Datang's plate armor and matchlock guns, which are best-selling all over the world, basically have different prices in every region. In regions such as Southeast Asia and India, Datang's arms dealers dared to sell old guns for tens of dollars each.
But when sold to European customers in the South African port, the price is very cheap, even a new gun only costs about ten yuan.
The reason is very simple. In areas such as Southeast Asia and India, Datang monopolized the local maritime trade and ordnance supply.
However, the arms trade in the South African Port is aimed at European customers, and Europeans can make their own matchlocks on a large scale, so in order to compete in the market, the price cannot be too high.
There is also the plate armor of the Tang Dynasty. No matter where it is exported, the plate armor of the Tang Dynasty is extremely expensive.
Why?
The plate armor made by Datang is made of pure steel and has good protective performance and light weight. It is very popular among customers from all over the world.
More importantly, this kind of high-performance plate armor is the only one in the world. There is no other semicolon. Buy it or not!
Not to mention, despite the high price, Datang's plate armor has always been a very popular seller. Regardless of whether they are the indigenous kingdoms of India, the powerful people of the Ottoman Empire, or the European aristocrats, they are all loyal users of Datang's plate armor.
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Many of today's European nobles own Tang Dynasty plate armor, and ordinary knights try their best to own a set of Tang Dynasty plate armor.
Therefore, the export price of ordnance has little to do with production costs.
You want to say the actual value of these old wooden sailing battleships
The Tang Dynasty Navy tried to arm the warships before, and then kept even the steam engines and sold them as civilian ships to domestic companies. The price dropped again and again. The price of an 800-ton cruiser was only 30,000 at the beginning, let alone 100,000.
That's it, then twenty thousand, and finally ten thousand, but it turned out that they were nothing!
A large number of domestic trading companies said that they would not even give it away for free...
This warship has no other use at all except fighting. Who wants this thing except the army?
Domestic shipping companies won't want this thing, so trading companies that need weapons won't want this thing either. What they want is traditional armed merchant ships that can carry a large amount of cargo and have a certain amount of firepower.
Already.
Professional battleships cannot load cargo, so fighting alone is useless!
Besides, we are now in the age of steam and steel. Newly built merchant ships are all motor-driven ships, and generally use steel as the main structure. The hulls are stronger and can be built larger. The cost per ton is also cheaper.
Shipping costs are also lower.
You have to be crazy to ask for junk like your Navy!
The Navy met with a shameful failure in promoting these old wooden sailing warships in the country. Just when the Navy wanted to simply dismantle these wooden sailing ships and use them as firewood, they learned that the English were interested in these old wooden sailing ships.
Interested in battleships.
So as soon as I turned around, I offered a high price!
Hawkins also knew that he was being treated as a traitor by the Tang Dynasty people, so naturally he would not pretend to be rich, so he threw down the cashier's check from the Royal Bank and said: It's just money, give me a dozen!
He just shrank back!
I have traveled across the Atlantic Ocean for decades and made countless plunders!
At that time, I had never been taken advantage of!
If you want to trick me, you are just dreaming!
When the navy general saw Hawkins shrink back, he was a little worried that the price was too harsh and would scare people away, so he asked Xu Zhenchuan to pass the message on his behalf: The price can still be negotiated!
Hawkins was unwilling to be taken advantage of, but when the Tang Navy really showed sincerity, he would not refuse.
And he knew even more clearly that if enough Tang warships could be purchased in a short period of time, it would be of great benefit to England!
Although there will be some economic losses, strategically it will reap huge rewards!
For example, after having a fleet of Tang warships, Hawkins dared to directly attack the Spanish or Portuguese treasure fleet.
Whether it is the Portuguese or the Spanish, they both have a large number of colonies in the Americas, and they can collect a large amount of gold and silver, and then ship them back to Europe. The gold, silver, gems, etc. loaded on them are all measured in tons!
It doesn’t take much, just grab one boat and he can get his money back, grab two boats and he can double his profit!
You definitely have to buy it, but how much it will cost and how much you will sell it for, you have to negotiate carefully.
Moreover, although Hawkins is a plenipotentiary on such a big matter, he cannot directly decide such a big matter. All he can decide is his own affairs.
In the fleet he leads, there are investments from the royal family, investments from the nobles, and investments from himself and the nobles who invested in him. These three parts are different.
As a country, England purchased warships. He said that he would need to return to the country to report the matter before making a decision. However, as a private person, he said that he could purchase one first to test the waters.
Hawkins is rich, and so are the nobles and businessmen behind him.
And why would the wealthy Hawkins buy a warship?
In addition to being the Vice Admiral of England and the plenipotentiary representative of the royal family, he was also a pirate and a slave leader!
