20,000 short-barreled muskets, plus 5,000 muskets to compensate for the difference...... This directly means that the Haw Par Army can earn a profit of almost 3.5 million taels of silver in this arms trade.

You must know that the profit of 3.5 million taels of silver is only the first transaction between the Tiger and Par Army and the imperial court......

According to the service life of this short-barreled musket, at the latest within one year, the imperial court that has tasted the sweetness of this short-barreled musket will not hesitate to buy the second batch or even the third batch of muskets from the Haw Par Army.

At that time, the Haw Par Army will be able to make a steady stream of profits from the imperial court alone......

Just when Zhou Lao saw Zhang Qianshu away and was immersed in the joy of the harvest, another person dressed as a Han appeared sneakily at the door of the HSBC restaurant.

After being reported by the guards, he walked directly in front of Zhou Lao.

Compared with Zhang Qianshu, this Tartar intelligence officer engaged in espionage is much more respectful.

The first action after seeing Zhou Lao was to give Zhou Lao a big gift......

After finishing, he said directly to Zhou Lao: "This old gentleman, I am a businessman who often travels back and forth to Houjin, Mongolia, and even North Korea...... I had just heard that the old gentleman had in his possession the short-barreled muskets that the cavalry units of the Haw Par Army were equipping, so I wanted to inquire and buy some muskets to protect the caravan. ”

"Of course, if the old gentleman has more muskets, I can buy them. Then, send it to North Korea and other places, sell it to the North Korean army, and make a profit from it......"

Hearing this, Zhou Lao didn't even think about it, and he knew that the middle-aged man in front of him who claimed to be a businessman. It must be from Houjin. And it was commissioned by the Later Jin State. Come and buy a musket yourself.

If it were someone else, in the case that the Houjin Tartar was the mortal enemy of the Ming Dynasty, he would definitely refuse without hesitation. However, what is surprising is that knowing that the middle-aged man in front of him is buying muskets for Houjin and arming the Tartar army, Zhou Lao still did not hesitate to give an affirmative answer.

Could it be that Zhou Lao planned to support the enemy and defect to the enemy and betray the country. For the sake of silver, he even did not hesitate to increase the military strength of the Ming Dynasty's fierce enemies. Bring the Haw Par Army to a road of no return that is reviled by all Han Chinese......

Not really...... As for the specific reason, it also comes down to the quality of the musket.

The muskets sold by the Haw Par Army to the imperial court and the local gentry of the Ming Dynasty were far inferior in quality to the short-barreled flintlock muskets equipped by the cavalry of the Haw Par Army. As for the muskets that Zhou Lao was going to sell to the Houjin Tartars, in terms of quality, they were worse than the muskets sold to the imperial court......

After firing fifty shots of lead bullets in a row, there is a danger of exploding.

So, the muskets that the Haw Par Army is going to sell to the Tartars, on the face of it, make no difference. However, there is a very big hidden danger......

It's hard to really get to the battlefield. Not only will it not provide the slightest help to the Tartars, but it will also bring huge losses to the Tartars. After all, such a thing as a musket blowing up is not a joke......

There is only one reason for this result, and that is the problem of raw materials for the production of muskets.

We all know that the carbon content of steel has a somewhat very huge impact on the strength and toughness of steel. The two muskets equipped by the Haw Par Army, without exception, are made of steel that has reached the best state of strength and toughness after a series of complex processes such as frying steel.

As for the muskets sold to the imperial court, the carbon content of the barrel was much higher.

The high carbon content means that the raw material will be much less tough. Without toughness, the time for the barrel to be used becomes much shorter......

As for the muskets that are about to be sold to the Tartars, they are basically made of pig iron without any processing. On the surface, there isn't much of a difference. However, the toughness of the entire barrel, almost no ......

Under such circumstances, how could this barrel made of pure pig iron last too long?

Seeing the middle-aged man in front of him who was quickly covered with a smile because of his affirmation. Zhou Lao's words suddenly changed, and he continued: "However, the price of this musket is not cheap......

"In order to make a good musket, we basically scrap more than ten barrels...... Therefore, the price of this musket is set at today's auction price, which is 250 taels of silver for a musket, and at the same time, we also give away 20 pieces of special lead bullets for the Haw Par Army for each musket......"

Although I have known this price for a long time, when the price of two hundred and fifty taels of silver was really reported by Zhou Lao. The middle-aged man sitting in front of Zhou Lao still subconsciously gasped.

Then, with a shocked face, he asked rhetorically: "Old man, two hundred and fifty taels of silver, is the price too expensive...... I wonder if you can get it cheaper...... Because when we buy it, it's 10,000 muskets......"

"No...... One or two pieces of silver can't be less...... "When facing the imperial court, a very important reason why Zhou Lao agreed to reduce the price was that after the imperial court bought these muskets, the first thing they had to face was to be locked up in the tartars.

