Chapter 644: Million-dollar military purchase!

Half a month ago, the Luoan court made a series of big moves. The Prime Minister Shangguan Hongyuan personally declared the Fengwu Army as traitors and listed Ye Mingsheng's ten crimes, such as bullying the people, killing colleagues, deceiving the emperor, etc., all of which were pinned on Ye Mingsheng's head. He also called on the officers and officials of the Fengwu Army to abandon darkness and join the light, and return to the orthodoxy of the Great Zhou Dynasty...
Murong Lun, who was promoted to the Minister of Personnel and entered the cabinet as he wished, also removed his younger brother's family and his son from the family tree, completely cutting off the Murong family and the Fengwu Army politically.

In addition, the Luoan court also completed the appointment of Xu Zhaojie according to the information obtained by Ye Mingsheng, and appointed him as the Governor of Huai'an, Commander of the Zhennan Army, and Inspector of the Three Souths.

The Fengwu Army was well prepared for the propaganda war launched by the Luoan court and did not tolerate Shangguan Hongyuan. The manifesto jointly drafted by Cui Shao, Gu Sansi, Gu Zhongshi, Murong Yuliang, He Jingyun and others portrayed Shangguan Hongyuan as a treacherous minister who did all kinds of evil and the number one traitor in the three hundred years of the Great Zhou Dynasty. They called on heroes from all over the world to gather in Luoan to kill the traitor Shangguan Hongyuan.

Just when the war of public opinion between the two sides was in full swing, a handwritten letter from Jiangnan was quietly handed to Ye Mingsheng's desk!

The person who wrote this handwritten letter is named Lu Jianchao. He is 49 years old now. He was the top scholar in the imperial examination in the early years of Anhe. He has served as Langzhong of the Ministry of Rites, Prefect of Lin'an, Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, and Governor of Jiangnan. He was officially appointed Governor-General of Jiangnan in the tenth year of Anhe.

He had only one purpose in writing this personal letter to Ye Mingsheng, which was to purchase firearms from the Fengwu Army!
Because he had never had any contact with Lu Jianchao before, Ye Mingsheng was still very surprised by the letter from him. However, after a simple thought, Ye Mingsheng knew why Lu Jianchao wrote this letter to him...
The root of the problem was that the Luoan court appointed Xu Zhaojie as the Inspector of the Three Souths. Ye Mingsheng could see Xu Zhaojie's intention of having this Inspector of the Three Souths. And Lu Jianchao, the Governor-General of Jiangnan was no fool. He certainly understood that Xu Zhaojie was coveting Jiangnan.

Judging from Lu Jianchao's resume, he is a traditional civil servant who is good at handling local government affairs and central finances. Although he is the governor-general of Jiangnan and nominally controls the military and political power of Jiangnan, he knows nothing about military affairs.

The armed forces of Jiangnan were basically controlled by several generals and commanders-in-chief. Fortunately, as a civil servant, Lu Jianchao was good at pacifying people's hearts. Jiangnan region was rich and spent a lot of money, so Lu Jianchao's reputation in the army was still very high. Several generals and commanders-in-chief also supported Lu Jianchao very much.

As the most prosperous and richest region in the entire Great Zhou, Jiangnan is very rich, but it is not very good at self-defense. In the past, when the Great Zhou was not as fragmented as it is now, the troops in Jiangnan were unable to suppress bandits, and they had to transfer troops from Huainan or Jingchu to suppress them.

The purchase of firearms from the Fengwu Army this time also clearly showed that Lu Jianchao knew that his Jiangnan Army could not stop Xu Zhaojie's fierce Zhennan Army, so he planned to purchase firearms from the Fengwu Army, which had the strongest firearms in the Great Zhou Dynasty, to improve the combat effectiveness of his army...

Of course, in addition to the fact that Fengwu Army's firearms are the strongest in Da Zhou, Lu Jianchao also purchased firearms from Fengwu Army for geopolitical considerations. As the Luoan court gave Xu Zhaojie the title to inspect Jiangnan, the relationship between Jiangnan and the Luoan court was also deadlocked. Sun Liangyu of neighboring Jingchu was defeated in Sichuan and Shu, and took in Lin Shize's family. Now he is unable to take care of himself, so perhaps only Fengwu Army can help Jiangnan!

The grudge between Ye Mingsheng and Xu Zhaojie, and the conflict of interests between the two major forces, also made the Fengwu Army a natural ally of Jiangnan. Lu Jianchao also hoped to use this arms purchase to establish good relations with the Fengwu Army, striving to ensure that when Xu Zhaojie invaded Jiangnan, the Fengwu Army would be able to send troops to the rear to contain Xu Zhaojie.

As Ye Mingsheng was replacing his troops with the latest Fengwu gun, some of the Weiyuan guns and Pulu guns that were previously equipped in his troops were eliminated. Ye Mingsheng's previous solution for these obsolete firearms was to sell them to Lu Changping to support him in his fight against Xu Zhaojie.

