Chapter 15: The Italian Arms Dealer

  Yanzi Cliff, located on the Zhongshan Mountain in the northern suburbs of Nanjing. Due to the stone peak standing upright on the river, with three sides facing the air, it looks like a swallow spreading its wings and flying, hence the name Yanzi Cliff. Yanzi Cliff controls the Yangtze River, with a strategic location, and the waves crashing against the rocks below make it an important crossing point of the Yangtze River and a military stronghold.

  Li Zhen took Huang Shi-hai to Nanjing and stopped at Swallow Cliff.

  In the late afternoon, the sky is filled with sunset glow.

  Under the sunshine, the river flows turbulently, and its beauty is beyond description.

  Li Zhen climbed up to the top of Zhixia Mountain, sat in a pavilion, and gazed at the beautiful sunset. His heart felt extremely pleased. At that time, Yanzi Rock had not been destroyed, it was simple and natural, and it was the most magnificent scenery. Huang Shi Hai stood beside Li Zhen and said in a low voice: "Sir, we lingered here at Yanzi Rock, I'm afraid Yang Xiuqing is getting impatient waiting for us in Nanyang."

  Li Zhen said: "This trip to Nanjing, although there will be no danger to life, must have difficulties, it's better to slow down."

  "Huang Shi Hai said in a low voice: 'Sir, it's better to be careful in all things.'"

  Li Zhen smiled slightly and nodded slightly.

  Suddenly, a commotion broke out not far from the pavilion. Li Zhen heard the noise and looked over to see a blonde-haired, blue-eyed foreigner gesticulating wildly and speaking loudly in a language he couldn't understand. The man had sunken eye sockets, a high nose bridge, thin lips, and was at least 185 centimeters tall, incredibly handsome.

  However, compared with Jun Lang's face, foreigners are disheveled and decadent.

  Her white face was dirty, the undershirt on her body was tattered and had many small holes cut out, and her golden hair was a mess, just like a beggar asking for food.

  He spoke loudly, but no one understood him.

  Not only that, but the common people also pointed and cursed at foreigners without stopping.

  Huang Shi Hai's eyes were cold and stern, and he sneered: "Sir, the foreigners have all run to Nanjing, how arrogant!" The ten bodyguards following him glared at the foreigner with disdain in their eyes.

  Li Zhen ordered: "Shi Hai, invite him over, be polite and courteous, no rudeness or arrogance is allowed."

  "Ah!!"

  Huang Shi Hai let out a cry of surprise, his face filled with an expression of incredulity.

  Excuse me?

  Huang Shi Hai's face showed a hesitant expression, but seeing Li Zhen's firm gaze, he could only reluctantly walk out of the pavilion and head towards the foreigner who was still talking to passersby. Li Zhen stared at the foreigner not far away, with sharp glints shooting out from his eyes. Although the common people couldn't understand what the foreigner was saying, Li Zhen could.

  The foreigner spoke in Italian, one of Li Zhen's proficient languages. The foreigner introduced himself to everyone he met as Massimiliano Beretta, an Italian arms dealer looking for investors.

  Ma Siqi spoke a lot of nonsense, and except for Li Zhen, no one understood.

  Huang Shi Hai took big strides to walk up beside Ma Si, stretched out his large palm-like hand and slapped it on Ma Si's body with a loud "pa pa" sound. The force was quite strong, causing Ma Si's body to shake several times, almost losing balance.

  Ma Si frowned and glared at the man in front of him, having a very bad impression of this impolite fellow.

  Just as he was about to scold him, Huang Shihai waved his hand and pointed in Li Zhen's direction.

  Although Ma didn't understand Chinese, he understood Huang's meaning. Thinking that someone was going to see him and could leave Nanjing, Ma's heart suddenly rose with hope, and he no longer held a grudge against Huang's rough behavior. Ma puffed out his chest, took big strides towards the pavilion, each step steady and powerful.

  Although disheveled, he was still courteous and polite.

  Mr. Mas, I'm Li Zhen, nice to meet you in Nanjing.

  "Oh God, someone actually speaks Italian."

  Ma's hands and feet were dancing with joy, his face full of surprise.

  Immediately, Ma Si's expression changed and he stretched out his hand to shake Li Zhen's hand, with an excited look on his face. After leaving Nanjing, he couldn't understand what people around him were saying, and others didn't understand what he was saying either, making every step difficult. Now, suddenly hearing the fluent and familiar sound of his mother tongue, it felt like a warm current had flowed through his heart, incredibly intimate.

