Chapter 823 The Price of Freedom
Alcarazo's military ability is not outstanding, and he has no outstanding performance in governing civil affairs. He is also a coward who is greedy for life and afraid of death. However, he was able to climb to his current position and he does have his own way of dealing with interpersonal relationships. ability. In just two or three hours, he not only arranged the list of the first ten people to leave Jilong Port, but also made two of the businessmen willingly pay 60% of the ransom fee, and the other eight people only had to share the remaining Four percent is enough. In addition, he also informed the local people that a reconciliation agreement had been reached with the Haihan people, and they only needed to wait patiently for Manila to send a fleet to take them back. As for the ransom fee that the Spanish side needed to pay for this, he did not mention a word - he It is very clear that if this matter is told, the people will definitely think that they will be abandoned by the Manila authorities. In this case, there will inevitably be a chaos, which may not be able to leave anyone.
Alcarazo hurriedly hurriedly, and finally completed the preparations before the time limit set by the Haihan Army. At five o'clock in the afternoon, the defenders opened the city gate that had been damaged by bombardment. The defender commander Ross came forward and announced his surrender to the Haihan Army. In order to prevent things from changing, two hundred Haihan soldiers entered the city first, controlled the commanding heights of the city and the few remaining artillery pieces, and closely monitored the Spanish defenders who surrendered out of the city. The city of El Salvador is no different than the city of Santo Domingo that surrendered before. There were only about two hundred armed men there, but the number of armed men here was several times greater. God knows whether the Spanish surrendered sincerely.
This time Gao Qiaonan was no longer reserved and came forward to accept the surrender in person. Seeing the tall Alcarazo bowing his head and offering his sword in front of him, Takahashi Nan felt extremely satisfied. At this moment, he remembered what Qian Tiandun once said to him: "The reason why I chose to come to this world is to conquer it!"
The Spanish were once one of the "strong enemies" claimed by Qian Tiandun, a powerful presence in the Western world like the Ming Dynasty in the East. But at this moment, apart from honestly surrendering to Haihan, the Spanish have no other choice. Two ways out can save lives. While Takahashi Minami breathed a sigh of relief for completing his mission, he was also deeply proud of the group he belonged to. Regardless of whether it is the East or the West, these so-called strong men have no advantage at all in front of the Haihan armed forces.
"Your Excellency, General, although I hereby surrender to your army on behalf of the city of El Salvador, this does not represent the attitude of the Kingdom of Spain. Your undeclared war has harmed the interests of the Kingdom of Spain and will definitely lead to war retaliation in the future!" Even though he was the surrendering party, Alcarazo still had to put on airs and put on a good show, at least not letting the Haihan people get too carried away in front of him.
"Thank you for the reminder. I'm also looking forward to the day when I fight against the main force of your army." Takahashi Minami didn't avoid Alcalazo's words at all, and just answered them blankly: "Also, remember to remind the generals of your army. , prepare the redemption fee in advance, I will not have the mood and time to bargain with the loser every time.”
"Hmph!" Alcarazo wanted to retort a few more words, but he was afraid of angering Minami Takahashi and would be in trouble if he didn't let them go. He could only express his dissatisfaction with a loud snort and made a gesture. With a gesture, he asked his men to carry the prepared boxes to Takahashi Nan: "This is the fee requested by you, gold and silver jewelry worth 40,000 silver coins."
"Check it out." Of course Takahashi Nan's identity would not check the money himself. Naturally, there are military personnel who are responsible for counting property to do this.
The city of El Salvador is not a prosperous trading port. The number of coins kept in the city is relatively limited, and it is impossible to collect the 40,000 silver coins requested by Takahashi Nan. Therefore, it also contains many other items, such as silver tableware and candlesticks. , handicrafts, gold jewelry, small decorations and privately cast gold bars, various gemstones of different textures, pearls, etc., and even famous calligraphy and paintings from the Ming Dynasty, Japan and other countries privately collected by a wealthy businessman.
Valuation of these things is relatively troublesome, especially for some artworks that are not widely circulated in the market. It can be said that it is worth thousands of gold or worthless, but its actual value is quite controversial. It took almost two hours just to count and calculate the value of these things, during which there were naturally disputes between the two parties about the value of the items. In the end, Haihan believed that the total price was still at least 10% short of the negotiated amount.
