Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 528 Supplementary Conditions
Li Yuan did not understand Jia Lian's policy of treating prisoners well. At first he just thought about it himself, but when he couldn't figure it out, he went to ask Jia Lian.

"Sir, they are barbarians, why should we treat them well?"

In response, Jia Lian replied: "Of course it is to preserve the trade route from South America to here. In the past, the Ottoman Empire isolated the East and the West and reaped all the benefits of trade, which led to the opening of the Western Ocean. Now we have the key points of the trade route in our hands, ensuring the benefits of trade, and also ensuring the interests of the court's finances. There are many indigenous people, and no matter how much immigration is increased in the future, it will be difficult to change the population ratio in the short term. We should keep as many Spanish commoners as possible and use them for our own benefit, so we naturally have to treat them well."

Li Yuan seemed to understand, and looked up at the fortress in the distance: "Now that the matter here is settled and you are returning, sir, I don't know where to go."

Jia Lian knew that Li Yuan had been holding back on this question for a long time, but he hadn't asked it because he was worried that asking would seem abrupt and ruin the relationship that he had worked so hard to build. Now that they had become familiar with each other, Li Yuan finally dared to ask.

Jia Lian had already prepared an answer to this question: "Your Highness, I can only promise that when I report to Your Majesty, I will not make any concessions and will tell the truth."

Li Yuan was not disappointed even though he did not get Jia Lian's guarantee. As long as Jia Lian could report the truth, it would be a good result for Li Yuan. As for his own destination, it was not something Jia Lian could decide.

Five days have passed since the typhoon, and everything has returned to normal. The trench digging is still going on. The good news is that the enemy is frightened and dares not fight again. The bad news is that the underground water layer is very shallow, and water starts to seep out after one meter. After the typhoon and heavy rain, trench digging has become more difficult. The original plan also included a plan to dig a tunnel to blow up the city wall, but now the water has seeped out, and the plan has gone to waste.

Many times Jia Lian thought, if it really doesn't work, then just siege it for a long time.

It can be seen that tactics are closely related to the actual local conditions, and the correct tactics must be adapted to local conditions.

On the castle's artillery platform, the Spanish governor and the fleet commander stood side by side, looking at the enemy troops busy below. Even if they had cannons, they would hardly be able to play a role.

The key is that the enemy commander is not in a hurry, which is the most uncomfortable thing for the two. As for not getting domestic support, wasn't it expected long ago? After the defeat of the Invincible Armada, the Spanish Empire was on the decline, and was repeatedly pressed to the ground by Britain and France, and was also bullied by the Netherlands. The empire is no longer the powerful empire it once was. However, the Zhou Empire in the East has been powerful for two thousand years and will continue to be powerful in the future. This is an enemy that there is no hope of defeating.

"You can surrender, but you must allow me to take away a shipload of property. Otherwise, I would rather fight to the end." The fleet commander sounded very tough.

The Spanish governor looked into the distance calmly and said quietly, "Even if you die in battle, won't your property still belong to them? Even if you are thrown into the sea, you can still fish it out. Manila Bay is not too deep. There is another point that you must consider. Are your subordinates really willing to fight to the death with you? Knowing that it is a battle that is bound to be lost, will they shoot you in the back? If we lose Manila, Spain still has colonies in South America. If we lose this Eastern trade route, Spain will have to purchase Eastern goods from British and French merchants. Although we have lost, we have not lost completely."

It is obvious that the conditions set by Jia Lian for retaining trade routes played a huge role.

In this era, trade products from the East have an irreplaceable position. Tea, porcelain, silk and other things are absolutely not something that the nobles, who are accustomed to a luxurious life, can afford to lose.

"I have decided to go there in person for the next negotiation. I hope you can go with me, so that when I return home in the future, you can also share the credit for preserving the route."

"Well, damned pagans."

In the combat command room, the latest news came from the fleet. A fleet of six ships, fully loaded with cargo, left Sishui Port and headed for South Africa. The fleet was intercepted by the First Squadron at Lijiapo. In a six-on-six situation, they fought for eight hours. In the end, the fleet was desperate and hoisted the white flag to surrender to the First Squadron.

According to the report of the First Squadron, there were more than 300 Dutch people with their families on board, as well as a large amount of tea and porcelain. Some of the Dutch had decided to leave Java and move to South Africa.

