Chapter 132: Recognizing Kin
However, although he was a bit surprised in his heart, he wasn’t too panicked. Perhaps these big shots could figure out the details of his subordinates, but unless those people could become tapeworms in his stomach, no one would know his real secrets.
Li Zongren walked to the central cannon, reached out and touched the barrel, a satisfied smile appearing in his eyes: “Mingxi, this is the cannon you said you’d give me, right?”
“Yes.”
Su Yaoyang smiled slightly: “Those cannons are already prepared, placed in the rear supply camp, all brand new. You can send people to pick them up anytime.”
“Wait…”
Bai Chongxi suddenly asked: “If I remember correctly, your artillery battalion commander just said that these cannons weigh 2.2 tons each. Mules and horses can’t pull them; they need trucks, right?”
“Yes.”
Bai Chongxi turned to look at Li Zongren, “Delin, does the Fifth War Zone have that many trucks?”
“This…” Li Zongren thought for a moment, “We have them, but pulling out dozens of trucks at once would still be difficult.”
Bai Chongxi’s eyes darted around, “Let me tell you, Mingxi, this isn’t very generous of you. Since you’re giving cannons, why not just give trucks too?”
“Hey… I say, Commander Bai, that’s not right.”
Su Yaoyang said indignantly: “These cannons are worth 40,000 silver dollars each, and I’m giving you twenty-four at once. Each shell is 100 silver dollars, and I’m giving you three basic loads at once.
Adding these up, it’s not less than 1.3 million silver dollars, right? How did it become me being ungenerous?
And that’s not enough; you even want me to give trucks too. Isn’t that too greedy? That’s not how things are done.”
Bai Chongxi chuckled: “As the saying goes, if you send Buddha to the west, why not just give a few trucks too?”
“No way!” Su Yaoyang shook his head like a rattle drum, “If you want trucks, you can buy them with money. I’m not ripping you off; three thousand silver dollars per truck is fine. Otherwise, don’t even mention it.”
“Hey… you’re really stingy, kid.” Bai Chongxi smiled slightly, “Alright then… get me a hundred trucks as well, delivered within three days. Any problem?”
“Deliver in three days? You might as well kill me.” Su Yaoyang rolled his eyes, “The fastest is half a month; any faster and forget it.”
“Fine… half a month it is. Just don’t forget.” Bai Chongxi chuckled, turned his head and said to the group of generals behind him with a smiling face.
“See… you all saw it, right? This kid has wild connections. Whatever you want to buy, go to him and you’ll be fine.”
Actually, without Bai Chongxi saying it, all the generals present had their eyes light up.
Chi Fengcheng, the division commander of the 31st Division who had some past connection with him, was the first to step forward and grasp his hand, “Brother Su… no need for empty words from big brother.
Big brother just wants to ask one thing: do you still have those guns that can hit tanks like the ones I saw at Taierzhuang last time?
If you do, give big brother two hundred first; price is negotiable.”
“Brother Su… I want to buy a few 105 howitzers; do you have a way?”
“Brother Su…”
Chi Fengcheng’s words opened the floodgates; all the other generals crowded over, surrounding Su Yaoyang so tightly he couldn’t move.
It was no wonder they were excited.
Since the all-out War of Resistance began, most of China’s coastal cities had been completely blockaded by the Japanese navy, making foreign military aid hard to get in.
Moreover, even if you had money, foreigners might not sell you artillery, which you can see from the fact that the entire National Army doesn’t even have a few decent cannons.
Now, finally seeing someone with amazing connections in this area, how could they not go crazy rushing to buy? Once this village passes, there’s no next store.
Looking at the swarming generals, Su Yaoyang felt a massive headache and quickly said loudly: “Gentlemen commanders, I understand your feelings, but we have to do this one by one.
After lunch later, I’ll have someone distribute a list to everyone. Then you can write down what you want on the list. For now, please stay calm, gentlemen.”
After much persuasion, he finally calmed the restless generals.
Some might think it’s exaggerated, but the facts are just that. China at this time was really too poor, especially these generals from the Fifth War Zone, almost all from miscellaneous armies.
In their armies, aside from a few machine guns, it was all old sleeve rifles and Hanyang-made with worn-out rifling; having a few mortars was already pretty good.
But… poor equipment doesn’t mean they were poor; quite the opposite. These people had been through half a lifetime of rolling and crawling, and they had quite a bit of savings.
Not daring to say too much, but buying some anti-tank guns or mortars was no problem.
As for the Garand rifles equipped by the security regiment, forget it; that stuff wasn’t for poor people at all.
The original marriage proposal meeting turned into an arms trading fair; no one had expected that.
As dusk fell, the aroma of stewed meat wafted from the military tent.
A few rays of setting sun leaked through the canvas gaps, plating the hanging horse lantern with orange-red. Su Yaoyang lifted the pot lid, white steam carrying the scent of Sichuan peppercorns rising; a hint of smile hid in the corner of his eyes: “This is wild rabbit hunted by the brothers below, paired with bamboo shoots from the locals.
Plus half a pig bought in Xuzhou city today, with pig liver and pig intestines; today we’ll have a full pig feast.”
Sun Lianzhong pretended to be angry upon hearing this: “You little Su Mingxi, are you implying that we’re all pigs?”
Everyone burst out laughing; Chi Fengcheng laughed so hard he slapped the rough wooden table, making the rice wine in the enamel bowls ripple slightly.
Bai Chongxi, who was drinking, sprayed a mouthful of rice wine from his mouth.
The group ate and chatted with laughter; after three rounds of drinks, when Song Mei and Xiao Lu came in to serve dishes, Bai Chongxi suddenly asked: “Little Song, Little Xiao, would you be willing to be my goddaughters?”
The question came somewhat unexpectedly; the two girls were stunned for a moment and involuntarily looked toward Su Yaoyang.
Su Yaoyang was first stunned, then immediately understood Bai Chongxi’s good intentions; he was worried that at the wedding, the two girls wouldn’t have female elders present and might feel sad.
After all, the girls’ elders and relatives were all gone; in ancient terms, they were orphaned daughters, and getting married without elders’ blessings was very inauspicious.
Thinking of this, Su Yaoyang nodded slightly to the two girls.
What Su Yaoyang could think of, the two girls could naturally think of too.
Seeing Su Yaoyang nod, the two girls set down their plates, poured a cup of tea from the side, knelt down, and respectfully offered the tea to Bai Chongxi, saying in unison.
“Godfather, please drink tea!”
“Good, good…”
Bai Chongxi laughed heartily, took out two jade pendants from his pocket and gave them to the two girls as meeting gifts.
“Your godfather has fought battles all his life and has no fancy possessions. These are two jade pendants I got in my early years; I’m giving them to you as your meeting gifts.”
“Thank you, godfather!” The two girls’ eyes were a bit red.
