Zhang Bin's main purpose this time is for the copper mines in the Americas, and the silver ticket shop or money village is just an appetizer, he knows that this kind of thing, as long as Coquilla is willing to let go, it will not be a problem, but the copper mine is different.

The fact that there is no blister copper to sell in Manila at this time shows that for various reasons, people are reluctant to pull blister copper from the Americas, as for what reason, he does not know, Wang Zheng they have heard, what the Spaniards have transferred blister copper to Manila to sell, I don't know when.

Anyway, it was Coqueilla who asked him at this time, and he was not polite, and directly stretched out two fingers and said, "Second, I need a lot of blister copper, I hope you can let your fleet transport a large amount of blister copper from the Americas through your connections." Don't worry, I don't ask for it in vain, the price is as much as it is, and I will pay according to the price. ”

Blister copper itself is not a problem, there are many in the Americas, the main problem, you have to be willing to ship.

Copper is relatively expensive, it is precisely for this reason that the purchase of blister copper in the Americas is not cheap, not counting the difference in the price of silver, the blister copper in the Americas is about one tael of silver and ten catties, and it is transported here to sell, at most it can be sold for one or two catties of silver and seven or eight catties, that is to say, the gross profit of transporting one hundred catties of coarse copper is less than three taels of silver!

At this time, the size of Spain's fleet is not large, a fleet can have twenty or thirty armed merchant ships with a deadweight of more than 100 tons, it is not bad, 100 tons of rough copper gross profit is only five or six thousand taels, not far away, transport a large ship of goods, earn five or six thousand taels, the brain is sick, this kind of thankless thing, who will do it!

The transportation of copper products is almost the same, he once asked people to buy a lot of copper products from there, and transported them to make money, anyway, the labor over there is not very valuable, and the profit is okay after making copper products.

Wang Zheng said that the rumors they heard should have gone wrong in the translation process or in the circulation process, and that there were people in Manila who had transported copper products from the Americas to sell, not blister copper.

This kind of unprofitable thing, Coqueilla is really not sure to let the family help, he was embarrassed and said, "This, I can help you talk about it, but people may not be willing to transport, you know, blister copper is very heavy, a ship can't transport much, their merchant ships have a limited carrying capacity, generally will not transport this kind of rough ore with low profits, if you want silver, I can find a way for you, according to the exchange ratio over there, the gold and silver exchange ratio is one to fifteen, what do you think?" ”

It turns out that this guy is making money from this, and the gross profit of one million taels of silver is about 300,000 taels, with his identity, there should be no problem in extracting half of it, if four or five million taels of silver are shipped over a year, he can earn seven or eight hundred thousand taels!

Seven or eight hundred thousand taels a year is indeed a lot of wealth for Coqueira, but it is still nothing for Zhang Bin, besides, it is impossible for people to earn all for him, and it is the limit to be able to share three achievements for him at most, or 200,000 taels a year, where can he see it.

He thought about it for a while, then shook his head and said, "Forget about the silver, if the transportation capacity is limited, I have a good way to solve it." ”

Coquela asked curiously, "Oh, what's the solution?" ”

Zhang Bin said lightly, "You also know, we have captured a lot of armed merchant ships of the Dutch, that thing, we are not used to controlling, I can lend it all to you, you don't need to pay rent, but you must use these armed merchant ships to transport us enough blister copper." ”

There is such a good thing, the armed merchant ships of the Dutch are a good thing, the people of the Ming Empire are not used to controlling them, but they are very accustomed to the Spanish control, Coqueira immediately said excitedly, "If this is the case, then there must be no problem, but I don't know how many armed merchant ships of the Dutch are in your hands, and how much blister copper you need in a year." ”

The number of armed merchant ships captured Zhang Bin had a general impression, when they recovered the Dacheng, they captured more than ten armed merchant ships of the Dutch, and then the governor of the East India Company, Spex, led the army to attack the Dayuan, they captured more than 20 armed merchant ships, and when another governor, Van Dimen, came to attack the Dayuan, they captured more than 50 armed merchant ships, and finally captured more than 10 armed merchant ships when they captured Batavia.

As for blister copper, naturally the more the better, a Weiyuan battleship needs more than 100,000 catties of blister copper to complete its artillery, as well as boilers, steam pistons, steam channels, flintlock barrels, etc., all of which are copper.

