Crunch.
‘It sounds good.’
The unique feel of a bolt-action rifle.
Cocking the bolt back exposes the chamber for the bullet.
“The spring that pulls the bolt is a bit weak. It’s stiff and loses its elasticity after a few uses.”
“We have to solve it little by little.”
In fact, the most difficult part to make was the bolt part, but I managed to make it.
Alfredo grinned and held out five bullets. They were centerfire, full metal jacket cartridges with pointed tips.
I would like to use the same 7.62mm as the Mosin-Nagant, but since it uses the barrel of the Sharps rifle, I have to use 52 caliber (13.2mm).
This will also affect the shooting range. This is something that needs to be improved in the future.
Originally, you had to put the bullets in a cartridge and push them in all at once, but that’s no longer the case.
Click. Click. Click.
Max pushed the bullet in himself.
But even that sound conveyed a thrill.
After five bullets were loaded, the bolt was turned and pushed forward. The entire bolt group advanced, engaging the bullets and completing the loading.
“Alfredo.”
“yes.”
“Let’s go!”
Max, wrapping the gun barrel in cloth, ran out of the workshop.
“I tell you, you’re like a child when you do that.”
Alfredo, who was smiling proudly, soon followed Max.
After zeroing in at a short distance.
The distance has been greatly increased.
“Isn’t it too far?”
“It has to be at least this much to be meaningful.”
The distance is about 600 yards (548 m).
I put the can on the tree.
“I’ve made the sights, but to aim accurately depending on the distance, I need a tangent method.”
“What is the tangent formula?”
“It’s a kind of ruler. You adjust the sights according to the distance. The method is to increase the slope of the ruler and calculate the drop in trajectory.”
“Oh. So there was a way like that.”
Alfredo’s knowledge, which he had accumulated by disassembling existing revolvers and rifles, advanced by leaps and bounds when he met Max. As far as firearm mechanisms were concerned, Alfredo could be said to be the greatest engineer of the present age.
“Let’s shoot a few shots first and then talk.”
“yep!”
Alfredo covered his ears, and Max pressed the buttstock against his right cheek, staring at his target through the chest iron.
Five cans placed on a tree.
I pulled the trigger on one of them.
Taaang!
Bang!
If you shoot properly, it is normal for the gun to hit properly as long as the barrel is not bent.
Max started to shoot at the cans lined up one by one. But after the third shot, he started to miss. After firing the last bullet, Max nodded and said.
“There’s a lot of play every time I shoot. It seems like the precision of the parts fitting together is lacking.”
“Actually, there is something that was forced to fit in.”
Alfredo answered with a gloomy face.
Max patted her shoulder and smiled.
“It’s great for a first timer. You’ve made the most advanced gun in the world.”
“Sometimes I want to go to my boss’s hometown. I think I can make things better there.”
“…… Well, if we get the chance later, let’s go together.”
Alfredo thought that if he went to Joseon, there would be a lot of guns everywhere. He thought that the factories that made gun parts were also advanced and that the technology must be great.
Now is the time to solidify the mining city’s foundation.
Max, returning to the fort, called in a man named Samuel Huston.
One of the early settlers of Lawrence, one of the stockholders of the company, and now assists Max in personnel matters.
“In the winter, people used to flock here, but these days, there aren’t many people. Even the people who were hired before have left to go gold mining.”
“I think we should expand the job posting to other areas, and if possible, to Eastern and California newspapers as well.”
“Well, that’s not a bad idea. It’s fortunate that at least they’ve chosen a teacher to work at the school.”
Max built a school inside the fortress.
The target audience for education ranged from children to adults, but English education was particularly popular.
“I heard that Chinese and black people are very active.”
“That’s good. We can gradually increase the number of classes. Anyway, the teacher and others are in dire need of talented people right now. We won’t end up as a mining company.”
“I know, I know. Don’t worry about the interview, I’m paying special attention to it.”
Houston answered with a sad smile.
When I open my eyes in the morning, I find myself humming.
During the Great Depression, bank balances were growing every day.
Mineral Explorer shareholders trusted Max’s word without question.
Max, who returned to the fortress with Alfredo, headed to the parade ground where training was in full swing.
The instructor was Nathan Lore, who had been training with Max for a long time. Even his speech was similar.
“Gather in five rows!”
“set!”
“We will now begin PT exercises! Skilled instructors in front!”
“from now on!”
The assistants wearing red hats came forward and soon began to do the PT exercises.
These young men, sweating profusely and imitating the movements, are from the East who followed Max from Lawrence.
And these were trainees recruited from this city of Juntu. Their weekly wage was 7 dollars.
“Those kids who can’t even do PT exercises properly are just filthy sluts who only eat food! Are you planning on turning SFBC into a den of filthy sluts?”
