Chapter Forty-Three: Transaction

  "How many are you planning to buy?" Elros asked. "If it's a barter trade, what products can you offer?"

  "Since you've already transported the weapons to the East, I'm sure you don't want to transport them back. If the price and terms are suitable, I'm willing to buy all of the weapons!" Li Mingfeng wasn't afraid of boasting, after all, it didn't cost anything, and only made him seem more generous, making the negotiations easier to conduct. If he were to speak truthfully, a thousand guns would be enough, but Elros would definitely want cash, not bartering goods.

  As expected, after hearing Li Mingfeng say that he could accept all the weapons, Eros immediately widened his eyes and excitedly said: "We mainly buy tea leaves, raw silk and porcelain from Europe. If you can accept all our weapons, then you only need to fill up our twenty steamships!"

  Li Mingfeng thought to himself, "Where am I going to get tea sets for you?" But he agreed first and would think about other things later.

  "Okay, but I have to check the weapon first!" Li Mingfeng said.

  "Anytime! However, in order to prevent the French from discovering us, we will anchor our ship inside the Yangtze River mouth."

  "Alright, let's go take a look now!" Li Mingfeng attached great importance to this deal and was afraid that the business would slip away.

  Li Mingfeng walked out of the study and ordered his servants to go to the military camp to invite Palande. After waiting for only half an hour, Palande arrived on horseback. Li Mingfeng didn't even bother to introduce them, and the few people directly called two horse-drawn carriages and rushed straight to the Yangtze River mouth.

  Since the signing of the Tianjin Treaty, most of the Anglo-French coalition forces had withdrawn, leaving only a small fleet anchored in Shanghai, waiting for the final signing of the commercial charter. Since Shanghai was opened as a treaty port, the volume of goods transported has been increasing day by day, with hundreds of ships transporting goods every day, so even dozens of larger merchant ships were not noticed.

  The horse carriage ran for about two or three hours, and the crowd arrived at the berth of the Prussian merchant ship. Although these are called merchant ships, they are actually dual-use military and civilian vessels, because pirates were still rampant in this era, so almost all merchant ships had armed defense forces.

  The Prussian merchant ships were typically more militarized, with thirty ships, each equipped with dozens of small cannons, concentrated together, which was also an absolutely unstoppable force. Moreover, Li Mingfeng firmly believed that in the event of a battle, at least hundreds of large-caliber giant cannons could be pushed out from the ship's cabin. Looking again at the sailors wearing water-repellent uniforms but actually dressed in Prussian naval attire, each one was young and robust.

  Li Mingfeng looked at these ships and roughly estimated that there were at least two thousand soldiers on board.

  Eros led Gong Cheng, Li Mingfeng and Palande into the cabin to inspect the goods. A soldier smashed open a large wooden box, inside which were ten rifles gleaming with black oil light.

  Li Mingfeng gestured to Parand to come forward and inspect the goods. Old Par walked up, studied it for half a day, and then asked for another bullet. He fired it on the deck, thought for a while with his head down, before saying: "Li... oh... no... Captain... this is currently Europe's most advanced firearm, even better than the ones used by the Allied Forces."

  Upon hearing this, Li Mingfeng and Eros both happily exclaimed in agreement.

  "How much does a rifle like this cost? And what about bullets?" Li Mingfeng asked the crucial question.

  "Each gun comes with two hundred rounds of ammunition, for ten pounds; if you need more bullets, that's one pound per hundred." Elros said.

  Ten pounds? Doesn't seem expensive? Li Mingfeng turned around and asked Gong Chen: "Gong, is this ten pounds a good deal?"

  "One pound is equal to three taels of silver, one thousand guns are three hundred thousand taels, we can still afford it." Gong Cheng didn't know that Li Mingfeng wanted to buy all the weapons, he thought this deal was basically successful.

  Li Mingfeng was constantly calculating in his mind, one thousand would be thirty thousand taels, ten thousand would be three hundred thousand, and fifty thousand would be one million five hundred thousand taels. Adding the bullets and artillery they mentioned, it seemed that to take down these thirty ships of goods, at least two million taels of silver would be needed! Although it was said to be a barter, filling up as much as possible, but since the Prussians could agree to it, then this batch of goods must also be worth at least this price.

  Li Mingfeng pulled Eros to a deserted corner and said in a low voice, "I know your difficulties, and you also know mine. If I don't leave these weapons behind, you can only take these scrap irons back to Europe. But the price you asked is really beyond my ability, even if it's a barter, I currently can't afford to pay with goods."

  "This time, the sixty large-caliber cannons are for our own use, with great power, can be mounted on ships or used in land battles. This time, all of them will be given to you, and the extra bullets will also be presented. However, the price of 500,000 rifles cannot be changed, ￡5 million, not a single penny less. If it's any less, I won't be able to explain when I return home." Eros said.

  "Pay with silver?"

  "According to your country's calculation method, it is 15 million taels of white silver!" From the tone, Elros indeed had no intention of giving in.

  "Alright! 15 million is 15 million, but you have to give me a few more days." Li Mingfeng said with a forced tone.

  "In at most one month, we must return."

  "Good!" Li Mingfeng responded crisply.

  Having agreed on the price, Li Mingfeng called out to Gong Cheng and Palande to leave together. On the way, Li Mingfeng secretly calculated how to get the silver.

  After calculating and calculating, there is no other way but to rob, because any legitimate means cannot earn so much money in such a short period of time. If you want to rob, you can only rob the Qing government's central treasury to get these silver coins, of course this was immediately vetoed.

  There is also the spoils of war, that is, breaking into cities and plundering them, which can make money quickly. Li Mingfeng agreed to do business with the Prussians because he had long been preparing to participate in the Battle of Sanhe Town. As long as they could win the battle, there would be more ways to get silver.

  Back in Shanghai, Li Mingfeng and Palan De both went to live in the barracks, while Gong Cheng returned home to rest - he couldn't put down his concubine.

  On the second day, just as the sky was getting light, Gong Banlun personally came to wake up Li Mingfeng because he brought a piece of news that Li Mingfeng had been waiting for a long time.