1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 823 The Price of Freedom

Alcarazo's military talent is not outstanding, and he has no outstanding performance in civil affairs administration. He is also a coward who is greedy for life and fears death, but he has been able to climb to his current position. He does have his own way of dealing with interpersonal relationships ability.In just two or three hours, he not only arranged the list of the first ten people to leave Jilonggang, but also made two of them willingly pay [-]% of the redemption fee, and the other eight only need to share the rest. Four of them are done.In addition, he also informed the local people that a settlement agreement has been reached with the Haihan people, and they only need to wait patiently for Manila to send a fleet to pick them up. As for the ransom fee that the Spanish side needs to pay for this, he did not mention a word—he It is very clear that if this matter is revealed, the public will definitely think that they will be abandoned by the Manila authorities, and there will inevitably be a mess, and if it is not done, it will be dragged down to the point where no one can leave.

Alcarazor hurried, and finally completed the preparations before the time limit set by the Haihan Army.At [-]:[-] p.m., the defenders opened the city gates that had been bombarded incompletely, and the commander of the defenders, Rose, announced his surrender to the Haihan Army.In order to prevent things from changing, two hundred Haihan soldiers entered the city first, controlled the commanding heights at the top of the city and the few remaining artillery pieces, and closely monitored the Spanish defenders who left the city to surrender.The city of El Salvador is no better than the city of Santo Domingo that surrendered before. There were only about two hundred armed men there, but the number of armed men here was several times higher. God knows if the Spaniards surrendered sincerely.

This time, Takahashi Nan did not hold back anymore, and personally accepted the surrender.Seeing the tall and burly Alcarazo bowing his head and offering his sword in front of him, Minami Takahashi felt a sense of satisfaction beyond measure.At this moment, he remembered what Qian Tiandun once said to him: "The reason why I chose to come to this world is to conquer it!"

The Spaniards used to be one of the "strong enemies" that Qian Tiandun claimed, and they were as powerful in the Western world as Ming was in the East. Two ways out can save life.Minami Takahashi breathed a sigh of relief for completing his mission, but he was also deeply proud of the group he belonged to.Regardless of whether it is the East or the West, these so-called strong men do not have the slightest advantage in front of the Haihan Armed Forces.

"Your Excellency, although I am here to surrender to your army on behalf of the city of El Salvador, this does not represent the attitude of the Kingdom of Spain. Your undeclared war has already damaged the interests of the Kingdom of Spain, and will definitely lead to war revenge in the future!" Even though he was the one who surrendered, Alcarazor still had to put on airs and do his best, at least not let the Haihan people get too carried away in front of him.

"Thank you for your reminder. I am also looking forward to the day when I will fight against the main force of your army." Takahashi Minami did not avoid Alcarazo's words at all, and pushed back in a daze: "Also remember to remind the generals of your army , prepare the redemption fee in advance, I will not have the mood and time to bargain with the loser every time."

"Hmph!" Alcarazo really wanted to refute a few more words, but he was afraid of angering Takahashi Minami because of this, and it would be troublesome if he didn't let them go, so he could only grunt heavily to express his dissatisfaction, and made a Gestures, let the subordinates carry the prepared boxes to Gao Qiaonan: "This is the fee requested by your Excellency, gold, silver and jewelry worth [-] silver coins."

"Check it out." Of course, Gao Qiaonan's identity would not check the money himself, and naturally there would be personnel in the army who were in charge of checking the property.

The city of Salvador is not a prosperous trading port. The number of coins kept in the city is relatively limited, and it is impossible to make up the [-] silver coins requested by Takahashi Minami. Therefore, there are many other items mixed in, such as silver tableware and candlesticks. , handicrafts, jewelry made of gold, small ornaments and privately cast gold bars, various gemstones and pearls of different textures, etc., and even calligraphy and paintings by famous artists from Ming Dynasty, Japan and other countries in the private collection of a wealthy businessman.

The valuation of these things is relatively troublesome, especially for some works of art that are not very circulated in the market, it can be said that they are worth a thousand dollars or worth nothing, and their actual value is quite controversial.It took almost two hours just to count and calculate the value of these items. During this period, disputes over the value of the items were naturally inevitable.In the end, Haihan thought that the total price was at least [-]% short of the negotiated amount.

