However, in the face of Zu Zerun's "unforgettable idea", Yang Zhen could not refuse it outright.

"Commander Yang and Hong came here this time, and were also solemnly entrusted by the Governor. Please remember that we are all friendly troops and work together to restore the Liao Dynasty, and support our troops in western Liaoning with some new firearms. "

Just when Yang Zhen was hesitant about how to respond to Zu Zerun's request, Hong Chengzhuan, who had been looking for an opportunity, immediately took over the topic Zu Zerun started and spoke.

"Of course, the Governor and the Commander-in-Chief Jinzhou Zu know that it is extremely difficult for the Governor to manufacture various new firearms. Therefore, although they had deliberately requested the Governor's support in the past, considering that it would be more difficult for the Governor to gain a stable foothold behind enemy lines, they have been Never spoke.

"Now, the Governor and Commander-in-Chief Zu are happy to hear that the Governor not only has a mine, smelter, and ammunition factory near Songshan, but he also has a mine, smelter, and ammunition factory in Jinhai Town. He has strong troops and sufficient ammunition. Just made this request.

"Considering that the war will begin next spring and summer, the eastern and western armies must work together to have a greater chance of victory. I also ask the Governor to provide assistance. This is also the intention of the Governor and Commander-in-Chief Zu, and I believe the imperial court will certainly allow it. "

For Yang Zhen, this Hong Chengzhuan can be regarded as an old friend.

When Yang Zhen wanted to purchase sweet potato seedlings from eastern and southern Fujian, and asked people to go to Jinhai Town to introduce sweet potatoes and purchase books such as "The Complete Book of Agricultural Affairs" and "Tiangong Kaiwu", it was thanks to his help.

After that incident, Hong Chengzhuan did not follow the fleet sent by Yang Zhen to return north by sea. Instead, he stayed in his hometown in southern Fujian to purchase farmland and take care of his family.

Yang Zhen originally thought that when he returned to western Liaoning in the future or decided not to return to western Liaoning, he would ask someone to send him a message and ask for his help in seeking an official position for him.

Yang Zhen had already prepared for this and was just waiting for him to speak.

But Yang Zhen waited and waited, but there was no news about him. He didn't even know when he returned to the Governor's Mansion in Jiliao, Ningyuan City, Liaoxi Province.

But precisely because of this, after Yang Zhen saw Hong Chengzhuan again, his attitude towards him was naturally different from Zu Zerun.

Because no matter what Hong Chengzhuan thought about it, from Yang Zhen's side, he felt that he owed Hong Chengzhuan a huge favor.

Therefore, at this moment, when Yang Zhen heard what Hong Chengzhuan said, it was even harder to refuse him.

After thinking about it, Yang Zhen finally said:

"Hehe, he is good at using firearms and has sharp guns. Yang wouldn't dare to take this on. But, since Mr. Hong has spoken, Yang may be in a bit of a dilemma here, but no matter how difficult it is, he still has to do it.

"And our ancestors are here. Since Mr. Yang has promised that the two armies will work together to prepare for war, he will naturally not hide his secrets. Thanks to Commander-in-Chief Zu, he likes the firearms of our Jinhai Town. Mr. Yang will give some to you for trial."

"try out?"

When Hong Chengzhuan saw that Yang Zhen thought about the help he had given him in the past and agreed to help provide firearms, he was about to stand up with joy to express his gratitude. However, when he heard the last word, he suddenly heard the word "trial" and was a little confused for a moment.

Zu Zerun, who was secretly happy like him and was about to say thank you, stood up but was stunned on the spot.

"try out?"

"That's right. Since you came here this time, naturally I can't let you go back empty-handed. You can bring the flying general grenades from Jinhai Town, the blasting tubes specially used to blow up the city, and the booby traps that were built not long ago. Go back and try some first."

Although it was inconvenient for Yang Zhen to refuse to provide some basic firearms to Zu Dashou's troops and Hong Chengchou's troops, he would never provide those items completely free of charge.

After all, these things have a cost. I work hard here and use a large number of workers to mine and use a large number of ships to transport ore. At the same time, I also need a large number of workers in iron and ammunition factories to smelt iron or make iron.

Take sulfur and fire salt.

Finally, the black powder is carefully prepared, and a large amount of strong liquor and sweet potatoes are consumed to mix and press it into tablets, and then dried, crushed, sieved, graded, loaded, and so on.

After this set of procedures, the time, energy, labor, materials, etc. costs are by no means a fraction. How can it be given to them in vain?

Therefore, after saying those words, Yang Zhen paused for a moment, gave Hong Chengzhuan and Zu Zerun some time to digest and accept, and then continued:

"Of course, you may not necessarily be able to use some new things, such as the latest trigger-type booby traps. When the time comes, the governor will send someone to accompany you back and ask your firearms battalions to try it out.