And because Cao Changping was killed by himself, Ye Mingsheng could only prepare to sell him to the small vassal states in Qi and Lu. However, these people were a bunch of poor guys and could not be sold at much price. They even hoped to get something for nothing from Ye Mingsheng just by saying that they had joined the Fengwu Army.

Ye Mingsheng was also very troubled by this, and now Lu Jianchao's willingness to buy also made Ye Mingsheng very excited. After all, the arms business has always been a big business starting with 100,000 taels of silver. What's more, the other party is a wealthy man like the Governor of Jiangnan. If this order is done well, he can earn hundreds of thousands of taels of silver and expand the Fengwu Army by tens of thousands of people...
In order to show his sincerity, Ye Mingsheng provided Lu Jianchao with dozens of muskets as samples for free, allowing Lu Jianchao to feel the powerful power of the Fengwu Army's firearms.

However, what Ye Mingsheng did not expect was that the Governor of Jiangnan was really wealthy and powerful. He did not even bother with these second-hand firearms. He simply asked for brand new ones and wanted Fengwu Army soldiers as instructors. He even wanted to buy red cannons and the technology to manufacture muskets. For this, Lu Jianchao was willing to pay Fengwu Army more than one million taels of silver!
Seeing that Lu Jianchao took out millions of taels of silver to buy arms so easily, Ye Mingsheng swallowed his saliva secretly and understood Xu Zhaojie. If he were Xu Zhaojie, he would have digested Huainan this year and sent troops directly to Jiangnan as soon as next spring.

Although he was very envious of the million-dollar offer from Lu Jianchao, Ye Mingsheng did not intend to sell the manufacturing technology of the Red Cannon to Lu Jianchao. He only planned to sell the manufacturing technology of the Weiyuan Gun to Lu Jianchao.

Compared with the musket, the technical difficulty of the red cannon is undoubtedly very high. As far as the current situation is concerned, the vassal states in various parts of the Great Zhou have all developed firearms similar to the Weiyuan gun, but due to the different technical levels of each company, the power and quality of the muskets they produce are different.

However, in terms of artillery, currently only Shangguan Hongyuan’s family has imitated the Zhengdong Cannon, but it is far behind the Fengwu Army’s original Red Cannon in all aspects. Therefore, the Red Cannon is still the core competitiveness of the Fengwu Army. Even if Ye Mingsheng is short of money, he will not sell the technology to manufacture such a powerful weapon...

Although Lu Jianchao expressed regret in his letter that Ye Mingsheng refused to sell the technology of the Red Coat Cannon, he still thanked Ye Mingsheng for his support for the defense of Jiangnan. After Ye Mingsheng and Lu Jianchao reached a consensus, the specific negotiations between the two sides were also carried out quickly. Because one of the two sides lacked silver and the other lacked weapons, they were very willing to negotiate. So after several rounds of fierce negotiations, the two sides quickly reached an arms procurement contract worth 1.35 million taels of silver.

The contract stated that the Fengwu Army would deliver 30,000 Weiyuan guns to Jiangnan at a price of 20 taels of silver each, and sell 100 new-style tiger squat cannons to Jiangnan at a price of 300 taels of silver each.

In addition to selling firearms, the Fengwu Army will also transfer the technology for manufacturing the Weiyuan gun to Jiangnan at a price of 200,000 taels of silver, and transfer the technology for manufacturing the new tiger squat cannon to Jiangnan at a price of 300,000 taels of silver. In addition to transferring technology, the Fengwu Army will also send craftsmen to assist in building factories.

Finally, the Fengwu Army will send a group of 100 instructors to Jiangnan to instruct the Jiangnan army on the use of firearms, and Jiangnan will pay a consulting fee of 150,000 taels of silver for this.

After the agreement is reached, Jiangnan will pay a deposit of 350,000 taels of silver, and the remaining silver will be paid to the Fengwu Army in batches after the firearms and technicians arrive...

Ye Mingsheng and Lu Jianchao were both very satisfied with this arms procurement contract worth one million. After Ye Mingsheng got the money, he could expand the army on a large scale and accumulate strength for the decisive battle with Shangguan Hongyuan in the north. This arms contract could also establish good relations with Jiangnan, which would be beneficial for the Fengwu Army's products to enter Jiangnan for sale. It could be said to kill two birds with one stone!
Lu Jianchao not only obtained arms, but also technology and factories. He could produce subsequent firearms by himself and could make as many as he wanted without being controlled by others, which greatly enhanced his own defense capabilities.

In addition, he also won over a potential ally like the Fengwu Army, so when Xu Zhaojie tried to invade Jiangnan, he had to take into account that the Fengwu Army behind him would not dare to invade Jiangnan easily.

