The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 137 Times have changed. How much are the Eight Banners worth? How much are the Green Camp worth? (asking for monthly tickets)
Zuo Zongtang saw the puzzled expression on Luo Yaoguo's face and thought he was a "local angel" from the countryside of Guangxi, so he smiled and advised: "In today's military, just having more soldiers and horses can no longer ensure victory. We must also purchase more foreign guns and cannons, and it would be best to hire foreign generals as instructors. Only after you have learned the ingenuity of using foreign guns and cannons can you be invincible and have no disadvantages.

In order to purchase foreign guns and cannons and hire Western instructors, one must occupy trading ports, and it would be best if one could also control silk and tea. These are what foreign merchants need and what China produces in abundance!
Therefore, the fundamental places are Jiangnan, Guangdong, Huguang, Sichuan, Zhongzhou, Shanxi and Shaanxi. If the angels can control the lands of fish, rice and silk such as Su, Song, Jia, and Hu with the method mentioned in the Anti-Scripture, make alliances with the West, train elite troops, and control the Yangtze River to cut off the Qing court's source of funds, within a few years, the ambition of Hongwu can be fulfilled! "

"Good!" Luo Yaoguo couldn't help but praise.

Luo Yaoguo certainly knew what Zuo Zongtang was saying. This was also the reason why he set his sights on Shanghai and had no intention of being the king in Hunan, and he didn't even think about going south to Guangdong.

Anyway, the Qing soldiers are still relatively weak now, so of course we should take the best ones!

China's most valuable export product at this time was Hu silk, and the silk from Suzhou, Jiaxing, Hangzhou and Songjiang was also good.

However, Guangzhou has been in decline since the opening of the five ports to trade and could not provide goods that could be exchanged for foreign guns, cannons and generals.

But Zuo Zongtang, who had never studied modern Chinese history, also knew this truth, which is amazing!
The fact that Zuo Zongtang was willing to say such things to Luo Yaoguo actually showed that he was willing to bet on Luo Yaoguo and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. And he didn't really want to become a mortal enemy of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

However, Luo Yaoguo still had to ask for the benefits that he should get from Zuo Zongtang.

Luo Yaoguo said with a smile: "Mr. Ji Gao, I can't destroy the main force of the Qing demons in Hunan with only rice and strong men! To destroy the main force of the Qing demons, we need guns, cannons and gunpowder. I have no shortage of guns and cannons now, but I am a little short of gunpowder. I wonder if Mr. Zuo can sell me some?"

Luo Yaoguo's army originally did not have many foreign guns and muskets, but in the Battle of Huangdaomen, they encountered the transport captain Shengbao and seized more than five or six hundred muskets made in the Kangxi period that were stored in the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Although they are more than a hundred years old, they are all fine guns made under the personal supervision of Emperor Kangxi. Whether in terms of materials, craftsmanship or design, they are far better than the bird guns used during the Daoguang and Xianfeng periods.

In order to deal with the "Bull Demon King", Xianfeng also used up all his old capital, but who would have thought that these old guns would be owned by the Taiping Army!

With these more than 600 "old guns", plus more than 100 foreign guns and hundreds of decent quality bird guns taken from the Green Camp soldiers, Luo Yaoguo had 1,200 to 1,300 usable guns. It was enough for the time being, and if there were more, there would be no qualified gunmen.

However, Luo Yaoguo also got a "Tupolev bomb" today, which seems to be very valuable for "reverse engineering"!
But making bombs requires gunpowder!
In addition, Luo Yaoguo and Xiao Chaogui's armies have recruited many miners in Daozhou and Chenzhou who are good at digging tunnels. They can try to dig tunnels and blast the enemy's city walls, which is a project that consumes gunpowder.

So Luo Yaoguo’s team was about to run out of gunpowder!
When Zuo Zongtang heard that Luo Yaoguo wanted to buy gunpowder from him, he frowned and said, "Lord Luo, I still have to deal with the Qing government for the time being! It's okay to buy some rice for the people of Changsha, but after all, we Hunanese people value our hometown the most. We can't just watch the people of Changsha starve to death, right?"

Luo Yaoguo nodded repeatedly and said with a smile: "Mr. Zuo is still kind-hearted!"

Zuo Zongtang smiled and said, "But this gunpowder..." He suddenly stopped talking, glanced at Luo Yaoguo's unhappy face, and then pondered for a moment, "How about this, I will find a way to get some saltpeter for you, disguise it as sugar and send it to you together with the real sugar?"

"Saltpeter, sugar?" Luo Yaoguo suddenly thought of something, his face changed slightly, then returned to normal, and then pretended to be weighing and thinking for a long time before slowly nodding, "Okay, isn't gunpowder just saltpeter, charcoal, and sulfur mixed together? Charcoal is not in short supply, as for sulfur. I'll think of a way."

Zuo Zongtang nodded and smiled, "Yes, yes, sulfur is hard to get here in Hunan, Angel can send people to Guangdong to look for it."

