Zheng Zhilong thought for a moment and laughed: "The silver should be given. Let's do this. I will give you 10,000 taels of silver for each pair of iron molds, four pairs of iron molds, plus improved blast furnaces, cannon casting methods, and what mortars you mentioned, I will give you a total of 50,000 taels of silver. In addition, if you want to buy copper, Zheng can provide you with it cheaply. What do you think, brother?"

After hearing Zheng Zhilong's offer, Li Guodong sneered in his heart: Black! So black! Zheng Dabao is really stingy! I have four cast iron molds of cannons, a boring machine, a new blast furnace, and methods of casting various naval guns and mortars. I can only give 50,000 taels of so many things!

You should know that the Portuguese sold Zheng Zhilong a twelve-pound red cannon, which cost two thousand taels of silver! Even if the Ministry of Works of the Ming Dynasty casts the red cannon itself, the price is not cheap. The Ministry of Works of the Ministry of Works of the People's Republic of China, the cost is more than one thousand taels of silver! Of course, it is unknown how much silver there is for the red cannon cast by the Ministry of Works of the People's Republic of China. Anyway, a lot of silver has been greedy for officials at all levels.

According to Li Guodong's method of casting cannons, it only cost 200 taels of silver to cast a twelve-pound red cannon. It cost 500 taels of silver to cast a twelve-pound red cannon.

According to this calculation, with the four molds and the method of casting cannons, Zheng Zhilong cannons cannons a year. For just these 700 cannons, even if they are calculated based on the price of inferior cannons imitated by the Ministry of Industry of the Ming Dynasty, it will cost almost one million taels of silver! And casting by himself only costs 200,070 taels of silver, which saves Zheng Zhilong how much money! He actually only gives himself 50,000 taels of silver. This is too stingy and too unscrupulous, right?

Zheng Zhilong saw that Li Guodong was a little dissatisfied with the price, so he smiled and said, "Brother, let's do it. The price outside is one tael of silver and one tael of money, and the price of money weighs about ten kilograms, which means that the market price of copper is one tael of silver and ten kilograms of copper. I'll give you a discount price, one tael of silver and fifteen kilograms of copper. In addition, you also like Hexiang and Mozhu, so the two maids gave it to you. But you have to tell me, what is the purpose of you want so much copper?"

The price given by Zheng Zhilong is really not high. It is about ten kilograms of copper coins, worth one tael of silver. However, the quality of copper coins is not necessarily very high. Many copper coins are mixed with iron, or even lead or other impurities.

Of course, Li Guodong could not tell Zheng Zhilong that he wanted so much copper to cast cannons. He had already done so. Zheng Zhilong would definitely ask this question, so he replied: "There is a large amount of silver inflow overseas, and the silver price will fall sooner or later, and the copper price will rise sooner or later. So I have to stock up a batch of copper. After the price increases, wouldn't it be profitable?"

Zheng Zhilong was stunned for a moment, then laughed: "So that's it! It seems that Zheng has to bring back more copper when he comes back from Japan and save it."

But then Zheng Zhilong changed the topic: "But Zheng has also heard that copper cannons can be cast. Brother, why don't you cast cannons with copper? Casting copper cannons is much easier than casting iron cannons, right?"

"Brother, copper is much less than iron after all, and copper cannons are more expensive. In addition, copper cannons of the same caliber are not as powerful as iron cannons. Moreover, copper cannons cannot be made too large to make direct cannons of more than 24 pounds, but they can make 64 pounds of mortar cannons. As for what, iron cannons cannons cannons of course be able to do it. The only advantage of copper cannons is that they are lighter than iron cannons of the same caliber. But the elder brother pays attention to the navy. I'm afraid there is no matter how much weight the naval warships are, right?"

"Why are copper cannons of the same caliber not as powerful as iron cannons?"

"Because the copper is softer, the barrel cannot be made too long, otherwise the barrel will be easily deformed; and the copper cannon cannot be made too large, too large, and the amount of the emitted medicine is large, and the copper cannon will easily be damaged."

Zheng Zhilong nodded while touching his beard, and suddenly said again: "My brother is afraid you want to build a bronze cannon, right?"

It was the old fox! He couldn't hide anything from him! Li Guodong said in his heart. So he replied: "I have this idea to cast a batch of copper cannons. Master Lu really needs copper cannons. But the materials are not enough at present, and once the copper cannons start casting, the price of copper will soar."

Zheng Zhilong smiled and said, "Hahaha! I can provide you with copper. Anyway, you also provide me with goods, right? By the way, what kind of cigarette you are, is it very popular among the soldiers! Can you tell me how to make cigarettes?"

Old fox! I know that the profit of making cigarettes is high! Li Guodong thought for a moment and said slowly: "Brother Zheng, you are my elder brother. I might as well teach you how to make cigarettes again, but I have a condition."

“What conditions?”

"Take a portion of the profit, for example, if you produce a box of cigarettes in Yuegang and sell them at a local price, and you can earn ten taels of silver for a box of cigarettes, I will draw two taels. As for what the price you sell to Japan and Nanyang, I won't care. Brother, do you think this is OK?"

"Then tell me, how much profit can a box of cigarettes make?"

"Cigarettes can be divided into upper, middle and lower grades. The higher the price of the cigarette, the higher the profit. Take the highest grade, for example, if a pack of one tael of silver is sold, a box of five hundred taels of silver is sold, and the cost is only more than ten taels of silver. If it is a medium cigarette, a box of medium cigarettes of one hundred and one cents of silver is also fifty taels of silver, and the cost is only about four taels of silver. A pack of low-grade cigarettes is sold at a price of one cent of silver, and a box of five taels of silver is sold, and the cost is about one tael."

"Then we all produce high-end ones, at least mid-range ones. What's the use of low-end ones?" Zheng Zhibao, who was standing beside him, said.

"But low-end goods are selling well. Do you think there are more rich people or more poor people in this world?"

"It makes sense!" Zheng Zhilong nodded.

"Since my brother agrees, let's sign the contract."

Zheng Zhilong agreed readily and asked someone to get paper, pen, and seals. The two planned to sign the contract together. After repeated confirmation, Zheng Zhilong and Li Guodong signed the contract and stamped the seal. The contract was in duplicate, with Zheng Zhilong and Li Guodong each copy one.

Li Guodong was not afraid of Zheng Zhilong's tricks. Although there were rumors that Yan Siqi, the boss of the original Twenty-Eight Brothers Alliance, his death was related to Zheng Zhilong. Yan Siqi died young at the age of 36. It is said that it may be Zheng Zhilong's murder. But after all, Zheng Zhilong is quite honest in doing business, otherwise he would not have the scale today. What's more, Li Guodong has the status of a general, unless Zheng Zhilong wants to rebel.

Judging from Zheng Zhilong's current situation, it is impossible to rebel. If he wants to deal with Liu Xiang and the Dutch, he must rely on the support of the Ming court.

When Li Guodong walked out, Zheng Zhihu said to Zheng Zhilong: "Brother, this person has many ways to make money. Why don't we deduct him? Let him spit out more money-making prescriptions."
Chapter completed!