The arrival of Gongliangxiu was highly confidential to the outside world, and Bailiyan arranged for him to live in the main store of the department store to hide his eyes. It was already evening on this day, and the time had passed, Bailiyan left the house from the back door in plain clothes, walked to Ginkgo Street, and sneaked into the main store through the side door.

Thanks to the abolition of the night ban that has been adhered to in previous dynasties under the new law, the night market in Chenling is unprecedentedly prosperous, with all kinds of stores operating until midnight or even later, and the night hall of the department store remains open until the end of the day.

In a sense, night markets have greatly stimulated the vigorous development of commerce, further promoted the derivative development of taxation and related industries, and led to employment and capital flow.

In Gongliangxiu's view, all this is outside of Chenling, and it is a grand occasion that other vassal states can hardly achieve. Closing half of the window, Gongliang Xiu sat back in front of the desk, boiled wine and drank while saying:

"Say, King Xian agreed?"

"Actually, you already knew that my king would have agreed. But ......"

Bai Liyan wanted to speak and stopped, and Gongliangxiu asked:

"But what?"

"In the future, it is not recommended that Gongliangjun buy it now, you can wait for another three or four years."

"Why are you waiting for three or four years, could it be that you, Yongxinghou, deliberately make things difficult for me."

"Brother Gongliang, don't worry, listen slowly. At present, Yongxing City is developing better quality iron materials for casting cannons, but it still takes several years to try, and at that time, Yongxing City will be cast into a more powerful, long-range, lighter artillery, the price may not be more expensive than the current one, and this cannon will be unsurpassed.

Therefore, the sooner you buy it, the more you will suffer, so it is not recommended that Brother Gongliang buy artillery now, so it is not cost-effective. ”

"Even if what Your Excellency said is true, but where can my father wait for three or four years, and if the war starts again next year, my Gongliang army will inevitably be greatly damaged, how to gain a foothold in the DPRK in the future."

Compared with trebuchets, the efficiency of artillery is undoubtedly more than ten times higher, especially after the use of medicine bag technology, the loading and firing of artillery is shortened to five or six minutes, and it only takes eight or nine minutes for large calibers, which is quite fast. In addition to being able to fire a wider variety of ammunition, trebuchets are far inferior to artillery in terms of range, efficiency, and manpower.

And dozens of artillery shells bombarded solid projectiles for several days in a row, which could completely collapse the ordinary adobe city walls, while trebuchets took longer and the accuracy was not satisfactory, and the Black Turban Army was equipped with gunpowder explosion weapons, which seriously restricted the siege and the advance of the battle line, and aggravated the casualties.

Most of the arms purchased by King Zhi will only be equipped with the Zhenxi Army and the Zhiwang Forbidden Army, at most the artillery team led by King Zhi's line will go to the front line, and will never be handed over to the Gongliang Army.

Through this means, the strength of the Gongliang army was gradually weakened, and when the territory was laid, most of the Gongliang army was already seriously injured, and in the end it was only King Zhi who could sit back and enjoy the success.

"Brother Gongliang, when is the Gongliang Army going to use troops next year?"

"At the beginning of February, what does Yongxing Marquis mean?"

"The king ordered me to make a deal before the first month, so this month can actually start casting cannons for King Zhi, and at the same time, our army's artillery will also be produced together, so if it is used in February next year, Yongxing City can supply another twenty artillery pieces of various types to our Xian army, and it will be transported to the front line, if your army can be delayed until March, Yongxing City can also supply thirty guns to the Xian army on the front line, a total of about fifty guns."

"What about my king's?"

"The first batch of 60 guns required by Zhiwang will be produced together, but the delivery will be delayed, and 15 guns will be delivered in early February next year, and then 20 guns per month."

"So fast!"

