The reason why the Xiyi people were frightened was because they knew something about the artillery of the Ming Dynasty.

The artillery of the Ming Dynasty was generally iron, with a small caliber, short range, live ammunition, and limited power compared to it, so they tried to sell it to Zhou Zheng before, because a cannon was worth more than six thousand taels, and the profit was very considerable!

But the artillery in front of them is completely different from what they understand, this caliber is large, the firing range is long, and the shells are still used, which is more powerful than their European artillery!

If such a cannon is loaded on a ship, their merchant ships are no match at all!

The viscount from the little Francophile waited for the cannon to stop, looking at the smoke and dust, it seemed that he could still feel the tremor of the ground, turned his head to look at Zhou Zheng, blinked, his face stiffened, and he didn't know what kind of expression it was.

Liu Liuzhen glanced at the faces of a group of Xiyi people, and whispered in Zhou Zheng's ear: "Second Young Master, according to what you said, there is a lot of gunpowder buried under the ground. ”

Zhou Zheng hummed quietly, smelling the sulfur in the air, as if he smelled silver.

The astonishment on the viscount's face quickly subsided, and he muttered something to Zhou Zheng with a smile on his face.

The translator hurriedly followed and said, "My lord, the viscount said that their artillery is stronger than ours, but ours has a lot of advantages that can complement each other, and I hope to buy three to load on their ships to have a look." ”

Zhou Zheng knew that this viscount wanted to imitate, and it was impossible to just try it.

This kind of artillery was dictated by Zhou Zheng, the joint development of craftsmen and European missionaries, and some technologies can not be restored by simply dismantling, and it is impossible to imitate them!

Zhou Zheng's face was as usual, and he said: "12,000 taels for each door, gunpowder is counted separately, and another thousand muskets need to be tied in, 55 taels each, and ammunition is counted separately." ”

Translation paraphrases the past.

The viscount thought for a moment and said with a smile.

The translator said, "My lord, he said it was no problem. ”

Zhou Zhengyi stretched out his hand and said, "I'll take the viscount to visit our base." ”

The viscount reluctantly glanced at the dozen or so cannons, smiled and walked inside with Zhou Zheng.

Liu Liuzhen followed aside, secretly speechless in his heart.

The cost of each cannon does not exceed two thousand taels, the second young master opens his mouth to 'twelve thousand taels', the gunpowder is also calculated separately, the cost of each musket is at most five taels, and the second young master casually says fifty-five taels!

What a huge profit, but it can be much more than the money that Zhou Ji earns!

Liu Liuzhen was busy calculating how much silver he had earned, how much he could sell in the future, and how much he could still earn!

Zhou Zheng took these Xiyi people around and introduced the arsenal.

Because the key places such as the workshop that the Xiyi people wanted to go to could not be completed, there was a lack of interest.

Zhou Zheng didn't bother to care about them, it was the first time he came, and after simply entertaining these people, he began to take care of himself seriously, and then made adjustments and arrangements for some things.

It wasn't until the evening that he could talk to Liu Liuzhen in detail.

Liu Liuzhen sat opposite Zhou Zheng and said, "Second Young Master, although this place is remote, it is an island after all, and it is not safe, I want to find some people, but I am afraid that the news will leak out......"

Zhou Zheng had already thought about it, and said: "I'll arrange this, and after a while, I will send some people here, mainly responsible for peripheral protection, and don't get involved." ”

Liu Liuzhen responded, and suddenly said: "Second Young Master, these firearms are so powerful, will it be dangerous to sell them to the Xiyi people?" ”

Zhou Zheng looked at him and said with a smile: "It seems that you have also learned to use your brain." It's okay, it doesn't match for a while, and when it does, these things are useless. ”

Liu Liuzhen was relieved at this time, and then said with some annoyance: "Second young master, we have to use too much silver now, and it is too dangerous to always let the dart bureau transport it around, not to mention the trouble, I have to think of a way......"

Zhou Zheng listened to the slight movement in his heart, and his expression was thoughtful.

In this era, there are no banks, and there are no ticket numbers, and it is indeed very troublesome to completely 'cash bank' transactions.

