The reason why the Westerners were shocked was that they had some understanding of the artillery of the Ming Dynasty.

The artillery in the Ming Dynasty was generally iron, with a small diameter, a short range, and a limited power compared to the fact that they tried to sell it to Zhou Zheng before, because a cannon was worth more than 6,000 taels and the profit was very considerable!

But the artillery in front of them was completely different from what they knew. It had a large caliber and a long range, and it was still using a flowering bullet, which was even more powerful than their European artillery!

If such guns were loaded onto the ship, their merchant ships would not be the opponent at all!

The viscount from Xiao Folangji stopped when the cannon sounded, and looked at the smoke and dust rolling, and seemed to feel the trembling ground. He turned his head to look at Zhou Zheng, blinked, and had a stiff face, not knowing what his expression was.

Liu Liuzhe glanced at the faces of a group of Westerners and whispered in Zhou Zheng's ear: "Second Young Master, as you said, there is a lot of gunpowder buried under the ground."

Zhou Zheng nodded quietly, smelling the scent of sulfur in the air, as if he smelled the smell of silver.

The shock on Viscount's face quickly calmed down, and he smiled and said something to Zhou Zheng.

The translator quickly followed and said, "Sir, Viscount said that their artillery is stronger than ours, but ours have many advantages and can complement each other. I hope to buy three doors and put them on their ships to take a look."

Zhou Zheng knew very well that this viscount wanted to imitate it, so it would never be possible to just try it.

This kind of artillery was orally described by Zhou Zheng, jointly developed by craftsmen and European missionaries. Some technologies cannot be restored simply by disassembling them, and it is impossible to imitate them!

Zhou Zheng said as usual: "Each door is 12,000 taels, gunpowder is calculated separately, and another thousand muskets are needed, each fifty-five taels are calculated separately."

Translation and retelling the past.

Viscount thought for a moment and said with a smile.

The translator said: "Sir, he said no problem."

Zhou Zhengyi stretched out his hand and said, "I'll take Viscount to visit our base."

Viscount looked at the dozen cannons reluctantly again, and walked into Zhou Zheng with a smile.

Liu Liuzhe followed, feeling secretly shocked.

The cost of each cannon is no more than 2,000 taels. The second young master said it to be "12,000 taels". The gunpowder is also calculated. The cost of a musket is at most 5 taels per piece, and the second young master said it to be fifty-five taels!

What a huge profit this is, it can make much more money than the weekly journal!

Liu Liuzhe was busy calculating how much money he made, how much he could sell in the future and how much he could earn!

Zhou Zheng took these Westerners around and introduced the arsenal.

Because the Westerners wanted to go to key places such as production workshops and other key places, they were a little inclined to go.

Zhou Zheng was too lazy to care about them. This was the first time he came here. After simply entertaining these people, he began to turn around himself seriously and then make adjustments and arrangements for some things.

It was not until evening that he could have a detailed talk with Liu Liuzhe.

Liu Liuzhe sat opposite Zhou Zheng and said, "Second Young Master, although this place is remote, it is an isolated island after all, and it is not safe. I want to find some people, but I am afraid of leaking the news..."

Zhou Zheng had already thought about it and said, "I will arrange this. In the future, I will send some people here, mainly responsible for the protection of the peripheral areas and not involve it."

Liu Liuzhe responded and suddenly said, "Second Young Master, these firearms are so powerful, will it be dangerous to sell them to Westerners?"

Zhou Zheng looked at him and smiled and said, "It seems that you have learned to use your brain too. It's okay, I won't meet it for a while. When it really matches it, these things will be useless."

Liu Liuzhe was relieved and then said with some worries: "Second Master, we have to use too much money now. It is too dangerous to let the escort agency transport it around and forthcoming. We have to think of a way..."

Zhou Zheng's heart moved slightly as he heard it, his expression was thoughtful.

There is no bank in this era, and there is no bill number. Complete "cash bank" transactions are indeed very troublesome.

After pondering for a while, Zhou Zheng said: "When I arrive at Tianjin Wei, I will discuss with Chengjin and others, so I will do this for the time being."

