Ten Dragons Take the Inheritance

Chapter 483 The End of the Dutch

"Be quiet, everyone be quiet!" Dutch Governor Glinka yelled several times before calming down the chaotic and noisy crowd—since Admiral Lei Ming, commander-in-chief of the Dutch Far East Fleet, appeared in the After the meeting hall, people from all walks of life who were restless because of the annihilation of the main fleet of the Dutch army kept scolding Admiral Lei Ming, and the noise could almost punch a big hole in the luxurious dome of the meeting hall.

"Your Excellency, General, how did you come back? What request does the Qing side have?" After everyone quieted down, Glinka asked with a gloomy expression.

Admiral Lei Ming's face darkened, and he didn't explain much. He just shrugged his shoulders and said, "The navy was defeated. The Qing side sent a letter, proposing the corresponding conditions for peace talks."

"Oh?" Glinka's chubby face suddenly tightened, and he hurriedly asked, "Where is the letter? Where is it? Where is it?" Admiral Lei Ming didn't even bother to say anything, and directly took Xiao Sanlang out of his arms. The letter handed to him, walked forward, and handed the letter to Glinka across the long table.

Glinka took the letter in a little panic, tore open the seal impatiently, and pulled out the letter, but it was a pity that it was all in Chinese, Glinka couldn't understand it at all, so he had to call in an interpreter, and let the interpreter The letter is translated.The letter is not long, that is, a thin two-page paper. Apart from a bunch of polite words, there are actually only two core points-first, the Netherlands must ensure that it remains neutral when the Qing Dynasty is at war with England; The Dutch side violated the "Sino-Dutch Secret Treaty" and fought with the Qing Dynasty, so the Dutch side must compensate for the losses caused.

"Everyone, the Qing Dynasty has issued conditions, and everyone talks about what to do." After the interpreter finished reading the letter, everyone in the hall was dumbfounded, and there was no sound for a while, Glinka waited for a long time After a while, I had to speak first by myself.

"Your Excellency, on behalf of the Hopman family, I express regret for Your Excellency's stupid Far East policy, and express extreme indignation at the incompetence of my Far East Fleet. This war was caused by Your Excellency. Now the fleet of the Qing Dynasty has arrived. At the door of the house, the amount of compensation should be paid by the Governor's Mansion, and our Hopman family is extremely concerned about this matter." The representative of the Hopman family in the Far East said bluntly.

"Yeah, that's right."

"Yes, that's how it should be."

"The incompetence of the Governor's Office should be the responsibility of the Governor's Office."

... A group of shareholder representatives of the East India Company immediately echoed loudly, and the hall was filled with the voices of these businessmen complaining.

Hearing the businessmen's complaints, the fat on Glinka's face shook vigorously a few times, shrugged his shoulders and said, "Everyone, I'm sorry, this is politics, and this governor is just following orders. What do you guys think?" Different opinions can be appealed to the parliament and His Majesty the King. Now let’s discuss how to solve the problem at hand. You are all businessmen, and you should know that there is no need to use guns to talk about things that can be bought with money. For this reason, isn’t it a matter of money for the Qing to pay compensation? The Governor’s Mansion wants to give money, but the Governor’s Mansion has no money, so what the East India Company plans to do, the Governor-General just waits.”

"inability!"

"Shame on Holland!"

"Shameless!"

... Glinka's rascal words immediately angered the East India Company merchants in the hall, and the room was full of scolding, but no matter how they scolded, Glinka never showed any expression on his face, and when the big guys were tired of scolding , Glinka shrugged his shoulders and said: "Everyone, time is running out. The Qing side is only willing to wait until 03:30. If you can't calm down the anger of the Qing side, then the consequences..."

The vice-president of the East India Company and the actual person in charge of the East India Company in the Far East, Van Schornreger, who had never spoken, let out a sigh of relief. He glanced at Lieutenant General Van Trish, who had also remained silent, with a low voice. He asked eagerly: "Your Excellency Van Trish, can you guarantee to hold the port and block the Qing fleet?"

