Bury the Qing Dynasty

Chapter 124 Short of Money?Simple!

Howard felt particularly aggrieved.

Even if Ke Zhiming hadn't come to blackmail, Howard originally planned to buy a batch of such flintlock guns and artillery equipped by the Ming army, so that he could bring them back to the British Empire and hand them over to the Ordnance Directorate of the Tower of London for reverse imitation.

But Ke Zhiming took the initiative to come to blackmail, the nature of this matter has completely changed.

When did my British Empire suffer such grievances?
Of course, Howard knew in his heart that he had no choice but to accept blackmail from the Ming people.

Because no one can guarantee whether those despicable frogs in France will buy the firearms of the Ming people.

Even if those despicable frogs in France came to the door on their own initiative and wanted to unite with the British Empire to attack the Ming Dynasty, Howard couldn't believe the nonsense of those French frogs.

No one can afford to bet on this kind of thing.

So in the end, Howard could only pinch his nose, resist the urge to kill, and forcefully squeezed out a smile that was uglier than crying, and said: "Master Ke, now we can talk about flintlocks and artillery price."

When it comes to the word price, Howard's heart is bleeding.

Howard knew very well in his heart that since Ke Zhiming, a high-ranking official from the Ming Dynasty, could take the initiative to come to blackmail him, it meant that the prices of these flintlock guns and artillery were definitely not cheap.

I don't know how many cannons I can afford with the money in my hand?
Sure enough, when Howard asked about the price, Ke Zhiming said with a smile: "Flintlock guns cost 30 taels of silver, bullets cost one tael and a hundred rounds, cannons cost 1 taels of silver, and cannonballs cost five taels of silver. "

When Howard heard the price, he immediately frowned like a cat whose tail was stepped on: "It's impossible, my dear friend, this price is impossible, it's too unreasonable."

After spending so many years in the Guangdong Thirteenth Bank, Howard is not a noob who knows nothing about the price of arms.

Under normal circumstances, a flintlock gun is about ten taels of silver, and at most it will not exceed 15 taels of silver.

As for the cannon, even Europa's most advanced cannon currently costs only about 3000 taels of silver. If it is mass-produced, the price can be lowered, and the price of a cannonball will not exceed three taels of silver.

It's a good thing now, Ke Zhiming opened his mouth and offered 30 taels of silver for a flintlock gun, 1 taels of silver for a cannon, and even the price of shells almost doubled.

Even if it is blackmail, the price is too ridiculous.

However, Ke Zhiming said with a smile: "Mr. Howard, today you have seen the power of our Ming's flintlock guns and artillery. Believe me, the flintlock guns and artillery produced by our Ming Dynasty are definitely worthy of the price."

Howard said: "Yes, I have seen the power of your Ming country's flintlock guns and artillery. The flintlock guns have a higher range and higher accuracy, and the artillery is the same. Even if the shells fired do not explode, they are just smashed The pit also has to be one square."

"However, this is not the reason why you can sell it so expensive—even if it is for profit. If the profit exceeds 300%, God can't stand it."

But Ke Zhiming smiled indifferently, and said, "Whether God can see through it seems to have nothing to do with me?"

"It's still the same sentence, you don't have to accept it, but I don't know if those French people will accept this price."

When Ke Zhiming said this, Howard lost his temper immediately.

It’s not because Ke Zhiming disrespected God in his dialogue. After all, the only truly devout believers in Europa are those civilians who hope to go to heaven after death, like the archbishop of the church or the real nobles, but they are not so devout.

The real reason for Howard's misfire was that Ke Zhiming mentioned France again.

Yeah, the British Empire can't take that offer, and who knows if those mean frogs in France will take it?What if they accepted?

If those despicable frogs in France cannot accept this offer, but the British Empire accepts it, then only one hundred pieces of this kind of artillery equipped by the Chinese army are needed, and only [-] pieces of this kind of flintlock guns equipped by the Ming army are needed. With enough bullets and shells, the British Empire could undo all the humiliation it had suffered since the Hundred Years' War.

The reverse is also the same, if the British Empire cannot accept this offer, but those despicable frogs in France accept this offer, will France still besiege the British Empire in the British Isles as it is now?

Even if you think about it with your heels, you know that this is absolutely impossible.

After a long silence, Howard finally slumped on the chair, pulled the dovetail knot on his collar, and said, "Okay, you won."

"Now we have to talk about the number of artillery and flintlocks."

"Of course, there is also the issue of delivery time."

……

Compared to Howard, Pierre was treated much better.

The point is that Pierre and Howard's situation is completely different.

In the Hundred Years' War between Britain and France, the final winner was France. The victory of the war enabled France to complete the national unity, and gradually expanded in the European continent in the future, while England lost almost all French territories.

As the saying goes, people with bare feet are not afraid to wear shoes. England is now the kind of shabby settlement without shoes, and France is now aristocratic lords wearing leather shoes, so there is no need for the man sent by Zhu Jinsong to say anything, just say what England wants. To buy a batch of flintlock guns and artillery, France can only follow up with as many or even more orders.

