Chapter 26: I snatched away the land that the Japanese had set their sights on.

  Here is the translation:

  Japan, as a country, has been growing in wealth and power since the Meiji Restoration in 1871. In 1895, it defeated the Qing Empire in the First Sino-Japanese War, gaining a large amount of money and resources, which greatly increased its economic and military strength, making it a dominant power in Asia at that time.

  However, after tasting the sweetness of war, the entire nation developed a mindset that preferred to use force to solve problems. When Ningwu Prefecture's industrial products appeared on the market, they did have some impact on the sales of similar products from European and American countries, but not to the extent that they were severely affected.

  This is because these Western countries' industrial products had always been far superior to Japan's in terms of design concept, technological content, market share, and cultural influence. As a newly emerging capitalist industrial nation, Japan's economic exchanges with China had only just begun, and it was not comparable to these old capitalist nations in various aspects, especially in the design concept and surface culture of industrial products.

  The gap was even greater, making Japanese goods low-end products that were cheap but inferior in quality. Therefore, the losses suffered by those Japanese merchants in Tianjin were the most severe, directly leading to an incident of intentional destruction.

  At the time of the incident, in addition to the guards stationed in Qingdao, Shanghai, Hankou and Guangzhou, there were more than 30 guards in Tianjin. The team leader was named Zuo Tingdong, a retired Huai Army veteran in his early 30s. The instructor was Matthew, a partner of Donovan who had been beaten twice by Kang Fanlian and knew how to box. After receiving the news, the two led the guards and violently beat up the Japanese who came to smash and loot shops with wooden sticks and bamboo swords, stabilizing the situation in an instant. Later, another group of Japanese carrying firearms arrived, shooting and killing several guards at first, leading to a bloody conflict.

  Zuo Tingdong and Zuo Baogui, the Qing army general who was stationed in Korea during the First Sino-Japanese War, were from the same village. At that time, Zuo Tingdong and other officers fought bravely under Zuo Baogui's command against the Japanese army on the battlefield of Hy?nmu Gate in Korea. However, after Zuo Baogui was unfortunately killed by a cannonball, the entire army collapsed, with heavy casualties, and Zuo Tingdong himself was seriously injured, forcing him to retreat with the remaining troops. Now, facing the Japanese again, his eyes turned red, and he didn't listen to his subordinates' advice, raising his gun and firing immediately. Instructor Matthews hesitated for a moment before also opening fire. The two men's marksmanship was accurate, and they instantly killed four and injured over ten Japanese people on the spot, causing both sides to fall into chaos. In close combat in a narrow space, the Winchester M1894 rifle had a faster firing rate, better operability, and sustained firepower compared to the Japanese Arisaka Type 30 rifle. Therefore, before the Qing army and American consul arrived to mediate, the group of Japanese people who participated in the destruction were beaten back by the guard team. After this battle, He's family gained fame at home and did excellent publicity for their business.

  Kang Fan had planned to go to Tianjin for a visit, but due to the many things that needed to be taken care of, he was unable to make the trip. After meeting He Shui Kuo in the county town, he anxiously asked about the situation in Tianjin.

  He Shui Kuo happily said: "Everything has been taken care of. The people from the US embassy were very helpful."

  Kong Fan understood and said, "It seems that this time we have again benefited from Father Du's connections with the US Embassy. Without his relationship with them, even if the Japanese had fired first, things probably wouldn't have ended so simply."

  "Yes, nothing can be hidden from you, Brother Kang." He Xishuai said with approval.

  Kong Fan said: "For the guards who were killed or injured in this incident, they must be heavily rewarded. The deceased will give compensation to their families, the wounded will continue to serve, assign suitable duties, and support them until old age. What does Shui Kuo think?"

  He Shui nodded, "This matter will be handled properly by brother himself, Kangdi can rest assured."

  "When will Brother Shui Kuo leave again?" Kang Fan asked.

  He Shuikuo said, "Now the inventory of the Beijing distribution base can still last for some time. However, sales are very large and products are in short supply, so we need to consider expanding production capacity. After waiting for new goods to be loaded, I will return to Tianjin again."

  "All right. This time I'll go with you to Tianjin," said Kang Fan.

  He Guokuan, who had been anxiously waiting at the Tianjin base, finally felt relieved when he saw Kang Fan, Duonowan and He Guoquan. Duonowan was closely connected with the Tianjin Customs and the US Embassy, so it was understandable that the US Embassy officials took the initiative to intervene in the incident and made every effort to mediate afterwards. Therefore, a courtesy visit was unavoidable.

  "If it weren't for you insisting that I deliver the medicine to those Ethiopians, things might have turned out better. Because whether I'm there or not, the outcome would definitely be different." Donovan complained to Kovan.

  Kang Fan laughed and said, "You don't have to go to Ethiopia yourself! Just assign the task to Captain Li's oceangoing freighters. Are you just making excuses to criticize me?"

  Donovan didn't want to enumerate any more, and introduced several key figures from the Tianjin Customs and the US Embassy to Kang Fan. Kang Fan handed over a box of gold coins that had been prepared in advance to Donovan, who distributed them to these people as a token of gratitude. After finishing this, the two men arrived at the Tianjin base.

  The base is still heavily guarded, like a military camp. After Kang Fan brought dozens of cavalry officers and soldiers, the base's defense strength has increased significantly. Kang Fan warned all personnel in the base: The Japanese are sinister and despicable, they will stop at nothing to achieve their goals. After this bloody incident, people going out must be extra careful to prevent the Japanese from secretly retaliating. But once there is an opportunity, we will resolutely punish them severely, using evil to control evil, and never show mercy.

  "Kill him until the river flows with blood!" Zuo Tingdong's anger had yet to subside.

