Reborn in America, I am a legendary short seller on Wall Street.

Chapter 275 The Boers' Big Order

Larry walked silently behind the group of buyers and looked at them from a distance.

At that moment, the young man in the lead was discussing the handgun with Matthew. The surrounding noise did nothing to dampen their fervent love for firearms, just like that of fans.

Yang Shimozi's eyes scanned the M1892 Pioneer pistol like those of a hawk. He reached out and took the pistol, stroking it repeatedly as if he were caressing a diamond.

Standing next to him was Van der Meier, a man who spoke incredibly fast and thought meticulously. He had finished reading the pistol technical manual Matthew had provided and already had a clear understanding of the gun's various parameters, but he still relentlessly pressed Matthew to continue extracting information.

“Mr. Browning, your pistol’s specifications state that its rate of fire is twice as fast as our existing revolvers. But I think that such a locking mechanism might also lead to a higher failure rate, which would be very fatal if we need to use it in… well, in places with a lot of sand and dust.”

As Matthew casually explained, he glanced at the pistol in Yang Smith's hand. Matthew wasn't worried that the other man would take the gun in the chaos; after all, a thin chain had been fastened to the guard as Larry had instructed. But Matthew had a feeling that the other man held his pistol with obvious affection, as if he were about to take this sharp new handgun to New York City to start a fight.

After looking at it for a while, Yang Shimozi finally couldn't help but marvel at the pistol. He turned around and handed it to Anna, who was wearing a baseball cap that covered half her face, and said in a light tone, "Come on! You are the authority, you try this pistol and see if it works well."

Anna took the pistol, using her left hand. She then began to try to disassemble it in her own way.

Larry, hiding behind the crowd, stared intently and noticed that she seemed a little sluggish, and her right hand was completely powerless. It was indeed a sequela of her right shoulder injury.

Anna examined the pistol for a while, then turned to Shi Mozi and said, "This gun is very precisely designed. It shouldn't make the same mistake of jamming. According to their explanation, if it does jam or malfunction, it should be able to be fixed quickly... In short, it's clear that this gun is truly ingenious and a masterpiece!"

“Of course, this is a masterpiece!” Matthew couldn’t help but interject!

Yang Shimozi nodded, picked up the pistol again, his face now showing a hint of determination in addition to his previous fondness for it. He looked at the pistol, then looked up at Matthew, "Name your price! How much for one?"

“Are you only buying one? If so, I can only say that this gun is not for sale. Someone offered $200 for one on Wednesday, but I didn’t sell it,” Matthew said, frowning.

Yang Shimozi laughed heartily, held up two fingers in front of Matthew, his face beaming.

Matthew's mind raced, and he asked, "200?"

“No! It’s 2000. Of course, you have to give me a fair price!” Shi Mozi stared straight at Matthew.

Matthew hesitated for a moment, and just as he was about to speak, he heard a familiar voice suddenly shout from the crowd, "12 pounds a bunch!"

Everyone turned their heads and saw Larry had already squeezed into the crowd, a warm smile on his face.

Larry hadn't wanted to get involved, as observing from the shadows was far safer. But when he heard this small, unidentified group start negotiating prices with Matthew, Larry couldn't resist stepping in!

He wasn't afraid of anything else, but he was afraid that Matthew, being so honest, would quote too low a price and leave no profit to be made later.

One must be low-key, but making money is the highest priority!
Among the crowd, Shimozi, Van der Meier, and Anna all looked at Larry, and even the European who had been standing next to Matthew had his eyes on Larry.

"Excuse me! I'm the sales manager from Browning Brothers Firearms Company. Let me explain the prices to you all." Larry said with a warm smile, memorizing the faces of everyone present.

Upon hearing the price, Yang Shimozi frowned deeply and shook his head, saying, "Too expensive! This price is too high. Sixty dollars apiece!"

At this time, both the British pound and the US dollar were pegged to gold, so their exchange rate was fixed: 1 pound could be exchanged for 4.866 dollars. Since Larry had just quoted 12 pounds per handgun, that would be 60 dollars per handgun.

Larry smiled and looked around at everyone before saying, "No! This gun isn't expensive. You can see its unique grip magazine, which holds eight bullets to provide strong and sustained firepower. Furthermore, its rate of fire is twice as fast as the fastest Colt pistol currently available, and in terms of firepower density, this gun is absolutely second to none."

