open sea

Chapter 838
Chen Mu really couldn't keep Almansa anymore. Since September, in half a month, Almansa wrote an official document to the military government office to ask to leave, [-] of which were not repetitive.

In the official hall, Chen Mufan looked at these official documents and said to Zou Yuanbiao and others: "After the two sides initially reached an agreement on the border ceasefire, commercial goods trade, and land delivery in the southern part of the New World, I am afraid that the old governor Almansa, who has lived in Changsheng, will return his heart. Like an arrow."

During this period, Chen Mu hadn't taken care of Almansa's affairs. His shallow eyes had already been fully loaded with the allocation of resources in the five counties and the transportation of goods to the country. How could he care about such an idler.

Fortunately, he still has staff, Zhao Shizhen's left and right cronies have been watching over Almansa and the prisoners of the Western Army knights, giving them relative freedom and at the same time not letting them make trouble here, after all, these people are treasures that can move .

Zhao Shizhen knew that sooner or later the two countries would talk about exchanging prisoners, but after hearing what Chen Mu said, he still added: "Marshal, to be precise, the old governor wanted to leave after being beaten, and the other Westerners The nobles would sometimes go for a walk, sell some things, or ask the servant Wu Bian to do some work in exchange for Tongbao to spend, but the old governor did nothing and thought of leaving from then on."

Chen Mu raised his eyebrows upon hearing this.

Except for Almansa, he really didn't pay attention to other prisoners, and he didn't know what expression to make for a while, so he paused for a moment and asked, "Other people are here, living quite comfortably?"

"Like a fairy."

Zhao Shizhen was even a little envious in his words, saying: "The military government gave instructions, and the students also asked Acosta. According to his Europa tradition, captives can be sold for ransom, so Europa people are good captives. Thinking of running away, nobles don't even want to run away."

"Most of the cavalry of the Western Army knew that their families would pay them back, so as long as their safety and food and drink were guaranteed, they could move freely in Changsheng. During the two battles at Baimahe and Changsheng Gorge, our army captured Western cavalry There were more than 190 riders, including 44 nobles, and the rest were noble retinues, and none of them ran away."

Speaking of this, Zhao Shizhen looked around and smiled at Chen Mu: "Just now, when I passed the tweezers hall on Laifuya Road, there was a Western nobleman who greeted the students from a distance, ran out with disheveled hair, and said He's looking for work."

"It's because I heard about Ailan Kingdom's training of the Restoration Army in Xiaohai Bay, and asked if there are any cavalry. I want to apply for a teaching position in exchange for some money."

Zhao Shizhen laughed as he spoke, pointed to the top of his head and said, "He wears a scarf and says that his hair is long enough to be tied into a bun, but he has no source of expenses, so he is really flustered."

"Someone asked me when the government would want them to leave, for fear that it would be too early."

Hearing that the Spanish nobles wear their hair in a bun is already very novel, Chen Mu asked in surprise, "Is there anyone who doesn't want to leave?"

Zhao Shizhen pursed his lips and nodded one after another: "Many, many don't want to leave. There was a knight who was captured with San Wubian living in the south of the city. The yard at home was too small, and he took people to practice martial arts on the street all day long. When the immigrants came a while ago, They all regarded him as a showman, and earned a lot of rewards, and bought a few weapons, saying that he would keep them as collections."

"Another man wandered around all day long, sold his sword and horse, bought charcoal and paper with the money, and was writing a book called "The Ever Victorious Knight" to record his life as a captive. He asked the students what It's time to leave, I'm afraid I won't finish the book if I leave too early."

Chen Mu burst out laughing, and said: "This group of people would really make fun of themselves, but I don't understand why other nobles can stay at ease. Some people still want to find a job, but Why is Almansa so impatient?"

Zhao Shizhen thought for a while and said, "Maybe it's because the commander-in-chief has never mentioned his ransom in the contract."

Those knights and retinues all demanded Tongbao according to the normal ransom scale of Europa. This has been initially agreed in the treaty, and they only need to wait for the ship to bring the news back to Spain, and their families can redeem it with silver.

This kind of price is actually higher than in Europe, after all, there is still the exchange rate between silver and Tongbao here, but for the most important person, Chen Mu has never mentioned Almansa in the agreement. Almansa was flustered in Changsheng.

Zhao Shizhen asked carefully: "What special arrangements does the commander-in-chief have for the governor?"

Chen Mu shook his head.

"No, I am, I just forgot about him."

Chen Mu is very wronged. You, Almansa, are not my captive. If I ask you for a ransom, wouldn't that be a despicable act?

When the Ming army was short of troops, the existence of Almansa helped Shao Tingda stabilize the situation and played a big role in eliminating the Jessus army. Now that the Ming army has enough troops in Asia, it is not appropriate to cross the river and demolish the bridge and sell them as prisoners for money. ?

"In this way, let someone tell Almansa that he will leave soon, but let him wait a few more days. Before leaving, I must fulfill Tinda's promise to him."

Chen Mu raised his hand and said to Zhao Shizhen: "Send someone to the border quickly and tell Alva over there that for the long-term peace of the border between the two countries and for easier contact in the future, Daming supports Governor Almansa to continue to manage the co-government area and New Spain."

"No matter what Spain's considerations are, ask Brother Acosta to come over and quickly finalize the ransom issue for these knights and infantry. Mexico City will pay the ransom and board and lodging expenses first, and their family's ransom will be given to Mexico later. The city asks them for it, and I won't support them anymore."

Chen Mu sneered and said: "Tell Duke Alva, if you continue to raise these people, these people will not be Spanish knights, but Daming knights, and then there will be no need to redeem them. It will be one month. If you don't pay the ransom in late October, I will pay the ransom." Recruit them to work for me!"

Some of these Spanish knights have their hair tied up in a bun. If they continue to toss like this, they might learn the Analects of Confucius.

In fact, to be honest, Chen Mu also thinks it would be good to recruit a group of knights to guard the house. The quality of these Spanish knights is very good. They are all descendants of military nobles during the Spanish expansion period. They have real skills in their hands, and they are indeed invincible on the battlefield with iron cans on.

It’s just that the price-performance ratio is not very high in comparison. No matter how superb personal bravery is, it is not overwhelmed by the larger number of Beiyang cavalry. In terms of courage, the Ming warriors who are going to expand and forge ahead are no worse than them.

Although personal skills are lacking, this is a shortcoming that long-term training can make up for, not to mention that Ming's collective spirit and discipline are more suitable for Beiyang's cavalry tactics.

The number of Western Cavaliers on the battlefield is the key to determining the outcome, but Chen Mu's identity naturally determines that he will only have a sufficient number of Beiyang cavalry.

"Alva's army will leave sooner or later. When he leaves, Asia will enter a new situation."

Chen Mu made up his mind to release Almansa, stretched his waist back, and said with a smile to the staff: "We can have a good drink then."

　Good morning!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)