The trade between the Ming army in Fujian and the Ming army in Zhejiang, or the trade between Zheng Chenggong and Chen Wen, is nothing more than the four words of mutual communication.

The Ming army in Fujian dominated the Fujian Sea, controlled the waterway of the Taiwan Strait, collected tolls from the Taiwan Strait, and obtained a large amount of silver in maritime trade. Zheng Chenggong was rich, but he was so poor that he was only left with money. The ban on the sea has not been issued yet, and soldiers can also be recruited through coastal islands. However, food, weapons, armor and raw materials are the flaws that restricted the development of the Ming army in Fujian. Even if he has taken over most of Zhangzhou Prefecture, he has only reduced this flaw a little.

For the Fujian Ming army, which had tens of thousands of troops and countless sea ships, trade is life, and the supply they needed mainly comes from Japan and Nanyang.

Japan has food, raw materials, weapons and armor, but the output is too low and the price is too high. Such as a coercion, may not be as good as possible in terms of power. However, the development level of the South China Sea is relatively low, and the European colonists are unfriendly to the Chinese in the South China Sea, and even the negotiations with Zheng Chenggong can be ignored. The resources that the Fujian Ming army can obtain from there are very few, and in comparison, Japan has become the best choice.

In history, Zheng Chenggong's main trading target was Japan, with a large scale of trade. The Ming army in Fujian was mostly equipped with Japanese swords, deer guns, copper cannons, iron cannons, and even Japanese armor made in Japan. In addition to Japan, food, cloth, raw materials, etc., they were also purchased from Annan, Luzon, Siam and other places, and at the same time used fleets to conduct maritime trade across the Chinese sea.

Of course, in addition to this, the shogunate and the people of Japan also gave Zheng Chenggong some weapons and funds. Apart from the support for trading partners, it is actually a response to the begging for troops to Japan. If the Ming Dynasty really turned around, the repeated refusal to send troops would definitely be brought out by some radical factions. Japan's military power could not bear the power of the Ming army's war, which has been confirmed in the Renchen War.

However, now, with the strong rise of the Ming army in Zhejiang, there is another object of marine trade. Even if there is no outlet yet, the strength of the Ming army in Zhejiang will inevitably become an indispensable link in the trade chain.

Compared with the Ming army in Fujian, the Ming army in Zhejiang has no estuary, but it has been dominated by southwestern Zhejiang for nearly two years. The output of grain, cloth and raw materials is not low. Moreover, with the end of this battle, the southeast war situation will have a different offensive and defensive situation. Once Chen Wen restores Hangzhou, Jiahu and Hu and is facing Susongchang Town, the trade volume will also increase explosively.

In addition, the Ming army in Zhejiang won many battles and the cold weapons, firearms, armor, and even war horses seized from the Qing army were not comparable to those of the Ming army in Fujian. These were all materials that Zheng Chenggong and Zheng Tai urgently needed, and Chen Wen also had the same idea to trade with Zheng Chenggong.

"I heard that most of your army have Japanese swords, copper guns, iron cannons and deer guns purchased by Japan. Is this a matter?"

As the name suggests, the Japanese sword has always been a very important product in Japan's foreign trade. The copper cannon is a copper cannon, which was recorded in later generations that it was considered a Folang machine, but in the Minnan language, the yu actually refers to a front-loading cannon, rather than the rear-loading cannon represented by the Folang machine; in addition, the so-called iron cannon in Japan is not Chinese cannon, but actually a copula gun; while the deer gun is a large Japanese large-tube style mesh gun, with its power between a large copula gun and a light cannon.

During the Qing Dynasty, there were records: "Each thief cannon ship is equipped with a large copper cannon in red, weighing three or four thousand kilograms. It can be installed on both sides of the bow of the ship with more than twenty doors, and one or two hundred deer guns." The thief here refers to Zheng Chenggong and Zheng Jing and his son, and what he is talking about is the firearms on the Zheng family naval gunboats.

“That’s exactly that.”

That's right.

Chen Wen unconsciously sat upright, revealing the smile that his colleagues called it "started again" when he was in sales.

"As far as I know, the iron cannons in Japan are long and thin, with very little power, and are not enough to break the armor. Is there any such thing?"

In the late Ming Dynasty, the Japanese mezzanine could only have the ability to kill the armorless soldiers. It was almost a decoration when facing the armored soldiers. During the Renchen War, the 200,000 Japanese army had tens of thousands of bird guns that had no choice but to use Li Rusong's Liaodong Iron Cavalry. Zhejiang famous general Wu Weizhong was shot in the chest and still shouted to supervise the battle. Its power can be seen. Now the Ming and Qing armies are even more equipped with bulletproof cotton armor. Although at most they can defend against bird guns, the Qing Dynasty eliminated this "bullet-proof vest" with the update of the mezzanine, but at this moment it is still not something that Japanese iron cannons can do.

"There is indeed something that is not powerful."

If the power is great enough, why would the Japanese still make trouble for the deer gun, a weapon with the same idea as lifting a gun?

