Chapter 24: The Fisherman (Part 2)

Haifang. Polish Trading Firm.
A Polish merchant with a thick beard was urging several sweating Chinese clerks, “Is everything ready? If this deal fails, I’ll ruin your jobs.”
“Did we get the forty Remington pistols from Hong Kong hidden in compartments? And the six thousand pistol bullets—we need to find a way to keep them out of the French’s sight.”
They were more skilled at smuggling arms than Deng Cunyu, so they sent people to Hong Kong right away to acquire forty Remington revolvers.
Compared to breech-loading rifles, revolvers were roughly the same price but smaller and easier to conceal. They also had an inherent advantage: the French strictly regulated various rifles, but revolvers were acceptable for self-defense and not very useful on the battlefield, so the French were more willing to turn a blind eye. “Also, send a gift to broker Liu Da to have him help us pull strings everywhere.”
“Have the two steamships transferred from Saigon arrived? Good. Keep an eye on the dock—make sure that bastard Deng Cunyu doesn’t rent one of them.”
The entire trading firm was in full swing. Even if it wasn’t for their jobs, they would still go all out for this lucrative deal. Besides, the Polish bosses had offered high rewards. “Let’s see if we can get those two steamships from Deng Cunyu. After all, they’re rented too. Without them, I wonder how that fake foreigner can pull off anything.”
“Also, speed up the gold and Mexican eagle coins—especially the gold. We can transfer goods from other routes.”
“Right, right. This shipment is worth a hundred thousand taels of white lead money.”
“Boss, with the war going on, the value of white lead money will drop.”
“We bought it at a 70% discount. No matter how much it drops, we won’t lose money. I just won’t let Deng Cunyu steal even one eagle coin.”
“Once the goods arrive, transfer them back to me immediately. It can be exchanged for eagle coins, opium, or gold—prices are negotiable. Use any surplus to purchase supplies right away. Don’t let it sit idle.”
The whole trading firm was bustling with activity. Everyone was working double shifts, and several people were even brought in from Hong Kong. It was truly a hectic scene.
Meanwhile, Deng Cunyu’s small shop was filled with worry.
This time, Deng Cunyu and Lian Jincheng weren’t wearing priest robes but suits with ties, looking like successful businessmen. But Deng Cunyu was cursing, “Damn it, the Poles are too domineering—they don’t leave even a scrap for us. Jincheng, go to the dock again and see if there’s any ships available.”
“Damn it! I can’t believe it. In a port like Haifang, we can’t even find a single ship.”
He had to act quickly. The Poles had mobilized seven steamships and seven sailboats, constantly shuttling between Haiyang and Haifang. But he only had one sailboat and two steamships—how could he compete with the Poles?
Lian Jincheng lazily said, “Boss, no need to look. Just because we raised the price by 10%, those two steamships are already about to leave. May God forgive these Poles.”

“Damn it! If I secure this deal, I’ll never have to worry about food or clothing again. I’ll go to Hong Kong and live a carefree life.” At this moment, Deng Cunyu acted like a typical nouveau riche: “Damn it, I must ruin those Poles.”
“It’s useless! Useless!” Lian Jincheng shook his head. “Boss, you’ve made a decent profit this time, and Haiyang also preserved your face. We can at least use these ships for one round trip—that’s enough.”
Liu Yu collected gold, silver, and all kinds of valuable goods, but Deng Cunyu’s means of payment weren’t as diverse as those of the Poles.
He mostly used Eagle Dollars, unlike the Poles who used Remington pistols as well as gold and machine tools to settle debts, making it much slower to recover funds.
“That won’t work! It will take at least a whole day to sell these two ships’ worth of goods, and by then the Poles will have taken all the best stuff.” Faced with reality, Deng Cunyu was extremely risk-taker: “Anyway, I’m going to take the gamble.”
“How? We only have so few ships, and we don’t have enough cash to compete with the Poles.” Lian Jincheng was now disheartened. “Boss, let’s just make a small profit.”
“No!” Deng Cunyu frowned tightly, anxiously untied his tie, and threw it on the ground. “I’ll gamble!”
“We don’t have any ships.”
“We do!” Hearing this, Deng Cunyu became excited. He slammed his hand on the table, cutting it and bleeding, but he didn’t care at all. “I know where to get ships.”
“Even if we have ships, it’s useless.” Lian Jincheng still sounded weak. “Liu’s camp doesn’t accept IOUs. They only accept gold, silver, black metal, weapons, and machine tools. We can’t get much of any of those. Maybe we should…”
But when he looked up, he saw Deng Cunyu already tying his tie, ready to leave. “Boss, where are you going?”
Deng Cunyu didn’t even have time to attend to his bleeding hand. He said excitedly, “I’m going to see Liu the broker. I have an idea. You take care of…”
…
Two days later.
Forty Remington revolvers were placed in front of Liu Yu. Two Polish merchants said with a smile, “Top-quality guns—absolutely top-quality.”
Liu Yu glanced at them and saw they were indeed brand-new, unlike the second-hand guns sold by Deng Cunyu.
However, on the battlefield, although revolvers had a fast firing rate, their range was extremely limited, making them not very useful. He asked further, “What else?”
“There are also six thousand bullets and one drilling machine,” the Polish merchants replied politely. “As agreed beforehand, we brought five ships this time, and we hope to fill all of them with goods.”
In addition to these goods, they also brought several boxes of Eagle Dollars and over a hundred taels of gold, as well as a box of opium.
All these supplies satisfied Liu Yu greatly, but the Polish merchants smiled like old foxes. “We have additional services that will surely satisfy you.”
What kind of services? Russian prostitutes?
Liu Yu was very curious.