Chapter 1107: Low-Priced Arms and Armor

But after Wang Zhaojing, Xu Housheng, and Zhu Xingshu talked it over, they arranged the next day's itinerary for Li Laohai. Hejiazhuang had plenty of places for amusement, with a distinctive charm compared to Qingjiangpu, but Li Laohai's mind was clearly not on that. He was very eager to see Zhao Jin, yet as a guest he had to defer to the host and patiently follow the arrangements. The place Xu Housheng led him to was a warehouse.

Li Laohai's sons and nephews actually were in the mood to see more places. They had assumed they would be taken sightseeing, never expecting to end up at a warehouse. The surroundings were all storehouses and stockyards, a confusing sight. Xu Housheng did not lead them inside, but instead took them around to one side of the warehouse, where rows of racks were set up. On the racks were displayed armor, swords, blades, weapons, and various iron fittings used on ships.

Seeing this, Li Laohai and his party were first taken aback, then immediately grew interested. The armor, weapons, and ship iron fittings displayed here had no novel designs, but compared to common ones they possessed an extra degree of uniformity. The Li family sons and nephews went up first to look and handle them, while Li Laohai turned to Zhu Xingshu and said, "You've certainly laid bare all the inside details of the Great Gang."

Zhu Xingshu was not afraid. He grinned and replied, "I've always remembered the Great Gang's kindness. Seeing a chance to help, I put these out for everyone to see."

Li Laohai exchanged a couple of teasing remarks with Zhu Xingshu and said no more. His mind was entirely on those iron arms and armor. His several sons and nephews from earlier were each looking on with shining eyes, occasionally taking items down to handle, utterly captivated.

"This blade edge is really good, far better than those bundled grip knives!"

"Look at this armor — doesn't it resemble the foreign devils' armor? I think it's even lighter than what the foreign devils use. Might even be able to stop firearms!"

"Nonsense. If it's the foreign devils' arquebuses, no armor can stop them. But on the open sea, the ones loaded with iron pellets probably won't be able to touch you."

"Speaking of which, the metal plates on our ships are badly rusted and need replacing. We can bring some back this time. The Dragon Head and the uncles will surely be pleased to see them."

Li Laohai's sons and nephews buzzed with discussion, their faces full of excitement. Li Laohai, however, remained very composed. He picked up a four-foot blade. This blade was slightly wider than a Japanese sword, with a slightly thicker spine, yet roughly similar in overall form. Such a weapon was perfectly suited for leaping and slashing aboard ships, while also being sturdier than the easily broken Japanese sword. Though Li Laohai had only one arm, he was quite adept with a blade. With a casual forward slash and then a flick, the blade light flashed as his wrist turned. Several Xuzhou Volunteers nearby showed expressions of admiration — those two moves could not be executed without ten or twenty years of combat.

After placing the blade back on the rack, Li Laohai glanced again at Zhu Xingshu not far away and said with a smile, "You really do know what gear our Great Gang needs. Did you forge this blade?"

"Knowing you'd be coming over, Uncle Hai, I set my mind to forging a batch. So, does it handle well?" Zhu Xingshu asked with a grin. Li Laohai nodded, then said with great seriousness, "It's rare for the curved hilt to be made so uniformly. When you flick your wrist, it doesn't tire or slip. Truly excellent. I'm starting to regret sending you over here."

Without waiting for Zhu Xingshu to speak, Li Laohai asked again, "How much silver does one of these blades sell for? What about an order of a hundred or a thousand at a time?"

Zhu Xingshu exchanged a glance with Xu Housheng beside him. Xu Housheng nodded. Zhu Xingshu said with a smile, "Uncle Hai, if you hadn't sent me over here, we truly couldn't have forged such fine blades. If you like this blade, Uncle Hai, it's yours as a gift. If you're buying in bulk, this one costs three taels and three mace of silver."

"Just say three taels. I won't haggle with you, and you even deliberately left a fraction for me to bargain down, didn't you?" Li Laohai laughed and scolded. Everyone had known each other from before, so they got along quite casually. But the next moment, Li Laohai and his sons and nephews were all stunned. They stared at Zhu Xingshu in unison, utterly astonished, then looked at Xu Housheng beside him.

"For the hundred or thousand we want, the steel edge and blade body must all be like this one. You're not just putting out one good sample and fobbing us off with shoddy goods for the rest, are you?" Li Laohai's brow immediately furrowed. He fixed his gaze on Xu Housheng as he spoke; he knew who was in charge here.

Xu Housheng looked things over, stepped forward, and said, "We can't guarantee every blade will be exactly like this one, but they might be slightly worse or slightly better. Uncle Li, if you wish to buy, you can inspect them one by one when the time comes. If a single blade is no good, we'll exchange it or take it back."

Upon hearing the first sentence, everyone's faces showed dawning understanding mixed with disdain, thinking that the sample displayed at the front was naturally a bit better. They never expected the other party to say this — it showed absolute confidence in being able to provide good goods. Li Laohai remained silent. One of the younger sons or nephews beside him couldn't help but speak up: "Um... Young Master Xu, Old Zhu, Japanese swords sold in bundles cost three taels and five mace of silver each. Anything below that price is only good for display. Your blades use such good materials, yet you're selling them so cheap — how do you make a profit? Are you planning to sell us junk? No, there's no reason for you to cheat us."

