Chapter 123: [Purchase at own expense]

"Thirty dollars," said General Kearney. "I admit that the Browning is a far superior pistol to the Colt, but it is not legal to make. Only Colt can make revolvers."

Ma Shao: "The value of the weapon itself has nothing to do with who owns the patent. On the battlefield, a better weapon can be an extra life."

He paused and said, "Besides... I have no way to lower the price. The price of the pistol is not something I can decide at will."

Ma Shao is telling the truth.

He really cannot decide the price of the pistol at will, because he has to consider objective economic laws.

But he obviously didn't say this to induce Carney to think about economics.

In fact, after hearing this, General Kearney looked at the Browning revolver in his hand and had a lot of wild thoughts in his mind.

There is no doubt that this gun was most likely invented by Europeans, and of course it is more likely to be invented by a company in the United States itself - "an unnamed European company" sounds like a cover-up.

Whether it is European or American companies, they are restricted by Colt's strict patent barriers and cannot sell revolvers publicly.

Therefore, it is not an unexpected choice to find a group of barbarians who are not subject to patent law as intermediaries.

As for the Indians themselves, it is absolutely impossible for them to invent such an advanced weapon.

Although this plains tribe looked unusual, they were just a group of slightly improved savages. They might be able to learn from the white civilization, but independent innovation was absolutely impossible for them.

Since these Indians were commissioned by others, it is understandable that they cannot set prices at will.

Carney did not dare to use violence rashly and just snatch these weapons.

First of all, this group of Apaches is obviously a tough guy, and they are backed by a city of several thousand people. Even if he has an army of more than 2,000 people behind him, it will probably cost a lot to take them down.

Secondly, since the Plains Tribe was chosen as the middleman by that "unnamed company", it must have a backer.

Maybe it was some domestic arms tycoon who was jealous of Colt. He robbed the Plains Tribe and will cause trouble in the future.

There is no way to bargain, and it is not convenient to take action.

However, the Browning revolver is really tempting.

What should be done?

After much thought, Carney finally came up with a good idea - let the soldiers buy it at their own expense.

Colt pistols are already in service in the military, and most American soldiers know the value of this type of gun, so there will definitely be people willing to buy it at their own expense.

General Carney groaned and said, "Well, it's a pity... We didn't have any plans to purchase new weapons in bulk. If you can't lower the price, forget it."

Then he changed the subject: "But you can ask the soldiers, maybe they are willing to buy this pistol at their own expense. If they decide to buy it, I won't stop them."

Ma Shao was stunned when he heard this.

He didn't expect this result. Carney actually asked the soldiers to buy it at their own expense.

But think about it and it's not so strange. The unit price of fifty dollars is indeed not cheap, twice that of Colt, which is equivalent to a farmer's three-month income, or a month's hard-earned money of workers in a large factory in the east. Anyone would feel distressed.

The soldier felt sad too, but compared to his own life, fifty dollars didn't seem so painful.

For officers, the difference in equipment is more of a factor in success or failure, but for grassroots soldiers, the difference in equipment is often the difference between life and death.

Therefore, as long as they are aware of the excellent performance of the Browning revolver and have enough money in their pockets, most soldiers will choose to buy it.

This is also true in real history.

Due to the excellent performance and high price of the Colt pistol, many soldiers bought it with their own money.

Ma Shao certainly doesn't care about this, as he is making money anyway.

He immediately arranged some soldiers who knew a little English to sell Browning pistols to American soldiers at fifty dollars a piece, with no price reduction.

He himself joined the ranks of salesmen and promoted the products personally.

"Hello, Colonel." Ma Shao walked up to a colonel officer.

"Hello, Chief Albert, I am Alexander Donivan." Donivan shook hands with him politely.

Ma Shao rarely saw white people who were polite to Indians, so he had a good impression of him: "Colonel Donivan, I think you should need this kind of pistol. A gentleman like you certainly doesn't want to carry a heavy and slow rifle on the battlefield."

"Indeed, the Browning revolver looks like a work of art." Donivan was obviously well-off, and he took out a few gold coins. "Fifty dollars, right?"

"That's right." Ma Shao handed over a Browning in exchange for fifty dollars in gold coins.

At this time, another lieutenant colonel came over with a fifty-dollar bill in his hand: "Give me one too."

Ma Shao said, "Sorry, sir, we don't accept paper money. You should know that this thing is not very reliable."

"Okay." The lieutenant colonel was a little disappointed. He obviously wanted to spend the banknotes in his hand.

Ma Shao then asked: "Lieutenant Colonel, don't you want a pistol? Look at those soldiers, they are already buying them."

The lieutenant colonel didn't want to buy it at first, but when he saw some soldiers, including his own subordinates, bought pistols, he felt a little embarrassed and had to buy one as well.

The deal didn't last long.

There are many people who want to buy a handgun, but few who have fifty dollars in their pockets.

The soldiers borrowed money from everywhere, but only about 300 of them could come up with 50 dollars to exchange for a Browning revolver.

Despite this, this also brought Ma Shao a net profit of tens of thousands of dollars.

After all, the total cost of a revolver is less than ten dollars, and more than forty dollars of the fifty-dollar selling price is profit.

Ma Shao had never had such an easy experience of making money, so when he watched Carney's army continue to march towards Mexico, he was full of anticipation for the upcoming Battle of Santa Fe.

…

After leaving Sleeping Bear, General Kearny led his troops to Santa Fe.

When he was about to reach his destination, he found Magofin and said, "As you said, Mr. Magofin, take $30,000 and your flexible tongue and go to convince Armijo."

"Don't worry, General Kearny." Magofin said confidently with a smile on his face, "You can enter Santa Fe City tomorrow. Today you might as well think about the future laws of Santa Fe City."

Magofin, accompanied by two followers, soon arrived at the city of Santa Fe.

"Who are you?" The guards of Santa Fe blocked their way.

"Tell your Governor Armijo that his old friend James Magoffin is here," said Magoffin.

The guards looked at each other, and then one of them turned and went into the city to report. After a while, he came back and said, "Mr. Magoffin, please come with me. The governor wants to see you."

Magoffin smiled and followed the soldiers into the city of Santa Fe, where he soon met Governor Manuel Armijo.

"Long time no see, dear Magofin!" Amijo was a fat man with small eyes. He welcomed Magofin warmly and hugged him.

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