After the results were reported to Gao Qiaonan, he calmly gave an idea to the anxious Alcalázo: "Otherwise, one of you will have to leave, and I will get 10% less. It's just right." .”
The quota of ten people was arranged by Alcarazo with great difficulty. Anyone missing would be in trouble. How could he admit this account? He quickly defended: "Your Excellency, the value of these properties is indeed worth 40,000 silver coins. Our side We have sincerely surrendered. You are now deliberately making things difficult for us on this issue, which would be a breach of trust.”
Gao Qiaonan's face darkened and he said: "Since you said that, let's count the silver coins. If we count 40,000, you can leave. If you are short of 4,000, you will be deducted as much as you want, so that you and I don't have to fight. It’s a waste of time to fight!”
If Alcala could collect 40,000 silver coins, he wouldn't have to stuff so many weird things into it to make up the money. Moreover, it was the Haihan people who had the final say now. He softened his tone immediately: "Your Excellency General, in fact, in this city There are still many belongings that cannot be taken away. For example, the official residence I lived in before was renovated last year. Some of the furniture was shipped all the way from Spain. It is equipped with eight trained Nanyang servants inside and outside. You can move in immediately. Guaranteed you won’t be disappointed.”
Takahashi Minami became interested after hearing this condition. What he cared about was not Alcarazo's official residence, but the so-called Nanyang servants. Because Qian Tiandun had mentioned to him before that on the Luzon Island occupied by the Spanish in the Far East, the female indigenous people on the island were all excellent servants after training. Of course, Takahashi Nan did not know that the situation mentioned by Qian Tiandun did not occur in this time and space. The so-called "Filipino maid" industry only began to appear in the 1970s. But as long as what Qian Tiandun said, he always believed it to be the truth. He didn't want to keep this servant for himself, but wanted to send it back to Penghu to be trained by Luo Wudan and let him take care of her and Qian Tiandun. Daily life.
So under Alcarazor's tough words, Takahashi Nan finally relented and agreed to let ten Spaniards, including Alcarazor, leave Jilong Port first under the existing conditions. Of course, as for other Spanish immigrants, soldiers and non-Hispanic personnel, they can only stay here temporarily as prisoners, waiting for the Spanish fleet that may never arrive. During the negotiations out of the city, Alcarazo also had a clearer and more intuitive understanding of Haihan, the opponent who suddenly came to his door. In Alcarazo's memory, he had never heard of any place where the militias had such uniform uniforms and weapons, and even had artillery units that were too powerful to resist. This armed force is obviously a highly professional army with a strict organization, a complete command system, and not the militia military organization they claim to be. It is obvious that its leaders have deep intentions and are trying to use this to paralyze Competitors in the surrounding environment, and achieved this goal almost perfectly - all the countries that had been their enemies were defeated by the Haihan people on the battlefield, and before the fight, no one could understand this mysterious force. Have a correct understanding of the true strength of the forces.
Alcarazo didn't know if the Dutch in the south of the island were as depressed as he was when they were defeated and regretted not stepping up the intelligence collection on Haihan in advance, but what he could conclude was that the Dutch were probably no better off than he was. Where to go. The Haihan people did not even spare the unproductive Jilong Port, and presumably the city of Jelandja built by the Dutch in the south would not be spared either.
However, there was a slight mistake in Alcarazo's judgment. After Haihan surveyed the west coast of Taiwan, he finally chose Kaohsiung Port south of Damuan Port instead of directly attacking Damuan Port. The reason for such a misjudgment was that he never imagined that the main reason why the Haihan people attacked Taipei was to monopolize the precious mineral deposits here.
The means of transportation provided by the Spaniards was a fishing boat with a displacement of about 70 to 80 tons. For the pampered nobles, it was not a pleasant trip to take such a simple boat all the way south to Manila. journey. However, they have no conditions to be picky now. The Haihan people have given them such a boat. Whether they like it or not, they can only take this boat. Otherwise, they will have to stay in this uncertain place and wait for the Haihan people's mercy. So even though these ten passengers didn't have a good look when they boarded the ship, when the sailors unmoored and raised the sail, these lucky ones who spent a lot of money to buy their freedom quietly crossed themselves on their chests and thanked God. 's blessing.
