The Xiyi people were shocked because they knew something about the artillery of the Ming Dynasty.
The artillery of the Ming Dynasty was generally iron, with a small caliber, short range, and live ammunition. Compared with its limited power, they tried to sell to Zhou Zheng. Because a cannon was worth more than six thousand taels, the profit was very considerable!
But the artillery in front of them was completely different from what they knew. It had a large caliber and a long range, and it used flaming rounds, which was more powerful than their European artillery!
If this kind of gun is mounted on a ship, their merchant ship will not be an opponent at all!
The Viscount from the Little Franco machine waited for the sound of the cannon to stop, watching the smoke billowing, as if he could still feel the ground shaking, turning his head to look at Zhou Zheng, blinking, his face stiff, not knowing what kind of expression it was.
Liu Liuzhe glanced at the faces of a group of Xiyi people, and whispered in Zhou Zheng's ear: "Second Young Master, as you said, there is a lot of gunpowder buried under the ground."
Zhou Zheng hummed quietly, smelling the sulphur in the air, as if smelling silver.
The astonishment on the Viscount's face quickly faded, and Zhou Zheng grumbled with a smile on his face.
The translator hurriedly followed and said, "My lord, the Viscount said that their artillery is stronger than ours, but ours has many advantages and can complement each other. I hope to buy three doors and install them on their ships."
Zhou Zheng knew very well that the Viscount wanted to imitate, and it was absolutely impossible to just try.
This artillery was dictated by Zhou Zheng, jointly developed by craftsmen and European missionaries. Some techniques cannot be restored simply by dismantling, and it is impossible to imitate them!
Zhou Zheng's face remained as usual, saying: "Each door is twelve thousand taels, and gunpowder is not counted. In addition, one thousand muskets need to be bundled, 55 taels each, and ammunition is not counted."
The translation relays the past.
The Viscount thought for a moment, then said with a smile.
The translation said: "My lord, he said it's okay."
Zhou Zhengyi stretched out his hand and said, "I will take the Viscount to visit our base."
The Viscount looked at the dozen cannons reluctantly again, and walked inside with Zhou Zheng with a smile.
Liu Liuzhe followed behind, stunned to himself.
The cost of each cannon is no more than two thousand taels. The second master's mouth is'twelve thousand taels'. The gunpowder is calculated separately. The cost of the guns is up to five taels each, and the second master casually is fifty-five taels!
What a huge profit, it can make more money than Zhou Ji!
Liu Liuzhe was busy calculating how much silver he earned, how much he could sell, and how much he could earn!
Zhou Zheng took these Xiyi people around and introduced the arsenal.
Because Xiyi people wanted to go to the key places such as the workshop failed to complete, so some lack of interest.
Zhou Zheng didn't bother to take care of them. It was the first time he came. After simply entertaining these people, he seriously began to turn around, and then made adjustments and arrangements for some things.
It was not until the evening that he could talk to Liu Liuzhe in detail.
Liu Liuzhe sat opposite Zhou Zheng and said, "Second Young Master, although this place is remote, it is an isolated island after all and it is not safe. I am thinking about finding someone to come, but I am afraid of leaking news..."
Zhou Zheng had thought about it a long time ago, and said, "I will arrange this. Later, I will send some people to protect the periphery and not get involved in it."
Liu Liuzhe responded, and suddenly said: "Second Young Master, these firearms are so powerful, will they be dangerous if they are sold to Xiyi people?"
Zhou Zheng looked at him and said with a smile: "It seems that you have learned to use your brain. It's okay, it's not right for a while. When it's really right, these things will be useless."
Liu Liuzhe was relieved, and immediately said with an annoyed look: "Second Young Master, we are using too much silver now. It is too dangerous to always let the escort be transported to and fro, not to mention trouble, we have to find a way..."
Hearing this, Zhou Zheng's heart moved slightly, his expression thoughtful.
In this era, there is no bank, and there is no ticket number. It is really troublesome to make a complete'cash silver' transaction.
