prosperous age

"I have no objection to the price of 10 taels of silver for the arquebus."

However, your offer for artillery is too low.

Both parties had a strong desire to sign the agreement, so a preliminary agreement was reached quickly.

According to Jiang Zhi, Robert and his men were not very interested in the breech-loading cannons that the Ming Dynasty could provide in large quantities, but they were very interested in purchasing the 18-pound long-barreled muzzle-loading cannons that the Ming Dynasty could provide.

This type of cannon is one of the mainstream cannons currently equipped by the Ming army, the medium-sized general cannon.

In the Ming army, it was not only used as the main artillery on naval warships, but also as the main firepower for the Ming army in field battles and sieges.

Yes, after being examined by British military attachés, the Ming army's medium-sized general cannons were deemed to have similar power to their main cannons, the 18-pounder cannons.

In addition, they also had some interest in the light general's gun, namely the 12-pounder.

This type of gun is currently the mainstay of European field artillery and is also widely used as secondary guns on warships.

In the Ming Dynasty, only iron could be used to cast these cannons, which is why the British kept the price of Ming cannons very low.

"Your Excellency Prime Minister, in our country, these types of artillery are manufactured and sold to the military for about the same price."

We also have to bear the shipping costs, so we really can't raise the price.

The highest price for a 12-pound cannon in my country was 150 pounds, which, converted to silver between the two countries, was about 300 taels, and could not exceed 350 taels.

The highest price for an 18-pound cannon in our country was 250 pounds, approximately 500 taels of silver, and the highest price we could accept was 600 taels of silver.

Earl Robert explained the basis for his offer, half-jokingly and half-seriously.

Of course, there's some water involved, namely the price of the 18-pound cannon.

In Britain, the technology for manufacturing 6-pounder cannons and 12-pounder light cannons is relatively mature, so the price difference is small.

A 6-pounder cannon would cost around £120 in Britain, while a 12-pounder cannon would cost £150; this price is accurate.

However, the larger the caliber of the artillery, the more difficult it is to manufacture, especially the scrap rate will rise rapidly, making manufacturing extremely difficult.

The 18-pound cannons that Britain now purchases from France or elsewhere cost more than £400.

The British themselves are now finding it difficult to even cast 16-pound cannons, as the technology is not yet fully mature.

When Robert and his party arrived at the outer city drill ground, they happened to see the Ming Dynasty workshop transporting a batch of cast medium-sized general cannons there for test firing.

Naturally, in their eyes, the Ming Dynasty must have mastered mature technology and could mass-produce it, so the cost would definitely not be very high.

£250 is the price they are currently paying for 16-pounder cannons, which are field guns procured for the Royal Army.

"That's absolutely not going to do."

Jiang Zhi then chimed in, emphasizing the difficulty of casting, especially the high scrap rate.

Of course, these reasons were actually problems encountered by Ming Dynasty craftsmen in earlier years. In particular, after the introduction of general cannon manufacturing technology from the moat mirror, craftsmen faced the problem of an extremely high casting failure rate for a long time.

To solve these problems, the craftsmen racked their brains to come up with some solutions to reduce the failure rate.

As for large-scale production, that's because the Ming Dynasty itself had the national strength, a large number of craftsmen, and relatively abundant resources, which was definitely beyond the reach of Britain's small scale.

Previously, they planned to ruthlessly annihilate the Persian Empire, intending to sell small general cannons for 1000 taels of silver and medium general cannons for as much as 2000 taels of silver.

The Ministry of Works is naturally unwilling to accept the current British offer, which is almost the result of two cuts.

That's all profit.

Even at this price, the Ministry of Works can still make a profit, but only light cannons still have some profit; the profit from medium cannons is almost non-existent.

Zhang Ke stood to the side, observing the expressions of the British mission members and trying to guess the cost they had incurred to acquire these cannons.

Zhang Ke felt that, as the British delegation had suggested, the price of the small cannon might indeed be difficult to increase.

However, comparing the prices of the medium-sized general's cannon with the procurement prices set by their Ministry of War, he felt that there was likely some exaggeration involved.

It's worth noting that a few years ago, this type of artillery cost almost twice as much as it does now.

At that time, not only was casting difficult, but the quality was also poor.

The British seem to have valued medium-sized general's guns, which suggests that such artillery must have been a very important weapon in Europe.

However, doing business with them is definitely not comparable to doing business with the impoverished Persians.

The Persians had absolutely no way to acquire firearms in large quantities, which allowed them to command very high premiums.

The British could purchase these firearms, perhaps at a higher price, but the premium was definitely not that much.

Wei Guangde's thoughts and ideas were actually similar to Zhang Ke's.

However, he still let Jiang Zhi and Robert's group argue.