"I'm not hiding it from my brother, I also seized some bird guns from the hands of the Eight Banners of the Han Army in this battle, and some of them were also produced in the army..."

The bird guns of the Eight Banners of the Han Army were all made by the Eight Banners. If craftsmen dared to cut corners, they were life-threatening in the early Qing Dynasty, so their quality was much trustworthy than those of the Ming Dynasty's Work Department. Even some places were manufactured may not be as good as theirs. The Ming army in Zhejiang won consecutive battles, and the weapons produced were impossible to be bad.

Chen Wen's proposal aroused Zheng Tai's interest, and the price proposed by Chen Wen was not as high as that of the Japanese who sold to Zheng Chenggong. If the cost of Shanghai trade was calculated, it would be much cheaper.

From beginning to end, Chen Wen did not ask Zheng Tai how much he wanted to buy, nor did Zheng Tai asked Chen Wen how much he had. The two knew the digestive ability of the Fujian Ming Army and the capture ability of the Zhejiang Ming Army. Chen Wen had almost no effort to settle this large transaction.

Using bird guns made by the Qing army and the Ming army to grab the Japanese iron cannon business, this is just the first step. Zhejiang is far closer to Fujian than Japan, and the Japanese are not delivering goods to their doorsteps. Chen Wen sells the same price and is better than Japan's. Zheng Chenggong's spending is less than going to Japan, so why not do it?

After the bird gun was negotiated, Chen Wen's second move was artillery.

"In addition to the bird guns, I also seized a large number of the Eight Banners of the Han Army, Zhejiang, Zhejiang Fubiao, Fujian Luck, Fujian Luck, Fujian Luck, and some red artillery cannons, Folang machine cannons and tiger squat cannons used by troops such as Henan Fubiao. Our firearms are all made according to specifications, so it is a little more convenient to set the gunpowder, so I can sell some of the captured cannons."

Among the cannons sold by Chen Wen are all artillery that can be produced by the Military Industry Department, and the large-caliber red artillery is not sold.

In fact, although the artillery used by the Ming and Qing armies in this era was not small in weight, the weight and range of the shells were not very large. Due to the airtightness of the Folang machine cannon, the weight of the three hundred kilograms of the Folang machine cannon was only more than one kilogram, equivalent to one pound of cannon, and the thousand kilograms of the Folang machine cannon was only three or four pounds of the shells. The Red Armor cannon was better. With the same weight, the weight of the shells was twice that of the Folang machine cannon, but in terms of rate of fire, the Folang cannon was far ahead. As for the tiger squat cannon, there is no need to mention it.

However, artillery is not what Zheng Chenggong attaches most importance to than bird guns. He bought it from European ocean ships, and it was also made in Japan, and even his occupied areas could be made. I don’t know how long the captured artillery has been used, and it is hard to say how well it is maintained, so Zheng Tai seemed a little interested in Chen Wen’s proposal.

"My brother, artillery is not as good as bird guns. There is indeed a need in the army, but we can also make it in our army..." If it is cheap enough, Zheng Tai thinks that buying some is not something that cannot be considered.

"Brother, the price can't be reduced any more. Otherwise, add 100 taels of silver for each cannon, and I will sell those cannon crews to my brother, how about it?"

After hearing this, Zheng Tai almost sprayed a mouthful of tea. He had heard of buying a box and returning a bead. Who had heard of buying cannons and giving a cannon team? In Chen Wen's eyes, this person was just an accessory of cannons. However, Zheng Tai was not a member of a human rights organization. The artillery group mentioned by Chen Wen was a group of prisoners, many of which were veterans in the Qing army, and they did a lot of evil. After being captured, the power of life and death was in the hands of the Ming army. It was normal to sell it, so it was naturally no big deal to treat it as a gift.

"This saves Damu's effort to retrain the gun team."

In this era, each gun group must be specially trained, because even the same standard guns will have slightly different guns in terms of gunpowder usage, aiming ruler, and shell weight, so there are often cases where the gun is adjusted, which gun group is specially adjusted. Chen Wen's purchase of the gift can enable the Fujian Ming army to form combat power immediately after purchasing these guns. Zheng Tai naturally would not miss this, but there are some other things that attract his attention more.

"My dear brother has captured a lot of the Eight Banners of the Han army this time. I wonder what these prisoners plan to deal with?"

To buy and sell the population, it is a big prison. According to Zheng Tai's wishes, if all the Han army's eight banners captured this time were sold to Zheng Chenggong, it would probably be enough to be shot.

But these days, most ordinary people sell themselves as slaves, let alone captives, and it is normal to kill them all. In the eyes of opponents, these people are heads, and they are used to exchange certificates for military merit, and it is no big deal to sell them.

Since the Ming army in Zhejiang believed in the theory of "those who have constant property and business have perseverance", in Chen Wen's eyes, the families of the Eight Banners of the Han army were all in the north or Hangzhou, and they were not trustworthy at all, and it was impossible to establish their loyalty by relying on division, especially the most scarce cavalry, as long as they were put into the army, they would have to run away all their men and horses within a few days.

