prosperous age

The order requiring subordinates to guard against surprise attacks by the barbarians was quickly spread to all departments, especially to the department where the encirclement of Daimao City connected with the barbarian defense line.

The command here was provided by a Ming army flag-bearing officer. Although he did not understand why such an order was issued from above, the flag-bearing officer still gathered fifty local people around him, ready to deal with any adverse actions that might come from the "friendly forces" nearby.

Deng Zilong also personally arranged the artillery positions of the Ming army, moving two of the artillery pieces to the east side of the position, ready to deal with any possible attack by the barbarians at any time.

Not long after, Deng Zilong received a message from Captain Lin in the back that the vanguard of the Sulu soldiers had gathered about two thousand people and were secretly hiding in the woods ten miles behind the position.

The remaining troops are also gathering and will arrive at the outskirts of the battlefield later to wait.

Although Deng Zilong did not deploy the Sulu army at the first moment, he also made some preparations, that is, there was an army of more than a thousand people on standby at any time.

King Baker of Sulu divided the army into three parts, with himself and two other generals leading the army to prepare for war, while the other troops took turns to rest.

In this way, when the Ming army needed help, an army could join the battlefield at the first time.

At that time, the overall development level of Luzon Island was very low, and the island was covered with dense forests consisting of a large number of towering trees, providing a good concealed environment for their hiding.

Moreover, these big trees are also excellent materials for building ships.

Compared with the increasingly scarce timber resources in the Ming Dynasty, Luzon Island, like Dongfan Island, made Deng Zilong's eyes light up when he came here.

Before joining the South China Sea Navy, he had no idea about these things.

However, after following Yu Dayou into the navy, especially in order to raise wood for shipbuilding, it was often necessary to transport wood from Qiongzhou and Guangxi. Not only was it cumbersome, but the transportation process also required considerable manpower and financial resources.

This situation did not change until the Ming army entered Dongfan Island. After the port was established, the first thing they did was to cut down a large number of surrounding trees. Some of them were used to build fences, and more of the good materials were stockpiled for shipbuilding.

However, the Ming army had only been stationed on Dongfan Island for a short time, and the prepared wood would need to be processed for several years before it could be used for shipbuilding.

Even so, once the problem of wood for shipbuilding was solved, the further growth of the South China Sea Navy was just around the corner.

"Who said that there is a lack of resources on Luzon Island? These trees alone are worth the Ming Dynasty's efforts."

At this time, Deng Zilong, who had completed the arrangements in front of the formation, looked back at the big trees that had already grown into mature trees not far away and muttered in a low voice.

It can be imagined that if the Ming army could gain a foothold here, they could choose a site on the seashore to build a shipyard and provide the navy with a steady supply of warships.

The Ming Dynasty only needed to transport the naval officers and soldiers to receive the ship here, and then they could take the newly built warships back to the country or go to the old port.

Thinking of Jiugang, Deng Zilong couldn't help but wonder whether the environment there was also the same as here with towering ancient trees.

If that were the case, the Ming Dynasty would not have to worry about lack of wood to build new seagoing ships for at least hundreds of years.

Deng Zilong was in a good mood at this time. Twenty miles behind the Spanish position, there was a heavily defended military camp with a simple wooden house in the center.

Inside the house, Philippine Defense Commander Savera was pacing back and forth with an anxious look on his face.

Soon, a guard came in and saluted before reporting, "Commander, we have already found out that the Ming general led 500 people to block the prisoner camp and demanded that we hand over the prisoners to them.

They said that these people were Ming people and could only be dealt with according to Ming laws and could not be handed over to us.

Lieutenant Miguel has already gone over to negotiate with them, and there should be results soon."

  "Five Hundred People

Immediately let Anthony bring twenty musketeers to support, and bring two hundred vassal soldiers.

We have too few troops in the prisoner camp, and I am afraid that these Ming people will break in and take the prisoners away by force."

Commander Savela immediately came to the conclusion that the Ming people brought so many people to the prisoner camp, obviously not to negotiate, but to kidnap people.

There were only a dozen Spanish soldiers in the prisoner camp, and the remaining two hundred or so were temporarily recruited vassal soldiers.

If a real fight breaks out, they will obviously suffer more.

After the guards went out to deliver the order, Savilla became even more anxious.

In his eyes, these thousands of prisoners were free labor. Now that they were short of manpower to build the city of Manila, some of them were sent here just in time.

