"These machines really cannot see the light of day."
Du Charlie's voice lowered: "The head office of the Machinery Bureau back then was called Bai Chongmao. In order to run the Machinery Bureau well, he sent a crony named Cursor Guang to Shanghai Ruiji Foreign Company to purchase machines. Later Zhao Erxun and Zhao Duxian
After becoming the governor of Sichuan, he didn't like Bai Chongmao and found an excuse to remove him. He sent a telegram to Shanghai to ask Vernier to stop buying machines and bring back a lot of money. Vernier was dumbfounded.
The machine has been purchased a long time ago and has left Shanghai. How can I return it? I sent a telegram to ask for instructions. Zhao Duxian's reply only had eight words, 'I only want the money, not the machine'."
"Zhao Duxian is a little unreasonable." Wang Hengyue said curiously.
Du Charlie nodded: "There is a reason for this. When Zhao Duxian's younger brother Zhao Erfeng was acting as the governor of Sichuan, he always disliked Bai Chongmao and You Biguang. He tried to withdraw their missions several times, but he could not find a reason.
, now Zhao Erfeng’s brother is the governor of Sichuan, and he just happened to help his brother fulfill this unfulfilled wish. This is how the officialdom of the Qing Dynasty was originally."
Wang Hengyue said "yes": "What about those machines?"
"Yu Wei Guang found the foreigner and wanted to return the machine, but the foreigner showed him the contract. They acted in full compliance with the contract. If you want to return the machine, you can give him half of the cost first, and then deduct the wear and tear.
After counting the packaging fees, transportation fees, and other miscellaneous things, less than 30% can be refunded. How can you dare to agree to this?" Du Charlie smiled and continued:
"Vernier Guang was helpless, so he took the machine back to Sichuan with all his strength. On the way, he received more than ten telegrams, each of which was more severe than the last, asking him to return the money. When he entered Sichuan, Vernier Guang became more and more afraid as he thought about it.
I didn’t dare to leave, so I hid the machine, fled to my hometown, and never dared to see anyone again.”
Wang Hengyue smiled.
This cursor is really pitiful. He was just doing something for his superior, but who would have thought that he would end up like this. The grudge between his boss and his boss's boss involves an unrelated person.
Du Charlie took a sip of tea: "Zhao Duxian didn't see the money, and saw someone running away again. He was furious at that time and was wanted by the whole province. Cursor was scared, so he could only sell his property to collect money, but the hole was really big.
How can I make up for it temporarily? I can only find a way to sell those machines, but who is willing to take over? I don’t want my brothers to know about it."
Wang Hengyue pretended not to care and asked, "How much money does he want?"
"This set of machines is very complete in scale." Du Charlie said calmly: "Brother, I have already checked the contract. This is a complete set of rifles, bullet making, and smokeless medicine making machines shipped from Ruiji Foreign Company. This set
The Sichuan Manufacturing Bureau originally had the machine, and my brother went to check it out. However, the Sichuan Manufacturing Bureau's products are not genuine American products. The machine purchased by Vernier Light is truly produced in the United States, and is an imitation of the German 98-style Mauser rifle series, specializing in
To manufacture Type 1903 rifles, with trained workers and sufficient funds, we can produce fifty rifles, fifty stabs, twenty-five thousand bullets, and seventy-five kilograms of smokeless powder per day."
The more Wang Hengyue listened, the brighter his eyes became.
Du Charlie is probably talking about the m1903 rifle produced by the Americans under the license of the Mauser factory. It is a deformation gun of the Mauser rifle. This rifle has excellent craftsmanship and has excellent accuracy and action reliability in various harsh environments.
Well maintained. This is the famous gun that has experienced the baptism of World War I and World War II and has served the longest in the US military!
It's just that the stuff is good stuff, but after buying the machine, whether there are enough funds to produce weapons is a big problem.
Du Charlie glanced at him: "Brothers have also checked the bills. The total silver consumption is 269,000 taels. Of this, there are still ten thousand 20,000 taels of silver deducted, plus the cursor light.
He was waiting for silver, so my brother quoted him this price..."
Then he held out two fingers: "Two hundred thousand taels!"
Wang Hengyue was shocked, two hundred thousand taels? He couldn't even get half of it. He pondered for a while: "Manager Du, there are expenses for purchasing alone, I'm afraid the account reported by you, Manager Du, is not quite right, right?"
.”
Du Charlie laughed and didn't care: "To tell you the truth, I am in business, so I will not make a penny without making money. There is no such fool among businessmen in the world."
What he said was true. Wang Hengyue frowned and thought for a long time: "Manager Du, please lower the price again. I am a soldier and I really don't have that much money."
"That's too polite. In the United States, where the country has a huge cause, a few hundred thousand taels of silver is nothing." Du Charlie laughed: "This price is really the cheapest, because of what you said.
Come on, brothers can just make as much as they can!"
Seeing Wang Hengyue's silence, Du Charlie suddenly said: "Actually, it's not impossible to make it cheaper..."
"oh?"
Du Charlie looked outside and lowered his voice: "This cursor is just a wanted criminal. Even if he collects all the money, he will end up with nothing. His property was sold, and he seems to have 20,000 or 30,000 silver."
Then I gave him another ten thousand or twenty thousand taels of silver. My brother had a batch of goods that was going to go overseas in the next few days. I hid his whole family in it and arranged for them to be sent to the United States. He took tens of thousands of taels of silver and went overseas.
Wouldn't it be better to live a peaceful life than to live on tenterhooks here? In this case, he would not be able to take care of those machines, and wouldn't he be able to describe them out of thin air? "
I'm afraid this person had already made this plan before he came, but this method is really feasible. It can be regarded as getting the maximum benefit at the minimum price, which is of great benefit to everyone!
Wang Hengyue pursed his lips and said with a smile: "Manager Du has worked hard for my brother, and I am grateful! But I am afraid that Manager Du will not help my brother come up with this idea for no reason, right?"
"Haha, that's a smart statement. Brother didn't hide anything." Du Charlie gave a thumbs up: "Although the government does not dare to inspect foreigners' goods, brothers still have to take some risks. As the saying goes, there is no gain, no gain.
Get up early, brother will never do anything that can't make money. Thirty thousand taels of silver, plus the money given to the vernier, a total of 50,000 taels of silver will be taken out. Brother will definitely handle this matter for you.
, leaving no trace of future trouble!”
His request was reasonable. Exchanging fifty thousand taels of silver for goods worth more than two hundred thousand would be very profitable. Du Charlie also suffered no loss. I'm afraid he wouldn't be able to earn that much as a machine intermediary, and he would still have to bear risks.
Now if Wang Hengyue is asked to come up with 50,000 taels of silver at once, I am afraid that Du Charlie will only give the vernier a few thousand taels of meaning at most.
The cursor simply went abroad to avoid trouble and absolutely did not dare to ask for a price. Du Charlie made tens of thousands of silver out of thin air.
As for what happens in the future, it will be Wang Hengyue’s problem and it has nothing to do with Charlie Du!