Max placed the metal cartridges and copper bullets on the table and quickly crossed his arms.
“To cut to the chase. I have no intention of selling the patent.”
“We don’t even intend to live.”
“I have no intention of receiving royalties. It’s not even a penny per thousand, but it’s nothing.”
Horace Smith frowned.
The copper bullet, the final completion of the metal cartridge, had to be obtained without fail.
“What do you want then?”
“I don’t know if you know, but I’m building a weapons manufacturing plant in Lawrence.”
“!”
“!”
Max continued, leaving Smith and Allen’s wide-eyed gaze behind him.
“I’m thinking of making weapons in the future, and to do that I need Mr. Smith’s patent.”
“Are you talking about the patent for the cylinder and metal cartridge?”
As Max nodded, Smith scoffed at the absurdity of it.
“We don’t need copper warheads. We need to compare what we can.”
“Of course, it’s nothing compared to the price of the warheads. However.”
Smith’s eyes narrowed. He was half expecting and half worried about what he would say next.
“The rimfire ammunition you made is vulnerable to transportation accidents, and the frame is made to fold, so the durability is weak. Considering these things, I don’t think there’s anything to lose.”
‘How much does this human know?’
Smith let out a small sigh.
The intention of what Max just said is clear.
The point was that while the warhead has little room for improvement, the rest of it doesn’t.
As expected.
“I already know how to overcome two of the shortcomings, which would render Mr. Smith’s patent invalid.”
“Lies! If that were true, why didn’t you patent it?”
“I just recently hired a patent attorney.”
“……?”
“And most importantly, no matter how much improved cartridges and guns come out, the problem is the price. I just consider the timing.”
With the current level of equipment, the more complex the process, the higher the unit price.
Besides, what about the perception of the people who use it?
Whether it’s lead bullets or full metal jacket.
There was no reason to spend a lot of money on bullets since they only had to kill people. That perception changed after their power was proven in war.
“So what do you want?”
After meeting Max, Smith’s pupils have been shaking several times. When they are stable, they are shaken back and forth, and Smith is starting to get tired.
“I would like to share with you one-on-one the number of patents you have. If you need two, I will give you two.”
“You want to make a deal using a patent that doesn’t even exist?”
“Isn’t there at least one?”
Exchange of rights to manufacture copper bullets for metal cartridges.
In fact, because the manufacturing costs of these two were so high, Max compensated for the price by inserting a non-existent patent.
This was a common tactic used by con artists, and combined with the knowledge Max had shown, it created expectations in Horace Smith.
Still, it was a difficult suggestion to answer readily.
“I’ll talk to my business partner, Wesson.”
“Of course you should. By the way, Samuel Colt was also interested in copper bullets…”
“Samuel Colt?”
Fortunately, Max’s whispers did not seem to be heard. The moment the name Colt came out, Smith’s reaction was immediate.
How would you see your rival Samuel Colt get his hands on the copper bullet?
Even Smith began to feel impatient, something he had never felt before.
“Let’s stop here for today. I’ll give you an answer as soon as possible.”
“I’ll wait. Oh, and.”
Max took a thin, long metal stick out of his pocket.
A scope made by Alfredo, different in length and shape from the first one.
When Max pulled on one end, it doubled in length. There was no difference in performance other than portability, but it was enough to pique curiosity.
“I made one and it worked. It would be a great help to snipers.”
“Huh, you were interested in this kind of thing too?”
“Anything related to weapons interests me. Anyway, I’m sure you won’t be bored on your way there.”
The scope was given out of consideration for Smith’s business partner, Wesson.
If Max had dazzled Smith with his rhetoric, taking into account his gaze, intonation, and even the order of his conversations, Wesson, who was not present, would have used his cool judgment and reason to consider the fairness of the contract.
The scope was not intended for Smith, but was a gift from Marx to curry favor with Wesson.
After Horace Smith left the office, Max finally turned his attention to Alan.
He seemed quite complicated in his thoughts.
Max’s suspicion of Alan’s duplicity was also related to the reason why the Scottish native came to America.
Alan, who participated in the labor movement as an apprentice barrel maker, is wanted after failing to rescue a colleague from prison.
Allen came to the United States as a laborer and worked in the labor movement. However, the Pinkerton organization he created became an organization that oppressed laborers, so it could be said to be a dramatic change.
Suddenly Max asked a question.
