As soon as Christian was about to stay here, Yu Zixun did not comment. Xu Huafeng was excited. Krupp was famous all over the world and had already been jealous of the St. Louis Expo Hall. Now he finally came to the manufacturing factory. How could he not be excited? But on the second day he became depressed. Yu Zixun was confused and asked, "Mr. Huafeng, are you?"

Xu Huafeng sighed with a worried look on his face: "Before leaving Shanghai, I thought that although our country was behind, it was still possible to pursue it with the efforts of his ancestors and colleagues. But when I look at it today, I feel that there is no hope of chasing it."

Yu Zixun was still young and was not careful about the skills of making steel cannons and asked, "Isn't it just artillery? Isn't it also made in the Jiangnan Bureau in Shanghai?"

"Jiangnan Bureau?" When talking about Jiangnan Bureau Xu Huafeng looked angry, "What else would those general managers do besides being able to flatter Shangguan and fill their personal bags? More than ten years ago, the Jiangnan Bureau could still make 30-5-year-old firecrackers. Logically speaking, the skills should be better today. But now all countries use 30-year-old firecrackers, but the bureau can only make 23-year-old firecrackers. Isn't this getting worse? Today, I saw the German cannons. The largest one had built a 45-year-old firecrackers for Italy. The caliber of Europe was the first to be the first. The smallest one was seven-year-old firecrackers, with a very fast fire rate. Each firecrackers for each firecrackers were only twelve seconds after five releases. The seven-year-old firecrackers made by Jiangnan Bureau took 22 seconds. No matter how big or small, we can't compare."

Seeing that Xu Huafeng was very honest, Yu Zixun had no way to persuade him, so he had to say, "If our cannon cannot be used, then it would be best to buy someone..."

As soon as these words were said, Xu Huafeng was even more sad and said, "Who would like to sell the powerful weapons of the military? Li Zhongtang of Beiyang thought so before, but during the Sino-Japanese War, all countries did not sell warships to our country, and there was only money and no place to use them. No, I went back to find them and discussed them. We must not neglect these cannons and steel." After that, he ignored Yu Zixun and went straight to the room to write a letter.

After this incident, I was just a little bit of soybean after visiting a few days ago. Christian's cousin Knabe originally wanted to make a fortune through artillery trading. Seeing that the two leaders of the Qing Dynasty were in no spirit and knew that what they had failed, they immediately set off for Duseldorf. On the way, Yu Zixun and Knabe had a thorough communication. "Mr. Knabe, I think we should discuss the division of labor and... salary in this negotiation."

Unlike his fat cousin, Knabe is a thin gentleman in his forties. Of course, this is only known from his outfit and his gentlemanly words and deeds. But if you carefully see his eyes turning around from time to time, you can feel the greed hidden in his heart. He is completely a commercial man. In Christian's introduction, Knabena knew that this young Qing man was one of the key figures in this transaction, and he was much harder to deal with than the old guy next to him. Knabe said: "Mr. Yu, I have agreed on these things with Mr. Yang before. Do you want to change it?"

Knabe's eyes turned again, Yu Zixun was dizzy and said without nonsense: "Mr. Knabe. I understand very well that your help to us in this transaction. The remuneration agreed by Mr. Yang and you will not change. But I want to add some content, for example, I will pay you 10,000 marks even if the transaction is not successful. At the same time, if the equipment is running well after the transaction is completed and the purchase price is low, then I will pay at least 2% based on the originally agreed commission of 3%, but this 2% will take about three years to pay you. You don't need to worry, we can sign an agreement like before, and your cousin's friend Mr. Leo William can guarantee it." He looked at Christian next to him and said, "We will also receive remuneration, and I think the amount will definitely satisfy you."

Hearing that Yu Zixun raised the conditions for the transaction, Christian couldn't help laughing, and Knabe's eyes finally stopped turning, he looked at Yu Zixun straight and said in surprise: "Mr. Yu. Is this true? Thank you so much."

Yu Zixun ignored his gratitude and said, "Mr. Knabe, we oriental people pay attention to friendship when doing business. Even if the transaction is not completed, friendship still exists. In my heart, I only want to buy a good machine, not a garbage, and can use a suitable price, not an outrageous price. So if there is anything inappropriate in the transaction, or the business is not worth the transaction at all, you should also remind us that I will appropriately increase the reward based on these reasonable information."

Knabe didn't care about friendship or friendship. As far as he knew, his cousin had been hired by these Qing anti-government militants. His cousin's friend Leo William and their leader Yang had a good relationship, so he guaranteed that the subsequent remuneration was guaranteed. Although the young Qing man in front of him was not very fond of him, the remuneration was now increased by at least 2% and was still a very happy thing. He stood up and took off his hat and bowed slightly to Yu Zixun, which was considered thanks.

