As expected by Gaumo, although the Ottomans had some objections to this price, they did not bother much, and then they proposed to offset part of the cost of building the ship with real goods. After all, although the Ottomans were a large empire today, they were not very financially well-off, especially after the Europeans opened a route around the Cape of Good Hope in Africa to the East, and the Ottoman Empire's financial revenues plummeted. It is therefore not surprising that they proposed to offset part of the purchase price in kind.

The proposal to offset part of the payment with goods is not unacceptable to the East Coasters, but this ratio and the choice of goods are very particular. For example, there is a shortage of livestock on the east coast such as horses and camels (for South Africa), and these Turks have a lot of money. Instead of spending money to buy from someone else in the future, it is better to barter with the Turks. In addition, wool, fur, copper, lead, tin, mercury, graphite, sulfur and other materials needed for industry were also acceptable to the East Coast.

Of course, in addition to the above, Turkey's most resource-rich "slaves" are the "commodities" needed on the east coast. By the end of 1639, the population of the East Coast Republic of China had expanded vigorously for nearly two years, and had now reached 34,000 people. But even so, the existing population is still far from sufficient. The industrial, agricultural, military, and commercial sectors are everywhere in terms of population, and the appetite of each sector is growing stronger and greater, which is a great headache for the Executive Committee.

Since the beginning of this year, a large number of indigenous people have been imported from South Africa in several batches, and so far more than 4,000 Khoisan or Xhosa have been brought in the form of labor dispatch. These South African natives were sent to iron mines, coal mines, lime mines, cement factories, brick kilns, construction teams, farmland, etc., liberating a large number of free people from the East Bank. And the departments that have tasted the sweetness of using the indigenous South African people. Gradually, he began to ignore the voices of some people who crossed the crowd and opposed the introduction of blacks and reds. As if addicted, the Executive Committee was urged to increase its efforts to bring in indigenous South Africans.

However, the introduction of too many South African natives at once will eventually touch the sensitive nerves of many people in the country. The Executive Committee did not dare to speak lightly about this, and according to the agreement, these natives were to return to South Africa after three years, and could not be used for a long time like lifelong slaves. Therefore, the most fundamental solution is to bring in a large number of immigrants, and Ottoman Turkey is obviously a good "supplier".

The two sides negotiated the details for more than three hours, and finally decided that half of the cost of building the Ottoman ships would be paid in cash, and the other half would be deducted with supplies and population. The quantity and unit price of each deductible material are specified in detail. In this way, it is equivalent to the East Coast recovering the cost of shipbuilding in cash, and then the remaining materials and population are in vain.

At this point, the cooperation agreement between the two navies has been preliminarily negotiated, and the next thing to be negotiated is the agreement on the army. To be honest, people on the East Coast are not very interested in selling army equipment, and there is no other reason here, the main thing is that they can't make a lot of money. You see, the two shipyards worked together to eat the construction contract of six warships of the Ottoman Empire, with a total amount of 360,000 yuan, and at least half of the profits. How much army equipment does this have to be sold to get back?

At this time, the price of a British-made Sol arquebus was about 18 shillings, or less than a pound (4 yuan). The price of the flintlock pistol is slightly higher. But it's not that high. At present, the latest preferential price of the 32-B flintlock rifle sold in the East Coast Republic is 5 yuan a piece, and the cost has been reduced to less than 2 yuan due to the use of a steam boring machine to drill the barrel, which means that a gun can earn 3 yuan. It looks like the profit margin is good, but the problem is that you can't sell much of it, selling one or two thousand rifles at a time is a big business, and it only makes a few thousand yuan.

The same is true for rifles, and about the same for cannons. Even if the price of the "Tatartan cannon" has been raised twice, at present the average price of artillery under 12 pounder can earn 30 yuan each, and it is impossible to make a few dollars by selling dozens of guns a year. The number of army artillery sold on the East Bank in recent years was not very large, and most of it was sold for political reasons. For example, the artillery sold to the French government to support their war with the Spaniards; For example, the artillery sold to the British royal party to support their war with the Scots; For example, artillery sold to the Turks was used as a stepping stone to open the local market. In addition, only the artillery sold sporadically to Sweden, Poland and Russia in the early days was actually a very small percentage.

However, now that the Turks are demanding the purchase of a large number of artillery and armor to improve the army's equipment to better fight the Austrians, Poles, and Russians, the East Coasters must not ignore their demands. Fortunately, they can't threaten the people on the east coast by buying weapons, and they can't make them unhappy because of this, so they can sell them and make a little money anyway.

