Chapter 260: Arms Deal

Duan Tiansheng was originally Japanese. No wonder he was so arrogant.

It seems that Zhang Xiaolin has long been surrounded by the Japanese. The Nightingale was also Japanese.

Perhaps Zhang Xiaolin is a puppet. A puppet of the Japanese.

The Japanese pull the strings, and he moves. Pull the strings again, and he moves again...

He took out the little notebook that Cao Mengqi had organised.

It had a list of Zhang Xiaolin's assets. He looked to see if there was anything in the concession...

Yes!

The Night Blossom Cinema on Jin Shenfu Road.

It was called a cinema, but it was actually a nightclub. It had everything you could want:

drinks, food, entertainment.

It was a madhouse. Every night was a party.

And I don't know where those people get all that money. I'm so jealous.

Let's see what time it is. We can still go to Ye Laixiang.

Is it open? I don't think so. But we can just bang on the door! He doesn't know any better...

'Go to Jin Shenfu Road.'

Zhang Yong waves his hand. A tram just happens to be passing by.

Huh? It looks like the tram is just passing Jin Shenfu Road? So he waves his hand. Everyone gets on.

'Tickets, tickets...' the conductor calls out hurriedly.

'Seventeen people,' Zhang Yong handed the conductor a silver dollar, 'Keep the change.'

The conductor...

tried to do some quick calculations. Oh, that's enough. So he didn't say anything.

Silver dollars were hard currency.

But paper money wasn't.

There happened to be a seat on the tram. Zhang Yong sat down.

Yang Zhi liked to stand. So did the others. Standing, you could see everything around you.

For most of Yang Zhi's squad, it was the first time they had ridden a tram and entered the concession. They were curious about everything around them.

It seemed that Qin Lishan, Tong Luohan, and Lu Wang were all veterans of the 21st Division. They had lived in the army for years. Where had they seen such a big city before?

Zhang Yong also looked outside.

He tried to recall scenes from spy movies. But none of it matched.

The scenes in spy movies are all shot in Hengdian World Studios. Of course, they can't compare to the real Shanghai. The real Shanghai is very, very big.

In fact, the concession alone is not a small area. You couldn't finish walking it in a day.

The names of the roads in the concession are basically in English or French. Very few are in Chinese.

The car arrives at Jin Shenfu Road. Zhang Yong tells the men to get out of the car.

He suddenly turns back.

He sees a crisp, fresh-faced man.

Not very old, not even twenty, it seemed. Small eyes.

He had been following Zhang Yong for a long time.

Before, Zhang Yong had never noticed. But the map had warned him.

They looked at each other coldly.

It was strange that the other person didn't turn around and run immediately.

Instead, he smiled at Zhang Yong. A very forced smile. But it was clearly a greeting.

That was weird.

What did he want?

Zhang Yong waved at the other person. The other person really walked over.

'Who are you?'

'My name is Chan.'

'Why are you following us?'

'You want to do something big, right?'

'What we do has nothing to do with you.'

'We have weapons...'

'Oh?'

Zhang Yong's expression changed.

They have weapons?

Those words were very tempting!

It was very inconvenient to bring weapons in from outside the concession. This was especially true when carrying out covert operations.

Now the concession has stepped up checks at all entrances and exits, and everyone is searched on entry and exit. It's more troublesome. It's really not easy to rush around trying to get enough weapons.

Especially after the Japanese got involved with the concession police station. Some of the Japanese military police are wearing police uniforms and conducting very thorough checks. The checks are very strict near the Japanese-occupied area.

'We have weapons. We can sell them. We can rent them.'

'Who are you?'

'Heaven and Earth Society.'

'How many joss sticks do you burn at the door?'

'What?'

Acan was a little confused.

Zhang Yong: ...

Isn't it the Tien-Di Gang? Isn't the password to make a secret contact burning joss sticks?

I still remember the couplet, what's it called? 'The land shakes and the high hill is high, a school of streams and mountains forever beautiful; the door faces the sea, the three rivers join to form a stream that flows forever...'

'What weapons do you have?'

'Whatever you want.'

'I want a 155mm self-propelled howitzer...'

'We don't have that. We only have 60mm mortars.'

'What?'

Zhang Yong was stunned.

Shit. This is too exaggerated. You can even get mortars?

He suddenly remembered that when he had previously exchanged information with Zhu Yuan, he had mentioned that another inspector, Kurimoto Ao, had cracked an arms smuggling case and seized mortars.

Could it be that the people Kurimoto Ao captured were also from the Tien-Di Gang?

It's not surprising when you think about it.

In modern-day China, the most profitable business is actually arms. Next comes opium.

When the guns go off, it's worth its weight in gold.

Even if the goods come in through official channels, the prices are still outrageous.

It seems that an original imported Czech-style light machine gun costs more than 700 taels. An ordinary rifle costs more than 100 taels.

A casual 10,000 rifles would cost more than 1 million taels. Not to mention the bullets.

Cannons and the like were even more expensive.

What was the price of the 105mm howitzer imported from Germany? It was in the tens of thousands of dollars anyway.

Not to mention the 150mm howitzer. Just one of those would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. And no one was willing to sell them.

