Chapter 676 Difficult Negotiations
Su Keyi didn't expect that the two people actually had such a relationship, and he couldn't help but be stunned when he heard this. He just saw that Yu Xiaobao was young and easy to talk to, and was far less difficult to deal with than Gu Kai and Schneider. He just wanted to get close to him to ease the atmosphere of negotiations, but he never thought about finding an elder Haihan for himself. As a negotiator of the East India Company, if you have a personal relationship with your opponent, it will only lead to good results. If the negotiation fails, you must bear the blame alone?
"Mr. Shi really loves to joke... let's get down to business!" Su Keyi hit such a soft nail, so he had to give up the idea and return his energy to the negotiation.
However, even if both sides changed people, the pace of negotiations still did not change significantly compared to yesterday. The East India Company could only continue to protest weakly, while Yu Xiaobao easily followed yesterday's approach and Various requests made by the other party were rejected one by one. No matter how dry Su Keyi was, the negotiations still didn't make any progress. And every time he wanted to play some tricks to interfere with the opponent, Schneider would always make a point at an inappropriate time, causing him to fail.
After a few rounds, Su Keyi finally understood that the other party was a master taking an apprentice for an internship, and he was slowly getting familiar with the business, and he was the unlucky sparring partner. If Yu Xiaobao was singled out, Su Keyi believed that he could still find a way to stumble the opponent, at least with his words to gain some upper hand. However, with Schneider, a seasoned man watching the situation, it would be difficult for Su Keyi to implement any ideas he had.
"It is of no use to both of us to continue such an endless debate. Why not calmly look for it and see if there are any common interests. Maybe there will be no need to use war as a means to solve problems in the future." Su Keyi has tried various methods. After all were declared invalid, they could only settle for the next best thing and try to reach a peace agreement with Haihan first while ignoring the dispute.
"Common interests?" Upon hearing this word, Schneider couldn't help but take the initiative to take over the conversation: "The object of your common interests is a vassal like Shibazhi who is willing to obey orders, not an opponent who can be on an equal footing with you."
"Mr. Shi, even Shiba Zhi has some common interests with the Ming Dynasty government. What you said is a bit arbitrary. It should be noted that Shiba Zhi has always occupied a certain share of Fujian's maritime trade." Su Keyi retorted. Haihan compared the East India Company to pirates, which was their main argument for banning Dutch ships from entering the disputed waters of the Natuna Islands. Sukeyi also wanted to debate Schneider on this point.
"Is Shibazhi a pirate?" Schneider asked immediately.
"We think they are just a group of maritime merchants who are not tolerated by the Fujian government. They do have private armed forces, but this does not mean that they are pirates. Haihan is also a businessman with private armed forces, right? I believe that Haihan and Shiba Like Zhi, the armed forces are just to protect their own interests," Su Keyi argued.
Schneider responded: "If charging high protection fees from passing ships, looting places, buying and selling by force, resisting the government, and armed riots are not considered piracy, then please tell me, Mr. Su, what do you think?" Is this what a pirate should do? Should he have the word pirate tattooed on his forehead? ”
"Private ships attacking other ships at sea cannot simply be regarded as piracy. At least in the Netherlands, the overlord of the East India Company, this is an act approved by the government!" Of course, Su Keyi could not directly respond to Schneider's question, and could only avoid the important and take the easy. , to deal with it by changing the concept.
But this trick obviously had no effect in front of Schneider. He responded with a sarcastic smile: "I know that many countries, including the Netherlands, allow ship owners to attack ships of hostile countries at sea, but in English, 'Pirate' They are two completely different words from 'Privateer'. The East India Company's attack on Portuguese and Spanish ships at sea can be regarded as an official act, but no one behind the Eighteen Zhi gave them the authority to do so. From the government's point of view, they are a group of pirates wanted by the government. There is no dispute about this. You can see wanted notices about Zheng Zhilong and others at the city gates at any time when you go to Zhangquan and other places. By the way, Zheng Zhilong and others are wanted. The bounty on his head has recently dropped from the original five thousand taels to three thousand taels. Losing Nanri Island is obviously a huge blow to his reputation.”