“What would you do if I asked you to catch the worker who is instigating the strike at your company? Of course, I would punish him after I catch him.”
Even though the question was unexpected, Alan answered it seriously.
“What caused the strike?”
“They rejected all of the workers’ demands, including wage increases, working hours, welfare, and working conditions.”
“How’s the company doing?”
“It is growing by more than 30% every year.”
“What a wicked employer. I will never help you.”
Alan’s position was firm.
I had my own set of firm standards.
Perhaps Pinkerton’s deterioration was due to his successor, not the founder, changing course.
Allan Pinkerton, who had a great and small influence on the establishment of the FBI, USS (United States Secret Service), and ACI (United States Army Counterintelligence Corps).
“Don’t you want to join hands with me?”
Max and Alan’s eyes met.
If Alan had heard that at first, he would have snorted. But at some point, the weight of Max’s words changed. That doesn’t mean that the Smith he met was a great person.
There are more than one or two gunsmiths.
It was a decision made solely based on Max as an individual.
What if those who have reached the peak of their fighting ability are also able to create weapons and take the lead in technology?
And with John Brown and the Kansas key players on his back, and the Jayhawks backing him up?
And if Pinkerton is with you.
What on earth is this man up to?
A chill ran down Alan’s arm.
The man in front of you is not just any Oriental, but a man with great potential.
Of course, this could be an overinterpretation.
To be honest, it is clear that as an Asian, I have a long and difficult road ahead of me.
Still, this man will overcome.
The actions shown in a short period of time have proven this.
Pinkerton’s expansion of the business was absolutely due to Allen’s intuition, and now that intuition was urging him to catch Max.
“How can I help you?”
*
– I’m thinking of starting a big business. I think I’ll need people.
– What kind of business is it?
– It’s too early to say, but when the time comes, I’m thinking of assigning Pinkerton to be my security guard. Is that possible?
– Of course it is possible.
– We’ll need quite a lot of people. It could be as many as a thousand.
– What, a thousand years?!
During their stay in Springfield, Max and Alan met a total of three times.
If it weren’t for his presidential campaign speech schedule, he would have spent more time with Marx. That’s how important Allen considered his conversation with Marx.
With the Springfield affair concluded, the Lawrence trio boarded a train to St. Louis in the guise of lumberjacks.
“What on earth are you up to with Allan Pinkerton?”
Rain, sitting next to me, asked quietly.
“You’re scheming. We were just discussing how to make Kansas a free state.”
“Well, let’s say that’s true. Were there any particular problems while you were commanding the Jayhawks?”
“There wasn’t any.”
Rain nodded and finally began to speak.
“When I go back, you will take command.”
“All right.”
As always.
Max answered without hesitation.
Rain, who had become accustomed to it, smiled faintly and looked up at the ceiling.
“How would it feel to jump on the roof of a moving train?”
“Romance. Would you like to experience it yourself?”
“….. I’ll try it next time I get the chance.”
I tried to flirt with Rain, but he wouldn’t budge.
< Next time when I get a chance > End
Author’s Note
Someone commented yesterday about Pinkerton.
As you said, the free North has industrialized and factories have been built.
These people can soon be called capitalists.
There is nothing particularly strange about Allen siding with the capitalists and oppressing the workers.
I also felt that there was something lacking in this part, so to make up for it, I added the fact that Allan Pinkerton came to the United States while participating in the labor movement in the original history.
If there are any shortcomings in the future, we will correct or add to them.
< Those who need financial healing >
On the day that Max and his party left Illinois, a wagon train set out from White Haven, Missouri, bound for the port of St. Louis. Each wagon had a cargo of lumber in its hold.
The coachman’s seat of the lead carriage.
A man in his 30s holding the reins of a horse is talking to a lumber merchant.
“It’s not easy for a soldier to farm. Moreover, the land you’re on isn’t suitable for planting anything.”
“Well, won’t it be better next year?”
“It will take longer to till the land and harvest it. I heard you graduated from West Point. If it were me, I would have gone back to the Army by now.”
The man smiled bitterly at the lumber merchant’s words.
He was a cavalry officer who graduated from West Point with honors. However, he was unexpectedly assigned to the infantry and even served as a quartermaster officer in the Mexican War.
But one thing I realized during this war was that soldiers were not cut out for the job.
Influenced by his parents, he hated slavery from an early age and defined the Mexican War as a territorial invasion to expand slavery, and began to feel skeptical about his military career.
