After asking this question, Demons and Ruthya both had smiles on their faces. They felt that there were indeed conditions and conveniences for cooperation between the two parties. (-< Shuhaige >-net.)

For nothing else, they are the absolute advantage of their two people in trade with the Hongjun. One clear fact is that they once monopolized the entire Hongjun arms trade.

Even in the early days after Ningbo opened the port, Demons and Ruthya still accounted for 70% of the arms and industrial products trade, but with the continuous entry of new competitors, their share in this market quickly dropped to 60%.

This is 60% because some foreign companies were unable to directly engage in arms trade with the Hongjun, so they had to hand over their goods to agents of Demons and Ruthya, allowing them to obtain additional excess profits.

However, as time goes by, although the total trade volume between Demons and Ruthya continues to rise, more and more foreign companies have obtained the right to trade directly with the Hongjun, so that their market share has been declining increasingly, and in the long run, this is an irreversible direction.

After entering this year, the trade volume they jointly started has dropped to less than 50%, and with the passage of time, it continues to decline significantly. According to the latest statistics, they only occupy less than 40% of the market.

But no one dares to underestimate their joint efforts. We must know that the most important and most profitable weapons and industrial equipment markets in the entire arms trade are still in their hands. Moreover, the Hongjun has special care for them, and the prices and profits are appropriately increased compared with other foreign companies.

But now Ruthya and Demons know clearly that it is just the glory of the past. The construction of Huzhou is the real business opportunity for this country. And whoever grabs this order often has hundreds of business opportunities behind it.--Net.

For example, although Hongjun did not mention railway construction, according to traditional experience, coal mine construction must be launched on coal mine special railways, and the suppliers of gauge, locomotive, rail and other equipment of this special railway will become the standard for the railway industry in the entire Eastern country.

You should know that the gauge alone has different choices of standard rails, narrow rails and wide rails, and there are four different standards between narrow rails. For example, the French like to use the 762 mm narrow rails most in the colonies. Now many agents have already promoted their own equipment and are even preparing to lower profits.

You should know that according to European experience, such a big country requires thousands or even tens of thousands of kilometers of standard railways, and the scale of the dedicated railway market is enough to allow a European company to operate for a lifetime.

As for other recent markets, such as blast furnaces and machine tools, there are similar examples. Whoever takes this order will follow at least a few dozen or even hundreds of orders, and Demons has made it clear: "We should specifically subdivide the market between us, and we should not simply compete for price. After hearing this news, I knew that the cause of the Hongjun would dominate the entire East..."

Although he had obtained a lot of excess profits from Liu Chang and was very optimistic about the Hongjun, Demons still questioned the possibility of the Hongjun ruling the entire China and the Eastern world. After all, there are too many variables that may occur.

However, the Hongjun's coal-iron battle marks that the army's vision is far beyond any emperor, warlord and governor of the Eastern world. As long as the Hongjun is given one year, the Hongjun will establish a standard industrial system like some local governments in Japan, and can produce weapons, steel and other industrial products that are close to Western standards.

There was an example that surprised Westerners before, that is the Shimazu family in Japan. These Japanese samurai created miracles. Without the assistance of several Westerners, they formed the first industrial zone in the Eastern world, including westernized weapons factories, steam engines and steel factories. Most of the industrial data comes from Western books that these Japanese samurai came into contact with. They realized a small industrial revolution according to the records in the books. (-< Shuhai Pavilion >-net.)

It's just a pity that this industrial area is just the personal effort of a small Japanese warlord, and the health of this warlord is worth worrying, while his territory is too small to be worthy of investment by Westerners.

But Liu Chang is different. He has all the conditions for an industrial revolution. He occupies a vast area with a population of 40 to 50 million. Although these areas lack minerals, they are traditional Chinese food, tea and silk production areas, and have amazing wealth, which is enough to support an agricultural country to leap into an industrial country.

More importantly, the Coal and Iron Battle represents that General Liu has an amazing vision. His army is brave and good at fighting. Although there is some gap between it and the first-class army in Europe, the limitations of the West's military input in the Far East represent that he is invincible for a long time.

