Chapter 257: Windfall Profits That Can't Be Missed

The pattern of the southeast sea in the five years of Chongzhen is in a state of confrontation. On one side was Zheng Zhilong, and behind him were Xiong Wencan, the governor of Fujian in the Ming Dynasty, and the Dutch. On one side is Liu Xiang, who is the backing of the Spaniards and the Portuguese, against Zheng Zhilong's pawn. Why is this happening? Quite simply, benefits, huge benefits.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the transaction volume of foreign maritime trade was silver in billions. This was definitely an astronomical amount at the time, enough to make these bigwigs at sea strangled to death, and not to fight the kind of dead pinch that the dog's brain is not finished.

In the second half of the fifth year of Chongzhen, Liu Xiang frequently disturbed the southeast coast. Zheng Zhilong had to kill him. It's not so simple to kill Liu Xiang, Zheng Zhilong is not a reckless person, naturally he has as much ability as he can. Naturally, I thought of Chen Xie's artillery, this guy had been trained by Zheng Zhihu.

Zheng Zhihu's original plan was to buy a few cannons of the kind that Chen Xie had shown him, which were light and had a fast rate of fire. Not much, there are three or five gates, and they can play a huge role at sea. was originally stronger than Liu Xiang, and with a long range, it was easier to fight.

When he saw the artillery in Chen Xie's warehouse, he realized how superficial his previous understanding of Chen Xie was. Even if people can cast their own cannons, they are all large-caliber guys. The 12-pounder cannon sold by the Dutch was sold for three or four thousand taels. The saliva of the good words is dry, and I haven't bought many big guys. Look at Chen Xie's warehouse, what else is there to say? The comparison of strength is not on the same level, so let's beg for money obediently.

How will it be in the future. Zheng Zhihu definitely can't take care of it now, after all, Chen Xie and Zheng Zhilong are both generals of the Ming Dynasty.

"18-pound artillery, three thousand taels of silver a piece, this price is not low. At that time, the imperial court bought cannons from the hands of the Franco, and the unit price was only more than 1,000 taels of silver. Zheng Zhihu hesitated, but decided to fight for it. Business, if you can save it, you can save it.

Chen Xie's sneering eyes were very clear, and he disdained to write it on his face. When Zheng Zhihu was embarrassed, Chen Xie said lightly: "It's not what it used to be. Besides, it was the imperial court that bought Hongyi cannons. One more point. The Hongyi cannon purchased by the imperial court was an old item that the Francos salvaged from a shipwreck in England. Although Chen lives in a corner of Dengzhou, he still knows some about these things. Well, open the skylight and say something. I have two caliber cannons here. According to Tessie. A 12-pounder cannon costs 3,500 taels. 18-pounder gun, 5500 taels. If the second brother Mang thinks it is not suitable, then please go back to Zhangjiazhuang. Good wine and good food hospitality, rest for a few days and play for a few days, don't be in a hurry to go back. ”

How much does it cost? Objectively speaking, this is not a very bad price. Because of technical problems, not only the Ming Dynasty, but the whole world had some technically unsolvable problems during this period. When casting large-caliber artillery, there were 2 or 3 qualified products out of 10, and this craftsman was a very awesome character.

From Zheng Zhihu's point of view, this price is acceptable. From Chen Xie's standpoint, this is huge profits. Why? The use of iron fan casting cannon technology has solved at least half of the current technical difficulties, and then copied the controllable cooling technology of the inner mold of the American Rodman, or the water cooling technology of the inner mold, and the success rate of large-caliber artillery has been swaying upward. This technique is not easy to master, Chen Xie concentrated the top craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty in Dengzhou, and failed hundreds of times repeatedly before he basically mastered this technique.

Because of this, the cost of Chen Xie's cannon casting is very low, and the price of each 18-pounder cannon is 500 taels. It was doubled tenfold and sold to Zheng Zhilong. Even if Zheng Zhilong knew that this was a tenfold profit, he could only pinch his nose and admit it. In Western countries during this period, large-caliber guns were short-barreled, and Chen Xie was long-barreled here. This means range, naval range means preemptive strike, I can hit you, but you can't hit me.

With this, smashing the pot and selling iron, Zheng Zhilong will also buy it. I'm afraid that Chen Xie won't sell it to him.

Zheng Zhihu knows very well that when he says this, it is not a bargain, but a love to buy or not, not to buy away. Since this is the case, there is nothing to say, so I can only bite the bullet and say: "Okay, I accept this price on behalf of my brother, and there will be 20 doors for each kind." As soon as the words fell, Chen Xie shook his head with a smile and said lightly: "No, you can sell up to 10 of each." ”

This is a unique business, and no one in Daming can achieve this level at all. Even if it is Sun Yuanhua in history, most of the casts are small-caliber cannons, and they are also bulky. Zheng Zhihu still wanted to fight for it, but looking at Chen Xie's firm eyes, he gave up helplessly. I don't even need to give a reason, it's very simple, Chen Xie himself is also developing a water master, and it is impossible for the Zheng family to be too strong.

Just when Zheng Zhihu was a little disappointed, Chen Xie smiled again: "There is a kind of bird gun, I can sell some." ”

Bird's Gun? This thing isn't bad, especially when Chen Xie comes out here. Zheng Zhihu still said according to the old rules: "Can you take a look at the goods first?" Chen Xie didn't move, and asked people to fetch some bird guns that had recently left the factory. Why is it called a bird gun and not a rifle, not to take care of the Zheng family's comprehension ability, but this thing is really a bird gun. That is, the smoothbore gun, which is the equipment that Chen Xie prepared for the recruits, and only a thousand pieces were produced, ready to be used to fight the rogues. Unexpectedly, Zheng Zhihu came, and Chen Xie simply promoted it.