After this result was reported to Takahashi Minami, he calmly gave an idea to Alcarazo, who was in a state of anxiety: "Or you can leave one less person, and I will reduce my income by [-]%. .”

The number of ten people was arranged by Alcarazo with great difficulty. If any one is missing, he will be in trouble. He is not willing to admit this, and quickly defended: "Your Excellency, the value of these properties is indeed worth [-] silver coins. Our side You have already disarmed and surrendered in good faith, and now you deliberately make things difficult for us on this issue, it is a breach of trust."

Gao Qiaonan's face sank and he said: "Since you said so, then we will pay the real amount of silver coins. If you count [-], you can leave. If there is a difference of [-], one person will be deducted. How much is the difference? Fighting and wasting time!"

If Alcarazo could scrape together [-] silver coins, he wouldn't have to stuff so many strange things in to fill up the money, and now that the Haihan people have the final say, his tone softened immediately: "Your Excellency, in fact, this city There are still many belongings that cannot be taken away. For example, the official residence I lived in was renovated last year. Some of the furniture was shipped from Spain all the way. There are eight trained Nanyang servants inside and outside, and I can move in immediately. I promise you won't be disappointed."

Takahashi Minami became interested after hearing this condition. What he cared about was not Alcarazo's official residence, but the so-called Nanyang servant.Because Qian Tiandun had mentioned to him before that on Luzon Island, where the Spaniards were entrenched in the Far East, the female natives on the island were excellent servants after training.Of course, Gao Qiaonan did not know that the situation mentioned by Qian Tiandun did not happen in this time and space, and the so-called "Filipino maid" industry only began to appear in the 20s.But as long as it was what Qian Tiandun said, he always regarded it as the truth, and it was not that he wanted to keep this servant for himself, but that he wanted to send him back to Penghu to be trained by Luo Wudan, so that he could take care of her and Qian Tiandun's relationship. Daily life.

So under Alcarazo's soft and hard arguments, Takahashi Nan finally let go, and agreed to release ten Spaniards including Alcarazo to leave Jilonggang first under the existing conditions.Of course, as for other Spanish immigrants, soldiers and non-Hispanic personnel, they can only stay here temporarily as captives, waiting for the Spanish fleet that may never arrive.

Alcarazo also had a clearer and more intuitive understanding of Haihan, the opponent who suddenly came to him when he was out of the city for negotiations.In Alcarazor's memory, he had never heard of a militia with such uniform uniforms and weapons, and even an artillery force that was too powerful to resist.This armed force is obviously a highly professional army with a well-organized and perfect command system, not the militia military organization they claim to the outside world. It is obvious that its leaders have deep plans and try to paralyze Competitors in the surrounding environment, and they have achieved this goal almost perfectly-all countries that have been enemies with them have all lost to the Haihan people on the battlefield, and before the fight, no one can understand this mysterious team. Have a correct understanding of the true strength of the forces.

Alcarazo didn't know if the Dutch on the south side of the island were as depressed as he was when they were defeated, and regretted that they hadn't stepped up the intelligence gathering work on Haihan in advance, but what he could conclude was that the situation of the Dutch probably wouldn't be any better than his own where to go.The Haihan people didn't even spare the unproductive Jilonggang, and the city of Zeelandia built by the Dutch in the south would not be spared either.

However, there was a slight mistake in Alcarazo's judgment. After Haihan surveyed the west coast of Taiwan, he finally chose Kaohsiung Port, which is south of Dayuan Port, instead of directly attacking Dayuan Port.The reason why such a misjudgment occurred was because he couldn't imagine that the main reason why the Haihan people attacked Taipei was to monopolize the precious mineral deposits here.

The means of transport that the Spaniards got was a fishing boat with a displacement of about [-] to [-] tons. For the pampered nobles, it was really not a pleasant journey to go south to Manila in such a poor boat. journey.But they don't have the conditions to pick and choose now. The Haihan people gave them such a boat. Whether they are happy or not, they have to take this boat to go, otherwise they have to stay in this place where life and death are uncertain, at the mercy of the Haihan people.So even though the ten passengers didn't have a good face when they boarded the ship, when the sailors unmoored and hoisted the sails, these lucky ones who paid a lot of money to buy their freedom quietly crossed their chests and thanked God bless.

