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The owner of the Merchant House greeted his guests with a courteous face, a lean middle-aged man dressed in a Spanish gown, with a black satin pulpovan [note: a men's blouse popular in Spain and Portugal in the late 16th and early 17th centuries] covered with beautiful embroidery of bright silk threads, interspersed with a few gems from Ceylon, and although the satin was clearly of Italian origin, the tailor was supposed to have been made by a Portuguese dressmaker from Macau.

He wore tight-fitting off-white Chauss-style trousers against his hips, his chest and shoulders that were a little bloated by the padding, and his fluffy Kego sleeves and wide ruff collar, with two sparse but obviously well-groomed beards, which made it easy to guess at a glance that this was a wealthy Portuguese businessman who was used to being pampered. If it weren't for the fact that the temperature was not too cold, Gu Ziming had no doubt that the middle-aged man in front of him would immediately change into a woolen coat from Venice or an English velvet jacket from a more distant place, making him look closer to the exaggerated appearance of a lobster with a coconut shell.

"Hello, Mr. Manuel of Tavares."

This opening sentence Gu Ziming practiced with the translator for a night, but the Lisbon accent did not resonate much with Mr. Manuel Boccaro, who was born in South America and grew up in Macau, but for being able to pronounce his name correctly, the middle-aged man obviously had a good impression of the few businessmen brought by He Yi in front of him.

Manuel Tavares Boccaro is the full name of a middle-aged man, Manuel is his name, full of the expectation of his parents that 'God is with him' [note: the Portuguese word for the name Manuel], this name was translated in Macau by the Ming gentry as Wan Nu, Tavares was his birthplace in South America, and Bocaro inherited from his father, Pedro Boccaro, the former owner of the foreign company and its accompanying arms factory.

He Yi was also slightly surprised to see that Gu Ziming could speak fluent Francophone language, he didn't know whether the guest's hand was just a whim or a reminder not to use any crooked brains when interpreting, but obviously this sudden opening remark changed the atmosphere in the hall. Fortunately, Gu Ziming and Fu Xiaofei have always taken care of He Yi, and they have always been generously paid, which can be regarded as a little reassuring to him.

"I heard how many people want to buy some artillery back? This is the best, God testifies that I have the best artillery and muskets in all of East Asia, and Quang Nam, Siam, and Goa have all asked us to order them. ”

The lobster-like Manuel danced with his hands, for fear of missing out on the business, his gun factory was not in a good mood recently, there were almost no orders from Goa, and the Ming Dynasty also increased control over Macau because of the Nanjing teaching plan, although the output of firearms could still be sold to pirates, but because of the strengthening of maritime patrols, no one would usually come to buy during this time.

The Dutch do not seem to have made any recent move against Macao, and even the council has no intention of adding gun emplacements on Guia Hill in the short term, so that there will be much less arms business in Macao and along the Chinese coast than in previous years.

Annam is in a rather delicate moment, the power of the Lê Dynasty Nguyen Phuc Yuan, who has been in power for less than five years, began to allow the Portuguese to build a commercial port on the seaside south of Hue two years ago. Nguyen Phuc Nguyen has been relying on the Portuguese to upgrade their armaments and train their troops for the past two years, but this year has come to this time, and the arms merchant ships from Phet Phuoc [note: Hoi An] have not yet appeared, which makes Manuel a little anxious.

I had heard from He Yi about the financial resources of these two groups of guests, although they came from different places, but they both seemed to have an unusual interest in arms, and they both had the endorsement of high-ranking officials in Guangdong, Manuel, who had participated in two trade fairs in the city of Guangdong, naturally knew that in the country of Daming, the background of officials was of great help to merchants, and there should be nothing wrong with such a transaction, and it was even more enthusiastic.

After a brief conversation, Gu Ziming also went straight to the point, "Mr. Manuel, you should know that we need to confirm the power of artillery on the spot, whether it is a small or medium gun, we are interested, so it is better to talk about tea and snacks later." ”

Manuel was naturally prepared, and the gun factory was at the foot of the Guia Mountain, only half a mile away from the trading house, and a group of more than ten people would be there in a hurry.

Four or five Franc cannons of various shapes have already been placed in the shooting range, as well as bronze red-coated cannons, the small Franc cannons are all designed as sub-mother cannons, and the red-coated cannons are the shape of smoothbore cannons.

It can be seen that the artillerymen are well-trained on weekdays, and they are used to doing this kind of business-based display, Gu Ziming already knew from He Yi that these gunners are similar to mercenaries, and they are called 'good arts leaders' here in Daming, in fact, everyone has the responsibilities of 'product manager' and 'sales manager'. In order to make their goods more marketable, the guns sold by the guns in Macao now come with the accompanying service of Portuguese gunners, of course, this service needs to be paid, but it is an essential link. A good artilleryman can not only operate the artillery well, but more importantly, it can help the employer quickly train a group of excellent and conscientious artillerymen, and in this regard, this service is really worth the price.

The artillery factory was not large, but after several rounds of test firing, it basically hit the target at a short distance, and the wooden target erected in the distance was beaten to pieces.

After the test firing was completed, a blonde man in the artillery team hurriedly stepped forward to salute.

