Chapter 224 Trip to Vietnam (7)
The Military and Police Department made very detailed preparations for this weapon demonstration in advance. Different from the original demonstration given to "Furuifeng" Li Nai and others, this time it focused more on practical tactical demonstrations rather than on It is a single display of the power of one gun and one cannon. The fixed-point strike capability demonstrated by the artillery, the actual combat fire formation demonstrated by the musketeers, and even the final display of the bayonet function were all specially arranged by the Military and Police Department in order to make the North Vietnamese customers who visited this weapons demonstration aware of these killings. The practical value of sharp weapons on the battlefield.
When Tao Donglai was serving in the army, he had seen many foreign officers who came to see weapons demonstrations. Now the expression on Zheng Zao's face reminded Tao Donglai of those who traveled thousands of miles to China to buy arms. African swarf - envy, excitement, desire, almost shouting "buy, buy, buy". It was this experience of closely observing the weapons demonstration process that made the executive committee agree that he would personally lead the arms trade negotiations instead of transferring Schneider from Guangzhou who was better at business negotiations.
Observing this weapons demonstration with Zheng Zha were several of his entourages. Although these people were wearing casual clothes, their true identities could easily be seen from their gestures - these people were probably They are all officers under the Zheng family. The expressions on their faces are basically the same as Zheng Zha's, full of desire for new weapons.
Sure enough, Zheng Zha immediately proposed to let his people test-fire the musket. Tao Donglai readily agreed and asked Wang Tom to provide guidance. After all, the batch of matchlock guns sold already use paper-packed gunpowder, and the loading method may be somewhat different from what these Vietnamese soldiers know. The militiamen quickly erected several conspicuous wooden targets painted white in the distance. This thoughtful consideration of details made Zheng Zha couldn't help but nod slightly, sighing at the meticulousness of the Haihan people.
After a ping-ping-pong-pong test firing, several of Zheng Zha's subordinates expressed their approval of the maneuverability of this weapon. At this time, the militiamen also carried back several targets in the distance to let them confirm the results of their test guns. The shooting accuracy of the musket is very limited, so these targets are only placed at a distance of fifty meters, which effectively ensures that some bullets can hit the target. However, the Vietnamese obviously don't care much about the accuracy of the muskets. They seem to care more about the probability of successful firing of these muskets. At this point, the quality of these matchlock guns produced by Chuanchuan Group is obviously better than those of its contemporary competitors. As long as they are operated If there is no problem in the process, the firing rate can be maintained at about 90%.
As for the artillery, even if Zheng Zha wants to test-fire it, there is nothing he can do. This thing is not as simple to operate as a matchlock gun. Just cleaning the barrel and loading ammunition require a certain amount of training to learn, otherwise it will easily explode. accident. After Tao Dong came to explain how powerful it was, Zheng Zha did not insist. He only carefully observed the appearance and workmanship of these artillery pieces at close range. Since Vietnam has not mastered the technology of casting artillery, Zheng Zha really can't see the pros and cons. He only thinks that the black artillery is very intimidating just by looking at it. If his troops can be equipped with this weapon , even if you pay a small price, it is worth it.
Zheng Zhu was about to ask Tao Donglai for the third time, but this time Tao Donglai beat him to it.
"It's getting late, why don't we have dinner first, eat and drink enough, refresh ourselves, and then continue talking about business!" Tao Donglai said with a smile, blocking the words that Zheng Zao had already spoken. .
Zheng Zha looked at the sky and saw that it was indeed dinner time. Just watching the Haihan people's weapons demonstration, several hours had passed before I knew it. At that moment, Zheng Zha didn't refuse and followed Tao Donglai back to the tent.
Zheng Zha is not a second-generation official who doesn’t understand anything. On the contrary, he is considered a leader with outstanding abilities among the second generation of North Vietnamese officials. Otherwise, Zheng Zha would not have sent him as a representative of the Zheng family in North Vietnam. this trade negotiation. But in terms of skill at the negotiation table, ten Zheng Zhuo bundled together could not compete with one Tao Donglai. Before he knew it, Zheng Zhao had gradually entered the opponent's rhythm.
