Chapter 225 Trip to Vietnam (8)
Zheng Zha responded somewhat unclearly: "Training camp? I think this place has inconvenient transportation and there are no towns around to provide daily needs. Why not set it up in Shenglongfu?"
"It is not a problem for us to set up the training camp in Thang Long House. The reason why I suggest setting up the training camp in this place is also for your consideration." Tao Donglai persuaded with a serious look. : "Mr. Zheng, the presence of troops using firearms is absolutely unprecedented in Annan. Is this correct?"
Zheng Zha nodded without knowing why, but still didn't understand what Tao Donglai meant.
"You have spent a lot of money to build such a high-level army with extremely strong combat capabilities, so that it can kill with one blow on the future battlefield and catch the rebels in the south by surprise. But if the training camp is placed in Thang Long Palace, Mr. Zheng, how long do you think it will take for this news to reach the south? I think whether it is ten days or half a month, the southern rebels will get the news before this force is formed, and you will send this force by then. I'm afraid the combat effect will be very limited." Tao Donglai pointed to the outside of the tent and continued: "But this place is very good, sparsely populated, there is no need to worry about spies from the southern rebels, and we have ships that regularly transport some. Isn’t it more convenient to transport supplies, especially ammunition, from the sea to Thang Long Palace?”
Zheng Zha opened his mouth to refute, but felt that Tao Dong was right in everything, and he was unable to refute, but he always felt that something was wrong in his heart.
Tao Donglai came up with this idea for Zheng Zha not just from a flash of inspiration, but from a draft of the plan that he had prepared a long time ago. During the meeting the night before, he had carefully discussed the details with Qian Tiandun and others, in order to A sure-hit effect.
The entire arms sales plan to Vietnam, from negotiations, demonstrations, sales, to after-sales ammunition supply, skill training, weapon maintenance, etc., has been carefully planned and deduced in advance. In addition to pursuing the maximization of economic profits, every link In addition, the Executive Committee’s long-term goal of gradually controlling Vietnam’s political situation was also taken into account. We will not let go of every detail that can benefit the Cross Travel Group, and strive to achieve perfection.
After the sale of this batch of weapons, it is definitely a sure thing to provide military consultants to train firearms troops for the Zheng clan in North Vietnam. However, due to comprehensive considerations of security and supply, the Executive Committee does not want to send its soldiers to unknown situations. Hanoi area, and the setting of the training location is of course more suitable in the coastal area. Prior to this, Zheng Zha had agreed to the Crossing Group's request to station on the Tushan Peninsula on behalf of North Vietnam, so Tao Donglai naturally designated the Tushan Peninsula as a training base for North Vietnam to train firearms troops in the future.
For this purpose, the negotiation team has specially prepared two sets of plans. If Zheng Zao had not previously agreed to the Crossing Group's request to station on the Tushan Peninsula, Tao Donglai would also use this opportunity to propose to him the idea of setting up a training camp here, and Use this to gain control of the Tushan Peninsula. In fact, as long as we talk about the follow-up training of soldiers, it shows that the Crossing Group has taken the initiative. Whether Zheng Zhale is happy or not, control of the Tushan Peninsula is lost.
Another not-so-obvious benefit of setting up a training camp here is that the troops sent by North Vietnam to participate in training will actually assume the defense of this stronghold to a certain extent. The military force that the Crossing Group can deploy here is at most a company of military advisors. The defense force is actually relatively limited, but the trained troops sent by North Vietnam solved this problem. According to the plan of the Military and Police Department, the size of this training camp will be maintained at about 1,000 to 1,500 people. During the entire training period, these Vietnamese soldiers will not only be trainees, but also act as bodyguards for the peninsula stronghold.
Of course, Tao Donglai's reasons for persuading Zheng Zha were also very sufficient, and he seemed to be considering them entirely from Zheng's perspective. The training of firearms troops is very noisy. If it is located near Shenglong Palace, it will not be able to hide from the attention of interested people. This will inevitably greatly reduce the suddenness of Zheng's deployment of firearms troops on the battlefield, and the result will definitely be What Zheng, who spent a lot of money, didn't want to see.
Zheng Zha pondered for a while, and had to admit that Tao Donglai's suggestion was indeed reasonable. However, this was the first time he heard this "military advisor", so he asked Tao Donglai for its specific meaning.
Tao Donglai explained with a smile: "The military consultants we provide are mainly to organize and train your personnel so that they can learn the basic skills of firearms combat and be able to fight against troops using cold weapons on the battlefield. Suppressive strikes. Of course, in addition, they must also learn the basic maintenance, maintenance, and repair skills of weapons. Otherwise, if these weapons have minor malfunctions on the battlefield, they will have to be transported back to this place for repair. "
Zheng Zha rolled his eyes and asked: "It's just maintenance, but what if we order a large amount of muskets and artillery in the future and you are unable to supply them?"
Tao Donglai guessed what Zheng Zha was thinking and did not tell him. He just asked: "Then what are Mr. Zheng's plans?"
