1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 822 Bargaining
"You are blackmailing!" Gesman retorted angrily, "You can't treat the people of the Kingdom of Spain like this!"

If, according to Takahashi Minami, the "prisoner of war management fee" is charged at the standard of 3000 taels of silver per day, then even if Manila can send a fleet to pick them up as quickly as possible, it will take at least 20 days or even a month to go there. , Who will pay such a huge fee?The Manila authorities will certainly not raise this ransom fee for these lowly untouchables, exiled criminals, rude mercenaries, and ignorant farmers. Taken hostage.For them, thousands of immigrants from Europe go to the Far East every year, so why spend a lot of money to buy back these captives from the Haihan people.

Gao Qiaonan smiled and said: "Do you think the price is too high? During this period, we have to provide food, housing and support for the prisoners of war. It is impossible to pay for nothing, right?"

As soon as Gao Qiaonan came up, the lion opened his mouth, which actually left room for Gesman to bargain.He was sure that Gusman couldn't entangle himself too much on this issue. As long as the Spaniards in the city wanted to save their lives and leave here safely, they had to pay a certain price.In fact, paying ransom for the redemption of prisoners of war is also commonplace on the European battlefield, and there is nothing unacceptable to the Spaniards.Gusman's anger came more from Takahashi Minami's outrageous bid than from the nature of the matter itself.

"I understand this, but your asking price is too exaggerated!" Gesman suppressed his anger and argued: "At most, our side will only accept a one-time payment of 3000 taels of silver for prisoners of war. I'm sorry!"

"It's not impossible to pay 3000 taels at a time, but you can only take away those non-Hispanic personnel." Takahashi Nan said to Gesman calmly: "The rest of the people can stay here. , When the money is paid enough, the person will be released back to Manila."

Gusman thought to himself, who cares about non-Hispanic people, I won't even pay a copper coin, isn't the object of this redemption fee to be redeemed by Spaniards?Wait, is Gao Qiaonan's statement meant to detain all the Spaniards?
"That's right, including you, and Lord Alcarazo in the city." As if guessing Gesman's thoughts, Takahashi Minami explained to himself: "You all must stay as hostages. You can only leave Jilonggang after Manila has paid for you. Of course, during this period, we will be responsible for your basic life and will not let your humanoid money bags go wrong."

Gesman's face changed drastically. Gao Qiaonan's tone obviously wanted to detain all the Spaniards, including the officials, so that he could extort the ransom money they wanted from the Manila authorities.If the officials were detained, the Manila authorities might not be able to maintain a numb attitude. After all, if even the officials in the Taipei colony were to give up, the news would probably affect the mentality of other colonial officials in the Far East.

Of course, even so, the Manila authorities would never agree to the exorbitant ransom fee quoted by Gao Qiaonan. Gesman also knew very well that the lives of the gang in Jilonggang were not worth that much money. Still can't get the money he wants.

"Your Excellency, in fact, we are just ordinary people working for the Manila authorities. We are not nobles with prominent status. Those big figures will not take us seriously. If you want to threaten the Manila authorities with our lives, I think your Excellency will be very happy." You may be disappointed." Gesman tried to keep a calm tone and persuaded: "I think we should negotiate a condition that both parties can accept and resolve the current dispute in a peaceful manner."

Gao Qiaonan pondered for a long time on purpose, until Gesman was about to get impatient with the wait, and then he slowly said: "The price is not impossible to negotiate, but you have to see your sincerity."

Gesman heard Gao Qiaonan's intention to let go, and quickly answered: "If you can let the local officials leave here first, then we can give you a personal fortune, the amount..." Gesman thought about it Yes, he gritted his teeth and said, "It won't be less than five thousand Spanish silver coins."

Gao Qiaonan coughed dryly and said: "You probably misunderstood the money. I didn't want to collect this money personally, but on behalf of the Haihan Executive Committee. If I put the money in my pocket, the I'm afraid I'll take the money if I die, but I'll enjoy it if I die."

After listening to the translation, Gesman thought it was just a ploy to bargain with Gao Qiaonan, so he stretched out another finger and said, "I'll add another thousand silver coins!"

To be honest, this amount is really not too small. In terms of Gao Qiaonan's current military salary income, it will take him about ten years to earn this money. The temptation is indeed not small.However, Gao Qiaonan is not a person who is greedy for money. For him, material enjoyment is far less comfortable than fighting on the battlefield. No matter how much family property is, it is just a useless figure for him who has lived in the military camp for a long time.The previous city of Santo Domingo had hardly brought any decent benefits to the Haihan army. If Jilonggang was still empty-handed, it would be difficult for Gao Qiaonan to have the face to explain to Qian Tiandun after returning.

Anyway, the executive committee has always tacitly agreed that the military will retain part of the benefits from the war as military expenses, and take advantage of the opportunity of the Spaniards' defeat to slap a slap in the face, which can more or less subsidize the military expenses for this expedition to Taipei.And this will definitely be included in the military exploits, the more wealth turned in, the greater the military exploits of Takahashi Nan, the value of Gesman's bid is far less than the award order from the Military Commission to him.

"The first batch of people who want to leave here will get [-] silver coins each. The rest will pay [-] silver coins in one lump sum when you send a fleet to pick them up." Gao Qiaonan raised his hand to stop Gesman from speaking: "You don't need to say any more. This is a one-buy price. If you agree, leave the city and surrender as soon as possible. If you don't agree, then everyone will fight to the end. But I'm ugly. After we break through the city defense, there will be no bargaining for you." There is no room for it, you don’t even want to take a single silver coin away from here!”

