Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 36 Finalizing the Arms Deal
After Li Mingyuan led the cavalry regiment to set off, Sun Bin and Zhao Yan also set off for Balanka.

They first negotiated a small business deal with the Netherlands and Belgium, and then the two came to the Prussian commercial representative office in Palencia.

The Prussians were serious people, even when they built houses.
Also in a simple and practical style, the Prussian Commercial Representative Office is a three-story castle building.

The castle has a clear exterior, and its doors, windows and arcades use semicircular, barrel-shaped or cross vaults, giving it a thick, solid and stable feeling.

"Please inform Mr. Hoffman that representatives of the Chinese Independence Army are here to visit." Sun Bin asked the Prussian guards guarding the gate in front of the castle.

"Wait a moment, I'll go inform Mr. Hoffman." The guard said, and turned to go into the castle.

"Brother Sun, how confident are you in convincing the Prussians to cooperate with us?" Zhao Ting asked after the Prussian guards left.

"I'm 70% to 80% sure. We want a lot of goods, and the Prussians won't give up trading with us easily."

"The fact that we asked the Prussians to use their navy to escort us must be kept secret and not be known to people from other countries."

"I will explain it to them during the negotiations." Sun Bin nodded.

"Gentlemen, Mr. Hoffman invites you in." Sun Bin and Zhao Ting said a few words, and the Prussian guard at the gate came back and said.

Sun Bin and Zhao Ting followed the guards, walked around a dozen rooms, and came to Hoffman's office.

"What do you two gentlemen want to talk to me about?" Hoffman asked straight to the point after entering the room.

Hoffman was a middle-aged man in his forties, tall and thin, with a traditional Prussian beard and wearing a German trench coat.

After taking a look at Hoffman, Sun Bin said, "I come here today to discuss a big business with you on behalf of the Chinese Independence Army."

"You've come to the right place to do business. The Prussians have the highest credibility in doing business." Hoffman said with a smile.

"We need a lot of supplies. Here is the purchase list. Please take a look." Sun Bin handed over the list.

Hoffman glanced at them and said, "You want a lot of goods. I need time to allocate them from other places. It will take at least a month to prepare the materials on the list and transport them to Baranka."

"We can wait for a month. The key is to ensure the quality of the weapons we need," said Sun Bin.

"Don't worry about the quality of the weapons. We are in business for the long term and will not damage our brand just to make a few more bucks."

"Let's start discussing the price of weapons now," said Sun Bin.

"Okay," Hoffman sat down and pointed to the list. "Dreyse breech-loading rifles are 20 taels of silver each, 75mm steel cannons are 2,000 taels each, 9-pound mountain cannons are 1,000 taels each, and machine guns are 800 taels each.

The weapons you want to buy this time are 20,000 rifles, 300 pistols, 100 machine guns, 50 nine-pound cannons, 30 75mm mountain cannons, 1 million rifle bullets, 30,000 machine gun bullets, 2,000 nine-pound shells, 500 twelve-pound shells, 100,000 sets of custom-made military uniforms, and 1,000 marching tents.

Add it all up and minus the decimals, and it'll be one million taels of silver for you."

One million taels of silver, if converted into gold, would be 12,000 taels, or 1,200 kilograms of gold. With so much money, the Chinese Independence Army's accumulated wealth was emptied out in one fell swoop.

"Mr. Hoffman, we believe in your credit. Since you said one million taels of silver, we will not bargain with you, but you have to agree to one condition of ours."

Sun Bin felt a pain in his heart when he heard the price of one million taels of silver, but the money was spent for the future development of the Chinese Independence Army, so he had to spend the money no matter how reluctant he was.

"Please go ahead," Hoffman said politely.

"After the transaction is completed, I would like you to send a few warships to help escort our fleet."

"Mr. Sun, I cannot agree to your request. Prussia adheres to its neutral position and will not interfere in the war between you and the Peruvians."

Hoffman thought that Sun Bin wanted the Prussian Navy to help them fight the Peruvians, so he decisively refused. "Mr. Hoffman misunderstood. I didn't mean to ask your army to fight the Peruvians. I just wanted your army to escort our fleet and help us pass through the Pacific coast."

"In that case, I can promise you."

As long as Hoffman did not interfere in the war between the Chinese workers and the Peruvians, he would not have to worry. As for the Chinese hiring the Prussian Navy to escort them along the Pacific coast, Hoffman believed that the Chinese wanted to escape, so he simply agreed.

"Haha, thank you very much for your sincerity, Mr. Hoffman. Congratulations on our successful cooperation."

Having successfully completed the task, Sun Bin was very happy. He stood up with a smile and shook hands with Hoffman.

"I am also very happy to cooperate with you. I hope we will have the opportunity to cooperate again next time." Hoffman shook hands.

"Looking forward to our next cooperation." said Sun Bin.

Lake Titicaca, a Chinese figure emerges from the clear deep blue lake.

Chen Sen took a breath and said, "Prince, no trace of the treasure was found in the lake."

Chen Sen was a captain of the Chinese fleet and was very familiar with water, so Li Mingyuan specially called him and a dozen other good water players to explore the bottom of Titicaca.

"Call all the brothers up. We won't go into the water today." Li Mingyuan said disappointedly after not finding any gold.

"Sir, is the legend of the treasure true? My brothers have searched the area within a radius of thirty miles and found nothing."

After searching near Lake Titicaca for seven or eight days without finding any clues about the treasure, Li Dawei became anxious.

"The treasure is not so easy to find. Let's search nearby for another two days. If we can't find it, we'll go back." Li Mingyuan said, not wanting to return empty-handed.

"Yes." Knowing that they would have to search for another two days, all the soldiers around him retreated to rest.

Under a forest on Lake Titicaca, thirteen or fourteen sailors from the Chinese Independence Army gathered together to talk.

"Commander Chen, we have been searching for the treasure for seven or eight days and still haven't found it. Has the treasure been stolen by someone?"

"I think this is possible. The Inca Empire has been destroyed for more than 300 years. There is no way the treasure can be hidden." said another soldier.

"Whether the treasure is still there or not, we will wait for two days as the prince requested." Chen Sen said.

"Boss, I do believe the treasure is here."

"Oh, why are you sure?" Chen Sen asked curiously.

"This afternoon I found a piece of gold jewelry under a waterfall not far from Lake Titicaca."

"Li Ergou, why don't you hand over the gold you found?" Chen Sen said with a dark face.

"Boss, I just found it and I'm reporting to you." Li Ergou took out the golden bracelet he found with a smile. It was a gold bracelet.

"You are lucky boy. Others found nothing, but you picked up gold." Chen Sen tiptoed to weigh the bracelet, which was about three taels.

"Boss, do you want to report to the prince now?" said Li Ergou.

"Don't disturb the prince yet. Let's go to the waterfall and take a look. It won't be too late to tell the prince once we find the whereabouts of the treasure."

(End of this chapter)