Chapter 822 Bargaining
"You are blackmailing!" Gesman retorted angrily: "You can't treat the people of the Kingdom of Spain like this!"
If, as Takahashi Minami said, a "prisoner of war management fee" is charged at the standard of three thousand taels of silver per day, then even if Manila can send a fleet to pick up the people as quickly as possible, the trip will take at least twenty days or even a month. After that, who will pay such a huge fee? The Manila authorities will definitely not raise the ransom money for these lowly pariahs, exiled criminals, rude mercenaries and ignorant farmers. After receiving this news, it is very likely that they will not even send a ship and directly abandon these deported people. Hostages taken. For them, thousands of immigrants rushed from Europe to the Far East every year, so why spend a lot of money to buy back these captives from the Haihan people.
Takahashi Nan smiled and said: "Do you think this price is too high? During this period, we have to feed and house the prisoners of war, so we can't pay the price in vain, right?"
Takahashi Minami opened his mouth as soon as he came up, which actually gave Gesman room to bargain. He was sure that Gesman couldn't dwell too much on this issue. As long as the Spaniards in the city wanted to save their lives and leave here safely, they had to pay a certain price. In fact, paying ransom for the ransom of prisoners of war was a common thing on European battlefields, and there was nothing unacceptable to the Spaniards. Gesman's anger stemmed more from Minami Takahashi's outrageous bid than from the nature of the matter itself.
"I understand this, but your asking price is too exaggerated!" Gesman suppressed his anger and argued: "At most, we will only accept a one-time payment of three thousand taels of silver for the prisoners of war. Any more than this figure It’s hard to obey!”
"It's not impossible to pay three thousand taels in one go, but you can only take away those non-Hispanic people." Takahashi Minami calmly said to Gesman in an official tone: "The rest of the people will stay here. Well, when enough money is paid, we will release him back to Manila.”
Gesman thought to himself, "Who cares about non-Hispanics? I won't even pay a copper coin. Aren't the people for whom this ransom payment is meant to redeem Spanish people?" Wait, what Takahashi Minami said is that he wants to detain all the Spaniards?
"That's right, including you and Mr. Alcarazo in the city." As if he guessed Gesman's thoughts, Takahashi Nan explained to himself: "You all must stay as hostages. You can only leave Jilong Port after Manila pays your fees. Of course, during this period, we will be responsible for your basic life and will not let you human money bags go wrong.”
Gesman's face changed drastically, and Takahashi Minami's tone clearly meant that he wanted to detain all the Spaniards, including the officials, so that they could extort the ransom money they wanted from the Manila authorities. If the officials were detained, the Manila authorities might not be able to maintain a numb attitude. After all, if even the officials of the Taipei colony gave up, then the news would likely affect the mentality of other colonial officials in the Far East.
Of course, even so, the Manila authorities will never agree to the sky-high ransom fee quoted by Gao Qiao Nan. Gesman also knows very well that the lives of the people in Jilong Port are not worth that much money. If Gao Qiao Nan insists on going his own way, I am afraid that Still couldn't get the money he wanted.
"Your Majesty General, in fact, we are just ordinary people working for the Manila authorities. We are not noble nobles. Those big shots will not take us seriously. If you want to threaten the Manila authorities with our lives, I think your Excellency will be very happy. You may be disappointed." Gesman tried to maintain a calm tone and persuaded: "I think we should negotiate a condition acceptable to both parties and resolve the current dispute in a peaceful way."
Takahashi Minami deliberately pondered for a long time. It was only when Gesman was about to become impatient with waiting that he slowly said: "The price is not non-negotiable, but we have to see your sincerity."< br>
Gesman heard that Gao Qiaonan was about to relent, and quickly answered: "If you can let the local officials leave here first, then we can give you a personal fortune, the amount..." Gesman thought about it. , gritted his teeth and said: "It will not be less than five thousand Spanish silver coins."
