Life in the world of film and television

Chapter 411 Procurement of Weapons
In the next day, Li Mu plans to purchase goods and return home as soon as possible.

He also has a certain idea of ​​what goods to buy. At present, the most important things in the country are medicines and military supplies.

Regardless of military supplies, if you don't have a certain strength, selling military supplies is easy to ask for trouble.

Medicines are much simpler, and their scope of application is wider than that of military supplies. They are not only used by the military, but also by civilians.

The first drug to choose is sulfonamide. The discovery and use of sulfonamide played a big role in fighting bacterial infections in World War II, and greatly reduced the death rate of wounded soldiers.According to data, in World War II, every American soldier was issued a first aid kit hanging on his belt, which contained a pack of sulfa powder and a roll of bandages.Sulfonamide powder and sulfa tablets are also important first aid drugs carried by field rescuers.

In many domestic anti-Japanese films, sulfonamide is hard to find. Many protagonists have to go through many difficulties to get sulfonamide and send it to the rear.

On the other hand, since the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, Japan has imposed a comprehensive blockade on the import of drugs to China, and sulfonamide, a powerful antibacterial drug, is an embargoed item.As a result, many soldiers died because they could not use a few sulfa pills.

Unlike China, during World War II, the US military greatly reduced the casualty rate because of sufficient sulfonamides.

Of course, at that time, the soldiers in China did not have enough sulfonamides. There should be another reason. They were too poor and did not have enough foreign exchange to buy these drugs.

Another drug that was widely used in China at that time but was relatively scarce was the antimalarial drug quinine.Quinine is an alkaloid extracted from the bark of trees such as cinchona, which can inhibit the growth of malaria parasites, and its main origin is in South America.

During the Anti-Japanese War, overseas Chinese and overseas Chinese donated a lot of quinine due to the scarcity of corresponding medicines.

For 20 US dollars, Li Mu bought all of them into sulfonamides, quinine... and several other rare drugs in China.

After shopping, Li Mu didn't stop, and got on the plane to Bangkok that day.

Then Hanoi, Kunming, and Wuhan, this time the journey took one day longer than the last time, and it took three days.

When he came to Wuhan, Li Mu rested for half a day, and immediately contacted several large commercial firms with a branch in Wuhan, good reputation and strength.

Now that the frontline battle is tense, medicines are scarce, especially medicines for treating injuries, which are very popular in the market.

We communicated and briefly discussed the price.

Then Li Mu came to the warehouse, put all the medicines in the space inside, and called the guard company who came to Wuhan with him to guard the warehouse with a row of more than 20 people.

Then he took the person in charge of the company to inspect and verify the goods with his own eyes.

Seeing so many medicines, the heads of several commercial firms were overjoyed. After a round of bargaining, the price was determined, and the two major commercial firms decided to jointly acquire the medicines.

Compared with Li Mu's purchase price in Singapore, the selling price is [-] times of it.

The equivalent of $20 became $56.

In fact, this is not too expensive. These drugs are shipped from Singapore to China according to the normal process. Not to mention the freight, there is also customs tax, and there are various food and card requirements along the way.

At least double the price to make enough profit

Coupled with the current sea blockade in Japan and the scarcity of medicines, the price of 58 US dollars is quite reasonable.

However, such a large transaction can only be made in legal currency in China.

In the end, the two big commercial banks paid Li Mu 150 million French currency, equivalent to 130 million silver dollars.

After getting the money, Li Mu didn't stay idle. He immediately took a plane and walked around several major material distribution centers in China. The money in his hands was spent again. The domestic hoarding of unsalable bristles for such a long time, less than half of them , was won by him at an average [-]% off price.

As for the rest, it was too scattered, so I didn't bother to collect it.

With so many bristles in hand, Li Mu embarked on the journey to Singapore again, still staying in that hotel. This time, because of the relatively large supply of goods in his hand, Li Mu contacted several relatively large foreign firms.

As the domestic war became more and more heated, the smell of gunpowder in Europe began to increase, and the market for bristles increased instead of decreasing. After all the sales, the funds in Li Mu's hands reached more than 160 million US dollars.

Although it is incomparable with a tycoon like Rockefeller, whose current net worth is measured in hundreds of millions of dollars, but in China, this net worth is definitely not small.