“no!”
“Trainee No. 53, does your head touch the ground?”
“Oh, no!”
“You little bastards with dirt on the back of your heads, be prepared.”
“Old····Tsk tsk!”
Nathan Lore kept pushing the trainees without stopping, and Max nodded as if he was greatly impressed. Then he suddenly thought that he should change his outfit too.
‘From gym clothes to underwear. There’s a lot to do.’
The panties I was wearing now were tattered and tied with leather ends instead of rubber bands. They tangled with each step and were killing me.
After a while, Max called in the instructors and conducted a separate mental group training session. They too, like Nathan Lore, had started out as young Jayhawkers.
Max continued speaking with a rather serious expression, staring at the instructors.
“I’ve said this many times, but I have one goal. What is it?”
“Let’s all eat well and live well!”
“Of course, if we want to eat well and live well, we should live alone in a quiet place. However, I want to live well with as many people as possible. Therefore, we need strength to protect what we have, and we also need strength to resist injustice. In order to protect what we think is justice, that strength must overwhelm the opponent.”
Young Jayhawks were men who risked their lives by taking up arms to protect the cause of abolition.
At first glance, it seems like a contradictory story that you have to take up arms and fight in order to eat well and live well, but they share Max’s goals.
If I were to compare it to my previous life as a mercenary.
They were a different type from the money-seeking future PMC mercenaries.
I enjoyed and felt honored for belonging to the group. Also, the thoughts and feelings I realized spontaneously sometimes soon became my beliefs.
It is easy to be incited by bad words,
If you look at it positively, you could see it as pure.
“Our code of conduct is simple. If someone attacks us, we will stop them and pay them back double. The iron rule is to leave innocent civilians alone.”
“Old story!”
“Also, we don’t discriminate based on race. From today on, if you hear even a hint of white privilege or arrogance in your mouth, I will take that as disrespect for me, an Asian.”
“Old story!”
“It’s the same when I teach trainees. Who are we beyond race?”
“……?”
“All heads are in order.”
In a jiffy.
Max asked again.
“Who are we?”
“SFB C!”
“Who are we?”
“SFB C (foot)!”
“Last, whose feet?”
Max paid special attention to the ideology of the instructors. Skills are important, but why would they go together when their basic ideas are different?
The trainees who will become SFBCs in the future also need to be instilled with ideology. It was not enough for the instructors to instill ideology thousands of times.
“Of course, I am not always right. I may be wrong. When that happens, don’t hesitate and speak up. That way, you won’t have any doubts left in your head. That’s the way we’ll be headed in the right direction.”
“Old story!”
“That’s it for today.”
Max finished his group training. When he returned to the office, he saw Colin just waking up from the sofa.
“Hey, leave a note when you go somewhere. You fell asleep while waiting.”
“Thanks to you, I think I slept well.”
Colin started giggling and talking about the new Chinese settlers.
“They started looking for the Joseon person, Lee Mak-san.”
“Hoo, who said that?”
“I went to see Cha Hong and Yang Yan in the area a few days ago. Of course, it wasn’t them who spoke. It seemed like other women spoke.”
It’s not that strange. The women who were brought in for prostitution and as a vanguard knew that Houpang hired a Korean named Lee Mak-san to hang out with them every evening.
“Well, I guess I was just saying that because I don’t know your identity.”
“So?”
“He asked me to find that Joseon man, Lee Mak-san. So I said I didn’t know. Then he went to find Cha Hong and threatened and beat him. Out of loyalty, he didn’t tell me until the end, so do you know where he went?”
“That’s exciting. Where did you go?”
“I went to see the Mexican kids.”
“You’re very proactive.”
“That’s amazing. They even kidnapped one person.”
Max’s eyes widened.
Max blinked for a moment, then narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth.
“Leak information to Sancho. So that he can find me. And protect the kidnapped person from harm. It would be a problem if an innocent person died.”
That evening, Cha Hong and Yang Yan came to the office before Sancho.
It looked like he had been hit, as one side of his face was swollen and bruised.
“The Hip-Hop gang approached me. They asked me and other Chinese people about Hu Fang’s death.”
“so?”
Cha Hong’s voice became increasingly quieter in response to Max’s indifferent questions.
“When I told him it was the work of a Mexican gang, he said he would go and ask them in person···.”
“The gang is all dead, who do you ask?”
Max asked, pretending not to know.
But then someone knocked on the office door.
It was Sancho. His eyes narrowed as he saw Cha Hong and Yang Yan. There was also hostility in them.
“what’s the matter?”
“One of my colleagues has disappeared.”
Max pretended to look surprised.
Then he asked with a stern expression.