Takahashi Nan coughed dryly and said: "You may have misunderstood. This money is not collected by me personally, but on behalf of the Haihan Executive Committee. If I put this money into my own pocket, that money will I’m afraid that I have the life to take the money but not the life to enjoy it.”
After listening to the translation, Gesman thought it was just a ploy by Takahashi Minami to bargain with him, and then he stretched out another finger and said: "I will add a thousand silver coins!"
To be honest, this amount is not too small. Considering Takahashi Minami's current military salary income, it will probably take him ten years to earn this money. The temptation is indeed not small. However, Takahashi Minami is not a person who is greedy for money. For him, material comfort is far less comfortable than being on the battlefield. No matter how much wealth he has, it is just a useless number for him who has lived in a military camp for a long time. The previous city of Santo Domingo brought almost no decent benefits to the Haihan Army. If he was still empty-handed at Jilong Port, it would be difficult for Gao Qiaonan to have the face to explain to Qian Tiandun after he returned.
Anyway, the Executive Committee has always acquiesced that the military will withhold part of the benefits from the war as military expenses, and took advantage of the Spanish defeat to make a severe blackmail, which can subsidize the military expenses of the expedition to Taipei to some extent. And this will definitely be included in the military merits. The more wealth turned over, the greater Takahashi Minami's military exploits will be. The value of Gesman's bid to him is far less than the Military Commission's commendation order.
"Those who want to be the first to leave here will pay six thousand silver coins each. The rest will pay fifty thousand silver coins in one lump sum when you send the fleet to pick them up." Takahashi Nan raised his hand to stop Gesman from speaking: "You don't have to say it anymore. This is a fixed price. If you agree, you can leave the city and surrender as soon as possible. If you don't agree, then everyone will fight to the end. But I'll say it first. After we break the city defense, there will be no more bargaining for you. There is no room for you, and you won’t be able to take away a single silver coin from here!” Gesman immediately calculated in his mind that in addition to Alcarazor and himself, there are at least four or five important people in the city who must escape intact. Okay, six thousand each, which works out to thirty or forty thousand silver coins, plus the later fifty thousand, which is actually not much different from the final payment of three thousand a day. The difference is that if you want to leave here safely as soon as possible, you must first pay the Haihan people a sum of money for travel expenses. Based on the economic situation of El Salvador City, it is estimated that the city's treasury can collect two to three thousand silver coins. The bulk of this money will definitely have to come out of pocket.
Gesman really didn't make much money when he was the chief executive of Santo Domingo City. It was life-threatening to ask him to take out six thousand silver coins at a time - the five large boxes he took with him when he evacuated Santo Domingo City. The total value of the gold, silver and jewelry contained in it is only about four thousand silver coins, which is not enough to fill it all in. Alcarazo's situation may be slightly better than his own, but for him, the ransom fee of six thousand silver coins is also an unacceptable amount.
The bitterness on Gesman's face could not be concealed: "Your Majesty General, the conditions you proposed are too unrealistic. I believe you already know the situation of Santo Domingo City very well. This Jilong Port is actually the same as Santo Domingo City. It’s almost the same, except that there are slightly more residents, but the finances have always been unable to make ends meet. How can we get so much money together?”
Takahashi Nan ignored his distress and looked up at the sky in the distance without responding. This is not the first time he has negotiated with the enemy under such circumstances. When he was fighting in Annan, there were quite a few South Vietnamese officials who paid to redeem their lives, and there were also some who obediently paid for it while complaining endlessly. After many times, Takahashi Minami naturally became immune to these methods. If Gesman doesn't know how to promote and wants to significantly lower the price, then Takahashi Minami doesn't want to waste any more time talking to him. Anyway, after the city is broken, everything will belong to Haihan. It's just a matter of spending more time and effort. The reason why we are willing to sit down and negotiate with the other party now is mainly to consider reducing our own casualties.
