In this imperial examination, Feng Yunshan planned to use the general recruitment of civil servants in later generations to make up for the shortage of officials in the Holy Kingdom. According to the statistics of Xie Xiangcai, vice minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, after the Holy Kingdom occupied all five provinces, there were more than 4,000 local officials, but local officials could still be hired nearby, but for the main officials, Feng Yunshan still wanted to use the method www.biquge.info of imperial examination.

What's more, Feng Yunshan also wants to select a group of talents from other disciplines through this imperial examination, not just Confucian students who only do Baguwen.

However, judging from the situation of the registration of the preliminary examination questions in Guangzhou Prefecture in the past few days, there are more than 2,400 candidates in Guangzhou Prefecture who have applied for the examination, but only about 60 of them have applied for the examination of Western studies, and the other more than 2,300 people have all applied for the examination of Chinese studies, that is, the old scientific examination.

Feng Yunshan couldn't help but sigh deeply, it seems that there are few people in the whole of China who can know modern science, and they want to dig through the imperial examination, but they have taken a fork in the road. The only way to solve the problem is to cultivate a group of them yourself.

Fortunately, in the original Guangdong School Department, the largest peasant training center in the Holy Country has been open for almost a year, training thousands of people who were originally illiterate, and now they can understand the "Nanfang Daily", and the next step is to integrate, not only to open basic literacy courses, but also to open these Western disciplines, and cultivate a group of talents who understand modern science.

Feng Yunshan was thinking about it, and outside the door, Wang Minyun led Vice Foreign Minister Wu Chongyao and Wu Ruxiao into the study: "Holy King, the two deputy ministers have something important to report. After speaking, Wang Minyun retreated.

"Oh, Chongyao, Ruxiao, do you have anything to do?" Feng Yunshan is too familiar with Wu Chongyao, knowing that he is busier than himself, it's okay, it is impossible to come to him, and the two of them still come to find him together, but he asked Wu Ruxiao to find the US Commissioner to China Marshali a few days ago, isn't it?

"Shengwang, the US Commissioner to China, Marshali, has already arrived in Guangzhou, bringing with him several American arms dealers, saying that the large number of weapons we purchased in the name of the Nanyang Company last time have arrived, and they have come to deliver them. In addition, I heard from Vice Minister Wu that you asked him to find Marshali and have a big business to discuss, and it happened that he was here, so we hurried to report to you. Wu Chongyao said.

Wu Ruxiao echoed and said, "Yes, Holy King, then Marshali said that this time he brought good things and asked Vice Minister Wu to prepare the silver." ”

"What? Has the previously ordered batch of firearms arrived? Go, and the king will go with you to meet this Mashael. As soon as Feng Yunshan heard that the weapons he purchased from the Yankees last time had arrived, he was overjoyed, and he forgot what he had just said about not interfering in specific business, so he immediately decided to go to see Ma Shali with Wu Chongyao and Wu Ruxiao.

For that weapon, Feng Yunshan has been looking forward to it for a long time. In addition to the cheap smoothbore guns, he also ordered the latest Sharps rifles and carbines, and Feng Yunshan felt that he had a certain prescience at this time.

The carbine is a short rifle, Feng Yunshan knew that it was originally used by cavalry, as a horse pistol or cavalry gun, it was a very light rifle; The medium and long-firing rifle is the focus of Feng Yunshan's attention, and Feng Yunshan intends to use it to form an elite sniper force.

It just so happened that the fleet brought back tens of thousands of horses from Jeju Island, and after the 2,000 war horses were fed in Quanzhou Mansion for a while, they were already led by special personnel to Xixi and other places, preparing to find an open grassland and form cavalry. And this batch of carbines, not coming just in time.

I just don't know if there are artillery and warships.

Speaking of weapons, in terms of guns, Feng Yunshan felt that although it was not enough, with the commissioning of the First Arsenal, it can currently produce 1,500 shot-shot smoothbore guns per month, nearly 500 Minne rifles, and countless bullets.