If you want to establish a ticket account, Zhou Zheng has money and channels, and the overall environment is also suitable for the development of ticket account, but if you want to establish it, there are still many problems that need to be solved.

When Liu Liuzhe saw Zhou Zheng say this, his eyes shiny. In his eyes, the second young master of their family was almost omnipotent.

After talking for a while, after almost finishing the matter, Liu Liuzhe smiled shyly and said, "Second Young Master, the master told me that he will marry Biqing after the New Year."

Liu Liuzhe is nineteen this year and twenty next year, so it’s time to get married.

Speaking of this, Zhou Zheng couldn't help but have a headache. His sister-in-law Zhou Dingshi, his elder brother Zhou Fang, and even his father Zhou all mentioned his marriage openly or secretly, and it seemed that he could no longer delay it.

Zhou Zheng shook his head and stood up and said, "Well, I'll give you a big red envelope at that time. I'll go back after a night of rest. If you keep an eye on it for a while, you can return to Beijing as soon as possible. The Chamber of Commerce is about to move to Tianjin Wei, so you have to keep a close eye on it."

Although Chengjin and Shangguan Xun and others are all Zhou Zheng's people, the only true confidant is Liu Liuzhe.

Liu Liuzhe understood Zhou Zheng's meaning, and then stood up and said, "Don't worry, second young master, with me here, there will be no opportunity for people to take advantage of!"

Zhou Zheng nodded and walked outside.

The next morning, Zhou Zheng discussed the specific transaction of firearms with the Westerners, and prepared to leave Xiangyun Island and return to Tianjin Wei.

The artillery is generally very bulky nowadays. The so-called Red Barbarian cannons are several thousand kilograms. Even the ones modified by Zhou Zheng have nearly two thousand kilograms, which is extremely troublesome to transport.

After Zhou Zheng returned to Tianjin Guard, he handled various affairs while also began to appease Hejian Prefecture.

He kept holding meetings to promote, allocate and reward officials at all levels. He even appointed nearly twenty town mayors and more than one hundred village mayors in one go, and the cash prizes given out were as high as 30,000 taels!

Then, the young and strong people in each town and village were clearly classified into the "reserve service", and verbally appointed as the "captain" and received a salary of up to 500 captains, each captain led the young and strong people in the village over 50 years.

These captains were asked to go to the town for training during the slack season, and they could not relax in normal times. They were also responsible for defending the village, patrolling daily, fighting bandits, etc.

Zhou Zheng's series of measures greatly consolidated his control in Hejian Prefecture and effectively promoted his innovation plan.

At the same time, he is also further clarifying the business environment, striving to establish a fair and transparent tax system, especially on both sides of the canal, to promote it to become a prosperous trade center.

When Zhou Zheng was busy, the chaos in Shaanxi became more and more intense.

The governor Hu Tingyan and the governor of Yansui Yue Hesheng were concerned about their reputation and concealed the bandits. As a result, Wang Zishun and others became popular. Nearly 10,000 people gathered and surrounded Han Cheng.

The three-sided governor Yang He and the Shaanxi Governor Liu Guangsheng raised troops to drive him away. The prince flew along the way, but the number of people quickly expanded. Especially Wang Jiayin captured seven or eight prefectures and counties in one fell swoop, and once took tens of thousands of people!

Yang He strongly advocated "fostering the main and suppressing the main", but the imperial treasury had no money or food, so he could not appease these bandits who were recruited.

The rebellion became more and more intense.

There is another person who is very different, that is, he is appreciated by Yang He. After Yue Hesheng was taken away from his official position and was imprisoned, he was promoted to the governor of Yansui, Hong Chengchou.

This man was decisive in killing and said that "relieving the root cause when it is slow, and treating the symptoms when it is urgent." After one retaliation, he killed more than 300 bandit leaders and killed them all in front of the big tent.

Yang He was unable to suppress the bandits and Hong Chengchou's "killing and surrendering" caused dissatisfaction among the court's censors and impeached them one after another.
Chapter completed!