It must have been around this time. I tried several businesses to prepare for life after the military, but they failed.
To make matters worse, his business partner ran off with $800 of his money, and the situation was completely ruined.
Repeated failures.
After becoming a drunk, he finally quit the military and settled down in Whitehaven, St. Louis, where his wife’s family lived.
But life as a farmer wasn’t easy.
“But you know, no matter how much I think about it, it’s clear that that woman is interested in you.”
“I’m a married man. And why would I be interested in someone selling firewood on the street?”
“Then why did he insist on buying lumber from you? Are there more than one lumber dealer around here?”
“…… Anyway, that’s not it.”
The man shook his head, but he couldn’t think of any other reason.
Three days ago, a woman suddenly appeared and asked him to procure some lumber for her. And she even gave him a brokerage fee.
For a man whose farm had failed and who was barely able to support his family by selling firewood, the $10 brokerage fee she offered him was a significant sum.
It was a somewhat uneasy deal, but I couldn’t afford to turn it down.
The lumber merchant spoke with a dubious expression.
“Did you say that woman and her companions were all armed?”
“It doesn’t look ordinary.”
“You’re not from Kansas, are you?”
“Do you think it would come all the way from there to here?”
The lumber merchant continued, saying, “Don’t talk nonsense.”
“Kansas is all plains. It’s not easy to get wood, and I heard that the relationship with Missouri is not good these days, so transporting goods is difficult.”
There was once a story in Missouri that Border Ruffians had taken over a steamship and cut off its cargo. The newspapers did not properly cover what happened after that, so the lumberman thought that the situation was still the same.
“If they’re from Kansas, especially Lawrence, I’m never going to give them this lumber.”
“……No way.”
“Anyway, we have to make that clear. We can never give it to abolitionists.”
Instead of answering, the man urged his words and increased the speed of the carriage.
‘Why do you defend slavery when there are no slaves?’
The man is an abolitionist.
That’s why I couldn’t understand lumber merchants, or most Missourians.
However, he hid this tendency and lived in Missouri, where his wife’s family lived, farming.
It was a cowardly thing to do, but the most important thing for him right now was to make a living.
‘I wish gold would fall from the sky like hail.’
If you have money, what in the world do you have to worry about?
The man headed to the port of St. Louis, lamenting his life.
*
At the same time, Peach, Downey, and Lore had been at the St. Louis Port in Missouri since morning.
The port was bustling with workers loading and unloading goods onto ships.
It’s fall, so the morning temperature is quite chilly, but Downey and Lore are sitting in a corner, dozing off.
The smell of alcohol and cheap cosmetics rising from the bodies of the two stimulated Peach’s nose.
“You must be very tired. Where did you go yesterday?”
“…..I drank alcohol under the inn.”
“You must have had a lot of alcohol. Your clothes are covered in perfume!”
Unlike Lore, who spoke cautiously, Downey was shameless.
“Even though he’s handsome, I still get tired. He keeps clinging to me, so what can I do?”
“Even lies have to sound plausible to be believed. You two gambled and won money, right?!”
At Peach’s sharp question, Lore nodded in confusion.
“Oh, I played a game yesterday.”
“Oh, you idiot. You’re saying it again.”
Downey glared at Roar pitifully.
Despite his size, Roar showed weakness towards women. In Peach’s case, rather than being weak, he secretly found it difficult.
Anyway, the two of them, who had come to the downtown area for the first time in a while, went down to the bar every night and enjoyed playing poker. What kind of youth in the prime of their lives would enjoy that?
Of course, Peach doesn’t intend to blame him for that.
This was a common daily routine for Western men in this era.
The important thing was money.
“So how much did you earn?”
“……Fifteen dollars.”
“Tch, the girl must have been entangled. So you two spend the morning together?”
“……Ugh. I’ll live.”
It was when Downey was rebuking Lore for stupidly mentioning the amount. As the carriage procession approached, Lore stood up and waved.
“It looks like you brought real wood.”
Downey muttered, and Peach looked closely at the driver’s seat of the lead carriage.
Her gaze turned to the man sitting next to the coachman, giving directions.
‘It looks ordinary.’
Why did Max specifically tell him to look for that man?
After breaking up with Max three days ago, Peach immediately began to search for his whereabouts.
After much thought, I finally found the man, but he was not a lumber merchant, but a firewood seller.
‘Well, there must be a reason why you’re being asked to find something.’
