Chapter 1879 Arms Trade

So that afternoon, Li Bo also appeared at the scene of the weapons transaction as a bystander. However, to his slight disappointment, there was no bargaining as he expected. The venue was set at the shooting range of the garrison barracks, and the transaction process was

It starts with the inspection. As for the transaction price and purchase list of both parties, as Shi Diwen declared in advance, they will not be announced in public.

On the one hand, this is to facilitate Haihan to control the market price and supply of weapons and equipment. On the other hand, it is to protect the personal interests of these Ming military leaders and prevent their strength from being exposed to broad daylight. In fact, if it were not for this sea war,

Han provided a batch of spot goods, and it was unlikely that these military leaders would gather on Zhoushan Island at the same time, because in the past they had adopted pre-orders, and there was no need to rush over to buy like this time.

It is worth mentioning that this batch of weapons and equipment supplied to the Zhejiang Ming Army was not produced by Haihan, but was obtained by Haihan from seizing Spanish armed forces after occupying Manila. These muskets and artillery made locally by the Spaniards were incompatible with those of the Haihan Army.

The equipment is naturally not comparable, but for the Ming army, its performance is superior to the weapons produced by the Ordnance Bureau under the Ministry of Industry and the Military Staff Bureau under the jurisdiction of the inner government.

And the most important thing is that the price of this batch of second-hand weapons is much cheaper than the real Haihan-made weapons, and there is no need to wait for the construction period. You can pick up the goods immediately after paying the money. For some military leaders who are eager to acquire arms for other uses.

, this is definitely a batch of goods worth spending money on.

In fact, after the war in Manila, a small part of the Spanish weapons and equipment seized from the local area also flowed into North Korea through Li Xi. However, Li Xi did not know the specific status of the arms trade between his country and Haihan, so this was his first time.

This is the first time I really saw Spanish-style weapons.

Since it is an inspection, it is natural to randomly select test firings to verify the performance of the weapons. This link also makes up for Li Bo's regret of not understanding the content of the transaction between the two parties - he can intuitively understand the Ming army's procurement through test firing and target practice.

What is the performance of batch of weapons?

Compared with the Haihan weapons that he had seen at the Datong River base before going abroad, Li Bo quickly realized that the weapons sold to the Ming Dynasty were indeed not very good, but they were just the most ordinary matchlock guns. These were delivered to the Ming army.

Although there are a small number of flintlock rifles among the rifles, their performance is far inferior to that of the rifles equipped by the Haihan Army.

However, looking at the reactions of these Ming military leaders, it seemed that they were not dissatisfied with the performance of these rifles. Li Ming was relieved when he thought about it. This is not a wet market where you can pick and choose. If you don't want to buy it, there are many

People were waiting in line to buy, but after a moment's hesitation, they were gone, leaving no room for them to complain. If these weapons were sold to North Korea, Li Bo felt that the reaction of his country's soldiers Cao Yamen would probably be different from that of these Ming generals, no matter what

Before buying the 3721, you need to solve any problems first, and then you can consider whether it is good or not.

This batch of guns had already gone through preliminary screening before being shipped to Zhejiang to ensure that each gun could be used normally, so the test firing by the buyers went smoothly and the target shooting test was completed quickly.

In addition to this batch of rifles, there was also a batch of Spanish artillery sold at the same time. The guns that could be towed and loaded on ships in and outside Manila were successively disposed of to various Allied forces after the war. The few guns in Manila Port were used during the war.

The coastal defense heavy artillery, which had hardly been used in the war, was also shipped by the Annan Army and taken back home. It was said that it was to be equipped at the military port on the Tushan Peninsula as a weapon to guard the country's gate.

The artillery that was shipped to Zhejiang for sale was actually the same as the rifles. They were defective products picked up by various allied forces. Haihan only guaranteed that they would work, but did not guarantee their performance and service life. However, these Ming troops

The generals don't care too much about the performance of artillery, and the purpose of buying these guns is not necessarily to arm their own troops - as long as they buy these guns and change hands, they can sell them at double or even higher prices.

Go north.

Haihan is not unaware of this situation, but this resale does not harm Haihan's own interests, so he generally does not interfere with the specific whereabouts of these weapons. The more aspects involved in this large arms trade network, the more people will profit from it.

The more people there are, the more stable this business will be. And Haihan can also use this special trade channel to continuously increase his influence within the Ming Dynasty.

