Chapter 161 Crazy arms sales
Li Nai was stunned for a moment, then shook his head and said, "I'm afraid Mr. Shi's words are untrue. As far as I know, the only ones with such sophisticated muskets are Francois from Manila and Batavia." Only red-haired people have it.”
Judging from the background of this era, Li Nai can be regarded as a very knowledgeable young man, which also has a great relationship with his family environment. "Furuifeng" also has a lot of Western goods in its business scope, and has trade relationships with maritime merchants from various Western countries, so he knows about the two largest trade centers in the Central and Southeast Asia region in this era.
Batavia later became Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia. In the early seventeenth century, the Dutch began to establish colonial settlements in the Far East, with Batavia on the island of Java as its center. In 1619, Petersson, the third governor of the Dutch East India Company, established Batavia as the headquarters of the East India Company, and it became the political and economic center of the entire East Indies colony.
The Dutch tried every means to introduce a large number of Chinese immigrants to Batavia to work on infrastructure projects, and used various means to induce Chinese merchant ships to trade in Batavia to obtain the silk, porcelain, tea and other goods they dreamed of. After Oriental commodities like silk were transported from here to Europe, the gross profit margin was as high as three times, which was enough for profit-seeking Dutch maritime merchants to take risks.
In fact, in the 17th century, in order to allow more Chinese merchant ships to go to Batavia for trading, the East India Company sent armed ships many times to blockade the ports in Manila occupied by the Spanish, Macau occupied by the Portuguese, and the Penghu Islands.
Manila was a colony occupied by the Spanish in the 1670s, and gradually became the capital of Spanish colonial rule in the Far East at the end of the 16th century. From a geographical point of view, Manila is about 600 nautical miles away from Guangzhou, while Jakarta is a full 1,800 nautical miles away from Guangzhou. The distance is three times as much, so most maritime merchants will still choose it when the shipping routes are normal. Go to Manila to trade.
At this time, Macau was leased by the Portuguese. Because Portugal had not yet gained independence from Spanish rule, Spanish merchant ships could also dock and trade in Macau. The Ming Dynasty also called the foreign devils from these two countries the Francois. .
These trades between China and foreign countries include not only normal commodity exchanges, but also some secret or semi-open arms transactions. As far as Li Nai knew, the Folangji people in Macau had sold many red barbarian cannons to the imperial court, as well as well-made Rumi cannons from the Ottoman Empire thousands of miles away. The quality of these imported weapons seems to be significantly better than that of domestic products. Just like the matchlock guns in front of him compared with the blunderbuss equipped by the Lijiazhuang militia, Li Nai obviously does not believe that the matchlock guns used by these militiamen were made by the Haihan people themselves. came out.
Schneider was about to say a few words, but Tao Donglai had already said, "It doesn't matter whether we made it or not. What's important is that we can sell this kind of weapon here, and the price will be higher than anywhere you know." Cheap. If Mr. Li wants to buy this kind of weapon, I think our place is your best choice.”
Li Nai asked: "Does Mr. Tao know the market situation of bird guns?"
"I still know the approximate price." Tao Donglai has done special research on this issue before, and he was confident in his answer: "The bird blunderbuss equipped by the Ministry of War for the army is about ten taels. The Lumi blunderbuss has a complicated production process. , about twenty taels. As these weapons flow from the army to the people, the price will probably double. As for the weapons shipped from the West, because they are too small, the price is even higher, such as the Rumi gun. A matchlock gun costs at least fifty taels.”
"Mr. Tao is quite well informed." Li Nai nodded slightly after hearing that Tao Donglai's speculation was not much different from the quotation on the market.
"Our Type 27 matchlock gun is divided into two types. The basic version without bayonet is worth eight taels of silver each, and the upgraded version with bayonet is worth ten taels of silver. The production process and performance have completely surpassed what you can do now. Any matchlock gun found on the market." Tao Donglai handed a matchlock gun to Li Nai while he was talking. Li Nai hesitated for a moment, but took it and looked at it carefully.
"For an extra twenty taels of silver, you can get the tactical straps that originally sold for five taels per set." Schneider grabbed a militiaman, pointed at the strap system on his body and explained, "Mr. Li, please look at the straps on this strap." The three leather boxes contain primers, propellants and projectiles respectively, with clear division of labor, making them easy for soldiers to carry. Moreover, this set of tactical straps are all made of cowhide, which is rainproof, moisture-proof and durable. With this thing, the commander no longer has to worry. Soldiers can’t find ammunition because of nervousness on the battlefield.”
"Oh?" Li Nai looked at the tactical strap carefully again and frowned: "The workmanship is quite sloppy, but this thing only costs two taels of silver. Isn't it too expensive?"
