1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 224 The Trip to Vietnam ([-])

The Military and Police Department has made very detailed preparations for this weapon demonstration in advance. Different from the previous demonstration to "Fu Ruifeng" Li Nai and others, this time it is more focused on practical tactical demonstrations instead of It is a single shot and a single display of power.The fixed-point attack capability displayed by the artillery, the actual combat formation displayed by the musketeers, and even the final display of the bayonet function were all specially arranged by the Military and Police Department in order to let the North Vietnamese customers who visited this weapon demonstration realize that these killings The practical value of sharp weapons on the battlefield.

When Tao Donglai was serving in the army before, he had seen many foreign military officers who came to watch the weapon demonstrations. The expression on Zheng Zuo's face now made Tao Donglai involuntarily think of those who traveled thousands of miles to China to buy arms. African black sorghum - Envy, excitement, longing, almost did not open his mouth to shout "buy buy buy".It was also this experience of observing the weapons demonstration process at close range that the Executive Committee agreed that he would lead the arms trade negotiations in person, instead of bringing back Schneider, who was better at business talks, from Guangzhou.

Watching this weapon demonstration with Zheng Zuo were several entourages he brought. Although these people were all dressed in casual clothes, it was easy for people to see their true identities through their gestures—these people probably They are all officers under the Zheng family, and their faces are basically the same as Zheng Zuo's, full of desire for new weapons.

Sure enough, Zheng Zuo immediately proposed to let his people try to shoot muskets, Tao Donglai readily agreed, and asked Tom Wang to guide him.After all, the batch of matchlock guns sold already used paper-packed gunpowder, and the loading method may be somewhat different from what these Vietnamese soldiers knew.The militiamen quickly re-erected a few conspicuous white-painted wooden targets in the distance. Zheng Zuo couldn't help but nodded slightly for such thoughtful consideration of details, and lamented the meticulous work of the Haihan people.

After ping-pong-pong for a while, several of Zheng Zuo's subordinates expressed their approval of the operability of this weapon.At this time, the militiamen also brought back a few targets in the distance, and asked them to confirm the results of their test guns.The shooting accuracy of the smoothbore gun is very limited, so these targets are only placed at a distance of 50 meters, which effectively guarantees that some bullets can hit the target.However, the Vietnamese obviously don’t care much about the accuracy of their muskets. They seem to care more about the probability of successful firing of these muskets. In this regard, the quality of these matchlock guns produced by the Transit Group is obviously better than that of contemporary competitors. If there is no problem in the process, the firing rate can be maintained at about [-]%.

As for the cannon, even if Zheng Zuo wants to try it out, there is nothing he can do. This thing is not as easy to operate as a matchlock gun. It takes a certain amount of training to learn just cleaning the barrel and loading ammunition, otherwise it is easy to explode. accident.After Tao Donglai explained how powerful it was, Zheng Zuo didn't insist on it, and only carefully observed the shape and workmanship of these artillery at close range.Since Vietnam has not mastered the technology of casting artillery, Zheng Zuo really can't see what is good or bad. He just thinks that this dark artillery is very deterrent just by looking at it. If you can equip your own troops with this kind of weapon , even if it pays a little price, it is worth it.

Zheng Zuo was preparing to inquire Tao Donglai for the third time, but this time Tao Donglai was ahead of him.

"It's getting late, why don't we have dinner first, eat and drink enough, keep our spirits up, and then it's not too late to talk about business!" Tao Donglai said with a smile, and stopped Zheng Zuo's words. .

Zheng Zuo looked at the sky, and it was already time for dinner.Patronizing to watch the Haihan people's weapon demonstration, several hours have passed before they knew it.Zheng Zuo didn't refuse at the moment, so he followed Tao Donglai back to the tent.

