Chapter 2784
While arms sales negotiations were progressing steadily, Tao Hongfang and others finally waited for the official transfer order issued by Fort Victory.
According to the transfer order, Tao Hongfang will serve as deputy director of trade affairs in the Donghai Region Management Committee, and Ha Jianyi will serve as senior staff officer of the Staff Department of the Seventh Lu Division. The two people's original official positions in the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of National Defense are still retained. Their positions in the Donghai Region are equivalent to temporary appointments with no expiration date, so that they can stay here for a long time.
However, this transfer order only included the appointment of the two of them, and neither Bai Letong nor Ning Zijing was included.
Ning Zijing's job belongs to Qionglianfa Commercial Bank, which does not belong to the official establishment. Moreover, the internal work transfer of Qionglianfa is very flexible and does not require the intervention of the executive committee.
Bai Letong was recruited by his father immediately after Bai Kesi arrived in Hangzhou. Bai Letong's original work arrangements have all been cancelled. Now he is working with Bai Kesi as his personal secretary, but he does not need an appointment from Sanya.
Another point is that after Bai Kesi completes his work in the Donghai Region, he will continue to go north to inspect the Northern Region. Bai Letong will also leave with him. There is no need to appoint another temporary position in the Donghai Region.
However, after they were officially transferred and appointed, Tao Hongfang and Ha Jianyi both reported to their departments and returned to normal working conditions, but they could no longer be as leisurely as they had been some time ago. Ning Zijing was alone and had no important tasks, so he simply took his entourage and ran to Suzhou to relax.
The arms purchase negotiations with the Japanese shogunate went much smoother after the Satsuma Domain came into power. The focus of the Japanese side also shifted from details such as price, performance, specifications, delivery period, etc., to the exclusivity of the arms purchase project.
Masato Masuyama made a clear request, hoping that Kaihan would not sell weapons and equipment to Satsuma Domain, especially those items that the shogunate had decided to purchase.
Of course, such a request was not recognized by Bai Kesi. The only condition Bai Kesi agreed to was to give the shogunate the right to purchase first when the supply was limited, just like Haihan handled the sale of exploration-class warships.
Of course, this was far from Masato Masuyama's expectations, but the problem was that he could not offer more conditions in exchange for Haihan's concessions, and he could not let the Satsuma envoy who was also in Hangzhou go back home. It was impossible to completely prevent the arms trade between Satsuma Domain and Kaihan.
After the previous conflict, Haihan tightened surveillance of the two missions and no longer arranged any official events for the two missions to meet. Even if Masuyama Masato wanted to have another quarrel with Shimazu Hisumi, it is now impossible to achieve it.
Finally, after half a month of negotiations, Masato Masuyama reached a package arms purchase agreement with Haihan on behalf of the Tokugawa shogunate. According to Baikes, the shogunate's agreement was reached before the Satsuma Domain, and all the arms purchased by the shogunate would be delivered before the Satsuma Domain. This was probably the greatest comfort that Masuyama Masatoshi could get.
Shi Diwen and Bai Kesi attended the signing ceremony of both parties. The shogunate purchased twenty exploration-class warships from Haihan in one fell swoop. Ten old ships will be delivered within two months, and the other ten new ships will be delivered one year later. The entire delivery period may be up to three years. In addition, the purchase also includes two thousand flintlock muskets, fifty artillery pieces, a total of one thousand sets of armor of different specifications, as well as corresponding ammunition and accessories.
Compared with warships with long construction cycles, the delivery period of army equipment is much shorter. It is expected that all procurement projects can be delivered within one year. Masato Masuyama can even bring back some of the equipment on his return trip.
In order to enable the shogunate to successfully master the use of these weapons and equipment, Haihan will provide relevant professional training to the shogunate at the Sasebo base.
Of course, according to Haihan's usual business methods, only the basic content on the use of weapons and equipment during the training process is free. If you want to learn advanced content involving techniques and tactics, you must pay to get the learning qualifications. .
If the shogunate is willing to spend money, it can even apply to appoint officers to Haihan and temporarily join the Haihan army as a military observer to share food and accommodation, or go to Haihan Military Academy as a trainee to study abroad and stay for a long time. Learn real military knowledge.
However, so far, the shogunate has not formulated such a personnel training plan, and Baikes is not in a hurry to sell this plan to the Japanese, but only made a brief introduction to Masuyama Masatoshi. When the shogunate discovers its own shortcomings in the field of professionals at some point in the future, it will naturally seek help.
The content of this purchase is not all of the military purchase cooperation between the two parties. According to the information disclosed by Masuyama Masato, the shogunate is very likely to purchase equipment mainly warships from Haihan in the future. Of course, the majesty-class warship that is not on the export list is definitely hopeless. The expedition-class warship, which is one size larger than the exploration-class, is a target that can be tried.
In addition to military purchases totaling 1.8 million taels of silver, Masuyama Masato also purchased a large number of other commodities from Haihan during his trip, including porcelain, tea, textiles, food, handicrafts, metal products, etc., with a total amount of More than 400,000 taels of silver were spent, which was considered a generous spend.
This transaction volume has even far exceeded Haihan's expectation. Even Shi Diwen couldn't help but sigh after receiving the news. Although Japan is a place with poor products and constant internal and external wars in history, it has been peaceful in recent decades. The shogunate During this period, he actually accumulated a lot of wealth.
However, compared to the goods purchased from Haihan, the goods Masuyama Masari brought for sale were too few. This guy didn't seem to be very aware of the market demand in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. Most of the goods he brought were handicrafts. Although they had some Japanese characteristics, they were not outstanding. They were put on consignment in Zhoushan and Ningbo for a while, and the sales were not ideal. .
It is not difficult to infer from this that if Japan completely liberalized its trade market, the trade deficit with Haihan would probably be astonishingly large. This would probably not be a scene that the shogunate would like to see. If Japan did not have precious metal resources such as Iwami Ginzan and Sado Gold Mountain, Japan's national treasury could be completely emptied by trade means within a few years.
Masuyama Masato was not aware of this. What he cared about more was that he could successfully complete the mission of this trip and buy everything he needed to buy and take it back. In this way, after returning to Edo, we can successfully deliver the mission to the shogunate. As for the Satsuma Domain and other diplomatic issues that need to be resolved, Masuyama Masato no longer wants to think too much about it, leaving it to the next envoy to visit Kaihan to have a headache.
(End of chapter)