Chapter 1879 Arms Trade
So that afternoon, Li Bo also appeared at the scene of the weapons transaction as a bystander. However, what made him slightly disappointed was that there was no bargaining here as he expected. The venue was located at the shooting range of the garrison barracks, and the transaction process began with inspection. As for the transaction price and purchase list of both parties, as Shi Diwen declared in advance, they will not be announced in public.
On the one hand, this is to facilitate Haihan to control the market price and supply of weapons and equipment, and on the other hand, it is to protect the personal interests of these Ming military leaders and prevent their strength from being exposed to broad daylight. In fact, if it weren't for the fact that Haihan provided a batch of spot goods this time, it would be unlikely that these military leaders would gather on Zhoushan Island at the same time, because in the past they all adopted the pre-order method, and there was no need to rush over to buy like this time.
It is worth mentioning that this batch of weapons and equipment supplied to the Zhejiang Ming Army was not produced by Haihan, but was the proceeds from Spanish armed forces captured by Haihan after occupying Manila. These muskets and artillery manufactured locally by the Spaniards are naturally not comparable to the equipment of the Haihan Army, but for the Ming Army, their performance is superior to that of the Ordnance Bureau under the Ministry of Industry and the Military Affairs Bureau under the Inner Government. Weapons produced by the Zang Bureau.
And the most important thing is that the price of this batch of second-hand weapons is much cheaper than the real ones made by Haihan, and you don't have to wait for the construction period, you can pick up the goods immediately after paying the money. For some military leaders who are eager to acquire arms for other uses, this is definitely a batch of goods worth spending money on.
In fact, after the war in Manila ended, a small part of the Spanish weapons and equipment seized from the local area also flowed into North Korea through Li Xi's hands. It's just that Li Pu doesn't know the specific status of the arms trade between his country and Haihan, so this is the first time he has actually seen Spanish-style weapons.
Since it is an inspection, it is natural to randomly select test firings to verify the performance of the weapons. This link also makes up for Li Bo's regret of not understanding the content of the transaction between the two parties - he can intuitively understand the Ming army's procurement through test firing and target practice. What is the performance of batch of weapons?
Compared with the Haihan weapons he had seen at the Datong River base before going abroad, Li Bo quickly realized that the weapons sold to the Ming Dynasty were indeed not very good, but they were just the most ordinary matchlock guns. Although there were also a small number of flintlock rifles among the rifles delivered to the Ming Army, their performance was far inferior to that of the rifles equipped by the Haihan Army.
However, looking at the reactions of these Ming military leaders, it seemed that they were not dissatisfied with the performance of these rifles. Li Shu was relieved when he thought about it. This is not a wet market where you can pick and choose. If you don't want to buy it if you don't like it, there are many People are queuing up to buy, and after a moment's hesitation they are gone, leaving no room for them to complain. If these weapons are sold to North Korea, Li Bo feels that the reaction of his country's soldiers Cao Yamen will probably be similar to that of these Ming generals. Regardless of whether they buy it or not, the existing problems must be solved first, and then they can consider whether they are useful or not. .
This batch of guns had already gone through preliminary screening before being shipped to Zhejiang to ensure that each gun could be used normally, so the test firing of the buyers went smoothly and the target shooting test was quickly completed.
In addition to this batch of rifles, a batch of Spanish artillery was also sold. The guns that could be towed and loaded on ships in and around Manila were successively handed over to various Allied forces after the war. The several heavy coastal defense artillery pieces at the Port of Manila, which were of little use during the war, were also shipped to the country by the Annan Army, saying that they were to be equipped at the military port on the Tushan Peninsula as a weapon to guard the country's borders.
The artillery that was shipped to Zhejiang for sale was actually the same as the rifles, which were leftover defective products picked up by the various Allied forces. Haihan only guarantees that it can be used, but does not guarantee its performance or service life. However, these Ming army generals did not care too much about the performance of artillery, and their purpose of buying these artillery was not necessarily to arm their own troops - as long as these artillery were bought and resold, the price could be doubled or even more. Sell it to the north at a high price.
Haihan is not unaware of this situation, but this kind of resale does not harm Haihan's own interests, so he generally does not interfere with the specific whereabouts of these weapons. The more aspects involved in this arms trade network, the more people will benefit from it, and the more stable the business will be. And Haihan can also use this special trade channel to continuously increase his influence within the Ming Dynasty.
