When he heard that he wanted machine tools, vernier calipers, and chemical experiment utensils, Manlick thought for a moment and said, "Vernier calipers and chemical lab utensils are simple, and we have them in Manila." As for the machine, we can get it too, but it will take time and wait. ”

"How long will it take?" Wang Xinyu asked.

"Half a year if it's fast, and a year if it's slow."

"Oh my God! It's going to take so long! It's a pity we couldn't wait that long! We have to fight with the Dutch, and the Tatars at home, and after half a year to a year, we won't be able to make so many cannons with machine tools, and then we won't be able to drive the Dutch out of here. It seems that we had to go to the Indian Ocean ourselves and find the British to buy it. Wang Xinyu deliberately said with regret. Actually, I don't buy from the Spaniards, but I buy from the British.

Hearing that Wang Xinyu was going to buy something from their enemies, Manrik was worried that this big customer would be snatched away by the British, and hurriedly said, "Oh my God! You can't buy anything from those pirates! The price they offer is expensive and the quality is very poor! If you buy something from these pirates, you're going to be deceived by them! ”

"But we need machine tools now, and without boring machines, we would be very slow to build cannons. If we get the machine tool in half a year, we will have to build a lot less cannons. So how are we going to fight the damned Dutch? If it really doesn't work, we will have to look for the Portuguese, or the British, and we will have to trade with them in the future. I think they'll be happy to buy our wares. Especially now that the Tatars have imposed a ban on the sea, without us, it would have been almost impossible for you European countries to get fine ceramics, silk and tea, as well as raw silk and the like, silk and other in-demand commodities. And we can do it, once a month! Wang Xinyu shook his head regretfully.

Manrik was very hesitant, thinking about how to keep this big customer, especially Wang Xinyu said that he would do business with the Portuguese or the British in the future, so that their Spaniards would lose a lot! Especially now that the Tatars have imposed a sea ban, without the help of the Ming people, I don't want to do business! You know, if you can cooperate with the Ming people for a long time, win the agent, do a business, and deduct other expenses, you can earn at least more than 100,000 Spanish silver dollars! If you do one business a month, you will have more than one million silver dollars a year!

Not to mention more than a million, hundreds of thousands of silver dollars, it is enough to return to Europe and live the life of a nobleman!

The charm of money is really attractive, and after thinking about it for a long time, Manrik finally put his heart on the line: "As long as you continue to do business with us, we can provide you with machine tools as quickly as possible!" Four months! It will definitely arrive in four months! Also, to compensate you, we can sell you cannons and warships cheaply! ”

"Sell cannons and warships cheaply?" Wang Xinyu was stunned, "What kind of price?" The British promised me that a ship of 150 to 200 tons would cost more than 5,000 silver dollars! A fifth-class cruiser is only more than 10,000 yuan! And it's together with the cannon above! Although it is an old ship, their ship is oak! ”

Manrik cursed in his heart: Damn the British! Actually steal business with us! Sold so cheap! It seems that if I don't catch this Ming envoy quickly, then sooner or later the business will be robbed by those damn British! It is even possible that after the Ming and the British united and drove the Dutch out, the Strait of Malacca would be unimpeded, and the British would be able to come in directly! At that time, the goods of the Ming Kingdom will be directly transported to India! Oh, my God! How can this work! No way! Can't let this god of wealth run away!

"Respected envoy of the Ming Kingdom, I am willing to sell you cannons and warships at a better price than the British!" Manrik said with a hard heart.

Hearing that the Spaniards could sell it at a lower price, Wang Xinyu suddenly became interested, so he asked tentatively: "The warship you sold me was converted from a merchant ship, right?" ”

Manrik said helplessly: "Although it is a merchant ship remodeled, but the Spanish galleon, as you should know, is the best merchant ship in the world!" A large merchant ship that can cross the Pacific Ocean! When you have those ships, you can transport more cargo. I decided, a 500-ton ship will sell you 8,000 yuan! Not to mention anything else, let's just say that the artillery above, twenty cannons of various types, I'm afraid it's more than 8,000 yuan! As for the 750-ton large merchant ship, I will only sell you 15,000 yuan! ”

The Spanish ships were not like the British ships, and the cannons on them were of a uniform caliber. British battleships generally only have two calibers of cannons, at most they add siege mortars, because the caliber of the guns is unified, and the muzzles cannot be turned casually, so the level of gunners of each gun of the British is not very high, but the British only need an excellent captain, plus two excellent gunners, with a group of obedient artillery, can fire an amazing salvo of gunfire. And the Spanish ship, a ship has at least four or five calibers of cannons, long-barreled cannons, semi-long cannons, falcon cannons, mortar cannons. Not only did each gun turn its muzzle back and forth slightly, but the Spaniards were ingenious enough to even come up with a gun that could be turned back and forth on the deck, which was the most primitive rotating turret, that is, the wheels of the gun carriage were horizontal, and there was a circular track on the deck that could rotate the gun and fire in different directions.

With this design of the Spaniards, it can be said that each gun is very flexible, and the guns of different calibers can ensure long, medium and close firepower.

Manrik was still boasting about how perfect the Spanish galleons were, with a variety of cannons that surpassed those of the British, and a complete range of firepower, and were the finest warships in the world. But Wang Xinyu didn't listen to those boastful words at all, because he had been with Albert for a while and was already very familiar with the naval battles of this era.