Zheng Zha said: "To sell these guns and artillery, you need to cross the sea by boat, which consumes a lot of time and money. Why not build a weapons workshop on our land in Annan to make these weapons? How much labor is required? , materials and daily expenses can all be borne by us. You only need to send craftsmen for supervision and guidance. In this way, you can increase the output of weapons, and we can also enjoy lower prices, and both parties can get what they want. It’s necessary, isn’t it wonderful?”
Tao Donglai smiled and said to himself that your mind is running very fast. Before the sale of this weapon was even completed, you already thought of introducing production technology. You are indeed worthy of being the overlord in the future.
In the long-term plan formulated by the Executive Committee, control of areas like Vietnam should start with trade, gradually control its military and economic lifelines, and then exert greater influence on the local regime through these important industries, thereby achieving indirect The purpose of domination. In addition to early arms trade and personnel training, the promotion of military systems and military industry is also one of the goals of military intervention.
For Chuanchuan Group, after the military industrial system is on the track of development, a large number of backward technologies and equipment must find ways to bring more benefits to the group, such as exporting to those areas that have been deeply affected, and assisting The local government built a basic military-industrial system. This not only allows the Chuan Chuan Group to further control local military development, but more importantly, it lays the foundation for the future Chu Chuan regime's monopoly capital to occupy the local market, plunder strategic raw materials, and so on.
This all-round control strategy is not an invention of the Executive Committee. In fact, there are many examples in later generations that have been used as reference materials for the Executive Committee to formulate development strategies. For example, Germany's military assistance to China in the first half of the 20th century was similar. It first sent military advisers, then sold arms to the then Nationalist Government, and later participated in the preparations for the establishment of China's modern military industry. And due to the huge technological gap between the two sides of the trade, the Germans can easily obtain huge profits from trade using a scissor-difference method. All developed countries' military aid sales to backward countries almost follow a similar approach, with the purpose of occupying the market and seizing strategic materials. These successful experiences have naturally become the objects that the Cross-Travel Group is following.
Of course, arms sales to Vietnam are far from helping Vietnam establish a military industrial system. Tao Donglai has already been prepared for this: "Mr. Zheng, as you said, our production capacity is indeed limited. Yes, if your order quantity is too large, we may not be able to complete the supply in the short term, but this problem cannot be solved by building more workshops here. The equipment for manufacturing these weapons is very large and requires a lot of time. The complex maintenance work is currently impossible to relocate here. ”
Zheng Zha curled his lips, apparently not very convinced by Tao Donglai's reasons.
Tao Donglai continued: "Besides, our cooperation has just begun and everything is still in its infancy. I think we should continue to deepen mutual understanding through arms trade and military training. After reaching a certain level, we can Find a weapon manufacturing method that suits the actual situation in Annan, and help you gradually implement it locally. Before that, I think we can refer to the methods you proposed to reduce the production costs of these weapons..."
"Oh?" Zheng Zha cheered up again after hearing this. Does this mean that the other party will take the initiative to lower the price?
"It is impossible to move the workshops that produce these weapons to Annan, but we can completely change the idea and transport the cheap labor provided by you to us. We can also reduce costs and increase the production of weapons. In this way Isn't it great?" Tao Donglai said with a smile. Zheng Zha frowned, feeling that something was wrong.
"I think if you can provide enough labor force, the price of these weapons can be reduced by at least 10% to 20%." Tao Donglai's voice penetrated Zheng Zha's ears like a devil's whisper: "And these labor forces All the expenses for food, clothing, housing and transportation can be borne by us. You just need to help us organize the manpower and send them to the place where we are meeting now.”
Zheng Zha took a breath of air and said: "You mean... let us organize the people, and you will transport them overseas, and then I, the people of Annan, will make these weapons and then sell the weapons back to us?"
"Absolutely correct." Tao Donglai nodded and said: "And we don't ask too much from these workers. Even prisoners of war, prisoners, and homeless wanderers, as long as they are healthy and have basic working ability, we can Acceptable. Of course, we can slowly discuss the specific settlement method. It can be calculated based on head count or based on weapon transaction volume. In short, I guarantee that you will experience the benefits in terms of price. ”
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Now Zheng Zha is really hesitant to organize people to move overseas to work. If Zheng's political enemies find out about this, it will definitely be a big scapegoat. But according to Tao Donglai, doing so can reduce the cost of purchasing Haihan weapons. This is undoubtedly a very cost-effective deal - especially under the premise that North Vietnam intends to purchase Haihan weapons for a long time. This price reduction will bring The benefits are considerable.
Seeing Zheng Zha's hesitation, Tao Donglai calmly calculated the financial accounts for him: "Let's take the transaction content we are going to talk about next as an example. This time we brought a total of Twenty type-A guns and ten type-B guns. Of course, ten of the type-A guns will be handed over to you as the rent of Black Earth Port for the next year, and the remaining twenty guns, according to our previous quotation, total... …”
"Thirty-seven thousand taels." Wang Tom next to him answered. He had already calculated the price of weapons several times in his mind while sitting there. When he heard Tao Donglai's words, he was paused and quickly added some help.