The rest of the captives did not have such a good life. They were driven together by Haihan soldiers, and then ten people were selected at random. The soldiers handcuffed their left ankles into a string with special ten-man chains.Since the Haihan army has not yet had time to build a special prisoner-of-war camp here, and the prisons in the city are obviously unable to accommodate such a large number of prisoners, they can only temporarily control the prisoners of war in this way.Later, these personnel will be initially screened, and the less dangerous civilians among them will be released, so that they can assist the Haihan Army to take over the city and clean up the battlefield.Of course, all Hispanic personnel, whether military or civilian, can only be treated as prisoners for the time being.

Gao Qiaonan did not personally direct the handling of the prisoners of war. The veterans of the special warfare battalion were already familiar with such matters, so there was no need for him to take care of them.At present, Takahashi Nan is concerned about two other things, one is to check and count the property in the city, register and make a book, and the other is to develop the local mines after the layout starts-this is also the most important item of the executive committee Task.In contrast, how long it took the special warfare battalion to capture Jilonggang, how much was lost in the battle, how many prisoners were killed, and how much spoils were captured after the war, these things are secondary.Qian Tiandun had mentioned to him before the troops set off that the executive committee only cared about when the mines in Taipei could be mined and how soon they would see the benefits. As for other details, they could handle them at their own discretion.

"When will Director Tian of the Ministry of Industry arrive?" Gao Qiaonan asked his adjutant.

The head of Tian he mentioned is Tian Yeyou, who is in charge of mining planning and mining in the Ministry of Industry.After the Shilu Iron Mine was put into production, Tian Yeyou had returned to the Black Earth Port in the Beibu Gulf to rest for a while.It is said that he built a villa on a certain island near Ha Long Bay, moved his family to the island, swam and fished every day, and played with his children, living a very comfortable life.In view of Tian Yeyou's great contribution to Haihan in the industry, the executive committee also granted him permission to enjoy this kind of treatment, and only sent a boat to pick him up when he was needed to work.

The excavation and mining of gold mines in the Jinguashi area of ​​Jilonggang was a key project supervised by the executive committee in 1633. This is an extremely important project for Haihan, whose stalls are getting bigger and bigger and walking faster and faster. Supplementary sources of income.Therefore, after Qian Tiandun's request for war report reached the executive committee, the Ministry of Industry immediately issued an order to ask Tian Yeyou to report to the Penghu base immediately.

From the Beibu Gulf to Penghu, the transfer distance almost crosses the east and west ends of the Haihan control area. The entire voyage is nearly a thousand nautical miles, and it is really not an easy errand.When Tian Yeyou set off from the island villa on the Beibu Gulf side of Annan, Gao Qiaonan also happened to leave Penghu with his troops for Tamsui.

However, Tian Yeyou’s voyage is not like the two-point-one-line route of the Special War Battalion. The boat he took rested at Fushuizhou Island for one night, and stopped at Danzhou the next day. He met with the people from the Ministry of Industry and received some special land The prospecting tools and equipment sent from Sanya then passed through the Qiongzhou Strait and sailed all the way east to Hong Kong. They stayed there for another day and gave a one-day training session to the staff in charge of prospecting in the Guangdong area before leaving for Penghu.When Gao Qiaonan's troops started to attack El Salvador, Tian Yeyou had just finished his work on Hong Kong Island, but according to the schedule, Tian Yeyou should have arrived in Penghu by this time.

"I just received a telegram from the Penghu base. Chief Tian has arrived in Penghu this morning, and he will come to Jilonggang after a day's rest." The adjutant responded immediately.

"Tomorrow morning, let Erlian go to the target area to conduct a survey. We must ensure that there will be no safety hazards when Chief Tian arrives there, understand?" The high status does not allow for any surprises, and he is also fully prepared to welcome his arrival.

(End of this chapter)