After pondering for a while, Zhou Zheng said: "When this arrives in Tianjin Wei, I will discuss with Cheng Economic and them, and this will be the case for the time being." ”

If you want to establish a ticket number, Zhou Zheng has money and channels, and the general environment is also suitable for the development of ticket numbers, but if you want to establish it, there are still many problems that need to be solved.

Liu Liuzhen saw Zhou Zheng say this, his eyes lit up, and the second young master of their family was almost omnipotent in his eyes.

After talking for a while, and almost after saying the matter, Liu Liuzhen smiled a little shyly and said: "Second young master, the master told me that he will marry Biqing for me in the next year." ”

Liu Liuzhen is also nineteen this year, and he will be twenty next year, so it's time to get married.

Speaking of this, Zhou Zheng couldn't help but have a headache, his sister-in-law Zhou Ding, eldest brother Zhou Fang, and even Zhou's father all mentioned his marriage openly or implicitly, and it seemed that it couldn't be delayed any longer.

Zhou Zheng shook his head, stood up and said, "Well, I'll wrap you a big red envelope when the time comes." I'll go back after a night's rest, and you can watch here for a while and return to Beijing as soon as possible. The Chamber of Commerce is moving to Tianjin, and you have to keep an eye on it. ”

Although Cheng Economy, Shangguan Xun and others are all Zhou Zheng's people, the real henchmen are only Liu Liuzhe.

Liu Liuzhen understood what Zhou Zheng meant, stood up and said, "Second Young Master, don't worry, with me, there will be no chance for people to take advantage of!" ”

Zhou Zheng nodded and walked outside.

Early the next morning, Zhou Zheng discussed the specific deal of firearms with the Xiyi people, and prepared to leave Xiangyun Island and return to Tianjin Wei.

The current artillery is generally very cumbersome, the so-called Hongyi cannon has several thousand catties, even if it is improved by Zhou Zheng, there are nearly two thousand catties, and it is extremely troublesome to transport.

After Zhou Zheng returned to Tianjin Wei, he dealt with various affairs while also setting out to pacify Hejian Mansion.

He constantly convened conferences to promote, transfer, and reward officials at all levels. Even appointed nearly 20 town mayors and more than 100 village chiefs in one go, and the cash rewards issued were as high as 30,000 taels!

Later, the young and strong people of each town and village were clearly divided, classified as 'reserves', and orally appointed as 'captains', leading as many as 500 captains, each of whom led more than 50 young men in his village.

These captains were required to go to the town to receive drills during the off-season, and they were also responsible for guarding the village, patrolling daily, fighting bandits, and so on.

Zhou Zheng's series of measures greatly consolidated his control over Hejian Province and effectively promoted his reform plan.

At the same time, he is also further clarifying the business environment and striving to establish a fair and transparent tax system, especially on both sides of the canal, to promote a thriving trading center.

When Zhou Zheng was busy, the Shaanxi Rebellion became more and more intense.

Fu minister Hu Tingyan and Yansui Governor Yue Hesheng concealed the bandits because of their reputation, but as a result, the prince sat down and gathered nearly 10,000 people at once to surround Han Cheng.

Yang He, the governor of the three sides, and Liu Guangsheng, the governor of Shaanxi, raised troops to drive away, and the prince fled downstream, but the number swelled rapidly, especially the other Wang Jiayin captured seven or eight prefectures and counties in one fell swoop, once holding tens of thousands of people!

Yang He strongly advocated 'focusing on fussing, supplemented by suppression', but the imperial treasury had no money or food, so it could not appease these robbers who were appeased.

Rebelled. It's getting more and more intense.

There is another person who is very different, that is, he was appreciated by Yang He, and after Yue Hesheng was seized of office and imprisoned, he was promoted to Hong Chengchou, the governor of Yansui.

This man killed decisively, saying that 'slow time to cure the root cause, urgent time to cure the symptoms', after a plauscation, more than 300 bandit leaders were killed, all of them were killed in front of the big tent.

Yang He's ineffective suppression of bandits, and Hong Chengchou's 'killing and surrendering' aroused the dissatisfaction of the court officials and impeached one after another.