The Military Police Department has made very meticulous preparations for this weapon demonstration in advance, and unlike the original demonstration of "Fu Ruifeng" Li Nai and others, this time it focuses more on practical and tactical demonstrations, rather than a separate display of power of one gun and one cannon. The artillery display of the fixed-point strike ability, the actual combat fire formation of the musketeers, and even the final demonstration of the bayonet function were specially arranged by the Military Police Department in order to make the North Vietnamese customers who visited the weapons demonstration realize the practical value of these killing weapons on the battlefield.

When Tao Donglai served in the army before, he had also seen many foreign officials who came to visit the weapons demonstration, and now the expression on Zheng Zheng's face made Tao Donglai involuntarily think of the envy, excitement, and eagerness of those African black corn who came to the Celestial Empire to buy arms, and he almost didn't open his mouth to shout "buy, buy, buy". It was this experience of observing the weapons demonstration process up close that led the Executive Committee to agree that he would personally lead the arms trade negotiations, rather than transfer Schneider, who was more adept at business talks, back from Guangzhou.

Zheng Zheng also watched this weapon demonstration with several members of his entourage, although these people were all dressed in civilian clothes, their gestures were still easy to make people see their true identities, these people were probably officers under the Zheng family, and the expressions on their faces were basically the same as Zheng Zheng's, full of desire for new weapons.

Sure enough, Zheng Zheng immediately proposed to let his people test shoot muskets, Tao Donglai readily agreed, and asked Wang Tom to guide him. After all, the arquebuses sold were already packed with gunpowder in paper packets, and the way they were loaded was probably a little different from what these Vietnamese soldiers knew. The militiamen quickly re-erected a few conspicuous wooden planks painted white in the distance, and this thoughtful consideration of the details made Zheng Zheng couldn't help but nod slightly, sighing at the meticulousness of the Haihan people's work.

After a series of test firing of Ping Pong, several of Zheng Zheng's subordinates expressed their approval of the operability of this weapon. At this time, the militia also carried back a few targets in the distance and asked them to confirm the results of their test guns. The shooting accuracy of the smoothbore gun is very limited, so these targets are only placed at a distance of 50 meters, so as to effectively ensure that some bullets can be targeted. However, the Vietnamese obviously did not care much about the accuracy of the muskets, they seemed to care more about the probability of the successful firing of these muskets, and in this regard, the quality of these arquebuses produced by the crossing group was obviously better than that of their contemporaries, as long as there were no problems in the operation process, the firing rate could be maintained at about 90%.

As for the artillery, Zheng Zheng can't help it even if he wants to test fire, this thing is not as simple as the operation of the arquebus, just cleaning the gun chamber and loading ammunition needs to go through a certain period of training to learn, otherwise it is easy to have an accident of exploding. After Tao Dong came to explain how powerful it was, Zheng Zheng did not insist, and only carefully observed the shape and workmanship of these cannons at close range. Since Vietnam did not have the technology to cast artillery, Zheng Zheng really couldn't see anything good or bad, he only felt that this swarthy artillery was very deterrent just by looking at it, and if he could equip his own troops with this kind of weapon, it would be worth paying even a little price.

Zheng Zheng was about to ask Tao Donglai for the third time, but this time Tao Donglai was ahead of him.

"It's not too early, it's better for us to have dinner first, eat and drink enough, recuperate our spirits, and then it's not too late to talk about business!" Tao Donglai said with a smile, blocking back the words that Zheng Zheng had already come to his lips.

Zheng Zheng looked at the sky, and sure enough, it was already dinner time. Patronizing to watch the weapons demonstration of the Haihan people, a few hours have passed before I know it. At that moment, Zheng Zheng did not refuse, and followed Tao Donglai back to the tent.

