Yang Xiuqing flicked his sleeves and said, "Quick, please come in Mr. Mas!" ”

When the eunuch heard this, he immediately went to deliver the message.

A short time later, Maas stepped into the main hall. Although Mas is Italian, he has lived in China for several years and has recognized the way of life here, wearing a Chinese dress with a small round hat, and is fully local. He walked in the main hall, bowed and saluted: "Your Excellency the East King! ”

Fu Shanxiang said in a deep voice: "When you see the East King, why don't you kneel?" ”

Yang Xiuqing flicked her sleeves and said with a smile: "Prime Minister Fu, I will allow Mr. Ma to not kneel." He was from faraway Italy and was our most expensive guest. ”

Maas said: "Thank you for your understanding! ”

Yang Xiuqing walked down from the dragon chair and sat on the left side of the main hall. He waved his hand for Maas to sit down on his right, so that the distance between the two would be closer again, and there would not be much sense of distance. Yang Xiuqing leaned forward slightly, and said with a smile: "Mr. Mas, this time you came to Tianjing, how many good goods did you not bring?" This king is in dire need of weapon support! ”

Originally, the leaders of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, led by Hong Xiuquan and Yang Xiuqing, were extremely repulsive to foreigners.

It's just that after seeing the strength of the weapons of the soldiers under Li Zhen's command, they all changed their attention.

At this time, Maas began to auction weapons again, and he and Yang Xiuqing hit it off, without the embarrassment of being kicked out of Nanjing. Ma Si listened to Yang Xiuqing's words and said with a smile: "Your Excellency Dongwang, this time I brought you good goods. Not only that, but I am also going to negotiate a deal with His Excellency Dongwang, which I think will be very beneficial to you. ”

"Oh, what deal?"

Yang Xiuqing's eyes lit up, and her eyes were full of expectation.

Fu Shanxiang sat next to Yang Xiuqing and stared at Ma Si tightly, for fear that Ma Si would be unfavorable to Yang Xiuqing.

Ma Si smiled and said: "Your Excellency the East King, let's not talk about the business first, let's talk about the guns and ammunition I brought. This time, I brought a batch of guns, a total of 10,000 guns and 500,000 rounds of ammunition. This is a large amount, I don't know if His Excellency Dongwang can eat it. ”

"Ten thousand guns!"

After Fu Shanxiang heard this, he gasped.

That's a lot of money.

Most of the Taiping army used steel knives, after all, the cost of steel knives is not high, and they are not easy to damage. If a soldier uses a foreign gun, even if the power of the foreign gun is great, the consumption is very large. Fu Shanxiang thought of the current finances of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and he was worried for a while, and interjected and asked, "Mr. Mas, how is the price of your 10,000 guns calculated?" ”

The price issue is what she is most concerned about.

Fu Shanxiang assisted Yang Xiuqing in handling political affairs, and was very concerned about the issue of money, Ma Si said with a smile: "Regarding the price of guns, I have always been very fair, and His Excellency Dongwang knows this very well. Merchants in England, France, and other countries sold terrible guns for hundreds of taels of silver each, and the guns made by my family's Beretta company were powerful and inexpensive. Each gun only charges 75 taels of silver, and 10,000 guns cost 750,000 taels of silver, which is definitely a good price. ”

Fu Shanxiang said: "Mr. Maas, do you want to give away 500,000 rounds of ammunition?" ”

"Even, my God!"

Ma Si listened to Fu Shanxiang's words, stretched out his hand and gestured a few times on his chest, with a look of surprise on his face, and said, "Beautiful and noble lady, you have hit me too much. 500,000 rounds of ammunition require a lot of manpower and material resources to complete. With these 500,000 rounds of ammunition alone, if you ask the British and French merchants to sell them, the price will definitely not be less than 150,000 taels of silver. Now, I receive only fifty thousand taels of silver. The guns and ammunition totaled 800,000 taels of silver. ”

Fu Shanxiang frowned slightly, embarrassed by this price.

Yang Xiuqing was extremely happy, nodded and said: "Mr. Mas is worthy of being a fair and virtuous businessman, I agree with Mr. Maas's proposal, and 800,000 taels of silver will be sold." ”

Fu Shanxiang interjected: "Mr. Mas, I have something to say to the prince, can you wait outside the palace for a while." ”

Maas smiled, "It's okay, I'll wait outside." ”

After Fu Shanxiang waited for Ma Si to go out, he said solemnly: "Lord, there is not much money in the treasury. If you buy these 800,000 taels of silver, I am afraid that you will face a financial crisis! ”

Yang Xiuqing asked, "How much money is left in the treasury?" ”

Fu Shanxiang said: "No more than 1.5 million taels of silver!" ”

"Ahh

Yang Xiuqing exclaimed in surprise and said, "How can it consume so much?" ”

Fu Shanxiang sighed helplessly and said, "After the capital of Tianjing, in the past two years, countless money has been consumed by repairing the Tianwang Mansion, the North Wangfu, the Yanwang Mansion and so on. Besides, there are still a large number of soldiers who need to be fed, and the money is consumed quickly, and they can't keep up with the supply at all, so please think twice. ”

Yang Xiuqing said: "In this case, let's increase taxes." ”

Fu Shanxiang said: "Lord Wang, taxation will make the people disappointed in us and not good for us!" ”

Yang Xiuqing said in a deep voice: "Without the Taiping Army, can the people be at peace?" Tell the people of our troubles, that they may understand our problems. With this premise, the people will support us. ”

Fu Shanxiang was helpless in his heart, especially when he saw Yang Xiuqing's determined expression, he felt a sense of powerlessness.

Yang Xiuqing raised his head and shouted, "Please come in, Mr. Maas!" ”

As the words fell, Maas quickly walked in again.

Yang Xiuqing said: "Mr. Maas, you just said that in addition to weapons, there is another deal. I don't know what this deal is, just say it and listen to it. ”

Maas nodded and said with a smile: "Your Excellency the East King, here's the thing. I took advantage of my arsenal and raised an army of a thousand men. These 1,000 soldiers, all of whom have retired from various countries, are well-trained veterans. I have equipped them with good weapons and the best supplies of meat so that they can fight well. They are an invincible team, and if His Excellency is willing to pay a certain amount of money to hire them, he can let them do anything for you. During this period, there is no need for the East King to supply weapons, I will provide weapons, what does the East King want? ”

After Yang Xiuqing heard this, he asked, "How is the combat effectiveness?" ”

Maas said: "Your Excellency the King of the East, we are people who have been working together for a long time, don't you still believe me?" These soldiers are all people who are ten with one as ten, they are all sharpshooters, and they are extremely powerful. It is absolutely cost-effective for His Excellency the East King to hire these soldiers. ”

Yang Xiuqing's eyes lit up and asked, "How much?" ”

Maas said: "Two hundred thousand taels of silver, the time is half a year." In the past half a year, they have done anything for you, and His Excellency Dongwang is not responsible for the death or injury, and they will absolutely obey your orders. ”

After Yang Xiuqing heard this, her heart was immediately moved, and she said loudly: "Okay, I wish us a happy cooperation." ”

Fu Shanxiang wanted to cry without tears, and he was even more worried in his heart.

If the treasury is out of money, how will the country run next?

ps: the third shift; Call it a day.