Lieutenant General Van Trish shrugged his shoulders, spread his hands and said: "If the Qing fleet storms the fort, maybe we can try it. Other armies dare not make guarantees."

"Hmm." Sean Reg nodded thoughtfully, didn't say much, then looked at Admiral Lei Ming standing in the middle of the hall, pondered for a moment, and asked, "Your Excellency, Admiral Lei Ming , in your opinion, who can win the final victory in the war between the Qing Dynasty and England?" This question is very important, businessmen always hope to invest in the winner's side, and all the people in the hall are focused on Admiral Lei Ming body.

Admiral Lei Ming frowned, and after contemplating for a long time, he sighed and said, "Objectively speaking, the strength of the Qing fleet should be higher than that of England, but in terms of skills and tactics, England may be slightly stronger. , but the Qing Dynasty obviously came prepared. With mental calculations and a huge fleet strength, England should not be the opponent of the Qing Dynasty. However, it is hard to say what happened on the battlefield. England has fought many battles, and if England can completely defeat the main fleet of the Qing Dynasty in the decisive battle between the two sides, everything will be different."

"If I'm not mistaken, Your Excellency the Admiral means that it is impossible to determine who will win this battle until the main force of the two sides battles?" Sean Reg frowned and continued to ask.

"I think so." Admiral Lei Ming nodded and said.

Sean Reg raised his eyebrows, and then asked: "Understood, according to your Excellency's estimation, when will this big battle break out?"

Admiral Lei Ming thought about it carefully and said: "Judging from the current battle situation, since the Qing army will come to attack Batavia, they will definitely not let go of the possibility of capturing Malacca and cutting off England's retreat. Come on, the English fleet has no other way to go except to go to sea to find the decisive battle of the Qing fleet. The largest naval battle in the history of the Far East should be soon, maybe within a week. Inside."

"Your Excellency, Malacca is behind Shan Ma Xi, how can the Qing army bypass Shan Ma Xi to attack Malacca, besides, the castle of Santiago may not be so easy to attack?" Lieutenant General Van Trisch was puzzled. I asked a question.

"I don't know, this is just a hunch of mine. Maybe the Qing army has a way to do it. Well, I think the Qing army will definitely find a way to bypass Shan Maxi. The Qing side will never let the English fleet slip away." Returning to India will leave troubles for the future, I can assure you." Admiral Lei Ming replied very simply.As soon as Admiral Lei Ming's words fell, the discussion in the room suddenly became noisy again, and there was a lot of noise, with businessmen and officials talking about everything.

"One week? Well, it's not too long." Sean Reg waved his hand, signaling for everyone to be quiet, and said in a calm tone: "In that case, let's just wait for a week. Isn't the Qing Dynasty asking for compensation? This is easy to handle, first send some supplies for the labor force, and then discuss the rest slowly. If the Qing Dynasty wins, we can pay as much as we should. At least we can keep Batavia, but if the Qing Dynasty wins If we lose, the English fleet that wants to get supplies is bound to march to Batavia. There is nothing wrong with us sitting on the mountain and watching the tigers fight. Your Excellency Governor, this matter is settled like this. Your Excellency Governor, please send negotiators. Is it possible to stabilize the Qing Fleet first?" Sean Reg's analysis is in place, the businessmen and officials who were originally impatient all the time have calmed down at this time, all looking at Governor Glinka eagerly, looking forward to Glinka Can make up my mind.

Glinka rolled his eyes quickly, twitched the fat on his face, and after secretly thinking about it for a while, he laughed and said, "Okay, very good, His Excellency Vice President Sean Reg's analysis is very exciting, Isn't it just a week? It's easy to handle. The Governor's Mansion can send negotiators, and your East India Company can also send people to participate in the negotiations. Delaying the Qing fleet is a victory. But, everyone knows that the Governor's Mansion is very poor. There is no way to collect too many supplies in a short time, so should the East India Company also help with some money and supplies?"