It took one day forty kilometers to arrive. The factory receptionist, 68-year-old Chairman Heinrich Ehart, had been waiting in Berkko for a long time. Knabe had not told him who the buyer was before, but he was also aware of the outfits of Yu Zixun and others. Since Rheinmetall bought the Somaida Arsenal in March 1901, the company's cash began to tighten. At this time, Rheinmetall's net assets were only 1.2 million marks, and this capital scale was much less than that of Tianchu MSG under the Revival Society.

Although Russia ordered valuable ammunition and artillery from the factory due to the war, Russia was not prepared for this war, and all kinds of ammunition were not ready, so although the order was large, the delivery time was very fast. In order to complete the order, Rheinrich Ehart had to urgently add a lot of production equipment, but as everyone commented, Russia would quickly defeat Japan, so it is very likely that these equipment would have to rest for a long time before the next batch of orders. For Rheinrich, the result of this is basically that it did not make any cash, but only made some new machines. Under the temptation of Knabe, the military dealer, Heinrich Ehart quickly decided to sell these equipment after the war ended.

After dinner, Chairman Ehart said to two buyers Yu Zixun and Xu Huafeng: "Mr. Yu, Mr. Xu, given the reasons well known to some people, we can only be responsible for packaging and transporting the machine to the hamburger for this transaction, and the subsequent matter has nothing to do with us."

Yu Zixun also heard about the transaction content before, but he still felt that he wanted to fight for it. He said, "Mr. Love Hart. I understand your difficulties, but I still hope that you can help us in the matter of leaving the customs. Of course, this is just help. If something goes wrong, then this matter will not be involved with you. Please rest assured about this."

"We can also help with customs, but this kind of help is only technical." Chairman Ahart said, "It is some lathes that are obviously military-industry. For example, we will help disassemble the bore beds in the factory into parts, and then bid them into ordinary machinery or accessories to come out of customs. In this way, the customs will not notice anything. You will come out of customs smoothly."

Selling dog meat with sheep's head is a common method of large-scale smuggling. Last year, the guns led by Yu Zixun were to disguise the guns as mechanically transported into Tonghua, but the guns and bullets could not be disassembled. He was about to nod, but was stopped by Xu Huafeng. "Zixun, after disassembling the lathe and reinstalled it will affect the accuracy. It is best to ask them to send engineers to Tonghua so that they can rest assured."

As Xu Huafeng said, most of the smuggled machines this time are new. If these devices want to be fully effective, someone needs to install and debug the training. However, Aihart still emphasized, "After leaving the port, this matter has nothing to do with us. I will not be convenient for me to send engineers to the Far East for subsequent installation and training."

Yu Zixun and Xu Huafeng were prepared in their hearts. Yu Zixun said: "Mr. Ehart, this matter has nothing to do with you after the machine leaves the factory. I understand this very well. However, you should send a few engineers to guide us in private. For these engineers, we must first fully guarantee their life safety. You should know that in my country, the status of Westerners is very high. In addition, we will also give them generous rewards and accident insurance. They can ask for leave from you and then go voluntarily."

See in this way. Chairman Ehart had no objection, and he said: "If I were to go privately, I had no objection to this, and if these engineers went to the Far East voluntarily, the company would retain their positions and wait for them to come back. Also, Mr. Yu, I may not be able to provide the most advanced firearm design drawings that Mr. Knabe last time told me, and only the 88 committee rifle can provide."

Hearing that there were only 88 committee rifles, Yu Zixun was disappointed. Before leaving, Yang Rui asked in a telegram to get the design drawings of Mauser 98 or its series. It seemed that he saw the regret in Yu Zixun's eyes. Chairman Ehart said: "Mr. Yu, to be honest, the Somada Arsenal actually has very few gun production, and currently the main production of hunting rifles is the factory's main products are bullets and fuzes, as well as various types of artillery. So we can't provide you with the most advanced gun design drawings."

Chairman Ehart spoke very slowly. Yu Zixun understood every word. He thought there was everything in this place, but who knew that except for ammunition and cannons, it seemed to be worse than the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau. Fortunately, the two were hit once with Krupp and were much calmer. He got up very early the next day and participated in the entire arsenal with factory staff. After seeing the entire factory, the two of them regained some confidence. Although this factory was not good at making guns, the equipment was very new. The factory probably never focused on gun production, but only made bullets. The scale of artillery was not small. The accompanying staff said that the factory had to sell artillery and ammunition every year.

