Hong Kong in the southwest corner of the British Isles in Europe.
With the arrival of the Ming Dynasty New Year, the whole of Hong Kong is immersed in joy. Countless fireworks continue to bloom in the sky, the sound of firecrackers is endless, red lanterns are hung everywhere, and festive Spring Festival couplets are posted.
The children wore brand new clothes and played in groups, and the adults kept sending blessings to each other when they met. It was a joyful and lively scene.
Here at the Hong Kong Hotel, Pelos, the special minister of King Charles V of Spain, looked at the lively scene in front of him and couldn't help but sigh: "The prosperity of Hong Kong is no less than that of the capital of the Ming Dynasty!"
Pelos is a talented student who studied in Ming Dynasty. He stayed in Ming Dynasty for several years and saw with his own eyes the lively scene of Ming people celebrating the New Year.
At this moment, seeing such a lively and lively scene here in Hong Kong again made Perlos sigh.
Compared with Hong Kong, the capital of Spain is simply a small town in the countryside. In terms of size and prosperity, it is only equivalent to the state capital city of the Ming Dynasty.
"When will Spain be as powerful and prosperous as the Ming Empire?"
Perros sighed and shook his head.
Only those who have actually been to the Ming Empire will know that the power, prosperity and wealth of the Ming Empire are far more than what can be seen in Hong Kong.
The Ming Empire was powerful in all aspects. No matter in which field, the Ming Empire was much, much stronger than any other country in the world.
In terms of science and technology, military, economy, culture, medical care, education, etc., Ming Dynasty has been at the forefront of the world in every aspect. Other countries and regions can no longer even see how far the people of Ming Dynasty have developed.
Already.
"Yes, one day we in Spain will be as powerful as the Ming Empire, and our Europe will become as prosperous as the Ming Empire!"
The elderly Duke Brand next to Pelos said very firmly: "Under the leadership of the great Emperor Charles V, we will definitely be able to unify the entire Europe and develop Europe into a great empire as powerful as the Ming Empire!"
"Your Majesty, you are right, we can definitely do it."
"Now we will soon destroy France. Once France is destroyed, we can sweep across the Holy Roman Empire and basically complete the unification of Europe."
Pelos also agreed very much when he heard this.
After nearly a year of war, Spain fought on many fronts, attacking France from the north and the south. Now it has occupied most of France, with only a small part of the Paris Basin still under the control of the French King.
But the Paris Basin is almost undefendable, and it will only be a matter of time before Paris is captured.
However, now the Spanish army has a very urgent situation, that is, it is about to run out of bullets and artillery shells. Because of the lack of ammunition, the army has to temporarily stop its attack on the Paris Basin.
Charles V also urgently asked Duke Brand and Perros to come to Hong Kong to buy ammunition with a large amount of wealth seized from the French nobles.
"Peros, you came back from studying in the Ming Empire. You should know a lot about bullets. Is it true that we in Spain can't make bullets?"
"Not to mention the fact that the Ming Dynasty's bullets are extremely expensive, if we can't produce our own bullets, we will always be under the control of the Ming Dynasty people. This won't work in the long run."
"We in Spain have a lot of skilled craftsmen. I don't believe that we can't make such a small bullet."
Duke Brand had a headache thinking about coming here to buy arms and weapons this time.
It was clear that the army could capture the Paris Basin and completely destroy France, but at this juncture, there was a shortage of ammunition.
The army had to stop attacking and could only wait eagerly for the ammunition to be delivered.
"Your Majesty the Duke!"
"The structure of Ming Dynasty's bullet is actually very simple. It is a structure of warhead, gunpowder and primer. We can completely manufacture it."
"It's not difficult to buy some machinery and equipment from the people of Ming Dynasty to produce bullets. What's really difficult is the primer!"
Perlos thought for a moment and said.
"Is there anything special about this primer?"
Duke Brand asked quickly.
"This primer uses a special chemical material. This material is a controlled product in the Ming Empire. Only the Miyun Arsenal of the Ming Dynasty can produce and use it, and the formula is only in their hands."
"This kind of primer will burn quickly after being hit by the firing pin, and ignite the gunpowder in the bullet. The gunpowder burns and then pushes the warhead to fire."
"Ordinary gunpowder will not burn when hit. Special materials must be used."
Perlos shook his head and said.
"Can we develop this primer material?"
Duke Brand asked quickly.
