I took off my Japanese military uniform, put on an old farmer's cotton-padded jacket from the warehouse, went to get my old horse back, and gave him a wheelbarrow as compensation, and then I left slowly, not because I didn't want to spend the night, but because I was afraid of causing trouble to my family.

Halfway through, Zhao Hu found a farmhouse and borrowed accommodation. Zhao Hu began to plan the next trip. It was too far from Jincheng in the south, and there were many things waiting for him to do. It seemed that he could only entrust others to buy the boiler. But

Transporting so much money and food back would be impossible without horse-drawn carriages. Where could we find so many horses?

The ancient city of Pingyao had just experienced a war not long ago, and the twelve-meter-high city wall was covered with bullet marks. Zhao Hu did not stop in Pingyao, but went directly west to Xiaoyi. He bought a carriage in Xiaoyi County and hung it in the old city.

Behind the horse, there is a large vat of Laofen wine on the cart. The wine jar is the same style as the vat stored in the warehouse. Maybe the Qu family also used this kind of wine jar to directly store money.

Then we headed south to Duijiuyu. Here, members of the County Government of Chenggui, the county magistrate of the Kuomintang Party, and more than 300 members of the Working Committee Self-Defense Force of our Party’s Pingyao County Committee were stationed here. The carriage stopped outside a gate, and Zhao Hu got out of the car.

Walking to the door, he handed over Commander Ni's letter of introduction. The self-defense team members in civilian clothes took a look at it and hurried in to report. Within a few minutes, a young cadre in his thirties or twelve years old walked out of the door and grabbed Zhao Hu.

He raised his hand and said: "Hello, I am Zhang Chun, the special commissioner of the Shanxi Working Committee. Welcome! Come in quickly."

Zhao Hu pointed to his carriage drive: "I still have a carriage."

"It doesn't matter, Xiao Cui, you can find two people to drive the carriage to the side door and send it into the yard. I said Comrade Xiao Zhao, come if you come. What kind of wine do you want to bring? Our party's style does not allow eating and drinking!"

Zhao Hu smiled and said nothing, and followed him to the lobby. There were several desks here. Commissioner Zhang introduced Secretary Cui to Zhao Hu, and Director Hu of the Organization Department. Also present were the old Red Army, Comrade Hu Shuntang of the guerrillas and

Vice-captain Comrade Huixiu.

After introducing them one by one, Captain Hu winked at Zhao Hu: "Comrade Xiao Zhao, do you still recognize me?"

Zhao Hu touched his head and felt a little confused. Captain Hu laughed and said: "Haha, in Yan'an, I got a gun from you, a brand new twenty-gun gun!"

"Oh, are you that big guy who refuses to hand over his old gun? Haha, I remembered it."

Captain Hu took out his twenty-gun gun to show off: "Look, it's authentically made in Germany. It's still in good condition today. This gun has a big mirror!"

Commissioner Zhang said: "Old Hu, please stop showing off. We all use ten-shot guns. Do you know how we feel?"

He turned back to Zhao Hu and said: "Comrade Xiao Zhao, your superiors asked you to ask us to go to Jincheng to buy boilers. Has this funding issue been resolved? To be honest, let alone Jinzhong, there are many industrial and mining areas in Pingyao. Those factory directors don't want to work.

We also want to sell the equipment, but unfortunately we don’t have the funds and have been unable to reach an agreement.”

Zhao Hu said: "Didn't I bring the funds?"

Commissioner Zhang asked: "Where did you bring it? In your bag?"

"Haha, I don't have any in my bag. They are just small guns bought from wealthy families. If you want them, I'll give you one each, but the bullets are hard to find."

"Where is it, let us see quickly."

As soon as the bag was opened, everyone gasped. There were five small pistols, all with American gun licenses and flower-mouthed pistols. Vice Captain Hui picked up the smaller flower-mouthed pistol and said, "This one belongs to me."

I’m sorry, it’s not appropriate for a lesbian like me to carry a shell gun all the time.”

Several other people also picked up the gun card and looked around, and they all praised it: "What a good gun, Comrade Xiao Zhao, you are really amazing, you can get such a good small gun, and you can still do it."

It’s amazing that there are so many bullets.”

Captain Hu laughed and said: "When I was in Yan'an, I got a convoy of weapons and ammunition, which could equip thousands of troops."

After talking and laughing for a while, Captain Zhang began to face reality: "Xiao Zhao, you said you brought the funds, wouldn't it be that old man? How much is this worth?"

Zhao Hu smiled and led everyone to the backyard. The carriage was parked there quietly. A team member was using a guillotine to cut grass to feed the horses. Zhao Hu said: "It's in the jar. You didn't even open it just now to take a look."

Captain Hu stepped onto the car and opened the mouth of the altar. He was stunned and unable to move.

Commissioner Zhang saw Lao Hu looking wrong from below, so he shouted loudly: "Lao Hu, why are you so stunned?"

