Nanyang Storm 1864

Chapter 62 Bulk Purchase (Please give me your monthly tickets and recommendation tickets. Thank you for your support, readers!)

Mr. Smith's gray-blue eyes stared at Zheng Guohui's face, as if he wanted to see something different from his face.

Pause
He then asked, "Dear Mr. Zheng, what else do you know?"

Zheng Guohui heard the honorific "you" from the other party's mouth, smiled calmly, and said in a relaxed tone;
"Your Excellency, I don't know much.

I know that the Civil War that plagued North America has finally ended, and as many as 240 million troops on both sides are facing large-scale demobilization and repatriation, which is a daunting challenge unprecedented in history.

Your government will shift all its energy from wartime to peacetime development, using castings as plowshares. This will result in a large amount of weaponry, including ships, becoming a burden, and the best place for them to go is the ironmaking furnace in the steel mill.

According to the latest news
Your navy has 700 ships and more than 5000 artillery pieces, far ahead of the navies of European countries in terms of quantity.

However, with the end of the war, the excessive number of warships has become a burden. I believe that your country's leaders are worrying about how to deal with these excess ships and artillery.

As for your country's northern and southern armies, there are more than 2 artillery pieces of various calibers, which are now piled up in various military fortresses and barracks, but these places are deserted.

Ahem... Of course, there are some one-sided news here, but this is the general situation I understand."

After saying this, Zheng Guohui spread his hands, looked at Minister Smith's grim expression, and said sincerely, "I only hope to cooperate with you, not just once or twice, but for a long-term, heavyweight cooperation of three, five, or even ten years."

He deliberately emphasized the word "heavyweight" to show his cooperative attitude.

Minister Smith thought for a moment with a serious expression, then said, "I'm sorry, Mr. Zheng, we need to discuss this in private."

"Please, I can go out for a walk."

"No...we can just move somewhere else. It'll only take 10 minutes."

"Please help yourself, Mr. Minister." Zheng Guohui raised the teacup in his hand and took a sip.

Now that I know the other party's details, I am in a very passive position in the negotiations. Of course, I have to try my best to turn the situation around.

Judging from the current situation
Artillery and guns definitely cannot be sold at a high price, and the same goes for weapon production lines and related equipment, which are basically sold at the price of scrap metal.

Then you can strive for other things to maximize profits.

Although Minister Smith never looked at the deposit certificate of 8 pounds again, it was a huge temptation that firmly hooked this American.

This is not about walking away in anger. This is typical American business thinking.

In the same situation
This approach does not work well for diplomatic officials from countries like Britain and France.

The arrogant British would persistently question Zheng Guohui's identity. Without a noble enough identity, he would not even have the basic qualifications to have a conversation with the British.

The French would question the legal origin of this large-denomination British pound certificate of deposit, and if necessary, would not mind losing face to snatch it, which is much simpler than trading.

The time it takes to hold an incense stick

Minister Smith and Mr. Joe Johnson came back, their expressions were much more serious. After shaking hands with Zheng Guohui again, they sat down and started to discuss.

Zheng Guohui's first request
The guarantee had to be provided by the Wan Guo Tong Bao Trading Company, in which Mr. Smith had a stake. This trading company was the predecessor of Citibank and had branches in Guangzhou, Shanghai and Beijing. Its strength and reputation were unquestionable.

With the guarantee of the Wan Guo Tong Bao Bank, Zheng Guohui's side can increase the advance payment to 4 pounds, otherwise, it can only be 1 pounds.

After discussion, the two parties finally decided to set the advance payment at 5 pounds, and the remaining balance would be paid after the goods arrived.

The following are the details of the negotiation. Regarding British blast furnace steelmaking equipment, the United States has actually imported quite a few sets in recent years. Under the premise that the war is over, some steel mills will inevitably go bankrupt due to poor management.

The two sides negotiated the price of second-hand steelmaking blast furnace equipment. Taking into account the factor of transoceanic transportation, they finally decided to set the price at 2.7 pounds per set of equipment, which is % of the price of brand new blast furnace equipment.

Zheng Guohui directly ordered two sets for a total of 5.4 pounds, including technician installation, training and trial production services.

Of course, it is reasonable that these technicians need to pay additional fees.

The purchasing power of the British pound was extremely strong in that era, and the construction of Wembley Stadium cost only 6.8 pounds, which already included all the costs of purchasing the land and construction.

The reason why Zheng Guohui made concessions on steelmaking blast furnace equipment was to give the other party enough profit margin.

Generally speaking

The blast furnaces of these bankrupt steel companies are worth only scrap metal, three to five thousand pounds at most.

After the initial deal was done, Zheng Guohui indeed took out a machete in the subsequent transaction and bargained hard.

His list included the 12-pounder M1857 smoothbore and 10-pounder Parrott rifled infantry guns, which were widely used by both armies during the Civil War.

The 12-pound M1857 smoothbore gun is an imitation of Napoleon's bronze cannon. Judging from the equipment number, it has not been equipped for a long time, and the early ones were no more than ten years old.

The caliber of this type of artillery is 117 mm, the shell is a traditional round shell, and the weight is 5.5 kg.

The M1857 performed quite well, being able to accurately fire at ranges up to 1500 meters and destroy enemy artillery. When firing at large fortifications, it could also destroy solid walls and buildings.

The M1857 gun was highly lethal against densely packed enemy infantry. Its round, solid shells ricocheted off the ground, often knocking down entire lines of infantry. Once it struck, the soldiers within the line were often left in a bloody mess, their deaths a truly gruesome sight.

