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Volume 1: The Arms Dealer¡¯s Feast Chapter 283: Never counter-offer

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    The fishing net was dragged up bit by bit by the Lushan, and the one-foot-long giant prawns were struggling in the fish hold unwilling to be captured.

    Captain Luo Jie found two prawns one and a half feet long and said to the following: "Fry these two with lemon and send them to me in the evening."

    "It's a blessing. Make these two for me and steam them." Jin Sanduo also jumped into two large prawns. They were not as big as the captain's, but they were still very fat.

    The captain has absolute authority on a ship, and it is inevitable to have meals alone.  Jin Sanduo's status is also different, and he can barely enjoy a little higher treatment.  As for the others, everyone is waiting for the big pot. After all, many immigrants have been added to help in the kitchen, and the master chef in charge of the Lushan is not so free.

    In this era, marine resources are extremely rich, but humans lack the means to fish out large quantities of seafood from the sea - of course the Lushan is not among them. In the face of the Lushan, which can mechanize salvage, it is possible to fish as much as you want.  , the Lushan No. 1 can also use sonar to locate fish schools that others cannot find - and the Lushan No. 1's chemical fiber fishing nets are extremely strong. The spare fishing nets are enough for the Lushan No. 1 to last for decades, eliminating the need for three days of fishing and two days of drying the nets.

    The fish hold is filled with ice cubes to store the catch - using almost unlimited electricity to make ice is also the source of fresh water for the Lushan.  This is also one of the foundations of ocean navigation. Only the supply of fresh water allows countless heroes on the sea to sail along the coast most of the time.

    These fishes are not all about to eat by Lushan, but to sell most of Mao Wenlong who sells most of them at extremely low prices, and what Mao Wenlong wants to do is to build some large ice celles to store these fishing.

    As history goes, starting from this winter, Mao Wenlong of Dongjiang Town was cut off from his food and salary by Yuan Chonghuan and Governor Yuan. Although Mao Wenlong has been recruiting refugees to develop Dongjiang Town for several years, most of the Dongjiang Town is a desert island.  Now is the Little Ice Age in the late Ming Dynasty, and the food produced is far from enough to feed the millions of soldiers and civilians in Dongzhenjiang.

    The last time the Lushan ship passed by, it sold several hundred tons of grain to Pi Dao, but for Dongjiang Town, which has a base of millions, this is only one or two days of rations. Of course, the grain Mao Wenlong bought must have been enough for Dongjiang Town.  Food for ten thousand soldiers, but judging from the food and grass currently stored in Dongjiang Town, there will probably be a food shortage before the beginning of next spring. Since the establishment of Dongjiang Town, the food and salary here have relied entirely on supplies from the navy from Weihai, Shandong.

    This time, after the Lushan ship left Nagasaki and went to Dongjiang Town for trade, Pi Dao's deputy general Chen Jisheng asked the passengers of the Lushan ship to buy grain and grass. There was a lot of Vietnamese rice on the ship, and a thousand tons were distributed to Pi Daohou.  Chen Jisheng still said it was not enough, but if he gave more to the immigrants on the ship, he would probably have to buy them high-priced rice from the Ming Dynasty - this was something that no one in the time-travel business could tolerate.

    Captain Luo Jie is still thinking about it. Isn¡¯t it just food? There is so much in the sea, let alone feeding millions of people, no matter how much it is, it is nothing.  The Lushan No. 1 net can catch at least tens to hundreds of thousands of catties of fish. As long as it is properly stored in ice cubes in an ice cellar, it will be no problem in the summer.

    It¡¯s just that selling fish is not a high-profit business for the Lushan Ship. In the 17th century, the price of fish could not be hurt. Even the time when the Lushan Ship arrived was after the ban on small-hole fishing nets and the advent of refrigerated trucks, and the launch of a large number of civilian flights in various provinces and cities.  The price of seafood has only slowly risen - otherwise inland provinces can only eat dried sea fish, which tastes weird to people in inland provinces and not everyone is willing to eat it. More people like to eat freshwater fish.  There is no way - there is no seafood in Sichuan cuisine. Why, it is not because there is no concept of seafood at all.

    In just a few days, the Lushan captured over a million kilograms of fish for Pi Dao, and did not stop until several ice cellars built by Pi Dao were full. At the same time, the Lushan also agreed to build more ice cellars next time.  Phi Island with many icehouses catches more fish and a portion of Vietnamese rice.

    The harvest of the Lushan Ship is naturally not small. Not to mention ginseng and copperware, the tiger and bear skins that were not taken out by Dongjiang Town last time are all good things.  It's just that Pidao didn't buy arms this time, which made the military industry team members not so happy - they had produced a lot of guns and cannons during this period.

