Chapter 89 Big Purchase
Because Beijing has put all these goods on display.
This confidence convinced King Zhou, and he immediately decided to make a large purchase. Apart from anything else, he needs as many firecrackers and artillery as there are. Without him, for a long time, the number of Han people in Nanyang was still not enough. It cannot be called a dominant nation. Controlling so many places naturally requires stronger force.
A completely firearms-based army basically eliminates the element of martial courage from combat.
It is a revolutionary reform of combat.
Prince Zhou wanted to place a big order at the same time. Found out that another person also wanted to place a large order. Not someone else. It was the envoy sent by the King of Chu.
Compared with the lineage of Zhou kings, the lineage of Chu kings was a place of hundreds of battles in Java. The kings of Chu could not merge the two kings into one Java. Don't you want to? No, I have dreamed of it, but I just can’t.
Now they have found out some information about the training methods of the new army in Beijing. After all, there are 600,000 people training. How could so many people not leak the secrets? Their desire for firearms is stronger than that of the Zhou king.
The Crown Prince of Zhou originally wanted to fight with the King of Chu's lineage, but something moved in his heart and he thought to himself: "This may be a way."
Soon the news came to He Xi.
He Xi looked at it and laughed and said, "Very good. Very good."
The prince of Zhou united all the forces in Nanyang to purchase from Beijing and demanded lower prices.
This has several advantages. The first advantage is large quantity and low price. The second benefit is to get the distribution rights of these firearms in your hands. This is also a power. Moreover, everyone can use as many firearms as they have strength, and they will not do anything to upset the balance of power.
In comparison, although they are united in Nanyang, they are not the same family after all.
There are also differences between them.
The reason why He Xi took out the firearms for sale was actually out of necessity. If nothing else, it’s a financial issue.
On the one hand, there is an almost bottomless pit of money needed to fight the war. No one knows how much more money can be spent down there. Before every war, the budget is as large as possible, but as soon as a war starts, the budget will be overrun.
Yang Shiqi almost went crazy.
This made it impossible for his financial plan to be carried out completely. All the money that was supposed to be used for other things was used to meet military expenses.
This adds much workload to Yang Shiqi.
Even He Xi once felt that some people on the front line were making money from it.
After all, the amount of money Beijing spends on war is worth so little.
However, He Xi felt that the frontline soldiers were not like this. However, speaking of it, one cannonball probably costs dozens of vengeance. Fire a shot. Gunpowder shells damage the entire life of the gun. It's probably only a few tens of pennies, but fighting on the front lines is a lot of money. Every battle involves dozens or hundreds of gates, dozens of rounds or even more. This costs thousands of dollars. even more.
That is to say, the consumption of war in the age of firearms was something that civilian officials in the rear could not adapt to.
It was also something He Xi couldn't adapt to.
After all, in the age of cold weapons, don’t watch movies and TV shows where bows and arrows cover the sky. But in fact, each soldier can carry at most two or three pots of arrows, and generally only one hundred arrows. And it is difficult for someone to shoot out so many arrows in one breath.
Most of the time, bows and arrows do not consume much, and what consumes the most is human strength.
The power of a round knife, the power of killing people.
So food and grass are the most important.
Today, gunpowder and artillery are all consumables.
Moreover, every battle will increase the logistical consumption limit. He Xi didn't even know how many bullets were needed to destroy an enemy on the front line. However, He Xi still has a tolerant attitude. After all, Americans need tens of thousands of rounds to kill an enemy. How far has it come now?
But Yang Shiqi couldn't stand it anymore.
So there must be additional income.
But go somewhere to make extra income.
The annual income is fixed and it is difficult to have large-scale income.
He Xi thought about it over and over, and finally thought of weapons.
Completely different from Nanjing, Beijing's weapons production is surplus.
On the one hand, there is the northern industry. It was the military industry from the beginning, and it has a deep accumulation in this aspect. This is far more than other industries. And He Xi made a lot of preparations for the war, especially in terms of weapons production.
In comparison, in He Xi's view, this is their largest territory, so they have strengthened it.
As a result, today, there is an overproduction of firearms.
Many firearms have been hoarded, and some have become obsolete.
After all, after large-scale battles, it is normal for many newly invented weapons to have problems of one kind or another on the battlefield. Of course, because it was He Xi who drew up the blueprint. The overall structure is not a big problem, but many details are not done properly.
For example, the length of the bayonet and some details on the gun body.
Therefore, newly produced firearms need to be modified to a certain extent recently. It cannot be said that all of these originally in stock can be used.
Naturally, we fell behind.
Of course, it doesn't necessarily mean it can't be used. But there are the best ones, and the soldiers can use the ones that are not good enough. This is not good either.
Now it's just right.