Of course I bought a warship for robbery. Is it possible that it looks good?
Well, if you do one vote, you will get your money back, if you do two votes, you will double your profit!
The merchants and nobles behind him invested in him, not only in doing business, but also in slave trading and plundering.
Private purchase?
It's okay, anyway, Xu Zhenchuan also knows that although Hawkins is a pirate, he is also a vice admiral of England. His robbery is not a purely private act of a pirate, but an officially sanctioned act.
This pirate is different from ordinary pirates!
Just like the Datang Western Trading Company back then, it was justifiable to plunder merchant ships from various countries in the Indian Ocean, and the empire also recognized its spoils.
So Xu Zhenchuan agreed on behalf of the Tang Dynasty official!
The two sides immediately started negotiating, and finally Hawkins and Datang officials reached an agreement. Hawkins invested 42,000 yuan to purchase an old warship from the Africa Squadron of the Datang Navy.
This is a 450-ton frigate that was in service twelve years ago. Although it looks old, the Tang Navy has maintained it quite well and the ship is in good condition. Moreover, no steam engines were modified at that time, so the steam engines were even disassembled and assembled.
All steps are saved.
In line with the basic business principle of paying with one hand and delivering the goods with no credit, Hawkins directly took out a Royal Bank cashier's check for 42,000 yuan, and then took over the Tang warship with his sailors.
When he took over the frigate, he found that the entire ship had been newly painted, and some of the original iconic decorations of the Tang Navy had disappeared.
Although more than 40,000 yuan is still very expensive, this is a warship that can be used immediately. It is also his, and even the first professional warship in England, so he still attaches great importance to it.
When I first took over the ship, I asked my craftsmen to inspect the hull structure inch by inch to prepare for the subsequent imitation of warships in China.
After getting familiar with it for a few days, he took the warship, which was renamed "John", and other merchant ships to leave the South African port and prepare to return to England.
Before returning to England, he had officially invited the Tang delegation headed by Xu Zhenchuan to London and set up a consulate in London. To put it bluntly, England also wanted to establish formal diplomatic ties with the Tang people.
In this regard, Xu Zhenchuan said that he would definitely send someone to London. After all, there is still a big business to be discussed later. As for whether to establish a consulate, it depends on the specific situation.
There are actually not many diplomats under him, only two deputy envoys and about twenty ordinary diplomats.
If we want to set up consulates in London and other European countries, we can only send out diplomats of the fifth and sixth grades, and there will certainly not be too many people.
For this reason, Xu Zhenchuan already felt that he did not have enough manpower, so he wrote a letter back to his country and asked his country to continue sending more diplomats to Europe. After all, Europe is quite big and there are many countries. With less manpower, it cannot be covered at all.
It's just that the port of South Africa is thousands of miles away from the mainland. It will take more than half a year to send this letter back, and it will probably take a year to send someone over again.
After waiting in the port of South Africa for more than three months, he finally set off again, officially heading to Europe!
During this period, Datang officials also conducted intensive negotiations with Spanish and Portuguese diplomats. In order to help the Spanish and Portuguese convey news to the country, Datang even dispatched its own steam fast communication ship to transport the Portuguese.
and Spanish couriers.
Otherwise, with their slow ships and information transmission so slowly, it is estimated that they would not be able to complete the relevant agreement in half a year.
What did Xu Zhenchuan talk about with the diplomatic representatives of these two countries?
Naturally, we are talking about issues related to the Tang Empire’s mission to Europe.
For example, after a mission to Europe arrives in Europe, it must have an embassy as its office space and soldiers to protect it!
In this regard, the empire's attitude is very tough. Datang will send its own soldiers to protect the safety of the mission, and will never leave the safety of diplomats to Spain or Portugal.
What kind of mentality is this?
Because the higher-ups of the empire, including Xu Zhenchuan himself, didn’t trust these barbarians at all!
Barbarians usually behave in unreasonable ways, and most of the time they are unable to communicate normally.
Only by holding guns can we communicate normally with the barbarians!
It is impossible to leave your life to the protection of barbarians.
In this regard, the empire had a very strong attitude and listed the consulates of the Tang Dynasty in other countries: Whether it was the consulate that the Tang Empire started in the port city of the Ottoman Empire, the consulate that was opened in the Safavid dynasty, or it was opened in other regions
The consulates will dispatch their own soldiers to protect the safety of diplomats.
Not only do we send troops to protect the country, but the area where the embassy is located is also sovereign.
Currently, the areas where all the overseas consulates of the Datang Empire are located, that is, the embassy areas, belong to the territory of the Tang Dynasty, without exception!