Seeing the puzzled expression on Luo Yaoguo's face, Zuo Zongtang thought he was a "local angel" from the countryside of Guangxi, so he smiled and pointed out: "Today's use of force, just the number of troops and horses, can no longer guarantee victory. It is necessary to buy more foreign guns and cannons, and it is best to spend a lot of money to hire foreign generals to serve as instructors. Only when you learn the secrets of using foreign guns and cannons can you be invincible and unstoppable.
If you want to purchase foreign guns and cannons and hire Western teachers, you have to occupy treaty ports, and it is best to master silk tea... This is what foreign merchants need, and China is rich in it!
Therefore, the fundamental place is Jiangnan as the top, followed by Guangdong, Huguang, Sichuan, Zhongzhou, Shanshan and Shaanxi are all below! If angels can control Su, Song, Jia, Hu and other fishes by the method mentioned in "Anti-Jing" In the land of rice and silk, we have established ties with the West, trained elite soldiers internally, controlled the Yangtze River, and cut off the Qing government's source of salary. In a few years, Hongwu's ambition will be fulfilled!"
"Okay!" Luo Yaoguo couldn't help but praise.
Of course Luo Yaoguo knew what Zuo Zongtang said. This was also the reason why he aimed at Shanghai and had no intention of becoming king in Hunan, and did not even think about going south to Guangdong. Anyway, the Qing soldiers are relatively weak now, so if they want to occupy the most, of course they have to occupy the most. OK!
China's most valuable export products in this era were silk from Huzhou, Suzhou, Jiaxing, Hangzhou, and Songjiang. The silk from Guangzhou, however, has been in decline since the opening of the five ports of trade, and it could not provide the silk that could be exchanged for foreign guns and cannons. commodity.
But Zuo Zongtang, who has never studied modern Chinese history, also knows this truth, which is amazing!
Zuo Zongtang's willingness to say such things to Luo Yaoguo actually showed that he was willing to do something to Luo Yaoguo and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom... and he didn't really want to become a mortal enemy of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. But he should ask Zuo Zongtang for the benefits. , Luo Yaoguo still has to ask for it.
Luo Yaoguo smiled and said: "Mr. Ji Gao, with just rice and strong men, I can't destroy the main force of the Qingyao in Hunan! To destroy the main force of the Qingyao, we also need guns and gunpowder. I don't lack these guns and gunpowder now. I just have gunpowder." It’s a little short, I wonder if Mr. Zuo can sell some to me?”
Luo Yaoguo's army originally did not have many foreign guns and shotguns. However, in the Battle of Huangdaomen, they encountered Shengbao, the captain of the transportation brigade, and seized more than five to six hundred shotguns made in the Kangxi year hidden by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Although it was more than a hundred It is an old gun, but it is a good gun made under the supervision of Emperor Kangxi himself. In terms of materials, craftsmanship and design, it is far better than the shotguns made during the Daoguang and Xianfeng years.
In order to deal with the "Bull Demon King", Xianfeng also used his old guns. Who would have thought that all these old guns would belong to the Taiping Army!
With these more than 600 "old guns", plus more than 100 foreign guns and hundreds of shotguns of acceptable quality taken from the Green Camp soldiers, Luo Yaoguo had 12,300 The available batch is sufficient for the moment. If there are any more, it will not be qualified enough to be discarded.
However, Luo Yaoguo also got a "Tupolev bomb" today, which seems to be of great "reverse engineering" value! But making a bomb requires gunpowder!
In addition, the armies of Luo Yaoguo and Xiao Chaogui are in Daozhou. Chenzhou has recruited many miners who are good at digging tunnels. They can try to dig tunnels and blast the enemy's city walls. This is another project that consumes gunpowder. So Luo Yaoguo's team saw that There will be a gunpowder shortage soon!
When Zuo Zongtang heard that Luo Yaoguo wanted to buy gunpowder from him, he immediately frowned: "Angel Luo, Zuo will have to deal with the Qing court for the time being! It's okay to buy some rice for the people of Changsha. After all, we Hunanese value nostalgia the most. "You can't just watch the people in Changsha starve to death, right?"
Luo Yaoguo nodded repeatedly and said with a smile: "Mr. Zuo is still kind-hearted!"
Zuo Zongtang smiled: "But this gunpowder..." He suddenly stopped talking, glanced at Luo Yaoguo's unhappy face, and then pondered again, "How about this, I will find a way to do it for you. How about I bring you some fire salt, disguised as sugar, and real sugar?"
"Fire salt, white sugar?" Luo Yaoguo suddenly thought of something, his face changed slightly, and returned to normal. Then he pretended to weigh and think for a while, then slowly nodded, "That's fine, isn't gunpowder just fire salt?" , charcoal and sulfur mixed together? There is no shortage of charcoal, as well as sulfur... I will think of a way."
