America 1881: Legend of the West

Chapter 559 Cuban Visitors
"Cuba?"

Chen Jianqiu thought for a while, said nothing, and returned the gun to the person in the arsenal.

Lieutenant Rhodes never expected that Chen Jianqiu's marksmanship was so good.

Now that he couldn't act cool in front of the guests, there was no point in staying at the shooting range, so he suggested going back to the factory in town for dinner.

The cook in the factory had already prepared a dinner to give Chen Jianqiu a good night's sleep. After eating and drinking, he signed the contract.

perfect!

Chen Jianqiu was very casual, and he followed the lieutenant out of the shooting range and rode into the town.

Along the way, Lieutenant Rhodes still tried to get close to the hidden Eastern businessman in front of him.

He now regrets his previous recklessness on the shooting range, which resulted in him becoming a laughing stock instead of performing well.

God knows what Mr. Chen is thinking now.

"Mr. Chen, how many years have you been in the United States? Are you still used to the life here?"

"Mr. Chen, are you married? Where is your wife from?"

"Mr. Chen"

Chen Jianqiu's ears were listening, his mouth was perfunctory, his eyes were looking ahead, and his mind was thinking about other things.

He didn't remember any of the questions the lieutenant asked along the way. He only knew that later on, it seemed that the lieutenant had begun to talk to himself about his experience of fighting wits with the Indians in Montana.

They soon returned to the arsenal.

They headed straight for the largest building in the middle of the arsenal.

It was not only the lieutenant's office, but also his private residence and banquet hall for receiving guests.

A young man pacing back and forth at the door caught Chen Jianqiu's attention.

This young man is dressed in a suit, with a white embroidered collar in front of his neck, and wavy hair. He is no different from the American young people you can see on the mainland.

But the reason why he caught Chen Jianqiu's attention was that this young man's hair was black.

He has a Latin American facial contour, but with some oriental flavor.

Chen Jianqiu felt a touch of kindness from his face; he found a familiar feeling from his eyes, which were also black.

This man is of mixed race.

But Chen Jianqiu was not in a hurry to speak, but continued walking inside with Lieutenant Rhodes.

When the young man saw the lieutenant returning, he hurriedly came up to greet him and did not notice Chen Jianqiu behind the lieutenant.

"Lieutenant, can we talk about weapons procurement?" He said as he hurried over.

But before he had taken a few steps, the lieutenant pointed his index finger at him with an indifferent expression, signaling him to stop:
"Sir, I'm very busy right now. We'll talk later when we're free."

The young man wanted to say something else, but two employees stepped forward to stop him.

Lieutenant Rhodes quickly walked to the door of the house, took out the key and opened the door.

He stepped aside and turned to Chen Jianqiu behind him, his expression suddenly changed.

The captain made an invitation gesture to the door and said to Chen Jianqiu with a smile:
"Mr. Chen, please come in!"

Chen Jianqiu walked forward unceremoniously and stepped onto the steps.

But before entering the door, he turned his head and looked at the young man.

The two men's eyes met.

When the young man saw Chen Jianqiu, he was stunned and stood on the spot.

After Chen Jianqiu gave him a meaningful look, he turned and walked into the room.

He stayed in Lieutenant Rhodes's office for about half an hour, listening to the director of the arsenal continue to brag about his military experience and how he led five or six soldiers surrounded by more than a hundred Indians. Outstanding.

Chen Jianqiu had no intention of checking whether the story he told was true or false, and just had a polite smile on his face.

Every general in the U.S. Army has a bag of stories about his time on the battlefield.

The opponents were either Confederates or Indians.

What these stories have in common is that the storyteller, that is, the protagonist of the story, starts off poorly and is outnumbered, but uses his own ingenuity and force comparable to the God of War to turn things around.

Quite American-style personal heroism.

The sky outside the window has completely darkened.

The office door suddenly opened, and the head of an arsenal employee squeezed in through the crack of the door:

"Lieutenant, Mr. Chen, dinner is ready. You can go and eat."

"Snapped!"

Lieutenant Rhodes clapped his hands and stood up.

He still had some unfinished ideas.

"Mr. Chen, let's go eat first. I also have a story about hand-to-hand combat with an Indian warrior. I'll tell it to you later when we're drinking."

The dinner was set in the lobby of the building.

This hall is not luxurious, but it is very spacious, and compared with other places in the arsenal, it is also very clean.

In addition to Chen Jianqiu and the captain, there were also lawyers who came with Chen Jianqiu to sign the contract, as well as engineers and some key personnel from the arsenal.

To Chen Jianqiu's surprise, the dinner turned out to be surprisingly sumptuous.