Although the weapons sale was still on his mind, Zheng Zha's attention was quickly distracted to the delicious food in front of him. The use of a variety of seasonings and spices opened the eyes of the second-generation officials who thought they lived a luxurious life. Tao Donglai also took the opportunity to promote edible spices to them and gave them a small number of samples as gifts. Zheng Zha has expressed great interest in this, but the spice trade will have to wait until the middle of next year at the earliest, when the spice crops grown by Chuanchuan Group in Sanya will usher in the first harvest season.
Considering that there were still transaction details that needed to be discussed by both parties after the meal, Tao Donglai did not bring out any alcoholic beverages during this dinner, so as not to accidentally overwhelm Zheng Zha and delay the business. Zheng Zha did not completely forget his mission, and kept asking for information about the Haihan people during the chat.
After a pleasant dinner, the two parties returned to the negotiating table to continue the unfinished negotiations in the afternoon. Zheng Zha finally heard the weapons quotation he had been waiting for.
Type 27 matchlock gun, thirty taels of silver each, containing thirty rounds of special ammunition and a special cowhide armed ammunition strap, as well as the flat-blade bayonet that Zheng Zha attaches great importance to. Type 27 A artillery, one thousand two hundred taels of silver, including ten rounds of ammunition and a pull-type ignition tube, a full set of loading and sighting tools, and a special movable gun mount. Type 27 B-type artillery costs 2,500 taels of silver each. It contains the same accessories as the Type-A artillery. As for the subsequent supply price of ammunition, musket ammunition is 200 taels per 1,000 rounds, type A artillery ammunition is 200 taels per 100 rounds, and type B is 400 taels per 100 rounds.
The price quoted for the arms this time was much higher than the price previously sold to "Furuifeng". The price quoted for the muskets was 2.5 times the price at that time, while the prices for the artillery were 2 times and 2.5 times respectively - this is almost "Furuifeng" was trafficked to Fujian and sold to local forces at sales terminal prices.
Of course, with the price quoted being so high, the Executive Committee had no intention of asking the other party to agree to it, so there was still room for counter-offering. Considering that the other party may purchase a large amount of weapons for the establishment of the army, the supply price of ammunition was directly reported this time. As the saying goes, "When a cannon goes off, you get ten thousand taels of gold." Naturally, the subsequent supply of ammunition is also very expensive.
Zheng Zha also trembled in his heart when he heard this. Of course, he had expected that the price of these things would be high, but he never expected that it would be so expensive. There are thirty taels of muskets, so to equip a musketeer unit of a thousand people, at least thirty thousand taels of silver will be needed! The price of the artillery was even more astonishing. After watching the artillery demonstration, Zheng Zha originally planned to order a hundred units of each type of artillery. Now it seems that due to funding issues, this plan must be changed.
And that's not all. The accessory ammunition provided by the Haihan people is extremely limited. I'm afraid it is only enough for training. If you really want to train a firearms unit to fight on the battlefield, you will probably have to spend money to buy their sky-high price ammunition.
Profiteer! Zheng Zha secretly labeled Tao Donglai, the smiling tiger sitting opposite. But Zheng Zha couldn't just slam the table and leave because of the high price quoted by the other party. After seeing the weapon demonstration, Zheng Zha knew that he had to buy this thing. If Zheng didn't buy it, maybe the Haihan people would go south tomorrow morning. Hue went to sell these murder weapons to Nguyen. The only way is to see how to lower the selling price of Haihan people.
