In the blink of an eye, half a month later, Li Jie returned from Fengtian. This time he went to Fengtian mainly to purchase arms. After all, how can a guy who pulls the security team and has nothing to eat do?
Although it is not as easy as it was in the Republic of China to buy large quantities of arms for private individuals, there are always more ways than difficulties. Li Jie went out in person and bought hundreds of guns. It was not a problem.
However, after all, Fengtian is not as developed as Modu, and the business is not that developed. Li Jie made many choices, and finally chose the inferior one, which is the famous Mosin-Nagant rifle.
The Mosin-Nagant rifle was finalized in 1891 and was invited to bid by the Maozi government. At that time, there were two designs that Maozi liked most.
One of them is a design submitted by Belgian weapons designer Leon Nagant, a 3.5-caliber rifle and 500 rounds of ammunition for testing.
The other one was submitted by Mosin, a local designer in Maozi, which is a 7.62 caliber rifle with a 5-round single-row magazine.
As a result, there was no winner between the two plans. The Management Committee adopted a compromise plan and merged the two designs together. The final weapon was named the Mosin-Nagant rifle.
The Mosin-Nagant rifle is one of the first generation rifles to use smokeless ammunition. Because it has less smoke and a clear gunshot, especially the feeding and firing movements are crisp and clean. When fired continuously, it looks like water droplets splashing down, so it is also called "water". Lianzhu'.
This time, Li Jie purchased a total of 300 rounds of Shui Lianzhu and 20,000 rounds of ammunition.
In addition to rifles, Li Jie also purchased five additional 47-mm-caliber Nordenfeld machine guns. He purchased these artillery pieces from the Qing army.
Although these artillery pieces have been in service for nearly ten years, they have been properly maintained and are basically no different from brand new ones. They are completely sufficient for use by the security team.
As for machines or something, Li Jie has not purchased them yet.
The main reason why I don't buy them is because these machines are somewhat sensitive, and the Qing Dynasty is not yet dead.
Li Jie was not idle when he got home, and rushed to Yuanbao Town non-stop the next day.
The purpose of establishing the security team is to protect the environment and the people, so naturally they have to say hello to the local gangsters. Moreover, Li Jie is not a philanthropist. He spent so much money to purchase weapons, so he has to get some blood back.
Chun Hesheng and Chuanjie saw their eldest brother coming and quickly walked out of the counter to greet him.
"Brother? Why are you here?"
"I'm here to talk to Shopkeeper Xia about something."
Yuanbao Town is a big town. Thanks to its excellent geographical location, there are many merchants traveling from north to south. Although the Xia family is not one of the strongest in Yuanbao Town, the Xia family can be regarded as one of the strongest in the town. Talk.
Therefore, Li Jie came to find Shopkeeper Xia and asked him to introduce him into the circle.
"Just in time, Shopkeeper Xia is at the back. I'll call you right now."
Chuanjie was very sensible and did not ask Li Jie why he came to shopkeeper Xia. He quickly ran into the back hall.
After a while, Xia Yuanzhang came out and greeted him warmly.
"Brother Zhu, long time no see, I miss you so much!"
Li Jie smiled and cupped his hands: "Brother Xia, there's no need to be so polite. I don't have to go to the Three Treasures Hall for anything. I'm here to ask for your help."
A new waiter was a little confused when he saw the two "old brother" and "younger brother". Isn't this young man Chuanjie's brother? He should be the boss's junior by seniority.
Why is it just brother and brother?
Full of doubts, the clerk couldn't help but poke the old man next to him.
"Brother Zhi, why is my boss so polite to Chuanjie's brother?"
Snapped!
The old man didn't answer the new guy's doubts, but gave him a violent shudder.
"Why are you meddling so much? Have you finished all your work?"
The new waiter glanced at the old man, his eyes full of grievances, but there was nothing he could do about it. Who made him an apprentice? In these days, apprentices have no human rights. If they want to learn their skills, they have to endure it.
On the other side, when Xia Yuanzhang heard that Li Jie came to him to do something, he was not unhappy, but laughed happily. He wished that Li Jie would come to him to do more things.
This is how favors come.
"please!"
"Let's talk about it later."
While talking, the two walked into the back hall one after another.
Chunhesheng covers an area of several acres, with shops in the front yard and residences in the backyard. In later generations, this architectural structure was called "commercial and residential integration".
The two came to the living room, and Xia Yuanzhang reached out to call the maid, asking her to make a pot of good tea and bring some snacks.
After giving instructions to the maid, Xia Yuanzhang turned to look at Li Jie and spoke proactively.
"Brother, did you just say you wanted to see me if you had something to do?"
Li Jie nodded: "Brother Xia, the world is getting more and more chaotic. I went to Fengtian a few days ago. The Maozi and the Japanese were fighting fiercely, and there were refugees everywhere along the way."
As he spoke, Li Jie sighed again.
"Alas, in addition to the refugees, what is even more worrying is the banditry. Many ordinary people cannot survive and have to rely on banditry to survive."
Speaking of banditry, Xia Yuanzhang felt deeply that those who do business always have to purchase and ship goods. As the world becomes more and more chaotic, it becomes more and more difficult for Chun Hesheng to do business.
In the past, you could only hire a few guards when you went out, but that's no longer possible. There are only a few guns in the team, so you don't dare to go out at all.
What's more, even if there are guys in the team, it is not safe. Once they encounter a large number of horse bandits, those broken guns will be useless at all.
Nowadays, most of the merchants in Yuanbao Town travel together. Each family either contributes money or people, and only by pooling their efforts can the safety of business routes be ensured.
But as a result, transportation costs have become several times higher than before. Large merchants like Chun Hesheng can still support it, but those who do small business are miserable.
"Yes, the world is in chaos now. Compared with before, the road is much more difficult. Speaking of which, a few days ago, a batch of goods from Shopkeeper Huang's house were robbed by horse bandits."
"Well, this year, Lao Huang's work has been in vain."
After sighing, Xia Yuanzhang asked curiously.
"Brother, are you planning to do some business?"
"Yes and no."
"oh?"
Looking at Xia Yuanzhang's confused look, Li Jie took the initiative to explain.
"It's like this. I plan to set up a security team. Firstly, it will protect the safety of my family. Secondly, it can also play a role in protecting the environment and bringing peace to the people. It can be regarded as providing some help to the villagers."
Xia Yuanzhang was delighted when he heard this. In fact, the merchants in Yuanbao Town had long wanted to raise funds to set up a security team, but they could not agree on the proportion of investment.
In addition, the leader of the security team has not yet been decided.
So, the matter was put on hold.
As for who Li Jie was and what abilities he had, Xia Yuanzhang had seen it with his own eyes. Li Jie came forward to set up a security team, and Xia Yuanzhang had 10,000 approvals.
"Very good!"
"Brother, to tell you the truth, our town also has this plan. I originally planned to find you and ask for your opinion."
"I didn't expect that we thought of it together."
