Chapter 1574: Rich and willful
In the history of Haihan's foreign military sales, artillery was considered a major sales item. The number of purchases by major customers like Annan has long exceeded a thousand, and more than 80% of the artillery deployed in various parts of the country are It's from Haihan. However, artillery, like warships, has long been on the not-for-sale list, and only a few customers with close ties to Haihan can place bulk orders. Although the performance of the models sold for export has been greatly reduced, due to the advantages of materials and manufacturing processes, the overall performance is still better than the artillery that can be manufactured in this era. For most countries in the Far East, cold weapons are still the main equipment. Generally speaking, the artillery produced by Haihan is an important weapon for the country.
Of course, the Dutch have mastered the technology of casting cannons for a long time, but there is still a big gap between them and Haihan in terms of craftsmanship, and they cannot carry out industrial production like Haihan Ordnance Industry. It would take at least two hundred cannons to manufacture by themselves. Take two or three years. But this is not the main reason why Su Keyi is sitting here bidding for these artillery pieces. The reason why he wants to participate in the bidding of this project is to snipe his opponents. If the Horsemen were allowed to take these two hundred cannons into their pockets, it is conceivable that the next time the Horseland army attacks Batavia City, there will be more than just clumsy trebuchets coming to the city. And under this situation, there is really no certainty that the Dutch army can still defend the city.
Su Keyi looked at Luo Hong, who was sitting opposite. He had a faint smile on his face, as if he was mocking Su Keyi's incompetence. The package price of these two hundred artillery pieces must be far more than the firearms project just now. Will the Matalan people still bid with the same attitude as just now?
Su Keyi lowered his head and looked at the quotation in front of him. The cheapest small-caliber field gun costs 800 yuan each. It fires three-pound shells and has a range of one thousand feet. The Haihan length unit is about three hundred meters. Yes, even the length measurement unit of meter was used by Haihan more than a century in advance. The measurement unit that should have been invented only after the French Revolution at the end of the 18th century was once again preempted by time-travelers. And after several years of promotion, even other countries with close trade relations with Haihan began to accept this unit of measurement.
This is not the only thing affected by Haihan. Measurement units such as weight, volume, area, voyage, etc. that are often involved in trade have almost all become the targets of Haihan's technology promotion. As for the benefits of doing so, people of this era may just feel that the trade process has become more convenient, but the time travelers know the significance of having the power to set standards. The ancients said that "books share the same text, cars run the same track, and travels share the same thread." The unification and promotion of various measurement standards are also necessary means for the internal consolidation and external expansion of Haihan culture.
Su Keyi has been in Sanya for a long time, and is no stranger to the units of measurement that Haihan promotes. However, his focus is now on calculating the prices of these guns, and he is not interested in things with more far-reaching significance. No time to think about it.
Of course, eight hundred yuan for a small cannon is not a problem for the East India Company. Even if it buys one or two hundred, it is not a particularly large amount. However, in the sales content given by the Haihan people, the proportion of such small cannons is Only 10%, and the unit price of the remaining 90% is much higher than that.
The largest large-caliber siege gun in terms of volume and weight, and the weight of the gun carriage has reached ten tons. The price quoted by Haihan is as high as 15,000 yuan. The price of the corresponding urban defense cannon of the same caliber and the matching rotating turret has exceeded 20,000 yuan. But matching it is that this large artillery has a range of more than one mile and a combined length of about two thousand meters. This is definitely a killer weapon that neither party participating in the bidding has ever owned.
Of course, in addition to the amazing performance, the price is enough to calm down Su Keyi. If he were to spend hundreds of thousands without blinking like Luo Hong, he really couldn't do it. If he could buy them separately, he would be willing to persuade Governor Van Diemen to buy a few city defense cannons with rotating turrets as a way to bolster the city of Batavia. However, Haihan stated that these two hundred guns must be purchased in a package. The total calculated price of this project is indeed a bit high. It will take up at least half of the East India Company's budget for participating in this bidding, and the Navy's arms sales project even The bidding hasn't started yet. If most of the money is spent here, the subsequent warship project will be difficult to operate.