The remaining prisoners did not fare so well. They were driven together by Haihan soldiers, and then randomly selected into teams of ten. The soldiers cuffed their left feet in a string with special ten-man chain cuffs. Since the Haihan Army had not yet had time to build a special prisoner of war camp here, and the prisons in the city were obviously unable to accommodate such a large number of prisoners, they could only temporarily control the prisoners of war in this way. Later, a preliminary screening of these personnel will be carried out, and civilians who are less dangerous will be released so that they can assist the Haihan Army in taking over the city and cleaning up the battlefield. Of course, all Hispanic personnel, whether military or civilian, will be treated as prisoners for the time being.
Takahashi Minami did not personally direct the handling of prisoners of war. This kind of thing was already familiar to the veterans of the special operations battalion, and there was no need for him to step in to handle it. Currently, Takahashi Minami is concerned about two other things. One is to inventory and register the property in the city, and the other is to start arranging the subsequent development of local mineral resources - this is also the most important thing for the Executive Committee. Task. In comparison, how long it took the special operations battalion to capture Jilong Port, how many prisoners were killed in the battle, and how many trophies were captured after the war are all secondary. Qian Tiandun reminded him before the troops set off that the executive committee only cares about when the mines in Taipei can be mined and how quickly the benefits can be seen. As for other details, they can handle them as appropriate.
"When will Chief Tian from the Ministry of Industry arrive?" Takahashi Nan asked his adjutant.
The Chief Tian he mentioned is Tian Yeyou, who is responsible for mining planning and mining in the Ministry of Industry. After the Shilu Iron Mine was put into operation, Tian Yeyou had returned to the Black Earth Port in the Beibu Gulf to rest for some time. It is said that he built a villa on an island near Halong Bay, moved his family to the island, swam, fished and entertained his children every day, and lived a very comfortable life. In view of Tian Yeyou's great contribution to Haihan in industry, the executive committee also granted him this kind of treatment, and would only send a ship to the local area to pick him up when he was needed to work.
The excavation and mining of gold mines in the Jinguashi area of Jilonggang was a key project supervised by the Executive Committee in 1633. This is an extremely important project for Haihan, who is currently making bigger and bigger stalls and moving faster and faster. Supplementary financial resources. Therefore, after Qian Tiandun's petition report reached the Executive Committee, the Ministry of Industry immediately issued a transfer order for Tian Yeyou to report to the Penghu base immediately.
From the Beibu Gulf to Penghu, the mobilization distance almost spans the east and west ends of the Haihan controlled area. The entire voyage is nearly a thousand nautical miles, which is really not an easy trip. When Tian Yeyou set off from the island villa on the Beibu Gulf of Annan, Gao Qiaonan also happened to lead his troops to leave Penghu for Tamsui.
However, Tian Yeyou's voyage was not as two-point and one-line as the march route of the special operations battalion. The ship he was on rested for one night at Fushuizhou Island, and docked in Danzhou the next day. He met with people from the Ministry of Industry and received part of the special The prospecting tools and equipment sent from Sanya then passed through the Qiongzhou Strait and sailed eastward to Hong Kong. They stayed there for another day and gave a one-day training class to the staff responsible for prospecting in Guangdong, and then left for Penghu. When Takahashi Minami's troops began to attack Salvador City, Tian Yeyou had just completed his work on Hong Kong Island, but according to the schedule, Tian Yeyou should have arrived in Penghu by this time if nothing unexpected happened.
"I just received a message from the Penghu base. Chief Tian has arrived in Penghu this morning and will come to Jilong Port after a day's rest." The adjutant responded immediately.
"Early tomorrow morning, let the Second Company go to the target area to conduct a survey to ensure that there will not be any safety hazards when Chief Tian arrives there. Do you understand?" Gao Qiaonan has stayed in Heitu Port for several years and is well aware of Chief Tian's intentions. His high status did not allow for the slightest surprise, and he was fully prepared to welcome his arrival.
(End of chapter)