Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 527 Negotiate Again
The typhoon brought a lot of rain, which caused flooding. The two sides had different attitudes towards this, which was mainly caused by the battlefield situation.

Jia Lian waited until the wind died down, put on a straw raincoat, a bamboo hat, and straw sandals, and went out. Li Yuan followed suit without any hesitation.

Except for leaving behind a part of the troops to maintain the encirclement, the military mobilized all other forces to clear the ditches and speed up the drainage.

Jia Lian and Li Yuan saw people working everywhere along the way, cleaning the drainage ditch, clearing fallen trees, clearing houses blown down by the wind, etc. The work was trivial, but someone had to do it.

The appearance of these two people brought everyone's feelings to a higher level. It can be seen that whether the top management takes something seriously will have an impact on those below.

The problem of food supply for the military and captured personnel is easy to solve, after all, they have been prepared in advance. The key is the food problem in the indigenous gathering places. Fortunately, there were arrangements in advance. A lot of food was seized when clearing the surrounding manors. After being transported back, it was properly stored. After the storm stopped, part of it was given to overseas Chinese, and part of it was allowed to be sold to overseas Chinese in grain stores. The price was also kept very low. Jia Lian knew very well that the materials related to people's livelihood must not be followed by the market, and the price must be kept low. Being full is the most basic survival requirement of human beings. Once people are not full, many contradictions will intensify.

Jia Lian and Li Yuan also met with several indigenous leaders and ordered them to quickly organize and resume production after the typhoon. The overseas Chinese also repeatedly emphasized that food must be solved locally.

Of course, the Chinese have a lot of talent for farming. Jia Lian doesn't pay much attention to the overseas Chinese. Instead, he asks the overseas Chinese to help the natives to farm. The weather here is hot, and rice can grow three seasons a year. So, in modern society, the magical reality that the lower-class people have to rely on rummaging through garbage cans to make a living is too magical.

Jia Lian was not a good man. He just considered the future development. This city and port should be developed as the basic base. Whether it was the overseas Chinese or the first batch of natives who came to seek refuge, they must be supported. Jia Lian could not take care of the natives in other places for the time being. In the short term, he could only adopt a tributary rule. In the future, only by increasing the speed of immigration and changing the population structure could he dare to say that he had a firm foothold. The way the Spaniards ruled was largely because they had no choice as they were a small country with few people.

In the Spanish fortress area, faced with the deteriorating war situation and after the failure of negotiations, the top leaders collectively gave up. When the typhoon came, they hid in the house drinking. The three top leaders were all drunk.

When the typhoon comes, no one takes the lead in organizing various wind-prevention actions, so naturally everyone just does their best.

The strong winds and heavy rains caused damage to many houses, causing water leaks and subsequent flooding, which made the situation even worse. The people could only take care of themselves.

After the wind died down, no one cared about the accumulated water and could only wait for it to recede.

The people in the fortress complained bitterly about the mess left by the disaster. Many militiamen simply waited for the wind to die down and ran back home to help clean up the mess.

The officers who saw no hope of victory turned a blind eye, or even dared not do anything at all.

The reason why they dare not intervene is very simple: they are afraid of being attacked from behind.

The fortress was in a mess, and the military's food control exacerbated the conflict between the army and the people. The food control meant that each person had to buy a certain amount of food every day, and every household had no food in stock. After the typhoon, many families ran out of food, and when they went to buy food, they found that the price had increased, and the increase was not just a little bit, but doubled.

After the war started, the Governor's Guards forcibly took over all grain stores. The people who came to buy food were faced with a sharp increase in food prices but dared not speak out.

After the incident, the news quickly spread to the front defense positions. The militiamen, who learned that their families were starving, hurried back to check the situation.

More and more militiamen returned home with their weapons and found themselves fighting in the front lines, while the women and children at home had to starve because of the rising food prices. Their anger began to become uncontrollable.

Many militiamen consulted with people they knew and decided to go to the grain store together to ask for an explanation.

Many absurd things happened in the late Ming Dynasty. For example, when Li Zicheng besieged Luoyang, the price of food in the city rose, which was a normal operation. What was even more outrageous was that Prince Fu was reluctant to spend money to recruit young and strong men to defend the city, but was boiled by Li Zicheng after the city was broken. Of course, defending the city was not the responsibility of Prince Fu alone. None of the officials and gentry in the city could escape responsibility.

Human nature is universal, and a similar scene is playing out in the fortress area at this moment. Although the outside is surrounded, the grain merchants inside are colluding with the Governor's Guards to raise grain prices dramatically, trying to squeeze the last drop of oil out of the people in the city.

When the militia gathered in front of the grain store to reason, the governor's guards, who were used to being brutal, had no intention of reasoning at all. Instead, they tried to use force to disperse the militia who came to reason.

