Munitions Empire

With the sea breeze accompanying him, Tang Mo sat opposite John, sharing delicacies that only the Elf Nobility could enjoy, including fresh vegetables just purchased from Brunas, and meat and fish.

Of course, there was also a bottle of inferior moonlight wine from the Elf Race, a rarity in Brunas that many nobles found hard to come by.

Tang Mo continued the earlier topic, discussing the sale of the production process and the complete manufacturing technology for Tang's K1 Quick Gun, something utterly unbelievable for the Elf Noble John.

Because he truly knew how much profit it could bring him once mass production began! He wouldn't even have to venture into dangerous sea trade anymore; he could just lie at home and count his money.

"You can build a weapon workshop in your kingdom and produce Tang's K1 Quick Gun according to the standards I've set! For each rifle, I will take a design fee of 1 Gold Coin..." Tang Mo said while chewing on the vegetables he had forked into his mouth.

"But how will you know how many rifles I produce?" Although John didn't think a fee of 1 Gold Coin per gun was too expensive, he was still curious.

Because he knew that the profit from a Shireck Flintlock Gun was actually much higher than one Gold Coin, and every kingdom could only rely on buying them!

If they could produce it themselves, then the price would be transparent. Therefore, John felt Tang Mo's cooperative model was the most reasonable and beneficial for both sides.

Tang Mo gave a reasonable explanation, "It's simple. I only charge design fees for the first 100,000 units. If you produce more than 100,000, you won't have to continue paying my design fee."

In an era lacking effective regulatory measures, this kind of lump-sum deal was more rational. Tang Mo only needed to take the share he wanted, and the rest could be discounted, reducing his own personal pressure.

Making money for an arms dealer like Tang Mo was really too easy, as long as he could produce weapons, he could sell them and make money!

What truly put Tang Mo at the top of the arms dealers was the power to set the rules! As long as the whole world manufactured and used weapons according to his rules, he could make money that was ten, a hundred, a thousand, a million times more than just producing weapons!

John was taken aback, then thought he found a loophole in Tang Mo's plan, reminding him, "100,000 units? Do you know how long it takes to produce that many? It could take twenty years! How many rifles can Leite Kingdom produce in a year? 3,000?"

"That's all in the past! My friend! My specialized production equipment could let you produce more than 20,000 rifles within a year! If you expand your capacity, producing 100,000 rifles a year would be no trouble at all!" Tang Mo was actually prepared to sell his entire set of production equipment too.

After all, steam engines were no high technology, and Tang Mo had much better technologies at hand to use; thus, he didn't really consider such transitional equipment important.

John didn't think the so-called production equipment was within his purchasing plans, but he was still very interested in the production technology of the K1 Quick Gun. After some thought, he started his haggling journey from another angle, "I'm beginning to think your word is unreliable. My friend!"

"You can visit my factory! I promise that once you pay, I can provide the same equipment," Tang Mo said, indifferent. He thought that having John visit his factory was a much stronger argument than boasting here.

As long as John took one look, he would know exactly what he was dealing with. By then, the Gold Coins would make their way into his pocket without Tang Mo needing to extort them.

"Not a problem, I am very interested in your fac... factory! Since you are willing to let me visit your secret, I am quite happy indeed," John replied, thinking that a visit to Tang Mo's place was a good idea.

After all, he couldn't possibly hand over countless Gold Coins to Tang Mo just because of a few words, could he? That would make him a fool.

"A secret? This is hardly a secret! As long as you pay, my friend, I can sell these things to you!" Tang Mo said, waving his hand dismissively, feigning magnanimity.

Life is like a play, all about acting. Tang Mo was ready to extract the greatest benefits from John, so his acting was certainly on point, moving John deeply.

Of course, as for how much of John's emotion was genuine and how much of their newly established fragile friendship was real, only heaven knew.

However, John also took a stance, whether sincerely or under pretense, he made his promise, "If the equipment you mentioned can increase the production speed of rifles, then I will definitely buy it."

Tang Mo made a toasting gesture and announced a price that made the Elf captain standing behind John gasp, "In fact, if you purchase the weapon production technology, including the design fee that should be paid to me, the total amount of this transaction has already exceeded 120,000 Gold Coins."

