Chapter 22: The Torpedo Boat Order

August 20, 1938, Xuan Gong Hotel, Jiangcheng.

"The price is no problem. Thirty thousand silver dollars per vessel. No weapons or accessories are needed other than the torpedoes. The only requirement is that they must be in stock," Alexei reported hurriedly.

The production cost at the Zhen'er Shipyard was roughly around that amount. However, the silver price back then was vastly different from 1938; after decades of continuous decline, the current price of silver was only about one-fifth of what it once was. Therefore, thirty thousand silver dollars was an incredibly conscientious price, not to mention that the Umbrella Corporation was also responsible for transportation and assuming all the risks.

"Fifty light torpedo boats, each equipped with two standard 'Black-Head' torpedoes. We can deliver them all at once. The question is, do they even have the money?" Wang Yue smiled. He didn't just want to sell; he wanted to sell on a massive scale. It wasn't about making a profit—it was mainly to prevent these spendthrift officials from squandering the funds. It would be better to keep the money in his own hands where it could at least be put to some practical use.

"They have secured a guarantee from Citibank. As soon as we deliver the torpedo boats, Citibank will transfer 1.5 million silver dollars into our designated account," Alexei replied, wondering how his young master would solve the dilemma of actually getting the money, given that the Ministry of War had not paid a single cent in advance.

"Will they default on the payment? Is there a guarantee from Citibank?" Wang Yue pondered for a moment before asking. When he used his Soul-Searching skill on Alexei earlier, he had an unexpected harvest: this cheap foreign "son" of his original body's late, good-for-nothing father had actually recovered some of his memories. But wait, shouldn't he have been executed in Yekaterinburg? Could it be that he had merged with some other film or television plot he wasn't aware of?

"It is guaranteed. Beyond the complex legal documentation, the premise for Citibank to make money is that our business deal succeeds." As he spoke, Alexei pulled a stack of documents from his briefcase and handed them to Wang Yue. There were precedents for such arms deals, and as long as one followed them, risks could be minimized. The corrupt government wouldn't dare pull anything; if it were someone like Old Zhang, Alexei would be lucky if he didn't lose his entire treasury.

"Fine. We can make the deal tonight at the Cangzibu freight yard. It will be convenient for them to sail the torpedo boats away directly. By the way, do they even have enough sailors? Would those big shots in the Min Clique even look twice at these 'junk' boats?" Wang Yue asked, curious. The proliferation of warlords in the country wasn't limited to the army; the navy was the same. It was riddled with factions, none of whom respected the others. Otherwise, even if the Ministry of War were full of idiots, they wouldn't have come up with the strategy of "sinking ships to block the river." To put it bluntly, they were just afraid of fighting; if the ships were gone, they wouldn't have to go to the battlefield.

After the Battle of Yalu River, the true heroes had already sacrificed themselves. What remained were merely cowards. One only had to look at their constant flip-flopping over the past few decades to understand what kind of people they were. Expecting these men to fight to the death against the Combined Fleet was pure delusion.

"Ouyang Ge has been secretly released, and the officers and men of the Torpedo Boat Fleet are gathering. With the help of temporarily recruited sailors, it shouldn't be a problem to get them moving," Alexei said. He also couldn't understand why the Ministry of War trusted him so much or why they had made so many preparations.

"Does the Naval Headquarters not have any thoughts on this?" Wang Yue was very curious about how the bigwigs at the Naval Department could be so at ease. With the country in such a state, shouldn't they do something? Yet, they did nothing. It had been over a year since the war started; couldn't they at least integrate the shipbuilding power in the rear to build some wooden gunboats to support the army? Didn't the Japanese have many wooden patrol boats? Why couldn't ours be used?

"They want to see the goods first, and they have no money. They hope to pay with supplies or have the Umbrella Corporation provide a loan," Alexei said, feeling helpless. He and the intermediaries could do nothing about the Naval Headquarters; they were completely impervious to reason.

"Don't worry. Once the Torpedo Boat Fleet reappears, they will start to panic. No ships mean no power. By then, it won't just be thirty thousand silver dollars per boat." Wang Yue wasn't in a hurry. He was more concerned about what Alexei had bought with his own money. The original body's family was well-off, and having managed logistics for so many years, there was plenty of money—nearly two hundred thousand US dollars. With that kind of capital, arming a division might be a stretch, but arming a brigade was definitely doable.