Selling these firearms exclusively to Nanyang would not only make a lot of money and increase the income of the imperial court, but also shorten the relationship with Nanyang. Finally, it can also open up financial resources for Beijing and add a flagship product. That's the weapon.
Not to mention, the more weapons are produced, the lower the production costs will be, which can also be regarded as reducing the cost of war.
As for Prince Zhou's little scheme, He Xi didn't think it was a big deal at all.
So he readily agreed to Prince Zhou's small request.
After a series of verbal battles, the two sides signed a large arms purchase order of 20 million yuan, totaling 200,000 muskets, more than a thousand cannons, and a large amount of supporting gunpowder and projectiles, as well as gun trucks, ships, Bedding and other military supplies.
The Beijing court was full at once.
The 20 million yuan worth of supplies in Beijing's military supply system is probably less than 5 million yuan. The profits can be imagined. More importantly, the Crown Prince of Zhou and many people in Nanyang did not just purchase arms, the arms were additional. They didn’t bring that much money either. At this time, the newly established commercial banks also showed their talents.
In short, this trip to Nanyang left everyone in Beijing feeling full.
As for the fact that Prince Zhou wanted to see He Xi, He Xi naturally allowed it.
When Prince Zhou saw He Xi, there was no need to say more about how to salute. The prince of Zhou Dynasty first said something that seemed irrelevant. He said: "My ancestors came to write a letter saying that all the generals in Nanjing are old and there is nothing to worry about. Among the younger generations, only Sheng Yong is worthy of a battle. I don't know, uncle. How to look at Sheng Yong."
"Sheng Yong?" He Xi said. But he secretly thought in his heart that the prince of Zhou was not talking about Sheng Yong, but was implying that his grandfather was Feng Sheng, Duke of Ying State, and his lineage of King Zhou still had a reputation in the Ming Dynasty. Valuable and capable. ap.
He Xi said: "Sheng Yong is a good general."
He Xi knew that Sheng Yong wanted to thank him.
Sheng Yong in history, as a general, also left his name in the history books, but it was just a name. But Sheng Yong is different now. Although he is not the head coach of the Confederate Army yet, he must have played an important role in military history.
Without him, what he is doing now is transforming the ancient army into a modern army, or he has his own contributions and insights into the modern army. Although he followed Beijing on this path, his originality in certain matters cannot be ignored.
Sometimes, one's choice and timing are really important to a person.
Sheng Yong's talent is not higher than that of Sheng Yong in history. But if used in this brand new field, he is one of the pioneers and will definitely be remembered by future generations. They will even compare his reforms with those of Beijing.
In many cases, just because of Napoleon's brilliance, we cannot think that the Austrian army has no merit.
The Crown Prince of Zhou said, "Uncle, my father is willing to help my uncle, but there are many constraints in Nanyang. Please forgive me."
When He Xi heard this, he thought to himself, "Is this a condition?"
He Xi said: "In that case, let your father rest assured and handle Nanyang's affairs with peace of mind. Don't worry about me, I will take care of it."
Prince Zhou suddenly couldn't understand. He didn't understand why He Xi said that. Don't you want the help that came to your door?
Seeing this, He Xi decided to make it clear. He said: "The dispute between the North and the South is a dispute in name and reality. If your father intends to end up, I will naturally not say anything. If you do not intend to, it is best not to be in a place of suspicion. I remember , His Royal Highness King Zhou has a very good relationship with His Highness King Yan. Your Majesty, if you are interested, why not go and see what King Yan is doing?"
He Xi had also thought about whether Nanyang would join the battlefield.
In the end, it was waived.
He Xi now has to think from the perspective of the winner. If there is too much external interference when conquering the world, it will not be easy to govern in the future.
And there is no moral advantage for Nanjing.
He Xi declined directly.
It even hinted that if King Zhou sent troops back to his country, what he would be most worried about would not be King Zhou's help, but whether King Zhou would want to compete for the throne.
This immediately frightened the Crown Prince of Zhou.
The prince of Zhou Dynasty did not dare to say anything.
After all, King Zhou was doing well in Nanyang. But it was just a matter of not making mistakes. Both the north and the south were suppressing the power of King Zhou. King Zhou just wanted to add icing on the cake, but had no intention of competing for the throne. After all, King Zhou knew very early on that they had no chance.
So He Xi comforted the Crown Prince of Zhou and promised the Nanyang kings many convenient conditions for doing business in Beijing. Only then did Prince Zhou go.
overall,
The Nanyang kings were increasingly closely connected economically with Beijing. This was enough for He Xi. Such economic ties make them support Beijing on a larger scale. It is impossible to just surrender to Nanjing.
As for more. He Xi doesn't need it. Neither does Beijing.
After the prince of Zhou left, he was also curious about what King Yan was doing now, so he started to inquire.