Soon the rifle arrived, a brand new flintlock smoothbore gun, not even a bayonet. In order to open up the arms market, Chen Xie personally gave Zheng Zhihu a demonstration, or the mode of fixed charge, the lead bullet was loaded, the bar came a few times, and then the trigger was opened.

"Bang!" With a bang, the target thirty meters away was shot out of the eye, Zheng Zhihu was not so easy to fool, and people went over to look at the target. At first glance, it was a dummy, fixed to a wooden stake, and a fish-scale armor was covered. The result was shocking, at a distance of thirty meters, direct armor piercing. If you want to talk about lethality, this thing is not bad at all in this era, but it is a shortcoming. The rate of fire of the flintlock pistol is also guaranteed, which Zheng Zhihu understands very well.

Thirty meters of armor piercing, melee combat at sea, when you rely on the gang, you will have a platoon of guns first, and the effect is absolutely good.

"Very good, what's the price?" Zheng Zhihu is very simple, and he doesn't plan to bargain this time. Chen Xie smiled and offered a more reasonable price: "One hundred and fifty taels of one stroke, there will be no counteroffer, and it will not be preferential if you buy more." ”

Zheng Zhihu had an urge to knock over the bastard in front of him with one punch, and then kick him dozens of times before he could vent his anger. But he definitely won't do it, and he has to laugh and say, "How much can it be sold?" There won't be a limit to the number, right? ”

Chen Xie smiled and gave the answer: "Five hundred strokes, not one more." ”

Zheng Zhihu left, took away the cannon and the bird's gun, left more than 100,000 taels of silver, and hurried back. He didn't even think about the flowers that he had been playing for a few days. There is not much silver left from this trip, and the silver that has been brought in some American goods is gone.

Back in Fujian, the artillery and bird guns that Zheng Zhihu brought back naturally had to be tested first. As a qualified arms dealer, Chen Xie is of course responsible for the three guarantees. How is the three-pack method? It's very simple, 200 artillery shots, 500 bird guns, and in this range, there is a problem to replace. Moreover, Chen Xie also sent a special person to go to Fujian with him, and he taught the Baohui. Arms are a long-term business, so be considerate.

When he was still on the ship, Zheng Zhihu pulled out a few cannons and put them on the foredeck, so that the technicians sent by Chen Xie could teach his subordinates to learn how to fire. How to adjust the elevation angle, how to use the fixed charge, these are all to be taught.

Before he arrived in Fujian, Zheng Zhihu found a cheating thing, Chen Xie gave 10 fixed-charge medicine bags and lead bullets for each cannon, and when he used this to learn, he could easily hit two thousand meters, and the elevation angle had not been adjusted. When he asked people to use his own gunpowder to fight, an accident appeared, and no matter how he adjusted, the maximum range was two thousand meters. This is too bad, what's going on?

Zheng Zhihu had no choice but to ask the gunner, and he said very simply: "The problem of gunpowder, your gunpowder has a lot of moisture, and the purity is not high, and it is also very problematic to keep it." This statement can only be said to be vague. The technology of gunpowder granulation, Chen Xie did not plan to sue the Zheng family. Anyway, ordinary gunpowder can be beaten, so let's make do with it.

That's it, Zheng Zhihu met Zheng Zhilong, first reported, and then demonstrated. Cannons, bird guns, a test shot, Zheng Zhilong's face was as black as the bottom of a pot. It's not dissatisfied, it's scared. This cannon was cast by Chen Xie's workshop itself, what does this mean? This means that once Chen Xie reaches out to the sea, Zheng Zhilong will be the life of the little brother who lifts shoes for others.

Fortunately, the civil and military officials of the Ming Dynasty had a strong sense of region, and Chen Xie probably did not dare to mess around. Otherwise, Wenchen will be impeached, and he can't stand it. encouraged Zheng Zhihu, but when he got the news of gunpowder, he was even more afraid. In addition to the relatively small number of ships, Zheng Zhilong lagged behind Chen Xie in an all-round way. Even if he wanted to take advantage of Chen Xie's development and strike Chen Xie's sea power first, he didn't have the courage to do it.

Just when Zheng Zhilong and Zheng Zhihu had mixed feelings about the arrival of these cannons, Chen Xie met with his old acquaintance Li Heng in Dengzhou. This buddy came for the semicolon of Hangzhou and Fuzhou, and brought a large amount of silver, which was exchanged for silver yuan. Then bring the relevant people and go back to open two branch numbers. The success of the Nanjing branch, he is already red-eyed, and he can't wait to open.

Chen Xie made a small request during the meeting: "Is Liu Xianglao familiar?" ”

Li Heng's eyes didn't roll as soon as he heard this, how could he not be familiar? He is basically familiar with pirates. What did Li Heng rely on to make a fortune? Didn't you just start by selling stolen goods? Not to mention Liu Xiang, he also knows a lot of other pirates, and he has "economic and trade contacts". Of course, it's all a shady thing, Chen Xie asked, he didn't know how to answer.

"Don't get me wrong, it's just that Zheng Zhihu came here recently and bought some large-caliber artillery and bird guns from me. You also know that I have a lot of expenses here, and I have some silver, even if I can't see the light, I have to earn what I should earn. This matter, you can just pass on a word, don't do anything else, and these heroes on the sea will naturally come to me when you look back. (To be continued......)