Glinka's words immediately aroused strong indignation among the large and small businessmen of the East India Company, and they scolded the Governor's Mansion for their stinginess. It was almost time for the deadline given by the Qing Dynasty, and a negotiating delegation composed of officials from the Governor's Office and businessmen from the East India Company hurried to the port in a carriage and transferred to a ship with a white flag. The merchant ships rushed towards the direction of the Qing fleet.

The negotiations were not smooth. The Qing side, which had won a big battle, put forward a lot of demands, asking for land and money, especially for how much money the Dutch side should pay to redeem the captured fleet and officers and soldiers. ——A soldier is 30 taels of silver, and officers are priced according to their rank. The price of an officer above a major general reaches 3000 taels; As far as the super battleship is concerned, the asking price of the Qing Dynasty is 30 taels of silver, which can almost build a new ship of the same specification.

The Qing side demanded a lot of money, and the Dutch side paid back the money on the spot. The two sides kept going back and forth, but faced with the threat of the Qing Dynasty's many warships overwhelming the top, the Dutch side was not very confident, but they wanted to pass The Dutch side, which was negotiating to delay the time, was still unwilling to make any further concessions. Of course, in order to fool the Qing fleet and make the Qing side think that the Dutch side had conceded defeat, the Dutch side readily agreed to the labor supplies and agreed to pay 5 in advance Two silvers and some materials such as rice, noodles, cattle and sheep, and it was agreed that the materials for the labor force would be delivered to the Qing army on time before [-] o'clock tomorrow morning, and related negotiations will continue tomorrow.

A negotiation with each side’s own ghosts was dragged on from 03:30 to more than six o’clock, and the sun was about to set before it came to an end. The negotiators from both sides shook hands and said goodbye in a friendly atmosphere, and finally dragged on the first day. The Dutch delegation went home very satisfied.He Haitao, the Chief of Staff of the Second Squadron in charge of the negotiations on the Qing side, sent the guests away with a smile on his face. He ignored the complaints from the officers who participated in the negotiations that his attitude was not tough enough, and charged forward three times in two. Entering the war room of the fleet, he smiled and said to Xiao Sanlang, who had been waiting impatiently in the war room: "Commander, it seems that the red-haired ghost has taken the bait, haha, these guys are bargaining with all their heart, and they are really serious. It’s really fun to stall for time.”

Xiao Sanlang sneered and said: "Hey, that's a matter of course, the red-haired ghost just wants to wait for the final winner between the British and the army, and this group of speculators don't want to I think the reason why I came across the ocean is to fight, and those bullshit diplomatic negotiations should be left to the Ministry of Rites. Well, that stinky boy in Cordoa will not miss the important event of the general, if it is lost hand, I will cut off his dog's head!"

He Haitao shrugged his shoulders and said, "Probably not. It's a pity that we can't get in touch with Shadow's people, otherwise things should go much smoother."

"Yeah, the shadows of the Holy Majesty are all great characters. It's not easy to survive in such a ghostly place. Forget it, let's not talk about it. Cordoa has a detailed map provided by the shadows in his hand. If you still can't complete the task How can I be worthy of those dead shadow brothers." Xiao Sanlang was not from "Honghu", but he was once Liu Shuangcheng's personal bodyguard, and he knew something about "Honghu". As for the sacrificed shadow personnel, Xiao Sanlang was also deeply moved.

Summer in the South Pacific sets very late, it’s already past seven o’clock, the sun still refuses to set the sea level, struggling to sprinkle the last afterglow on the sea surface, dyeing half of the sea red, in the well of Java Island Four Qing warships without any markings are moored quietly on the sea outside Wenwen. These four warships are the two medium-sized warships and two full-loaded landing battalion soldiers and various warships that quietly disappeared from the main fleet of the Qing Dynasty. At this moment, Kodoa, the commander of the Qing assault fleet, stood calmly on the front deck of the "Yanyan", glanced at the sun that was about to set on the sea level, waved his hands and said: " Order: Heading [-] degrees, half sail, ready to land!"

(End of this chapter)