After seeing several Spanish artillery pieces pulled by mules to the shooting range, Li Ming became more certain of his idea. The weapons Haihan sold to the Ming Dynasty were not of the highest quality, and the Ming Dynasty's military strength was not as strong as he had previously thought.

I thought it was so far away.

For more than two hundred years, the Korean state under the rule of the Li Dynasty has always treated the Ming Dynasty as its suzerain state. Even the replacement of the king must be recognized and canonized by the Ming Dynasty before it can be counted. The reason is,

In addition to the gap in comprehensive national strength between the two countries, another very important point is the gap in military force. So every time North Korea encounters a foreign invasion and is unable to defend itself, it will immediately turn to Ming Dynasty and ask Ming Dynasty to send troops.

Help him defeat the enemy.

Before the rise of the Later Jin Dynasty, the protection of the Ming Dynasty was still very strong. When the Imjin Japanese Rebellion broke out in North Korea during the Wanli Period, 140,000 Japanese troops crossed the sea and invaded North Korea. They captured the North Korean capital in just one month and expelled the North Korean King Li Huan.

Later, the Ming Dynasty also gathered a large army into North Korea to help it retreat from the enemy, but this battle lasted seven years.

Although the allied forces of the Ming Dynasty and North Korea finally won the victory and drove the Japanese army out of North Korea, the national power of the Ming Dynasty was greatly affected. From then on, it was unable to suppress the Houjin armed forces in Liaodong, leaving room for them to gain momentum.

By the time Li Bo became sensible, Nurhachi had already established the Great Jin Kingdom, known as the Hou Jin Dynasty, and published the "Seven Hatreds" to protest the Ming Dynasty, and began to openly oppose the Ming Dynasty. Although the education he had received since childhood was to turn the Ming Dynasty into a

He serves as a suzerain, but in his mind, the strength of this suzerain is no longer so convincing.

In 1627, Jin invaded North Korea and forced North Korea to form an alliance and pay it the annual currency. Although North Korea did not sever its vassal relationship with the Ming Dynasty, the status and influence of this suzerain state also declined and could no longer reach the level of 1627.

The level reached during the Wanli period.

In the past ten years or so, in Li Shu's eyes, the suzerainty has been in name only for most of the time. Especially after Haihan began to enter Northeast Asia in the past two years, its influence on North Korea began to gradually overtake the Ming Dynasty. After experiencing

After this year's war against the Qing Dynasty, Haihan was about to replace the Ming Dynasty, and Li Ming no longer had much respect for his former suzerainty.

The level of armed forces of the Ming Dynasty is nothing more than this - this is what Li Bo really thinks at the moment. But the object he uses for comparison is Hai Han, which is actually quite unfair to the Ming Dynasty. If there is no existence of the heaven-defying Hai Han

, then the Ming Dynasty was still a very powerful country in Northeast Asia during this period.

Even Li Bo, who doesn't know much about the international situation, can imagine why Haihan wants to control the weapons and equipment sold to Ming Dynasty. After all, the two countries are friendly countries that have concluded diplomatic relations on the surface, but in fact there are difficulties.

Competitors who reconciled territorial disputes and conflicting interests. Haihan wanted to maintain his military superiority over the Ming Dynasty and also earn profits from the lucrative arms trade, so he could only write this kind of article.

But Li Bo feels that North Korea is different. There is almost no direct conflict of interest between Haihan and North Korea, and North Korea is also happy to respect Haihan as its new protector. After seeing Haihan support him,

After several Allied armies, North Korea also decisively followed Haihan's suggestion and prepared to form a new army. In Li Bo's opinion, the other Allied armies that entered North Korea to fight were probably much stronger than the Ming Dynasty's troops.

Points. If North Korea can develop and train a new army in full accordance with the plan formulated by Haihan, then having a combat force that is better than the average level of the Ming Dynasty in a few years does not seem to be an unreachable goal.

The rumbling sound of artillery awakened Li Shu from his daydream. He returned to the shooting range and saw several Ming army artillerymen learning to use these Spanish artillery pieces under the guidance of Haihan soldiers. In fact, this kind of front-loaded artillery

The principles of artillery are similar. It is not difficult for experienced artillerymen to learn. The real difficulty lies in how to become familiar with their performance through training after receiving these artillery.

This sounds simple, but in fact it is not easy to operate. The biggest problem is that training requires the service life of ammunition and artillery. The training results must be exchanged for real money, and even for troops with artillery,

Its commander may not have so much funds for daily training.