    In view of the sluggish arms market in Pidao, Jin Sanduo naturally used these weapons to train troops - now with the addition of a large number of fresh blood, the samurai iron artillery team has a scale of nearly a thousand.  This can be considered a small regiment or a reinforced battalion. Everyone cannot use the 1628 rifle. A reinforced battalion should be equipped with an artillery battery.

    Jin Sanduo, the direct commander, divided the Samurai Iron Artillery Corps into four companies. Each company had four platoons, and each platoon had four squads. Each squad had twelve people including the squad leader and deputy squad leader.  There are 200 people in a company plus health workers and liaison officers, and 800 people in a battalion.  With the remaining more than 100 people, Jin Sanduo planned to establish an artillery battalion - although some of the Lushan's companions objected to this, in the end it was decided.Okay - after all, if this army is going to fight in the Ming Dynasty or Manila in the future, it can't be suppressed by the enemy's artillery. What's the point of a war where you can't fight back? It would be strange if it didn't collapse.

    At the meeting, many people had already explained the purpose of these samurai iron artillery teams - they could only be cannon fodder in the hands of those who traveled through time.  You can't do everything by traveling through the masses. How is it possible for five hundred people to conquer the world? Judging from Zhang Tiejun's intentions, he has given up on reforming the adult military households of the Ming Dynasty and is thinking of immigrating to the next generation. This Japanese samurai is cheap and easy to use.  If you can fight without them, who will you use?  Except for the fact that the average height of this samurai iron cannon team is a little shorter, everything looks good.

    According to Jin Sanduo¡¯s opinion, each platoon should have a Big Tiger Steel Cannon as the fire suppression weapon of the troops, and each company should have a Hongyi Steel Cannon as a field siege weapon.  This requirement is really not high, and it was passed quickly at the meeting. With this kind of firepower, I can fight even if I face ten times the cavalry.  Don't the Tatars often say that slaves who are dissatisfied are invincible? When the warrior iron artillery team is trained, they will be dealt with properly.

    However, in order to limit the strength of the samurai iron artillery team, the number of the samurai iron artillery team has also been stipulated. In terms of short-term goals, it is limited to no more than one brigade - eight thousand people - everyone believes that this number is  It is enough to deal with the Quanqing Eight Banners. At the same time, the total number of Hongyi steel cannons must not exceed fifty.

    For Jin Sanduo, the commander of this unit, being a major general brigade commander of the Republic of Australia is already a long way away.

    This adaptation also had a great impact on the Samurai Iron Artillery Corps. Many people became low-level officers from soldiers or squad leaders at once. As their positions were improved, their salaries and benefits would naturally increase. This is true of armies all over the world.  Are the same.  For the time being, this officer is limited to platoon leader level or deputy company commander. The five company commanders, including the artillery company, are all served by the Lushan crew members - the Lushan can still draw this manpower, plus  Over the past few days, these people have made rapid progress in their spoken Chinese. Basically, the first batch of people can at least understand the orders given in Chinese under Jin Sanduo's stick education.

    Those who learned Chinese the fastest were promoted and became low-level officers or sergeants with auxiliary training.  These compatriots who learned Chinese under stick education are even more unkind to their compatriots. They even kick them when they hear someone in the army talking in Japanese - and then tell him that even whispers and sleep talk must be spoken in Chinese.

    The Lushan came out from Pi Island and went to Tianjin Wei.  Since I left samples of the goods last time, I went there this time to see if there was any response from the court. Of course, the more immigrants, the better. Although military households cannot serve as soldiers, they are still qualified to be used as basic labor force¡ª¡ª  The people of the Ming Dynasty were also able to endure hardships and stand hard work. It didn't matter if they were lazy or making trouble, just drive them out of Qingnian City - when faced with hundreds of thousands of uncivilized natives, the final result would probably be death - in short, it was better to go to Qingnian City.  It¡¯s not that easy for the Lushan pirate ship to go back.

    The Ming government really had no idea how to cast steel cannons. They still couldn't figure out why such a thin barrel wall didn't explode - even the Ming Dynasty cannon-making experts Xu Guangqi and Sun Yuanhua couldn't do it. As for using  The cost of casting Hongyi steel cannons from Bai Lian Steel is not cost-effective, and there is no need to experiment. It would take a blacksmith and an apprentice a long time to produce some Bai Lian Steel.