"This is Mr. Goria, the best gunner I have here, and if several gentlemen can buy our guns, Mr. Gorea is undoubtedly the most suitable artillery instructor."

Manuel couldn't wait to promote his compatriots, these hired artillerymen were paid a lot of money, and it was better to send them out early than to stay with him and increase the expenses, maybe because of their good performance and bring back more business, the middle-aged arms dealer said as he thought of his own wishful thinking.

Gu Ziming was very enthusiastic, and arched his hands, "Mr. Gorea really deserves this name." ”

The blonde man looked at Gu Ziming's dress and was stunned for a moment, and then asked, "Mr. is also a Catholic?" ”

"It's just that I've read some stories from the Bible." Gu Ziming replied with a smile and did not deny that Goriath was a giant in the biblical story, and he was just complimenting him casually, but he didn't expect that the other party's name was really taken from such a meaning.

Goria has been in Macao for a few years, and Guangzhou has also been there a few times, which can be regarded as well-informed, and this time I heard that the wealthy businessmen came to try their best to perform during the test of guns, and they are tall, so everyone is quite good at a glance.

Gu Ziming groped for the cast iron cannon body, the first cannon barrel was still a little hot, but the workmanship was indeed excellent at this time, and the red copper from Japan can be bought here in Macau, and many cast cannons are iron pipes and copper cores, especially this kind of artillery used for display effects, the safety is much higher.

"I have heard that there are also some military factories in the city of Manraka, and many of the arquebuses of the princely states on the island of Java are purchased from them, so why do Goa still have to buy their guns from Macao? Isn't it a matter of reluctance to seek the near and far? ”

Manuel knew that the other party was going to negotiate the price, and he was not in a hurry, "It's true that the blacksmiths in Nanyang are not as good as China's. ”

It is not a secret that the arsenal of Wan Nu Xing mostly uses Chinese craftsmen, although Portugal is better in cannon making and cannon technology, but the Franc cannon can already be imitated by China during the Jiajing period, and the ability of Chinese craftsmen is recognized even by the Portuguese, and Macao's proximity to Foshan is naturally convenient.

Letting go of the cannon, Gu Ziming smiled and said, "Okay, why don't we talk about the price......

Manuel smiled even more happily with a thin face.

Gu Ziming discussed with Ye Yiwei again, and finally Ye Yiwei selected twelve small cannons that fired three-pounder guns, all of which were more than 100 catties, although the range was only about one mile, but the accuracy was good, and there were four five-pounder guns, all of which were transported back from the inland It is not difficult, and they are all rear-loading guns for easy drilling, and it must be enough to deal with all the armed forces on the ground in Guizhou.

And Gu Ziming simply chose only four copper red-coated cannons, all of which were larger front-loading smoothbore guns, each weighing more than two thousand pounds.

After some bargaining, Ye Yiwei's sixteen small cannons totaled 1,750 taels of silver, and the four copper cannons selected by Gu Ziming were priced at 2,250 taels of silver.

Manuel then vigorously promoted his artillery, which he had promised to be fully equipped on a voluntary basis, and he would not have to pay for the future remuneration of these artillerymen anyway.

In the end, the annual salary of sixty taels of silver per person per year was negotiated, which made several gunners quite satisfied, but the same as buying guns, Gu Ziming and Ye Yiwei's styles were very different. Ye Yiwei only chose one artillery division in Goria, he could buy a few more guns, Guizhou may not be able to build it for a while and a half, but people can ask for less, the annual salary of sixty taels of silver is still a little beyond his bottom line, not to mention that Wang Ge has not yet received this amount, he is inevitably a little worried in his heart. And Gu Ziming asked for eight people in one go, and almost swept up the remaining gunners of Wan Nuxing.

For the Senate, excellent gunners are more popular than outdated red-coated cannons, after all, the future artillery needs to be taught, and relying on the senators alone is too slow, if the senators just go to guide a gun group is too wasteful, it is necessary to have basic artillery literacy to expand the audience of imparting the knowledge of the indigenous army, these Portuguese artillerymen are undoubtedly better candidates for quick instructors, and there is also an advantage that the various cannons imitated by the Senate in the future may not dare to guarantee that there will be no problems, and they will really encounter explosions, At least a few dead instructors are better than the loss of the patriarch, and those four bronze cannons may only be of some use if they are temporarily thrown at Sanya in the future to guard against pirates and Li Min.

It turned out that the population of Macao is now nearly 10,000, and there are only more than 1,000 real Portuguese citizens, and many of the rest are slaves from various countries and Chinese who are engaged in education and trade.

After agreeing on the payment method, Manuel was surprised that Gu Ziming took out the Spanish silver dollar as a deposit, and it was almost noon when he sent the group out of the gun factory.

"What else do we have to do next?" Fu Xiaofei, who was about to take up his post in Hainan, asked Gu Ziming with a relaxed voice.

"Find a way to meet a few people."

"Who?"

"A priest named Lu Ruohan and a soldier named Teixeira."

"Do you know where they are?"

"I don't know, but Macau is so big, and there are even fewer Portuguese, and there will always be people who know if you ask, just visit your door, there are not so many rules here."

"So we'll go now?"

"Nope." Gu Ziming decisively rejected Fu Xiaofei's proposal, touched his stomach and said, "Eat first......