Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 170 Trading
  The captain's cabin of the Immaculate Virgin is located on the first floor of the poop, and the most comfortable gundeck aft cabin belongs to the highest-ranking army officer on the ship.

However, this captain's cabin is also quite luxurious. The room of more than [-] square meters is divided into a living cabin and a dining cabin by panels. The dining cabin is also the captain's office. There is a door here that leads to the veranda at the stern of the ship.

When Father Martinez walked into the dining cabin of the captain's cabin under the leadership of Miguel, Lin Hai was looking out on the verandah. The sunlight filtered in through the religious-themed stained glass, casting a strange shadow on him.

"Master, Father Martinez is here." Miguel's voice sounded behind him. Lin Hai turned around. Martinez's first reaction was that the Ming Dynasty general was much younger than he thought.

Both of them looked at each other, and Lin Hai said to Miguel: "It's still more than an hour until noon, let him sit down and talk."

Miguel translated these words, and Martinez heard the threat in them. He did not sit down, but stood and looked at Lin Hai: "Dear General, I would like to ask, if we surrender to you, what will you do? What to do with the more than a thousand people on the island?”

Lin Hai did not answer the question, but simply said: "I'll let you sit down and talk."

Martinez had no choice but to sit down, looked up at Lin Hai and said: "Your Majesty General, I think I have the right to know the answer to this question, otherwise the Spanish soldiers will fight to the bitter end."

"If you want to dye Keelung Port red with your blood, I have no objection." Lin Hai said and looked out the window, "The sun is rising, and my gunners will not wait even a second longer."

The atmosphere in the captain's room suddenly froze. Martinez decided that he must be of use to Lin Hai, and he refused to come up and act like he was begging for mercy. As for Lin Hai, before Martinez said the word "surrender", he would never discuss any subsequent transactions with him.

Surrender is surrender, transaction is transaction, these are two different things. Surrender itself cannot be used as a bargaining chip. At most, it can only be used in exchange for Lin Hai sparing their lives.

At this time, Miguel came out to smooth things over: "Father, I already said when I shouted to the island, as long as we surrender unconditionally, we will not kill prisoners. This is General Lin's order, and he has always said it."

"So what will happen to us?" Martinez then asked.

"It depends on your next performance." Miguel said, "But before that, the first thing you have to do is surrender."

Martinez said: "I need to know our next treatment. For us Spaniards, it is better to die happily than to live like pigs and dogs."

"Father, you have to know that you slaughtered [-] of my compatriots more than [-] years ago. They didn't even have a chance to live like pigs and dogs." Lin Hai said and opened the window on the veranda, "I'm waiting As the sun rises, giving you the opportunity to live like a pig or a dog is my greatest kindness. The opportunity has been given to you, so let me see if you will choose to die happily."

"I have finished what I want to say, Miguel, please ask this priest to leave my ship." Lin Hai opened the wine cabinet in the captain's cabin and poured himself a glass of wine.

"Please, Father." After Miguel translated Lin Hai's words, he issued an expulsion order to Martinez.

Facts have proved that the Spaniard will not choose to die happily, and Martinez's actions are far less strong than his words. Half an hour later, the Spaniards on Sheliao Island raised the white flag and formally surrendered to Huiyou Company.

Antonio de Valdez, Spain's first and last governor of Queelung, took off his sword and presented it to Lin Hai. Except for the few natives of Guiroshe, everyone on Sheliao Island was killed. Disarmed and guarded.

Lin Hai announced his policy towards captives. Except for the five Dominican priests and the original sailors of the Immaculate Virgin, all the other captives became slave workers of the Friends Company. They would build bastions for the company free of charge in exchange for Three meals a day.

"Father, welcome to the Dingyuan." After the surrender ceremony, Lin Hai invited Martinez to the Great Galen. At this time, he had renamed the ship. The new ship name came from more than a thousand people. Dingyuan Hou Banchao was a powerful figure in the Western Regions years ago.