This is a bronze cannon. Although it is sturdy and durable, it is very expensive due to the expensive raw materials. Each one costs more than $500.

Today, an ounce of gold is worth no more than $20, or about 25 ounces of gold.

Zheng Guohui offered a price of $60 and requested the purchase of 300 guns, totaling $1.8, or about 3600 pounds. This was % higher than the price of buying scrap, and the price was extremely low.

The reason is that this type of artillery is widely equipped by both the North and the South, with a stock of more than 10,000 pieces. After the war, it can be dealt with easily as long as there are some connections and a little money is paid.

Another type of gun on the procurement list was the 10-pound Parrott rifled gun, a common type of artillery in the Civil War. The Northern Army was equipped with more than 700 of them and it was a standard field artillery piece.

The caliber of this artillery is 76 mm, the shell weighs 4.5 kg, and it is no longer a round shell.

The Parrot rifled gun has very advanced technical performance. Its biggest feature is that it uses rifled instead of smoothbore.

After the shell is fired, the bullet expands under the action of gunpowder gas, embedding into the rifling and causing the shell to rotate, greatly improving the accuracy and extending the range.

The theoretical maximum range of the Parrot rifled gun is over 4000 meters, and its actual combat range is around 2000 meters, which is much more powerful than the M1857.

At the same time, the gun's accuracy is also quite high.

According to the Union artillery used;
The M1857 can hit a barn at a distance of 1000 meters, while the 10-pound Parrot rifled gun can destroy the barn door. The accuracy is incomparable.

On Zheng Guohui's purchase list, the price of 10-pound Parrot rifled gun was given as $20, and he required the purchase of 200 guns, totaling $4000, or about 800 pounds, which was actually quite good.

The 10-pound Parrot rifled cannon is an iron cannon with a purchase price of $7. If it is sold as scrap metal, it can only fetch about $8 to $ at most.

The rifle on the purchase list was a used M1855 rifle, a standard US military rifle using the Minié cartridge and the Regon-Maynard stripe primer. Its combat performance was among the best in the world.

This rifle was widely used by both the Northern and Southern armies. Zheng Guohui planned to purchase 2 of them, offering a price of only $1.6 per rifle, for a total of $3.2, or about £6400.

Adding the naval heavy artillery on the list, the order for all weapons and equipment is worth about 1.45 pounds. This price is equivalent to getting it for free. If you produce it yourself, you will even lose money.

But considering the huge profits of steel blast furnaces, Minister Smith agreed reluctantly.

There is no way. The Han official opposite is too smart and knows the situation in America very well.

Minister Smith was also very confident that he could get these weapons from the army's piles of obsolete equipment at a fraction of the cost, and the cost was shockingly low.

The domestic parliament has demanded that the excess naval vessels and infantry equipment be disposed of as quickly as possible at all costs, and this intention has been sent to embassies abroad.

Selling weapons and equipment overseas is one of the effective ways to digest huge inventories.

However, the Qing court completely suppressed the Taiping Rebellion and is now drastically cutting military spending. It is impossible for it to purchase large amounts of weapons and equipment, no matter how cheap they are.

This huge order that fell from the sky must be grabbed at all costs!

The two sides negotiated for almost a whole day and reached a package agreement including two sets of steelmaking blast furnace equipment, a casting production line for cannons ranging from 10 pounds to 60 pounds, two sets of firearms production equipment production lines, 50 steam engines, 30 sailing warships, and 10 steamships. The total contract value was 13.2 pounds.

In order to secure this unprecedented big deal, Minister Smith planned to arrange for the embassy's military attaché, Mr. Joe Johnson, to return to the country to report on his work and be fully responsible for the procurement and transportation of the necessary equipment and weapons.

All goods are transported by sailing warships and steamships. A special transport fleet will be organized to hand over the ships and goods together upon arrival. It is simply perfect.

The delivery location is set at the Zamboanga Port in Mindanao, around June next year, and the delay must not exceed one and a half months.

Otherwise, a fine of £1000 will be paid for each month of delay.

So,

The transaction negotiations have been concluded, and there is still one year and one month before delivery. In addition, most of the processing equipment is existing and there is no need to organize production, so there is plenty of time.

The transaction was guaranteed by the Wan Guo Tong Bao Bank. After both parties signed a formal contract and paid a down payment of 5 pounds, the entire contract was officially established.

In order to complete the deal, Minister Smith wrote more than 10 secret letters to families and relevant parties in the country and handed them to Joe Johnson to take back.

According to estimates
If you make every effort to mobilize your relationships, you won't have to spend much money on artillery, weapons, equipment, and production lines. The main thing is to bribe naval officials with retired sailing warships and get them at the cheapest possible price.

In fact, these sailing warships and steamships of the US military are relatively new. Some steamships were just built when the war ended, so they were left at the dock and were abandoned.

If you purchase freely, about 40,000 to 50,000 pounds will be enough to purchase the necessary equipment and goods, and the rest will be net profit.

In other words, the net profit can be more than 8 pounds.

Just because Minister Smith can earn this money doesn’t mean Zheng Guohui can make such a cheap purchase when he goes to the United States.

There are also factors related to internal relations in the United States and corruption among officials to a considerable extent, which are not known to outsiders.

Don't think there is no corruption in America. Only a fool would be soft-hearted when given the opportunity to take advantage of others.

(End of this chapter)