Chapter 12: The Duel of Cannons (Part 2)

  Inoue Akira has already been beaten into a pig's head, unable to speak, and even just seeing Tan Xiao makes him tremble all over with conditioned reflexes, revealing a crazy and desperate look. Maybe he's gone mad! At least temporarily mentally incapacitated. So it's meaningless to talk to him now. The one sitting opposite Tan Xiao is the president of Mitsui & Co.'s Hunan branch: Yamashita Keigo.

  Tan Xiao saw the famous post and thought to himself: "Damn it, using the name of a Japanese chess saint from later generations, you think I'm afraid of you? Even if you're called Fujisawa Hideyuki, I don't believe it!"

  However, this name brought back memories of Tan Xiao's military training base when he often played Go with the base director Colonel Liu. In two years, Tan Xiao went from being a half-blind chess player who only knew the rules to an amateur first-level player. The warmth in his heart made his murderous face gradually warm up, and at least the president of Shandong didn't feel chilled anymore.

  Tan Xiao first pulled out the confession signed by Iizuka Makoto, which stated "intentionally intruding into a military restricted area and resisting arrest", and interrogated Yamashita Keigo of Mitsui & Co. Ltd. in an overbearing manner. Of course, Tan Xiao's goal was not this, so after Yamashita repeatedly explained the misunderstanding, he took the opportunity to step down. Soon, their topic turned back to the trade of cannons.

  Tan Xiao put on a pretentious air, irrationally and recklessly disparaging the performance of various Japanese artillery pieces in front of everyone. He didn't mention anything about the Type 38 120mm howitzer, which was discontinued in Japan due to its low power and short range. Instead, he focused on attacking the Type 38 improved model 75mm field gun, which had a high range of 11,500 meters and an elevation angle of -8°~+43°. His reason for attacking it was simple: since this gun was derived from the German Krupp 75mm field gun, there's no way a disciple could surpass their master, and it's still just a grand-disciple! Therefore, the parameters provided by the Japanese must be false, purely fabricated data to sell guns, and without actual testing, Tan Xiao absolutely wouldn't believe it! Moreover, he asserted that this gun's performance couldn't possibly be better than the Krupp L/29.

  When discussing the weight of cannons, Tan Xiao said a view that made Yamashita Kōsuke gasp: Cannons should be heavy, otherwise the huge recoil might overturn the cannon! So he concluded that those lightweight Japanese cannons were shoddy products and couldn't compare to European ones.

  Unable to laugh or cry, he had to put on a pretentious face like Sanzi, while secretly rejoicing in his heart: This is the level of a Chinese army division commander! However, on the surface, he still had to grasp the high-difficulty theoretical principle of not offending Tan Xiang and defending Japanese artillery.

  Tan Xiao was secretly laughing in his heart: damn it, it's so hard to pretend to be stupid! He almost couldn't hold back his laughter several times, and he really admired Uncle Zhao Benshan!

  Unbeknownst to him, Yamashita Kengo, who had been provoked by the fire, inadvertently revealed a lot of information about the Japanese military. For example, when Tan Xiao was fiercely attacking the Type 91 105mm field gun that Yamashita had strongly promoted, Yamashita suddenly asked back: "If this cannon is so bad, why would the Japanese military only equip it to elite troops above the regimental level!?" Through similar provocative probing, Tan Xiao, who became increasingly worried as he listened, basically figured out the current situation of the Japanese artillery and even some new cannons that Japan was testing - although the models of those new guns had long been heard by Tan Xiao, a time-traveler, and were not unusual. However, these messages did confirm the authenticity of other information - such as the configuration of the Japanese artillery.

  For a long time, online military enthusiasts have been enthusiastically commenting on Japan's grenade launchers, making many people think that Japan's mortars are mainly small-caliber and unguided, only capable of bullying the Chinese army. However, Tang Xiao, who has served in the army and spent three years in a training base, knows that this is far from the case: Japan's independent mortar regiments have been equipped with standard 90mm Type 94 light mortars and 150mm Type 96 medium mortars, as well as the upcoming Type 97 mortar. In this debate, Tang Xiao also learned two pieces of information he didn't know before: First, in addition to the planned configuration of four to six Type 94 90mm mortars for ordinary infantry regiments, many elite units will also be equipped with an unspecified number of 150mm or larger caliber mortars, which are mainly used by independent mortar regiments. Second, Japan has been using a significant number of non-Japanese-made mortars, including French and Soviet 81/82mm caliber guns, American 60mm caliber guns, and British, Italian, Belgian, and other countries' 25mm, 47mm, 122mm, and other relatively rare caliber mortars. If we don't count the quantity but only look at the caliber, the Japanese army's mortar equipment can be said to be fully equipped. This situation is due to the fact that the Japanese, who prefer to reverse-engineer products, will often obtain and test interesting models, and the frugal Japanese military will also distribute some completed and tested non-mainstream weapons to units that need to enhance their firepower. From this, we can infer that after so many comparisons and tests, the decision to adopt the grenade launcher must have had its reasons.