Su Keyi couldn't think of a reasonable argument to refute Schneider for a moment, so he had to change his direction again: "Shibazhi's behavior was not instructed by the East India Company. It was just the personal wishes of Zheng Zhilong and others. The East India Company should not be held responsible for their behavior." Carrying the infamy.”
"Your washing posture is not good!" Schneider shook his head and sighed: "Xiaobao, come here."
Yu Xiaobao said with understanding: "But in fact, you have already participated in their piracy in Fujian. You sent armed ships to attack the warships of the Ming government. This actually started the war. In the view of the Ming government, The East India Company and the Eighteenth Army are indeed a coalition with common interests, so they also issued a reward for the East India Company officials involved in this matter. The reward for the chief officer, Mr. Hans Putmans, was 1,000 yuan. Two, life or death, and the other..."
When Yu Xiaobao said this, he looked at Van der Wegen with a smile and said: "...another senior officer leading the team has a reward of three hundred taels for the living and one hundred taels for the dead."
During the battle in the waters of Nanri Island, a total of six ships of the Dutch fleet participated in the battle, but only two ships were defeated and escaped. Hundreds of prisoners were captured in the end. The information about Van der Wegen has naturally been mastered by the relevant departments. . On the evening of the day when the mission arrived in Sanya, the relevant information compiled by the Haihan Security Department had been sent to the Executive Committee. Because Yu Xiaobao was assigned the task of direct contact with them, he was fortunate enough to learn this information. He was also very clear about Van der Wegen's identity and deeds. It's just that Van der Wegen has not taken the initiative to mention Fujian since the beginning of the negotiations, and Haihan has not specifically mentioned his previous identity.
Su Keyi almost choked on his saliva when he heard this. For the sake of Van der Wegen's face, he decided to skip this paragraph when translating. This wanted order was not so much about killing the Dutch as it was more about humiliation - maybe it was the Haihan people who encouraged the Fujian government to offer the reward.
Van der Wegen had no idea that the content of the conversation between the two involved him. His knowledge of Chinese was extremely limited, and the conversation between the two basically left him in a state of relaxation.
"In view of the position of the East India Company, as an ally of Ming Dynasty, our attitude towards this is consistent with that of the Ming Dynasty government." Yu Xiaobao concluded the debate unhurriedly: "What is Ming Dynasty's attitude towards you? , that’s what our attitude is. Of course, out of diplomatic courtesy, we will give you the treatment you deserve as an envoy during the negotiation and ensure your personal safety during this period." Faced with such a statement, Su Keyi simply could not fight back. . He is not afraid of the Haihan people putting pressure on the negotiation table. If the other party does that, he can show his integrity by fighting. However, the Haihan people's attitude is that they don't take this negotiation seriously at all, and have even begun to blatantly I took advantage of this occasion to teach an apprentice.
After Yu Xiaobao made this statement, Schneider next to him showed no intention of correcting him, and Su Keyi's heart dropped - he had never thought about the outcome of the negotiation here, no matter how hard he tried, That's just playing the piano to a cow. What's more, the initiative at the negotiation table has never fallen to the Dutch side from the beginning.
"It's getting late. I suggest that today's negotiations end here!" Schneider raised his hand to look at the time and spoke to end the one-sided debate. Although Yu Xiaobao's performance is really good, Schneider believes that there is still room for improvement in the handling of some details, and he will need to be given individual coaching later.
After the two Haihan people left, Su Keyi said with a tired look: "Gentlemen, what we are doing is meaningless. The Haihan people have been playing tricks on us. Do you feel it? The purpose of our coming here is not only to meet Outside of the Haihan people, it can be said that no progress has been made in the negotiations, and we are under house arrest here, and we cannot obtain information without contact with the outside world. The most important thing is that the Haihan people do not seem to continue the talks with us. They don’t expect to gain anything from us, they are just using us to kill time.”