    At this point, steelmaking is not enough to make some cold weapons for generals, so the edge can only be covered with steel. Not to mention that casting artillery requires thousands of kilograms and hundreds of kilograms of material at a time - and the scrap rate is also a problem.  Take the Hongyi cannon as an example. It is enough to cast ten of them at a time and two of them are qualified. Moreover, the inner wall of this Australian steel cannon is as smooth as a mirror. Even the Folangji people can't do it in Australia. This makes the Folangji people unable to do it.  The craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty who learned how to make cannons from their masters were very sad - it wasn't that we couldn't do it, it was the master who couldn't do it.  If the master had a bottle of water, how could we learn to drink a glass of water, but Master Fo Langji obviously only had a glass of water, and what we learned from us was only a few drops.

    In this era, steel can only be considered steel after it has been refined hundreds of times. The filling and frying of steel are all fake steel - it is not as easy as Lushan. The pig iron is melted into molten iron in an electric furnace and then part of the carbon is removed and metals of various proportions are added.  It can produce alloy steel that is stronger than steelmaking and can withstand pressures that are more than ten to twenty times that of pig iron.  In this regard, the Ming Dynasty¡¯s steel-making technology cannot even catch up.

    This time, in addition to Eunuch Li, who had recently made a meritorious service, the Ming government sent to negotiate with Tianjin Guards, as well as a director of the Ministry of War.  This is probably because the head of the Ministry of War is too assertive about the Celestial Empire. To board the Lushan, you have to buy the Lushan's gunsmiths and steelmakers as well as related equipment.

    How can the hen that lays golden eggs be sold by Chuangzhong? Besides, the people in key positions in the military industry group are all made by Chuangzhong.  It seems that no one wants to bow down to the feudal emperor in this feudal dynasty.

    "Hahahaha" responsibleJin Sanduo, the judge, laughed and said, "Has your country ever sold these tea seeds and the masters who fry and grow tea?"

    Manager Li said: "That's not true."

    Jin Sanduo asked again: "Have the craftsmen who fired porcelain in the official kiln ever sold them?"

    "The porcelain from the official kiln is only for the royal family, so how can it be sold?"

    Jin Sanduo slapped the table: "Zhonga, that's the truth. Your key craftsmen are not for sale, why bother to buy our craftsmen. You don't often say that the heaven is so big that there is nothing that cannot be mastered, then since there is  It¡¯s a sample, just copy it. Don¡¯t say you haven¡¯t tried it.¡±

    Manager Li didn¡¯t want to admit that there were things that China couldn¡¯t imitate. In fact, judging from the last bullet and this time¡¯s steel cannon, all the craftsmen in the Beijing camp shook their heads.  However, those that can be imitated, such as the 1628 fast gun, are not as good as Australian goods in terms of quality - but Australian goods are too expensive. Fireguns that cost a few taels of silver can easily be sold for dozens of taels of silver. How many birds can be made with this money?  The blunderbuss or the Rumi blunderbuss.

    Manager Li changed the subject: "You can become an official in Ming Dynasty."

    "It's not uncommon. We Australians have our own pride. We have never set foot on the land of the Ming Dynasty. Even when we meet your emperor, we don't have to kneel down. As a small official, especially in the capital, you don't know how to kneel every day.  How many times. I knelt down and down, and the pride in people's hearts was wiped away." Anyone who has traveled through time knows that since Chongzhen came to power, the countdown to the Ming Dynasty has begun. Who is willing to be an official in the Ming Dynasty at this time?  I'm afraid official fans are not so stupid.

    Manager Li thinks it¡¯s better not to talk about this topic.  It's just that the imperial court really needs these Australian steel cannons now. Although the officials of the Ming Dynasty were all educated in eight-part essays, their reading has not made them stupid. Cannons weighing several hundred kilograms are as powerful as cannons weighing several thousand kilograms.  , think about it and you will know what this means.

    It's not like people in the Ming Dynasty didn't know that these several thousand kilograms of Hongyi cannons were used for offense, but it took more than a dozen oxen to pull the several thousand kilograms of Hongyi cannons. They were afraid that they wouldn't be able to keep up with them on the road while carrying such heavy equipment to attack a city.  The enemy's cavalry was destroyed when a large force was deployed - so it is still used to defend the city. However, the Australian steel cannon of several hundred kilograms can only be pulled by a mule. This cannon can do anything in siege and field defense.  OK.

    At this time, Eunuch Li spoke: "For the sake of our family's face, please lower the price."

    Jin Sanduo said: "What kind of face do you have? Do the Japanese people know that they can't even get a single piece of real gold and silver? We just don't want to sell them so much. After all, we are also Chinese people."

    Manager Li said angrily: "Since we are Chinese people, how could we sell this cannon to the Japanese country?"