The people from the arsenal took their guns and went to the mountain to "search" in advance.

They killed a deer and several rabbits, and also killed several wild ducks on the river bank.

Now these animals have been plucked, skinned and turned into delicacies on the table.

The wine I drank was beer from Boston.

This beer is said to have been developed by another founding father, Samuel Adams.

This revolutionary, who is as famous as Washington, planned three of the most important events of American independence: "Revolt against the Sugar Act, the Stamp Act, and the Townshend Act", the "Boston Massacre", and the "Boston Tea Case."

He was born into a wine-making family, and he himself has very rich wine-making experience.

The wine developed by this brewer who was keen on rebellion was naturally very strong, and its alcohol content was unmatched by ordinary beer.

After a while of pushing cups and changing cups, Lieutenant Rhodes was already feeling a little dizzy.

His cheeks were red, he stood up unsteadily, and staggered up to Chen Jianqiu with a wine glass in his hand.

The lieutenant wanted to put his hand on Chen Jianqiu's shoulder, but the latter accidentally adjusted his sitting posture.

Rhode's hand was empty and he fell to the ground with a "plop".

The wine glass in his hand also fell to the ground, and the wine in the glass naturally spilled all over the floor.

Chen Jianqiu also stood up and pulled the lieutenant up from the ground with one hand.

Several arsenal employees also stepped down and came to help.

Rhodes was fine, except for a scratch on his palm and stains all over his clothes.

"Thank you, it's okay, it's okay."

Rhodes was still staggering when he stood up.

He held his hand on the edge of the table, shook his head, his tongue was a bit big, and said proudly to Chen Jianqiu:

"Mr. Chen, you, do you know that I also stayed in the Arizona Military District in the south, Jay, do you know Geronimo? That seal, the Indian God of War."

"I've heard a little about it." Chen Jianqiu sat back in his seat.

"Hey, he's not that powerful at all. I, I once fought with him, and he, he almost died in my hands!"

Rhodes' eyes were a little blurry.

"Oh, then you must be very good." Chen Jianqiu put his hands together with his fingers together and placed them on the table.

He drank quite a bit, but he was only slightly tipsy, with his face slightly red.

Lieutenant Rhodes burped.

A strong smell of alcohol mixed with stomach acid and various strange smells wafted out.

Chen Jianqiu frowned subconsciously and sniffed.

"Mr. Chen, you, you don't believe it?"

Lieutenant Rhodes supported himself with his hands on the table and looked at Chen Jianqiu with a look of dissatisfaction.

After three rounds of drinking, the soldier regained his confidence. At this time, his self-awareness was beyond the normal range. In short, the world belonged to him.

Being slightly tipsy, he wanted to show himself in front of this Chinese man again.

Before at the shooting range, Chen Jianqiu must have been guessing. Yes, guessing.

Chen Jianqiu looked up and glanced at him.

He pointed to the wooden barrel of beer on the table and said to the lieutenant:
"If you finish this barrel of wine, I will believe you."

When Lieutenant Rhodes heard this, he started to get drunk again.

Isn't it just amazing skills? I can do it too!

"Okay! Watch me!"

He shouted, startling the others who were talking behind him.

Then, in full view of everyone, the lieutenant put his head under the barrel.

His subsequent behavior left everyone present dumbfounded, including Chen Jianqiu who added fuel to the fire.

The lieutenant uncorked the barrel and plugged it with his mouth.

In the first few seconds, the lieutenant's throat moved, as if he could still catch the beer flowing out of the barrel.

But after a few seconds, the movement of his throat obviously could not keep up with the rate at which the beer flowed out.

The lieutenant's eyes widened, his cheeks bulged, and yellow foamy liquid overflowed from the corners of his mouth.

Less than two seconds later, the lieutenant, who was blocking the mouth of the wine barrel with his mouth, finally reached his limit.

Accompanied by a "puff" sound!
A "beer fountain" spurted out from the lieutenant's mouth, and beer from the barrel also flowed out continuously, covering the entire table.

Chen Jianqiu was quick-witted and quick-handed, and he and his chair retreated more than a meter, thus avoiding the disaster.

The other people nearby were not so lucky. They were either sprayed all over or made miserable by the wine on the table.

As for the lieutenant himself, he disappeared in an instant.

Chen Jianqiu bent down and looked under the table, only to find that he was lying on his back under the table, unconscious, with bubbles coming out of his mouth from time to time.

Chen Jianqiu stood up and shook his head.

I really can't see it.

A group of military factory employees hurriedly dragged their "factory director" out from under the table.