If blister copper doesn't want money, it's not too much for him, the problem blister copper is money, and the price is not low, one hundred catties is more than ten taels of silver, ten thousand catties is more than a thousand taels of silver, he can take out more than one million taels of silver a year at most to hoard blister copper, after all, it costs money elsewhere, and he can't put all the money on it.

Zhang Bin roughly estimated, and then said lightly: "I can get you a hundred armed merchant ships for the Dutch." ”

When Coqueira heard this, he almost jumped up with excitement, a hundred armed merchant ships, he could organize a few fleets to transfer goods to the Americas, and in that way, the profits earned could be at least doubled!

He couldn't help but shudder, "What do you mean, these 100 armed merchant ships are lent to us, and we don't have to pay a penny?" ”

Zhang Bin nodded and said, "Yes, a hundred armed merchant ships will be lent to you, and you don't have to pay a penny, but you must transfer 10 million catties of blister copper from the Americas to me a year!" ”

At this time, the unit of weight on the European side is naturally not a catty, and I don't know how Guo Huaiyi translates it, anyway, Coqueilla understands it.

10 million catties is 5,000 tons, which is equivalent to 50 tons for each armed merchant ship, and the carrying capacity of the Dutch's armed merchant ships is about 100 tons, that is to say, each merchant ship has a margin of 50 tons to load other goods, which is enough for him to make a lot of money.

However, 10 million catties of blister copper is a bit scary, there is no shortage of copper ore in the Americas, the problem copper ore must be refined to become blister copper, refining blister copper is also very troublesome, 10 million catties a year, I don't know how many slaves to organize to refine it, this is a big problem, even if he has face, it will not affect the copper mining and refining in the Americas!

The huge benefits were in front of him, but he couldn't get his hands on it, Coqueilla was so anxious that he wanted to pull his hair, and he said in an almost pleading tone, "Your Excellency the Governor, can you do it less, now the annual output of blister copper in the Americas is less than 10 million catties." ”

Zhang Bin said tentatively: "Can't you find a way to get them to increase the production of blister copper?" ”

Coqueira is in a hurry, this is not a problem that can be solved by finding a way, he is also a governor, if someone asks him to find a way to produce 10 million catties of blister copper a year, he will not do it, unless there are enough benefits.

In terms of interests, he can earn tens of thousands of taels by transferring 10 million catties of blister copper, all to others, and people may not be willing to help with this, at this time, being a colonial governor can earn hundreds of thousands of taels of silver a year, who is willing to spend so much effort to increase the output of blister copper for this money.

Of course, there is another way, that is, let His Majesty the King give an order, if it is His Majesty's order, the governor over there will have to do it if he doesn't want to, otherwise, they won't have to do anything, and there are many people who want to be governors, if you don't want to do it, someone will naturally do it.

Perhaps, it would be easier to find a way to get His Majesty the King to give an order, so how can he get His Majesty the King to give such a seemingly absurd order?

Coqueira thought for a while, and suddenly his eyes lit up, and he asked inexplicably, "This, Your Excellency the Governor, you are not used to controlling the armed merchant ships of the Dutch, and you are even less accustomed to controlling their super battleships, right?" ”

Of course, there are also suggestions to dismantle all the guns on the captured super battleships and reforge, the question, what does this have to do with Coqueira, this guy won't be the idea of fighting super battleships, right?

Zhang Bin said cautiously, "It's a little unaccustomed, what's wrong, do you want to buy it from me?" ”

What this means is to tell Coquela that armed merchant ships can be borrowed from you, and it is impossible to lend you super battleships, so if you want, pay for them!

The super battleship is the ultimate weapon at this time, a super battleship, just the artillery on it can't be built without tens of thousands of taels, and it is estimated that it will cost tens of thousands of taels of silver to build an empty shell, if the Spaniards are willing to send out about 200,000 taels, it's not that they can't be considered, because the Dutch's super battleship he didn't plan to use, he just prepared to dismantle the guns on it for shore defense guns, as for the hull, he hasn't thought about how to deal with it.

I didn't expect this thing to be sold by the Ming Empire, Coqueyla trembled a little with excitement, super battleships, the ultimate weapon of this era, who doesn't want it, His Majesty the King definitely wants it.

However, I don't know how much effort it will take to build a super battleship, and the cost is not something that Spain can afford now, so Spain has not built a super battleship for many years.