This ignited the powder keg. The militiamen were already under great mental stress. If one person lost control, everyone would lose their minds.

With a "bang", a leader of the Governor's guard fired a shot into the air to scare the militia in front of him. A militiaman, who was out of control, opened fire at the guards blocking outside the grain store.

"Bang", a soldier was shot and fell down, and his companions immediately opened fire at the militia in front. More people were shot and fell down, and the situation was completely out of control.

"Bang bang bang!" The sound of gunfire became more frequent and gradually spread throughout the city.

When the three bosses were awakened, the security in the city had gotten out of control. Almost all the grain stores were attacked, and the angry militiamen killed hundreds of soldiers of the Governor's Guard and took away all the food.

Some scoundrels simply set fire and robbed everywhere. The scene became increasingly chaotic and the homes of many officials were also looted.

After learning about the situation in the city, the three of them hurried to learn the details of the current situation. They learned that only the forts, military camps, churches and other places were still under control, and other places were completely out of control, and immediately a short and fierce quarrel began. The target of the attack this time was the governor, because his guards were accomplices in the increase in food prices.

Arguing doesn't solve any problems. In the end, the three of them compromised quickly. The governor and the fleet commander quickly sent troops to restore order in the city. This was the first priority. The second priority was to arrange for the bishop to arrange for clergy to appease the people. Finally, they had to find a scapegoat. Who? Just find a grain merchant or someone else to say that he was the culprit of the grain price increase, and then hang his body for public display.

It can only be said that the three of them were very experienced and the countermeasures they provided were very timely. After the unrest lasted for a day and a night, the gunfire in the city gradually died down and order was restored in the city.

There was still a light rain in the sky. The three bosses who had not slept all night gathered together again and looked at each other.

The situation outside was very bad. Instead of returning to the battlefield, a large number of militiamen united and formed self-defense forces in various communities.

Fight? Who cares? Anyway, we won't fight the Zhou army. We'll just defend our community. What? What if the Zhou army invades? Surrender!
Missionaries traveled to all the communities, trying to persuade the militia to return to the battlefield, but to little avail. Some communities even shot priests because many people died.

Fortunately, religion was deeply rooted in the Spanish people's bones, and no one made things difficult for the clergy in the end. But it was impossible to get the militia to go back and fight.

The only troops the three men could mobilize now were the remnants of the Governor's Guard, numbering more than a thousand, and more than three thousand subordinates of the fleet commander.

What to do? Without the assistance of the militia, it would be much more difficult to defend the city with only soldiers and sailors.

Fortunately, no one outside the city has the energy to attack the city now, otherwise it would be impossible to deal with it.

The three giants decided to continue the negotiations. At least their lives could be saved, and at worst they would have to pay a ransom.

As for who should go to negotiate, only the bishop can do it. No one else is really suitable. At least in their experience, clergy are the most suitable to negotiate.

The bishop faced Jia Lian and Li Yuan again with mixed feelings. This complexity was not due to embarrassment, but because everything he saw on the way out made it difficult for him to calm down. When most areas in the fortress area were still flooded, the outer urban area had completed drainage, the ground had been basically cleaned up, and people could be seen everywhere spreading lime to prevent the epidemic. Many of them were Spanish prisoners of war, which was a bit unbearable. The bishop also requested to have a dialogue with several captives. After obtaining permission, the bishop learned about the prisoner policy of the Zhou Empire.

After surrendering, they were not tortured or searched, and were given food. They were just required to work and improve their living environment.

Comparing it with the historical records of the Crusades, I feel a huge difference.

He spent a lot of time along the way to understand the situation outside the city, and no one stopped him from finding out. In short, the difference in situation was obvious.

After sitting down opposite each other, the negotiation process was a little gentler than last time.

The bishop didn't mention anything about the fact that he had been here for 200 years. He just said that surrender was possible, but with conditions.

Li Yuan, who had a better attitude, immediately showed his impatience and sneered, "I have nothing to do, so I'd like to hear that your conditions are not bad."

The bishop could feel the other party's condescending disdain, but he had no other choice. Being trapped both internally and externally, it was good enough to have a chance to negotiate.

"The first condition is that private property must be protected." Just as this was beginning, Li Yuan couldn't help but interrupt: "Wait a minute, aren't you worried that we'll go back on our word after we agree to your conditions?"

Bishop..., how did you say that?
"Your Highness, what do you mean?" The bishop was a little dizzy, because this was absolutely possible. Once you put down your weapon, you would be like a fish on the chopping board.

"What I mean is, don't mention these unrealistic conditions, and say something that can save face for both sides. And I made it very clear last time, unconditional surrender."

These words left the bishop speechless. He stared blankly at Li Yuan's hateful face, not knowing how to continue.