But if they don't grab this project, the horses and the blue men have guns and cannons. When they face off against the Dutch armed forces in the future, the latter will probably be the unlucky ones. Su Keyi also saw the siege cannon on sale two days ago when he went to see the goods. Its power is indeed frightening. One shot can blast a big crater into a stone wall several feet thick. And according to the Haihan people, there are more powerful siege-specific artillery shells, but they need to be purchased separately.
Even if Su Keyi didn't want to buy these weapons, he still had to bite the bullet in order to prevent them from falling into the hands of the Matalan people. Su Keyi now fully understood the deep meaning of Haihan's arrangement, which was to force them to raise prices for each other and forcefully sell tofu for the price of meat.
The package price of two hundred guns has exceeded 600,000 yuan. This is only the base price. If the bidding rhythm of firearms is followed, the final transaction price is likely to exceed 800,000 yuan, even for those who are used to big business. For Haihan military industry, this is by no means an ordinary amount.
The total annual export weapons orders of Haihan Ordnance Industry generally fluctuate between two and three million yuan, but with two new buyers who like fighting spirit this year, the performance will definitely improve significantly. Bai Kesi was in a good mood at this time, and even wanted to check the inventory of weapons and equipment again to see if there was any old equipment that needed to be cleaned up, and then sell it to these two culprits.
Sure enough, Luo Hong continued his bidding strategy for the first project. He increased the price by 100,000 yuan on top of the base price and won the lead in the first round of bidding.
"If you don't have money, don't act like a hero. If you give up the bid, when my army comes to the city from now on, I will plead for your life and save your life. How about it?" Luo Hong mocked Su Keyi triumphantly: "If you think about other things, The benefits can be explained in detail. It’s easy to say.”
Of course, Su Keyi couldn't fall for what he did. He shook his head expressionlessly and said: "I'm sorry, I don't think your country will have a chance to attack Batavia! Our East India Company will never fail. Bargain! ”
Luo Hong's expression changed, he snorted coldly, and stopped teasing the other party. In the Battle of Batavia, the Ma-Da Blue Army fell short when they were about to break through the city defenses and seize the entire city. This has always been a shadow that is difficult to dispel in Luo Hong's heart. Although the Malayan Blue Army caused great trouble to the East India Company in that battle, they ultimately failed to capture the city after paying heavy casualties, and they could not be said to be the victors. Therefore, attacking Batavia City again has become an obsession of the Matalan Kingdom. Even if all the money in the treasury is spent to arm the army, Batavia City must be captured and the Dutch driven out. Out of Java.
Defeating the Dutch in the arms bidding was the first step in revenge for Luo Hong, but obviously the Han in front of him who was working for the Dutch did not give up the struggle, which made Luo Hong feel very unhappy. Whether it's a battlefield or a shopping mall, he must have the upper hand and deal a severe blow to the Dutch. Luo Hong will fight for every project bid. He hopes that in this way, he can gradually destroy the other party's psychological defense.
While Su Keyi was calculating the other party's bid, he was also considering his own budget situation. The bidding method was indeed beyond the East India Company's expectations, but the secret letter sent by Van Diemen to Sanya still instructed Su Keyi to do it himself when he had the opportunity to order Haihan arms, and the budget was more He was given a large amount of money. If converted into Haihan currency, the upper limit is approximately 1.5 million yuan - this amount of money is almost the total profit that the East India Company can currently earn in a year. Moreover, Su Keyi did not have so much cash at all. Even if he bought it, he could only ask Haihan to apply for a loan first, and then transport gold and silver from Batavia to repay it in the future. In order to take an advantage in the competition with the Matalan Kingdom, Van Diemen made a big bet. It was hard for Su Keyi to even imagine how he persuaded those greedy company shareholders to agree to this military expenditure. How to rationally use this budget in the arms purchase competition is the biggest problem Su Keyi currently faces.