The financial investment of the Haihan Artillery in the training stage may not be much greater than that of the Ming Army. However, with the artillery training experience of later generations, the relevant training methods and efficiency are far superior to those of its competitors at the same time, and the training effect will naturally be better.

Quite different. Moreover, frequent foreign wars have given the Haihan artillery a lot of practical opportunities to practice. Its battlefields span a vast area from the South China Sea to the Yellow Sea, and they have to perform combat missions in various natural environments. The accumulation of combat experience and combat

The improvement of skills is naturally far superior to that of the Ming army.

North Korea actually has artillery, but Li Bo has seen his country's artillery drills before. At the time, he thought they were quite good and majestic. But after seeing Haihan's artillery combat drill, Li Bo knew what he was doing at that time.

The idea is really a little bit like sitting in a well and looking at the sky.

But Li Pu believes that this has something to do with the artillery previously equipped by North Korea. He has seen the Haihan artillery drill at the Datong River base, and the power of the artillery fire is obviously different and the range is longer. He believes that if it can be used in the future

Buying more artillery pieces produced by Haihan will definitely improve the combat effectiveness of the North Korean army. As for the artillery in front of us, which is said to be produced in Western countries, since Haihan can confidently and boldly sell it in batches to the Ming Dynasty, it can be

The performance of thinking and knowing is not much better.

Although Li Bo's idea is a bit extreme, it is basically as expected. After all, this is the remaining weapon seized from Manila. There is really no highlight in terms of performance. If no one buys it from Ming Dynasty, then I guess Haihan

These weapons can only be treated as scrap metal and returned to the furnace.

Of course, if there were people from the Fujian Ming Army present, their attitude would probably be similar to Li Bo's, and they would not take these Spanish weapons seriously. After the war in Manila, only the Fujian Ming Army had almost no captured Spanish weapons.

Weapons, because the wealthy Xu Xinsu has always insisted on using Haihan weapons to equip the troops. Although this requires a huge investment in the economy, the troops under his control do have extraordinary combat effectiveness and are equipped with uniform weapons.

Consistent tactics can be adopted during combat, and supply tasks will be easier to complete in terms of logistics.

However, it is unlikely that North Korea will be on par with the Fujian Ming Army in the short term. Xu Xinsu allocates up to one million taels of silver in military expenditures every year. In recent years, it has continued to purchase warships from Haihan to reorganize its naval forces. Its investment

It is even as big as the annual military budget of the Ministry of War. Given North Korea's current situation, it is estimated that it will not be able to come up with even one-tenth of its funding. It will take a long time to form a decent new army.

See results.

After the artillery firing ended, the weapons acceptance process came to an end. The military leaders had already paid the Zhoushan authorities before, and now they only needed to take the bill of lading signed by Shi Diwen and go to several ports at the port.

Just go to the warehouse to receive the goods.

This arms deal made Li Bo feel a little bored. The fierce bargaining between the buyer and the seller and the display of advanced weapons that he wanted to see did not appear. He just watched a boring weapons acceptance. But he couldn't accept it yet.

Showing any dissatisfaction, after all, this was his initiative to come, and Shi Diwen agreed to his request, which was considered a great honor. Of course, Li Bo has now figured it out, and Shi Diwen probably expected it.

I was unable to obtain any valuable information during this delivery and acceptance process, so I confidently and boldly agreed to my application.

Shi Diwen had no intention of thinking about Li Bo's feelings at the moment. Although these weapons were almost a pile of scrap iron to Haihan, this pile of scrap iron had successfully exchanged hundreds of thousands of taels of silver for Haihan.

This is another achievement of his.

These weapons were indeed intended to be transported back to Sanya for dismantling, but Shi Diwen mentioned this matter when Wang Tom and Qian Tiandun went north to North Korea, so he took the initiative to send a telegram back to Sanya and asked them to transport these things to Zhoushan.

Fuzhou and Guangzhou cannot digest these weapons, but the arms market in Jiangsu and Zhejiang is still at the stage where people are stupid and there is a lot of money. As long as he spends a little effort, he will not worry about selling them.

The actual situation was exactly as he expected. After the weapons arrived in Hong Kong, he sent news to the troops stationed along the coast of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, which had good relations with Haihan, telling them that there was a batch of weapons in stock for sale, and then people from all walks of life led them.

He came to Zhoushan with the money and within two or three days digested all the weapons that could not be disposed of in the south.
Chapter completed!