Chapter 1460: Cost Price

"Halfway there, what do you mean?"

Upon hearing this, Richard revealed a look of confusion.

Fang Dalong nodded: "There are other difficulties in accomplishing this; after all, money isn't omnipotent. There is also transportation, coordination, and personal connections that need to be smoothed out."

"After all, the two of us are considered to have escaped from Longyan City, even though the people in Longyan City currently think we are out doing business."

"But having been out for so long, going back to deal in arms—and in large quantities at that—is very difficult to pull off."

Richard frowned slightly; he understood the logic.

But the situation was now imminent. Although he did not know why Britain had not yet launched a second wave of attacks, Richard always felt there was a conspiracy.

Britain now possessed this level of weapon, with an ultra-long range and great power.

If they launched another attack, Britain would occupy two French positions, which would threaten France's current situation.

The gold mine might not be secure.

It was already late autumn; if Britain obtained two positions at this time, they would form a pincer movement, making it difficult to attack them further.

France would absolutely not watch this happen. If Britain only had one position in their hands after winter began, then France, relying on the Indian people in their military and utilizing their most skilled jungle hunting techniques,

could absolutely wipe out the British after winter began and completely secure the gold mine for themselves.

Richard frowned as he looked at Wan Shang and Fang Dalong, asking: "The problems can be solved, tell me, can these problems be solved?"

"Allow us two a moment to confer."

Fang Dalong and Wan Shang whispered to each other for quite a while.

Richard's patience was being worn away bit by bit, but he did not lose his temper, only tapping his fingers rhythmically on the tabletop.

The two Longyan people before him were still useful; they could not be killed just yet.

An hour passed quickly.

Just as Richard's patience was about to be exhausted, the tapping sound became increasingly rapid.

If one could kill by doing this, Fang Dalong and Wan Shang would have been killed hundreds of times over.

"How is it?" Richard's tone was full of impatience.

There was no longer the gentleness of someone who respects the virtuous and condescends to the scholars; his face was expressionless at this moment.

Fang Dalong hurriedly said: "There is a Method to get Cannonballs from Longyan."

Richard's eyes lit up.

Fang Dalong continued: "But we cannot have too many each time, or we will be suspected."

This was the result of him and Wan Shang putting on a show of discussing for a long time; in fact, the two of them had already made their plans long ago.

Things like Longyan Cannonballs could only be sold to the French in small quantities; they could not be supplied indefinitely.

According to Qingyang's intentions, he wanted to maintain the balance between the French and the British.

Let both countries see victory, but keep them both far from it.

Only in this way could Longyan achieve better development in America, and even manage to do one thing and earn two portions of money.

After hearing this, Richard frowned deeply.

Being limited in quantity made him very unhappy, but he was helpless.

According to their French research, this Longyan equipment was extremely useful in such jungles, perhaps even too useful.

Just two of them were enough to completely turn the tide of battle.

A cannon platform that could move at high speed in the mountains and forests was surely invincible.

Theoretically, when fighting in mountains and forests, the terrain is complex with many mountain paths, and the forest obstructs vision; war machines like Cannons, which are difficult to transport, although possessing powerful lethality,

lose their value completely in the mountains and forests when they lack precision and range.

But the Longyan Cannon is different; their size and material are different. This kind of cannon platform only requires two people working together to lift.

And the two people carrying the Longyan Cannon can move quickly through the jungle, perfectly capable of firing a shot and then changing locations to fire another.

Leaving the enemy unable to defend against it.

The only problem now is that such Longyan Cannons cannot unleash their true power because they lack specialized Longyan Cannonballs.

Richard looked at Wan Shang and Fang Dalong and asked: "How many Longyan Cannonballs at most per transaction?"

Fang Dalong thought for a moment and said: "Ten at most; any more and people will get suspicious."

"Ten..." Richard murmured.

Ten was far from enough for a battle.

Ten Cannonballs would likely be used up in less than ten minutes.

Richard stared at Fang Dalong and asked with a frown: "Can't it be a bit more?"

Fang Dalong shook his head helplessly and said: "It's not that we don't want to trade more."

"It's that the channels are restricted, and besides, this is not a time of peace; there is too much turmoil in America."

"Furthermore, as far as I know, there isn't even an Arsenal in Longyan City right now, which means these Cannonballs are all transported from Longyan."

"Longyan City must be extremely guarded regarding the reserves of such arms."

"Ten is really the limit."

Fang Dalong sighed.

Richard grunted gloomily and pondered for a moment.

In the end, he had no choice but to accept the ten Longyan Cannonballs Fang Dalong mentioned.

"Then go and get ten Longyan Cannonballs."

Wan Shang and Fang Dalong acknowledged the order, but they did not leave, remaining in Richard's office instead.

Richard looked at the two and asked in confusion: "Why haven't you two left?"

Fang Dalong smiled quite awkwardly: "Sir, you also know that the two of us don't have much money right now."

"We truly don't have the money to cover the cost of ten Longyan Cannonballs, so you see..." Fang Dalong looked at Richard and asked for it with a very thick skin.

Richard glanced at the two of them coldly, and the atmosphere turned tense.

Finally, under the gazes of Fang Dalong and Wan Shang, Richard helplessly took out a piece of paper and asked the two, "How many do you want?"

Fang Dalong chuckled and said, "Not many, ten Gold Coins per Cannonball."

"Only ten Gold Coins, that's really not..." The words reached his lips, but Richard paused, suddenly realizing something was wrong.

He looked up at the smiling Fang Dalong, his voice rising by several octaves: "How much!"

Fang Dalong held up ten fingers and chuckled, "Ten Gold Coins."

"Are you robbing me!"

Richard shrieked in shock!

Fang Dalong scratched his cheek and gave an awkward smile, but his brow was filled with a look of difficulty: "Sir, it's really not that I'm intentionally raising the price, but there are links in this that need to be greased."

"After all, what we want are the Cannonballs for the highest-tech Longyan Cannon, and this price is already the cheapest solution we could think of right now."

"Others might not even have this connection."

Fang Dalong said while blinking his eyes; in reality, the production cost of a Longyan Cannonball was not even fifty copper coins.

He could get ten Cannonballs from Longyan without even having to pay a single cent.

But the wool of France had to be sheared when it could be.

After listening to Fang Dalong's explanation, Richard thought of how all this was for that gold mine with no small amount of gold content, and said listlessly, "Fine..."