  As Tan Xiao began to think of ways to counter the Japanese army's artillery, his feelings about the difficulty of the war effort deepened. He no longer had the idea that he had when he first arrived, that a strong military could be built through training and discipline alone. After all, even the most brilliant tactics are based on hardware, and when everyone's equipment is vastly different, it is very difficult to win through superior tactics.

  The discussion and debate went on for a whole morning, which made Tan Xiao's subordinates feel incredible: Isn't the master very hostile to the Japanese?

  "Alright, Mr. Yamashita, I must say you have a tongue as smooth as a bird's. You almost convinced me, just almost! If what you said about the data can be verified, I'll consider adopting Japanese guns for our field and mountain artillery. But that's only part of it, since I've already ordered quite a few Kr... uh, other European guns."

  "I don't know how many cannons Master Tan is aiming for?"

  He shrugged and smiled, spreading his hands: "God knows, the more the better, at least enough to deal with my enemies, at least enough to defend my territory... Mr. Shanxia doesn't know, I have many enemies, recently more, will be more and more!"

  "Yes, this guy has many enemies and recently more and more, it will be even more!" Yamashita Keigo thought along with Tan Xiao's words, he was very clear about Tan Xiao's interruption of the Xianggui Road opium trade. "This is a typical warlord who dares to do anything for money and territory, and ignores the central government, is an object that the Great Japanese Empire wants to support. Although he seems to be hostile to the Japanese, as long as he dares to resist the central government, it's worth supporting!" This was Yamashita Keigo's conclusion.

  "To prove everything I said about the advancement of Japanese artillery, I can give some cannons to the general for testing, such as those excellent Taisho 4th year type 150mm field howitzers and that Type 91 105mm field gun we just argued about. I plan to send one of each over as a testament to our friendship, believing that Shosa will truly understand Japanese artillery!"

  "Oh? It seems that Mr. Yamashita is very confident, or should I say that Mr. Yamashita is a great businessman and a big shot?! Tan Xiao's heart was truly delighted: This level of artillery is worth tens of millions! He planned to further extort: "But why not send me some 75mm types? I remember we once debated their pros and cons with Krupp. And why just one gun instead of two or more? Can one gun prove the excellence of the entire family or their consistent performance?"

  Yamashita Kengo began to hesitate, after all, each cannon was of great value. But Tan Xiao quickly made up his mind: Tan Xiao said a sentence: "The number of cannons I have traded so far has never been less than two hundred..."

  This guy is crazy! He bought more models of cannons than the entire Central Army has in total! Is he planning to start a war? The Hunan and Guangxi armies, even the Guangdong army, are joining forces against the Central Army? It can only be that way, and it's possible: after those troops are defeated, the Central Army will have to deal with these miscellaneous warlords. Oh my god, this is important intelligence, China is going to experience a large-scale civil war!! Yamashita Keigo was abnormally excited by his own rich imagination.

  They eventually signed a letter of intent to purchase multiple models of Japanese artillery, and clearly stated on the letter that they would present a batch of trial products to Tan Xiao within a month. Including: Four Type 41 75mm mountain guns, four Type 94 75mm mountain guns, and four Type 38 75mm cavalry field guns; two Taisho 4th year 150mm field howitzers, two Type 89 150mm field guns, two Type 91 105mm field guns, and the longest-range gun of this era: two Type 92 105mm field guns. There were also four Type 94 90mm light mortars that the Japanese army had just begun to equip. A total of twenty-four guns, including twenty large-caliber guns!!!

  Tan Xiaoxiang thought he could take advantage, but he never expected that the Japanese would have a generous reason for him, who had beaten Ikegami Akira into a fool. So when faced with this list, he almost forgot about Yamashita Keigo's Japanese identity and male gender and wanted to give him a big kiss!

