In the Jinluan Hall of the Imperial Palace in the capital, Emperor Hongzhi sat on a dragon throne, with ministers of civil and military affairs below lined up on the left and right. In the middle, Ali Pasha, the Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire, and Moses knelt down respectfully.
“The Ottoman Empire’s Grand Vizier Ali Pasha and Finance Minister Moses attended His Majesty the Ming Emperor!”
"No gift~"
Emperor Hongzhi looked at Ali Pasha and Moses in front of him and said calmly.
Ali Pasha and Moses, who stood up, also raised their heads slightly and carefully looked at Emperor Hongzhi in front of them. He was wearing a bright yellow dragon robe and a gold silk feather crown, sitting upright.
Emperor Hongzhi, who had cured his intestinal carbuncle, has been getting better and better after several years of recuperation. His complexion has returned to youthful and rosy color, and even his hair has turned black. He is completely different from before. He is no longer the dying person before.
Looking sick.
"This is the emperor of the Ming Empire~"
"The eternal sage whom the people of Ming Dynasty call him!"
Ali Pasha and Moses quickly bowed their heads slightly, because before entering the palace to meet the saint, officials from the Ming Dynasty came to tell them the etiquette, details, etc. they should pay attention to.
It is obviously extremely rude to keep staring at the emperor.
"Thank you, Your Majesty~"
Ali Pasha stood up and respectfully handed over a gift list.
"His Majesty the Great Ming Emperor, this is a gift from our great Sultan of the Ottoman Empire to you."
Xiao Jing hurriedly walked down the steps and took the gift list. On it was written a long gift list in Turkic and Ming characters of the Ottoman Empire. Obviously, this time, the Ottoman Empire also prepared a surprise and wanted to take advantage of it.
Ease relations between the two countries.
"A big diamond in the sea of light~"
"A pair of phoenixes inlaid with diamonds and rubies~"
"An emerald box~"
"A precious sword~"
"Two BMWs~"
"Four beauties~"
"..."
Xiao Jing's voice was clearly transmitted to every corner of the hall, allowing everyone to hear it clearly.
"Tu Ji was very generous this time. He gave a lot of things. It seems that he was really scared of being beaten by our Ming Dynasty. Otherwise, how could he have sent so many things? They have always been the only ones to accept gifts from others.
, the kind that doesn’t even bring back gifts.”
Liu Jin listened carefully and laughed in his heart.
Sure enough, it is useless to talk about feelings between countries. You have to talk about fists. Only when the opponent is afraid of you and surrenders, will the opponent be obedient in front of you.
"His Majesty the Sultan of your country is interested."
Emperor Hongzhi expressed his gratitude with a smile.
"I hope His Majesty the Great Emperor will like it!"
Ali Pasha stood up respectfully and replied again.
“As the Prime Minister said, there was a lack of communication between the Ottoman Empire and our Ming Empire. That’s why conflicts and conflicts occurred a few years ago, which brought harm and disaster to the people of the two countries.
"
"I am deeply saddened and hope that the two countries can be friendly and live in harmony from generation to generation."
Emperor Hongzhi thought for a while and expressed his stance.
It gave the Ottoman Empire some face, and then Ali Pasha's words said that the war a few years ago was due to lack of communication and exchange, and because they did not understand each other, so contradictions and conflicts occurred.
"Your Majesty, the great emperor, you are so wise, wise, kind, and great. The people of both countries will be blessed by your mind like the sea and your magnanimity like the mountains."
"We, the great Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, just like His Majesty the Emperor, hope that the two countries can be friendly and harmonious, and that the times are friendly, and are willing to work hard for this."
When Ali Pasha heard this, he was immediately overjoyed and quickly expressed his stance.
The Ottoman Empire is currently fighting fiercely with the Europeans, and it is precisely when they need to deal with the Ming Dynasty and the Persians in the east. It is a blessing that the Ming Dynasty and the Persians do not attack the Ottoman Empire. They wish they could live in harmony.
The court hall is full of grandeur, and no matter how bad the relationship is, at this moment, it seems to be pretty good.
Based on the principle of good neighborliness and friendship, the two sides decided to resume normal exchanges, send ambassadors to each other, strengthen exchanges and cooperation, increase trust, etc.
Of course, these are irrelevant, the most important thing is the arms trade.
However, this kind of thing was naturally not suitable for Emperor Hongzhi to discuss. After the court meeting, Liu Jin, Fu Han and Hubu Shangshu Shi Zhong were given a task.
Discussing arms sales with Ottoman Prime Minister Ali Pasha, there is only one mission, and that is to extract as much wool from the Ottoman Empire as possible.
The Ottoman Empire is very rich. Although it was severely beaten by the Ming Empire a few years ago, it had to sign a treaty that was humiliating and ceding territory and paying compensation. Well, the compensation has been paid back so far.
It's been a few years, and I still have more than 20 years to pay it off.