Zheng Zuo is not a second-generation official who knows nothing, on the contrary, he must be regarded as a leader with outstanding ability among the second generation of North Vietnamese rulers, otherwise Zheng Bing would not have sent him as a representative of the Zheng family in North Vietnam. This trade negotiation.But in terms of skill at the negotiating table, ten Zheng Zuo bundled together might not be worth one Tao Donglai. Before he knew it, Zheng Zuo had gradually entered the opponent's rhythm.

Although he was still concerned about the arms sale, Zheng Zuo's attention was quickly distracted to the food in front of him.The use of a variety of seasonings and spices opened the eyes of the second generation of officials who thought they were living a life of rich clothes and jade food. Tao Donglai also took the opportunity to sell edible spices to him and gave a small amount of samples as gifts.Zheng Zuo expressed great interest in this, but the spice trade will have to wait until the middle of next year at the earliest, when the spice crops planted by the Crossing Group in Sanya will usher in the first harvest season.

Considering that after the meal, the details of the transaction need to be discussed by the two parties. Tao Donglai did not bring out alcoholic beverages during this dinner, so as not to accidentally put Zheng Zuo on the bed and delay the business.Zheng Zuo didn't completely forget his mission, and kept asking for information about the Haihan people during the chat.

After a pleasant dinner, the two sides returned to the negotiating table to continue the unfinished negotiations in the afternoon, and Zheng Zuo finally heard his long-awaited quotation for weapons.

30-style matchlock gun, 200 taels of silver each, including 500 rounds of special ammunition, a special cowhide armed ammunition strap, and a flat-edged bayonet that Zheng Tuo attaches great importance to.200 Type A artillery, 200 taels of silver each, including ten rounds of ammunition, pull-type ignition tubes, a full set of loading and sighting tools, and a special movable gun mount.400-type B-type artillery, [-] taels of silver each, and the accessories included are the same as the A-type artillery.As for the subsequent ammunition supply price, musket ammunition is [-] taels per thousand rounds, artillery ammunition type A is [-] taels per hundred rounds, and type B is [-] taels per hundred rounds.

这次军火报价比起之前卖给“福瑞丰”的价格要高出了许多，火枪报价为当时的2。5倍，而火炮则分别为2倍和2。5倍——这几乎便是“福瑞丰”贩运到福建卖给当地势力的销售终端价格了。

Of course, the price quoted was so high, and the executive committee didn't intend to let the other party agree to it outright. There was still room for bargaining.Considering that the other party may purchase a large amount of weapons for the formation of the army, the supply price of ammunition was also directly reported this time.As the saying goes, "One shot of the cannon is worth ten thousand taels of gold", and the price of the subsequent supply of ammunition is naturally high.

Zheng Zuo's heart trembled again and again when he heard it. Of course, he had expected the price of these things to be high, but he didn't expect it to be so expensive.30 taels of musket, then at least 3 taels of silver would be needed to equip a musketeer force of [-] people!The price of the artillery was even more astonishing. Zheng Zuo originally planned to order one hundred of each of the two types of artillery after watching the artillery demonstration. Now it seems that due to financial problems, this plan must be changed.

And that's not all, the supplemental ammunition provided by the Haihan people is extremely limited, probably only enough for training, if they really want to train a firearms unit to fight on the battlefield, most of them have to spend money to buy their sky-high ammunition.

Profiteer!Zheng Zuo secretly labeled Tao Donglai, the smiling tiger sitting across from him, in his heart.But it is impossible for Zheng Zuo to slap the table and leave because of the high price quoted by the other party. After seeing the weapon demonstration, Zheng Zuo knew that this item must be bought. If Zheng did not buy it, maybe the Haihan people would go south tomorrow morning. Hue went to sell these murder weapons to Nguyen.The only way is to see how to lower the selling price of Haihan people.

Zheng Zuo suddenly remembered that Tao Donglai had mentioned in the afternoon that the artillery was used as rent in exchange for the development rights of Heitu Port, so he asked Tao Donglai about it again.

