Guo Ye's estimate is not bad at all.

On the day when Ali Rang launched an attack on Fort Ksri, Shi Dakai, who was far away in Nanjing, welcomed a special guest, who was introduced to Shi Dakai by an old friend, that is, Guo Ye's father-in-law Dong Haichuan.

In order to be able to meet Shi Dakai as soon as possible, sell a large number of arms, and complete the task assigned by Colt, this time Hua Ruohan personally went out and made a detour to Jinan, inviting Shi Dakai's old subordinate, Dong Haichuan, to ask him for help.

Dong Haichuan knew that Hua Ruohan and Guo Ye had a close relationship, so he did not shirk it, and personally came to Tianjing City with Hua Ruohan to meet the Wing King Shi Dakai.

Shi Dakai was quite surprised by Dong Haichuan's appearance, he thought that Dong Haichuan had already died in the capital, after all, Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaikai's Northern Expeditionary Army was wiped out, and all the leaders were almost wiped out by Seng Lingqin, but he didn't expect Dong Haichuan to escape the pursuit of the Qing court!

Shi Dakai said lightly: "Well, since it's an old friend here, let's invite Mr. Dong in." ”

After a short time, Dong Haichuan led Hua Ruohan into the living room, and when he saw Shi Dakai, Dong Haichuan bowed and said, "The lowly Dong Haichuan has seen the Wing King!" ”

Shi Dakai hurriedly shook his hand and said with a smile: "Haichuan, the two of us intersect with martial arts, don't be so polite, this is ......"

Dong Haichuan hurriedly said: "Yiwang, Dong Haichuan came this time to introduce this Minister Mr. Hua Ruohan to you, this is the US Minister to the Qing Court, Hua Ruohan, we met by chance, and now the Taiping Army and the Qing Demon are fighting fiercely, I think you must need help from the outside world......"

Shi Da opened his pupils and shrunk, a fine light forced his eyes over, to tell the truth, he is very uninterested in Westerners, although the current Hunan army is average, but the Huai army under Li Hongzhang is strong, and it is getting stronger and stronger, the reason is that it is equipped with a large number of firearms provided by the West, whether it is a foreign gun or a foreign cannon, the power is huge, the Taiping army only relies on a big sword and spear, want to confront others, how easy is it to talk about?

Shi Dakai replied lightly: "Oh? Brother Haichuan, I don't know what you mean by introducing Minister Hua Ruohan to me? ”

Hua Ruohan said with a smile: "His Royal Highness the Wing King, I have long heard of your prestige, leading the Taiping Army since leaving Guangxi, these years have won many battles, worthy of being a famous general at that time, but now the war has gradually departed from the cold weapon, into the era of firearms, want to crisscross the battlefield in all directions, only superhuman strategy is not enough, there must also be advanced firearms, I am here for this matter, we in the United States are willing to provide your army with firearms sources, to sell arms to your army!" ”

Shi Dakai's heart was shocked when he heard this, and he hurriedly said: "Mr. Hua Ruohan, you mean that you want to provide me with foreign guns and cannons?" ”

Hua Ruohan replied: "Yes, Wing King, we can't just provide foreign guns and cannons, we must supply you with enough bullets and shells, only guns and cannons, no bullets, you might as well pick up a big blade......

Shi Da looked up to the sky and laughed, now his Taiping army has occupied a certain advantage, once it is equipped with a large number of foreign guns and cannons, who else in the entire South China can stop him?

Shi Dakai shouted: "Mr. Hua Ruohan, thank you, thank you for your support to this king, it is originally, you and I are of the same origin, believe in one God, and at the same time the people of Heavenly Father and Heavenly Brother, thank you, thank you for your generous support!" It's just, I don't know how many guns you will be able to give us? ”

Hua Ruohan said with a smile: "The first batch, there will not be many, I plan to sell 2,000 foreign guns, 50 artillery pieces, 1 million bullets, and 5,000 shells to your army, whether it is a foreign gun or a foreign cannon, it is our advanced firearms in the United States!" ”

Two thousand rifles, fifty guns!

Although the number is not particularly large, once he is equipped with the Taiping army, then these two thousand Taiping troops can withstand the ten thousand Taiping army!

Shi Dakai was overjoyed, and hurriedly asked: "Mr. Hua Ruohan, I don't know how many foreign guns and foreign cannons will be provided to us in the future, and now our Taiping Army will continue to provide foreign guns and foreign cannons!" ”

Hua Ruohan said in a deep voice: "In the second batch, we will raise the musket to 5,000, and the artillery is providing fifty guns, five million rounds of ammunition, and five thousand shells!" However, the second batch of arms will need to wait for a while before they can reach China, and now they have just left the mainland of the United States, and it will take almost a month to arrive. ”

Together, the two batches of munitions are 7,000 sample guns and 100 artillery pieces! That is, it can equip several artillery battalions!

Shi Dakai was very excited, the arrival of this batch of munitions will definitely have a huge effect on the Taiping Army's qidao!

"Mr. Warren, I don't know how much silver is needed for this batch of munitions?"

After all, Shi Dakai is thoughtful, although the United States is willing to provide the supply, but the price must also be negotiated, such a large amount of arms, the price is not cheap!

Hua Ruohan said in a deep voice: "Wing King, you should know very well that our American government recognizes the Qing government, and the Qing government, in order to exterminate the Heavenly Balance Heavenly Kingdom, requires Western countries to prohibit the sale of firearms to you, if we sell weapons to you, it will take a huge risk, yes, the price of these weapons naturally cannot be cheap, otherwise, once we are punished by our government, we will incur huge losses......"

Shi Dakai was silent for a moment, nodded, and replied, "Okay, I can understand this, but there is always a price, right?" ”

Hua Ruohan replied: "Well, twenty taels of silver for muskets, one thousand taels of silver for artillery, eighty taels of silver for one box, a total of 1,000 rounds, and three taels of silver for each shell......"

Shi Da was taken aback, good guy, roughly calculated, the price of these two batches of arms is at least two million taels of silver......

Shi Dakai frowned and said, "Mr. Hua Ruohan, is it too expensive?" I'm afraid this price is not something that our Taiping Heavenly Kingdom can afford, and these two transactions will exceed the ...... of two million taels of silver."

In fact, Shi Dakai just hasn't been in contact with foreign guns and cannons, these things really don't need to be so expensive, it's just that Shi Dakai has never been in contact with foreigners, so naturally he doesn't know the huge profits, Hua Ruohan is naturally asking for the price for his own interests......

Dong Haichuan on the side stabbed Hua Ruohan with his arm and said, "Mr. Hua Ruohan, your price is indeed too expensive, ...... in Shandong."

Dong Haichuan means, in Shandong, the price of muskets and artillery is very cheap, why is it so expensive in your place?

Hua Ruohan was taken aback, he naturally knew what Dong Haichuan was going to say, so he hurriedly intercepted Dong Haichuan's words and said, "Haha, Wing King, of course, this price is indeed a little expensive, but for the sake of our friendship and for the sake of the Holy Heavenly Father, we are willing to provide you with a twenty-percent discount on the basis of this price......"

Mr. Boling's Book Friends Group: 279250362. Everyone is welcome to join us and share and discuss together.

(To be continued.) )