He realized that Jiang Zhi was referring to the situation in the Ming Dynasty a few years ago, not the current level of manufacturing capacity.

Zhang Ke withdrew his gaze and turned to look at Wei Guangde.

After Wei Guangde nodded slightly, he moved to his side and whispered, "Shan Dai, I reckon it will be difficult to raise the price of light guns."

However, the price of a medium-sized general's gun is definitely more than that; it would be at least double the price of a Robert.

They can indeed forge their own, though perhaps in smaller quantities.

We'll sell a batch at a low price first, and then wait until they approve of the quality of the artillery.

In the future, if they go to war with Spain, and demand increases, we will raise prices then.

"What's the price for medium artillery when your Ministry of War procures it?"

Wei Guangde asked in a low voice.

Zhang Ke thought for a moment before whispering, "It was over 400 taels at the beginning of last year, but now it has dropped to 360 taels."

The Ministry of Works was the imperial court's manufacturing department, and it should not actually be for profit.

Therefore, the Ministry of Industry will evaluate the products of the workshops and calculate the costs every year.

This is actually one of the assessment methods of Zhang Juzheng, namely, the assessment of "cost-saving".

The poor quality of the Ming Dynasty's government troops at the end of the Ming Dynasty was largely due to this policy.

In pursuit of political achievements, officials in the Ministry of Works relentlessly suppressed costs, allowing inferior equipment to proliferate and substandard products to be passed off as superior ones, causing immense suffering to the Ming soldiers and officers who used these weapons.

In such an environment, expecting artisans to have any craftsmanship spirit and meticulously manufacture various products is just wishful thinking.

"What about light artillery?"

Upon hearing about the huge difference, Wei Guangde couldn't help but ask in a low voice.

"It costs over a hundred taels of silver, and there's not much room for further reduction."

Zhang Ke thought for a moment before speaking.

The price of light artillery has indeed decreased very little in the last two years.

"Qingpao, let me know that we can negotiate at 400 taels, but 350 taels is also acceptable."

As for the medium-sized general's cannon, the price is negotiated at 1200 taels, but the minimum would be around 1000 taels.

Wei Guangde whispered his opinion, and Zhang Ke nodded slightly in agreement.

Subsequent negotiations will certainly not continue in the cabinet office.

The Ministry of Rites arranged a meeting room in the Huitongguan, which was the same room where they had previously discussed the contract with several countries, to continue the negotiations.

In fact, in ancient times, productivity levels were generally low, and profit margins in commodity trade were always very high.

Due to the backwardness of transportation technology, business frequency was very low.

Long-distance trading, despite the seemingly high profit margins of one or even several times, is actually just one business trip a year.

In later generations, productivity, communication technology, and transportation costs all improved. Trade became less profitable, relying mainly on volume, which naturally led to a significant reduction in profit margins.

As expected, sales of goods surged, and many items were no longer exclusive to the wealthy and aristocratic; ordinary citizens also gained purchasing power.

Ultimately, it's the infighting among businessmen that drives down prices.

Seeing the enormous profits that ancient merchants made, one can't help but feel envious.

However, the metrics such as quick turnover and inventory turnover that later merchants emphasized were things that merchants of this era would never have dared to even think about.

Wei Guangde also submitted a note to the Qianqing Palace regarding the results of today's cabinet negotiations.

It wasn't a formal memorial; it was just a note used to communicate with the Wanli Emperor.

However, the returned note made Wei Guangde frown.

At this moment, Emperor Wanli was indeed thinking about the business situation of the Ming Dynasty's money shops.

Over such a long period of time, Daming Qianzhuang has opened hundreds of branches in various prefectures and cities throughout the Ming Dynasty, and its business has been quite extensive.

Meanwhile, the government's crackdown on usurers was in full swing.

At the Ministry of Justice, a large number of people who lent money in the capital were arrested and imprisoned, and a large number of loan receipts were found.

After all, a loan agreement is the basis for collecting debts, especially since they are lending money to a newly appointed scholar, so they need to be even more careful with the paperwork.

Therefore, these IOUs are all well preserved, so there's no point in talking about destroying stolen goods; the only option is to try to hide them.

However, the Ministry of Justice is not short of interrogation experts. Moreover, even if the people behind them tried every means to rescue them, the emperor was watching, the cabinet was keeping an eye on them, and Zeng Shengwu was not lenient at all, so they stripped them bare.

Private lenders, especially those with known names, are now mostly in prisons across the country, receiving different treatment.

Meanwhile, the borrowing needs of private merchants remained, and naturally, they all flowed into the Ming Dynasty's money shops.

Moreover, the interest rates offered by Daming Qianzhuang were indeed low.

However, there is one downside: the requirements for collateral are extremely strict.

This condition is naturally not a big burden for wealthy businessmen.