Tao Donglai nodded and said: "That's right, we can use ten [-]-type Type A artillery to pay you as the one-year rent of Heitu Port, and our request is to obtain the local Heitu Port during the lease period." Development rights, residence rights, and governance rights. Of course, under this premise, we recognize that the territorial rights of this area belong to the Annan State, and you are welcome to send officials to this area to participate in civil affairs management.”

Tao Donglai's words can be regarded as extremely diplomatic skills - first of all, you have to admit the power I have in Heitu Port, so that I will admit that the sovereignty belongs to you; second, you can only send civilians there, as for the armed forces Let's not talk about it.

However, Zheng Zuo was not as powerful as Tao Donglai thought, he was not fully aware of the content implied in Tao Donglai's words.Zheng Zuo was thinking about another thing: According to the current situation, the only local production in Heitu Port is coal, and the current price of coal in Shenglong Mansion is only two or three taels of silver per thousand catties. If the price of ten cannons is more than 1 taels of silver, the rent for that year can probably buy several million catties of coal, and the income from recovering Heitu Port will obviously not be that high, but it is under Zheng's rule. Just one more dispensable coal pit.From this point of view, it seems that it is really more cost-effective to hand over the land to the Haihan people and collect the rent.

And Tao Donglai also thought that this was a very good deal. It seemed that he made a lot of money, but in fact the cost of manufacturing ten 6-pound guns was not much, which was less than a thousand yuan. In exchange for a year of peace in the Black Earth Port area, this is a very valuable deal for the current crossing group whose military strength is stretched.

So the two sides quickly reached an agreement on the status of Heitu Port. Zheng, as the actual leader of the North Vietnamese regime, would recognize the power of the Haihan people in Heitu Port, and in principle would not intervene in local management and operation.However, as the ruler, the Zheng family will send local officials to the Heitugang area to supervise local operations as observers to ensure that the Haihan people do not divide the territory locally, and the Haihan side must promise not to rebel to the south. The military sells similar weapons.

And the Haihan Party will deliver ten cannons to North Vietnamese Zheng at the end of each year at the trading post on the Tushan Peninsula as a fee for renting the Black Earth Port for one year, and all local residents will be supervised by the Haihan Executive Committee and the Black Earth Port Management Committee. will be managed.As for the lease period, after discussion between Tao Donglai and Zheng Zuo, it is tentatively set to ten years, and after the expiration, the contract renewal will be discussed according to the situation at that time.Of course, Tao Donglai knows very well that there will probably not be any negotiations for contract renewal after ten years. It is very likely that within ten years, that place will be placed under the name of the Haihan regime and become the future republic. territory.

However, the agreement of the nature of the concession between the two parties, including the Tushan Peninsula area that has been negotiated before, will only stay at the stage of an oral agreement, and will not be implemented into a written agreement on paper.Zheng's side is concerned about his status as a powerful minister. After all, he has not yet reached the step of seeking to usurp the throne. If Zheng's representative Houli Dynasty signed such an agreement involving territory with the Haihan people in private, it would undoubtedly be a big deal. If it was handed over to the Haihan people, Mrs. Zheng would not do such a stupid thing.And the time travel group didn't want to sign any paper agreement at first. Once such a thing is signed, it will only bring unnecessary trouble to regain the territory with the reason of "since ancient times".

So the two sides miraculously reached such an important land agreement. Zheng Zuo believed that the strength of the Haihan people was not enough to invade the territory of North Vietnam. If Heitu Port digs a pit for coal, it's good enough to dig it.On the other hand, Tao Donglai believed that the Zheng family of North Vietnam would have to rely on the arms supply of the Crossing Group for a long period of time in the future, so there was no need to worry about the North Vietnam side going back on its word and endangering the safety of Heitu Port.Both parties believe that they have something to rely on, and there is no need to worry about the other party breaking the contract easily.

But Zheng Zuo would not agree so quickly to the offer of muskets and cannons. Although these things are rare in North Vietnam, it does not mean that Zheng Zuo will let himself be taken advantage of by Haihan.Zheng Zuo's counter-offer was only half of the offer price, which was obviously not within the expected price range for Tao Donglai.