In Zhejiang, at most, it is taken to the coolie camp to build roads, forts and other facilities, and it is absolutely impossible to be incorporated into the army. However, for Zheng Chenggong, the most scarce thing at the moment is soldiers with combat experience, especially such soldiers with rich combat experience, which are the treasures in the army. Therefore, compared to those weapons, this is the most critical item that Zheng Tai wants to buy, and his attitude of buying and giving just aroused Zheng Tai's thoughts.

"Does my brother plan to buy weapons and then ask me to give them to soldiers from the Eight Banners of the Han Army? Wouldn't I beg me to pay a lot of compensation?"

Chen Wen's joke was stunned when Zheng Tai heard it, and then it caused a burst of laughter between the two.

"If my brother really plans to sell it like this, my foolish brother will be disrespectful."

More than 4,000 people were captured this time. Putting aside the part that promised to release and the gift gun team that had just been negotiated, as well as the Hangzhou Eight Banners, which had been sentenced to death by Chen Wen, there were more than 2,000 people left. These Qing troops were all the soldiers of the Han army's Eight Banners, but what Zheng Tai was most interested in was the sword and shield soldiers. Thinking about it carefully, this was actually extremely normal. Chen Wen had no intention of bargaining, and simply ended the transaction of buying and selling population with fifty taels of silver from each of the Han army's Eight Banners. It was more than the entire Han army's head team who decided in Dalan Mountain to earn twenty taels of silver.

However, a soldier from the Eight Banners of the Han army sold fifty taels of silver. When the Qing army was invaded in the late Ming Dynasty, a maid with a skill in the south would sell for more than twenty taels. These Qing army had not been in the army for less than ten years, and they fought only a lot more battles than Chen Wen's subordinates. However, for Chen Wen, the Zhejiang Ming army was rewarded and punished, cooperated, and could not work with their comrades. It was impossible for those who had different ambitions to be incorporated into the army. It would be more appropriate to let them go to Zheng Chenggong's islands to accept the transformation first.

Those who steal the hook were killed, and those who steal the country were stolen. The arms and population were stolen. Chen Wen and Zheng Tai, two marquises of the Ming Dynasty, understateed the deal that was determined to go to the prison, and then talked about other goods.

Chen Wen of grain has been confirmed to be not for sale, which disappointed Zheng Tai, but Chen Wen is still willing to sell cloth, leather, other raw materials and short-term products such as medicinal materials. This has made Zheng Chenggong have another source of goods besides Japan and Nanyang, and it is also a source of goods with a closer route and a lower goods. He can use the same resources to enhance his greater strength.

Although Chen Wen had not yet left the sea estuary, Zheng Tai did not ask, nor did he mention the proposals of the Ming army in Fujian to assist in the war. It was obviously because he had great confidence in the current combat effectiveness of the Ming army in Zhejiang.

In fact, Chen Wen's current occupied area is only more than a hundred miles away from the sea. As long as he takes over Qingtian County, Wenzhou Prefecture City will be almost without any danger. However, it is not the time to use troops, and what he wants is not just a Wenzhou.

Relatively speaking, while Chen Wen sold goods to Zheng Chenggong, he also planned to buy some of the things he needed from Fujian. The first thing was warships, followed by large-caliber red artillery, European craftsmen and books, etc., and in short, Zheng Chenggong would not purely import silver into Zhejiang. The long-term solution was to go back and forth.

After the negotiations on trade exchanges, although most of them are still general intentions, more detailed negotiations will be carried out after the Zhejiang Ming army obtains the sea port in the future, the ability to reach the intentions just shows that there is a basis and possibility of cooperation between the Zhejiang Ming army and the Fujian Ming army, which makes Chen Wen and Zheng Tai very happy.

At the banquet, Chen Wen found all the generals in Jinhua Mansion and civil servants headed by Sun Yu to accompany him. The two had a great time at the banquet. After three rounds of wine and five flavors, Zheng Tai suddenly asked Chen Wen about the question of "Is there a wife or a marriage contract" but still made the banquet quiet.

Political marriage was something Chen Wen had expected, not like Li Dingguo’s proposal to Zheng Chenggong’s daughter for his son, but this time it was the Ishii Zheng family who wanted to marry him.

For the Zheng family, it can further gain land support from the Ming army in Zhejiang. Whether it is to resist the threat from the north, or work together to recover the land of Fujian, or even cooperate during the Northern Expedition, it will be a good choice; for Chen Wen, the navy of the Ming army in Fujian is the weakest link in his army, and he can use Zheng Chenggong's power to do more things. In the long run, if the internal strife of the Zheng family still happened as in history, a son-in-law of the Zheng family, Zheng Chenggong's brother-in-law or brother-in-law, could give him more resources.

Although it is still impossible to escape the scope of political marriage, it is undoubtedly beneficial to both parties. However, when the words come to the mouth, when they are spoken, they are no longer the result of purely aimed at interests.

"I'm not hiding it from my brother, I've already had a crush on someone, but the war has just stopped for a while and it's not time to get hired." (To be continued.)
Chapter completed!