Once you buy a gun, you have to buy bullets. And you have to keep buying them.

A gun without bullets is useless.

Don't think bullets are cheap just because they're small. In fact, bullets are not cheap.

After all the mark-ups, a dollar can only buy about ten bullets. A million dollars can only buy ten million bullets.

Is ten million bullets a lot?

Not really.

You'll use them all in a major battle.

During the Second World War, the United States produced more than 40 billion bullets. You can see how terrifying the quantity is.

The Japanese produced the fewest bullets. But they still produced 8 billion.

If you want to buy them, how many dollars will it cost?

It would cost 800 million!

Who can afford 800 million?

In fact, ammunition is the most profitable.

Especially artillery shells.

Especially large-calibre shells.

Because they cannot be replicated domestically, we can only let foreigners name their own price.

How much is a 105mm howitzer shell? It seems to be more expensive than a Czech light machine gun. It's unbelievable.

How can the national army soldiers have enough ammunition to train with?

Even if each person fires 20 bullets, they can't afford it. A million troops is no small number.

'What's the price?'

Zhang Yong's tone was calm.

I admire this guy's courage. He chased me all the way.

The other party is also quite determined in order to do business.

'A good驳壳枪, 300 silver dollars a gun. 100 free bullets...'

'A good大眼撸子, 130 silver dollars a gun, 100 free bullets...'

'A good horse-brand rifle, 120 taels a piece, with 100 rounds of ammunition...'

'A Thompson submachine gun, 500 taels a piece, with 300 rounds of ammunition...'

Acan rattles off the prices like they're his family jewels.

Zhang Yong actually thinks the prices are quite reasonable. Really.

The Thompson is only 500 taels. Converted into US dollars, it's about 100 US dollars. And the ex-factory price is almost 80 US dollars.

And the Big Eye Mule is only 130 taels, damn, it's practically a bargain.

It's just that the submachine gun is more expensive. But there's nothing you can do, the cost of this gun is through the roof. Only the Chinese in the whole world would buy it.

Yes, yes, yes!

Buy, buy, buy!

But wait...

'Why is it so cheap?'

'You need to find a way to get the goods yourselves.'

'What do you mean?'

'The goods are in a Japanese warehouse.'

'I...'

Zhang Yong tilted his head and looked at the other person.

Is he taking me for a fool?

The goods are in the hands of the Japanese, and you're selling them to me at this price?

I hope your family is sick...

'We'll give you the address. You can pick them up yourself.'

'Why don't you go yourself?'

'Because we don't want to be targeted. There's a Japanese assistant police commissioner called Takasumi Akagi from the police station here, and he's keeping an eye on us. It's too risky for us to make the move.'

'So we're not at risk?'

'Are you afraid of the Japanese in the Fuxing Society?'

'Er...'

Zhang Yong's expression changed.

The other party is no ordinary person! They know who we are.

They really have accurately targeted their customers and deeply understand their needs! He couldn't refuse.

Anything Japanese is good. We must take it.

As the other party said, are we afraid of the Japanese? Nonsense!

It's fine if you don't say it's Japanese. Once you say it's Japanese, you must take it all. You mustn't let any go.

But...

Wait!

'What were the Japanese storing these weapons for?'

'They also want to win over some people in the concession. So they are using the weapons as bait.'

'Who has already defected to the Japanese?'

'Some people from the Dagger Society.'

'In that case, you should at least give us some weapons as a gift! It will also be to your advantage if we get rid of these Japanese weapons.'

'At most, I can give you five machine pistols. 300 rounds of ammunition.'

'Deal!'

Zhang Yong agreed decisively.

He happened to need weapons. Then he set about the Night Blossom Cinema.

Five submachine guns and 300 rounds of ammunition could do a lot. If they were in the hands of a crack shot, they could kill a dozen Japanese without any problem.

'Wait a moment. I'll have the weapons delivered.'

'Do you need a deposit?'

'I know who you are. We can work together in the long term.'

'Good. Long term.'

Zhang Yong smiled.

Suddenly, the map seemed to respond.

A small blue dot appeared. It was right in front of him.

It seemed to...

represent Ah Chan?

His mind raced.

'What's your name?'

'Zhou Wanchan.'

Zhang Yong pondered.

What did blue mean? Friend? Business partner?

In any case, it didn't seem to be an enemy.

Zhou Wanchan went to make a phone call. Zhang Yong and the others waited by the roadside.

Soon, Zhou Wanchan returned.

He still looked crisp and fresh.

If you didn't know any better, you'd never guess that this guy sold arms.

About half an hour later, a rickshaw passed by.

Zhou Wanchan got on.

The rickshaw stopped.

Five submachine guns were taken out from under the rickshaw. And five boxes of ammunition.

He handed them to Zhang Yong one by one.

Zhang Yong took them and inspected them carefully.

They were correct. They were all good guns. Although they weren't brand new, they were at least in good working order.

The bullets are also new. No rust.

Overall, the quality of this shipment is not bad. It can kill the Japanese.

'Address.'

'28 Xujiahui Road.'

'Good!'

Zhang Yong nodded.

Without further delay, he turned towards Xujiahui Road immediately.