Chapter 225 Trip to Vietnam (8)

Zheng Zha responded somewhat unclearly: "Training camp? I think the transportation here is inconvenient and there are no towns around to provide daily needs. Why not set it up in Thang Long Mansion?"

"It is not a problem for us to set up the training camp in Thang Long House. The reason why I suggest setting up the training camp in this place is also for your consideration." Tao Donglai persuaded with a serious look.

: "Mr. Zheng, the presence of troops using firearms is absolutely unprecedented in Annan. This should be correct, right?"

Zheng Zha nodded without knowing why, but still didn't understand what Tao Donglai meant.

"You have spent a lot of money to build such a high-level army with extremely strong combat capabilities, so that it can kill with one blow on the future battlefield and catch the rebels in the south by surprise. But if the training camp is placed in Thang Long Palace,

Mr. Zheng, how long does it take for this news to spread to the south? I think whether it is ten days or half a month, the southern rebels will get the news before this force is formed, and you will send this force by then.

I'm afraid the combat effect will become very limited." Tao Donglai pointed to the outside of the tent and continued: "But this place is very good, sparsely populated, there is no need to worry about spies from the southern rebels, and we have ships that regularly transport some

Isn’t it more convenient to transport supplies, especially ammunition, than transporting them from the sea to Thang Long?”

Zheng Zha opened his mouth to refute, but felt that Tao Dong had everything right and he couldn't refute it, but he always felt that something was wrong in his heart.

Tao Donglai's idea for Zheng Zha was not a sudden idea, but a draft plan that had been prepared for a long time. During the meeting the night before, he had carefully discussed the details with Qian Tiandun and others, in order to

A sure-hit effect.

The entire arms sales plan to Vietnam, from negotiations, demonstrations, sales, to after-sales ammunition supply, skills training, weapons maintenance, etc., has been carefully planned and deduced in advance. In addition to pursuing the maximization of economic profits, every link

In addition, we also take into account the long-term goal of the Executive Committee to gradually control the political situation in Vietnam. We will not let go of every detail that can benefit the Traversing Group, and strive to achieve perfection.

After the sale of this batch of weapons, it is definitely a certainty to provide military consultants to train the North Vietnamese Zheng's firearms troops. However, due to comprehensive considerations of security and supply, the Executive Committee does not want to send its soldiers to unknown situations.

Hanoi area, and the setting of the training location is of course more suitable in the coastal area. Before this, Zheng Zha had agreed to the Crossing Group’s request to station on the Doshan Peninsula on behalf of North Vietnam, so of course Tao Donglai would naturally move Doshan

The peninsula was designated as a training base for future training of firearms troops for North Vietnam.

For this purpose, the negotiation team has specially prepared two sets of plans. If Zheng Zao had not previously agreed to the Crossing Group's request to station on the Tushan Peninsula, Tao Donglai would also use this opportunity to propose to him the idea of ​​setting up a training camp here, and

Use this to gain control of the Tushan Peninsula. In fact, as long as we talk about the follow-up training of soldiers, it shows that the Crossing Group has taken the initiative. Whether Zheng Zhaile is happy or not, control of the Tushan Peninsula will be lost.

It’s settled.

Another not-so-obvious benefit of setting up a training camp here is that the troops sent here by North Vietnam to participate in training will actually be responsible for the defense of this stronghold to a certain extent. The crossing group can deploy up to 100 troops here.

It is just a company of military advisers. The defense force is actually relatively limited, but the training troops sent by North Vietnam have solved this problem. According to the plan of the Military and Police Department, the size of this training camp will be maintained at 1,000 to 1,000.

There are about 1,500 people, and during the entire training period, these Vietnamese soldiers are not only trainees, but also act as bodyguards for the peninsula stronghold.

Of course, Tao Donglai's reasons for persuading Zheng Zha were also very good. It seemed that he was considering it from Zheng's point of view. The training of the firearms unit was very noisy. If it was located near Shenglong Mansion, then no matter what

No matter what, it cannot be hidden from the attention of those who are interested. This will inevitably greatly reduce the suddenness of Zheng's deployment of firearms troops on the battlefield, and this result is definitely something Zheng, who has spent a lot of money, does not want to see.

Zheng Zha pondered for a while and had to admit that Tao Donglai's suggestion was indeed reasonable. However, this was the first time he heard the term "military advisor" and he asked Tao Donglai for its specific meaning.

Tao Donglai explained with a smile: "The military consultants we provide are mainly to organize and train your personnel so that they can learn the basic skills of firearms combat and be able to fight against troops using cold weapons on the battlefield.

Suppressive strikes. Of course, in addition, they must also learn the basic maintenance, maintenance and repair skills of weapons. Otherwise, once these weapons have minor malfunctions on the battlefield, they will have to be transported back to this place for repair."

Zheng Zha rolled his eyes and asked: "It's just maintenance, but what if we order a large amount of muskets and artillery in the future and you can't supply them?"

Tao Donglai guessed what Zheng Zha was thinking and did not tell him. He just asked, "What are Mr. Zheng's plans?"