However, given the current situation, he had to think carefully about whether the price of thousands of captives was worth turning against the Ming Dynasty.

At this time, in Savera's eyes, Lin Feng was still the biggest enemy of their Spanish Kingdom. After all, he had once led his subordinates to actively attack them.

Although the Ming Dynasty was more powerful, so far the exchanges between the two sides were still quite good, and the Ming Dynasty did not show a strong ambition to expand outward.

According to what the merchants told them when they came back, the Ming Dynasty seemed to have no idea of ​​expanding its overseas territories. They felt that apart from their own country, all other places were remote and barren, and not worth the effort to occupy.

If the country's top rulers have such thoughts, they naturally have nothing to worry about.

After wiping out the Lin Feng pirate group, these Ming people should leave here and return to the Ming Kingdom.

And these captives might be taken away by them and brought back to their country for punishment.

Savilla knew a little about the Ming Dynasty's attitude towards pirates. He knew that most of these people would be beheaded if they returned and would not be able to survive.

Previously, Savilla refused to hand over prisoners to the Ming Dynasty based on such considerations.

It would be better to help build their Manila city than to return home and be beheaded.

But looking at the actions of the Ming army now, it seems that if they don't get these people, the fight will not stop until they die.

“Forget it, let’s spend the money and buy these people from the Ming generals.

I guess their prices shouldn’t be very high.”

The idea of ​​buying people came to Savella's mind because the Spanish merchants also told him that Ming officials were very greedy for money.

There are many things that cannot be done, but as long as you give their officials some silver coins, they will turn a blind eye and allow them to do them.

"I wonder if a hundred silver coins can buy these prisoners."

After some calculation in his mind, Savilla offered a price for the prisoners he had captured.

Of course, this is not his psychological price.

In fact, even if they hired this group of Ming troops to help them wipe out the Lin Feng pirate group, they would have to pay at least a thousand eight-riel silver coins for it. If they were only given a hundred or a few hundred eight-riel, they would still make a lot of money.

"But the price can't be agreed upon all at once. Let Miguel negotiate slowly."

After thinking it over, Savela still didn't intend to turn against the Ming people, at least not now.

Things that can be done with a little money are actually small things.

Nowadays, Spanish silver coins are being produced in Mexico in an endless stream and are not considered rare at all.

Yes, Mexico almost monopolized the production of most silver coins for hundreds of years afterwards.

It can be said that without the huge amount of silver coins produced by Mexico, world trade would have shrunk much in the next few hundred years.

Of course, the silver mines in South America are also huge, but they have not been discovered at this time, so there is naturally no question of mining them.

Mexico is truly a country of silver, with inexhaustible silver mines.

When Savella made up his mind to spend money to resolve the dispute, Miguel had already arrived at the prisoner camp and was negotiating with Wang Wanggao. "Miguel, do you think that the Ming Dynasty will hand over the people to outsiders for punishment? If they are guilty, they will be punished according to the laws of the Ming Dynasty.

I'm giving you face now. You must go to Commander Savella and make it clear that the person must be handed over to me to take away."

Wang Wanggao already knew Deng Zilong's plan, so he naturally showed an aggressive attitude.

However, since the other party wants to talk, it is obviously not possible to force our way in right away.

He had already made up his mind to let Miguel go back. If he was still unwilling to hand over the person when he came back, then he could take action.

Even though the Spaniards had just arrived as reinforcements, it was not important in Wang Wanggao's eyes whether or not the people inside could be rescued.

There is actually no difference between dying here and dying in the Ming Dynasty.

It can only be said that human life is really worthless in this era, and Wang Wanggao did not take the life and death of the prisoners of war seriously at all.

"Well, Captain Wang, please wait a moment. I will go back and ask the commander for instructions."

Miguel has said a lot of good things, hoping to fool Wang Wanggao first.

But it seems that it won’t work this time, as they have brought troops with them.

After temporarily settling the Ming army, Miguel quickly rushed to Savera's headquarters and reported the situation in the prisoner camp.

"I understand. The Ming people want to take those prisoners away, but..."

After listening to Miguel's report quietly, Savilla said, "We are also in great need of manpower. Manila City still needs a large number of workers to build the city.

Tell the Ming people that we are willing to buy these prisoners of war with silver coins, eight riels for ten prisoners of war."

