Back to Ming Dynasty with Industrial Revolution System

Chapter 359 Two Thousand Muskets
On the mountain road outside the cave dwelling, there are more than a dozen large carriages parked, which are wrapped in canvas and cannot be seen.Around the large carriages, there are dozens of people dressed as escorts and carrying muskets guarding these dozens of large carriages, obviously all of them are loaded with good things.

A businessman in front of the convoy was waiting anxiously, and he was obviously relieved when he saw Li Zicheng bring someone out: "Brother Li, long time no see."

"Hahaha, Brother Xia, why did you come here personally this time?" Li Zicheng held the hand of Liaodong businessman Xia Hai.

Since more than two years ago, Li Zicheng got acquainted with Xia Hai, a businessman who had a channel to get muskets from the Liao Army through a chance encounter, Li Zicheng has been using silver taels to buy muskets...even copper cannons from Xia Hai.The businessman Xia Hai seems to have a very wide network of contacts in the Liao army, and he has indeed obtained these difficult firearms, which makes Li Zicheng rely more and more on him.

"This time it's a big order of two thousand muskets. If I don't come with me personally, if something goes wrong, we'll lose everything." Xia Hai wiped the sweat from his forehead.

"Brother Xia, thank you for your hard work. After our people have inspected the goods, I will definitely host a banquet to treat you well!" Li Zicheng patted Xia Hai's shoulder firmly, "Zhang Yuan, you are a knowledgeable person, take someone to inspect the goods .”

"Okay, you guys come with me." Zhang Yuan ordered a few soldiers and went to inspect the goods in person.

They tore off the green cloth covering the carriage, revealing a pile of straw.But these straws are just a cover-up, and when the straws are lifted off, bundles of muskets can be seen.

Zhang Yuan took out a musket from it, and fiddled with it for a while, gradually frowning.

"Zhang Yuan, what's the matter, is there something wrong with this musket?" Li Zicheng came over and asked.

"Look, brother, what's the difference between this musket and the musket we bought before?" Zhang Yuan took out another musket and handed it to Li Zicheng.

Li Zicheng has often used the muskets of the Liao army in the past two years, and his knowledge of muskets is probably only weaker than that of Zhang Yuan. He can feel the quality of the muskets.

After checking the musket, his expression also became ugly.

"Brother Xia, why is the quality of this musket so inferior compared to the muskets I bought in the past? The workmanship alone is so rough. I bought muskets from you with real money, not to buy a bunch of defective products from you Yes." Li Zicheng asked with a black face.

"Brother Li, listen to my explanation. Since the last time the commander of the Liao Army found out that someone secretly took out the muskets in the arsenal and resold them, he ordered an inventory of the muskets in the arsenal, and every musket must be registered. Shall I How dare you resell the ammunition in the arsenal?" Xia Hai said with a bitter face.

"Then these muskets..." Zhang Yuan wondered.

"These muskets are produced in our black factory. We hired some musket-making technicians from the Ordnance Bureau of the Fuliao Army at a high price. It took several months to produce [-]% similar muskets... But we lack Some equipment, so the quality of the musket is not as good as the official production... Even so, it should be usable." Xia Hai explained.

Li Zicheng and Zhang Yuan suddenly realized that if it was true that the Fuliao Army strictly controlled the production of muskets, then it would also make sense.

"The quality of the muskets you produce in private is really not guaranteed. We may have to check the price..." Zhang Yuan said.

"The firearms produced by our black factory privately did not intend to sell them at the same price as the official firearms. But our firearms are not far behind, so I will sell them to you at half the previous price." Xia Hai was a little worried. said.

"What do you think of Zhang Yuan?" Li Zicheng asked Zhang Yuan privately.

"If the muskets produced by Hei are not far behind in power, half the price is still acceptable, not to mention that we are now eager to get muskets to equip the two thousand recruits we are training. Or let's try the muskets first, and we will come down if they are suitable." Zhang Yuan said.

"Hmm..." Li Zicheng nodded.

"Brother Xia, it's not that we can't trust you, it's just that the muskets are related to the life and death of our soldiers in northern Shaanxi, so we must be careful. Let's check every musket and keep the ones that are barely qualified. The quality is really poor. You can take it back, okay?" Li Zicheng said.

"Okay, okay, very good." Xia Hai seemed to let go of his hanging heart, and nodded again and again.

In the eyes of Li Zicheng and the others, Xia Hai looked as if he was afraid that the goods would rot in his hands.

Then Zhang Yuan and the rebel soldiers began to inspect the batch of muskets one by one, which seemed to be made with careless workmanship.However, to their surprise, this batch of muskets was only rough in workmanship, and their performance was slightly inferior to the muskets officially produced by the Liao army, but they were still very impressive, and they were many times better than the Ming army's bird guns.

"Gua Wazi, this time it is considered a profit. I bought two thousand muskets at half the price, which is not too bad." Li Zixiang picked up a great deal, and he couldn't put it down even more for the muskets he got.

"Hey, the leader of the Liao army is also an idiot. Does he think that checking the arsenal can stop these merchants from selling muskets to us? As long as there is a [-]% profit, these merchants can do anything. Just this imitation The muskets made by our craftsmen are much better than those made by our craftsmen." Zhang Yuan said to Li Zicheng in private, "See if he can move the black factory to our northern Shaanxi, and add our factory here. There's a steady stream of muskets."

Have a black factory that can produce excellent weapons?Li Zicheng couldn't help being moved when he thought of it, so he told everyone: "I will persuade Xia Hai to drink with us later, and then we will take turns to get him drunk. It is best to let him bring the talents and equipment for producing muskets to our northern Shaanxi."

"Obey!" Li Zicheng's subordinates responded in unison.

After privately discussing the idea of ​​using Xia Hai's black factory, Li Zicheng walked over with a smile on his face: "Brother Xia, although your muskets are not good-looking, they are of good quality. We want them all."

"That's good, that's good. You don't know, this black workshop is also illegal in the Liao Army, and I still took the risk of beheading. If it wasn't for the fact that we have cooperated for two years, I would It won't be so hard and thankless," Xia Hai said.

"Brother Xia, thank you for your hard work. In this way, it will take some time for us to raise the volume to buy [-] muskets. You stay here for two days, and we will throw a big banquet to clean up Brother Xia." Li Zicheng said heartily.

"There is no need to hold a big banquet, so as not to let the Liao army know that I am here. But if Brother Li invites me, then respect is worse than obedience." Xia Hai said.

　. .One chapter is owed, and it will be made up in two days or on weekends.Thanks to Binghua Zhiyi and all the book friends.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)