open sea

Chapter 709 Scheme
On the third day of the sixth year of Wanli, the negotiation still reached a critical point, or at this time the real negotiation has just begun.

"In terms of commercial negotiations, it seems that the negotiations are very harmonious. This is a complementary advantage. We have a strong and prosperous handicraft industry, which can provide military equipment, nobles' enjoyment, common people's daily necessities and other goods. The Spaniards just need luxury enjoyment. "

"Their cast iron cannons, shells, gunpowder, and armor used to rely heavily on the Netherlands. Now [-]% of them are out of stock except for the armor. The armor can still be purchased from Milan and other places, but the price is high."

"The nobles enjoy and the daily necessities of the common people. There are many things that cannot be provided in the local area, and some things are even not available in themselves. They can be used as rare goods to live in. Therefore, there is no doubt that negotiations in this regard are relatively easy."

A pair of military boots with thick cowhide soles were lying on the table. Chen Mu leaned back on the chair in a very shapeless way, holding the trade goods list submitted by Zhao Shizhen, commenting, and turning to the next page, saying to himself Yu said: "Let me see the price list, they are all pretty good! General Zhenshuo's profit is 27 times that of land warfare, and general Zhenshuo's profit of [-] kilograms of cast iron is [-] times?"

"good!"

It's not that Chen Mu is greedy.

The cost of artillery is not high, but the labor cost is very high, and the defective rate is extremely high. At the Nanyang Defense Armament Bureau, which has the best cannon casting technology in the country, experienced gunsmiths supervised the manufacture of ten cannons with ten catties of ammunition. A cast iron cannon is a master if it can be used with three guns.

Of course, the remaining three or four can be picked out to make do with it, but problems such as trachoma will shorten the life of the artillery.

Just like the batch of Guan Cannons that Chen Mu was cast under the supervision of Guan Yuangu in the early years, and it was difficult to improve the technology in a short time. It has reached its pinnacle.

The selling price of a twenty-pound ship's cast iron Zhenshuo general gun is 27 times the cost, but if the defective rate is added, it is actually only about four times the profit. It was much cheaper to cast a bronze cannon of the same caliber yourself.

The bigger the cannon, the more difficult it is to make and the more expensive it is, just like the small splicing rotary cannon, also known as the small Francois machine in the Ming Dynasty. Spanish craftsmen hammered it with a hammer and mass-produced it. In the Ming Dynasty, two catties of cast iron The cost of general Zhenshuo's materials is only two taels, even if the iron core and copper shell are used, it is only six taels.

The iron-core-copper-shell technology used in the artillery held by the Ming army can significantly reduce the defective rate and improve the quality and life of the artillery, which can generally reach five times the life of cast iron cannons.

But Chen Mu has always had the professional ethics of a qualified businessman - the cast iron cannons that the Spaniards need, and the iron cannons they want to buy.

We absolutely can't sell things that people don't need with good refills. General guns with copper core and iron shell Zhenshuo are not needed by others, so they can't be forced to be sold to others.

Moreover, in the Armament Research Institute of Guangzhou Lecture Hall, the iron core and copper shell technology does not belong to metallurgy, but to material science. Strictly speaking, Zhao Shizhen did not lie in his propaganda—he told Acosta that cast iron guns It is the representative work of the highest achievement in the metallurgy of the Ming Empire, yes, it is not deceiving, it is very rigorous.

Chen Mu sat upright, holding a teacup from the table, thinking about the Ming army's future division of defense in Asia, raised his eyes and asked Zhao Shizhen: "It seems that the negotiation is progressing very well, what made the negotiation deadlocked?"

Zhao Shizhen smiled wryly: "It's business."

A package of business cooperation was discussed in three days, from military supplies to daily trade supplies, so that the envoys in the middle thought that their negotiations had completely gone astray—they were sitting at the negotiating table, and no one thought that the other party's hostility towards themselves was very low , and both were surprised by the other party's reaction.

"We didn't plan to fight the Westerners. This was expected by the commander. The Westerners didn't intend to fight us. The trade orders made by the two sides passed the inspection of Chen Shuai first, and then the Westerners will send them back to Mexico. There are two batches for daily use and military use. After the governor confirms that there is no error, the daily use trade can start, and the military and coinage still need to be sent back to Madrid for the permission of the king.”

"I have no problem here, except that the cotton and silk are removed from the order, and the price and quantity are agreed upon by you. We want to upgrade the industry and not sell the raw materials to others. What's the problem with them? Sit down and talk."

Zhao Shizhen nodded and sat opposite Chen Mu, and opened the notebook that he carried with him. Chen Mu's habit has affected a large number of people in Nanyang and Beiyang for several years. Basically, everyone from the junior officer to the top will carry notebooks and charcoal pencils with them, and write down whatever comes to mind. what.

"Mainly in terms of land and minerals, the Westerners made great concessions on the land. They said that they paid guerrillas to place the boundary marker two thousand miles south of the Zhuangyuan Bridge. According to them, it is called 360 leagues. It originally belonged to Baja California, New Spain. in the desert of the state."

"They want to divide Asia equally with the Ming Dynasty. They plan to draw a line from west to east on the map with the limit of the boundary markers. The north of the line belongs to Daming, and the south of the line belongs to New Spain."

Chen Mu sneered, thinking how Spain is as virtuous as the Portuguese, and said with a smile: "Do you remember the Lion Country, the Portuguese were as generous as they were at that time, giving Chen the land they couldn't occupy as a favor."

"The north is either a big desert or a high mountain. Only the land along the coast can cut some good wood and catch some seafood. Even if you can get out of the desert, it's time to fight with others, right?"

Zhao Shizhen was a little surprised, and said: "How did the commander know that there is a desert? This is the second concession made by the Westerners. They have explored this land for 40 years. Although they have no intention of managing it, they have accumulated a lot of information. They can also use these things. Give it all to Daming, but there is a condition."

Chen Mu just raised his eyebrows. To be honest, he really felt that the Spanish made a big concession, but he could only classify it as sincerity.

He is not very interested in this information, saying that after 40 years of exploration, it must be Wang Po selling melons, but he has definitely sent many expeditions more or less, but if this information is really useful, how can the Spaniards be willing to take this piece Land for yourself?
Impossible, at most it’s just waste paper that can save people some effort. It might be useful to replace it with someone else, but for him—won’t it be good to directly assign the miner Shanzhu to San Francisco for prospecting?
"What conditions?"

"French pirates in Europe are rampant in the Caribbean Sea. New Spain hopes that the Ming army can dispatch a fleet to bypass South Asia to help clear the route. According to the information given to us by the Westerners, these people also set foot in the north of the Ming Dynasty boundary marker in Asia. East."

"It seems that the Spaniards are eager for us to regard the French, whom we have never met, as enemies."

Chen Mu rubbed his chin noncommittally, and Zhao Shizhen followed up and said: "Under this condition, the Westerners do not intend to hand over the coast south of the boundary marker to Ming Dynasty. The coast is enough."

"But they have a second option."

(End of this chapter)