"The young master is right. There will come a day when they get anxious," Alexei agreed, nodding.

"Hanyang rifles in 90% condition for only 5 dollars each?" Wang Yue gasped as he looked at Alexei's procurement list. The factory price of a Hanyang rifle was 40 silver dollars, which should convert to about 16 to 18 US dollars. Even at factory price, buying them usually cost at least 60 silver dollars. With domestic resources and weapons in such short supply, shouldn't the price have gone up?

Good heavens, Alexei had bought six thousand of them all at once. This was completely unreasonable. One had to know that a top-tier Nationalist division was only equipped with about three thousand rifles, and in the Shanxi-Suiyuan Army, some divisions had only a little over a thousand.

"These are captured Japanese supplies. They are all over the battlefield. The Japanese have limited manpower and cannot collect them all. As long as you butter up their junior officers, you can buy them. Almost all the weapons in this batch were purchased from the Japanese," Alexei pointed to the notes in the last column of the list. It noted who they were bought from, mostly low-level officers, not even a single field-grade officer among them.

"You can play it that way? Shouldn't they be worried about the weapons falling into our hands?" Wang Yue thought it was absurd enough that Li Fugui bought scrap weapons from the Japanese, but now, he could even buy weapons in this condition.

"They think that gives them a chance to sell them again," Alexei chuckled. This was only because the Japanese hadn't been here very long. Once they established their own "channels," they wouldn't be selling them in bulk to the Umbrella Corporation anymore.

"Fine, they can certainly think that way. Let me look closer: 3,584 serviceable Hanyang rifles, 14,000 dollars; 524 brand-new Chauchaut light machine guns, 25,000 dollars; 168 serviceable Chauchaut light machine guns, 7,000 dollars; 257 FN 1930 light machine guns, 25,000 dollars; 18 Type 20 mortars, 18,000 dollars; 5,000 rounds of 82mm mortar shells, 20,000 dollars; 5 Brandt 120mm mortars, 10,000 dollars; 234 rounds of 120mm mortar shells, 2,000 dollars; 17 Shanghai-made 75mm Krupp mountain guns, 25,000 dollars; 541 rounds of 75mm mountain gun shells, 5,000 dollars; 1.47 million rounds of 7.9mm ammunition, 17,000 dollars. This is enough to form an army! The Japanese have more guts than I thought." Wang Yue was amazed as he looked at the list. If he hadn't limited the types of purchases, Alexei might have bought even more.

"Ahem, there is another page. The money borrowed from the bank is basically all spent," Alexei reminded him, looking a bit embarrassed.

"5,871 M35 helmets, 50,000 Fapi; 13,000 sets of Type 24 uniforms, 30,000 Fapi; 196 Vz.24 rifles, 10,000 Fapi; 571 Liaoning Type 13 rifles, 10,000 Fapi; 3 M1932 45mm anti-tank guns, 20,000 Fapi; 97 DP light machine guns, 50,000 Fapi; 751 Mosin-Nagant M1891 rifles, 20,000 Fapi; 12 Maxim M1910 heavy machine guns, 12,000 Fapi; 5 115mm Vickers howitzers, 100,000 Fapi; 3,800 rounds of 115mm howitzer shells, 120,000 Fapi; 500,000 rounds of 7.62mm rifle ammunition, 30,000 Fapi; 2 15W radio stations, 100,000 Fapi; 5 I-16 fighter planes (unopened), 200,000 Fapi... How did we even get fighter planes?" Wang Yue was speechless. Guns and ammunition were one thing, but how could even fighter planes be captured? It was unbelievable.

"These planes were buried on the spot because they couldn't be transferred in time. Later, a Japanese detachment found them. They didn't want to report it, so they sold them to us," Alexei didn't feel surprised at all. The Japanese soldiers' pay was about the same as theirs; the low-level soldiers were very poor, and it was no surprise they would do anything to support their families.

"And what the hell are these four Type 95 tanks? They wouldn't even sell their own equipment, would they?" Wang Yue was shocked by the fine print at the bottom of the list. The Japanese Type 95 tank wasn't large, and its combat power couldn't even compare to the Type 89, but it was balanced. With these, his position in the Taihang Mountains would be truly secure.

"They drove themselves into a swamp. The engineers responsible for the salvage pulled them out and sold them directly. They just told their superiors that the tank unit reported incorrect coordinates and requested a budget of one million yen for a full search. It's just bureaucratic wrangling, really," Alexei explained with an innocent expression. Buying four almost brand-new tanks for 100,000 Fapi was a deal he couldn't resist.

