Chapter 3026
With blue sea, blue sky, green trees and silver sand, to be fair, the scenery of Langkawi Island is absolutely relaxing. But the guests who came here today are not in the mood to appreciate the scenery at all, because if the current problem is not solved, then this island and the beautiful scenery here may have to change hands.
Facing the aggressive Kaza, Roger's attitude was very calm: "Don't get excited, sir. I asked General Lopez to come to the island because what happened here is related to both of your countries. Let's explain the situation clearly in person. This will also help us properly solve current problems.”
Kaza responded with vigilance: "No matter what, the Portuguese sends troops into areas controlled by our country. Such behavior is undoubtedly an invasion, and our country will never accept it!"
Roger said: "You misunderstood. The Portuguese did not send troops to participate in this operation. General Lopez only came here as a military observer. Just like you, he came here to understand the truth."
This is one of the reasons why Roger is unwilling to let the Portuguese directly participate in the operation. If Portugal sends troops, it will undoubtedly offend Aceh and leave Haihan in the middle. So Roger simply chose to fight alone, which was not only convenient for him, but also easy to explain to the two parties.
Hearing that Portugal did not directly send troops, Kaza, although still a little doubtful, looked much more relaxed than before.
Haihan sending troops to fight pirates is not a big deal in Aceh's eyes, but if Haihan and Portugal jointly send troops, the nature will be different and it will inevitably threaten Aceh's interests in the Strait of Malacca.
One of the purposes of Kaza's trip is to show Haihan a tough attitude and try to prevent the two families from joining forces to cause trouble. But when he heard that Portugal had not sent troops, a big stone dropped from his heart. At least the situation had not deteriorated to the extent that Aceh was worried about.
Seeing that Kaza's mood calmed down, Roger began to introduce to them the "results" achieved by the Haihan Army on Langkawi Island.
"According to the intelligence we have, this group of pirates that have recently appeared in the Strait of Malacca has settled on several islands near the east coast of the strait, including Penang and Langkawi islands that our army is currently clearing."
"When our troops landed on Langkawi Island yesterday, they encountered resistance from some armed elements on the island. After eliminating these armed elements, we found that the true identities of some of them were very interesting."
When Roger said this, he paused intentionally, and then gave the answer: "We are sure that there are people from the local government who are colluding with the pirates!"
Kaza frowned and said: "Where is the evidence?"
Roger responded: "After we confirmed the identities of these people, we searched their residences and found some things that should not be here."
After Roger finished speaking, he made a gesture, and the soldiers presented the "material evidence" one by one, and there were quite a lot of them.
Dozens of pieces of silk and satin with exquisite patterns, several large baskets of porcelain tightly packed with straw, several boxes of Haihan cigarettes that have not yet been opened, pepper in sacks, and a lot of European silverware and tableware...
In addition to these things, there are also a large number of Spanish silver coins commonly available on the market, as well as stacks of Haihan banknotes and several gold bars as thick as a thumb.
Of course, these things are not unusual if they are in a trading port, but Langkawi, a small island with only two to three thousand permanent residents, most of which are indigenous, obviously does not have the corresponding spending power, and no businessman will There is obviously something wrong with the origin of so much high-end freight being sold here.
"We believe that these things are property stolen in previous pirate attacks. Obviously these pirates have not had time to dispose of the stolen goods and store them in the official office on Langkawi Island. This is indeed a very smart move. idea.”
"We are convinced that there are still pirates at large on the island. Our army has now taken control of the main settlements on the island. Next, we will conduct a comprehensive search of the mountainous forest areas on the island, and we must catch all the pirates!" Roger finished. Afterwards, seeing Kaza and Lopez still staring at the pile of stolen goods, they couldn't help but feel secretly proud.
Haihan's reason for sending troops is to combat piracy. As long as he can produce credible results, he can respond to other countries' doubts in the diplomatic field. Although the evidence prepared by the Military Intelligence Bureau is not perfect, it is enough to silence outsiders.
Kaza still couldn't believe it: "Lord Roger, these things...were they really found from the local government office?"
Roger nodded expressionlessly and said: "It's absolutely true. We haven't had time to conduct a detailed search of other places on the island, maybe we can find more evidence."
Kaza asked: "What about the witness?"
Roger responded: "We did capture a few alive and got some information from them, but this information is related to our subsequent operations against pirates and must be kept strictly confidential."
Kaza said: "Can't we hand these people over to Kedah or our country and let us try their crimes?"
Roger said: "To be honest, we are not sure yet whether there is someone behind these people. Handing them over would be equivalent to handing over the opportunity to destroy witnesses. For the sake of the overall situation, we do not plan to hand them back for the time being. Leave it to Kedah or your country”
Lopez noticed another detail in Roger's words: "Sir Roger, do you mean that the operation against pirates is not over yet?"
Roger nodded and said: "According to the intelligence we have, this group of pirates has strongholds in other places. The so-called eradication of evil is done. Now that we have sent out troops, we must complete the task."
Lopez asked: "Then what is your country's next target?"
Roger shook his head slightly and said: "This is a military secret and cannot be disclosed before the operation. But I can assure you that after the operation is successful, I will show you the results."
Such an answer would certainly not satisfy Kaza and Lopez, but they seemed unable to make Roger change his mind.
The most important thing is that Roger now has thousands of soldiers and a large armed fleet at his disposal, but what about them? It's just a mouth. Even if he wanted to negotiate with Roger, he couldn't come up with any meaningful conditions at all.
To be honest, they all had a lot of doubts about the "evidence" presented by Roger, but if they wanted to raise the doubts in person, they were worried that it would bring Haihan closer to the other party.
And this kind of invisible restriction is exactly why Roger arranged for them to participate in the meeting at the same time.
(End of chapter)