Gesman immediately calculated in his mind that besides Alcarazzo and himself, there are at least four or five important officials in the city who must retreat completely, six thousand one, which is worth thirty to forty thousand silver coins. Adding in the [-] in the later period, this is actually not much different from the last payment of [-] a day.The difference is that if you want to leave here safely as soon as possible, you have to pay a sum of money to the Haihan people as travel expenses. Given the economic situation in El Salvador, it is estimated that the bank in the city can raise two to three thousand silver coins. The bulk of the money must have been paid out of pocket.

Gesman really didn't get much money when he was the administrator of Santo Domingo, and asking him to take out [-] silver coins at a time was simply fatal-the five large boxes he took with him when he evacuated Santo Domingo The total value of the gold, silver and jewelry inside is only about [-] silver coins, which is not enough to fill them all in.Alcarazor's situation may be slightly better than his own, but the ransom fee of six thousand silver coins is also an unacceptable amount for him.

The bitterness on Gesman's face could not be concealed: "Your Excellency, the conditions you put forward are too unrealistic. I believe you already understand the situation in Santo Domingo. This Jilong Port is actually the same as Santo Domingo. It’s almost the same, it’s nothing more than a little more residents, but financially it’s always been beyond our means, how can we get so much money together!”

Gao Qiaonan ignored his distress, looked up at the distant sky and did not respond.This is not the first time he has negotiated with the enemy in this situation. When he fought in Annan, there were quite a few South Vietnamese officials who spent money to redeem themselves. After more, Takahashi Nan is naturally immune to these methods.If Gesman doesn't know how to flatter and wants to lower the price significantly, then Takahashi Minami doesn't want to waste any more time talking with him.Anyway, after the city is destroyed, everything will be owned by Hai Han, it is nothing more than spending more time and effort, the reason why he is willing to sit down and negotiate with the other party now is mainly to consider reducing his own casualties.

Gesman struggled for a long time, and finally talked with Gao Qiaonan about the redemption fee of [-] silver coins for the first ten people, and he could take away ten other crew members and entourages.The rest of them had to wait for Manila to send a boat to pick them up, and then pay another [-] silver coins to Haihan before they could leave.Of course, whether the Manila authorities are willing to pay the ransom fee for the detainees is another matter.However, Takahashi Nan doesn't care much about whether Manila will pay the second ransom fee, because the labor required for mining near Jilonggang is by no means a small amount, and these prisoners of war detained in Jilonggang will naturally not be idle. , will definitely be requisitioned as miners before leaving here, and if Manila does not pay to redeem them, it will probably have to mine here until it dies.Takahashi Minami believes that the value they can create before this will definitely exceed the amount of ransom they demand from the Spaniards at this time.

Although the negotiation result was not satisfactory, at least one condition acceptable to the Haihan people was negotiated. Gesman returned to the city with this result and informed Alcarazo of the process in detail.Just as he imagined, Alcarazo was also extremely angry after hearing this—not because of the arrogance of the Haihan people, but because Takahashi Minami's asking price was too high, which made him feel very painful.

"These damned vampires! They plundered our wealth in such a shameless way! We should fight them to the end, without giving them a single copper!" Alcarazor shouted emotionally: "Mr. Gesman, You shouldn't agree to the conditions of the Haihan people, they just want to squeeze us dry before killing us!"

Gusman had partnered with Alcarazo in Taipei for several years, so he naturally knew that he was greedy for money by nature, and it would be difficult for him to accept such a large loss.However, compared with money, Gusman can be sure that Alcarazo is more afraid of losing his life, and his greed for life and fear of death is no less than his own.Don't look at how loud he is now, but if he really wants to fight to the death in El Salvador, Alcarazo will probably be the first to jump out and object.

"Mr. Alcarazo, based on my previous experience dealing with them in Santo Domingo, I think the Haihan people are quite trustworthy. At least they will fulfill the conditions they promised, and they will not go back on their promises when things come to an end. If we If you want to leave here safely, I think it is necessary to seriously consider the conditions proposed by the Haihan people." Gesman persuaded patiently: "Although we have to pay a high price for this, at least we can leave here intact. You can make money if you lose your money, but you can’t get your life back if you lose your life.”

"What you said makes a little bit of sense." Alcarazo immediately got off the donkey and said following Gesman's intention: "If we all die here, no one will bring back what the Haihan people did. Manila is going to warn the big shots. Not only do we have to leave here alive, but we also have to bring back all the intelligence information of the Haihan people to prepare for the future battle of revenge."

Gesman thought in his heart whether he could get out of here unscathed, and you began to think about the battle of revenge, which was quite far away.However, he also knew that Alcarazor said this just to give his surrender an extra high-sounding reason. Even if the Manila authorities want to launch a war of revenge against the Haihan people in the future, it will never be Alcarazor who leads the team This chicken coop chief who suffered a big defeat, maybe the big shots won't let him participate in related affairs at all.

"Then what we have to do now is to consider the allocation of the ten places first, and then think about how to apportion the money." Alcarazo immediately began to think about more realistic issues after his performance.Forty thousand silver coins is really not a small amount, and Alcarazor is not sure whether the city can make up this amount.The personnel aspect also needs to be carefully considered. There are still hundreds of Spaniards in the city. Who can pay and whose identity is more important are all very troublesome issues.

However, the enemies outside the city did not leave enough time for Alcarazor to solve these problems. He had to plan the list of people who would leave here within three hours after Gusman returned, and make up the list of people required by the Haihan people. At the same time, he appeased the army and people in the city to accept the fact of surrender.No matter what it is, it is not a small test for Alcarazzo.If any one of these links is not handled well, he may be affected by it, and there is no way to leave this place safely.

(End of this chapter)