Now, the only solution is the same.
Therefore, the diplomatic delegation came out this time with a mission, which was to sell the Song Dynasty's backward iron and crude steel weapons. That would of course be the best outcome.
At this moment, the diplomatic envoys were standing on a high tower. The demonstration of the Guangzhou just now had already given Jatiraja Chola I a great shock.
The other party quoted a price of four pounds of gold for one cannon, and asked for fifty.
This means that the price of each cannon is 768 taels of silver. Considering the average cost of about 180 taels in the Song Dynasty, and considering that they are second-hand cannons, it is already a huge profit.
However, Tan Wenxue shook his head and said, "Your Highness, I will not accept the price of four pounds of gold you've proposed. I will report this matter to the court upon my return from my mission to the Arab Empire. As for whether the court agrees, that will depend on the will of His Majesty the Emperor of the Great Song."
Upon hearing his words, Jatiraja Chola I asked anxiously, "Why? Your construction cost only three catties of gold. Wouldn't it be enough if I gave you four catties?"
"Your Highness probably has no business dealings with the Song Dynasty."
Tan Wenxue laughed.
Jatiraja Chola I shook his head and said, "I certainly don't have any, and I don't know much about it."
"Then please let Folian tell you."
Tan Wenxue said.
Jatiraja Chola I looked at Folian.
Fulian had no choice but to whisper to him, "Your Majesty, if Doctor Tan is not lying to us, and the three pounds of gold is indeed just the cost of production, then the shipping cost alone would have to be more than doubled if it were shipped to our Chola Empire, and the selling price would have to be doubled again. This means they would probably need at least nine pounds of gold before they would sell it to us."
"Nine pounds of gold?"
Jatiraja Chola I was speechless with shock.
For religious reasons, Indians are particularly obsessed with gold, and since ancient times, temples on the Indian peninsula have been filled with gold.
In addition, ancient Indian nobles also used gold and gems as jewelry and adorned themselves with various gold ornaments.
However, the Indian Peninsula is not a place with particularly large gold reserves, and the local gold production is not ranked high in the world.
In addition to local gold mines, their main source of gold was the sale of spices.
Since the era of the Kushan Empire, with the development of the Western Silk Road, many countries on the Indian Peninsula sold spices to the Kushan Empire, which then sold them to the Han Dynasty, thereby seizing gold.
Later, during the Tang Dynasty, spices were brought to the Tang Dynasty by merchants from the Arab Empire. During the Song Dynasty, some countries emerged on the Indian Peninsula, such as the Chola Dynasty, the Later Chalukya Dynasty, etc., and began to trade with the Song Dynasty through sea transportation.
So foreign trade is their main source of gold.
But the real reason why India later became the country with the largest private gold holdings in the world was that during the Age of Exploration in the 15th century, European colonists plundered gold from the Americas, transported it to India in exchange for spices, and then transferred it to Europe.
After the 17th century, European colonists also transported silver from the Americas to the Qing Dynasty in exchange for tea, silk and porcelain. In this way, global gold was transferred to India and silver was transferred to the Qing Dynasty.
Therefore, although there is a lot of gold in the Indian Peninsula at present, it is actually still very precious. It mainly relies on exchanging spices for gold, and very little is exported.
Jatiraja Chola I thought that four catties of gold was a high price he could offer, but he didn't know that normally the cost price was three catties of gold, and it would have to be sold for at least nine catties.
If there are fifty statues, that would be 450 jin, which means the price in the Song Dynasty is 1,728 guan per statue, totaling 86,400 guan, which is basically sold at ten times the cost.
However, the price is actually not high. As a wealthy businessman, Fulian has a net worth of millions of taels, which is more than enough to buy a thousand or so cannons.
The key point is that gold is a religious and aristocratic tool, often used to make jewelry and statues of dignitaries, so the countries on the Indian peninsula all exchange things for gold, and rarely use gold to exchange things abroad.
The loss of 450 kilograms of gold was obviously difficult for Jatiraja Chola I to accept.
Although Tan Wenxue didn't understand what they were saying, he could tell from Jatiraja Chola I's expression. However, he didn't say anything and his expression remained calm.
The artillery of the Song Dynasty was not easy to obtain. Even if it was a second-hand and outdated cannon, it could at least be fired. In the Middle East and the Indian Peninsula, it was a product that was ahead of its time. How could it be cheap?
What’s more important is that selling artillery at ten times the price is only secondary. The main thing is the subsequent maintenance, shells and gunpowder.
A cannon sells for 1,728 strings of cash, so a shell should cost at least 3 strings of cash.
If the gunpowder weighs 1,800 kilograms, it would cost at least 200 strings of cash.
And this is just the cost. If it is sold to the Chola Dynasty, all the data will have to double.
For example, in the late Qing Dynasty, the German Krupp factory sold a cannon shell to the Qing Dynasty for 3,080 taels of silver.
Various spare parts such as a bullet box cost 35 taels, a saddle for carrying a powder and ammunition box cost 61 taels, belt parts for carrying a cannon on horseback cost 70 taels, and various equipment for marching and clearing the way cost 132 taels.
Adding up all the items, a 75mm mountain cannon worth 2,753 taels, including various accessories and 300 rounds of ammunition, has a total price of up to 12,000 taels.
This is just a 75mm mountain cannon. The price of a 120mm semi-rapid-fire cannon alone is 9,000 taels. The total price of the whole set can reach about 33,000 taels, and the shipping cost is as high as 20,000 taels per cannon.
In December of the 13th year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu, Qing Dynasty minister Xu Jingcheng ordered 50 cannons of various types from the Krupp factory. The price of each cannon ranged from several thousand taels to 20,000 taels, with a total price of 835,000 taels of silver, with an average price of 16,700 taels per cannon.
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