When the funds have reached this scale, it is not so easy to speculate in the future, and it takes a long time to prepare.Not only does it take time to purchase goods that can be exported at home, it also takes time to purchase enough goods abroad, and it also takes time to sell the goods at home.

Therefore, Li Mu decided to slow down the pace, and next, as the scale of the transaction became larger and larger, he couldn't do it alone, and had to set up a firm.

This is convenient. Singapore is a prosperous place for commodity logistics. There are a lot of talents in various companies. Not to mention all kinds of Chinese educated youths in Nanyang, many people from China come here to seek gold.

Through an intermediary, Li Mu rented a small two-story building in the commercial street, established the "Far East Commercial Bank", and then began to advertise in newspapers for recruitment.

As the domestic war continued, many people came to Nanyang with their families. Coupled with western adventurers and vagrants, there were more and more talents here.

After several rounds of selection, Li Mu recruited a man in his thirties named Su Ming as the person in charge of the Far East Commercial Bank.

With Su Ming's assistance, a Far East firm with more than 20 employees was established.The main task of the firm is to help Li Mu purchase supplies, or assist Li Mu to sell the supplies brought back from China.

Of course, this is the main task. After completing the main task, you can also undertake some business by yourself.For example, helping some domestic commercial firms to export products, or helping domestic commercial firms to import certain products.

In short, the firm is currently just an empty shelf, without much real assets.

When ordering goods, just contact other foreign companies directly, and you don't have to worry about it, as long as the things enter the warehouse.

When assisting Li Mu to sell the goods, they don't have to worry about how the goods are delivered, as long as the Far East Commercial Bank assists Li Mu to sell the things in the warehouse.

It's quite simple to say, just run errands, negotiate cooperation with other firms, and sign contracts.

The first thing the firm established was to assist Li Mu in purchasing supplies.

This time, with more than 160 million US dollars in hand, it would be impossible to purchase all the medicines. Not to mention that Singapore does not have so much goods at present, and it will not be able to digest them in a short time when they are brought back to China.

Li Mu asked someone to analyze it. In addition to the current shortage of medicines and military supplies in the country, some civilian goods that used to need to be imported are also in short supply.

Due to the closure of sea routes and the reduction of import channels, even if these materials are still in stock, domestic commercial firms have silently reduced their supply and started hoarding.

With the decrease in supply and the smoke of gunpowder everywhere, the prices of these imported commodities have also soared. As long as they are shipped into the country, they can make a lot of money.

In the next few days, with the assistance of the Far East Commercial Bank, Li Mu began to purchase various materials, mainly commodities that were in short supply in China before the war.

After purchasing these, I purchased some medicines and some miscellaneous things again.For example, all kinds of hardware tools, machine parts, some general-purpose equipment, steel products that cannot be produced by domestic technology, etc.!

These miscellaneous things purchased in the end seem to have little domestic demand, but the profits will never be low.

After one purchase, it cost almost 140 million US dollars.

It will take a lot of time to sell all these materials in China.Procurement of materials from China is not a small quantity, and it takes longer to prepare.

So, this time back home, time can't be wasted, Li Mu decided to train his security team, arm it, and expand the scale several times.

After all, in troubled times, having soldiers in hand is more practical than anything else.

The next step is to purchase ordnance. As the throat of the Strait of Malacca, Singapore not only gathers businessmen from various countries, but also has many arms dealers.

Under the advice of the Far East Commercial Firm, Li Mu contacted a firm that represented German ordnance.

Although the price of German military ordnance is relatively expensive, the quality is superior. Looking at the list of weapons provided by the other party, the Kar98k rifle is at the top. This is a new rifle launched in 98, which is the famous Mao Se [-]K.

As a standard rifle equipped by the German army during World War II, it has been in service since 1935 and has been used until the end of World War II. It is the standard equipment of the German Army.

This rifle has a built-in 5-round magazine. The length of the gun reaches 1.1 meters, the effective range is 800 meters, and the rate of fire is about 15 rounds per minute. It is a very classic rifle during World War II.

From 1935 to 1945, about 1450 million rifles of this type were produced, accompanying the German army from war to surrender.

I looked at the price again, no surprises, each Mauser 98K, with 45 rounds of ammunition, priced in US dollars, the unit price is [-] US dollars.

It is also marked on it, the stock is [-].