Jim asked how to deal with these Dutch people, whether to deal with them on the spot or send them back.

After discussing with Li Yuan, Jia Lian gave a reply. Although this victory was the credit of the First Fleet, without the efforts of all the Nanyang soldiers, the First Fleet would not have had the opportunity to achieve such a brilliant victory. I hope that the First Fleet will have enough awareness and not violate military discipline. What belongs to you must be yours, and you will not lose a penny. Jia does not want to play the role of Ma Su.

First warn, then tell us how to deal with it.

People were sent to transport the seized ships, personnel and cargo to the Manila landing point and hand them over to the headquarters for unified disposal.

The new army’s military discipline stipulates that all captured items must be dealt with in a unified manner. But how can one put it? In this vast ocean, it would be too easy to hide some of the gains.

As for individual behaviors, if they are not found out, it’s fine. But once they are found out, Jia Lian will definitely not be polite.

The larger an organization is, the clearer and more strictly enforced the rules must be.

There are a large number of mercenary officers in the navy, and Jia Lian is not confident that he can control their quality and make them obey his orders.

Of course, the earliest group, namely Jim and others, were well integrated into the new army. This was not due to wealth, but the honor and status they were given.

Now Jim has returned to the UK. His identity is the lieutenant general (major general) of the Great Zhou Empire's South China Sea Fleet. There are several garrisons (commodores) under him. When these people were in the Royal Navy, they had no room for advancement. Their social status was not guaranteed. Now they have achieved their goal of becoming generals in the Great Zhou Navy, and they will have the opportunity to be knighted after the war. In the eyes of the British, they are real aristocrats.

Europeans are still obsessed with the identity of aristocrats, and the aristocratic character is what many people yearn for tirelessly.

The latest news came from Java: With the progress of the Battle of Manila, the Dutch have stopped expelling and confining overseas Chinese. They just gathered all the overseas Chinese from all over the country in Surabaya Port for unified resettlement. So far, the patrol fleets of both sides have encountered each other many times, but no battle has occurred. Every time they saw each other from a distance, the other side turned around and left.

Jia Lian asked Li Yuan about this news: "What does your Highness think of this news?"

After a period of training, Li Yuan made great progress and said decisively: "The Dutch don't want to fight, so we may have to start negotiations."

Jia Lian was silent for a while before he said, "Yes, seeing that the situation is not good, we should change direction. Let's talk. It would be a good thing if we can take back Java without fighting."

"A few days ago, I was thinking that if the Dutch fleet attacked, used the islands as hiding places, and looked for opportunities to destroy our route from Taiwan to Borneo, it would be very difficult to deal with. After all, in the vast ocean, merchant ships cannot be opponents of warships. Even if there is a fleet escort, it cannot be all-encompassing, and it will definitely cause huge losses and cause great difficulties for us."

Li Yuan's considerations are undoubtedly reasonable. War is like this. The actual battle between the two armies only accounts for a small proportion. Most of the time, wars are fought around reconnaissance and logistics. The more modern the war, the more important logistics becomes.

After the typhoon, a bad sign appeared: the number of malaria patients began to increase. Although quinine had been distributed to the company level, the continuous reports of malaria patients at all levels still frightened Jia Lian.

Jia Lian could not take care of others for the time being, but Li Yuan had to be protected. All the puddles around the combat command center had to be filled, all the weeds and shrubs within a 500-meter radius had to be cleared, and mosquitoes had to be smoked every day. Li Yuan's range of activities was also restricted, and he was not allowed to leave the one-mile radius of the combat command center.

Jia Lian was really afraid of malaria. Once it spread, it would cause great damage to the army's combat effectiveness.

When I was in China, the sanitary environment was good and the situation was better, but there were a few cases. In Borneo, we are in a state of war and we dare not be careless.

Since landing, wherever people live, they will clean up nearby puddles to avoid mosquito breeding as much as possible, and drink boiled water.

Despite such strict prevention measures, cases of malaria continue to occur.

Jia Lian hurried to the field hospital to find Old Man Lu to find out the situation. Seeing Jia Lian's attitude remained the same, Dean Lu replied indifferently: "What a fuss, there are less than 50 cases in total, and this is even counted as a prisoner of war camp."