This young man spoke bluntly. Halfway through, Li Laohai glared at him and he corrected himself. But indeed, there was no reason to cheat them. Each side was a local power. Though a hundred or a thousand blades meant a fair amount of silver, it was not something they would eye each other over.

"Fourth Brother Zheng, Japanese swords are Japanese swords, and our Xuzhou blades are Xuzhou blades. You've seen the scale of Lord Jin's operations. Would he ruin his own reputation over such a trifle? Besides, Young Master Xu just made it very clear — you pick and choose. Return the junk, take the good ones and go." This time, Zhu Xingshu's smile carried a hint of gravity.

At this point, it was simply a question of whether to buy or not. For now, at least, there was no need to worry too much about quality. Li Laohai remained silent, but his sons and nephews grew excited. They picked up various items from the racks and asked about them. Zhu Xingshu quoted prices one by one, all lower than they had estimated, and the quality was better or even superior. To Li Laohai's sons and nephews, it was as if they had entered a treasure trove.

"What does Lord Jin want our Great Gang to do? To extend such an enormous favor?" Li Laohai thought he had found the reason and asked in a deep voice.

Xu Housheng, hearing this, actually laughed and shook his head. "Uncle Li, on these iron goods we only need to earn your silver. Even if we gave this batch away for free, with the heavy wear and tear you suffer at sea, you'd need batch after batch. We couldn't afford to keep giving them away!"

Li Laohai glanced again at Zhu Xingshu. He knew that the critical details about iron use at sea had most likely been told by Zhu Xingshu. At sea, the wind is strong and the air is damp, with plenty of salt in both the wind and the moisture. Iron tools rust and corrode very easily. Add to that the frequent armed engagements during voyages — whether for self-defense or plunder — and the combat losses were even greater. Yet obtaining resupply was not easy. The Great Gang Li Laohai belonged to was primarily based in Fujian. Fujian did not produce iron; to replenish weapons, they had to go elsewhere.

Foshan in Guangdong was the second largest iron-producing center in the Great Ming after Xuzhou. But the Fujian sea lords and the Guangdong sea lords had always been enemies. It was very difficult for the Fujian Great Gang to obtain iron goods there. Japan and the Southern Seas offered poor quality at high prices. Good goods did exist, but the prices were often exorbitant. They would spend high prices without getting useful items. This was precisely why Zhu Xingshu had been stationed in the Southern Seas — to facilitate matters and to plan for future self-manufacture.

Therefore, once Xuzhou displayed so many iron goods, Li Laohai was immediately tempted, even more so after learning the prices. At such prices, even sailing here to load and transport them would be hugely profitable. One had to know that on the seas near Guangdong, acquiring weapons cost several times the original price. Many small Guangdong sea merchants made their fortunes on this. In fact, coming here to trade was itself enormously profitable. Iron goods of such high quality and large quantity — who knew how many people inside and outside the Great Ming needed them.

But Li Laohai had experienced much in life and knew there was no such thing as a free banquet in this world. How could such low prices sustain such high quality, and supposedly still turn a profit? No matter how ignorant they were of the trade, a comparison with prices obtained elsewhere made it clear. When things are abnormal, something is amiss — there had to be a catch. Yet the conditions the other party had stated essentially blocked all their own escape routes. From his brief encounters, this Xu Housheng was not a man given to deceit. And Zhu Xingshu, though always grinning, was no businessman either. Both men were now showing very sincere attitudes.

What on earth was going on? Li Laohai hesitated for a long while, then finally gritted his teeth and said, "Since you've put it that way, this old man would be no true man to keep being difficult. When we leave, I'll trouble you to prepare a batch of goods. I'll give you the quantities tonight!"

Xu Housheng's face lit up with excitement. He smiled and agreed repeatedly. This eagerness made Li Laohai and his sons and nephews suspicious once more, but by now they could not voice it. They simply continued to look and ask questions.

After carefully examining and inquiring about each item one by one, Xu Housheng and his people, well-prepared, brought out a list. Unfortunately, of Li Laohai's several sons and nephews, only one knew how to write numbers; the others could not read it. Although nothing was finalized on the spot, everyone knew the purchase would certainly not be small.

After finishing the viewing here, they were to take Li Laohai and his group to see the Xuzhou market and salt exchange. Xu Housheng and Zhu Xingshu fell behind. Xu Housheng laughed quietly and said, "My brother-in-law always says that craft and skill are silver. Back then I thought he meant wages. I never imagined it was this."

The Zhao Battalion's Artisan Hall naturally knew the outside prices. With the Qingjiang Great Market and the Yu family passing on information, the Zhao Battalion had the clearest understanding of the costs and selling prices of all goods under heaven. They would naturally not do business at a loss. In fact, the Zhao Battalion's Artisan Hall still made enormous profits on this iron goods deal. Although it was the Artisan Hall's people who received them, the prices were set by the Cloud Mountain Trading Company. In the future, the same iron goods sold on the open market would not be much higher than this price.

If Li Laohai and his party knew that this price they thought was extremely low was in fact the market price, they would be even more astonished. They would never imagine that the Zhao Battalion still had thick profits on this. Especially since they had traveled far and wide and knew the prices across the Great Ming and the outer seas by heart — this would make it even harder for them to fathom...

Heading out on business; scheduled update. Rushing back by high-speed rail this afternoon. Double updates as usual. Subscriptions, monthly tickets, tips — if you have any on hand, please support. Old Bai returns with thanks.