Zuo Zongtang nodded and said with a smile: "Yes, yes, sulfur is difficult to obtain here in Hunan. Angel can send people to Guangdong to find it."
"Okay," Luo Yaoguo nodded with a smile, "Then Mr. Zuo, please send me a thousand catties of fire salt and a thousand catties of sugar to Changsha as soon as possible. The price is easy to talk about!" "Okay, okay..."
Zuo Zongtang smiled and said: "I still have a way to get this amount. It will be delivered to Chaozongmen Wharf within half a month... As for the price, five thousand taels of silver is not much, right?" "Five thousand taels? This is too much. Is it expensive?"
Luo Yaoguo started shouting when he heard the quotation.
In fact, he didn’t know how much saltpeter or white sugar sold for per pound in the late Qing Dynasty?
When Zuo Zongtang heard what Luo Yaoguo said, he immediately waved his hand and said: "Angel Luo, don't think it's too expensive... The price I ask for is certainly reasonable. First, no one can provide fire to the angel except me. Nitrate, this is my only business!" You are a monopoly!
Luo Yaoguo hated other people's monopoly the most, and his face was so gloomy!
Zuo Zongtang said with a smile: "Second, you also have two things in your hand that can be sold at a high price!" "What things?" Luo Yaoguo asked with a frown.
There are many things in his hand that can be sold at high prices - they are all "magic weapons" level! Zuo Zongtang held out a finger: "The first is the Eight Banners Soldiers!"
Then he stretched out another finger: "The second is the Green Camp Soldier!"
Are these two things? Luo Yaoguo thought to himself: "I just mentioned the prisoner exchange as an excuse to meet. Why do you still take it seriously? Even if I agree to this matter, Hong Xiuquan and Yang Xiuqing will not agree. At least. He will not agree to my selling off those Eight Banners soldiers! They hate the Manchus to the extreme."
"Angel," Zuo Zongtang saw Luo Yaoguo hesitate and asked with a smile, "you won't take Shengbao and the others' redemption of prisoners as an excuse for you and me to meet, will you?" You guessed it again!
Luo Yaoguo frowned.
Zuo Zongtang added: "Actually, this business is quite good... Those Eight Banners foreign smoke soldiers and the green camp's wine bags and rice bags, let Sai Shang'a and Shengbao ask Xianfeng for money to redeem them, wouldn't it be good to go back? We can continue next time Catch them and continue to sell them. It’s easy to make money this way! If you don’t let them redeem them, they will recruit strong recruits later, which will make it even harder to fight.”
It seems to make sense!
How about selling some first to get some money to spend... Anyway, these living treasures will be more beneficial to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom on the enemy's side!
Thinking of this, Luo Yaoguo stretched out three fingers and said to Zuo Zongtang: "Mr. Ji Gao, I have captured at least a thousand Green Camp soldiers this time. I don't care about horse soldiers, fighting soldiers, or guards, as long as they are soldiers." , how about giving thirty taels of ransom money to each one?"
"Thirty taels? Redemption for the green camp soldiers?" Zuo Zongtang still pretended that Luo Yaoguo didn't know the market price, then he shook his head and said, "How is it possible... Don't think about it, they won't pay this money."
Luo Yaoguo thought: "What I want is that they don't care whether the Green Camp soldiers live or die! Those Green Camp soldiers from Gansu and Shaanxi are more powerful than the Eight Banners Smoke Soldiers, and they can't be sold for a good price, so why not keep them... and also call them Qingyao's ones?" Green camp soldiers know that their lives are worthless to their Manchu masters."
"Mr. Ji Gao, don't worry about this, I just want this price!"
Luo Yaoguo said: "As for the officers of the Green Camp, if they are Han, the foreign commission will increase the total to one hundred taels, and an additional one hundred taels will be added to the next level up." Zuo Zongtang still shook his head: "It's expensive, it's still a bit more expensive."
Luo Yaoguo went on to say: "Eight Banners soldiers... three hundred and two, one each!"
"Three hundred taels..." Zuo Zongtang secretly calculated: "It's not cheap...but Shengbao should redeem part of it!" Luo Yaoguo continued: "The price charged for a bannerman officer is three times more expensive than that of a Han officer of the same grade. , that is, times four." "This... is not bad." Zuo Zongtang nodded.
The life of an Eight Banners master is three times more valuable than the life of a Han master... There is nothing wrong with this, it is quite reasonable.
Moreover, these Eight Banners masters are all related, and they are all relatives of the emperor in every way! Shengbao spent money to redeem them, which is a great good relationship! "In addition," Luo Yaoguo paused, and then talked to Zuo Zongtang He asked, "Hong Daquan hasn't been harmed by Xianfeng yet, right?"
"Not yet." Zuo Zongtang shook his head.
Chapter completed!