"Okay," Luo Yaoguo nodded with a smile, "Then Mr. Zuo, please send me a thousand kilograms of saltpeter and a thousand kilograms of sugar to Changsha as soon as possible. The price is negotiable!"

“good good”

Zuo Zongtang smiled and said, "I still have a way to get this amount. I will deliver it to Chaozongmen Wharf within half a month. As for the price, five thousand taels of silver is not too much, right?"

"Five thousand taels? Isn't that too expensive?"

Luo Yaoguo started yelling when he heard the offer.

In fact, he didn't even know how much a pound of saltpeter and sugar sold for in the late Qing Dynasty.
Zuo Zongtang heard Luo Yaoguo's shout and immediately shook his head and said, "Angel Luo, please don't think it's too expensive. I want this price for a reason. First, except for me, no one can supply gunpowder to the angels. This is a unique business!"

You are a monopoly!
Luo Yaoguo hated monopolies the most, and his face was so gloomy!
Zuo Zongtang smiled and said: "Second, you also have two things that can be sold at a high price!" "What are they?" Luo Yaoguo asked with a frown.

He has a lot of things that can be sold at high prices—all of them are “magic weapon” level!
Zuo Zongtang held up a finger and said, "One is the Eight Banners Army!"

Then he held up another finger: "The second one is a Green Camp soldier!"

"Are these the two things?" Luo Yaoguo thought to himself, "I just mentioned the prisoner exchange, and that's the excuse for the meeting. Why do you take it seriously? Even if I agree to this, Hong Xiuquan and Yang Xiuqing will not agree. At least they will not agree to me selling those Eight Banners soldiers! They hate the Manchus to the extreme."

"Angel," Zuo Zongtang asked with a smile when he saw Luo Yaoguo hesitate, "You are not using Shengbao and his men's redemption of the captives as an excuse for our meeting, are you?"

You guessed it again!
Luo Yaoguo frowned.

Zuo Zongtang added, "This deal is actually quite good. As for the Eight Banners opium soldiers and the drunkards from the Green Camp, wouldn't it be a good idea to let Sai Shang'a and Sheng Bao ask Emperor Xianfeng for money to redeem them? We can catch them again and sell them off next time. It's easy to make money this way! Otherwise, if we don't redeem them, they will go back to recruit strong new soldiers, which will make it even harder to fight them."

It seems to make sense!

Otherwise, just sell some of them for some money. Anyway, it will be more beneficial to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom if these funny guys are on the enemy's side!
Thinking of this, Luo Yaoguo held up three fingers and said to Zuo Zongtang: "Mr. Ji Gao, I have captured at least one thousand Green Camp soldiers this time. I don't care whether they are cavalry, combat soldiers, or guards. As long as they are soldiers, I will give them thirty taels of silver for redemption. How about that?"

"Thirty taels? To redeem a Green Camp soldier?" Zuo Zongtang thought Luo Yaoguo didn't know the market price, so he shook his head and said, "How is that possible? Forget it. They won't pay that much."

Luo Yaoguo thought: "What we want is that they don't care about the lives of the Green Camp soldiers! Those Gansu and Shaanxi Green Camp soldiers are more powerful than the Eight Banners opium soldiers, and they can't be sold for a good price. It's better to keep them and let the Green Camp soldiers on the Qing side know that their lives are worthless to their Manchu masters."

"Mr. Ji Gao, don't worry about this, I just want this price!"

Luo Yaoguo said: "As for the officers of the Green Camp, if they are Han Chinese, they will be awarded 100 taels for the deputy commander, and 100 taels for each promotion."

Zuo Zongtang still shook his head: "It's too expensive, still a little expensive."

Luo Yaoguo continued, "Eight Banner soldiers start at three hundred taels each!"

"Three hundred taels," Zuo Zongtang calculated secretly, "Not cheap, but Shengbao should be able to redeem some of it!"

Luo Yaoguo continued, "The price charged by Bannermen officers is three times higher than that of Han officers of the same rank, which is four times higher."

"This...is not bad." Zuo Zongtang nodded.

The life of an Eight Banners lord is three times more valuable than that of a Han lord. There is nothing wrong with this and it is quite reasonable.

Moreover, these Eight Banners masters all have connections, and they are all royal relatives! Shengbao spent money to redeem them, which is a great good relationship!
"Also," Luo Yaoguo paused and asked Zuo Zongtang, "Hasn't Hong Daquan been harmed by Emperor Xianfeng?"

"Not yet." Zuo Zongtang shook his head.

"That's good!" Luo Yaoguo said with joy, "If Shengbao can get him to me, he can be worth thirty thousand taels of silver. This is equivalent to one hundred Eight Banners soldiers or one thousand elite Gansu and Shaanxi Green Camp soldiers!"

"Okay, I'll go talk to Shengbao and the others," Zuo Zongtang nodded, "It's not a big hope, but let's give it a try."

(End of this chapter)