Zheng Zhi'e and Tagawa Ichiro took down the shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu in Edo, and they really had money to make the devil grind, and they smashed a lot of silver down and really got the land of the Hirado Domain.

In Nagasaki, Tanagae and Zheng Cai visited the Dutch head in Toei, Baron van der Vaart.

"So many muskets?"

Baron Van der Vaart frowned, shook his head helplessly, and replied: "Mr. Tian Chuan, General Zheng, it's not that I don't want to help, it's just that tens of thousands of muskets, this is not possible to raise in a short period of time, you must be clear, just half a year ago, the Ming Empire just bought 8,000 muskets from us and the Spaniards, that's 8,000, not to mention the arsenal of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and Spain in the South Seas, even the muskets in our garrison have been collected a lot, just enough to make up this number, although more than half a year has passed, Now another batch of muskets has been brought from the West, but it is only a few thousand, and in addition to equipping us with armament, there are only three or four thousand of the rest, where can I get you ten thousand muskets? ”

Tagawa Nanazaemon and Zheng Cai's faces changed slightly, the Yiguan Party is rich, but there is money, no goods, what's the use? In the East and South Seas, there are all such muskets, and they are completely priceless!

"Monsieur Baron, is there no way? If another batch of arms were to be procured from your country now, how long would it take at the earliest? ”

Tanakawa Nanazaemon asked.

Van der Vaart sighed and replied: "Mr. Tagawa, from Nanyang to our country, the distance is twenty or thirty thousand miles, one back and forth, even the fastest speed, it will take at least eight months, plus to purchase guns in various places, how can it be a year less, if it is a little slower, it will take more than a year, tens of thousands of muskets, even in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, it is not an easy thing to mobilize so many muskets......"

Van der Vaart said that there is no half-truth, maybe the Dutch shipbuilding speed is the first in the world, but when it comes to making muskets, the Dutch are far from enough, England and France, both better than the Dutch, 10,000 muskets, the Netherlands is fully engaged in production, not more than half a year, thinking about taking it out.

Tian Chuan and Zheng Cai's faces were extremely ugly, in a year's time, where could they be so special?

According to the information transmitted by the Ming Dynasty, it will be three or four months at most, and the Ming Empire will launch an expedition against Dongying, and when the time comes, the elite of the Tianwei Army will rush in, and the little force in their hands is not enough to see at all, muskets, this is the killer weapon of the Zheng family and the Tianchuan family to save their lives.

"Is there no other way, Mr. Baron?"

Zheng Cai asked in a deep voice.

Van der Vaart hesitated for a moment and said: "General Zheng, I'm very strange, there is no war in the Ming Dynasty now, according to your Ming people's temperament, once the war is over, then it is time to put the swords and guns into the warehouse, and the horses are put in Nanshan, in the armory of the Ming Dynasty, there are muskets and artillery now, why don't you buy them directly from your compatriots?" Those greedy officials, in order to fill their own pockets, the price must not be high, and, the most important thing is that now the muskets produced by the Ming Dynasty have surpassed us Dutch in terms of quality and quantity, as far as I know, the firearms bureau in Beijing and the firearms bureau in Nanjing, the two firearms bureaus, the annual output of muskets will not be less than 30,000, and the artillery of various calibers will not be less than 500, which is no longer comparable to the previous two years......"

As a shrewd businessman, Van der Vaart knows the intelligence of the East, the Ming Dynasty and the South Seas well, especially in the Ming Dynasty, and knows it very well, and there are constantly special intelligence officers to send the information to the bases of Dongying and Nanyang, if it is put on hold ten years ago, Van Te Vaart is simply disdainful of the Ming Dynasty's firearms production capacity, and the firearms bureau in charge of John Tang at that time can only produce dozens of red-coated artillery pieces in a year, and the productivity is too low; However, now it is different, after several years of hard work, Daming's firearms production capacity has increased several times!

This kind of gift speed is really a big surprise to Western countries, the behemoth of the Ming Empire, once it enters the track of development, no one really dares to despise him, it is too shocking, how is the firearms bureau in the capital, it is not very clear.

However, the Nanjing Firearms Bureau, according to the information obtained by Van der Vaart, produced 50 red-coated artillery pieces of the 5,000-jin level in one year; 60 red-coated artillery pieces of 4,000 catties; There are 160 red-coated artillery pieces of the 2,000-pound level, and in addition, there are more than 100 Franco cannons and 100 flowering cannons! Such production capacity is so huge that it has completely surpassed the Dutch.

As for muskets, now Western countries have also begun to equip flintlock muskets, however, the popularity of flintlock muskets is far less rapid than that of the Ming Dynasty, and the production capacity is naturally greatly discounted, now the Ming Dynasty can produce 30,000 flintlock muskets per year, but the entire Western Ocean, the arquebuses and flintlock muskets that can be produced in a year are only 50,000 pieces, the gap, this is the most obvious gap!

Once the motor of the Ming Empire starts at full speed, it is definitely not comparable to the effects of the West, after all, although from the perspective of natural science theory, the West has completed the transcendence of the Ming Dynasty, but the basic engineering and technical level, the two sides are still on a horizontal line, and even in most fields, the Ming Dynasty is far better than the West, thousands of years of accumulation, where is the West These small countries can surpass the transcendence?

When Zheng Cai and Tian Chuan heard Van der Vaart's words, their eyes lit up, and they immediately dimmed.

Zheng Cai smiled bitterly and said: "Mr. Baron, I won't tell you, now the Ming Empire is like a thorn in the flesh of the Ming Empire, where do the officials of the Ming Dynasty dare to sell us firearms?" Do you think this was still when Emperor Chongzhen was in power? Now Zhu Jie is in charge, this guy has extremely strong control over the government and the opposition, once he knows which official is full of private pockets and collaborates with the enemy and betrays the country, he will definitely be dead without a corpse......"

Van der Vaart's expression was stunned, over the years, Zhu Jie's Daming has grinded Van der Vaart's ears out of the cocoon, and someone mentions it in front of him every day, like thunder! In fact, how could Van der Vaart be willing to turn off this business? It's just that Van der Vaart can't do anything now, he doesn't have so many firearms in his hands, what can he do?

"Or ......"

Suddenly, Zheng Cai's eyes rolled, and he said in a low voice: "Mr. Baron, how about we entrust you to buy firearms in Daming?" It is naturally much more convenient for you to come forward, but I know that this Zhu Jie treats you foreigners very preferentially, especially the learned foreigners, and is even more respectful, compared to buying some firearms, it is not a difficult matter, we will definitely not let you work in vain, a musket, equipped with 500 rounds of ammunition; We are willing to provide you with ten taels of silver, how? ”

(End of chapter)