Both of them came here, including the storekeeper of the Dadewang Shop, and were talking to Li Guodong about the profit and loss situation last year.

Last year, in the battle north of Guihua City, Dadewang's merchants suffered extremely heavy losses. Not only did they make money, they also lost 60,000 taels of silver. A large number of cattle, sheep, mules and horses were shot to death in a fierce battle and could not be sold. They could only be taken back to eat meat by themselves. Compared with the losses of silver, the losses of personnel were irreparable. Most of the caravan staff and more than 100 elite guards were lost, and it took a year to retrain.

However, there is still good news from Dadewang Business: the business of cooperation with Zheng Zhilong was booming. Last year, he earned more than 100,000 taels of silver. The loom auction in Suzhou was successful. Twelve silk merchants have cooperated with Dadewang. Dadewang Business Company invested in the loom and earned more than 200,000 taels of silver every year. In addition, the new grain invented by Li Guodong was sold in Xikou and Zhangjiakou, and he also earned more than 100,000 taels of silver. In addition, the total income of Dadewang Business Company reached 500,000 taels of silver last year. After deducting the 60,000 taels of silver lost in a battle with the Jurchens, he also earned 440,000 taels of silver.

"The annual income of 440,000 taels is difficult to support an army. It seems that except for Zheng Zhilong's business, it is really difficult for other businesses to support the army." Zhao Feng sighed with a plan.

If you want to make a living in the world, an annual income of 500,000 taels will definitely not be enough. When artificially farmed pearls are produced in Tawau, the money earned by the merchants will increase. However, after artificially farmed pearls are launched, the price of pearls will drop.

However, the 300,000 kilograms of copper brought to Shabeigou Village this time by the Dadewang merchant, Li Guodong was overjoyed.

Because Zheng Zhilong fought a battle with the Dutch, which is the famous Battle of Liaoluo Bay, Zheng Zhilong defeated the coalition forces of the Netherlands and Liu Xiang, forcing Dutch ships to go north to trade in Japan and North Korea, and both had to pay tolls to Zheng Zhilong. After Zheng Zhilong won the battle of Liaoluo Bay, he planned to march south to completely solve the Liu Xiang problem.

The artillery cast by Li Guodong for Zheng Zhilong played a great role in the naval battle. Zheng Zhilong was grateful to him, so he provided Li Guodong with 300,000 kilograms of copper in one breath!

"With these coppers, we can cast copper cannons. We must start casting cannons immediately! I guess Jiannu will invade the Ming Dynasty in July! They will likely invade from Xuandayi." Li Guodong pointed to the mountains of copper coins and copper ingots and said to everyone.

Then, Li Guodong said to Wang Quan and Zhao Feng: "Our inside line sent news that Yue Tuo was sick and returned to Liaodong. This person was the biggest disaster under the captive chief Huang Taiji! He was not naturalized, and our caravan could seize the opportunity to go to Mobei again. In February, the Jiannu army would probably invade Daming before the autumn harvest. It would be too late to leave! There is another thing, you come back from Mobei this time, and I will go to the West Sea with you! Find Lin Danhan's son Ezhe. Lin Danhan was already ill on the way to the West Sea. I am just afraid that he will die soon."

In fact, except for Yue Tuo who returned to Liaodong after being sick, it was reported by the insider, the rest were the historical development process that Li Guodong knew about cheating. The Later Jin Society invaded the Ming Dynasty in July of the seventh year of Chongzhen. The place where the invasion was Xuanda, and Lin Danhan was soon born. These were all written in history. Li Guodong probably wouldn't have much historical changes due to the butterfly effect caused by himself.

Zhao Feng said something to Li Guodong again: "I came back from Eunuch Wang and heard something: Yang Duxian suggested that Your Majesty eliminate the bandits, treat them differently, and resolutely eliminate the old thieves, recruit refugees, and mine mine. In this way, my Ming Dynasty has hope of revival! Yang Duxian is really Zhuge Liang today!"

Li Guodong just smiled but said nothing. Yang Sichang and Zhuge Liang were still far apart! However, if Emperor Chongzhen and Yang Sichang changed positions, there might be hope for the Ming Dynasty. Otherwise, even Zhuge Liang, Zhang Liang, and Liu Bowen were all here, it would be useless, and sooner or later they would be cheated to death by Chongzhen.

"If we want to prepare to deal with the invasion of Jiannu, we must first consider casting new cannons. But with cannons, there may be insufficient gunpowder. You guys go and get some raw materials for making gunpowder. The most important thing is saltpeter." Li Guodong told Wang Quan and Zhao Feng.

Charcoal can be burned by yourself, and sulfur can be obtained through Zheng Zhilong. The main thing that is missing is saltpeter.

Li Guodong adopted designated defecation facilities in the four cities under his control, including Shabeigou Village, Dadongyugou Village, Douhu Village and Xiangling Village, and built special toilets. When the walls of the toilet are sunburned, white flakes of alkali will appear. Li Guodong appointed a special sausage officer to collect the sausage soil.

After scraping off the nitrosodium, soaking it in water, filtering out the nitrosodium water, and then simmering it, and then crystallizing it, and then obtaining earth nitrate, which can be used to make gunpowder. However, the amount of earth nitrate collected through this method is too small, which cannot meet the needs of making gunpowder at all. Moreover, there are too many impurities for earth nitrate, and the quality of the gunpowder made is not very good. Therefore, you also need to buy high-quality saltpeter through channels to meet the expanding needs of the firearm troops.

There are four types of copper cannons cast by Li Guodong. One is a six-pound field cannon with a barrel weighing about 500 kilograms. With the gun mount, the total weight is 778 kilograms. It can fire six-pound shells, with a range of up to two miles! The effective range is 400 steps.

The second type is a twelve-pound field gun. The barrel weighs about one thousand kilograms. The total weight is about two thousand kilograms, but the power is much greater than the six-pound field gun, and the maximum range reaches an astonishing six miles! The effective range can reach two miles. Compared with the six-pound field gun, the twelve-pound field gun is more than twice the power! This kind of cannon can easily penetrate a 100-person column within 600 steps! In other words, if solid shells hit into a dense formation, one shell can even take more than one hundred people away! In addition, when shooting shotguns at close range, the twelve-pound field gun can load more than one hundred people than the six-pound field gun loaded! The power is almost three times.

There are also twelve-pound howitzers and thirty-two-pound mortars. The howitzers have short barrels and fast loading speeds. Because of the small chamber pressure, they can fire flowering shells with cork support and shrapnel, which is a good firepower supplement for field guns.
Chapter completed!