If the Ming Empire is willing to sell, it will be different, although His Majesty the King is short of money at this time, but the copper mine does not need money, he just needs to order the governor of the Americas to desperately refine blister copper, and then, use blister copper to exchange with the Ming Empire for super battleships, and he doesn't even have to worry about transportation, an order can be exchanged for super battleships His Majesty the King wants to be unwilling, unless he is crazy!

Is His Majesty the King crazy, obviously not, Coqueira rubbed his hands excitedly and said, "Your Excellency the Governor, you see if this will work, we will exchange blister copper with you for a super battleship, if we can, there is absolutely no problem with 10 million catties of blister copper a year." ”

This proposal is very good, anyway, he can't use the super battleship of the Dutch, and it can be regarded as the best use of it in exchange for blister copper, of course, a super battleship is not exchanged for 100,000 catties of blister copper, at least 1 million catties!

As for whether Spain will become strong because of this, he is not worried at all, they are in rapid decline at this time, and more than 20 super battleships cannot change the fate of their decline, and the Dutch are also their enemies, so it is cool to let them drive the Dutch super battleships to beat the Dutch.

At this point, Zhang Bin nodded slowly and said, "This is not impossible, a super battleship, how much blister copper do you produce?" ”

If he can really do it, that's just great, if he can make this happen, His Majesty the King will definitely be very happy, when the time comes, it is not impossible for him to become a marquis, as for blister copper, if His Majesty the King ordered it to be mined and refined, it is purely a number, how many or how much.

He thought about it for a while, and then said in a trembling voice, "What do you think of a million catties of blister copper for a super battleship?" ”

This number has reached Zhang Bin's expectations, but, looking at Coqueira's expression, one million catties is not his bottom line, there is still a lot of room for improvement, Zhang Bin pretended to be reluctant, and said angrily, "This is too little, a super battleship can have hundreds of guns, and the artillery alone is more than this price." ”

Sure enough, there was some talk, and Coqueira continued to tremble, "One and a half million catties, do you think it's okay?" ”

, it rose by 500,000 catties at once, this kind of injustice, if you don't slaughter it, you won't slaughter it, Zhang Bin is still a little reluctant and said, "The hull is also very time-consuming, can a super battleship be built in half a year, I can't just sell it to you at cost price." ”

When Coqueira heard this, he gritted his teeth and said, "That's okay, add another 500,000 catties, 2 million catties, what do you think?" Enough is enough, and no more, it will be difficult for our Majesty the King to speak. ”

Two million catties is indeed enough, in order to prevent accidents, Zhang Bin did not increase the price again, he pretended to hesitate, nodded slowly, and said, "Okay, I don't want you to be embarrassed, just two million catties, I will give you this face." I think you're a very good person, and I want to make friends with you, if it's someone else, I won't change three million catties. ”

When Corquila heard this, he said incoherently excitedly, "Thank you, thank you, thank you, Your Excellency the Governor, I have made up my mind for this friend, by the way, I don't know how many super battleships you have captured in total, and how do you plan to deliver them to us?" ”

Zhang Bin thought for a while, and said generously, "We have captured a total of twenty-five super battleships, I will gather all these battleships in the Strait of Malacca, and you can send someone to get one if you send two million catties of blister copper, any time you want." ”

Taking them one by one, it seems a bit troublesome, and besides, if His Majesty the King doesn't see the super battleships, it is impossible to order the Americas to go crazy to mine and smelt copper, Coqueira thought for a while, and said a little embarrassed, "Your Excellency the Governor, do you see if you can do this, let's take five super battleships first and let people drive back to the European mainland, so that His Majesty the King can see things, and he will not hesitate to let the Americas increase the production of blister copper, otherwise, this matter may be very troublesome." ”

Is that appropriate?

Zhang Bin thought for a moment, then nodded generously and said, "Okay, I believe you, give you five super battleships first, and you can send someone to the Strait of Malacca to fetch them at any time." You're not going to cheat your friends, are you? ”

When Coqueira heard this, he was moved and said, "Thank you for your trust, don't worry, I will never cheat my friends, even if these five super battleships are deposits, we will definitely send 10 million catties of blister copper over as soon as possible." ”

Zhang Bin pretended not to care and nodded, but he was muttering in his heart, "Do you dare to accept a deposit and not deliver the goods?" If you dare, I will knock down Manila and drive you out of the South Seas completely, and then see who has the most losses. ”

With a big fist, he has enough confidence, and at this time, his fist is bigger than others, so he is not afraid of others at all, dare to rely on the debt, and beat you!

。