After seeing several Spanish artillery pieces pulled by mules to the shooting range, Li Ming became more certain of his idea. The weapons Haihan sold to the Ming Dynasty were not of the highest quality, and the Ming Dynasty's military strength was not as strong as he had previously thought. I thought it was so far away.
For more than two hundred years, the Korean state under the rule of the Li Dynasty has always treated the Ming Dynasty as its suzerain state. Even the replacement of the king must be recognized and canonized by the Ming Dynasty before it can be counted. The reason is that, in addition to the gap in comprehensive national strength between the two countries, another very important point is the gap in military force. So every time North Korea encountered a foreign invasion and was unable to defend itself, it would immediately turn to Ming Dynasty and ask Ming Dynasty to send troops to help it repel the enemy.
Before the rise of Hou Jin, Ming's protection was still very strong. When the Imjin Japanese Rebellion broke out in North Korea during the Wanli Period, 140,000 Japanese troops crossed the sea and invaded North Korea. They captured the North Korean capital in just one month and expelled the North Korean King Li Huan. Later, the Ming Dynasty also gathered a large army into North Korea to help it retreat from the enemy, but this battle lasted seven years.
Although the allied forces of the Ming Dynasty and North Korea finally won the victory and drove the Japanese army out of North Korea, the national power of the Ming Dynasty was greatly affected. From then on, it was unable to suppress the Houjin armed forces in Liaodong, leaving room for them to gain momentum.
By the time Li Bo became sensible, Nurhachi had already established the Great Jin Kingdom, known as the Hou Jin Dynasty, and published a proclamation for the "Seven Great Hatreds", and began to openly oppose the Ming Dynasty. Although the education he received since childhood was to serve the Ming Dynasty as the suzerain state, in his mind, the strength of this suzerain state is no longer so convincing.
In 1627, Hou Jin invaded North Korea and forced North Korea to form an alliance and pay it the annual coins. Although North Korea did not sever its vassal relationship with the Ming Dynasty, the status and influence of this suzerain state also declined and could no longer reach the level of 1627. The level reached during Wanli period.
In the past ten years or so, in Li Pu's eyes, the suzerainty has been in name only for most of the time. Especially after Haihan began to enter Northeast Asia in the past two years, its influence on North Korea began to gradually overtake the Ming Dynasty. After experiencing this year's war against the Qing Dynasty, Haihan was about to replace the Ming Dynasty, and Li Ming no longer had much respect for his former suzerainty. The Ming Dynasty's armed level is nothing more than this - this is what Li Bo really thinks at the moment. But the object of comparison he used was Haihan, which was actually quite unfair to the Ming Dynasty. Without the existence of Haihan, who was against the heavens, the Ming Dynasty would still be a very powerful country in Northeast Asia during this period.
Even Li Bo, who doesn't know much about the international situation, can imagine why Haihan wants to control the weapons and equipment sold to Ming Dynasty. After all, the two countries are friendly countries that have established diplomatic relations on the surface, but in fact there are difficulties. Reconcile territorial disputes and competing interests of rivals. Haihan wanted to maintain his military superiority over Ming Dynasty and also earn profits from the lucrative arms trade, so he could only write this kind of article.
But Li Bo feels that North Korea is different. There is almost no direct conflict of interest between Haihan and North Korea, and North Korea is also happy to respect Haihan as its new patron. After seeing several allied armies supported by Haihan, North Korea also decisively followed Haihan's suggestions and prepared to form a new army. In Li Bo's opinion, the other allied troops that entered the DPRK were probably a bit stronger than the Ming Dynasty's troops. If North Korea can develop and train a new army in full accordance with the plan formulated by Haihan, then having a combat force that is better than the average level of the Ming Dynasty in a few years does not seem to be an unreachable goal.
The rumbling sound of artillery awakened Li Shu from his daydream. He returned to the shooting range and saw several Ming army artillerymen learning to use these Spanish artillery pieces under the guidance of Haihan soldiers. In fact, the principles of this kind of muzzle-loading cannon are very similar. It is not difficult for experienced artillerymen to learn. The real difficulty lies in how to become familiar with their performance through training after receiving these artillery.
This sounds simple, but in practice it is not easy. The biggest problem is that training requires the service life of ammunition and artillery. Training results must be exchanged for real money. Even for troops with artillery, their commanders may not have so much money for daily training. .