Looking down again, M24 grenades are priced in US dollars, and a single piece is 0.45 US dollars.

Then there are all kinds of firearms and artillery, even armored vehicles.

However, in the current state of the soldiers of the security regiment, apart from shooting a gun and throwing a grenade, let alone an armored vehicle, they can't even fire a cannon.

These can only be seen.

In the end, Li Mu purchased 34 Mauser [-]Ks, [-] hand grenades, and [-] German-made Grw [-] medium mortars.

This mortar has a maximum range of 2400 meters, a maximum rate of fire of 25 rounds per minute, a total weight of 57 kg, and an ammunition weight of 3.5 kg. It requires the cooperation of four soldiers.

During World War II, because of its precise shooting accuracy and high rate of fire, it won the praise of the Allied soldiers and participated in almost every battle of Germany in World War II.

Compared with various types of artillery, the operation of mortars is relatively simple. After a good training, you should be able to learn it quickly.

Thirty mortars, each equipped with [-] rounds of ammunition, cost $[-] each.

Thirty doors totaled $[-].

0.45 grenades, each priced at US$1.35, totaling US$[-].

45 Mauser 12K rods, equipped with [-] rounds of ammunition, the unit price is [-] US dollars, and the total price is [-] US dollars.

Total: 17.25 US dollars, converted into silver dollars, worth about 43 Yuan Datou.

Although so many German weapons were purchased, the firepower was still weak. The next day, Li Mu contacted a firm with a good reputation as an agent of ordnance.

After looking at the supply list, he quickly selected the target, one hundred Browning pistols, each with a thousand rounds of ammunition, and the unit price was seventy dollars.

These pistols can be used by the guards, and each officer in the future army will also be equipped with one.

Next, it is necessary to strengthen the firepower configuration of the army, and it is not enough to rely on rifles alone.

After choosing and choosing, I finally chose the famous Czech light machine gun.

The official name of the Czech light machine gun is the ZB-26 light machine gun, but because it was produced in the Czech Republic, people like to call it the Czech style.

If you want to ask what weapon was the most famous in the domestic army during the Anti-Japanese War, the Czech light machine gun must be indispensable.Just like in Bright Sword, the gun that Li Yunlong charged with was a Czech light machine gun.

However, Li Yunlong obviously used it improperly, this gun cannot hold such a charge.

This light machine gun was also one of the few domestic military weapons used to deal with small books during the Anti-Japanese War.It is said that imports plus self-made, during the Anti-Japanese War, there were at least 10,000+ Czech-style light machine guns in China, which can be regarded as a considerable contribution to the Anti-Japanese War.

However, this light machine gun is expensive. As the technology matures, although the price has dropped a little over the years, it is still not cheap.

A Czech-style light machine gun with 220 rounds of ammunition costs $[-].

Li Mu thought for a while and bought 180, worth [-] US dollars.

At that time, a regiment will be established directly under the machine gun company, and each squad will be equipped with another one.The firepower came up all at once.

In the end, Li Mu spent another [-] US dollars to buy several motorboats that can navigate inland rivers, and then he stopped.

After such a purchase, the money in his hand was also spent. Li Mu didn't delay, and got on the plane the next day and returned to Wuhan.

After returning to Wuhan, he was not busy selling the goods. There were too many materials involved this time, and it is conceivable that there will be more in the future. The country also needs to set up a business firm to handle these things for him.

Due to the successive fall of Beiping and Tianjin, and the constant flames of war in Shanghai, the coastal areas were full of turmoil, and many people fled to the interior to avoid disaster.

The three towns of Wuhan were well-known in China at this time, and they were the thoroughfare of nine provinces, the main waterway transportation, and there were many foreign concessions, which were the targets of many people's refuge.

Therefore, the flames of war ahead made it look a bit abnormally prosperous at this time, all kinds of talents were frantically pouring in, and there were people looking for jobs everywhere.

Li Mu bought a small building in the British Concession in Hankou, established Muwu Trading Company, and officially started recruiting troops.

In just over a week, a firm with more than 80 employees was established.For this reason, Li Mu dispatched hundreds of people from Nanyang, and 30 people were assigned to Browning to guard the firm in the city.The pistol is concealed and convenient for action in the city.

The other 70 people, accompanied by Mauser [-]k, guarded the warehouse outside the city in the name of the guards of the merchant group.

(End of this chapter)