Hearing that the POW camps were also included, Jia Lian felt relieved. After further investigation, he learned that the first cases of malaria were found in the POW camps. Our army discovered it later, and there are only a dozen cases so far.

After discovering cases of malaria, the camp administrators took it very seriously and brought the military's health regulations into the camp, while also calling in doctors to treat the patients.

At present, the situation is relatively stable. Instead of worrying about us, we should worry about the Spaniards in the fortress area. If they cannot be effectively controlled, a large-scale epidemic may break out.

The local indigenous people also have this problem. Dean Lu is about to report to Jia Lian whether to send people to teach the indigenous people and promote health regulations.

After understanding the situation, Jia Lian was basically relieved and agreed with Dean Lu's suggestion to send people to the indigenous area to teach them how to promote health regulations.

Speaking of infectious diseases, China has had them for a long time. For example, during the Eastern Han Dynasty, there was a system to deal with them.

Let me put it this way, in the two thousand years of history, there have been very few large-scale deaths of the population due to infectious diseases.

In comparison, Europe suffered from the Black Death and cholera, which caused extremely tragic deaths.

Well, it is said that the earliest biological weapon was the Mongols using catapults to throw the bodies of sick and dead people into the city, and the Europeans "benefited greatly" from it.

This is what is said. I haven't read any specialized literature, so I don't know whether it is true or not.

The inference of an experienced doctor is naturally reasonable.

The Spanish governor in the fortress area had clearly planned to go to the negotiations in person, but he unexpectedly started to have a fever, chills and shivering that night.

Knowing that he had malaria, he quickly took quinine and finally stabilized, but the pre-arranged negotiations did not take place.

Although it was regrettable, the governor, who did not want to suffer any more, decided to continue the third round of negotiations, this time led by the bishop and accompanied by the fleet commander.

Compared with the previous two negotiations, this one was more formal. The previous two times, when the bishop came, each of them sat on a chair opposite, and they were definitely not here to negotiate, but to be tried.

(PS: I suddenly thought of 577, such a big guy, sitting in a small chair opposite Trump. I can't help but think that Trump really does not have the basic qualities of a qualified politician. I also thought of Ze Sheng's one-on-two debate. This world is too magical. Looking at the European elections, I really doubt that the next failed art student will be elected. That's right, the Western electoral system has another very obvious feature. That is, government officials are elected by political parties, and the civil service system is a separate system. The government changes, but the civil service remains. It's very divided! I want to revisit "Yes! Minister" again.)
During this negotiation, there was a coffee table and tea sets in front of the bishop and the fleet commander, and Li Yuan's eunuchs were preparing tea.

Speaking of which, the bishop was also confused when he saw this scene and almost wanted to ask why they were treated differently.

In fact, there was no question of different treatment. The first two times he came, his attitude was not right, so naturally we would not be polite to him.

The on-site preparations were arranged by Li Yuan, and Jia Lian agreed with one of his ideas: China is a country of etiquette.

Dignity, it must be decent, especially for a big country and a civilization, it must be decent.

"After we parted last time and returned to the city, we discussed and decided to start formal negotiations. His Excellency the Governor wanted to come in person, but he got malaria and had to give up." The bishop began by explaining the situation. After all, when it was reported previously, the Governor was to be among the negotiating representatives and come in person, but he did not come, so this must be made clear.

"There have indeed been some cases of malaria in the city recently. I hope your health will recover soon." Li Yuan was a little addicted and continued to play the protagonist of the negotiations.

Jia Lian was happy to see him perform and was too lazy to worry about it.

"Regarding the three negotiation principles you proposed, we have no objection on the general direction. There is only one point of controversy." Regardless of whether the fleet commander was convinced or not, his attitude was very good now.

"Controversy? What controversy?" Li Yuan took it over with a smile. Since the other party came again, it meant that the war in Borneo was probably really about to end.

"We can hand over our property and only take our personal belongings with us when we leave, but we shouldn't pay a ransom. You should unconditionally release all the people of status in the city."

The fleet commander put forward an additional condition!
This additional condition was unexpected. I didn't expect the other party to be so cowardly.

Li Yuan was unsure, so he glanced at Jia Lian and found that he was daydreaming, which immediately gave him confidence.

(End of this chapter)