This transaction is a win-win situation for both parties and meets the needs of both parties!
However, Xu Zhaojie would not sit idly by when seeing the flirting between Ye Mingsheng and Lu Jianchao. He immediately sent an envoy to Jingchu to meet Sun Liangyu. He didn't know what kind of magic potion his envoy gave Sun Liangyu, but he actually made Sun Liangyu significantly raise the entry fee. He also sent people to tell Ye Mingsheng and Lu Jianchao that if the goods and money of the arms contract wanted to pass through Jingchu, he would have to take 30% of it.

The fastest way to transport arms from Youyan to Jiangnan is naturally through Qilu and Huainan. However, due to the war in Qilu and the hostility between Ye Mingsheng and Xu Zhaojie, many of the Fengwu Army's goods have to go through Jiyu and Jingchu. Although the latter requires a lot more travel than the former, because it bypasses Huainan, its safety is also greatly improved...
In the past, Sun Liangyu had collected a lot of tolls for the trade between the two sides, and he had collected a lot of money without doing anything. However, this time, under the instigation of Xu Zhaojie, he made a huge request and wanted to get a share of the million-dollar arms contract.
Ye Mingsheng and Lu Jianchao were very angry about Sun Liangyu coming to them to make a killing. They sent messengers to negotiate with Sun Liangyu, but they didn't know if Sun Liangyu was so bold that he wanted to kill the matter. No matter what they said, he would take 30%! And not only for this arms contract, but also for ordinary business transactions in the future, he would charge 30% of the toll!

Seeing that Sun Liangyu was so greedy and looked like he valued money more than his life, if it were any other time, Ye Mingsheng would probably have taught him a lesson. However, as the decisive battle with Shangguan Hongyuan was imminent, Ye Mingsheng did not want to cause any more trouble, so he chose to restrain himself and silently made a note of what Sun Liangyu had done. He would settle the score with Shangguan Hongyuan after he was done with him!
Because of Sun Liangyu's greed, the arms purchases by the Fengwu Army and Jiangnan were temporarily put on hold. The two sides renegotiated the transportation method. Because neither of them wanted to accept Sun Liangyu's blackmail, Lu Jianchao proposed to Ye Mingsheng that the trade between the two sides be conducted by sea and land.

Ye Mingsheng was also very interested in Lu Jianchao's proposal, and asked his men to find an authority on sea transportation to discuss the matter. After repeated discussions, he came to the conclusion that although there were considerable risks in the rough sea and it was also affected by the Japanese invasion, it was still feasible overall...

After reaching this conclusion, Ye Mingsheng was very happy, so he agreed to Lu Jianchao's proposal. However, there were differences between Ye Mingsheng and Lu Jianchao on some details. Lu Jianchao wanted to let the merchant ships in Jiangnan undertake all the transportation work for both parties.

Ye Mingsheng hopes to take advantage of this opportunity to improve the capabilities of the northern shipyards, so he also wants northern merchant ships to take on part of the work and accumulate experience in overseas sailing. For this reason, Ye Mingsheng also came to Jingmen for inspection. According to the agreement between the two parties, Jingmen Port will be the temporary handover point for sea transportation between the two parties. The arms will be loaded and shipped to Jiangnan, and the silver from Jiangnan will be sent ashore from here and enter the warehouse of the Fengwu Army.

By the beginning of next spring, the reorganized Fengwu Army will completely take over Qi and Lu. By then, the handover will be made from Qi and Lu's Haiqu Port, which will save more than half of the journey and significantly reduce the risk.

Knowing that Jiangnan's first deposit of 350,000 taels had already set off by ship and would soon arrive at Jingmen Port, after inspecting the facilities of Jingmen Port, Ye Mingsheng confidently told Wang Quan that the Governor would continue to allocate funds to him so that he could recruit manpower as soon as possible to expand the scale of Jingmen Port and improve the level of Jingmen's shipbuilding industry. In the next few months, merchant ships from Jiangnan would continue to dock here to handle cargo.

There is no doubt that this commercial trade with the Jiangnan region will be a huge development opportunity, which can drive the economic development of the entire Youyan area, enrich the pockets of the people and improve their living standards!
In addition to driving economic development, Ye Mingsheng also hopes in his heart that this event can inspire the enthusiasm of northern people for doing business overseas.

Over the past few decades, the Jiangnan region has obtained a large amount of gold and silver through continuous overseas trade, exporting tea, silk, porcelain and other commodities overseas, and has become the most prosperous and wealthy region in the Great Zhou Dynasty.

Ye Mingsheng also intends to follow suit, so that merchants in Fengwu Army can also go abroad, reap the world's wealth, feed back the development of the local area, let the people eat meat every meal, live in three large tiled houses, reduce the local internal competition, and make the country a Celestial Empire that is congratulated by all quarters...
(End of this chapter)