After a long silence, and after he understood that unconditional surrender was the bottom line, the bishop asked, "Your Highness, what guarantees can we get after we surrender according to your request?"

"First of all, life safety, secondly, the safety of personal belongings, and finally, the freedom to choose how to leave. Apart from that, there is nothing else." Li Yuan spoke in a relaxed tone, not caring at all about how the other party felt. The loser must have the consciousness of a loser. In Mr. Jia's words, Westerners like to play the winner-takes-all game. We must speak in a way they can understand. The Great Zhou's game is too complicated, they can't play it, and it's hard to explain it to them.

"Your Highness, with just these three points, I won't be able to convince others to accept them after I go back." The bishop realized that it didn't matter whether he accepted it or not, so he could only refuse.

Jia Lian, who had been indifferent, coughed and said, "Let's add one more rule. Allow this trade route to continue, but Spanish merchant ships must pay taxes according to the law."

As if sensing that there was room for further bargaining, the bishop immediately said to Jia Lian: "After your country actually controls Borneo, you must treat the believers well and allow them to preach."

After hearing this, Jia Lian was so angry that he laughed. I added one for you, and you still want two?
"Need I remind you, Your Excellency, do you surrender unconditionally? Or do you think that the local indigenous believers will still have enough living space after your people leave? We can treat everyone equally, and we don't care about the conflicts between the indigenous people. But your country's missionaries must leave Borneo." This sentence is a bit too cruel and realistic. After two hundred years of colonial rule, many local indigenous people have become believers, but there are also many non-believers.

Jia Lian knew all too well what the Christians were like during the colonial period. If you look at the Tianjin Incident in the Qing Dynasty and the outbreak of the Boxer Rebellion, you can trace back to the Ming Dynasty when there were conflicts. It was also because of the conflicts that missionary work was banned. You know, the Ming Dynasty was the most tolerant, and even Xu Guangqi converted to Christianity.

(PS: I won’t go into the specific details, you can find the information yourself.)
After the Spaniards left, it is not impossible for those non-religious natives to pick up arms from the forest. People have surrendered, but they still want to use religion to expand their influence?
Jia Lian was so disdainful that he even wanted to slap this guy to wake him up and make him understand his current situation.

Faced with such a clear attitude, the bishop had no choice but to give in temporarily. He stood up silently and said, "I understand. I will convey your conditions to others after I return. Then, please allow me to take my leave."

Jia Lian stood up and nodded slightly: "Goodbye, I won't see you off!"

Well, I let him go without even asking for lunch.

On the way back, the bishop suddenly saw a group of nuns serving meals to the prisoners. He immediately went forward to take a look. After being stopped by the soldiers, the accompanying adjutant Fan Ping waved his hand to indicate that it was okay.

The bishop then came to the nuns: "Elaine, are you all right?"

"Bishop, we are all fine. They didn't make things difficult for us. By the way, why are you here?" Elaine was also very excited to see the bishop. Everyone had been under a lot of mental pressure during this period, especially Elaine who had to take on a lot of responsibilities. Seeing the bishop, Elaine had a hope that she could unload the burden.

"Ah, I came out to negotiate, and there is hope of ending the war." The bishop did not lie to Elaine and the others, and his voice was even quite loud.

"Really? That's great." Elaine and the others were also very excited, chattering a bit noisily.

The bishop took a look at the food. There was rice in the big barrel, and each person had a piece of fish and a spoonful of stewed vegetables. You could also see some oil residue in the stew.

This food is much better than expected.

"Is everyone full?" The bishop was worried that this was just for show, so he asked this question specifically.

"As long as you work, you can eat. If you don't work, you won't get any food. If you are caught being lazy, you won't get any food either." Elaine answered truthfully. After all, she didn't dare to speak nonsense. In fact, the food they had here was better than before. Except for the lack of bread. In Borneo, there was definitely no shortage of fish. The difficulty was how to catch the fish and how to make sure everyone could eat the fish.

The natives were not very good at fishing, but the overseas Chinese were good at it. In addition, many of the logistical ships that followed the army changed their profession to fishing after unloading the cargo.

Another way is to use dragnets to fish near the coast, which can yield a considerable harvest every day. Many of the captives also participated in this.

As for labor, those who do not work shall not eat.

Recently, these people have been doing infrastructure work, mainly road construction, and the food is pretty good. Unlike before, they only had one meal of porridge every day.

The bishop was silent again after hearing what Elaine said. Many things are revealed by comparison. You are already a prisoner of war, and you still want to eat? It would be good enough to give you some bran and grass.

It is obvious that the Zhou Empire's army was more merciful in treating prisoners of war.

If we put ourselves in their shoes, if the Spaniards were the winners, they would not be so merciful.

(End of this chapter)