  "I hope Japan's big guns can effectively strike the enemy of our commander!" Yamashita Kengo said with a friendly expression, thinking to himself: I hope these big guns can make this chaotic battle involving the Hunan, Guangdong, Guangxi and Central Armies even more brilliant!

  "All enemies who dare to oppose me will be reduced to ashes before my great cannon!" Tan Xiao's tone and neurotic movements were imitating the German dictator with a small mustache from later generations.

  Today Japanese received extremely high-level treatment: the VIP room in the back of Xiangxiang Building, all the old comrades of Tan's army were present!

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  In arms sales to China, whether it's the rough-riding Western cowboys or the polar bears, or even the elegant and mannered Sicilian mafia, they all seem slow-witted. It's not that they don't take Tan Xiaodan's cannon procurement plan seriously, but rather they think Chinese people are celebrating the New Year, so they all wait until the first day after the military camp ends its holiday to squeeze onto public transportation like sardines and arrive at the temporary office of the 23rd Division in Zeroling Old City.

  This made Tan Xiao very headache: he was going to have separate talks, but now, no matter who he received first, it would show disregard for the other two parties. So, he had to take over the materials of the three parties and send them away, and then follow up separately.

  In fact, the last three guests who came to see Tan Xiaoxin were indeed lighter in his eyes: he was not interested in the Mafia, although the Italians also had good anti-aircraft guns and self-propelled artillery, but with Mussolini's stubborn personality, their cannons would never be cheaper than German ones. As for friendship, is it necessary to submit emotions if there is no utilitarian value? Tan Xiaoxin remembered many jokes about Italian noodles, especially the one about the German army's evaluation of Italy: If Italy joins the Allies, Germany will use a division to eliminate it; if Italy remains neutral, Germany will use four divisions to monitor it; if Italy joins the Axis powers, then God, Germany will use eight divisions to protect it! Why would Tan Xiaoxin notify their arms dealers about such cripples? There is only one reason: to create momentum! To create momentum for that righteous military procurement excuse that He Zong had entrusted him with, otherwise, even if the Italian representative was Cannavaro - the future football master, he wouldn't bother to deal with it!

  But the Soviet Union, that northern polar bear, in Tan Xiao's heart only had hatred and unspeakable disgust for it! When Tan Xiao was guarding the base in the later generations, he would often come into contact with those re-trained officer teams, among whom the staff who liked to talk on paper were most fond of discussing military history. Among them, there were not a few topics about the Soviet Union: occupying how much of our country's land, after the Korean War, calculating all the military expenses to China's account, forcing China to repay its debts... Even the military invasion threat that occurred in the 1960s, the nuclear threat to destroy China! So Tan Xiao let them come for the same purpose as Italy, just to help out, or even just to watch. As for those mouth-watering Katyusha and T-34 tanks, the former had not been produced yet, and the latter was still a secret, would the Soviets make it public? Moreover, having seen dozens of hundreds of steel beasts moving together in mechanized infantry units at the company level in later generations, Tan Xiao really couldn't bear to buy a few tanks to equip a tank company! Perhaps, there were few opportunities, and cooperation with the Soviet Union on copper-steel technology would only be considered if the Germans did not cooperate.

  Among the three countries, only America has practical significance. Tan Xiao of course likes American 155mm heavy artillery, as well as Thompson submachine guns, Browning machine guns, pistols, Enfield rifles, and M1 carbines... The problem is: those are all expensive toys, using them would be no better than buying cheaper alternatives - even if there's a performance gap, they could equip more troops. What America really has that attracts Tan Xiao, guessing what it is would stump later generations of online military enthusiasts, but once you know the answer, you'd go "oh" - Tan Xiao is interested in an imitation Mauser rifle made by America for Britain during WWI: the P-14!

  Due to the sudden end of World War I, over one million P-14s were left in warehouses as strategic reserves by the US and UK. If there was an opportunity to buy them - of course, at a low price like the British 6-pounder cannon. The history of the Anti-Japanese War would have been greatly different: when the war began, China had only one million rifles and machine guns! If this number were doubled, combined with a population of 450 million, the outcome would be hard to imagine! However, in Tan Xiao's plan, buying P-14s should start from the UK. After all, the Saxons who were used to Enfield rifles were very dissatisfied with the slow-firing P-14. But this rifle was very suitable for the Chinese battlefield: it had a low rate of fire, and its accuracy made it later used as a sniper rifle by British troops in World War II!