Ruthya told Demons bluntly: "You should know that the French have a considerable hostility towards General Liu. The key is the Catholic issue, but you and I don't mind religious issues, right?"

"It's not just the French!" Demons's intelligence is more accurate: "France can only deploy a few thousand people along the coast of China, and if they are invested in the Chinese battlefield, it will take at least half a year to be the Russians..."

In fact, although France was slowly industrializing, the limitations of communication and other conditions made the French weak when they were fighting a large-scale war in the Far East, and the British were obviously quite satisfied with the sale of industrial products.

Demons told Ruthya: "Now the Russian Tsar is overly concerned about China's territory outside the pass, and they are trying to obtain a piece of land of millions of square kilometers from the government to make up for their losses in the Crimean War..."

"But General Liu is their biggest enemy!" Ruthya expressed optimism about the battle situation in the entire Chinese battlefield: "Within this year, General Liu will have more than 100,000 troops who can conquer and fight well. Even if they are embargoed at sea, they can still produce a large number of rifles, artillery and military supplies."

"Do you confirm this fact?" Demons said with a smile: "Before they produced some weapons that have been eliminated in the Western world, such as firing rifles, such as small artillery, but the production of these weapons relies entirely on semi-products and raw materials purchased from Shanghai and other channels. Strictly speaking, it is just assembly."

"Building an industrial system is a long process, but it only takes a few months to give it a foundation. If it is helped by Westerners, it will be faster."

Demons was very satisfied with Ruthya's answer: "Ms. Ruthya, you are the smartest woman I have ever seen. You are right. This battle will change a lot. If the Russians and the French don't act now, half a year later, they will not be able to change the facts even if they take action."

"In fact, I hope the French and Russians can do something with our customers!" Ruthya told Demons what that means: "That would be a profit of tens of millions of pounds!"

"It's so wonderful!" Beimmons replied: "But now it's a profit of tens of millions of pounds. I will provide General Liu with all the industrial equipment, raw materials and any demand he needs at the reasonable price possible."

"In fact, I think you're thinking too simple!" Ruthya proposed another point of view: "For example, if Hongjun can produce firing rifles themselves, even if the price is higher than those purchased from the outside and the output is limited, they will not continue to buy firing rifles in large quantities from us unless it is an urgent military need. Therefore, this is not only a large order, but in a sense it will reduce the low-level orders in our hands."

He used "low-level orders" to describe some military supplies in his hands, such as flintlock rifles and small artillery. In fact, the Hongjun has greatly reduced the procurement of these supplies, but in the future, unless it is an extremely urgent military demand, the Hongjun generally will not place orders on these supplies, but instead turn to his own industry. Even if his military industry produces low and has high prices, as long as the most basic quality is maintained, the Hongjun will definitely support his own heavy industry.

"From your opinion, in fact, it is not the Hongjun who buys these low-level products now, but some Qing Dynasty officials."

This is an indisputable fact. As the Hong Army increasingly promotes the advantages of foreign guns and cannons on the battlefield, Qing Dynasty officials had to buy a large number of foreign guns and cannons to arm their troops.

Some people once had the view that the Westernization Movement could not be called the Westernization Movement at all. It was pushed forward slowly and had no movement at all. However, the Qing army had suppressed the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom before, and due to the survival of the Shiguan, there was a movement situation.

Under the current situation, there is indeed such a thing. After suffering a great loss in front of the Hongjun's foreign guns and cannons, they all began to purchase large quantities of foreign guns and cannons. However, due to financial resources and other relationships, they are now purchasing old Western firearms such as flintlock guns that the Hongjun has begun to eliminate.

Even Zeng Guofan and Hu Linyi considered Western firearms earlier than in history. After the initial completion of the Hongjun industrial base, the procurement of low-level industrial products will continue to decline, which will even affect the procurement volume of certain semi-finished products.

But for Ruthya, this is undoubtedly an opportunity: "You should be clear that for us, this is both a challenge and a great opportunity. For this industrial battle, we cannot be satisfied with the identity of equipment and materials providers, but should take the initiative to participate. I am planning to jointly operate a large industrial company with General Liu. What is your opinion?"

"What you said is exactly what I want to say!" Demons replied, "The reason I came to you is to do this!"
Chapter completed!