    Jin Sanduo: "Hey. We have also been to Guangdong. The Ming Dynasty not only sells a lot of good things to foreigners every year, but also rents the land to the Folangji people. It only costs one hundred taels of silver a year. It is really cheap.  Very good."

    Manager Li said: "How can this be the same? Westerners only buy raw silk, porcelain, silk, tea, sugar and the like. What you sell are firearms, and they are very powerful firearms. You are collaborating with the enemy and betraying the country."

    Jin Sanduo said: "You think that selling raw silk, silk, tea, sugar, and tatami mats is not betraying the country. The south was originally a land of grain production. In recent years, the great farmland in the south has been replanted with mulberry trees, rushes, sugar cane, tea trees and  Tobacco. I don¡¯t need to tell you what the price of food was a few decades ago and what the price of food is now.¡±

    In fact, everyone knows this truth, but those who run these industries are all government officials and businessmen. Not to mention indirect traitors, there are many who directly collaborate with the enemy and betray the country like the eight major merchants in Shanxi. Moreover, these people are very resistant to paying business taxes.  The country did not gain any benefit from this transaction. The so-called sprouting of capitalism in the late Ming Dynasty was also a main reason for the demise of the Ming Dynasty.  In the past, the two lakes were ripe enough for the whole world or the Huguang was ripe enough for the whole world. Now the two lakes and Huguang areas have planted a large number of cash crops, and even imported grain from other provinces. No matter how mature it is, it is useless.  Coupled with the constant natural disasters in the north, the food gap became larger. In the late Ming Dynasty, the price of food fluctuated every year.

    Director Li felt that he was really no match for this person. If he continued talking to him, there would probably be a large number of people in the court who wanted to see how he died.  Everyone knows a lot of things, but knowing is one thing. Even the emperor knew it, but no one dared to change it - Zhang Juzheng's fate was not enough. His old mother and a group of family members starved to death after Zhang Juzheng's death.  In the mansion, those who were lucky enough not to starve to death were also exiled.

    Isn't it because Zhang Juzheng's reform proposed that the officials and gentry should pay grain together? The small amount of grain paid is actually just a drop in the bucket for the big landowners and officials, but asking everyone to spend this little money to support the country is actually understood to be clear.  The officials of the big landowners and big businessmen in the DPRK were extremely ruthless - because before Zhang Juzheng's reform, they really didn't get a dime.of.

    To a certain extent, it was the death of Zhang Juzheng that led to the demise of the Ming Dynasty.  Otherwise, as long as the policy of paying grain to the officials and gentry as one is carried out, the court can raise as many soldiers and horses as it wants, and attack the nomads who disobey them.  In the late Ming Dynasty, the border troops mutinied again and again, and they were all caused by the court's lack of money and food.

    As for the problem of withholding food and wages, it could not be solved during the reign of Zhang Juzheng - not to mention that Zhang Juzheng even stripped the skin of Ming Taizu and carried out red terror activities against the official class.  Those who were killed all because of corruption were also exiled. The wages of civil servants in the Ming Dynasty were already low. After all, there was no fish in Ju Shui.

    In the end, Manager Li also softened and just asked for a cheaper price.

    By the way, the Lushan ship's crew really didn't realize how expensive it was. Historical data records that the Ming Dynasty bought a Portuguese Hongyi cannon for one thousand taels of silver. In terms of performance, our steel cannon will never compare.  The Hongyi cannon is inferior and has an advantage in weight. It doesn't cost more than a few hundred taels and it's already very respectable.

    It's just that in the eyes of many Ming Dynasty officials, their several-kilogram Folangji Hongyi cannon only cost one thousand taels of silver - it's so heavy, and the visual effect is so heavy. Your Australian steel cannon of several hundred kilograms  Isn¡¯t it a bit dark to sell it for one thousand taels?

    In the end, Lushan gritted his teeth and refused to bargain.  People who have already inquired about the price of hundreds of steelmaking in the Ming Dynasty know that although the price of hundreds of steelmaking in the Ming Dynasty is not more expensive than silver like that in North Korea, it is not very cheap to buy two hundred or two hundred steelmaking for one tael of silver.  The total of these 120 kilograms of steel cannons in the Ming Dynasty is 144 kilograms and more than 2,300 taels. Even if it is made of steel, its value is at least around 1,150 taels of silver.

    It can be said that if you buy it back, you will make a profit. Even if the steel cannon is destroyed, you will not lose money if it is melted into molten steel - the guide price of one thousand taels is not randomly determined by the time travellers.  I still want to reduce the price of Lushan Hao, but there is no way.  (To be continued. Please search Piaotian Literature, the novels will be better and updated faster!)
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