Zheng Zha suddenly remembered that Tao Donglai had mentioned in the afternoon that the artillery would be used as rent in exchange for the development rights of Heitu Port, and he immediately asked Tao Donglai about it again. Tao Donglai nodded and said: "Yes, we can use ten Type 27 A artillery pieces to pay you as the one-year rent of Heitu Port. Our requirement is to obtain the local information of Heitu Port during the lease period." Development rights, residence rights and governance rights. Of course, under this premise, we recognize that the territorial rights of this area belong to Annan State, and you are also welcome to send officials to the area to participate in civil administration. ”
Tao Donglai's words can be regarded as very diplomatic skills - first of all, you must recognize the power I have in Black Earth Port, so that I will recognize that sovereignty belongs to you; secondly, you can only send civilian personnel there, as for the armed forces No need to talk about it.
However, Zheng Zha was not as powerful as Tao Donglai thought. He was not fully aware of the contents implied in Tao Donglai's words. Zheng Zha is thinking about another thing in his mind: According to what is known now, the local product in Heitu Port is only coal. The current price of coal in Shenglong Prefecture is only two or three taels of silver per kilogram. If according to the Haihan Artillery To calculate the price, ten artillery pieces cost more than 10,000 taels of silver. That year's rent could probably buy several million kilograms of coal. The income from taking back Heitu Port would obviously not be that high, but it was under Zheng's rule. It’s just one more dispensable coal pit. From this point of view, it seems to be more cost-effective to hand over the land to the Haihan people and collect the rent.
Tao Donglai also believed that this was a very good deal. It seemed that he made a lot of money less, but in fact, the cost of making ten 6-pound cannons was not much. It was less than a thousand yuan when converted. For such a small price, The investment is exchanged for a year of peace in the Black Earth Port area. This is a very worthwhile deal for the Crossing Group, which is currently stretched thin in terms of military strength.
As a result, the two sides quickly reached an agreement on the status of Black Tu Port. As the actual leader of the North Vietnamese regime, Zheng will recognize the power of the Haihan people in Black Tu Port and will not interfere in the local management and operation in principle. However, as the ruler, the Zheng family will send local officials to the Black Tugang area to supervise local operations in the form of observers to ensure that the Haihan people do not divide the territory and split the territory. For this reason, the Haihan side must promise not to rebel to the south. The military sells similar weapons.
The Haihan side will deliver ten artillery pieces to the Zheng family of North Vietnam at the business inn on the Doshan Peninsula at the end of each year as the cost of renting the Black Tu Port for one year, and all local residents will be controlled by the Haihan Executive Committee and the Black Tu Port Management Committee. Will be managed. As for the lease period, Tao Donglai and Zheng Zha discussed it and tentatively decided it to be ten years. After the expiration, they will discuss renewal matters based on the situation at the time. Of course, Tao Donglai knew very well that there would probably be no contract renewal negotiations in ten years. It was very likely that in less than ten years, that place would be placed under the name of the Haihan regime and become a future republic. territory.
However, the concession-type agreement between the two parties, including the previously negotiated Tushan Peninsula area, will only remain a verbal agreement and will not be implemented into a written agreement in black and white. The Zheng family is concerned about their status as a powerful minister. After all, they have not yet reached the stage of seeking to usurp the throne. If the Zheng family secretly signs such an agreement involving the territory with the Haihan people on behalf of the Hou Li Dynasty, it will undoubtedly be a big deal. If it is left in the hands of the Haihan people, Zheng will not do such a stupid thing. The Cross-Travel Group originally did not want to sign any paper agreement. Once such a thing was signed, it would only cause unnecessary trouble for regaining territory in the future using reasons such as "since ancient times".
So the two sides miraculously reached such an important land agreement. Zheng Zha believed that the Haihan people were not strong enough to occupy North Vietnam's territory. Moreover, they seemed to be bent on making money and did not show any evil intentions. They were willing to If there is a pit for coal mining in Black Earth Port, then it is good enough to dig it. Tao Donglai believed that the North Vietnamese Zheng family would have to rely on the arms supply of the Crossing Group for a long time to come, so there was no need to worry about North Vietnam going back on its word and endangering the security of the Black Earth Port. Both parties believe that they have something to rely on, and there is no need to worry about the other party breaking the contract easily.