Gongliang Xiu was taken aback, but Bai Liyan didn't think so, and said lightly:

"If there were no 1.3 million catties of iron production and inventory, how could Xianguo cast cannons so quickly. Therefore, if your army can use troops after March next year, the Xian army will have at least 70 artillery units, and it will not be a problem to raze the city wall in two days. ”

"But that's your salty artillery, how can our army use it!"

"If our army wants to successfully take Ganfu and Shangguan, we must first relieve the worries of Xiaguan and Changyin counties, so next year after taking Changyin County and Xiaguan counties, our army will march northward in a big way, by that time, most of Zhiwang's artillery team has been formed, seeing that the front line is progressing slowly, it is inevitable to form an artillery team with cronies to rush to the front line to help the battle, so that the Gongliang Army has its own artillery team available.

In addition, this artillery is still an artifact of the town country at the moment, and you are not afraid that if you buy artillery privately, you are not afraid that it will be detected by King Zhi one day? ”

"Of course I know about it, you don't need to ask."

"Well, the stakes have been made clear, and Brother Gongliang still insists on buying it?"

Gongliangxiu took a sip of wine and was silent for a long time, compared to the high-spirited and ambitious young man back then, and now Gongliangxiu, who has been involved in officialdom for many years, has a little more helplessness about reality.

"Well, then you have to talk and count!"

"Please rest assured, Guan Longxiang will be instructed in this matter to help your army."

"Well, you won't be allowed to buy this cannon right now, grenades, hot air balloons, and medicinal herbs should always be available."

"Well, it's better to buy a hot air balloon than to rent it. In the name of renting, the Gongliang army borrowed some hot air balloons from the Xian army, so that they could not only explain to King Zhi, but also do not have to spend money. Hot air balloons are not weapons, they will be damaged after a few years of use, and they will break if they are not used, so it is not cost-effective to buy.

As for the grenades, the Xianjun is also very tight at the moment, this time Tao Chun opened his mouth to ask for 100,000 pieces, and now he is selling Yongxing City, I can't take out 20,000 pieces, at most 4,000 pieces. ”

"How?" Gongliang Xiu hurriedly asked.

"A hot air balloon rents you two inches of silver per month, and a grenade of ten inches of silver fifteen pieces, you see how it goes."

"This grenade is not an iron pellet that can be reused, if you throw it out, it will be gone, fifteen pieces of silver in ten inches, it is too expensive!"

"Hehe......" Bai Liyan's old face turned red, not because he blushed when he ate wine, but because his heart was too dark: "Then Brother Gongliang, how do you say the price?" ”

"Ten gold and silver treasures of the Xianguo Kingdom are exchanged for thirty pieces, how about it?"

"It seems that Tao Chun is surrounded by your brother-in-law's secret agent."

"If there is no secret report, and you are not deceived to death by you, a profiteer, you sell Tao Chun for ten Singapore dollars and twenty pieces, you know that if you press this price to this doctor, I will definitely make a counteroffer, so you do the opposite, raise the price, and squeeze the room for counteroffer."

"Hehe, I really can't fool Brother Gongliang, but the artillery sold to King Zhi is still quite cheap, the range is long, the projectile is heavy, and the power is very considerable, and it is not a little stronger than the artillery of Changsun Kingdom."

"When these words came out of your Yongxing Hou's mouth, Doctor Ben didn't believe it. Your salty domestic iron is amazing, the cost is much lower, and the export of steel ingots and pig iron is two percent lower than that of my Zhiguo, even so, you still have a lot of profits to be made, which shows how low your iron price is.

You sell a six-pound cannon for 40,000 inches of silver, which seems to be 10,000 yuan lower than Changsun Guo on the surface, but in fact, the profit you earn is not much less than that of Changsun. ”

Through the investigation of market trade and taxation in the early stage, he easily deduced the approximate cost and profit margin of Xianguo Iron Production, otherwise it would be impossible to cut the price only through the bargaining process between Bailiyan and Tao Chun.

The production of Yongxingcheng grenades is extremely simple, and the cost of five is worth the usual new money, of which most of the cotton with sulfur and nitrocellulose needs to be imported, and the price accounts for half, and if the price of sulfur drops to the normal price, the cost will be lower.