"These devices aren't cheap, plus the design fees, I estimate that it will cost around 50,000 Gold Coins for me to break even," he continued to speak, adding more to the enormous sum.

"You earn way more than I do from toiling away at sea trade! Do you realize that you're now proposing a transaction of 170,000 Gold Coins with me... This is no longer something I can decide on my own," John said with a look of shock on his face, then he smiled wryly and shook his head.

"Indeed, this transaction is too big, or... we could also start with just a part of it!" Tang Mo was also aware that, at the current price, this was definitely the biggest deal he could find.

So, he started listing the numbers as if reciting treasures from his household, "One hundred Tang's K1 Quick Guns, 15 Gold Coins each, including the complete kit and the corresponding one hundred ammunition, the total price is 2,000 Gold Coins!"

After finishing, he stretched out two fingers, "Two hundred revolvers, each at 72 Gold Coins, including the matching gun belts and 300 bullets and caps, total up to 19,000 Gold Coins!"

Finally, he took a sip of fine wine and added a number that made his own heart bloom with joy, "The total price for the two kinds of weapons is 21,000 Gold Coins, not a small sum at all."

"Rest assured, a 20,000 Gold Coin transaction will be settled in cash! There is no problem with that," John knew that offering 20,000 Gold Coins was not difficult for him.

As long as he took these weapons back to the Poplar Kingdom, he could earn back ten times the profit. Moreover, the political benefits that these items brought him were absolutely unattainable for just 20,000 Gold Coins.

"As for the remaining 150,000 Gold Coins, in reality, I don't have the means to settle them in Gold Coins, because although we have just sold all our goods, we don't have that much cash!" Saying this, John spread his hands in a gesture of helplessness.

At this point, he pointed to a sailing ship moored in the distance and said to Tang Mo, "According to what you said, you want ships, and I can also use our family's ships as compensation. The price of such a sea ship generally ranges between 3,000 and 7,000 Gold Coins, depending on the size."

"Like this ship we're standing on... the Everlasting Iris, it's a large sailing ship, and its construction cost exceeds 6,000 Gold Coins!" While saying this, he really started calculating the prices of these ships.

In this world, the price of armed merchant ships is no small sum, especially those of large tonnage, designed for cargo transport and equipped with cannons for armed commerce.

They are behemoths capable of resisting pirates, and can even be considered as warships in times of war. Any maritime nation possesses such ships and is willing to build these versatile vessels.

John explained the composition of his ship fleet to Tang Mo, which was also part of his bargaining strategy, "But I only have 15 ships here, and these ships don't belong to me alone. They also include assets owned by the King of the Poplar Kingdom."

"The approximate price of the sailboats I can sell to you... is only around 30,000 Gold Coins," he finally cited a rather conservative number.

After all, no matter what, even for the sake of safety, he had to maintain a certain fleet size to guarantee absolute safety at sea.

According to his idea, he should at least keep five large merchant ships for his own use, and the other ten ships he could sell to Tang Mo.

These ships varied in size and condition, so their prices also differed. Some small and old ones could be sold for just under 2,000 Gold Coins, while some new ones could fetch prices as high as 5,000 Gold Coins and still be in high demand.

However, all things considered, ten ships for 30,000 Gold Coins was actually a very generous offer. John's candidness had a simple purpose—I'm discounting the ships on my end, can't you also make the firearms and equipment cheaper for me?

True to form, his next words made clear the purpose of his previous candor, "Also, the design fee of 100,000 Gold Coins is really too high... I was hoping for something cheaper... Like, how about 30,000 Gold Coins?"

"Thirty thousand? My friend, at that price, I might end up losing even my pants," Tang Mo declined with a laugh and a wave of his hand.

It was a joke, the price he charged for these weapons was outrageously inflated, to the point that even Wes, standing next to him, found Tang Mo's asking price somewhat exaggerated.

But even so, if the price were slashed by seventy percent all at once, then Tang Mo really wouldn't make much money. He knew that, in the entire transaction, the most valuable part was his "design innovation"—although, in truth, that research and development cost was completely fictitious.