Zheng Zheng is not a second-generation official who does not understand anything, on the contrary, he must be regarded as a capable leader in the second generation of North Vietnamese rulers, otherwise Zheng would not have sent him as a representative of the Zheng clan in North Vietnam to conduct this trade negotiation. But in terms of skill at the negotiation table, I'm afraid that ten Zheng Zheng tied together can't be worth one Tao Donglai, and unconsciously, Zheng Zheng has gradually entered the rhythm of the other party. (Baidu search update is the fastest and most stable)

Although he was still worried about the sale of weapons, Zheng Zheng's attention was quickly distracted from the food in front of him. The use of a variety of seasonings and spices opened the eyes of the second generation of officials who thought they were living a life of fine clothes and food, and Tao Donglai also took the opportunity to sell edible spices to him and gave a small number of samples as gifts. Zheng Zheng has expressed great interest in this, but the spice trade will have to wait until the middle of next year at the earliest, when the spice crops grown by the group in Sanya will usher in the first harvest season.

Considering that there were still details of the transaction that needed to be discussed by both parties after the dinner, Tao Donglai did not take out alcoholic drinks at this dinner, so as not to accidentally pour Zheng Zheng on the party and delay the business. Zheng Zheng did not completely forget his mission, and constantly listened to the information of the Haihan people in idle conversation.

After a pleasant dinner, the two sides returned to the negotiating table and continued the unfinished negotiations of the afternoon, and Zheng Zheng finally heard his long-awaited arms offer.

Type 27 arquebus, 30 taels of silver, containing 30 rounds of special ammunition and special cowhide armed ammunition straps, as well as a flat-bladed bayonet that Zheng Zheng attached great importance to. Type 27 A gun, 1,200 taels of silver, including 10 rounds of ammunition and a pull-out ignition tube, a full set of loading and sighting tools, and a special movable gun mount. Type 27 Type B artillery, 2,500 taels of silver, containing the same accessories as Type A artillery. As for the subsequent supply price of ammunition, the price of ammunition for muskets was 200 taels per 1,000 rounds, 200 taels per 100 rounds for artillery ammunition type A, and 400 taels per 100 rounds for type B.

This time the price of the arms was much higher than the price previously sold to the "Furuifeng", and the price of the musket was 2 at that time. 5 times, while the artillery was 2 times and 2, respectively. 5 times, this is almost the price of the sales terminal of "Fu Ruifeng" trafficked to Fujian and sold to local forces.

Of course, the price is so high, and the executive committee does not intend to let the other party accept it, so there is still room for counteroffer. Considering that the other side may purchase a large number of weapons for the formation of the army, this time the supply price of ammunition was also directly reported. As the saying goes, "when the cannon goes off, the gold is ten thousand taels", and the price of the subsequent ammunition supply is naturally very expensive.

Zheng Zheng also trembled in his heart when he heard this, of course he had expected that the price of these things would be very high, but he also did not expect that it would be so expensive. Thirty-two muskets would cost at least 30,000 taels of silver to equip a musket unit of 1,000 men! And the price of artillery was even more astonishing; after watching the artillery demonstration, Zheng Zheng had planned to order 100 guns for each of the two types of artillery first, but now it seems that due to financial problems, this plan must be changed.

And that's not all, the auxiliary ammunition provided by the Haihan people is extremely limited, I am afraid that it is only enough for training, and if you really want to train a firearms unit to fight on the battlefield, most of them have to pay for their sky-high ammunition.

Profiteer! Zheng Zheng secretly labeled Tao Donglai, the smiling tiger sitting opposite, in his heart. But Zheng Zheng can't slap the table and leave because of the high price quoted by the other party, after watching the weapon demonstration, Zheng Zheng knows that this thing must be bought, if Zheng doesn't buy it, maybe the Haihan people will go south to Hue tomorrow morning to sell these murderous weapons to the Nguyen family. The only way is to see how to lower the selling price of the Haihan people.

Zheng Zheng suddenly remembered that Tao Donglai had mentioned in the afternoon that he would use artillery as rent in exchange for the development rights of Heitu Port, and immediately asked Tao Donglai about it.