  Suddenly, Mas asked: "Mr. Li, how did you know my name?"

  Li Zhenxiang said: "Mr. Ma, you forgot that you just kept introducing yourself a moment ago?"

  "Mr. Li, you're really clever," said Ma.

  Li Zhen said: "Mr. Ma, you can call me directly by my name, I think we can have a chat. You say you are an arms dealer, how did it end up like this?"

  "My God!"

  Ma Su let out a long sigh and said angrily: "It's all because of those devils, the devils did it."

  Li Zhen asked: "Masu, what's going on?"

  At this point, Ma Si told everything from start to finish.

  Mauser Beretta was a collateral branch of the Italian arms manufacturing family Beretta, due to poor family circumstances, not reused, and had no opportunity for development. Mauser saw individual businessmen going out to sea in China returning with a full load, gaining both fame and wealth, and thus produced the idea of going to China to make a fortune. He applied to the family, willing to go to China to open up the Beretta family's arms business.

  With the support of his family, Maas brought 1,000 new breech-loading rifles to China by ship, hoping to raise funds and then buy Chinese tea, silk and other goods back home.

  After arriving in China, Maas found out that things were not as good as he had imagined.

  Ma thought of selling arms, but the main channels were all occupied by businessmen who came to China early. Ma wanted to get a foot in, but couldn't get in unless he was willing to sell the 1,000 new rifled guns at a low price. This way, Ma would lose money, so Ma thought of going north to Nanjing and selling weapons to Hong Xiuquan.

  Mars found a Chinese who understood Italian in Guangzhou and entered Nanjing to meet Hong Xiuquan.

  However, what made Morse indignant was that Hong Xiuquan not only refused to do business with him, but also had the Chinese who brought Morse to Nanjing killed, and then humiliated Morse before expelling him from Nanjing.

  The devil in Marx's mouth is Hong Xiuquan.

  After leaving Nanjing, Ma had no money on him and couldn't return to Guangzhou, so he sought help everywhere.

  After listening, Li Zhen asked: "Ma Si, where is your 1000-line rifle?"

  Ma's face showed a look of complacency as he replied, "Mr. Li, I was worried that I wouldn't get the money, so I left all the guns at my friend's place in Guangzhou and didn't bring them with me."

  "Mr. Mas, if I were to buy weapons from you, what would be the price?"

  Ma's eyes widened and he said, "Mr. Li, are you really going to buy it?" Ma was now in a desperate situation, penniless and without any means of support. If he didn't sell the guns he had brought with him to China, he would definitely return empty-handed, unable even to afford the fare back to Italy. Even if he managed to scrape together enough money for the ticket, he would still be met with contempt upon his return. So when Li Zhen asked, Ma immediately looked hopeful.

  "Yes, I really want to buy it."

  Ma thought for a moment and said: "Mr. Li, 30 taels of silver per rifle. 1,000 rifles, that's a total of 30,000 taels of silver. What do you think?"

  After finishing speaking, Ma Si stared at Li Zhen with eager eyes.

  "Mr. Ma, it's too expensive." Li Zhen said: "Mr. Ma, let me introduce myself, I am a general of the Qing dynasty Jiangbei Dajiang, with more than 1,000 soldiers under my command. Now I'm buying 1,000 guns from you, and we'll continue to make purchases in the future. For our long-term friendship, can you give us a discount? After all, we still have a lot of business to do."

  Ma Si listened and began to ponder carefully in his heart.

  He can expand his connections by getting along with Li Zhen, he can establish himself in China, and he can continuously sell the weapons brought from Italy, then he can buy tea leaves, silk and other goods to transport back to Italy for sale.

  He can keep making money as long as he comes and goes.

  Ma Si gritted his teeth and said, "Lord Li, I'll give you a gun for 20 taels of silver. This is already a very low price, if it's any lower, I won't be able to make a profit." Thinking that he had lowered the price by 10 taels of silver at once, Ma Si's heart was bleeding nonstop, but thinking about the big deals in the future, his heart rose with hope.

  Mr. Lee shook his head and said, "Mr. Moss, this price is not suitable."

  "My God!"

  "Lord Li, this is already a very low price!" Ma Si said with a surprised expression. Ma Si's face twisted in distress, revealing a helpless look.

  P.S: Please keep it for future reference, thank you all.