"Dear General, thank you for the preferential treatment you have given to the Dominicans. Is there anything I can do for you?" Martinez said to Lin Haida respectfully.

The test in the morning had already let him know that sharp words were ineffective against the person in front of him. In the face of absolute power, there was no point in playing those little tricks. In this case, it was better to find another way.

"Congratulations, you have learned the correct way to deal with me. For this, I decided to reward you with a glass of holy blood." Lin Hai poured a glass of wine for Martinez. "It doesn't count as serving me. It's mainly for your freedom." .”

"Thank you, General." Martinez picked up the glass of wine and drank it in one gulp. "So, I have a chance to return to Manila?"

"Of course, it's not just you, but also the other four priests and other Spanish slave workers, but it depends on whether your new governor is willing to pay the ransom for you." Lin Hai stopped talking nonsense and simply made it clear. His own attitude, "In addition, Manila needs to sign a treaty with us, in which both parties guarantee non-aggression and jointly deal with the Dutch."

"Our governor will take great personal risks in making such a decision." Martinez replied cautiously.

"This is something you need to consider. I believe you will do your best for freedom." Lin Hai said and added, "I will send a special envoy to Manila, and he will bring one of the remaining four priests with him. , which priest do you think is better to be freed first?"

Lin Hai did not follow Miguel's suggestion and asked Martinez to go to Manila to work as a lobbyist. Since his status in the Philippine church was so high, it was better to keep him in his hands.

"Your Majesty General, please forgive me, I'm afraid you have overestimated the power of the Dominicans..."

Lin Hai waved his hand and interrupted him: "Father, I am very clear about the situation in the Philippines. In addition, I hope you understand that I am not afraid of your governor. The most you can do is blockade Keelung Port. To recapture it is Impossible, the Galen fleet has no use in the inland sea, and you can see that my fleet is not weak in the offshore sea."

"Blocking Keelung Port is no deterrent to us. We are attacking from behind you this time. Do you know what this means? My forces have already penetrated deep into the interior of Formosa. We have With so many ports, how many warships can Manila mobilize?”

Martinez knew that what Lin Hai said was true, so he asked doubtfully: "If this is the case, then why does the general have to form an alliance with Manila?" "I just said, in order to deal with the Dutch, sooner or later, I will I want to drive them away from the leadership, and for this I don’t want to create more enemies.”

"With all due respect, Your Excellency the General should not attack our San Salvador, but should directly send envoys to Manila to negotiate. The Governor of the Philippines will be happy to form an alliance with Your Excellency the General." Martinez continued, "But now this situation , it may be a bit difficult to achieve this goal.”

"Father, Keelung Port has never been yours. You have killed more people here than me. This is the territory of a native kingdom. The king is my friend. I am just taking back the territory for my friend."

In fact, to a certain extent, Martinez was right. In fact, Miguel also suggested this, but that was because they did not know that there was a gold mine in Keelung. For Lin Hai, it was impossible for him to allow the Spanish to coexist with him in northern Taiwan.

Originally, Lin Hai thought that the Spanish Second Fleet would not arrive until August of the seventh year of the Apocalypse. By then the company would have been established for one year, and he would be more confident in making Manila surrender. However, God did not give him this precious year. In terms of the current strength of Huyou Company, it is indeed difficult to compare with Manila.

"Besides, it is not a loss for Manila to form an alliance with us. What I have here are goods from the Ming Dynasty. If the current silk price in Manila is used, I will have no problem selling you a thousand tons of raw silk every year." Lin Hai then played the economic card. , which is beneficial to both parties.

The purchasing power of the Spaniards is not much worse than that of the Japanese. The price of silk in Manila has always been similar to that of Hirado. This is why more than half of the [-] legal ships in Fujian Yuegang go to Manila every year, even though half of them are actually paid It is permission to go to the Western Sea Route.

"Your Excellency General, if the framework of the raw silk trade can be clarified in the treaty, then I think there is indeed hope for an alliance." After hearing Lin Hai's words, Martinez finally saw the hope of regaining his freedom.

