To purchase death (Bian and Roskana diplo)

[Greywall]

The Bian empire had quietly rebuilt itself following the end of the war with the UST. The council of elders appointed Lai Zhang as Protector of the Empire and effectively Supreme leader.

Zhang had moved carefully to prevent foreign forces from intervening in the delicate affairs of the empire. Consolidating power first before reaching out. He needed to expand trade while the spring waters of the south seas permitted it.

UKUG had too much reach in the toulian continent, Kumo illegally occupied the motherland Elenria, and the SU concerned Zhang far too much. That left him with one option, Marrlan and Roskana. He sent an emissary to meet with both nations to purchase large quantities of small arms and establish formal trade relations.

[VoxApocrypha]

The Roskanans would welcome the arrival of the Emissary, as would Marrlan.

The Roskanans were especially eager to perhaps finally get to sell some of their immense stocks of weaponry to a foreign state, as they had more than enough to give, and they wanted to make a little money off of it before they began to give large sums of it to their own people. They would meet the Emissary at the port of Auran, and then escort them to the Acropolis, where they'd be able to meet with a representative of the Roskanan government to discuss the trade.

Once they'd arrived, they'd be led into the building, a more typical office structure with three floors, where they'd be guided into the meeting room on the top floor by an aide, and be greeted by a human man standing at a desk, reading a few papers, some clearly old and yellow, others newer. He'd look up and smile.
"Ah, welcome! I was expecting you, please, take a seat!"

[Greywall]

Zhang removed his cloak before sitting down, "Thank you for meeting me here, the Bian Empire wishes to expand upon trade, forgive my forthwith with this I am not versed in diplomacy as I am more of a military mind. The Empire wishes to conduct a flow of trade with the Roskanan and Marrlan Republics, our natural resources, raw ores and food for your small arms exports."

[VoxApocrypha]

"Ah, grand! This is doable!" He'd say. "We're actually looking for exactly that. Ore, Iron ore especially, has been in high demand. For our small arms we offer relatively low pricing on decent quality weaponry, most of which has been produced in the past twenty or so years, but we have both more recent stock, and older, depending on what you need." He would say as he stood up, and turned to grab a large weapon carrier case from behind a table behind him, and set it down on the table. "Just to show you what we have in our somewhat older stocks." He'd say, as he would flick the case open.

Inside would be a EAR, designed in Marrlan but produced in Roskana.
"This is the EAR. Designed by the Marrish a bit before the overthrow, but we made pretty much the majority of them. We haven't ironed out all the kinks but it is named 'Emergency' for a reason. Despite that, it's a reliable weapon, and I used it during my service both against the Tsar, and against the Imperial Army of Grinvel during the war in 1904." He'd say. "Bolt action, chambered in 30-06 Springers like most weapons used by both Roskana and Marrlan, and the UKUG." He'd say. "I have some other weapons in the cases behind me, if you'd like to see those too."

[Greywall]

Zhang took the rifle pulling the bolt back and inspecting it like a seasoned soldier would, inspecting it carefully and noting the rifle was made with a hastily minded design choice, likely as his host told him. He placed it back and pointed to the cases, "I'd like to see the rest please".

[VoxApocrypha]

He would nod, putting the other rifle away, and setting the case back down, grabbing another. 
"Something more modern suit your desires?" He asked them, as he set them down. He'd open it. 

"IR-25. Modern rifle, used by every branch still, but most famously found in the arms of the Army. 30-06, ten round magazine capacity, plus one in battery." He'd say.

[Greywall]

Zhang inspected the rifle, he seemed happier with it as he appreciated the fine tuned craftmanship. He took notice of the Marrlan anchor emblem and Rolbeck stamp on the metal, he nodded and said "I want 40,000 of these and 100,000 of the EAR rifles. What about machine guns?"

[VoxApocrypha]

He would nod his head, writing that onto a piece of paper.
And then he would add some notes beneath it as well.
"Ah, yes, Machine guns. We've some. For the sake of simplicity, I will lump in heavier weapons like the Maxim and the lighter ones in."

He would pull a crate out, with some effort, and then open it, not lifting it this time as it was too heavy for anything but a teamlift.
He'd flick the clasps, and then lift it open, revealing three machine guns neatly tucked inside. One was a Maxim, the other two were the R-MPM-31, and the MPM-31.

"The R-MPM-31. Cheap so it's not the best but it's hardy and it can take a beating. Jams sometimes but any gun does, in terms of how often, it actually jams less than the MPM-31." He'd say, as he then took that weapon and lifted it. "MPM-31. Long range, good heat diffusion, but somewhat more pricey per unit. Both the weapons can take box and bag mags, or be belt fed." He'd say.

"30-06, like the rest of the lineup. As for the Maxim, well, I imagine you're familiar with it." He'd say. "It's an export model, we've got a lot of them to sell as well, and they're arguably cheaper in bulk than the MPM and RMPM. And as well, for whatever you buy - I can offer you cheap spare parts contracts, ammunition supplies, also cleaning and maintenance kits and manuals for them. Though those will cost a little extra."

[Greywall]

After looking over the machine guns Zhang tapped his hand on the Maxim gun and the R-MPM-31, "450 Maxim guns and I want 4 to 5,000 of these R-MPM-31."

He'd stroke his chin, "I'd like a steady supply of them too, along with the ammunition. A good 8 thousand rounds each. What does this invoice look like?"

[VoxApocrypha]

"Accounting for everything, the total would be 12,081,652.80 Jewels." He said plainly. "Or 13,048,185.02 Rosarks. We do offer payment plans if you are not able to pay all in one installment or want to balance your expenditure."

[Greywall]

Zhang nodded and looked at the floor, his thoughts heavy on the massive sum, but he needed to modernize his military in some way to protect the Empire. He waived over his economic advisor and after a few exchanged whispers then waived over his military advisors who pulled out some papers.


"We can pay that in fixed payments, we also would like a domestic design to replace the 10mm single shot rifles we have from the UST. This, is what we had in mind"




The rifle in question would still use the 10mm Sele rounds that the Bian would no doubt have a massive stockpile of, it would hold 6 rounds in a built in tube magazine and still had the shape of the UST rifle. 

[VoxApocrypha]

He would lightly pluck the papers from their hands and turn to examine them, a hand holding his pen to which he had the end of in his lip, another hanging up between his head and ear.
"Fixed payments it is. We can discuss how much you pay per payment. For now.." He would turn back to them. "..That's not bad. That's actually pretty nice.." The man said as he would give the paper back to them. "I think I can put you in touch with the Army Arms Research Commission and DOCAF. They'd be happy to work with you on this."

[Greywall]

Zhang nodded, agreeing with the terms and extending his hand to shake and proceed to tell his advisors to get in touch with the Army Arms Research Commission on the new 10mm rifle. It would be a large sum for the Bian but it would rapidly modernize the Imperial Army and allow him to focus on the next step which was economic development.

[VoxApocrypha]

The AARC and DOCAF would eventually respond to the Bian's advisors, and accept the opportunity to work with the Bian to develop the weapon.