This money does seem to be a lot, but in this bidding arranged by Haihan, it is difficult to guarantee that the East India Company can grab all the key projects. Moreover, judging from the current performance of its opponents, the Ma Dalan Kingdom is not ready for this competition. The budget amount prepared for the bidding is obviously higher than one's own. Therefore, Su Keyi must consider the priorities of each project. Which projects will only be raised in price, which ones should be fought for, and which ones cannot be missed. He must think carefully before bidding and reasonably allocate the limited budget at hand.
In Su Keyi's view, artillery, firearms, and even other equipment including the army are not equipment that the East India Company must purchase. Most of these weapons can be produced by the East India Company themselves, but their performance and output cannot be compared with those of Haihan products. If you can choose the type and quantity of weapons, you can buy some, but the package purchase arranged this time is not so suitable for the East India Company.
If the Matalan people are allowed to buy these equipment, although they will definitely suffer losses in future land battles, Su Keyi believes that this situation can actually be avoided. If the Matalan people want to attack the Batavia area, they must come from the sea. , then if the East India Company could resist the enemy at sea, naturally there would be no large-scale land battles. As for the large amount of army equipment purchased by Ma Daran, the parts that can be put to use will be greatly restricted.
Therefore, Su Keyi planned to just raise the price in a bluffing way on the army part, and focus on the navy, especially the combat ships. As long as the East India Company's maritime armed forces can be made as powerful as Haihan, he believes that the Matalan people will not have the chance to land at all.
Of course, even if it is a bluff, Su Keyi must try his best to use his acting skills to try to anger his opponents and make them invest more money in the bidding for army equipment. Although Matalan Country is rich, it does not have a mountain of gold and silver that cannot be used up. Su Keyi believes that Luo Hong must have an upper limit on his budget. The more money he spends in the first half, the less room he will have for the second half. The smaller.
Su Keyi gritted his teeth and offered a price of 800,000 in the second round, finally beating Luo Hong. It is indeed risky for him to do this, because if Luo Hong does not bite his price, or simply gives up on the artillery project, then more than half of Su Keyi's budget will be lost here and cannot be recovered, leaving the funds that can be used to buy a ship later. It will be much less.
After hearing the news that Bai Kesi announced that he had won this round of bidding, Su Keyi smiled slightly at Luo Hong and said: "I want to return what you just said in the original sentence. If you don't have money, don't act like a hero!" < br>
Luo Hong snorted, but was not disturbed by his opponent. He just added another hundred thousand to the first round bid step by step. Although he didn't know Su Keyi's bid, he could roughly estimate that the other party's price increase wouldn't be too outrageous. If he hadn't overpowered his opponent in this round, it would be too late for him to offer a higher price in the last round to ensure the deal was completed.
However, because the base price of this project was more than 600,000 yuan, Luo Hong increased the price by 200,000 yuan in two rounds. The total price exceeded Su Keyi's bid of 800,000 yuan in the second round, regaining the upper hand.
Su Keyi didn't dare to increase the bid significantly in this last round. He was not afraid of ten thousand, just in case, so he cautiously added fifty thousand. In the end, he still beat Luo Hong's bid, and finally forced Luo Hong to bid in the third round. .
Luo Hong couldn't figure out how confident the dead-faced guy opposite him was to fight for this project with him, but he was sure of one thing. If the Dutch bought these artillery pieces, they would be defeated next time. If the Blue Army could attack the city of Batavia again, it would probably be difficult for them to defeat a defensive position composed of more than two hundred artillery pieces. In any case, the Dutch cannot be allowed to buy this batch of artillery.
"Since the other party has no chance to counterattack in the last round of bidding, I'll just raise the price." After obtaining Bai Kesi's consent, Luo Hong stretched out a finger and said: "One million!"
"You can be willful if you have money!" The same thought flashed through the minds of several senior executive committee officials present.
Two hundred cannons can be sold for a high price of one million. Even Schneider, who is known for his shrewdness, cannot do this. Apart from giving Luo Hong a thumbs up, there is nothing to say.
Su Keyi, who had always been expressionless, also gasped. The financial resources displayed by his opponent really made him feel powerless. Could it be that the Ma Dallan people really dug a big gold mine recently?
(End of chapter)