"Once the firearms battalions in western Liaoning have tried it out and feel that they have a good deal, we will have a good talk about the supply of firearms in the future. In short, we are all friends and friendly forces in the conquest of the Qing Dynasty. I will definitely give Commander Zu and Commander Hong a

Friendly price!”

"Friendship price?"

"What the commander-in-chief means is that he is going to sell it to the various battalions in western Liaoning?"

Faced with Yang Zhen's mouthful of new terms, Hong Chengzhuan and Zu Zerun, who were initially looking at each other in confusion, gradually began to react.

"That's right, it's buying and selling. If the camps in western Liaoning want to buy, I, Jinhai Town, will definitely sell them. Why, you don't think that all kinds of firearms in Jinhai Town just fall from the sky, do you?"

Yang Zhen's words have been very straightforward. Written by Hong Cheng. If Zu Zerun pretends not to understand again, it will be a bit of a deliberate bullying.

It's just that Hong Chengzhuan, Zu Zerun and the others had really hoped to take advantage of this only opportunity to bring Yang Zhen's subordinates under the unified command of Jiliao Governor's Mansion, and use the imperial court's banner to make a fool of themselves.

This is also what Hong Chengchou and Marshal Zu think.

Of course they thought about the possibility that Yang Zhen would impose various conditions, but for them, the conditions could be raised, but if they could not negotiate, they would just engage in an exchange of interests, so they did not think about the need to spend money to buy it.

The two of them looked at each other, a little hesitant for a moment, not knowing how to answer.

Just now, they thought that Yang Zhen was more honest and easy to talk to, so they agreed to send troops to cooperate without mentioning any difficult conditions, and agreed to obey the unified command.

Unexpectedly, in the blink of an eye, Yang Zhen's naivety disappeared, and the firearm assistance he promised was actually just an agreement to sell firearms to western Liaoning.

"Mr. Hong, Mr. Ancestor, although we in Jinhai Town are able to produce our own firearms, we are limited by sulfur and saltpeter, which are expensive and difficult to obtain. The quantity of our self-produced firearms is not enough. When we use it ourselves, we often feel stretched.

"

Zhang Degui was originally worried that Yang Zhen was too generous and promised to provide free firearms to various camps in western Liaoning.

At this time, I was overjoyed when I saw that Yang Zhen's last suggestion was to try out a small amount first and then buy and sell.

He is the general manager of the Assistant Camp Affairs Office of the main town government. He is the chief accountant and steward next to Yang Zhen. He is also in charge of the production and supply of guns and ammunition in North City of Lushun.

Of course, he was very aware of the cost of manufacturing guns and ammunition in Jinhae Town.

The production cost of guns and ammunition in Jinhai Town is much higher than other places in the pass.

If it weren’t for occupying the Jiechuan mine and getting free high-quality ore, if it wasn’t for growing sweet potatoes and having a bumper harvest, and producing cheap liquor sweet potato roasting, if it weren’t for Yang Zhen, the red-haired ghost and the Japanese slave country

The agreement was reached, which provided an additional relatively stable source of sulfur and saltpeter. The production of guns and ammunition in Jinhai Town, in short, the production and manufacturing of various firearms, had long since ceased.

"Our Jinhae Town is isolated behind the enemy's rear, facing the sea on three sides and the enemy on one side. Coal, iron, sulfur, saltpeter and other materials all rely on sea transportation. Whether it is air generals, blasting tubes, or other firearms, each one made is only

Calculating the amount of silver required for materials is often several times that of the customs."

"this--"

Zhang Degui's words successfully provided Yang Zhen with a reason to ask for a price, and at the same time, they also made Hong Chengzhuan and Zu Zerun gasp.

Hearing this, the two of them looked at each other and didn't know how to bargain with Yang Zhen.

"Haha, what General Zhang said is only the cost of materials. In fact, in addition to these material costs, there are also labor costs. We do have some mines, smelters, and ammunition factories in Jinhai Town, but if there is no work

It is impossible for a craftsman or an ammunition factory to produce firearms and ammunition by itself.

"However, as I said just now, we will provide some for free. You can try them out first. If you decide to buy them after trying them, I will definitely give a friendly price to each battalion of the friendly forces in western Liaoning."

Zu Zerun and Hong Chengzhuan are not mediocre people who don't understand anything.

In fact, they also understand that given the location of Jinhai Town, especially the location of Lushunkou, the various materials required for manufacturing ammunition and firearms can almost only be imported from outside.

After Yang Zhen moved to Jinhai Town, he still needed the help of the Military Department to purchase coal, iron, and nitrate sulfur supplies from Liaoxi and Yongping Prefecture in Guan Nei. Hong Chengzhu and others also knew about it.

At the same time, they also all know that after Yang Zhen moved to defend Jinhai Town, the money, food, weapons and other supplies provided by the court to Jinhai Town were very small and could almost be ignored.