Tao Donglai nodded and said: "That's right, we can use ten Type 27 Type A guns to pay you as a one-year rent for Heitu Port, and our requirement is to obtain the local development, residence and governance rights of Heitu Port during the lease period. Of course, on this premise, we recognize that the territorial rights of the region belong to the State of Annam, and we welcome you to send officials to the region to participate in the administration of civil affairs. ”

Tao Donglai said this with great diplomatic skill, first of all, you have to recognize the power I have in the port of Heitu, so that I will recognize that the sovereignty belongs to you, and secondly, you can only send civilian personnel there, and as for the armed forces, you don't have to talk about it.

However, Zheng Zheng was not as powerful as Tao Donglai thought, and he was not fully aware of the content implied in Tao Donglai's words. Zheng Zheng was thinking about another thing in his mind: according to the current situation, the local production of Heitu Port is only coal, and the current coal price in Thang Long Mansion is only two or three taels of silver per thousand catties, if it is converted according to the price of Haihan artillery, ten artillery pieces are more than 10,000 taels of silver, and the rent of that year can probably buy millions of catties of coal, and the income from recovering Heitu Port will obviously not be so high, but it is just an additional dispensable coal pit under Zheng's rule. From this point of view, it seems that it is really cost-effective to hand over the land to the Haihan people and then sit on the rent.

And Tao Donglai also thinks that this is a very cost-effective deal, it seems to make a lot of money, but in fact, the cost of manufacturing ten 6-pounder guns is not much, and it is less than 1,000 yuan when converted.

As the de facto ruler of the North Vietnamese regime, the Trung clan would recognize the power of the Haihan people in the port and would not interfere in the management of the port in principle. However, as the ruler, the Zheng clan would send local officials to the Heitu Port area to supervise local operations in the form of observers, so as to ensure that the Haihan people did not divide the territory in the local area, and the Haihan side had to promise not to sell similar weapons to the southern rebels.

At the end of each year, the Hai Han side will deliver 10 artillery pieces to the North Vietnamese Trầng clan at the merchant inn on the Tu Son Peninsula as a fee for renting the Black Tu Port for one year, and all the local residents will be managed by the Hai Han Executive Committee and the Black Tu Port Management Committee. As for the lease period, Tao Donglai discussed with Zheng Zheng and tentatively set it at 10 years, and then negotiated the renewal of the contract according to the situation at the time after the expiration of the term. Of course, Tao Donglai knew very well that there would probably be no more negotiations for the renewal of the contract in ten years, and it was very likely that in ten years at all, the place would be assigned to the name of the Haihan regime and become the territory of the future republic.

However, the concession-like agreement between the two sides, including the Tushan Peninsula area, which has been negotiated before, will only remain at the stage of oral agreement, and will not be implemented into a written agreement in black and white on paper. The Zheng family is worried about their status as a minister, after all, it has not yet come to the step of seeking the dynasty to usurp the throne, if the Zheng family privately signs this kind of territorial agreement with the Haihan people on behalf of the Houli Dynasty, it is undoubtedly a big handle in the hands of the Haihan people, and the Zheng family will not do this kind of stupid thing. And the crossing group did not want to sign any paper agreement in the first place, and if that kind of thing was signed, it would only bring unnecessary trouble to the future recovery of the territory on the grounds of "since ancient times".

So the two sides reached such an important land agreement so miraculously, Zheng Zheng thought that the strength of the Haihan people was not enough to invade the territory of North Vietnam, not to mention that they seemed to be bent on seeking wealth, and they did not show any bad intentions, they were willing to dig a pit in the port of Heitu, then it was good to dig it enough. Tao Donglai, on the other hand, believed that the North Vietnamese Trần clan would have to rely on the supply of arms from the Crossing Group for a long time to come, so there was no need to worry about the North Vietnamese side going back on its word and endangering the safety of the Black Earth Port. Both sides believe that they have something to rely on and do not need to worry about the other party breaking the contract.

But for the offer of muskets and artillery, Zheng Zheng will not agree so quickly, although these things are rare in North Vietnam, it does not mean that Zheng Zheng will let his family be wronged by the Haihan. Zheng Zheng's counteroffer was only half of the price offer, and this was obviously not within the expected price range for Tao Donglai.

