I want to ruin the country

A business involving tens of millions of taels of silver is definitely a big business, and no one dares to be careless.

Moreover, the arms business has been highly profitable since ancient times. If you can take it over, you will definitely make a fortune.

Martin did not dare to delay and hurried back to report the situation to his boss.

When Armstrong heard that Li Hongzhang didn't even want 200 pounds, he felt a little anxious.

"Isn't it said that all Daqing officials are greedy? How could he refuse two hundred pounds?"

The UK is now on the gold standard, where one pound is equal to the value of one pound of gold.

The current gold-silver exchange rate in Daqing is about 1:11, and one pound of gold is approximately equal to 160 taels of silver.

Two hundred pounds is equal to more than thirty-two thousand taels of silver. Armstrong is definitely not stingy.

Martin Road,

"It's not that Li is greedy, he also said that as long as they get the warships as soon as possible, this order will be locked in!"

Armstrong Road,

"Get the warship as soon as possible? From contract signing to completion, it will take at least half a year!"

Martin added fuel to the fire.

"They said they couldn't wait. If we couldn't do it, they would go to Germany and France to find a solution!"

Armstrong Road,

"Whatever you think, warships are all custom-made, unless the military is willing to sell them its own warships!"

Martin said,

"Don't we have a warship? Why not talk to the military and sell it to the Daqing Kingdom first?"

Armstrong was stunned.

"How is that possible?"

Martin said,

"The Prime Minister and the First Lord of the Admiralty wouldn't want to lose the order for dozens of warships just because of one, right?"

Armstrong said,

"If we sell this warship to them, will Prince Daqing give us the order?"

Martin said,

"At least it's more reliable than empty talk!"

Armstrong lowered his head and thought.

After a while, Armstrong said,

"Martin, go find Li again and ask him if we can get the order if we sell this warship to them first."

Li Hongzhang also reported this matter to Prince Gong.

"Your Majesty, Mark secretly gave me two hundred pounds!"

Prince Gong said,

"Bribe you?"

"Of course, I didn't take it!"

Prince Gong said,

"It's such a big deal, how could they not value it? Why don't they accept it?"

Li Hongzhang said,

"If I accept it, wouldn't that be a betrayal of the Emperor and the Prince's trust?"

Prince Gong nodded.

"That's what happened, but if you just take it, tell it and hand it in, won't everything be alright?"

Li Hongzhang said,

"That's hard to explain!"

Prince Gong asked,

"How did you get back to them?"

Li Hongzhang said,

"I told him that if they could sell this new warship to us, they might have a better chance of getting the order!"

"It's probably going to be tough!"

Li Hongzhang said,

“If they don’t agree, there’s nothing we can do. We can only go to Germany and France to find a solution!

However, I think they can bear to part with such a big customer like us?"

The next day, Li Hongzhang came to see Prince Gong excitedly.

"Your Highness, Martin came to see me again. He asked if we could get the order if we sold that warship to us."

Prince Gong said,

"Of course, we came here just for him, so who else should we give it to if not him?"

Li Hongzhang said,

"Your Highness, we can't say that. This is what's really in our hearts. If they knew, it would be hard for us to talk!"

Prince Gong said with appreciation,

"It seems like you really did a lot of homework, didn't you?"

Li Hongzhang bowed and said,

"After the Emperor gave me instructions, I searched for a lot of Western materials and researched them. Otherwise, I would have failed the Emperor and the Prince, and I would never redeem myself without a hundred deaths!"

Prince Gong said,

"Go tell them that if we give us this warship, we can consider placing an order with them!

But we still have to consider the price. If they rip us off, we can’t agree to it!"

Even after receiving Li Hongzhang's affirmative reply, Armstrong was still not reassured and went to meet Prince Gong in person.

Prince Gong asked,

"Mr. Armstrong, what is the level of this warship? How much did your Royal Navy pay for it?"

Armstrong Road

"Your Excellency, this warship is the most advanced warship in the world, bar none.

The price is a commercial secret, especially for the Royal Navy, and cannot be disclosed to the public. Your Excellency, please understand!"

Prince Gong said,

"Then could you please tell me how much silver we need to spend to sail this warship back home?"

Armstrong has been agonizing over the price for a long time.

The purchase price of the Royal Navy converted into silver was 650,000 taels, while the normal price was 700,000 taels.

However, in order to obtain subsequent orders from the Royal Navy, Armstrong took the initiative to lower the price to 650,000 taels, which still included a profit of 250,000 taels of silver.

So the arms business and drugs are the most profitable businesses!

This was the first time since the establishment of Armstrong's shipyard that he had done business with Orientals, and he really didn't know much about Orientals.

However, he heard that the officials of Qing State were all corrupt officials with fat stomachs. As long as these officials were satisfied, everything else would be a small matter.

Corruption was easy to deal with, so he focused all his attention on how to satisfy the Daqing officials.

Unexpectedly, the mission failed. Li Hongzhang did not accept his two hundred pounds, which made him lose his composure.

Is it too little? Two hundred pounds is a lot for a fifth-rank official!

The key point is that the one in charge among them is the prince. How much should we give to the prince?

Martin proposed to offer the Qing people one million taels, but Armstrong flatly refused.

Armstrong did not think that the Qing people were so stupid. They came to buy warships, so they would definitely ask about the price.

If we quote a high price at the beginning and scare the Qing people away, they will never come back.

The price he was most satisfied with was 850,000 taels. If the transaction was completed at 850,000 taels, he could make 450,000 taels for one warship.

So, he decided to offer a price of 950,000 taels, and gave in to the price of 850,000 taels during the negotiation.

Then give the Qing people a kickback of 50,000 taels. This way, you can make money and look good. It's so wonderful!

"Nine hundred and fifty thousand taels?"

Prince Gong was very happy after hearing this. The emperor told him that a warship basically costs about one million taels, and the British offered 950,000 taels, which is a fair price!

In fact, there are some misunderstandings here. The warship that Yining mentioned that cost one million taels was the best warship in the Beiyang Fleet in the future, which was more than 30 years behind the current situation.

Neither the advancement of warships nor the prices now can be compared with those thirty years later.

Although he was satisfied, Prince Gong still pretended to be very disappointed, shook his head and sighed, saying,

"Captain Armstrong, you are so insincere!"

The negotiations were a tug-of-war over price, nothing surprising, Armstrong said.

"Your Excellency, we are absolutely here with the utmost sincerity.

I can responsibly tell Your Excellency that this is the largest, fastest, most powerful, and safest warship in the world, bar none!"