successfully attacked the third company of Zhang Xianzhong's department, and as soon as he arrived in Shaoguan City, it brought a lot of good news to the Ming army brothers of the defending army, and it can even be said that it temporarily relieved the crisis of the siege of Shaoguan.

In order to avoid being attacked by cannon fodder, Zhang Xianzhong's department has ordered to retreat 30 miles, although the people have not left, but it is obvious that the victory in the first battle is still worth celebrating.

After Wei Yan entered the city, he immediately sent a report to the consulate in Guangzhou, Hong Kong, reporting the situation here and the current losses from combat attrition, so as to facilitate the replenishment of ammunition at any time.

For the sake of this sudden battle, Zhang Tianwen, who was already going to return to China to take up his post, was once again sent to Guangzhou as temporary acting consul to be responsible for communicating and consulting with Shen Youlong.

As soon as the consulate received the news, Zhang Tianwen went to Shen Youlong's mansion: "Lord Shen, the victory in the first battle, congratulations, this is a telegram from the generals in front of our country." ”

Zhang Tianwen told Shen Youlong the news of the victory, and also made his stiff old face, which had been frowning for many days because of Zhang Xianzhong's southward journey, rarely show a smile.

This is really a gratifying thing, Zhang has more than 100,000 people, and the Australian army has only a few hundred people, but they resisted their attack and successfully forced the other party to retreat thirty miles.

"It's indeed gratifying, Zhongfu, I ordered the kitchen to prepare wine and food, and I and Consul Zhang should have a good discussion." Shen Youlong was happy, this was unprecedented, originally he was still worried that he couldn't hold it, how to solve it once Guangzhou was besieged, but now it seems that he is thinking too much.

After the wine and food were prepared, the two sides had a few glasses of wine, although Shen Youlong had always disliked to praise them in front of the Australians, but at least today he praised more than ten times in front of Zhang Tianwen how strong the Australian Army was.

If you put it in the past, if you wanted Shen Youlong, a minister of the Heavenly Empire, to praise the minister of a small country, don't even think about it. But now the situation is different.

Several compliments did not make Zhang Tianwen forget his intention, this time in addition to the good news, but also to send a list.

The news of the victory in the first battle was indeed gratifying, but this victory was also completely made with money, hundreds of 26-pounder cannons were fired in unison, and the number of cannonballs alone reached 600, although this number does not seem large, but the cost is indeed not low.

The price of a cannonball is about 2,000 yuan, and according to the Ming Dynasty's silver exchange, it is about 500 taels of silver each.

It is not free for Australians to help Shen Yulong fight, so many shells are a lot of expenses. Isn't Australia so rich, not to mention that the expansion of the army and the upgrading of weapons all need money.

So this money must be paid by Shen Youlong, looking at the list handed over by Zhang Tianwen, Lao Shen originally smiled and couldn't close his mouth, and twitched, it is estimated that if he saw this list earlier, he would not have laughed so happily.

This Australian really eats people and doesn't spit out bones, and a small cannonball costs five hundred taels of silver, which is really infuriating, and he feels that he has praised so much in exchange for such a list. It seems that the annunciation is fake. It's real to urge money.

The list indicates the number of shells of various types and the number used, which is not clear to make yourself pay for it! Otherwise, they won't be able to transport it.

"Lord Shen, you have something to do with this list, if you have one. You might as well say it bluntly, we are all old friends, and we can't say anything. ”

said, Shen Youlong really wanted to beat Zhang Tianwen well. The price of this list is so clearly written, what else can be said.

Zhang Tianwen, who was sitting on the side, drinking wine and sandwiching vegetables, naturally knew what Lao Shen was thinking, but he was afraid that this price would not be acceptable. However, this price can still float, if it is so low at the beginning and encounters Lao Shen's counteroffer, it will not be a big loss.

In order to leave Lao Shen a little room for bargaining, Zhang Tianwen deliberately added some of the price.

"Uh, yes, yes, it seems like it's okay."

Shen Youlong, as the feudal official of the Heavenly Empire, bargained like a businessman at this time, which was insulting, and the last sentence was said to be okay or not, after all, he was a scholar.

"Lord Shen thinks that the price is a bit high, unacceptable, in fact, let me tell you, this price is not high, you know that it also takes money to transport these weapons and gunpowder, although Australia and Daming are in the same line, but after all, Australia is an overseas country, and it can't be sent for free."

Speaking of this, it is obvious that the meaning of the brother is to settle the account, and it is impossible for Shen Yulong to let people fund it for free if he is thick-skinned, not to mention that the Australians do fund a lot of Liangguang.

Looking at Shen Youlong in the frowning eyebrows, Zhang Tianwen knew that the other party couldn't open his mouth and couldn't let go of the little face of the scholar, but this was nothing to him, Australia was founded on industry and commerce, and the country was like two businessmen negotiating between countries.

"We can give you a discount on the price, after all, Lord Shen and we have cooperated for many years and are old friends, I will try my best to help you convince the Ministry of Defense to reduce the cost, what do you think."

Seeing that it can't be free, it can be discounted, Shen Youlong is already very happy, not to mention anything else, he is very poor now, and he doesn't know how to pay back the money of people in Australia.

"In this way, thank you Consul Zhang, and you can say it if you need Shen in the future."

"Hehe, Lord Shen's good intentions have been understood, I will return to China to take up my post when this war is over, I am afraid that there will be fewer opportunities to meet adults in the future, but we will definitely have the opportunity to meet."

Returning to China to take up a post, it seems that it is a high promotion, and Shen Youlong, a veteran of officialdom, can naturally guess that being transferred back to China is the same as his transfer back to the capital, which is definitely a high promotion.

"In this way, congratulations to Consul Zhang for his promotion."

"Thank you, sir, but this battle is not over yet, do you know that Zhang Xianzhong's men and horses are only retreating thirty miles, and it seems that there are still a few hard battles to be fought." Zhang Tianwen deliberately aggravated his tone when he said the hard battle, as if reminding Shen Youlong that the money should be given as soon as possible.

Of course, Shen Youlong knew that Zhang Xianzhong didn't leave so quickly, but he didn't have a good way to take out the money all at once, it seemed that he could only borrow money from the Australians, otherwise he wouldn't be able to pay for the war at all.

In order to allow the Australians to send troops, he has already handed over the trade tax of Guangzhou Customs for the next three years to them, and now if he wants to take out a loan, he must mortgage it.

"Consul Zhang, rest assured, I will solve this matter as soon as possible, you can let the soldiers in front not worry, and resist Zhang's men with peace of mind." Lao Shen is not stupid, he is also afraid that once the funds are not available, the Australians will suddenly withdraw their troops or do not contribute, it will be dangerous, so he patted his chest and promised. (To be continued......)