  Now the contact with Americans is to make friends and lay the groundwork for the future. So, after Tan Xiao rudely ignored the Black Hand Gang and the Polar Bears, he personally visited the Americans at their hotel.

  The American arms dealer is called Rogers, Daken Rogers. Because for a long time, China's arms market has been more inclined towards German and Japanese goods, while the south is the market for British and French goods, so most American arms dealers are not very large in scale or directly give them to others to act as agents. If it weren't for this western cowboy getting drunk and causing trouble during his time in the Marine Corps, he wouldn't have come to Lingling. His role is roughly that of a business manager in later generations, the person who really has the power to make decisions is in Shanghai. So, he's still a bit afraid of Tan Xiao directly bringing up the terms of the order, and always speaks evasively. Whenever he finds an opportunity to change the subject, he will seize it and turn to the western cowboy's duel or romantic encounters at the small town hotel.

  Luckily, Tan Xiao's goal is the same: all are messing around.

  "Sir, you're a real soldier! Real soldiers are hard to come by these days, everywhere is full of sissies! The American army is the same, those sailors in Shanghai even steal whole cases of canned beef to exchange for a bottle of whiskey! They'll steal anything: medicine, clothes, military boots... as long as it makes them money, they dare to do it!" This cowboy who was treating Tan Xiao with whiskey had become somewhat incoherent.

  "Pity they stole things I'm not interested in, the medicine is fine, but the rest... Will they steal tanks or submarines?" Tan Xiao thought, wasting his time with a drunk who was just rambling.

  "Haha, submarine? Tank? You're really interesting! If you could serve in the Marine Corps, you'd definitely make more than those little thieves, right? Steal big if you steal at all! Unfortunately, they didn't even dare to steal a car, but instead crashed many after drinking too much!"

  "What a pity! If they stole out the car, I would really buy it!" Tan Xiao just echoed.

  "Really? Cars?" Rogers suddenly became energetic: "Sir, you want cars? Those ugly heavy-duty military trucks like toads?"

  "Of course, in addition to Mara's light cannons, I'll also get a batch of 105mm and 150mm big guys. Do you think Mara can handle a cavalry? Haha, line up all the horses on your ranch in California...” Tan Xiaoyu's words were also a bit off, his alcohol tolerance was okay, but that was for baijiu, he rarely drank foreign liquor.

  "Hold on, you're saying you really want those cars? The ones that were wrecked can actually be fixed, some of them just have broken headlights! It's just that the soldiers are a bit lazy... Will they do? I mean, if I sell them to you as junk and then help you fix them up, I guarantee they'll be good as new... Two hundred dollars each, how about it? One fifty? Can't go lower than one hundred!" Rogers was getting a bit anxious.

  Due to Roosevelt's economic policy, the US dollar has depreciated a lot and is now trading at 1:3 against the silver yuan, with exchange rates stuck between 2.5:1 and 2.7:1 for some time. Tan Xiao was still amazed by the dirt-cheap price of $200 per heavy-duty military truck when the price had already dropped to $100! "Alright! Deal! The question is, how many?"

  "About eight units!" Rogers calculated in his mind: "If the master is willing to raise the price by another 50 yuan, I think they will crash a few more! What a pity, several cars used exclusively by high-ranking officials cannot be crashed... Hmm, those wireless command vehicles."

  Judging from the situation, if another 50 dollars is added, the US military base in Shanghai may soon smash all cars! I have to inform my friends and classmates in Shanghai not to approach the US military base or even the public concession area, Tan Xiao thought.

  "Two hundred bucks a piece, I want eighty pieces, do you have them?! Also, those wireless command cars used by the officials are double the price, how many do you want?! If not dismantling the wireless, add another two hundred!"

  "Eighty units?! Good Lord! That's too many, the whole base doesn't have that many... Those wireless command cars are too hard to knock out, they're all armored, unless you let them crash into each other..." Rogers had a very regretful expression.

  Suddenly, the cowboy's eyes lit up and he jumped up: "Yes! I'll let them crash into the British guy's car, the French guy's car, or let the British guy crash into the French guy's car. One crash, two cars! You said it, $200 per car! It's a deal! Oh, I'm an automotive sales genius, not an arms dealer. Damn it, I should work for General Motors!"

  My goodness! Tan Xiao is completely speechless...