"It's very difficult. This kind of material is a material formula that is strictly kept secret by the Ming Dynasty and is strictly forbidden to be leaked. If we rely on our own research, we don't know how long it will take to develop it."
Perlos shook his head and said.
"This Ming Dynasty man is really good at doing business. He not only bought us guns and cannons, but also bought us bullets and cannonballs. This is a long-term business."
"When I first bought arms and weapons, they gave me artillery shells and bullets. I thought they were being generous, but it turned out that I needed to use special bullets and artillery shells."
"Without their bullets and cannonballs, our muskets and cannons have no effect at all."
After listening to Pelos' explanation, Duke Brand immediately gave the Ming Dynasty a thumbs up.
This Ming Dynasty man is really shrewd. Even if he sells guns, the long-term bullet business is also indispensable.
"Of course."
"The guns and cannons of the Ming Dynasty are really easy to use, but they consume a lot of bullets and cannonballs. Our Spanish Empire is better. We still have money to buy bullets and cannonballs. As for our enemies, they want
If you buy bullets and artillery shells, you will have to sell the iron."
"From another perspective, it is good for us that the Ming Dynasty's bullets are more expensive."
Perros smiled and nodded.
"Is there any benefit?"
When Duke Brand heard this, his eyes widened slightly. What are the benefits of spending so much money?
"When will this Daming person start working?"
"We are in urgent need on the front line. If it were urgent, these Ming people would still be celebrating festivals here."
Brand then looked at the bustling scene outside and asked.
"According to the long-standing tradition of the Ming Dynasty people, they have half a month off during the New Year, usually one week before and one week after the New Year."
"It's the New Year now, we can just wait a few more days."
"But I estimate it may not take a few days. We are a big customer and they should meet with us tomorrow."
Pelos is very familiar with Ming Dynasty and knows clearly about Ming Dynasty’s holidays.
Just as Pelos expected.
After the Hong Kong Branch of Tianjin Ocean Trading Company learned that Spain sent people to purchase arms and weapons, it hurried to work on the second day of the Lunar New Year.
For people in the Ming Dynasty, although celebrating the New Year is very important, the more important thing is to make money, not to mention a big customer like Spain, which can easily be a large order of hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, or even a million taels of silver.
This is clearly worth giving up the rest time.
In the reception room of the Hong Kong Branch of Tianjin Ocean Trading Bank, branch president Xie Yunshan and arms sales manager Gan Tian cordially received Duke Brand and Perlos.
"My lord Duke, Lord Pelos, have a happy new year, may you be rich in the new year!"
Xie Yunshan smiled and greeted the two of them.
"Well, get rich in the New Year!"
When Duke Brand heard this, he was slightly stunned and replied.
"The matter is urgent, so we won't waste any more nonsense. We are here to buy bullets and artillery shells this time. Our frontline army is already seriously short of bullets and artillery shells."
"No problem, you can have as much as you want."
"As for artillery shells, the artillery model you purchased according to your Spanish empire only costs 20 taels of silver per shell."
"In terms of bullets, the price of Type 26 rifle bullets is 100 rounds, and the price of a base bullet is 10 taels of silver."
"Of course, if you purchase a large quantity, we can also have certain discounts and send you some more shells and bullets as appropriate."
Xie Yunshan became more energetic when talking about business. He took the models of the Spanish army's main arms and weapons handed over from Gan Tian and began to quote prices.
"What?"
"A cannonball costs 20 taels of silver?"
"100 rounds of bullets cost 10 taels of silver. Isn't this too expensive?"
Upon hearing Xie Yunshan's offer, even Duke Brand and Pelos, who were ready to be slaughtered, couldn't help but stand up and shout.
This price is really too expensive!
Taking artillery shells as an example, Spain purchased hundreds of Miyun cannons. When these hundreds of cannons attacked, the cannonballs flew all over the sky. They were not artillery shells, they were all white money.
And this bullet, the consumption of bullets is the fastest on the battlefield. Often, after a battle, tens of thousands of rifles will be gone, but hundreds of thousands of bullets will be gone.
Calculated based on this price, this bullet alone can easily cost tens of thousands of taels of silver.
At this time, when fighting is difficult, you may lose millions of rounds of ammunition and hundreds of thousands of taels of silver in a random battle, and the money will be burned even faster.
You must know that it is easy to spend this money, but it is very, very difficult to earn this money from the people of Ming Dynasty.
Now we can only rely on selling wool, red wine and ham. That means the colonies in West Africa can also sell some ivory, slaves, diamonds and the like.