Gesman spent a long time talking and talking, and finally negotiated with Takahashi Minami for a ransom fee of 40,000 silver coins for the first ten people, and he could take away ten more crew members and followers. The remaining people have to wait for Manila to send a ship to pick them up, and then pay 40,000 silver coins to Haihan before they can leave. Of course, whether the Manila authorities are willing to pay the ransom fee for the detained people remains to be seen. However, Gao Qiaonan does not really care whether Manila will pay a second ransom payment, because the labor required for mining near Jilong Port is by no means small, and these prisoners of war detained in Jilong Port will naturally not be idle. , they will definitely be requisitioned as miners before leaving here. If Manila doesn't pay to redeem them, they will probably have to mine here until they die. Takahashi Minami believes that the value they can create before this will definitely exceed the ransom fee demanded from the Spaniards at this time.
Although the result of the negotiation was not satisfactory, at least a condition was negotiated that was acceptable to the Haihan people. Gesman returned to the city with this result and informed Alcarazo of the process in detail. As he imagined, Alcarazo was extremely angry after hearing this - not because of the arrogance of the Haihan people, but because Gao Qiaonan's asking price was too high, which made him feel very hurt.
"These damn vampires! They plundered our wealth in such a shameless way! We should fight them to the end without giving them a single coin!" Alcarazo shouted emotionally: "Mr. Gesman, You should not agree to the conditions of the Haihan people. They want to drain us first and then kill us!"
Gesman had been working with Alcarazo in Taipei for several years, so he naturally knew that he was greedy for money and would find it difficult to accept such a large loss. However, compared to money, Gesman can be sure that Alcarazo is more afraid of losing his life, and his fear of life and death is no less than his own. Although he is making a lot of noise now, if he really wants to struggle to the death in the city of El Salvador, Alcarazo will probably be the first to jump out and object.
"Mr. Alcarazo, based on my previous experience of dealing with them in Santo Domingo City, I think the Haihan people are quite trustworthy. At least they will fulfill the conditions they promised and will not go back on their words when the matter comes. If we If we want to leave here safely, I think it is necessary to seriously consider the conditions proposed by the Haihan people." Gesman persuaded patiently: "Although we have to pay a high price for this, at least we can leave here intact. If the money is gone, you can make it again, but if your life is gone, you can’t get it back.”
"What you said makes some sense." As expected, Alcarazo immediately got off the slope and followed Gesman's wishes and said: "If we all die fighting here, then no one will bring back what the Haihan people have done. Manila went to warn the big shots. Not only do we have to get out of here alive, but we also have to bring back all the intelligence information about the Haihan people to prepare for the future battle of revenge."
Gesman thought to himself whether he could escape unscathed here before he could figure it out, but he started thinking about the revenge battle, which was quite far-reaching. However, he also knew that Alcalazo said this just to give his surrender a more high-sounding reason. Even if the Manila authorities wanted to launch a revenge war against the Haihan people in the future, Alcarazo would never be the leader. This chicken coop chief has suffered a huge defeat. Maybe the big shots won't let him participate in related affairs at all.
"Then what we have to do now is to first consider the distribution of the ten places, and then think about how to divide the money." After Alcarazo finished his performance, he immediately began to think about more practical issues. Forty thousand silver coins is really not a small amount, and Alcarazo is not sure whether the city can come up with this amount. The personnel also need to be carefully considered. There are still hundreds of Spaniards in the city. Who can pay and whose identity is more important are all very troublesome issues.
But the enemies outside the city did not leave Alcarazo enough time to solve these problems. He had to plan the list of people leaving here within three hours after Gesman returned, and make up the list of people required by the Haihan people. The ransom fee of 40,000 silver coins was paid, and at the same time, he appeased the army and people in the city and made them accept the fact of surrender. No matter what it is, it is a big test for Alcarazo. If any one of these aspects is not handled well, he may be affected by it and unable to leave this place safely.
(End of chapter)