Therefore, in order to defend against foreign enemies, in order to prevent the people in the Ming Dynasty from being burned and looted by the Houjin Tartars, the Tiger and Par Army earned less silver, and there was absolutely no problem.

However, the Tartar in front of you is different......

Since he knew the identity of the middle-aged man in front of him, an idea appeared in Zhou Lao's heart.

For the Tartar in front of you, don't slaughter it, don't slaughter it, don't pit it...... Not only that, but it is also necessary to find a way to get through this arms trade, pit the Tartars with more silver, and further weaken the war potential of the Houjin.

Therefore, when the middle-aged man in front of him quickly fell into contemplation because of his categorical answer, the corners of Zhou Lao's mouth suddenly flashed with a strange smile that no one noticed.

Because, in the blink of an eye, the idea of slaughtering the golden tartar has already surfaced in Zhou Lao's mind.

Facing the middle-aged man's increasingly dignified facial expression, Zhou Lao spoke directly......

"Directly reduce the price, the old man does not have this right, nor does he have this opportunity...... However, the old man has two ideas here that you can refer to and see if it works......"

The middle-aged man, who was already ready to be slaughtered, his eyes lit up, as if he suddenly saw a ray of light in the night, and he subconsciously asked, "What way?"

"First, if you only buy 10,000 muskets, as the old man just said, there is no way to reduce the price...... However, if you can buy 20,000 muskets at once, the old man can make his own decisions and reduce the price to two hundred and forty taels of silver each...... In this way, 20,000 muskets can save 200,000 taels of silver......"

"Of course, if you buy more than thirty thousand muskets, the price will be another ten taels of silver. 30,000 muskets can save a full 600,000 taels of silver......"

"And so on, if you buy 40,000 muskets, each musket will be cheaper by 30 taels of silver, saving a total of 1,200,000 taels of silver......"

"If you buy 60,000 muskets directly, then the purchase price will become two hundred taels of silver. And the price of two hundred taels is also the lowest price you can buy muskets from my Haw Par Army, and it can't be lower, otherwise, my Haw Par Army won't even be able to earn back the cost of building muskets. ”

As long as a person with a little sanity knows that the reason why Zhou Lao set such a rule in front of him must be to let himself buy more muskets at one time.

However, even if you know that there is a trap waiting for you in front of you, you have to jump on it.

Because, the bait that Zhou Lao gave himself in front of him was too big......

If you buy 40,000 muskets yourself, you can save 1.2 million taels of silver, and 50,000 muskets, you can save almost 2 million taels of silver......

Just when the middle-aged man, with a complicated expression, quickly fell into deep thought. Zhou Lao spoke again.

"The old man just said that there are two ways to benefit you very much, and just one of them is just one. Next, the old man will talk about your other idea? ”

"As you just said, you often walk in Houjin, Mongolia and even Korea...... Then, you will definitely be able to buy all kinds of precious medicinal herbs and animal skins that are abundant in these places......"

"In order to ease your burden, the old man decided on his own that the silver you needed to buy muskets could be offset with these precious medicinal herbs and animal skins. However, the offset price can only be counted as 60% of the market price. ”

Hearing this, the middle-aged man who was still hesitant just now, with various complicated expressions, was directly moved after hearing this.

In today's Houjin State, the treasury is still full of burning, killing and looting of the Ming Dynasty. But no matter how much the treasury is filled, it can't withstand the consumption of tens of millions of taels of silver at a time.

However, medicinal materials and animal skins are different, as long as the Houjin Kingdom is willing to launch an "encirclement and suppress......ion" to the huge area of Changbai Mountain, the tiger and leopard army will have as many precious medicinal materials and animal skins as they want.

Therefore, after Zhou Lao's words were finished, the middle-aged man recognized this idea in his heart.

However, it is not he who is really in charge in Beijing. After Zhou Laozhu tried it, he replied without thinking about it: "Old man, I understand your thoughts very well." However, such a large deal is obviously not something I can decide. Therefore, I must go back at once and ask the head of the house for advice. ”

Zhou Lao nodded without hesitation and affirmed: "Yes...... However, what the old man wants to say is that in order to avoid complications, the old man will stay here for one more day at most, so you must hurry. Report it to me as soon as you leave the news......"

The end result was no surprise. I don't know if it's for the musket, or for the digestion of the various precious medicinal materials and animal skins that have been hoarded in the Houjin territory for almost a year. The Tartar hidden in the city of Beijing, Belle Ye, directly made the decision to buy 60,000 muskets.

Of the total price of 12 million taels of silver, in addition to the direct payment of 2 million taels of silver, the remaining 9 million taels were all offset by medicinal herbs and animal skins. (To be continued......)