But in recent years, the Ottoman Empire has made a fortune by capturing and plundering people from Europe and selling them as slaves to the Ming Dynasty. A merchant who wholesaled slaves to the Ming Dynasty could earn almost twenty taels of silver.
After a year of war, hundreds of thousands of people could be captured casually. Sometimes, millions of people would be captured and sold to the Ming Dynasty, directly replenishing the originally slim Ottoman Empire.
fat.
It would be a fool not to make money, not to mention selling arms and weapons to the Ottoman Empire would bring a lot of benefits to the Ming Empire.
Liu Jin directly brought Ali Pasha and Moses to the Miyun Arsenal to show them the Ming Dynasty's 'advanced' weapons.
Miyun Arsenal Martial Arts Field~
"Ready, aim~release!"
Following the commander's order, a group of Ming soldiers raised their muskets and pointed them at a group of cattle and sheep. As intensive gunshots rang out, and after the billowing white smoke, the cattle and sheep penned together fell to the ground.
"Master Prime Minister~"
"This is the most advanced musket in our Ming Empire. Its effective range can reach more than two hundred meters. It has extremely high accuracy and can load gunpowder very quickly. It only requires a little training and can be used on the battlefield. It doesn't take long.
.”
Liu Jin introduced the musket in front of him to Ali Pasha, Moses and others with a smile on his face.
This is the Hongzhi Fourteenth Musket, a product that has been eliminated and replaced by the Ming Dynasty. The muskets currently used by the Ming Dynasty military are rifled guns. The rifling design allows bullets or cannonballs to rotate during flight, thereby reducing resistance.
, can attack farther and more accurately.
With the existence of machine tools, it became possible to create rifling in a very small barrel, which brought the Ming Dynasty's gun technology to a higher level.
Of course, not only rifled guns, but also bullets are currently under research. Once the bullets can be developed, muskets will usher in a leap forward in development. By that time, cold weapons will really disappear from history.
The stage is up.
Nowadays, because of the range, accuracy and rate of fire of muskets, cavalry still has a strong deterrent effect and has not completely withdrawn from the stage of history.
"Not bad~ Not bad!"
Ali Pasha's eyes shone. The Ming Dynasty's muskets caused the Ottoman Empire to pay a heavy price. Hundreds of thousands of people died at the hands of the Ming army, and most of them were killed by the Ming Dynasty's muskets.
It’s not that the Ottoman Empire didn’t have muskets and cannons, but compared with the Ming Dynasty’s, they not only had a shorter range, slower rate of fire, but also worse accuracy. There was no comparability at all. On the battlefield, they were not as good as swords, guns, swords and halberds.
use.
"Master Prime Minister, come and see our Ming Dynasty's artillery~"
Liu Jin smiled and then nodded to the person in charge of the Miyun Arsenal. The person in charge understood and immediately arranged for people to start an artillery shooting demonstration.
As the flag was waved, a deafening roar sounded. After the billowing white smoke, the shells seemed to have eyes and landed on the hillside in the distance surrounded by white lime.
"What do you think, Prime Minister?"
Liu Jin was still very satisfied with the result and asked Ali Pasha next to him with a smile.
"Yes, yes, it is much stronger than our Ottoman Empire's artillery."
Ali Pasha nodded straight after reading this.
Recalling the words of the defeated general in my mind, the Ming Dynasty's artillery shells fell like rain, hit our heads heavily, and exploded again on the ground, forming a terrifying explosion circle. One shell could kill a large area.
"As long as the Prime Minister is satisfied~"
"This is the most advanced cannon of our Ming Empire, the Miyun Cannon. It has a long range, fast rate of fire, and high power. It can also be equipped with explosive shells to form a large-scale killing radius."
Liu Jin began to introduce the data of the cannon in detail.
"How much do these muskets and cannon cost?"
Ali Pasha nodded while listening. After listening, he also became concerned about the price.
"A musket only costs three hundred taels of silver, and a cannon is more expensive. It costs fifty thousand taels of silver. If you buy a musket and a cannon, you will get some elixirs. In addition, if you buy enough money, we can also give you a certain amount of armor weapons.
you."
When Liu Jin heard this, he immediately changed his face to that of a profiteer and began to use the sales techniques of later generations.
"This thing must be expensive. Otherwise, why would our Ming Dynasty only have one million troops? If the expenditure had not been too high, our Ming Dynasty might have armed two million or three million troops."
"As for this army, ghosts and spirits are not expensive. The key lies in combat effectiveness. What's the use of just making up the numbers."
"Can't you come up with enough money?"
"It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter. We can get a loan. If you, the Ottoman Empire, have these weapons and equipment, you can defeat the Europeans and rob people in Europe and sell them as slaves to our Ming Dynasty."
"A slave can be sold for twenty taels of silver. This 30 million order only requires 1.5 million slaves. At this point, we can just admit defeat and conquer a small European country."
"Let's do this. I can make the decision and give you five thousand more sabers. Yes, yes, they are the kind of sabers used by our Ming Dynasty cavalry. That's all right~"