  Kang Fan laughed and asked: "Can Brother Zuo finish all the bullets in the Winchester rifle within one minute?"

  "If you want precision, then no," replied Zuo Tingdong.

  Kang Fan shook his head, "This is not enough. We must be both accurate and fast to suppress the Japanese with our village muskets. The regular Japanese army uses manually loaded cartridge-type village muskets, which have a higher rate of fire and accuracy than our Winchester. After strict training, the regular Japanese soldiers can reach a firing speed of about 10 rounds per minute, with high accuracy. Last time we faced the Japanese, they were not regulars, and they used manually single-loaded village muskets, so there was a big difference in both firing rate and accuracy, which is why our guns had an advantage in close combat. If we encounter the regular Japanese army, our guard team will definitely be at a disadvantage. Your marksmanship is good, if you can improve your rapid-fire ability, it will be even more powerful. I think Coach Matthew should be able to do this."

  Matthew heard Constance mention his name and came over to investigate. Constance repeated what she had just said in English for him.

  "I'll show you right now," Matthew said, and hastily pulled the trigger at a willow tree by the riverbank.

  As the "bang" of gunfire sounded, Matthew finished all 13 rounds in the clip in less than a minute, with an astonishing hit rate! The onlookers applauded and cheered, with thunderous applause. Matthew was very pleased, looking at Kang Fan with a provocative gaze. Since being beaten by Kang Fan that time, Matthew had always wanted to take revenge, but unfortunately, there were Qing soldiers guarding the hospital, so he didn't get his chance. Later, Duonowan and Kang Fan became friends, so the matter was dropped. However, he still harbored resentment in his heart: We just wanted those beauties to accompany us for a drink, what's wrong with that? How could we be subjected to such brutal beating and humiliation?! Matthew had always regarded himself as an American Western quick draw expert, so under the circumstances where his fist fighting skills were not as good as Kang Fan's, he always wanted to find opportunities to show off his marksmanship skills to regain some face. Now that he had a great opportunity to compete with Kang Fan in a gunfight, how could he let it slip away?

  "Matthew, you take care." Before the words had left his lips, Kang Fan swiftly drew out a 92-style pistol and fired off a rapid shot. The entire sequence of actions - drawing, loading, aiming, firing, and holstering - was completed in one swift motion, taking only a dozen or so seconds! The onlookers were completely caught off guard, and before they could even react, the dense gunfire had already passed, leaving Kang Fan standing with an empty hand, as if nothing had happened at all. The previously lively scene fell silent in an instant. After a while, Duonuo walked over to the tree that Matthew and Kang Fan had used as a target earlier, carefully examining it. On the trunk of the tree, 15 new bullet holes were clearly visible, each one still smoking...

  "My God, Convan, are you human or ghost?!" Donnovan couldn't believe his own eyes.

  Matthew also walked over to verify it, and when he turned back, his face was as earthy as the ground - a kind of heartless and hopeless loss of all fighting spirit.

  Kang Fan smiled and patted Matthew to comfort him, "The M1894 is a lever-action rifle, which requires pressing the lever down after each shot to load the next round, while my pistol is semi-automatic, so I can be faster than you. You've done quite well already."

  Everyone has played guns before, and they know that he is maintaining Matthew. Who can understand: even if the gun performance is different, to achieve his shooting speed and accuracy, it is also what everyone currently can't reach. Moreover, Kang Fan uses a handgun, while Matthew uses a rifle that can be shoulder-fired. When shooting at the same target, Kang Fan's difficulty is greater.

  "If we want to defeat the Japanese, there is only one way: train, train hard, and train again." Kang Fan said to everyone.

  Everyone responded in unison.

  This was the first time Conovan had shown off his shooting skills in front of Donovan. Donovan was perplexed, having traveled far and wide, handling numerous weapons, but the handgun used by Conovan that could fire 15 rounds continuously was unheard of. It's said that the Colt revolver favored by American Western quick-draw artists is fast and accurate, but perhaps it can't compare to Conovan's gun?

  "This is a pistol that uses the energy of gunpowder gases to automatically complete the shooting action. The Mauser M1896 automatic pistols you bought back are similar in principle, but with 5 fewer rounds." Kang Fan said to Donovan.

  Donovan was astonished, "When you told me that Mauser was producing this gun, I didn't believe it at the time. It wasn't until I went to Mauser that I found out that production had just started and even people within Mauser didn't know about it. No wonder I hadn't heard of it! And those Winchester M1894 lever-action rifles are also newly produced firearms. You're far away in China, but you seem to be more familiar with the global gun market than I am. Can you tell me where this handgun was produced?"

  Kang Fan just smiled and shook his head, without answering his question.

  Dunowan had no choice and reluctantly said: "Okay, I hope you're always right."

  Kang Fan changed the subject: "The Japanese are preparing to set up a concession in Tianjin, but they only have intentions for now. The formal implementation will be in 1898, two years from now. We currently only have over a hundred mu of land in Tianjin, which is too small for our future business development. The piece of land the Japanese are eyeing is nearly 3,000 mu! Think of a way to rent it out. If we can't rent all of it, then rent as much as we can. It's better for us to take control of this land and develop our own business than to let those bastards do whatever they want on it."

  Dunowan said with confidence: "I can give you the result in a month, no need for two years."

  "It wasn't me who gave you two years, it was the Japanese." Kang Fan said with a smile.

  Actually, Kang Youwei originally wanted to get back the adjacent German and French concessions as well, but considering that Hart had good relations with various European countries, it was difficult to operate, so he didn't mention it. Only Japan, an Asian country, due to its conflicting interests with European countries, except for ally Britain, other countries have been excluding it, and Hart and von Mollendorff were willing to help from a subjective point of view.