Chen Jianqiu did not continue to pay attention to how they would deal with their superior who had made a fool of himself.

"I'm going to go to the bathroom, you guys continue."

He said this, turned around and walked out of the house.

It was dark in the town of Springfield at this time.

The factory workshop was still brightly lit and filled with the sound of steam engines.

The workers are still busy, rushing to complete the orders from the Ministry of War.

Chen Jianqiu walked out of the factory gate and came to the riverside of the town.

He planned to stroll along the river to digest his dinner.

A full moon hung in the sky, casting its light on the river, creating ripples on the water.

With the help of moonlight and the lights in the workshop, Chen Jianqiu suddenly saw a person squatting by the river in front of him.

From the man's figure, he roughly guessed his identity.

The man picked up the pebbles at his feet and threw them into the river one by one, sighing one after another.

"You are young, why are you sighing?"

Chen Jianqiu walked behind the man and asked softly.

He spoke in English, and he wasn't sure if the person could understand him.

The squatting man was startled and quickly stood up, reaching for his waist.

But when he turned around and saw Chen Jianqiu's face clearly, his hand dropped instantly.

At the same time, Chen Jianqiu also saw his face clearly.

It was indeed the young man who was pacing in front of Lieutenant Rhodes' door during the day.

"It's you. Sorry, I reacted a little too excitedly." The young man sighed again and apologized to Chen Jianqiu.

"What's your name?" Chen Jianqiu asked, "I heard you are from Cuba?"

The young man nodded.

"My Chinese name is Lai Gubei, my Spanish name is Dias, my father is Lai Hua, a Cuban Chinese, I know some Cantonese, but not very fluently, otherwise we can communicate in English, I studied in a church school."

"No problem." Chen Jianqiu walked up to the young man and said, "Tell me about your father."

As expected, the young man in front of me has Chinese ancestry.

"My father came to Cuba a long time ago and worked as a laborer in the sugarcane plantations."

"During the First Cuban War of Independence, he brought hundreds of local Chinese workers to join General Francisco Carrillo's army, made many military achievements, and became a member of the army."

"He not only gained respect and freedom, but also love. He married my mother and gave birth to me. Our whole family is in the army."

Chen Jianqiu listened quietly.

"So you are now also a member of the Cuban Revolutionary Team."

"Yes." The young man did not hide it.

He didn't even have any wariness towards the yellow-skinned man in front of him. He told him frankly and his expression became much more relaxed.

"So, what are you doing here?" Chen Jianqiu asked.

Hearing Chen Jianqiu say this, Lai Gubei frowned again:

"I don't know if you know that Cuba is currently waging its second war of independence, and our revolutionary army is fighting a desperate battle with the Spaniards."

"Originally our situation was very good, but the Spanish authorities sent a new governor, and also sent a large number of troops and brought the most advanced guns."

"That man is known as the 'butcher' and is extremely cruel. He will massacre entire villages that support independence."

"As a result, our supply lines have problems, and the guns we have are not enough to deal with the Spanish army on the opposite side."

"So, this time I came to the United States to buy a batch of guns and ammunition to ship back."

"But you were turned away?" Chen Jianqiu pointed to the arsenal behind him.

Lai Gubei's expression became even more melancholy:
"I don't know why the United States suddenly imposed an arms embargo on the Cuban revolutionary army. This is hard for me to understand. The lieutenant has been refusing my purchases on this ground."

Chen Jianqiu had also heard a little about the arms embargo.

This is not surprising.

Currently, the mainstream opinion in Congress is to avoid conflict with Spain and to rely on diplomatic mediation as much as possible.

As Roosevelt said, a large part of the people are afraid of war.

They feared the impact war would have on the economy and their accounts.

"How did you think of traveling across half of the United States to buy weapons at the Springfield Armory?" Chen Jianqiu asked in confusion, "This is a state-owned arsenal."

Lai Gubei's answer made Chen Jianqiu feel a little amused:
"Because we thought that only such state-owned arsenals would be willing to sell guns to Cuba, and only they could obtain export licenses. After all, we needed to raise a large number of guns in a short period of time."

Chen Jianqiu patted Lai Gubei on the shoulder:

"This arsenal is not the only one in the United States that has export licenses."

"I can sell you a gun, and I can also sell you ammunition."

"What this arsenal can export, I can also export; what he cannot export, I can also export."

Lai Gubei was surprised at first, but soon became hesitant.

This is a bit too crazy.

"Are you telling the truth?" he asked doubtfully. "What's your name?"

"Chen Jianqiu."

When Lai Gubei heard the name, his mouth opened wide and couldn't close it for a while.

(End of this chapter)