"OK!"

Hu Xueyong immediately nodded in agreement.

In fact, Hu Xueyong had long had the idea of ​​selling bombs to Southeast Asia.

He looked at Li Xin and explained, "Your Majesty, recently, some merchants in the Southeast Asia have been secretly transporting and selling bombs from Jiangnan and Dianchi. The prices are very high, and the profits are extremely high. A rough calculation shows that the profits are four or five times higher!"

"Over at Dianchi Lake, they're probably reaping huge profits from this very aspect to support their army!"

"Yeah?"

Li Xin frowned and asked, "It seems that our naval forces haven't sealed off the area very tightly. There are still merchants shipping goods from Jiangnan."

"Your Majesty, it wasn't shipped out by sea either."

Hu Xueyong shook his head and said, "I did some investigation in secret, and the vast majority of these goods are from Dianchi and Guiling, and are sold to Southeast Asia by land. Dianchi and Guiling, after all, border Annam, Champa, Siam, and Lujiang. We can't control them from there!"

"oh."

Li Xin nodded slightly.

Li Xin was indeed somewhat dissatisfied with this phenomenon.

After all, if Dianchi, Li Ming and the others were allowed to continue selling thunderbolts and making huge profits, they would have enough money to expand their army and prepare for war.

This is something Li Xin does not want to see.

It seems we still need to find a way to suppress this behavior.

Thinking it over, Li Xin looked at Hu Xueyong and asked, "Xueyong, how much do their Thunderclap Bombs cost?"

"Prices vary,"

Hu Xueyong replied, "Your Majesty, the lowest price is one or two strings of cash for a single Thunderclap Bomb, and some are two or three strings. When Thunderclap Bombs are in high demand, they can even sell for five strings. Sales are very high in Southeast Asia, such as Johor and Jambi!"

"Yeah?"

Upon hearing this, Li Xin frowned.

He thought about it carefully for a moment, then couldn't help but laugh.

"Your Majesty, what is this...?"

Hu Xueyong was stunned, not understanding why His Majesty was laughing.

"Xueyong,"

Li Xin said with a smile, "Do you know how much the Thunderclap Bomb costs to make?"

"have no idea."

Hu Xueyong shook his head and said, "However, I've roughly looked into the recipes I sent to Prince Qing and Prince Su before. Ingredients such as saltpeter, sulfur, charcoal, and honey aren't very expensive. I suppose the cost of one Thunderclap Bomb is only a few hundred coins?"

"I've said too much."

Li Xin waved his hand and said, "The Ordnance Bureau had already calculated it back in Dongning. Under mass production conditions, the cost of one Thunderclap Bomb is about forty or fifty copper coins. Even with shipping costs, the cost will not exceed one hundred copper coins."

"And Li Ming and the King of Dian actually sold them for such high prices; that's truly outrageous profit!"

"hiss……"

Hu Xueyong couldn't help but gasp.

His eyes widened as he stared at Li Xin, and he said excitedly, "With such high profits, it seems we should get in as soon as possible!"

Without further ado, let's price it at one string of cash per coin. That'll be enough to beat the sales of the King of Dian and Li Ming. By making money, we'll essentially be cutting off the King of Dian and Li Ming's supply lines from behind!

"but,"

Hu Xueyong recalled a possibility and said, "If the King of Dian and Li Ming also lower the price of the Thunderclap Thunder and compete with us, that would be bad."

"fine."

Li Xin smiled and shook his head, saying, "We're not afraid to compete with them!"

"Xueyong,"

Li Xin smiled mysteriously and continued, "Do you know that when we gave the formula for the Heaven-Shattering Thunder to Prince Qing, Prince Su, and Li Ming, Liu Jingxuan and the others strongly opposed it? In the end, we still agreed. Do you know why?"

Before Hu Xueyong could answer, Li Xin continued, "That's because the formula we gave them was different from our own!"

Compared to the thunderclaps produced in Dongning, their thunderclaps require more raw materials, and some of these materials are also more expensive. Our raw materials are simpler and cheaper.

Most importantly, the Thunderclap Bomb produced according to our formula is much more powerful than theirs!

Power is our greatest competitive advantage.

Imagine you could buy a more powerful thunderbolt for the same price. Which one would you choose?

Johor, Jambi, and other countries must be very clear about this.

After all, on the battlefield, sometimes superior power can determine the outcome of a war.

"Your Majesty has considered things very carefully!"

Hu Xueyong's eyes widened in admiration.

The improved formula was given to Prince Qing, Prince Su, and Li Ming, and it has surprisingly been effective today!

"actually,"

Li Xin smiled and said, "We're not afraid of competition!"

Xueyong, you are a businessman, you should be very clear about the relative importance of land transportation costs versus sea transportation costs.

By using sea transport, we can reduce costs. Even if we earn less, the profits we make will far exceed what they can achieve.

Furthermore, if all else fails, we can transport the raw materials to Southeast Asia and produce them there. This would avoid the risks associated with transportation and further reduce costs.

Then, we'll have a much better chance of competing with them!

"His Majesty,"

Hu Xueyong looked at Li Xin with surprise and genuine admiration, saying, "If you were in business, I'm afraid there would be no place for us in the market."

"Hahaha……"

Li Xin couldn't help but burst into laughter.

That kind of flattery feels so good!

However, Li Xin did indeed have this talent, after all, he possessed experience far exceeding that of this era by hundreds of years.

This is Li Xin's greatest wealth!

"Xueyong,"

Looking at Hu Xueyong, Li Xin said, "Wait a moment, I will give you the formula for the Thunderclap Bomb. This is a secret of Dongning, so you must keep it safe."

"Your Majesty, rest assured!"

Hu Xueyong nodded quickly.

"in addition,"

Li Xin continued, "Our current stockpile of Thunderclap Bombs is running low. I will have all the units search and sell it all."

After all, thunderclaps are outdated; we have hand grenades to replace them.

This is our advantage!

The advantage is that we can always maintain a weaponry generation gap with neighboring countries that is one or two levels higher!

Only in this way can an absolute and overwhelming advantage be achieved!

This also set the tone for future development for Li Xin as the ruler of a country.

Looking at Hu Xueyong, Li Xin thought for a moment and said, "Xueyong, there is one more thing I need to entrust to you."

"Find out where those thunderclaps from the South Seas come from. Report the news to the Embroidered Uniform Guard later."

"oh?"

Upon hearing this, Hu Xueyong's eyes lit up, and he asked, "Your Majesty, are you planning to make a move on the trade routes?"