“But we need 2000 handguns. Do you usually get such a large order? I heard you’re a new type of firearms company. This order will allow you to get through the first two years safely,” Van der Meier explained, leaning forward.

Larry ignored him, but simply picked up another pistol from the exhibition and handed it to Matthew.

"Come on! Matthew, show them how we change magazines and how we provide powerful support firepower!"

“Okay!” Matthew had been handling these pistols for days, and now he could disassemble them with his eyes closed. Besides, Matthew was already an expert in this field.

Matthew was very pleased that Larry had stepped forward in time to start negotiations. In addition, Matthew got a quarter of a gold coin from Larry and bounced it in the air.

With a "clang," the gold coin tumbled into the air!

At that very moment, while everyone's attention was focused on the coins, Matthew quickly pressed the magazine release button.

With a "snap," the magazine fell to the ground; then, Matthew had already loaded the new magazine from the table into the Type 92 Pioneer pistol and cocked it.

Only then did he reach out his left hand and catch the falling gold coin—the whole process took less than 5 seconds.

The five Boers were mesmerized.

Yang Smolgers even thought that if they had had an automatic pistol with an 8-round magazine and quick reloading when they assassinated Cecil Rhodes that day—then there wouldn't have been any problem with jamming; three pistols would have riddled Rhodes and his two bodyguards with bullets…

"If you gentlemen are still not entirely confident in the performance of this gun..." Matthew casually flicked off the safety of his pistol, holstered the M1892 Vanguard pistol in his belt, and continued with a smile, "...then how about we find a shooting range and I'll give you a proper demonstration?" Larry, watching Matthew's composed demeanor, felt that this kid could easily pass for Mark Gor from "A Better Tomorrow" if he had a "Chinese beaver" emoji!

Damn! This handsome young man is so good with guns, no wonder the Winthrop family insisted on making him their son-in-law.

Yang Shimozi narrowed his eyes, staring at the pistol, unable to speak for a long time.

Larry smiled and added at the opportune moment, "Think about it, if you were to encounter a British patrol on the grasslands, a group of six armed with Lee-Metford rifles. If you were using revolvers, it would take you twelve seconds to reload after firing six rounds. But with our guns, two people can unleash fourteen rounds in four seconds, enough to break through any encirclement."

He paused, then looked at Shi Mozi, "Especially when you need to relocate quickly and use oxcart formations for circular defense, the continuity and density of firepower mean the probability of survival."

Yang Shimozi's facial muscles twitched slightly as he looked at Larry. "Why is he British?"

Larry said it on purpose. Knowing the other party was a Boer, he could easily imagine the "Boer War" that would tear away the mask of British power a few years later. Using the British army as an example, Larry was using his knowledge of the future to accurately pinpoint his client's "pain point"!
Of course, you can't say it like that. Larry smiled and glanced at the pistol. "We have to find a hypothetical enemy! Britain is the global hegemon, the empire on which the sun never sets. It's the most fitting example!"

Yang Shimozi didn't say anything more. He leaned closer to Larry and lowered his voice, saying, "2000 of these are just the first batch. If they're good, I'll order two more batches. If you can lower the price, I think we can be your distributor in South Africa."

Larry chuckled, leaning closer to whisper, "If you can pay in gold... £10.5 apiece, but not including bullets. Of course, if you can secure a second order and distributor status, I'll give you at least a 30% discount!"

"How about diamonds?" Shi Mozi suddenly offered an unexpected solution. "Raw diamonds from the Kimberley mine are lighter than gold. You can assess their value yourselves!"

Larry calmly glanced at the other party, thought for a few seconds, and then said, "For the first batch, we can settle it with 20% diamonds. The rest will be gold coins, gold ingots, or at least pounds. We're pricing in pounds, but we don't actively seek to settle in pounds..."

"Deal! We'll go to the back later to discuss the specifics of the contract. There's no rush, but we need to test these pistols you displayed after the exhibition. For that, I can buy them for £20 each!" Smith said firmly.

Larry looked at him and nodded.

This time, I'm absolutely not afraid of any assassin group making a name for themselves with guns... because for a capitalist, being able to connect with the Boers and send his guns to the forefront of the future world to make a name for himself...