Lin Hai nodded and continued: "If your governor still disagrees, then I can only choose to form an alliance with the Dutch. Those businessmen will definitely be happy with this, but they will have less money. You want You know, I don’t have any personal enmity with the Dutch, it’s just that the Dutch once invaded the coast of Fujian, and I wanted to drive them away just to gain some fame in the country.”

"About this, we will make a strong statement to the Governor." Martinez continued, "Besides, I have two small requests, which I hope the General can grant. In this case, we will be more confident. Help you make this happen.”

Lin Haidao: "Father, please speak."

"First of all, please General, please exempt Chief Valdez from being a slave, because we will accuse him of being a traitor. Manila needs a scapegoat, and there is no more suitable person than him." Martinez said simply Selling out Valdes, this man was sent to Keelung by the previous governor. Labeling him a traitor would help the new governor reduce the responsibility for Keelung's fall.

"This is easy." Lin Hai smiled and said, "What's the other thing?"

Martinez said: "Please help your Excellency the General to help the Dominicans enter the Ming Dynasty to preach. This will help us seek the support of the Archbishop of Manila, who is also a Dominican priest."

"I can allow you to build a church somewhere in Fujian, but this needs to be after the treaty is signed. At the same time, you have to bring me some great Tang craftsmen from the Cavite Shipyard."

Regarding the missionary matter, Lin Hai later thought carefully about it. Allowing the Dominicans to preach in Xiamen was equivalent to tying the Philippine church power to his own chariot, which would help him exert influence on the Manila authorities in the future. .

And those few master craftsmen who can build Galenic ships are just a side job. The craftsmen at the Cavite Shipyard are mainly Visayans, but many of the master craftsmen are Chinese.

"Deal." Martinez happily accepted Lin Hai's request, which was effortless for him.

As for whether recruiting a master shipbuilder for Lin Hai would count as an enemy, Martinez did not think too much about this issue. In his opinion, it was impossible for Lin Hai to threaten Manila. That was something that even the Dutch could not do. They had blocked the Port of Manila nine times, but they did not dare to attack the city of Manila at all.

What's more, he was a missionary, not a politician. Under the temptation of entering the Ming Dynasty to preach, he was willing to sponsor enemies.

"Leave it to me to negotiate in Manila. After all, I can speak pure Portuguese and there will be no obstacles in communicating with Spanish people." After Father Martinez left, Miguel said to Lin Hai.

"I think you'd better not take risks." Lin Hai added, "Language is not a problem. You have to know that there are tens of thousands of Tang people on Luzon Island."

Miguel said: "Then there is no one more suitable than me. There are not many people in the company who know the maritime situation better than me, unless you plan to talk to them in person."

"Of course that's impossible." Lin Hai thought for a while and there was really no more suitable candidate, so he said, "Then you go on my behalf. To negotiate with the Governor of the Philippines, the company really needs to send a board member, otherwise the identity It’s so unfair.”

"So, what is our bottom line?" Miguel then asked.

"If the ship is not returned, the sailors are not returned. Spanish ships are not allowed to come to Dongfan without our permission. Everything else can be discussed." Lin Hai quickly gave the answer. He thought for a while and then said, "In addition, about jointly dealing with The Dutch should not explicitly express this in the treaty, let alone stipulate any obligations for mutual support."

"Understood, what about the ransom? What is our base price?"

"It's not important. There are only a few hundred Spanish captives in total, and they are not worth a lot of money. Even if they don't require ransom, it's fine. Compared to this, I hope you can gain more benefits for the company in terms of trade terms."

"I will do my best to get more dividends at the end of the year." Miguel replied with a smile.

"Old man, I wish you immediate success." Lin Hai poured Miguel a glass of wine, and then said, "In addition, the contract lasts for five years, and both parties will decide whether to renew it after five years."

Lin Hai did not intend to maintain an alliance with the Spanish forever. He remembered that in the last years of Chongzhen, there would be another massacre in Manila, and he could not allow such a thing to happen again.

(End of this chapter)