But Zheng Zha would not agree to the quotation for muskets and artillery so quickly. Although these items were rare in North Vietnam, it did not mean that Zheng Zha would let his family be ripped off by Haihan. Zheng Zha's counteroffer was only half of the quoted price, which was obviously not within the expected price range for Tao Donglai.
However, Tao Donglai is not in a hurry, because he has already determined that the other party will definitely buy it in the end, but the price may affect the specific purchase quantity. As for whether the arms trade should pursue high profits or sales volume, this issue has long been decided within the Executive Committee.
Almost all executive committee members believe that the arms trade should expand the scale of sales as much as possible on the basis of ensuring reasonable profits. The profit from the sale of a single weapon does not need to be too high, but the quantity sold must be large. Because only large-scale deployment can ensure Haihan's influence in the local military system, thereby giving Haihan the opportunity to intervene in local affairs to seek benefits, and subsequent military training, ammunition supply, weapons maintenance and even the replacement of next-generation weapons. equipment, it will not be able to get rid of its dependence on Haihan Military Industry.
As for whether such large-scale arms sales will pose a threat to itself, the Executive Committee believes that due to the careful planning of relevant departments, this possibility is extremely slim. First of all, there is a performance gap between exported weapons and weapons used locally. If this generation gap is to be smoothed out through the number of troops, the price the other party will have to pay will be huge. Secondly, the headquarters of the Chuanchuan Group is located on Hainan Island. Any arms export target must come across the sea if they want to fight against the Chuanhua Group. The advantages of the Chuanhua Group in coastal defenses are unbeatable by all navies of the same era - - Of course, it will take some time to realize this advantage. A large-scale coastal artillery defense system and an established artillery force are not plans that can be achieved overnight.
Vietnam, which is caught in a civil war, obviously does not have the ability to attack cross-sea groups. They have neither strong maritime power nor enough energy to expand their power overseas. This civil war would last until the second half of the 17th century in the original history. After the Time Travel Group appeared in this time and space, it could completely interfere with the process of this war to a certain extent through arms trade according to its own needs - -When necessary, we can provide some arms to the Ruan clan in the south to prevent this war from turning into a one-sided farce. Just wait until the executive committee deems it necessary to intervene directly, and then adjust the strategy.
As for agreeing to Zheng Zha's weapons monopoly, Tao Donglai thinks that this is not a problem - at most, he can just find a few agents to play the role of white gloves. Tao Donglai had already thought about it even on the way to Vietnam. At the appropriate time, he could send Old Morgan or Bearded Johnson to Hue to discuss arms trade with the Nguyen regime in the south as Western maritime merchants. At that time, the guns and artillery sold to the Nguyen family in the south will only need to make some minor adjustments in appearance to distinguish them from the weapons sold to the north. In this way, even in the future, both sides will use advanced firearms to fight on the battlefield, and the crossing group will fight against North Vietnam. The regime also has reasonable excuses for not knowing.
After several rounds of bargaining, Tao Donglai felt that the other party's patience was probably worn out, so he threw out his trump card: "Mr. Zheng, if you insist on us lowering the price, it's not impossible. However, we probably won’t be able to provide you with subsequent weapons use training services.”
Zheng Zha suddenly came to his senses. He was only focused on bargaining with the Haihan people, but he forgot about the use of these weapons after buying them back. The muskets were okay, and at least there were some knowledgeable officers. Loading and using them was not a problem, but the rotational firing formation required special training. As for the Haihan Artillery, without special training, I'm afraid I wouldn't even be able to figure out how to use it, let alone put it into use on the battlefield.
At that moment, Zheng Zha asked: "What do you mean?"
"Considering that the arms transaction between us is not a one-time deal and may require long-term dealings in the future, we have already made a comprehensive plan for this." Tao Donglai introduced to Zheng Zha with a smile: "We will Set up a training camp here to provide you with one hundred military advisors, specifically responsible for training your soldiers so that they can learn the techniques and tactics of using muskets and artillery on the battlefield in a short period of time. Of course, these military advisors. The salary and daily training expenses of the training camp will be borne by you.”
(End of chapter)