In terms of artillery, the Krupp Iron and Steel Company has successfully developed rifled guns, which can be completed as long as they are put into special production.

Therefore, the key is still the warship, and Feng Yunshan has been looking forward to it for a long time.

Soon they arrived at the headquarters of the Nanyang Company outside the Thirteen Lines Wharf, and the steward of the Nanyang Company, accompanied by a dozen foreigners, was already waiting in the reception hall.

As soon as Feng Yunshan entered the door, the foreigner led by him greeted him, and it was Ma Shali, who he hadn't seen for a long time: "Your Highness the Holy King, it's a pleasure to see you again!" ”

"Mr. Marshali, I heard that the batch of weapons that Nanyang Company commissioned you to purchase last time have arrived, which ones are specific, can you let this king see them?" Feng Yunshan was most concerned about the weapons situation.

"Your Highness the Holy King, the list is here!" With a hint of unnaturalness on his face, Marshali smiled and explained: "However, the number of rifles and carbines in Sharps is not enough, and the Sharps company is out of stock due to the change of funds among shareholders, insufficient investment and unsatisfied production capacity. I'm very sorry for this. For this reason, the two shareholders of Sharps Company also made a special trip to Guangzhou to apologize to Shengwang in person. ”

When Feng Yunshan heard this, he was displeased and said, "In that case, why didn't Mr. Marshali say it earlier?" As he spoke, he looked at the list and quotation in his hand:

Springfield fired 20,000 shots of smoothbore guns and 600,000 silver dollars.

2,000 Colt revolvers, 50,000 yuan.

4,000 Sharps M1852 rifles, including 2,000 ordinary military rifles and 2,000 medium and long-firing rifles; 360,000 silver dollars.

Sharps M1852 carbine 4,000 pieces, 320,000 silver dollars.

Each musket comes with 50 brown paper bullets, and the rest of the ammunition needs to be purchased again, ranging from 15 to 20 rounds per silver dollar.

200 12-pounder guns of smoothbore artillery, 340,000 silver dollars.

Twenty-four pounders of smoothbore artillery, 100 guns, 520,000 silver dollars.

13-inch 12 cannons, 100,000 silver dollars.

Each gun is equipped with 10 cannons, and the rest of the cannons need to be purchased by yourself, from 10 to 50 silver dollars each.

A fourth-class warship, the warship has two gun decks, 50 guns, a crew of about 350 people, a displacement of 1,200 tons, and a price of 250,000 silver dollars.

There are a total of four fifth-class battleships, the warship is a cruiser, only one gun deck, 20 guns, a capacity of about 250 people, a displacement of 750 tons, and the price is 150,000 silver dollars each, a total of 600,000 silver dollars.

Feng Yunshan gasped, these are all good things! It seems that these Yankees are really willing to sell things, and in the same way, this thing is really not cheap.

Feng Yunshan calculated a little silently in his heart, these weapons, all of them, will cost 3.14 million silver dollars, not counting the purchase of some shells and bullets, if you buy more bullets and shells, it is estimated that it will cost 3.5 million silver dollars, which is converted to 2.45 million taels of silver. That's a lot of money!

Let's see if we can pay the price.

Feng Yunshan glanced at Wu Chongyao.

Wu Chongyao immediately understood, coughed lightly, and said: "Mr. Marshali, the number and cost of these weapons are so huge, and the number of rifles and carbines that we most want to buy does not meet the requirements, therefore, you should make appropriate compensation to my Nanyang Company, and the price should be lowered, so we will remove the fraction, three million silver dollars, how about it?" ”

Marshali waved his hand and said apologetically, "I'm sorry, Your Highness the Holy King, Mr. Wu, please forgive me for not agreeing. These weapons come from different suppliers, so they cannot be reduced in price. And these quotations are already the lowest prices. We all apologize for the lack of production of Sharps guns, and the prices of these Sharps rifles, also with my efforts, have been lowered. Therefore, this 3.14 million silver dollars cannot be lowered. ”