“How can I help you?”
I already confirmed through Colin that Houpang’s intention was to engage in prostitution and opium business.
Max also wanted to see Sancho’s skills and take advantage of this opportunity to eliminate the Chinese organization that was spreading like wildfire.
< Should I help you? > End
< The boss is a gangster? >
The reason they are stirring things up here and there in the Chinese organization is because of the gold that Hou Fang hid before he died.
The reason they were looking for Joseon man Lee Mak-san was also to find out the whereabouts of the gold.
It was Colin who instigated this.
– The company tried to recover the gold, but it wasn’t there.
– Then where did the gold go?
– If I knew that, I would have found it a long time ago.
The war between Chinese and Mexican gangs.
The gold that started it all has disappeared?
In response to Colin’s remark, the Chinese men threatened Cha Hong and kidnapped the Mexican.
Max planned to use the gold card to pick off the Chinese organization. And this time, the mining company was going to back off and try to solve it with someone else’s help.
“Why aren’t you saying anything when I said I would help you?”
“I don’t need any help. I just need troop support.”
“…… That’s what helps, Inma.”
Sancho kept his mouth shut at Max’s words.
Instead, he turned his eyes and looked at Cha Hong as if he was going to devour him.
“Stop staring at me and tell me your plan. I have no intention of helping you with your stupid plan.”
“Operation? Hmm.”
Sancho rolled his eyes and opened his mouth after thinking about it.
“I will follow your plan.”
“Please think about it, Inma.”
That night.
Max delegated full authority to Colin for this task.
“We are going to do some SFBC field training and deploy instructors.”
“okay!”
And the next evening.
Sancho and 10 disguised SFBC members raided the tent where their comrades were kidnapped.
A little far from the city, four Chinese were killed in the process. The rapid fire skills of Sancho, who entered the tent, were truly amazing in the instantaneous events. The SFBC instructors who witnessed this were astonished.
– Hey, can you shoot me some?
– That’s because Hickok is so fast. At that level, he’d be number three in SFBC.
– Is Colin here?
– That gentleman never shows any skill.
– But the boss acknowledged his skills. There are even rumors that he’s faster than Hickok.
Colin finished his first mission.
He raised the corners of his lips and spoke to Sancho.
“This is where it gets real. Sancho, you’re going to start this thing and spread the rumor that you have the gold, so prepare yourself.”
“I get it.”
‘Are you not thinking? You don’t even have any suspicions.’
The kidnapped comrades have already been rescued. So why would they take the risk of becoming bait?
Just a fool? Colin tilted his head.
Sancho took his tortured comrade back to their tent, and Colin spread the rumor to the Chinese gang that the Hispanic gang was leaving the city with the hidden gold.
The barracks of the Hip-hop gang.
Five men with pigtails put their heads together and exchanged opinions.
“Those bastards killed four of our men. We can’t just leave the city like this.”
“The problem is where to raid. You have to aim for when the gold is being taken or when they are leaving the city.”
“Anything, as long as it’s somewhere without people.”
The attack was already a done deal. But Liang Wenhe, the interpreter and member of the organization, frowned as if he was not pleased.
“Something is strange. It was wrong to let the kidnapped guy live in the first place.”
“That’s because Colin noticed it.”
“Can you understand that kidnapping is acceptable, but killing is not? And how did the Mexicans know where the kidnapper was?”
“So what are you trying to say?”
It’s a bit awkward, but it’s hard to say what exactly is strange. Liang Wenhe said, chewing his lips.
“The guy named Colin is the most suspicious.”
“You’re a mining company guy, right? And you’re the kind of guy we need to run our business. And you seem to be interested in money and women.”
“I also like gambling. Since I have all three, if I just add opium, it’ll be a piece of cake to make it our scapegoat.”
The only one who suspected Colin was Liang Wenhe. In the end, his opinion was ignored and the raid was decided to be carried out at the location where the gold was hidden.
And Liang Wenhe, who felt uneasy, created a hole for him and one of his men to escape through.
“I’ll keep an eye on the women. If things don’t go their way, get out immediately.”
*
The raid took place the next night.
23 Chinese operatives tracked Hispanics.
The place where Sancho lured them was a deserted place near the mine. The place Colin had indicated was none other than the tent where Hupin and Baleras had fought.
“There will be guys waiting outside. The mining company says they will help, but we can only trust ourselves. If anything goes wrong, it will be my fault. I apologize in advance.”
“Don’t say that. We did what you said ourselves, and we never regret it.”
Sancho had set aside two companions who knew all this, as a kind of insurance in case Max hit him in the back of the head.
Sancho’s shoulders were bound to be heavy, as he had also dragged his colleagues into questionable business.