Zheng Zha said: "To sell these guns and artillery, you need to cross the sea by boat. It takes a lot of time and money. Why not build a weapons workshop on our land in Annan to make these weapons? How much labor is required?

, the materials and daily consumption can be borne by us, and you only need to send craftsmen to supervise and guide. In this way, you can increase the output of weapons, and we can also enjoy lower prices, and both parties can get what they want.

Isn’t it wonderful if you need it?”

Tao Donglai smiled and said to himself that your mind is running very fast. Before the sale of this weapon was even concluded, you already thought of introducing production technology. You are indeed worthy of being the overlord of the country in the future.

In the long-term plan formulated by the Executive Committee, control of areas like Vietnam should start with trade, gradually control its military and economic lifelines, and then exert greater influence on the local regime through these important industries, thereby achieving indirect

The purpose of rule. In addition to the early arms trade and personnel training, military intervention is also one of the goals. The promotion of the military system and the military industry.

For Chuanchuan Group, after the military industrial system has embarked on the development track, a large number of backward technologies and equipment must find ways to bring more benefits to the group, such as exporting to those areas that have been deeply affected, and assisting

The local regime builds a basic military-industrial system. In addition to allowing the Chuan Chuan Group to further control local military development, it also lays the foundation for the future Chu Chuan regime's monopoly capital to occupy the local market, plunder strategic raw materials, and so on.

This all-round control strategy is not an invention of the Executive Committee. In fact, there are many examples in later generations that have been used as reference materials for the Executive Committee to formulate development strategies. For example, Germany's military assistance to China in the first half of the 20th century was

In a similar way, they first sent military advisors, then sold arms to the Nationalist Government at the time, and later participated in the preparations for the establishment of China's modern military industry. Due to the huge technological gap between the two sides of the trade, the Germans were able to use scissors from

Easily obtain huge profits from trade. All military aid sales by developed military countries to backward countries almost follow a similar approach, with the purpose of occupying the market and seizing strategic materials. These successful experiences have naturally become the basis for the current time travel.

What the group emulates.

Of course, arms sales to Vietnam are far from helping Vietnam establish a military industry system. Tao Donglai has already prepared for this: "Mr. Zheng, as you said, our production capacity is indeed limited.

Yes, if your order quantity is too large, we may not be able to complete the supply in a short period of time, but this problem cannot be solved by building more workshops here. The equipment for manufacturing these weapons is very large and requires a lot of time.

The complex maintenance work is currently impossible to relocate here from our place."

Zheng Zha curled his lips, apparently not very convinced by Tao Donglai's reasons.

Tao Donglai continued: "Besides, our cooperation has just begun and everything is still in its infancy. I think we should continue to deepen mutual understanding through arms trade and military training. After reaching a certain level, we can

Find a weapon manufacturing method suitable for the actual situation in Annan, and help you gradually implement it locally. Before that, I think we can refer to the method you proposed to reduce the production cost of these weapons..."

"Oh?" Zheng Zha cheered up again after hearing this. Does this mean that the other party will take the initiative to lower the price?

"It is impossible to move the workshops that produce these weapons to Annan, but we can completely change the idea and transport the cheap labor provided by you to us. We can also reduce costs and increase the production of weapons. In this way

Isn't it great?" Tao Donglai said with a smile.

Zheng Zha frowned, always feeling that something was not right about this.

"I think if you can provide enough labor force, the price of these weapons can be reduced by at least 10% to 20%." Tao Donglai's voice penetrated Zheng Zha's ears like a devil's whisper: "And these labor forces

All the expenses for food, clothing, housing and transportation can be borne by us. You just need to help us organize the manpower and send them to the place where we are meeting now."

Zheng Zha took a breath of cold air and said: "You mean... let us organize the people, and you will transport them overseas, and then the people of Annan will make these weapons and then sell the weapons back to us?"

"Absolutely correct." Tao Donglai nodded and said: "And we don't ask too much from these workers. Even prisoners of war, prisoners, and homeless wanderers, as long as they are healthy and have basic working ability, we will

You can accept it. Of course, we can slowly discuss the specific settlement method. It can be calculated on a per-person basis or based on the weapons transaction volume. In short, I guarantee that you can experience the benefits in terms of price."

Now Zheng Zha is really hesitant. He organizes people to move overseas to work. If Zheng's political enemies find out about this, it will definitely be a big scapegoat. But according to Tao Donglai, doing so can reduce the cost of purchasing overseas.

For the cost of Han weapons, this is undoubtedly a very cost-effective deal - especially under the premise that North Vietnam intends to purchase Han weapons for a long time, the benefits brought by this price reduction are considerable.

Seeing Zheng Zha's hesitant look, Tao Donglai calmly calculated the economic accounts for him: "Let's take the transaction content we are going to talk about next as an example. This time we brought a total of

Twenty type-A guns and ten type-B guns. Of course, ten of the type-A guns will be handed over to you as the rent of Black Earth Port for the next year, and the remaining twenty guns, according to our previous quotation, total...

