Chapter 138: [Selling Both Sides]

"Yes." Blake nodded, "You heard it right, at least a thousand people are needed."

Colt found it hard to understand: "How is this possible? Our war with the Seminoles only involved one or two thousand people. Are there such strong Indians in the West?"

Blake: "I'm not sure, my friends told me."

After a pause, he continued, "He said that the Indian tribe called Sleeping Bear has a city of several thousand people. The warriors are well-equipped and well-organized elites. It would take at least a thousand people to defeat them."

"The army doesn't have the energy to deal with them right now. Moreover, this tribe is very well-behaved. They don't plunder, massacre, or participate in this war... It's hard to find a reason to attack."

Colt took a deep breath: "Reason, what reason do you need to deal with these barbarians?"

"True," said Black, "but no one wants to be scolded by those hypocrites in Congress. ... In short, at least until the Mexican War is over, we can't do anything about these Indians. The army can't do anything, and the patent law can't do anything about them."

"Are we just going to watch them take away our orders?" Colt couldn't help but say.

Blake: "Ultimately, the problem is with the British. Even if we can deal with the Indians, the British can always find another middleman."

"As far as I know, the news has been conveyed to the president, and I have just sent some people to Washington. If nothing unexpected happens, we should negotiate with the British through diplomatic channels."

Colt sighed slightly and nodded: "Okay."

Blake added: "Negotiations with the British will not produce any results for the time being. For us, the only real remedy now is to improve our products as soon as possible."

"Colt, you are the most outstanding gunsmith. I believe you can make a better revolver than Browning." He put his hand on Colt's shoulder.

Colt's gaze remained on the revolver, his eyes revealing complex emotions.

He stroked the gun and said with emotion after a while: "You know, Blake, when I saw this gun, I felt like I was back to some scenes in my school days."

"What do you mean?" Blake asked.

Colt stared at the words on the gun and said slowly: "I was faced with a question and couldn't figure it out. Then the teacher told me the standard answer... This gun is like a standard answer. It can almost be described as 'perfect'."

Blake: "You mean you can't make a better revolver?"

Colt hesitated. "If there is a better steel, maybe it's possible. I mean, better than any existing steel."

Blake was silent for a moment: "Or you can just make an identical one. You have the patent anyway."

"I know." Colt nodded, "I will provide the drawings and production plan."

After Blake left, Colt sat in the chair in silence.

He looked at the nearly perfect Browning pistol and his various defective designs piled on the table, and felt increasingly depressed.

He felt like he had done a lot of useless work.

What's worse is that he is now plagiarizing.

Although legally, it was the Browning pistol that plagiarized Colt, when this proud firearms genius had to abandon all his past attempts and copy someone else's work, he felt the shame of plagiarism.

"Fuck!" he cursed inwardly.

Then he suppressed his feelings and obsession as a designer and devoted himself to the commercial competition.

…

On the other hand, the arms business in slepping bear city is in full swing.

The reputation of the Browning pistol spread more and more, and every once in a while, someone would come here to buy a Browning pistol.

Not only the military, but many private individuals and caravans also rushed to buy Browning pistols.

As the Southwest became turbulent, people made the same choice that later generations of Americans did—buy guns for self-protection.

Outside the slepping bear city, there is a trading location in each of the four directions: east, south, west and north.

The east and west offices mainly provide services to civilians, while the south and north offices are exclusively for the military.

The army was undoubtedly a big customer, and Ma Shao would always come in person to meet such a big customer, on the one hand to show respect, and on the other hand to experience the pleasure of counting a large amount of gold coins.

Not far to the north of slepping bear city, Ma Shao and Chavez were engaged in arms trade.

"Here are a thousand pistols." He ordered the soldiers to bring over several boxes of Browning pistols. "Count them."

"Still fifty thousand dollars, right?" Chavez paid the money, much of it in gold coins.

"That's right." Ma Shao could guess that most of these US dollar gold coins were of illegal origin.

Mexican guerrillas attacked both U.S. troops and looted U.S. residents.

Not long ago, news came from Clark Town that they had discovered a group of Mexican guerrillas who were suspected of targeting the town.

However, in the end, the guerrillas did not dare to attack the town.

After all, there are seventy or eighty armed police and troops in Clark Town, and there are people patrolling and standing guard every day. It is obviously not a place where the weak can be bullied.

"I heard that you made a big deal in Taos City?" Ma Shao asked.

Chavez nodded and said with some pride: "Yes, we also blew Charles Bent's head off - it was this bastard who convinced my uncle to surrender to the Americans."

The two chatted for a while, and then Chavez left Sleeping Bear with a thousand revolvers.

Just a few hours later, Ma Shao welcomed another important customer at the trading location south of slepping bear city.

"Colonel Donivan, welcome." He shook hands with Donivan warmly with a smile on his face.

Colonel Donivan said straight to the point: "Albert, we need two thousand revolvers."

Ma Shao asked, "Are there more troops coming to San Fe?"

Donifan only said, "No, in fact I am about to leave Santa Fe. I have completed my mission here."

"law?"

"Yes," Donivan said. "I wrote some laws for New Mexico... well, even though the name of the code was the Kearney Code."

"As for these Browning pistols, they will be shipped to other troops. Everyone needs this weapon now."

Ma Shao nodded, he knew that Donivan's troops were going to the south to participate in the battle.

"Wish ya'll good luck."

Two thousand Brownings equal one hundred thousand dollars. Including Chavez's one thousand, Sleeping Bear City earned a total of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars in one day.

Donivan and Chavez apparently didn't know that when they were buying weapons, they, as enemies, almost passed each other by.