This means that the arms trade could steadily grow before 1900, but after 1900, it experienced a ruthless "explosion"!
When Dunbar revealed to Larry that "Anna" was the assassin, Larry naturally thought of the newspaper report that their target was Cecil Rhodes. And the person who could afford to carry out an assassination on such a large scale and had the money was naturally a Boer who owned mines in South Africa.

From that moment on, an unprecedented blueprint for building a large and powerful gun company by leveraging future warfare quickly took shape in Larry's mind.

The deal was struck, and the five Boers agreed to return at noon to continue discussing the signing of the contract, after which they disappeared into the crowd.

Larry winked at Dunbar, who was hiding in the crowd. Dunbar pulled down his hat and slowly followed.

Matthew never expected that he would be the first to secure a huge deal for 2000 handguns. His face flushed with excitement, and he muttered to Larry, "2000 guns! At £10.5 each, that's £2.1, over $10!"

Larry, however, wasn't so agitated and offered a helpful reminder.
“That’s not the important thing… Matthew, did you notice? This is a batch order, and the total quantity isn’t large. What I value more is that we can use these small-batch handgun sales contracts to gradually establish our own production workshop. The first payment will allow Browning Brothers Firearms Company to build a moderately sized space for expansion at a suitable pace!”

Upon hearing this, Matthew's eyes widened, and excitement spread across his face. "...Yes, yes, yes! If it's a small batch order of 2000 units, we can expand our own workshop. That way, we won't need to find a contract manufacturer..."

“Of course we’ll find a manufacturer, but…” Larry leaned closer to Matthew and said, “Wait a minute, the Italian guys and I will watch the place. You go back to the hotel and get the rifle blueprints. When they get back, show them our bolt-action rifles… Trust me, I bet they’re more interested in rifles that use smokeless powder and can be used for long-range sniping.”

Matthew raised an eyebrow, his face full of surprise. "Really? They buy rifles too? If they were ordinary customers, even distributors, how many could they order? Rifles are unlikely to be ordered in large quantities by non-military customers!"

Larry chuckled and patted him on the shoulder. “Go get the blueprints! Trust me, if these Boolean clients really start ordering rifles, you won’t even consider the handgun orders!”

Matthew's face once again showed a complex expression of surprise and astonishment, but those expressions were quickly replaced by the excitement brought by his immense trust in Larry. Matthew slammed his pistol on the cabinet on the platform and said with a smile, "No problem! I'll go right now!"

Matthew pulled a few Italian lads aside, gave them a few instructions, and hurriedly squeezed through the crowded exhibition hall to pick up the blueprints for the M1892 rifle from the Astor Hotel…

The patent lawyer who had been following Matthew was a bit bewildered. Watching Matthew's figure disappear, he turned to Larry and said...

"Sir! Weren't we supposed to focus on exhibiting motors and radios? Why did Mr. Browning leave in such a hurry? He's gone! How are we supposed to sell this new invention?"

Larry walked behind the booth, stood shoulder to shoulder with the patent attorney, and smiled gently, reassuring him, “Sir! Your task is to get our product approved by the patent office as soon as possible, which is also our original intention in participating in the exhibition! Of course, if someone places an order, I will handle it. Your task is to prevent our intellectual property from being stolen by others, isn’t it? As you just saw, Mr. Browning presented a groundbreaking weapon. If his patent were taken by our American or European counterparts… wouldn’t that be a great pity?”

The patent attorney nodded. The patent for the handgun was being expedited; the big investors were pressing him for it, so he naturally didn't dare to delay.

Just then, a commotion suddenly arose among the crowd of onlookers. A group of well-dressed, imposing men walked over with smiles. The man in the lead was a full 1.9 meters tall, towering over the others by half a head. He wore a dark three-piece suit with impeccably buttoned jacket and a spotless white shirt.

He wore a top hat, held a simple ebony cane, walked with a firm gait, and had clear eyes.

Larry had never seen anyone before who possessed such a contradictory aura of both "imposing without anger" and "warm and gentle," but today, he had.

Seeing this man approaching with several people, Larry's mind raced. He thought to himself, "The main character for today has arrived! This is the man I've been waiting for."

(End of this chapter)