After pondering for a while, Zhou Zheng said, "When we arrive at Tianjin Wei, I will discuss with Chengji and them. This will be the case for the time being."
If you want to establish a ticket number, there are people in Zhou Zheng who have money and channels, and the big environment is also suitable for the development of the ticket number, but there are still many problems to be solved if you want to establish it.
Seeing Zhou Zheng's words, Liu Liuzhe responded with bright eyes. In his eyes, the second young master of their family was almost omnipotent.
After talking for a while, and almost finished speaking, Liu Liuzhe smiled shyly: "Second Young Master, the master told me that he will marry Biqing Master for me in the next few years."
Liu Liuzhe will be 19 this year and 20 next year. It is time to get married.
At this point, Zhou Zheng couldn't help but feel a headache. His sister-in-law Zhou Ding, his elder brother Zhou Fang, and even his father Zhou mentioned his marriage explicitly or secretly, and it seemed that they could not be delayed any longer.
Zhou Zheng shook his head and stood up and said: "Well, I will wrap you a big red envelope when the time comes. I will go back after a night's rest. You will be watching here for a while and you will return to Beijing as soon as possible. The Chamber of Commerce is going to move to Tianjin Wei, you have to watch Tighter."
Although Chengji, Shangguanxun and others were Zhou Zheng's people, but the real confidant was Liu Liuzhe.
Liu Liuzhe understood what Zhou Zheng meant, and then stood up and said: "Second young master, don't worry, there will be no chance for people to take advantage of me!"
Zhou Zheng nodded and walked outside.
Early the next morning, Zhou Zheng discussed the specific firearms transaction with the Xiyi people, and was about to leave Xiangyun Island and return to Tianjin Wei.
Today's artillery is generally very heavy. The so-called Hongyi Cannon weighs several thousand jin. Even the one improved by Zhou Zheng is nearly two thousand jin, which is extremely troublesome to transport.
Zhou Zheng returned to Tianjin Guardian to deal with various affairs while also proceeding to appease the Hejian Mansion.
He kept convening conferences to promote, deploy, and reward officials at all levels. He even appointed more than 20 mayors and more than 100 village heads in one go, and issued cash rewards of up to thirty thousand taels!
Then, the young people in the towns and villages were clearly divided, classified as'reserves', and verbally appointed as'captains', leading salary, as many as 500 captains, and each captain led more than fifty captains in the village. Young and strong.
These captains are required to go to the town to receive drills during the slack in the farming period, and they cannot relax at ordinary times. They are also responsible for defending the village, daily patrols, fighting bandits and so on.
Zhou Zheng's series of actions greatly consolidated his control in Hejian Mansion and effectively promoted his innovation plan.
At the same time, he is also further clarifying the business environment, and strive to establish a fair and transparent tax system, especially on both sides of the canal, and strive to become a prosperous trading center.
When Zhou Zheng was busy, the chaos in Shaanxi became more and more raging.
The minister Hu Tingyan and the governor of Yansui Yue Hesheng were afraid of fame and concealed the robbery. As a result, Wang Zishun was waiting to sit up, and nearly 10,000 people gathered at once and surrounded Han Cheng.
The trilateral governor Yang He and the governor of Shaanxi Liu Guangsheng drove them by force. The prince went along, but the number of people expanded rapidly, especially when Wang Jiayin captured seven or eight counties in one fell swoop, and once carried tens of thousands of people!
Yang He insisted on'providing the main task and taking suppression as the supplement', but the imperial treasury had no money or food, and couldn't appease these bandits.
Surrender and rebel. More and more intense.
There was another person who was very different. He was appreciated by Yang He and promoted to Hong Chengchou, governor of Yansui, after Yue Hesheng was seized and imprisoned.
This person killed and fell decisively, claiming that he would “cure the cause in a slow time, and cure the symptoms in an emergency”. After a soothing, he attacked more than three hundred bandits and killed them all before the big account.
Yang He's failure to suppress the bandits and Hong Chengchou's "killing" caused dissatisfaction with the court officials, and they were impeached one after another. (End of this chapter)