Gongliangxiu's bid of ten Singapore dollars for thirty grenades was basically Bailiyan's final bottom line.

The profit from arms trading is as little as 50 percent, and as much as one or two times, and if you always sell three coins, Yongxing City will earn 40 percent of the price profit, which is already very low.

"Okay, I'll sell it for 4,000 pieces at the price of 10 and 30 pieces. Other hemostatic drugs, weapons, or the old price remains the same, what does the Gongliang doctor think? ”

"Then it's a matter of words, but I heard that Tao Chun wants to buy the cannon and grenade making method, you black-hearted profiteer, what price are you going to sell?"

"Regarding this matter, Doctor Gongliang can rest assured, Xianguo's artillery casting technique will never be passed on, and the grenade making method will not be passed on, even if Zhiguo is my king, Benhou will not sell it, if this is sold, I am afraid that there will be no peace in the future."

Casting an ordinary carbon steel breech gun is not very technical, but at the moment, it is an out-and-out cutting-edge technology.

Not to mention that a blast furnace with a casting and forming needs more than 1,000 catties, coking, steelmaking, furnace temperature, refractory, mold and other processes are the general technology of most steels, and naturally cannot be taught to people. At a time when the technological generation gap is not significant, it is undoubtedly dangerous for Zhiguo to obtain the above technologies.

As for the fire-pulling grenade, once the composition and principle technology of the lead fire-pulling tube in it spread, it will really shoot itself in the foot.

All the current earth-made ignition explosives on the outer edge can be used as a starting point for a large number of technical improvements, and quickly spread to the entire Central Plains, and it is too late to cry when the time comes.

That night, he negotiated a business with Gongliangxiu, and the next day the court meeting ended, and King Xian summoned Bailiyan alone in Bailing Garden to inquire about the results of the transaction.

"Aiqing, how is the deal with Gongliangxiu?"

"Back to the king, Gongliang Xiu is extremely difficult to deal with, the bid is too low, and the minister thinks that it is really a loss, so the artillery deal has not been negotiated."

"And how much does he want?" King Xian rubbed his hands and asked.

"Twenty thousand six-pound cannons, thirty-five thousand-kilogram cannons for twelve-kilogram cannons, and fifty-thousand-thousand-kilogram cannons for eighteen catties, which is half lower than Changsun Guo's offer."

When King Xian heard the news, he scolded:

"It's a shame for what he said!"

"The king, Gongliang Xiu this person is extremely shrewd, after coming to my Lingling last year, the city of Chenling should be clear, even the price of a pair of scissors are extremely detailed, and then through the flow of trade, find out the middle doorway, it is not difficult to get the cost of my Xianguo iron price, and then add some money as a benchmark, you can make our country feel profitable, if it is a transaction, in the long run, our country is a big loss.

Moreover, after all, the Gongliang family's background is not the treasury of Zhiguo, and its financial turnover is limited, so it is necessary to make careful calculations, and it is not surprising that such a low price is quoted. ”

"Then how is Aiqing going to prepare?"

"Back to the king, the minister thought that he could not trade with him, and my country would suffer too much if he traded with him. But the minister still took matters into his own hands, selling him 4,000 grenades for 10 and 30 grenades to relieve his urgent needs, and promised to rent a hot air balloon for his emergency. ”

"It's a pity, if this deal is made, the treasury will have millions of dollars in half a year."

"Yes, the king, but the minister thinks that the payment paid by the king in gold and silver can be used to cast artillery for our army, and the minister has already calculated, Zhiguo casts sixty cannons, and the treasury only needs to pay another 270,000 new money, and our army can cast another fifty artillery pieces of various types, and the cost will be further reduced, which is very cost-effective."

"That's great, when can you cast a cannon?"

"Yongxing City is already preparing, and in three to five days, the casting of artillery can begin."