However, Tao Donglai is not in a hurry, because he has already seen that the other party will inevitably buy it in the end, but the price may affect the specific purchase volume. As to whether the arms trade should pursue high profits or sales volumes, the question has long been settled within the Executive Committee.

Almost all members of the Executive Committee agreed that the arms trade should be sold as much as possible on the basis of ensuring reasonable profits, and that the profits from the sale of individual weapons should not be too high, but the quantity sold must be large. Because only large-scale installation can ensure Haihan's influence in the local military system, so that Haihan has the opportunity to meddle in local affairs for benefits, and subsequent military training, ammunition supply, weapon maintenance and even the replacement of next-generation weapons will not be able to get rid of the dependence on Haihan's military industry.

As to whether such a large-scale arms sale will pose a threat to its own side, the Executive Committee believes that this possibility is very small due to the careful planning of the relevant departments. First of all, there is a generational difference between the exported weapons and the weapons used locally, and if this generational gap is to be smoothed out by the number of troops, then the price that the other side needs to pay will be very great. Second, the base camp of the crossing group is located on Hainan Island, and any object of arms export who wants to fight with the crossing group must come across the sea, and the advantage of the crossing group in coastal defense fortifications is invincible to all the navies of the same era, of course, it will take time to realize this superiority, and the large-scale coastal defense artillery defense system and the formed artillery are not plans that can be achieved overnight at present.

Vietnam, confined to the civil war, clearly did not have the ability to attack and cross the bloc across the sea, and they did not have a strong maritime power or enough energy to expand their power overseas. This civil war would have lasted until the second half of the 16th century in its original history, and after the emergence of the Crossing Group in this time and space, it was entirely possible to interfere in the course of the war in the form of arms trade for a certain extent according to its own needs, and if necessary, it was entirely possible to provide some arms to the southern Nguyen clan to prevent the war from becoming a one-sided farce. When the Executive Committee deems it necessary to intervene directly, it will be enough to adjust the strategy at that time.

As for agreeing to Zheng Zheng's weapons monopoly, Tao Donglai thinks that this is not a big deal, and it is a big deal to find a few agents to play the role of white gloves. Even on his way to Vietnam, Tao Donglai had already thought that when the time was right, he could send the old Morgan or the bearded Johnson to Hue to discuss the arms trade with the Nguyen regime in the south as a Western maritime merchant. At that time, the muskets and artillery sold to the Nguyen Thi in the South only need to make some minor adjustments in appearance to distinguish them from the weapons sold to the North, so that even if both sides use advanced firearms to fight on the battlefield in the future, the Crossing Group will have a reasonable excuse to speculate about the North Vietnamese regime.

After a few rounds of bargaining, Tao Donglai felt that the other party's patience was probably worn out, so he threw out a killer move: "Mr. Zheng, if you insist that we reduce the price, it is not that we can't reduce it, but then we probably won't be able to provide you with follow-up weapon training services." ”

Zheng Zheng suddenly came back to his senses, he only cared about bargaining with the Haihan people, but he forgot about the use of these weapons after they were bought. The musket is fine, at least there are some knowledgeable officers, and the loading and use is not a problem, but the formation of rotating guns requires special training. As for the Haihan artillery, if there is no special training, I am afraid that I will not even be able to figure out how to make this thing, let alone put it into use on the battlefield.

At that moment, Zheng Zheng opened his mouth and asked, "Then what do you mean?"

"Considering that the arms deal between us is not a one-shot deal, and we may need to deal with each other for a long time in the future, we have a comprehensive plan for this. Tao Donglai smiled and introduced to Zheng Zheng: "We will set up a training camp here and provide you with a hundred military advisers, who will be responsible for training your soldiers so that they can learn the techniques and tactics of using muskets and artillery on the battlefield in a short period of time." Of course, you are responsible for the salaries of these military advisers and the daily training expenses of the training camp. ”