However, most businessmen don't have that many assets, so they can't meet the lending conditions.

In fact, Wei Guangde also received feedback from the money exchange regarding the issues.

In name, the interest rate for loans from money shops was 30%, but merchants without collateral came up with a compromise in order to raise money: they asked someone to act as guarantor.

In other words, they use other people's land and houses as collateral, and they pay the guarantor an additional 10% to 20% interest per year.

The money exchange would naturally find this meaningless, but when the feedback reached Wei Guangde, he was somewhat at a loss.

In this era, doing business is actually very risky, and he would never lend money out without collateral.

That would be bad for neither themselves nor for the shareholders.

As a result, interest rates for private lending have decreased, dropping by nearly 50% from 100% per year.

Interest rates on private lending are still as high as 50% to 60%.

This type of loan is unsecured and relies entirely on the merchant's credit.

Although Wei Guangde did not intend to completely monopolize the lending business in the Ming Dynasty, he felt somewhat distressed by the interest rates after seeing the feedback below.

Of the 20 million taels of silver in equity, he personally owned 6 million taels, and the amount of loans he has made so far is about 12 million taels.

To be honest, the gap is still quite large.

He wanted to lend out at least seventeen or eighteen million taels of silver, keeping only a small amount of money for himself.

Shaking his head, Wei Guangde could only temporarily put aside the matter of the Ming Dynasty Bank and wait a year until the system was improved before considering increasing the discount rate and lending out more money.

"My lord, Minister Zhang and Minister Jiang are requesting an audience outside."

Just as Wei Guangde began processing today's official documents, Lu Bu came in to report.

"Please let them in."

Wei Guangde put down the memorial in his hand, got up and went out to greet him.

"We've figured out the British's true intentions, that's what they are."

They have ordered 10,000 muskets and 20 medium-sized general's cannons, at prices of 10 taels and 950 taels of silver respectively.

After taking their seats, Jiang Zhi got straight to the point, saying, "In addition, they also expressed their desire to purchase more medium-sized general guns."

"Judging from their limited funds, they are currently selling the goods they brought to the capital before they can conduct any transactions."

However, what I'm considering is artillery; we already have it in the arsenal.

However, the musket might take some time to develop.

After Zhang Ke finished speaking, he looked at Jiang Zhi.

Although the Ming Dynasty was able to quickly manufacture a large number of firearms, 10,000 arquebuses were still a considerable number.

Although he did not know how long it would take for the Ministry of Works to manufacture these muskets, he was certain that they could not be delivered in the short term.

"They will go to Songjiang later to establish a consulate, so there will definitely be enough time."

The delivery of the firearms was also scheduled for Songjiang Prefecture, where they would complete their business before loading them onto ships and returning home.

Jiang Zhi immediately said, "Two months is enough time to complete 10,000 muskets."

Since receiving the news from Burma, the Ministry of Industry has ordered the workshops to produce muskets, or rather, Western-style matchlock guns, at full capacity.

Production volume will definitely be lower at the beginning, mainly due to limitations imposed by the barrel size.

However, as time went on, the craftsmen became more and more skilled, and the output naturally increased, especially with the popularization of water-powered drilling machines.

Later generations often described Ming Dynasty arquebuses as being manufactured in sections and then cast together.

In fact, the segmented casting method was mostly used to manufacture firearms such as the three-eyed gun and the Five Thunder God Machine.

The mainstream matchlock guns widely used in the mid-to-late Ming Dynasty had long, integral barrels, usually made of rolled and drilled fine iron, with a length of about 1 meter.

In the past, drilling and grinding were mainly done manually, which was extremely slow and inefficient.

Now, all industries in the Ming Dynasty have begun to utilize water and animal power as power sources, greatly improving productivity.

As for the steam engine, well, that's probably a later invention.

At least to Wei Guangde's knowledge, it seems that no craftsmen in the Ministry of Works or even among the common people had thought of this method.

Moreover, even if they existed, the steam engine technology of that era was extremely primitive and backward, with very limited power output, making it practically unusable.

It should be noted that it took Europeans more than a hundred years to finally produce a steam engine that was actually usable.

The level of technology in Europe at that time was far beyond what it is today.

"In that case, the Ministry of Works will focus its efforts on this matter from now on."

Since the old-style muskets used by the government troops were not powerful enough, they were gradually replaced.

As for artillery, let's appropriately increase the production of general's cannons.

Based on the information received so far, the firepower of the breech-loading cannon remains a major weakness.

However, the government troops had a strong preference for this cannon's rate of fire, especially in close combat, so the equipment was still necessary, just not as much as before.

"By the way, the Ministry of Works also needs to find a way to improve the power of the breech-loading cannons; we can't just give up like that."

Wei Guangde said. (End of this chapter)