The Haihan Artillery's financial investment in the training stage may not be much greater than that of the Ming Army. However, with the artillery training experience of later generations, the relevant training methods and efficiency are far superior to those of its competitors at the same time, and the training effect will naturally be better. Big difference. Moreover, frequent foreign wars have given the Haihan Artillery a large number of practical combat opportunities to practice. Its battlefield spans a vast area from the South China Sea to the Yellow Sea. It performs combat missions in various natural environments. It is natural to accumulate combat experience and improve combat skills. It is far superior to the Ming army.
North Korea actually has artillery, but Li Bo has seen his country's artillery drills before. At the time, he thought they were quite good and majestic. But after seeing Haihan's artillery combat drill, Li Bo knew that he was The idea is really a little bit like looking at the sky from a well.
But Li Pu believes that this has something to do with the artillery previously equipped by North Korea. He has seen the Haihan artillery drill at the Datong River base, and the power of the artillery fire is obviously different and the range is longer. He believes that if more artillery pieces produced by Haihan can be purchased in the future, it will definitely improve the combat effectiveness of the North Korean army. As for the artillery that is said to be produced in Western countries, since Haihan can confidently and boldly sell it in batches to the Ming Dynasty, it is conceivable that the performance will not be much better.
Although Li Bo's idea is a bit extreme, it is basically expected. After all, these are the remaining weapons seized from Manila, and there is really no highlight in terms of performance. If no one from Ming Dynasty buys them, then it is estimated that Haihan can only treat these weapons as scrap metal and return them to the furnace.
Of course, if there were people from the Fujian Ming Army present, their attitude would probably be similar to that of Li Bo, and they would not take these Spanish weapons seriously. After the war in Manila, only the Fujian Ming Army received almost no captured Spanish weapons, because Xu Xinsu, who was wealthy and wealthy, had always insisted on using Haihan weapons to equip his troops. Although this requires a huge financial investment, the troops under his control do have extraordinary combat effectiveness. Troops equipped with unified weapons can use consistent tactics during combat, and logistics are easier to complete. Supply mission.
However, it is unlikely that North Korea will be on par with the Fujian Ming Army in the short term. Xu Xinsu allocates up to one million taels of silver in military expenditures every year. In recent years, it has continued to purchase warships from Haihan to reorganize its naval forces. Its investment It is even comparable to the annual military budget of the Ministry of War. Based on North Korea's current situation, it is estimated that it will not be able to provide even one-tenth of its funds. It will take a long time to form a decent new army to see results.
After the artillery firing is over, the weapon acceptance process comes to an end. The military leaders had already paid the Zhoushan authorities before, and now they only needed to take the bill of lading signed by Shi Diwen and go to several warehouses in the port to receive the goods.
This arms deal was a bit boring for Li Bo. The fierce bargaining between the buyer and the seller and the display of advanced weapons that he wanted to see did not appear. He just watched a boring weapons acceptance. But he couldn't show any dissatisfaction with this. After all, he took the initiative to come, and Shi Diwen agreed to his request, which was already a great deal of face. Of course, Li Pu now also wants to understand that Shi Diwen probably agreed to his application with confidence and boldness because he expected that he would not be able to get any valuable information during this delivery and acceptance process.
Shi Diwen had no intention of thinking about Li Bo's feelings at the moment. Although these weapons were almost a pile of scrap iron to Haihan, this pile of scrap iron had successfully exchanged hundreds of thousands of taels of silver for Haihan. This is another achievement of his.
These weapons were indeed intended to be transported back to Sanya for dismantling, but Shi Diwen mentioned this matter when Wang Tom and Qian Tiandun went north to North Korea, so he took the initiative to send a telegram back to Sanya and asked them to transport these things to Zhoushan. . Fuzhou and Guangzhou cannot digest these weapons, but the arms market in Jiangsu and Zhejiang is still at the stage where people are stupid and there is a lot of money. As long as he spends a little effort, he will not worry about selling them.
The actual situation was exactly as he expected. After the weapons arrived in Hong Kong, he sent a message to the troops stationed along the coast of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, which had good relations with Haihan, telling them that there was a batch of weapons in stock for sale, and then people from all walks of life led them. He came to Zhoushan with the money and within two or three days digested all the weapons that could not be disposed of in the south.
(End of chapter)