However, Tao Donglai is not in a hurry, because he has already seen that the other party will definitely buy it in the end, but the price may affect the specific purchase volume.As for whether the arms trade should pursue high profits or sales, this issue has long been settled within the Executive Committee.

Almost all executive committee members believe that the arms trade should expand the sales scale as much as possible on the basis of ensuring reasonable profits. The sales profit of a single weapon may not be too high, but the quantity sold must be large.Because only large-scale deployment can guarantee Haihan's influence in the local military system, so that Haihan has the opportunity to intervene in local affairs to seek benefits, and subsequent military training, ammunition supply, weapon maintenance and even the replacement of next-generation weapons Even if it is installed, it will not be able to get rid of its dependence on Haihan Military Industry.

As for whether such a large-scale arms sale will pose a threat to our side, the Executive Committee believes that under the careful planning of relevant departments, this possibility is already very small.First of all, there is a performance difference between exported weapons and locally used weapons. If this generation difference is to be smoothed out through the number of troops, the price the other party will have to pay will be extremely high.Secondly, the base camp of the Crossing Group is located on Hainan Island. Any arms exporter who wants to fight against the Crossing Group must come across the sea, and the advantage of the Crossing Group in coastal defenses is unmatched by all contemporary navies— —Of course, it will take some time to realize this advantage. Neither a large-scale coastal artillery defense system nor an organized artillery is currently a plan that can be achieved overnight.

Vietnam, which is caught in a civil war, obviously does not have the ability to attack and traverse groups across the sea. They have neither strong sea power nor enough energy to expand their power overseas.In the original history, this civil war would last until the second half of the 17th century, and after the time-traveling group appeared in this time and space, they could completely interfere with the progress of this war by means of arms trade according to their own needs— —When necessary, it is absolutely possible to provide some arms to the Ruan family in the south, so as to prevent this war from becoming a one-sided farce.When the executive committee deems it necessary to directly intervene, it is enough to adjust the strategy at that time.

As for agreeing to Zheng Zuo's weapon monopoly, Tao Donglai doesn't think it's a problem—it's a big deal to find a few more agents to play the role of white gloves.Tao Donglai had already thought about it even on the way to Vietnam. At the right time, he could send old Morgan or Johnson with a beard to Hue to talk about arms trade with the Ruan regime in the south as a western maritime merchant.At that time, the guns and artillery sold to the South Nguyen only need to make some small adjustments in appearance to distinguish them from the weapons sold to the North. In this way, even in the future, both sides will use advanced firearms to fight on the battlefield. The regime also has reasonable excuses to say it doesn't know.

After several rounds of bargaining, Tao Donglai felt that the other party's patience was worn out, so he threw out his trump card: "Mr. Zheng, if you insist on asking us to lower the price, it's not impossible. But in this way, we probably won’t be able to provide you with follow-up weapon training services.”

Zheng Zuo suddenly came to his senses, he was only focused on bargaining with the Haihan people, but he forgot about the use of these weapons after he bought them back.The muskets are okay, at least there are some knowledgeable officers, loading and using is not a problem, but the formation of rotating fire requires special training.As for the Haihan Cannon, if there is no special training, I am afraid that I will not even understand how to use this thing, let alone use it on the battlefield.

At that moment, Zheng Zuo asked, "Then what exactly do you mean?"

"Considering that the arms transaction between us is not a one-off deal, and it may take a long time to deal with it in the future, we have already made a comprehensive plan for this." Tao Donglai introduced to Zheng Zuo with a smile: "We will Set up a training camp here to provide you with [-] military advisors who are responsible for training your soldiers so that they can learn the techniques and tactics of using guns and artillery on the battlefield in a short period of time. Of course, these military advisors The salary and the daily training expenses of the training camp will be borne by you."

(End of this chapter)