"We all know what you said." Fan Longen responded with a gloomy look: "But if we don't get any results, how are we going to report to the Governor after we go back? Mr. Su, you don't have anything to do. At worst, you can continue to go back to the trading house. It’s what you should do, but Mr. van der Wegen and I are both guilty. If we fail to achieve anything this time, I’m afraid the Governor and the Board of Directors will not give us good results after we go back!”
"But if we continue to talk, we can't change the attitude of the Haihan people. We have no cards to play!" Su Keyi argued: "I think we should end this errand as soon as possible and return to Batavia. , inform the board of directors of the attitude of the Haihan people, and remind them that they should prepare for war as soon as possible, because the Haihan people obviously have no intention of reconciling with us!”
"No, no, no, if we go back like this, the result will only be that we will be scolded by the board of directors for our incompetence, and then Mr. Van Longen and I will take responsibility for this, be removed from all positions in the company, and leave Badawi with shame and a few pieces of luggage." Go back to the Netherlands!" Van der Wegen also stood up to express his attitude at this time. His view was the same as Van Longen's, that is, they could not just go back empty-handed, because neither of them could afford the consequences.
Before leaving Batavia, Governor Cohen had made a very clear request to them. If certain negotiation results were not achieved in Sanya, then the previous defeats in the Battle of Fujian and the Battle of Natuna would have to be settled with them. Now the parties are responsible.
Even now that the negotiations have been frustrated and the prospects are slim, Van Longen and Van der Wegen are still unwilling to give up easily and continue negotiating with the Haihan people. Even if the Haihan people's attitude towards this is very obvious, they still have to persist, because giving up negotiations is equivalent to giving up their own future.
After listening to the two people's statements, Su Keyi sat down slumped. He knew that it would be useless if he continued to oppose. This mission was originally based on the opinions of the two Dutch people, and he was just an assistant. If these two people want to drag this matter out for their own benefit, then he can only obey the arrangement. After all, neither the Haihan people nor these two companions are likely to let him return to Batavia alone. .
"Then I suggest you write a letter and ask the Haihan people to find a merchant to take it to Batavia and briefly explain the situation here, so as to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings after the company has not received news for a long time." Su Keyi can only do this now. I can settle for the next best thing.
"The Haihan people may not agree, and the content we write in the letter may be peeked by them." Van der Wegen has doubts about this.
Su Keyi shook his head and said: "We don't need to write anything too confidential. We just need to tell you that we have arrived in Sanya safely and are negotiating with the Haihan people, but the progress is not going well. That's enough. Put a fire seal on the outside, Haihan The Han people probably wouldn’t open it and look at it on the way.”
"Mr. Su's suggestion makes sense. We will make relevant requests to the Haihan people later." Fan Longgen agreed with this suggestion. Seeing that the negotiation has reached a deadlock, I don't know how long it will drag on in Sanya. It is better to write a letter and send it back as soon as possible to say that it is safe. Otherwise, Batavia will not even know whether the three of them are dead or alive. It is easy to Make wrong judgments about the situation. Of course, they have been under house arrest so far and have no contact with the outside world. There is indeed no confidential information to report to the company.
But when they saw the Haihan people again, they found that even Schneider didn't show up, and only Yu Xiaobao came. When Su Keyi made an uneasy request to deliver the letter, Yu Xiaobao quickly agreed: "We can find someone to deliver the letter for you. After you write the letter, just hand it over to the service staff here. But we can only arrange The ship that has departed south recently will be on my behalf, so I can’t give you an exact guarantee as to when it will be delivered to Batavia.”
Su Keyi was originally a little worried about Schneider's absence, but Yu Xiaobao couldn't make the decision, so he quickly responded: "It doesn't matter, I know that the voyage from here to Batavia is long and takes a lot of time, so this letter is just to be sent back. Just to report peace, nothing else.”
Yu Xiaobao smiled and said: "It doesn't matter what you write, and we won't care. By the way, from today on, I will be the plenipotentiary representative of this negotiation."
(End of chapter)