…”

"Thirty-seven thousand taels." Wang Tom next to him answered. He had already calculated the price of weapons several times in his mind when he was sitting there. When he heard Tao Donglai's words, he quickly added some help.

Tao Donglai nodded to Wang Tom to express his gratitude, and then continued: "And if you can promise to provide us with a sufficient number of laborers in the next three months, I think the price can be lowered.

Adjust it a bit, for example..."

When Tao Dong came to see Zheng Zao, he looked at him expectantly and calmly quoted the new price: "...30,000 taels."

Zheng Zha was once again stunned by Tao Donglai's quotation. He had given up so much energy just now and even talked about how many times he had done it. The other party kept going around and refused to lower the price, even revealing it in words.

Zheng Zha had no intention of terminating this transaction. To be honest, Zheng Zha no longer had much hope in bargaining. He was just wondering if he could increase the ammunition attached to the other party as a supplement. But he never wanted to talk about the topic of labor.

, the other party was actually willing to automatically lower the price by nearly 20% for the sake of something that had not yet happened.

Seven thousand taels of silver is not much for Zheng, but it is still a lot. According to the other party's new quotation, the money saved can buy six or seven artillery pieces or more than two hundred muskets.

And all this can be achieved by exporting a certain amount of labor to the Haihan people.

"Then I wonder how many workers you need before you are willing to lower the price?" Zheng Zha gritted his teeth and finally made up his mind.

"How about 20,000 people for three months? During this period, the arms you purchased from us will be calculated at 80% of the original quotation." Tao Donglai directly offered a large price.

As expected, Zheng Zha was also frightened. He shook his head repeatedly and said: "I cannot agree to these conditions. It should be noted that Shenglong Mansion has a population of only one hundred thousand. If one of five is reduced, what kind of momentum will this create among the people?"

Tao Donglai thought about it and realized that this was also the case. Vietnam was not a country with a large population at this time. It was unrealistic to become fat in one go. He then came up with another idea: "What about two thousand people per month? What if?

If you can maintain this level of labor export for a long time, then we will give you a long-term trade discount of 20% as mentioned before."

Zheng Zha thought about it and thought that the pressure of this number is not too great. The key is that the other party's requirements for labor are not high. As long as they have hands and feet and can work, it doesn't matter whether they are prisoners of war or prisoners. At present, with

During the fighting between the southern rebels, thousands of prisoners were taken back to Thang Long every month. Most of them were paraded in the streets and then executed. Naturally, there were also many ordinary people in the war zone who were wrongfully arrested.

But this makes no difference to Zheng Zha. Now these people can obtain more practical benefits from the Haihan people, which is obviously a good thing for North Vietnam and the Zheng family.

So the two sides reached another verbal agreement on this, in which North Vietnam provided labor in exchange for long-term trade discounts from Haihan. If North Vietnam stopped exporting labor one day, the trade discounts would automatically expire, and vice versa.

Wang Tom, Qian Tiandun, Xie Chun and others were all listening in admiration. So many people were thinking day and night about foreign arms sales, expanding the military establishment, solving overseas military budgets, and the defense and security risks of black soil ports, and establishing

Strategic support points, establishing diplomatic relations with high-level officials in North Vietnam, infiltrating North Vietnam's military system, increasing the number and speed of immigrants from North Vietnam... This series of issues was actually solved in most of the day's negotiations, and every transaction

The favorable parties are all inclined to cross the group, which must be said to be a pioneering work and a huge victory in foreign affairs work.

Tao Donglai, who led this trade negotiation, undoubtedly took the greatest credit. It was the series of plans and strategies he formulated beforehand that made this trade negotiation go so smoothly and basically achieved all the goals of the arms sales plan.

.

The next step was to negotiate the specific arms transaction quantity. Because the price and other details had been determined during the previous negotiation process, this originally most important link seemed to be calm.

The final deal reached between the two parties included 800 Type 27 matchlock guns, ten Type 27 A cannons, and 20 Type B cannons. An additional 20,000 rounds of matchlock bullets were purchased, and 400 shells for each of the two types of artillery were purchased.

After discounts, the total amount is more than 72,000 taels, which is the largest foreign trade order signed by the Time Travel Group since it came to this time and space.

However, because the current number of ready-made weapons that the Crossing Group can provide is far less than this number, the transaction will be divided into two times. This time, 300 matchlock guns, 20 Type A guns, and 10 Type B guns will be provided to Zheng.

doors, and some ammunition. The remaining parts will be delivered before the end of the year, at which time Zheng will pay the remaining payment.

However, before the second transaction, Zheng needs to provide the cross-country group with no less than 5,000 workers in more than two months before the end of the year. Zheng Zha expressed opposition to this request, claiming that he would suddenly raise funds

Such a large population requires more time. In this regard, Tao Donglai further relaxed the conditions - no matter men, women, or children under the age of 45, as long as they have sound limbs and no diseases, they can be counted. This means that even if they are

Even a toddler who had just started to walk could make up the numbers, so Zheng Zha nodded and agreed to the request.
Chapter completed!