Aren't the Spaniards very powerful? Every gun was free to fire, but why couldn't the Spaniards beat the British? Because of their design, the requirements for every gunner are very high, every gunner needs to be the best gunner, you must know so many types, can turn the muzzle of the gun, in a bumpy ship, to hit the target, every gunner needs to be elite.

But the British were different, as long as the ordinary gunners, under unified command, fired a salvo. In every naval battle, after the death of the Spaniard's excellent gunners, it was difficult to have skilled gunners to replenish them. And the British don't feel sorry for how many gunners died, as long as the captain and gunner are still alive, they will soon be able to train a new batch of gunners to come out!

The British, so to speak, were two or three good commanders, with a group of ordinary people, fighting under a unified and coordinated discipline; The Spaniards, on the other hand, were a few ordinary commanders, with a group of excellent gunners, fighting in their own positions.

It is for this reason that the Spaniards failed every time they met the British.

Although Wang Xinyu doesn't like the Spaniards' warships, but the Spaniards sell them at such a cheap price, it's still very good to buy some galleons and come back as merchant ships, and more importantly, the guns on these ships are good things! There were many types of artillery on Spanish ships, which could just be dismantled, heavy guns were used as battery guns, mortars were used for siege cities, and light guns were used as army guns. Now the king of Yanping is in great need of artillery, and after buying these ships himself, he must be very happy to dismantle them and hand them over to the king of Yanping. And the ship was kept for his own merchant ship. Anyway, if you go back, you have to hand over the silver, and it's also a good idea to take the purchased artillery for a part of the silver.

"The price sounds fair! I would have considered buying it, and I'd be willing to wait for your machine to arrive! In addition, we need some saltpeter, brimstone, and the like, and we hope that the Governor will sell them to us. Wang Xinyu said.

"That's totally fine! We have a lot of sulphur and saltpeter in stock! That's enough for you to use up for ten years! Manrik readily agreed.

Next, Wang Xinyu proposed to see the halberds and plate armor provided by the Spaniards.

Manrik turned to the guards outside and shouted, "Someone! Bring up the halberds and plate armor used by our halberd soldiers! ”

Soon someone brought up the fine plate armor and halberd.

Seeing the plate armor, Wang Xinyu was not surprised, but when he saw the halberd, he was a little stunned: "Isn't this an axe?" How is a halberd? ”

The Spanish-style halberd is a spear more than a zhang long, and there are two axes on both sides of the spear head, so it can also be called an axe gun. The reason why Wang Xinyu wanted to buy the Spaniard's halberd was because the Spanish hollow array was very powerful. It was not firearms that the Spaniards were strong in land warfare back then, but such weapons.

"This weapon is called a halberd, and we can also call it an axe," the priest said. Compared with spears, this weapon can not only stab, can be used to deal with cavalry, but also can chop, hook, and cut horses' legs, which is a multi-purpose weapon! It's very powerful! I believe that if you are heavily equipped with this weapon, coupled with the cooperation of the musket team, the cavalry of the barbarians will be like weeds in front of you! ”

Wang Xinyu asked again: "But there is no sword and shield hand, and the halberd soldiers are not live targets in front of the barbarian archers?" ”

Listening to the priest's translation, Manrik laughed: "We have eliminated the sword and shield hand a long time ago!" Our shield is just a piece of equipment that swordsmen occasionally use, and halberders and pikemen don't need the protection of shields at all, because every one of their warriors is a heavy warrior! The barbarians' bows and arrows simply cannot penetrate our plate armor! ”

The Spanish halberd, which was definitely a good weapon in the era of cold weapons, required skilled soldiers. In fact, the halberd can be imitated in the future, but the formation and the use of the halberd need to hire a Spaniard as an instructor. So Wang Xinyu proposed: "I will buy 200 halberds, 200 sets of plate armor, and at the same time hire 100 of you halberd soldiers to be instructors." ”

However, Wang Xinyu still doesn't know that plate armor is actually not easy to make, because plate armor is forged by hydraulic machinery, and plate armor is made by hand? That's too inefficient! Because the Spanish plate armor was particularly protective, when the Spaniards were in South America, the Spanish heavy infantry wearing armor and holding halberds could crush the Indians. Even the heavy cavalry of the Europeans was a crushing defeat when they encountered the formation of the Spaniards with a combination of muskets and halberds.

The reason why Wang Xinyu did not plan to be fully firearms was because the rate of fire of the front-loading flintlock pistol was too slow, and it was impossible for the Mini rifle to be mass-produced in this era, and a bayonet was installed on the flintlock pistol? How can you say that the length of the bayonet plus the musket is not as good as the halberd, right? It's definitely not as good as cold weapons.

In the south, it is possible to use the naval division plus the terrain advantage against the cavalry, but what about going to the northern plains? There is no water and no mountains, and the best way for infantry to restrain cavalry is the Spanish Hollow Array. It's not that Wang Xinyu hasn't considered the development of cavalry, but there is a shortage of horses in the south, and there is not such a large area of horse farms, how to develop cavalry? In the future, only a few cavalry can be used to contain the opponent, and the main thing is to rely on the infantry to decide the victory.

There is also a question, at present, the Spaniards have been hired as instructors, and then they have fallen out with the Spaniards, where will these Spanish instructors go? This is a headache for Wang Xinyu.

Forget it, don't think about it for the time being, and wait until the war with the Spaniards in the future, let's see how these people are, if it doesn't work, I'll let them go when the time comes.