After the arrival, let's be safe. After the third day, Yu Zixun started to negotiate a contract with Chairman Ehart. The main content of the contract was guns and ammunition production equipment. As for iron and steelmaking equipment, we naturally ordered it to other companies. According to the previous plan, the Tonghua Arsenal needed to support 30,000 to 50,000 people in the early stage, so the production of bullets should be produced at least 10 million rounds per year and 100,000 mortar shells. In terms of guns, the tens of thousands of old goods from the Boers had been purchased, and now it is estimated that it has been transported to Lorenzo Maguis. Once the Andong route is connected, it can be transported in. It is still sufficient for a time, and it is enough to produce 1,000 guns per month. As for cannons, mortars were still the main ones in the early stage, and when the steel mills have matured their skills, they can produce gun steel to consider this matter.

Chairman Ehart was shocked when he saw Yu Zixun put out such a big order, but when he thought of the rumors that the bank loans that were about to expire and insiders came to the rumors that the German army was about to adopt the latest IP rifle bullets, he gritted his teeth and took the order and finally opened a price of 2.85 million marks. Knabe and Christian, who were dedicated to his life, as well as expert Xu Huafeng, and the drunkard Ludwig were present. Yu Zixun could not see any problem with Ehart's quotation. It's not normal for foreigners to be so honest. Why don't this unique business make a big profit? Could it be that I will cheat me up after signing the contract? Or is it because I am handsome? Yu Zixun tried for several days but didn't come up with any reason. The experts read the equipment in the contract several times like Sun Wukong's defense blank scriptures, and finally confirmed that there was no problem at all.

So, on a hot afternoon in August, the contract was signed successfully and the deposit was paid. In addition to the details discussed before, it was also stipulated that the latest delivery time of the machine was before the first half of 1906. During this period, Yu Zixun could send a small number of personnel (must have short hair and braids are too silly) to the factory for internship, but the internship fee was to be taken care of by himself, and the same was true for the steel factory, but some special steel formulas involved were required to purchase patents before production was authorized. Chairman Ehart knew exactly what these people were going to do. Although he did not know that mortars had been invented in the Russo-Japanese War, he determined that artillery was also needed by these revolutionaries, and offered a relatively preferential price for this. Four seven-shen tubes were withdrawn with two thousand shells, a total of 200,000 marks. After Xu Huafeng calculated, he still felt that Krupp's artillery was cheaper, but he did not completely refuse at the moment. He just looked at the needs later.

The guns, ammunition production machines are the key business for coming to Germany, and everyone is happy after the contract is signed. Knabe and Christian received part of the early remuneration. They are now a little impatient to hope that the Russo-Japanese War will end soon, so that after the business is completed, they can get a huge sum of more than 40,000 marks. In 1904, the average daily salary in Germany was only 4 marks, which was a huge sum of money. Mr. Yu also added another 2% reward, which added a large sum of money.

Knabe took the check that Yu Zixun wrote. He fixed his eyes and looked at the string of numbers on it, lowered his head and kissed some of the newly signed checks, carefully put the checks in the prepared clips, and then put them in the inner sieve of the coat. For him, a hawker, when did he do such a big business? He suddenly thought that Yu Zixun seemed to have to purchase equipment from the steel mill, and his eyes began to turn again, "Mr. Yu. Thank you so much for your generosity. In order to express my gratitude, I especially hope to invite you and Mr. Xu to visit my hometown Berlin. Of course, if you still want to buy a machine, I can still do it for you."

Yu Zixun said: "Thank you very much. Mr. Knabe, we won't go to Berlin. Our next stop is Ersh in Luxembourg. You know, we are going to run a steel factory, and the iron ore that came from China will be tried there a few months later. I will wait there." Yu Zixun knew what he was paying attention, but the steel factory behind him, diesel internal combustion engines, synthetic ammonia equipment, and the itinerary of Denmark and Switzerland were not something he could do, so he had to politely decline.

Seeing the benefits that Knabe couldn't get, he was no longer polite and took Christian with him, while the drunkard Ludwig stayed with Yu Zixun. After they left, Yu Zixun asked, "Mr. Huafeng, do we really not put the students of the steel mill here?"

Xu Huafeng said: "The factory construction is too small, and all the staff should not be here, but the smelting of cannon steel can be learned here. I will adjust the previous plan, but it is tens of thousands of miles away. How could I think of what happened here? I will explain to him. Although Luxembourg is a small country, it produces more than one million tons of iron every year, which is more than twenty times that of Hanyang Iron Factory. The machines of Hanyang Iron Factory were purchased there earlier, and now the general office of Hanyang Iron Factory is heard that this is the Chinese."

Luxembourg is still so capable. Yu Zixun, who took a European map for a long time to find it, was he very surprised. Is this called a country? Even a country in China is larger than him. Xu Huafeng ignored his surprise and asked, "When will Xiao Xu transport ore, coal and people who are learning to smelting?" As an insider, Xu Huafeng knew exactly what the problem was in the Hanyang Iron Factory. In order not to have a situation like Hanyang, Xu Huafeng asked to transport the iron ore to Europe for testing and trials. During the safe period, even coal was planned to transport it to see how the coal became coke.
Chapter completed!