Under such circumstances, for Jinhai Town to be what it is today, Yang Zhen and his generals must have paid several times the effort and price of the generals in western Liaoning.

So when they learned that Yang Zhen was going to sell ammunition and firearms to them, they were all worried that Yang Zhen and his gang would probably open their mouths to force them to retreat.

Therefore, when Zu Zerun and Hong Chengzhuan learned that Yang Zhen was only willing to provide them with a small number of firearms to take back for trial use, and that the rest would be used in large-scale military operations in the future, they would need to pay for them.

In fact, they were a little reluctant.

Before the arrival, neither Hong Chengchou nor Zu Dashou had thought about this, so they had no intention of spending money to buy Jinhai Town firearms and ammunition.

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Secondly, it was the imperial court's decision to send troops to Liaoshen and fight the Qing invaders. Even if the battalions in western Liaoning decided to purchase ammunition from Jinhai Town, it should be the imperial court's expense.

So they had made preparations and planned to report some of the ammunition presented by Yang Zhen and the requirements to their respective superiors after returning, and Hong Chengchou and Zu Dashou would make the final decision.

However, when Zu Zerun heard Yang Zhen talking about the "friendship price" for the second time, he suddenly felt something in his heart. He felt that Yang Zhen might not want them to quit in spite of difficulties, but that he might really intend to sell ammunition to them.

If that's the case, it's better to ask about the price first. After returning home, once Marshal Zu decides to meet Yang Zhen's request, he will have a reference then.

So Zu Zerun thought about it again and again and said:

"It is indeed not easy for the governor to open the town of Jinhai, behind enemy lines, and the road is difficult. Mr. Zu and Mr. Hong can understand this. Including the current governor and Marshal Zu in western Liaoning, they must have felt the same way.

"I just don't know what the friendship price the Governor mentioned is. Take the friendship prices mentioned by the Governor just now, such as flying generals, blasting tubes, etc. What is the friendship price?"

When Yang Zhen saw Zu Zerun asking this question, he immediately said: "Old Zhang, please tell me first!"

Yang Zhen knew that his firearms and ammunition in Jinhaizhen were made with precision and always strived for excellence, so the cost was relatively high, but if he was asked to give a specific price, he couldn't tell.

Fortunately, this is Zhang Degui's strength, so as soon as Yang Zhen finished speaking, Zhang Degui quickly said yes, and then said:

"The Flying General grenade has a wooden handle and an iron shell with powder, weighing one pound and eighty taels. It can be used both offensively and defensively, and for riding and riding. The average price of a single grenade is seven cents, two cents, five centimeters, two millimeters and eight cents of silver.

"Long cylindrical blasting barrels, there are two types of iron shells with a length of two feet and a weight of eight kilograms and six liang with explosives, and two types that weigh twice as much. They can be used for both offense and defense. The lighter one costs three liang of silver, four cents and a millimeter per piece, and the heavier one costs twice as much.

"As for the trigger-type booby traps, there are those with iron shells and explosives weighing ten kilograms, which are very useful for intercepting and ambushing enemy cavalry in the field. They can also be used to blow up cities. A single booby trap is worth seven taels of silver, four cents, nine cents and nine cents.

It weighs twenty kilograms and is worth twice that amount of silver..."

Zhang Degui was indeed a very competent housekeeper. As expected, he had a good idea of ​​how much money it would cost to produce new and old firearms and ammunition in North City of Lushun, and he quickly quoted the price of each type.

Yang Zhen looked at Zhang Degui and nodded heavily, which was regarded as an affirmation of him.

In fact, this account is not too difficult to calculate. You only need to divide all the money spent at the Lushun Beicheng Smelting Plant in the past two years by the number of ammunition produced by the ammunition factory, and you can roughly calculate an average price.

It's just that Yang Zhen doesn't have such leisure. He always leaves such tedious matters directly to the Assistant Operations Office.

After everyone heard Zhang Degui's quotation, they all went to see what Zu Zerun and Hong Cheng had written.

I saw Zu and Hong looking troubled. It was obvious that Zhang Degui's quotation exceeded their expectations.

When Yang Zhen saw this, he knew that they were in trouble and that they couldn't make the decision, so he laughed and said:

"The cost price reported by Mr. Zhang just now is the cost price of our Jinhai Town. To be honest, at this price, if others want to buy it, we will never sell it.

"However, the soldiers and horses of western Liaoning are our friendly forces in Jinhai Town's expedition to the east to destroy the captives. If you want to buy them, I will naturally have to sell them. Moreover, I have also said that I will give you a friendly price.

"I'll give it to you at the friendly price. A flying general costs five taels of silver, and a blasting tube costs three taels of silver. The trigger booby trap, which can defeat thousands of people, is complicated in craftsmanship and slightly expensive. Each one costs five taels of silver. You pay with one hand, and you pay with the other.
Chapter completed!