This is almost like a florist.

When the flower growers had no mushrooms, they also shouted slogans such as moving to Maoxiong’s house, and saying that unsigned paper is shit in the toilet. The title is a successful explosion, and the subtitle is a solemn proposal to convene a world summit meeting to discuss the issue of total prohibition and thorough destruction of mushroom eggs.

The same rabbit fights with one another when the rabbit family is poor. One rabbit even beats up seventeen houses and even scares each other with Mao Xiong holding mushrooms. But when the rabbit family is rich, look at the rabbit. Do you still fight?

This is the difference between bare feet and shoes.

However, the only problem facing Pierre now is that France has no money.

Of course, it cannot be said that the whole of France has no money, because it is France's finances that have no money.

At this time in France, Louis XVI, the nominal king of the Bourbon dynasty, did not really have real power. The real power was in the hands of Queen Marie Antoinette. Unfortunately, Louis XVI's wife Marie Antoinette Vanette did not have the sense of responsibility and mission that a queen should have.

On the contrary, Marie Antoinette, who doesn't understand politics, is only interested in balls, fashion, having fun, dressing up and having balls, decorating villas, and arranging gardens every day, which makes the whole of France fall into a serious crisis. The court ministers competed with each other for power, social conflicts were sharp, the treasury was empty, and debts were high.

Marie Antoinette is also known as "Madame Deficit"

Therefore, even if Peel wants to buy a large number of flintlock guns and artillery immediately, France's finances will not be able to spend so much money.

But who is Zeng Cheng who was sent by Zhu Jinsong? Before he joined Zhu Jinsong, Zeng Cheng was a Futai master in the Qing court.

When it comes to the righteous way of governing the country in Anbang, Zeng Cheng's Zeng Futai may not be very clever, but when it comes to these messy crooked ways, that one Zeng Futai can be better than ten Zhu Jinsongs.

So after listening to Pierre's concerns, Zeng Cheng directly slapped his thigh on the stage of Zengfu, and said, "I think it's because of something, so it's because of money?"

Hearing what Zeng Futai said, Pierre was stunned.

No, can the matter of money be considered a trivial matter?You know, although money is not everything, but in this world, without money is absolutely impossible.

If my treasury of France has enough money, why should I, Pierre, have a headache here?
You know, my French treasury has a national debt of up to 20 billion francs, bastard!

However, Zeng Cheng gave a nonchalant smile at Zengfutai, and said: "It's just some yellow and white things, this matter is easy to handle."

Just when Pierre was in a daze, Zeng Cheng asked inexplicably at Zengfutai: "I heard that your country in France is also quite turbulent, and the people seem to be quite dissatisfied?"

Pierre nodded, and replied with a dazed expression: "It's not surprising, if Mr. Zeng spends half or more of your family's total income on bread, I think Mr. Zeng will be dissatisfied." .”

Zeng Cheng laughed, and then asked: "I heard that Mr. Pierre is related to your French king?"

Pierre nodded, and hummed, "According to you Ming people, I should be considered cousins ​​with His Majesty King Louis XVI of France. However, I don't have any official titles or lands to inherit."

Hearing what Pierre said, Zeng Cheng had a solid idea in his heart.

What has no official title and no fief to inherit?It's just an illegitimate child.

Zeng Cheng let out a chuckle at Zeng Futai, and said: "Our sages in the Central Plains once said a word, which is: A real man doesn't ask where he came from."

"It means that what kind of height a person can reach, the birth does not determine everything, the most important thing is the hard work of the day after tomorrow."

"Although Mr. Pierre has no official title or land yet, I believe that as long as Mr. Pierre can make contributions to France and the French king, then the land and title are nothing more than nothing to Mr. Pierre. Low-hanging fruit."

Pierre continued to be confused, and even wondered if Zeng Cheng's mind was broken.

As long as you make contributions to France and the French king, you can get fiefs and titles, so how much is this contribution?

If the 20 billion franc national debt of the French treasury can be resolved, then Pierre has full confidence that he can get a formal title and fiefdom.

However, the crux of the problem is that it is a national debt of 20 billion francs, not a national debt of 20 francs, nor a national debt of [-] francs.

If Pierre can lead the army to lay down a large area of ​​land for France, then it is not impossible to obtain titles and fiefdoms. The problem is that if Pierre has that ability, he still needs to go to sea to do business?

Don't ask the source, this kind of talk may be fine in the Central Plains, but in Europa, this is the biggest joke in the world.

However, when Pierre continued to be confused, Zeng Cheng said with a smile: "It's actually easy to make contributions to France and the French king."

Pierre asked with a confused face: "What contribution? How simple?"

Zeng Cheng said with a smile, "If you can fill the shortfall in the French treasury and make the people of France settle down, is this credit enough for Mr. Pierre to get the title and land?"

(End of this chapter)