Tao Donglai nodded to Wang Tom to express his gratitude, and then continued: "And if you can promise to provide us with a sufficient number of laborers in the next three months, I think the price can be lowered. Adjust it a bit, for example..."
When Tao Dong came to see Zheng Zao, he looked at him expectantly and calmly quoted the new price: "...30,000 taels."
Zheng Zha was once again stunned by Tao Donglai's offer. I had put so much effort just now, and even talked about it several times, but the other party kept going around and around but refused to lower the price, and even expressed his intention to terminate the transaction in his words. To be honest, Zheng Zha had already lowered the price. I don't have high hopes anymore, I'm just wondering if I can increase the ammunition attached to the opponent as a supplement. But he never wanted to talk about the topic of labor. The other party was actually willing to lower the price by nearly 20% for this matter that had not yet happened.
Seven thousand taels of silver is not much to Zheng, but it is still a lot to say little. According to the other party's new quotation, the money saved can buy six or seven artillery pieces or more than two hundred muskets. And all this can be achieved by exporting a certain amount of labor to the Haihan people.
"Then I wonder how many workers you will need before you are willing to lower the price?" Zheng Zha gritted his teeth and finally made up his mind.
"How about 20,000 people for three months? During this period, the arms you purchased from us will be calculated at 80% of the original quotation." Tao Donglai directly offered a large price.
As expected, Zheng Zha was also frightened. He shook his head repeatedly and said, "I cannot agree to these conditions. It should be noted that Shenglong Mansion has a population of only one hundred thousand. If one out of five is reduced, what kind of momentum will it create among the people?"
Tao Donglai thought about it and realized that this was also the case. Vietnam was not a country with a large population at this time. It was unrealistic to become fat in one go. He then came up with another idea: "How about two thousand people per month? What if? If you can maintain this level of labor output for a long time, then we will give you a long-term trade discount of 20% as mentioned before.”
Zheng Zha thought about it and thought that the pressure of this number was not too great. The key was that the other party did not have high requirements for labor. As long as they had hands and feet and could work, it did not matter whether they were prisoners of war or prisoners. In the current fighting with the southern rebels, thousands of prisoners are taken back to Thang Long Palace every month, and most of them are executed after being paraded in the streets. Naturally, there are also many ordinary people in the war zone who were unjustly arrested, but this makes no difference to Zheng Zha. Now these people can obtain more practical benefits from the Haihan people, which is good for North Vietnam and for This is obviously a good thing for Zheng.
So the two sides reached another verbal agreement on this, in which North Vietnam provided labor in exchange for long-term trade discounts from Hai Han. If North Vietnam stops exporting labor one day, the trade discount will automatically expire, and vice versa.
Wang Tom, Qian Tiandun, Xie Chun and others were all listening in admiration. So many people were thinking day and night about foreign arms sales, expanding the military establishment, solving overseas military budgets, the defense and security risks of black soil ports, and establishing Strategic support points, establishing diplomatic relations with high-level officials in North Vietnam, infiltrating North Vietnam's military system, increasing the number and speed of immigrants introduced from North Vietnam... This series of issues was actually solved in most of the day's negotiations, and every transaction The favorable parties are all inclined to cross the group. This has to be said to be a pioneering work and a huge victory in foreign affairs work.
Tao Donglai, who led this trade negotiation, undoubtedly took the greatest credit. It was the series of plans and strategies he formulated beforehand that made this trade negotiation go so smoothly and basically achieved all the goals of the arms sales plan. .
The next step was to negotiate the specific arms transaction quantity. Because the price and other details had been determined during the previous negotiation process, this originally most important link seemed to be calm.
The final deal reached between the two parties included 800 Type 27 matchlock guns, ten Type 27 A cannons, and 20 Type B cannons. An additional 20,000 rounds of matchlock bullets were purchased, and 400 shells for each of the two types of artillery were purchased. hair. After discounts, the total amount is more than 72,000 taels, which is the largest foreign trade order signed by the Time Travel Group since it came to this time and space.
However, because the current number of ready-made weapons that the Time Travel Group can provide is far less than this number, the transaction will be divided into two times. This time, Zheng will be provided with 300 matchlock guns, 20 Type A guns, 10 Type B guns, and some ammunition. The remaining part will be delivered before the end of the year, at which time Zheng will pay the remaining payment.
However, before the second transaction, Zheng needs to provide the Cross Group with a labor force of no less than 5,000 people within more than two months before the end of the year. Zheng Zha expressed opposition to this request, claiming that it would take more time to suddenly gather such a large population. In this regard, Tao Donglai further relaxed the conditions-anyone under the age of 45, regardless of gender, old or young, as long as they have sound limbs and no physical diseases, can be counted. This meant that even a toddler could make up the numbers. Only then did Zheng Zha nodded and agreed to the request.
(End of chapter)