"We were defeated by such enemies. It really is a crazy era," Wang Yue's head was spinning.

"There is one more thing. The Hubei Bureau has a batch of black powder to dispose of. The quality is quite good. Should we accept it?" Alexei recalled another matter.

"Black powder? The Hubei Bureau is still producing black powder?" Wang Yue was surprised. According to the Ordnance Department's raw material catalog, there was absolutely no black powder. If so, why produce it? And the amount Alexei mentioned seemed quite large.

"It was produced around the time of the Central Plains War. Later, the Ordnance Department placed orders, but who would have thought it wouldn't be needed, so it was stored. There are 524 tons in total. Now, transportation capacity is tight, and they don't want to move these things. It's only 200 silver dollars per ton; one hundred thousand silver dollars takes the lot," Alexei explained. In fact, during the Beiyang government era, there were always black powder bullets, and it was only during the so-called "Golden Decade" that they started messing around. It wasn't the most critical time yet; in a while, they would be dragging those old guns out of the warehouse to use.

"Take it. Prevent the Japanese from blowing it up one day. Closely monitor the Hubei Bureau's personnel, equipment, and raw materials. We'll make our move in the final stage; no rush." Wang Yue remembered that there were 90,000 tons of discarded materials recorded officially alone; the actual amount lost was far greater. With two months left, it was enough for him to lay his plans.

In a large city, even after evacuation, the amount of material left behind would be astronomical. His space was neither too small nor too big; a few trips would be enough.

"The United Air Force is fighting hard, so the Japanese planes are still quite restrained," Alexei nodded. He wasn't afraid of Japanese bombing; he was afraid of those guys in the Ordnance Department causing trouble.

"Alexei, how about the transport planes I asked you to look into?" Wang Yue caught Alexei's concern and deeply agreed. However, he was more concerned about the issue of transportation. Qifeng Town was too isolated; just coming out once was a harrowing experience. That was why he had long wanted a convenient and fast means of transport. Currently, the most convenient transport in the country was the Fi 156 Storch transport plane in the hands of the Air Force, only the bigwigs in the Air Force hadn't realized how useful it was yet.

"The Air Force only has two Storch transports; they don't quite dare to sell them. However, they have Potez 36 transport planes received from the Northeastern Army. One is 10,000 Fapi, and there are four in total. If we offer 100,000 Fapi, they will bundle the remaining parts and maintenance tools for us," Alexei really didn't think the Storch was that great. Even the Air Force didn't like it much, yet his young master was fixated on it.

"Potez 36 transport planes? Two-seater, high-wing, speed of 150 km/h, range of 500 km. We bought the naval version with folding wings back then. Is this thing even sure to fly?" Memories of the original body began to resurface in Wang Yue's mind. Back then, the original body was still wasting time at the Marshal's mansion, living a carefree life with a bunch of ne'er-do-well friends. Whenever they had nothing to do, they would fly a Potez 36 to Tianjin to play golf. It was very light; it could take off and land on a hundred-meter flat piece of ground. Although it wasn't like the Storch, which only needed a few dozen meters of runway, it was still very good. After all, the two planes were separated by many years—almost a generation.

The only problem was that the Potez 36 seemed to have a wooden frame. Many of the wooden-framed planes left behind by the Northeastern Army in the interior had rotted beyond recognition. Wang Yue didn't want to fall from the sky; after all, even having a space wasn't omnipotent.

"They can fly. Those planes have been in use all these years, and not only have they been maintained in time, but many components have also been upgraded. It's just that the Air Force looks down on these old goods; otherwise, they wouldn't have been so cheap for us." Alexei flipped through the stack of documents in Wang Yue's hand and produced an evaluation report.

"Sixth Brother only cares about these things. Wouldn't it be better to occupy Shanxi and practice internal strength?" Wang Yue looked at the document in his hand and couldn't help but smile bitterly. They had even changed the engines and wear-and-tear parts before the incident; these planes were no different from new ones.

It was said that the Northeastern Army lost its foundation after losing the Northeast, but the actual situation wasn't like that. The Northeastern Army still possessed vast lands and a large population after losing the Northeast. Integrating the resources in their hands might not have been enough to create a new situation, but some people had already lost their heart. Reaching this point today seemed inevitable.