Hassan proposed that the Sudanese Janissaries and the new Egyptian army needed to buy a total of 60 artillery pieces of various types, 500 armor, and a small number of sabers, sapper shovels and other items, with a total value of 14,000 ducats (about 25,000 yuan). Such a small amount of money is not worth mentioning at all compared to the huge cost of building ships for the navy, so the two sides did not dwell on the price any more, and basically reached an agreement quickly.

Through these two land, sea and military cooperation agreements, the Ottoman Empire will become the largest exporter and trading partner of the East Coast Republic of China from next year. After all, the total amount of these two agreements is too amazing, plus some spare canvas, artillery, and ship materials, there is no suspense that the total amount of military cooperation agreements reached with the Ottoman Empire will exceed 400,000 yuan.

With an arms purchase order of 400,000 yuan, plus bilateral trade, it will not be a problem for the East Bank Republic to export more than 1 million yuan to the Ottoman Empire next year. It is important to know that this year, the east coast has sold 330,000 pieces of cotton cloth in France, plus some arms and leather goods, and the total amount is only 750,000 yuan. As a result, the title of the largest trading partner of the East Coast Republic of China is bound to change hands.

After the agreement was reached, the two parties had dinner together. The next day, December 6, at the request of the Ottomans, officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs led them on a tour of the Great Fish River Naval Shipyard, located on the sea outside the southern city of the port on the east coast.

Despite the word "Navy" in its name, the Dayuhe Naval Shipyard is actually an out-and-out joint venture: the East Coast Company holds 60% of the shares, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce holds 30% of the shares, and the remaining 10% is owned by employees to increase their creativity and motivation. Don't underestimate this approach, many European shipbuilders are attracted by this employee stock ownership and dividends, which can be regarded as an advanced management system in this era.

The Navy shipyard has two slipways, which were empty last month when the Kunlun was handed over to the South China Sea Transport Company, and are now ready to start building warships for the Ottomans. This shipyard has more than 500 technicians, craftsmen and apprentices, and its strength is quite strong. Although it is not as good as the Zhenhai Shipyard, the heart of the Government Council, it is also a well-known shipyard, far from being comparable to the ship repair yards of the Spaniards or the Portuguese in the New World.

Since there are currently no shipbuilding tasks, the shipyard's technicians are training craftsmen and apprentices in their professions. They invited Viviani, a researcher from the Institute of Mathematics of the Academy of Natural Sciences and the Institute of Ship Design, to explain the mathematical principles in the process of ship design and construction. After training the craftsmen and apprentices in mathematics, Viviani also taught the shipyard technicians a few superficial hydrodynamics in order to improve their theoretical knowledge and be able to build ships better.

Vincenzo. Viviani, a young man from Florence, has shown an unrivalled talent for mathematics since he arrived on the East Coast with Torricelli a few years ago. After studying mathematics for a while at the Institute of Natural Sciences with several middle school math teachers, Viviani began to study mechanics with some physics teachers. He not only provided design guidance for some bridges and buildings built in China, but also personally participated in the demonstration and design of new warships in two shipyards, gaining a lot of valuable knowledge and experience.

Today, this Italian young man, who is not yet 18 years old, has become a researcher at the Institute of Mathematics and the Institute of Ship Design, and has a bright future. To this end, the General Directorate of National Intelligence has secretly upgraded him to a first-class protection and surveillance target, ensuring that he is firmly in the hands of the Eastern Republic.

Seeing hundreds of people sitting in the auditorium studying and training together, Hassan was shocked. He thought of the low-paid shipbuilders and slave laborers in the Ottoman shipyards, and then looked at the vigorous shipyard industrial workers in front of him, and couldn't help but sigh deeply.

The extensive use of uniquely designed pulley booms, hydraulic hammers, advanced woodworking equipment, neatly cut ship materials and marine tar in the shipyard made him feel refreshed. The more he looked, the more he sighed, and the more he felt the backwardness and deep twilight of the Ottoman Empire.

Of course, some important locations and the latest machines were not visited by Hassan and others. For example, the steam cutting machine, steam crane and other machinery that had just been developed in the workshop next door were the objects of absolute secrecy in the Eastern Republic of China. No matter how much money the Ottomans paid or how many warships they ordered, they would not have the opportunity to be led inside.

The visit ended in a hurry at noon, and Hassan and others from the Ottomans were greatly shaken, and at the same time had full confidence that the people on the east coast would be able to build excellent warships for them. For the next few days, they will be arranged to rest in the Oriental Hotel, and then wait for the East Coast Fleet to return to the port of Suez in the second half of the month. After all, they also have to hurry up and make a detailed report to the country on the results they have achieved. (To be continued......)