"Commander, you mean to buy prisoners of war with money? But they are our prisoners."

Miguel asked in surprise.

"It's called buying prisoners of war, but in fact it's just paying them a commission to help eliminate pirates."

Savilla looked at Miguel and smiled, "How much do you think it would cost to hire these Ming people to fight for us?"

After being enlightened by Savella, Miguel immediately understood the commander's plan.

Indeed, if they recruited mercenaries, the cost would be much higher, and they would have to go to Manciga, where there were a large number of Spanish and Portuguese mercenaries.

The Portuguese came here by bypassing Africa, and actually arrived earlier than them, so there are more people.

Although Spain and Portugal had a bad relationship, the two countries had the same attitude on the issue of suppressing the indigenous peoples.

What's more, when dealing with mercenaries, they don't care which country you are from. As long as you give them money, it's fine as long as you don't attack their homeland.

"I understand, Commander. I will go and discuss this matter with the Ming people right away."

Miguel thought that spending money should be enough. He had heard countless times from the businessmen about the greedy nature of Ming officials. When Savera reminded him of this, he also felt that the Ming people wanted these captives just for money.

Yes, going to the Philippines to wipe out the pirates would gain nothing except promotion and honor when returning home. Perhaps this was the reason why the generals of the Ming Dynasty made such a fuss. They wanted to make some money from their side.

Just as Miguel opened the door to go out, Savera's voice came from behind him.

"If they are not satisfied with the price, you can raise it a little bit. Now is not the right time to fall out with the Ming people. Our top priority is to eliminate Lin Feng first.

Only by killing him can our Governor sleep peacefully, otherwise he will be awakened from his dreams, hehe."

Savera teased.

"Yes, Your Excellency, Commander."

Miguel also said with a smile on his face.

The soldiers never had a good impression of politicians like Governor Vesalius, who were nothing more than impoverished nobles.

Without these soldiers, the colonies would not have become territories of the kingdom.

Soon, Miguel returned to the prisoner camp and started negotiations with Wang Wanggao again.

Wang Wanggao was very surprised when Miguel said that these prisoners could be purchased with silver coins.

Yes, the Ming Dynasty actually prohibited the buying and selling of human beings, except for those of slavery.

The people in the prisoner camps now will also be criminals when they return. The pirates should be beheaded, and their families should be stripped of their nationality and sold as slaves.

Well, before coming, Deng Zilong only gave two options: hand over or not hand over, but did not tell him what to do if the barbarians were willing to spend money.

I felt a little embarrassed, and my earlier plan to start fighting directly became difficult to carry out.

Moreover, falling out with the barbarians was something Deng Zilong tried his best to avoid.

This may also be something that the leaders of both sides are avoiding, that is, before eliminating Lin Feng, they must try their best to avoid the chaos caused by internal conflicts.

However, at this time, Wang Wanggao immediately shook his head after hearing Miguel's offer.

"You are joking. Even if you are a lowly person, you can't be so cheap in Ming Dynasty.

A young man is worth at least three taels of silver, and a woman is worth two taels of silver."

Immediately, Wang Wanggao started talking to Miguel about the price, but when Miguel wasn't paying attention, he used his hands behind his back to gesture to the soldiers behind him, asking them to go back and report to Deng Zilong.

He has no say in this matter.

If the barbarians refuse, then just kidnap them. He can give this order.

But since he was selling people, he thought it would be better to report it.

I don’t know if General Deng has this idea.

Although Yu Dayou enforced strict military discipline after forming the South China Sea Navy, it did not stop them from withholding their soldiers' pay. There were just limits, and they could not disregard the lives of soldiers as they had done in the past.

In addition, there is the post-war reward, and they are not allowed to touch this money.

Therefore, Wang Wanggao was not sure whether Deng Zilong would take the money.

Even if each person gets one tael of silver, that would be an income of thousands of taels of silver, which is quite a lot.

Moreover, as the war progresses, the number of prisoners will only increase, and the amount of silver will also increase.

At least for him as a centurion, thousands of taels of silver were a huge sum of money. He would have to save for at least twenty years to get that much.

The amount of money that a centurion embezzled in a year would be no more than a few dozen taels of silver, and he would have to resell some supplies to make up for it.

After all, the military pay was too little, and by the time he got it, it had already been divided up several times by the higher-ups. (End of this chapter)