"It's not expensive, it's not expensive at all." Tao Donglai, who had already determined that Li Nai was willing to buy, immediately added: "As long as you purchase any of our matchlock gun and tactical strap packages, we will give you three Ten rounds of refined ammunition. "Buck bullets and gunpowder are worthless!" Li Nai immediately criticized.
"Mr. Li, you don't know this. Our matchlock guns and projectiles are all standardized and have the same appearance and size. Any matchlock gun can be used. There is no need for each gun to be equipped with a special bullet. This is definitely an advantage that other products cannot match." Tao Donglai spat and said, "Our propellants are all packed in paper, and there will never be a situation where a soldier shakes his hand and the gun explodes. The gunpowder we use is a unique and exquisite granular gunpowder, which is more powerful than any gunpowder you can buy on the market. If you don’t believe it, you can try it yourself when you go back. With the same amount of powder, ordinary gunpowder can only do it. The longest distance is about seventy steps, and with our propellant we can hit a distance of one hundred and twenty steps!”
Li Nai secretly calculated in his mind that the militia in Lijiazhuang would be fully equipped with muskets in the future. This was something that had been agreed upon within the family for a long time. However, high-quality muskets on the market were difficult to buy and the prices were extremely high. Previously, several of the muskets owned by the Lijiazhuang Militia were so-called "scrap products" flowing out from the army, which were as high as 30 taels of silver each, and the asking price of Lumi's muskets was as high as 60 taels. Even the wealthy "Fu Ruifeng" "I also felt that it was a bit painful to equip a militia with such expensive items, and only ten matchlock guns were provided to the militia.
But the Haihan people's matchlock guns do look much better than the ones they bought before. Li Nai made special observations during the target shooting just now. The misfire rate is very low, and the front of this kind of fire blunderbuss can be equipped with a spear tip to become a A short spear basically solves the problem of self-defense for gun soldiers.
Of course, the most important thing is that the price offered by the Haihan people is extremely attractive. The price of the musket, bayonet, ammunition strap and thirty rounds of ammunition is only twelve taels of silver in total. Judging from the market conditions that Li Nai knew, the price was indeed surprisingly low. However, he seemed to have inadvertently overlooked one thing, and that was that Tao Donglai and Schneider never mentioned the price of subsequent ammunition purchases.
The two loud-mouthed salesmen naturally didn't forget to mention it, but they consciously didn't mention it. They are people from the 21st century, and they are most familiar with the arms sales strategies of later generations. They know very well that the subsequent use and maintenance costs of weapons are the real purchase cost, so they deliberately avoid it like this.
Although the lead bullets used in the current Type 27 matchlock guns have little technical content and can be easily copied, the granular gunpowder developed by the military industry department is not a product that can be imitated. Granular gunpowder has great advantages over the powder gunpowder commonly used in this era, because black gunpowder will lose its normal effectiveness as long as the water content exceeds 2%, and powdered black gunpowder is extremely water-absorbent, so the actual use of matchlock guns During use, misfires or inability to fire may occur frequently. The water absorption of granular gunpowder is greatly reduced, and the flash speed is consistent. The power of the explosion is greater than the powder with uneven flash speed, and it does not leave a large amount of residue after burning, making it easier to clean.
The manufacturing process of high-quality granular gunpowder is very complicated for military craftsmen of this era. First, the powder of black powder must be pressed into a high-density medicine cake, while ensuring that the various ingredients are evenly distributed, and then the medicine cake is used. After crushing, granules are made, and the powder and particles that do not match the size are screened out, and then the remaining semi-finished products are polished. This kind of screening and polishing must be done at least several times before the granules of gunpowder are basically the same size. . Some of the specific technical details involved are definitely not something that any craftsman can invent out of thin air. Even if they see the Haihan people's special gunpowder, they cannot imitate it in a short time.
When military manufacturing technology further develops in another two years and fixed-load ammunition begins to be used, buyers will become increasingly dependent on ammunition. These subsequent sales will not only bring a lot of profits to the military industry sector, but will also limit the actual combat effectiveness of those buyers in disguise, making them unable to be enemies of the Cross-Travel Group for a long time.
After much thought, Li Nai felt that this business could be done, but he had to ask again whether the Haihan people could supply the goods in sufficient quantities as scheduled. So he asked Tao Donglai: "If I want to order this kind of gun, how long will it take to deliver it?"
Tao Donglai knew that the big thing was done, and said with a smile: "We now have a batch of new guns in stock. If the quantity ordered by Mr. Li is not too large, we can deliver them immediately."
Since the final production of Type 27 matchlock guns, the military industry department has produced more than 200 guns, of which the Black Earth Port Colonization Team took away 60 guns. The current militia groups are equipped with less than 100 guns, and the remaining nearly 100 guns The guns are all loaded with gun oil and placed in the arsenal, waiting for the third batch of students to graduate and enter the militia establishment before they are equipped. But now it seems that the owners of these new guns are likely to change.
(End of chapter)