Captain Hu shook his head, sobering himself up a little, and said to Commissioner Zhang: "You can see for yourselves, I may be dazzled."

Several people got on the car and suddenly screamed. Commissioner Zhang yelled: "Xiao Zhao, how can you be so bold? There are so many, so many... Hi!"

Several people were frightened. After dragging Zhao Hu into the hall, Lao Hu kept asking: "Where did you get so much money? Did you drag it here so arrogantly all the way?"

Zhao Hu scratched his head and said: "What's there to be afraid of? Didn't I use the wine jar as a cover? Besides, I didn't see anyone trying to get the wrong idea! By the way, how many machines can I buy with this jar of money?

Boiler?”

Commissioner Zhang loudly said: "Not only that, by the way, Vice Captain Hui, how much money is there?"

"I didn't know, I have never seen so much silver in my life."

They didn't know the exact number, but Zhao Hu knew roughly that the pile of silver ingots was 400,000 taels. Even if the altar was not full, there would still be 40,000 taels. You must know that there is no full silver in silver coins now, and there are probably some here.

Fifty or sixty thousand yuan.

Several cadres didn't care how many they had. Each of them divided into a small team and personally led them out to buy the machines. They said that these were still too many and they had to go to Hongdong to hand them over to the headquarters in batches. They also told Zhao Hu to let him go back and wait with peace of mind.

The machine will be delivered as soon as it is purchased.

Zhao Hu said goodbye to everyone and returned to Xiaoyi alone. The place was overcrowded at this time, but the economy was abnormally prosperous. All kinds of jade treasures were not valuable at all, but food, clothing, etc. were all at high prices.

The carriage and horse shops that escaped from the city have lost their business. The traffic here is not as convenient as along the railway. Ordinary people don't have so much goods to transport, and the horses have to be fed with fine food every day, so the carriage and horse shops are watching.

Things were getting worse day by day, so the best horses had to be sold separately.

Therefore, when the owner of the carriage and horse shop heard that Zhao Hu had come to buy a carriage, he immediately became very enthusiastic. Zhao Hu saw that there were only six or seven pack horses in the compound, but there were more than a dozen large carriages parked aside, and he also knew that the boss was distressed.

The reason is that these are rubber-tired carts. However, people who buy horses only want horses, so these carts lose their value.

Zhao Hu smiled and said: "Shopkeeper, I originally wanted to buy a large number of carriages, but you only have carriages but no horses. What should I do?"

The fat shopkeeper used to be quite fat, but this time he may have been too worried and lost his face. This shows that the weight loss effect is excellent. Hearing this, he said repeatedly: "My guest, as long as you want it, these big cars of mine are half price, half price."

Just take action, these are big rubber-tired trucks, you can’t even buy two wheels at half the price, I’ve lost all my money this time!”

"I would like to buy it, but you have so many big cars and no one to tow them. How can I transport them to Changzhi?"

When the shopkeeper heard that it was not far away, he immediately guaranteed the ticket: "Don't worry, sir, I'll hook the car behind the carriage and I'll make sure I can pull it to Changzhi for you without charging you for the journey. What do you think?"

Zhao Hu reluctantly said, "Well, you hook up the cart first, and I have to buy some goods in the city and take them with me."

The fat shopkeeper looked a little embarrassed: "Sir, to tell you the truth, I still owe the inn some money for materials. Can you pay a deposit first?"

Zhao Hu smiled. This guy probably saw that the prospects were not good, so he kept the horses here. If he could sell them, he would sell them. If the carriages could not be sold, he would just run away and leave a bunch of large cars as deposits for the inn. Don't be too smart about this idea.

.

So he gave a large ingot of silver and asked the shopkeeper to send a few guys to go shopping with him on the street.

This time Zhao Hu bought some cotton cloth and grain, not that he wanted to transport them back, but to exchange them for a batch of war horses.

When he passed Pingyao, he saw a cavalry company in the 122nd Division. Unfortunately, the Sichuan Army was too poor. They came out to fight in straw sandals and single clothes, and now they have no food to eat. Let alone the horses, the people are so hungry that they are skin and bones.

, and they don’t have much money to raise horses, and they will soon go to Teng County to fight the Japanese in a bloody battle. They go east by train. Keeping the war horses is of no use. In the end, they can only take advantage of the profiteers. Therefore, Zhao Hu is going to take this

It doesn't matter if you suffer a small loss when you buy a war horse, but overall, you still make a profit.

What does the Sichuan Army lack? It lacks guns, food, and medicine, but it does not lack bullets, or at least it has more supplies than the Eighth Route Army. They have real supplies.

The fat shopkeeper followed Zhao Hu with a few waiters, watching him lavishly take out money from his bag to buy cotton cloth, cotton clothes, and grain. He even asked him to find Xuan Black Market and buy a lot of rifles and Jin-made grenades from deserters.
Chapter completed!