"

Li Weiguo suddenly felt excited, subconsciously grabbed Fu Xuexian's arm, and asked excitedly: "What? Do you know the news about Sister Shanxiang? Why didn't you tell me earlier? Where is she now?"

"Let go, let go, your arm is about to be broken!" Fu Xuexian was sobbing in pain by Li Weiguo that he thought to himself that his brother-in-law looked gentle and kind, so how could he have such great strength, which was stronger than the soldiers of the Taiping Army.

"Speak quickly!" Li Weiguo shouted and let go of his hand.

"That-that-" Fu Xuexian hesitated and glanced at Liu Shaoting again, and said for a long time: "Shanxiang is all right. Now she is working in the Taiping Army Women's Camp. She just misses you very much, and hopes to be reunited with you."

At this time, Liu Shaoting suddenly coughed, and Fu Xuexian immediately added: "Well, our Taiping Army was surrounded in Yong'an, lacking clothes and food, Shanxiang was weak and sick, I don't know how long it would last. Brother-in-law, you have to save her quickly!"

When Li Weiguo heard that Fu Shanxiang was sick, he immediately said in a mess: "Don't worry, I will never let Shanxiang suffer. I will go and save her now!"

Seeing Li Weiguo's expression, Liu Shaoting immediately smiled and said, "It's easy to save your wife. Give us arms, and our Taiping Army will break out of Yong'an. At that time, your wife can find a famous doctor to treat her illness."
Chapter completed!
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