Chapter Twelve: Spending Money Like Water

  Chapter Twelve: Spending Money Like Water

  "Heh heh, Master said that I already know. If Master buys another machine, I'll immediately go send a telegram to Huo Yu and the others!"

  Looking at Fu Bo's smiling face, Huo Shan was overjoyed in his heart and hastily took out the manuscript he had prepared long ago.

  "Our iron and steel equipment is temporarily sufficient, but the mining equipment is still a bit short. I think we should buy another 2 million tons of mining equipment to use in our iron mine in Hainan and coal mine in Taiwan. Moreover, the high-level workers needed for mining are not many, and iron ore and coal can also make money.

  The shipbuilding equipment is a bit short, so I plan to buy another 50,000 tons of shipbuilding equipment and build a 100,000-ton shipyard in Keelung.

  Hmm, oil refineries! Let's forget about oil refineries for now, as the internal combustion engines and naval boilers are still far from practical application!

  Industrial machine tools, let's get another 50 sets. Although they're not top-notch, they can be modified to be quite good, and it's much faster than producing them ourselves!

  Hmm, this time we should also buy chemical equipment. The three acids and two alkalis are very important for industrial development, and they can also be used to make explosives. Oh, and experimental equipment is a must-buy too! And let's not forget optical instruments!"

  Watching Huo Shan scribble and paint, muttering numbers and factories from time to time, Fu Bo's face couldn't help but reveal a bitter smile, and he sighed in his heart: "It's going to cost money again! Alas, the young master is good at everything, but this spending speed is too fast!"

  As expected, after half an hour, a batch of mechanical equipment including mining equipment, shipbuilding equipment, chemical equipment, industrial machinery and experimental instruments worth tens of millions was placed in front of the old man.

  "Young master, after spending this one million two silver coins, our family's savings will not be much. Moreover, you still want to build a railway, which is another expense. Although our family is large and prosperous now, the expenses are also considerable. Therefore, young master must be careful with your spending in the future!" The old man said with deep concern.

  "Don't worry, Uncle Fu! These devices will last us for a while after we buy them back. And within half a year, we won't have such a large expense again! You can rest assured!" He also knew that he had spent money too quickly during this period, and nearly 20 million taels of silver had been spent in just one month. The family fortune accumulated by the Huo family over the past 20 years had already been used up by more than two-thirds. Without using that batch of enormous wealth, he indeed didn't have much money left! However, as a traverser, there were still many ways to make money.

  "It seems like I'll have to go to America ahead of schedule!" Huo Shan thought to himself.

  After returning home, Fu Bo hastily left, he still had too many things to attend to, and the procurement of mechanical equipment for Huo Dashi was still weighing on the old man's mind, even eating and sleeping time, the old man would rather save it if possible.

  Looking at Fu Bo's old back, Huo Shan didn't feel good either, but now he had too few usable talents in his hands, and the trustworthy Huo family members all had their own tasks, and there was no way to do it.

  "Just get through these two years and it'll be fine!" Huo Shan muttered to himself.

  "Where are we going now, young master?" asked the stout youth who had been standing behind Huo Shan all along.

  "Go, Leizi, let's go to the back mountain!"

  ——————

  "One two, one two three four!"

  A loud shout, from a distance, had already been carried by the wind into Huo Shan's ears.

  The vast playground, the dense barracks, and the warriors shouting slogans in training, this familiar yet strange scene made his blood boil. This seemed like a military training scene from later generations, and it also gave him a sense of temporal reversal.

  Seeing them coming, the soldiers who were on guard outside with 71-style rifles discovered them. However, upon seeing it was Huo Shan, the soldiers in the guard class all showed a look of reverence and saluted, saying: "Soldier Han Mu Yun has seen Instructor!"

  Huo Shan's face turned serious as he returned the salute with a reverse hand gesture. He then asked warmly: "Is your commander in?"

  "Attention! The commander is in the combat room!"

  "Alright, I know, you go patrol!"

  "Yes, sir!"

  Watching the fleeing soldiers, Huo Shan couldn't help but smile and said to the stout young man beside him: "Leizi, it seems that these guys have trained their troops quite well!"

  When he heard the young master's words, Huo Lei also smiled and nodded. He had grown up with Huo Long and Huo Hu since childhood, receiving training from the family together. As one of the eighteen iron guards of the Huo family, he still had a good understanding of his companions' abilities.

  "Come on, let's go see what these guys are up to."

  Because the second recruitment had too many people, the training base here has expanded several times. As a result, it took Huo Shan more than ten minutes to find the combat room located in the center of the military camp even though he was walking. However, before familiar Huo Da arrived at the door, he heard intense arguing voices coming from inside.

  "The Crimean War!"

  With a wave of his hand, he interrupted the two soldiers on duty who wanted to salute him. After standing at the door for a while, Huo Shan smiled and said.

  "It seems these guys are also working hard! The military strategy is quite to their taste!" He Shan thought to himself.

  He pushed open the door and walked in, only to see more than 20 young people wearing camouflage military uniforms surrounding a map, engaged in heated debate. They stopped arguing and collectively saluted him as soon as they saw him enter.

  "Hello, instructor!"

  Because he often teaches everyone, all the soldiers here know him, and most of the officers are his disciples. Although Huo Shan is only twelve years old now, it's unknown whether it's because of crossing over, but in these two months, his height has grown rapidly. With sufficient nutrition, he now looks like a normal fifteen or sixteen year old kid. So being called 'instructor' by so many people more than ten years older than him doesn't seem that out of place!

  "Everyone, please take a seat! I've been standing outside listening for a while now, and your analysis is quite good! It seems that the military training we had during this period wasn't wasted, everyone's level has improved quickly!" Huo Shan said with a smile after gesturing for everyone to sit around him.

  "Haha, isn't this the result of Young Master's advanced military textbooks? However, Young Master, we've been training every day, when will it end? Why don't I lead them out to find some bandits and have a battle, also to increase the combat experience of our troops?" Huo Shi was a talent nurtured by the Huo family from a young age, trained by German instructors. Previously, he controlled the Huo family's militia. After Huo Shan merged the militias, he moved to this secret military training base located behind the Huo family estate in the mountains. Due to his good military foundation, he quickly accepted Huo Shan's new military ideology! Therefore, it was only natural that he was appointed as the highest commander of this military base! Moreover, after the recent completion of the Huo family army's military reorganization, he was also appointed as a division commander. So, whether in terms of prestige or seniority, his position in the Huo family army's land forces system is undoubtedly the highest!"

  Looking around at the eager and respectful eyes, Huo Shan knew this wasn't just his own idea. "I understand how everyone is feeling right now, but our troops haven't been trained well yet - they're still just farmers who have only just learned to hold a gun. So we need to give them plenty of time to grow into real soldiers. And our army has just finished reorganizing and isn't very familiar with each other yet. So for now, your mission is to train, train, and train some more! Do you understand?"

  "Yes, sir!"

  "The spirit is good, but I don't like soldiers who are all talk and no action. You have two months left, and in two months' time, I want to see our first batch of over 200,000 troops complete their training, a steel army that can withstand any test, with the mission of liberating the entire nation and achieving the great rejuvenation of the Chinese people!" As he spoke, Huo Shan stood up excitedly, raised his fist high in the air, and shouted loudly.

  "Whoa!"

  All the officers present suddenly stood up, solemnly standing upright, with a stern expression and loudly said: "We will inherit the instructor's will, to overthrow the Qing government, liberate the people of the whole country as our own responsibility, and vow to become the steel Great Wall guarding the Chinese nation!"

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