Chapter 3480
Takahashi Nan is not afraid of the Portuguese's conditions. The other party's willingness to raise conditions at this time shows that there is room for bargaining and the willingness to solve the problem, and this is the purpose of the two parties sitting together to discuss.
The request made by the Governor of Ceylon just proved that Gao Qiaonan's previous strategy was correct. Establishing contact with the Kingdom of Kandy made the Portuguese nervous about it, and then used it as a bargaining chip to ask the Portuguese to recognize Haihan's rights and interests in Ceylon.
Takahashi Minami didn't say anything. He meant that if you don't agree to my terms, it's hard to say what gadgets Haihan will sell to the Kingdom of Kandy. There might be some things that the Portuguese don't want to see. .
The Governor of Ceylon obviously understood the implication of Takahashi Nan and immediately stated that the close cooperation between the two countries has lasted for nearly thirty years and that conflicts should not arise over such small differences. As the Governor of Ceylon, he welcomed Haihan's friends garrisoned the island of Ceylon.
"I hope that the friendship between our two countries will not be affected by a third party, and we can continue to cooperate as always and jointly maintain the stability of Ceylon!"
The last meaningful words of the Governor of Ceylon clarified Portugal’s demands. He really didn't want to see Haihan join forces with the Kingdom of Kandy, which would mean that Portugal lost the opportunity to completely eliminate this old rival.
But he is also convinced that the common interests of Haihan and Portugal far outweigh the benefits that the Kingdom of Kandy can give Gaoqiao Nan. It should not be difficult to judge which is more important.
What Gao Qiaonan wanted was the official statement of the Governor of Ceylon, and he immediately expressed his approval and proposed that both parties sign a written document to record the contents of these agreements.
Takahashi Minami had no psychological pressure on how to deal with the trade relationship with the Kingdom of Kandy in the future. He had no intention of selling standard weapons and equipment to the indigenous people on the island, and he did not have to worry about being caught by the Portuguese.
As for whether the indigenous people used the steel blanks bought from Haihan to make farm tools or weapons, that was not Haihan's responsibility.
Both sides wanted to strike while the iron was hot, and immediately signed a memorandum of cooperation known as the "Ceylon Island Agreement" at the Government House.
According to the agreement, Portugal recognized Haihan's right to establish colonies, station troops, and engage in trade activities on the island of Ceylon. In addition to recognizing that Portugal has equal power, Haihan also promised not to sell military equipment to third-party forces in Ceylon.
In addition, there are some contents agreed upon by Conceicao and Takahashi Nan, which also need to be implemented with the consent of the Governor of Ceylon.
For example, Portugal needs to pay the special operations division the expenses related to the expedition, and then export 3,000 workers to Hambantota, etc. Although the Governor of Ceylon was not very satisfied with the conditions agreed by Conceicao, he could only agree at this point.
This memorandum of cooperation was not signed by the heads of government of the two countries, so its influence and actual effectiveness will be relatively limited. The two sides even "forgot" to indicate the validity period of this memorandum with a tacit understanding. That is to say, when necessary, both parties can terminate the performance of the agreement on their own.
To be honest, this is actually just a temporary agreement with compromises on both sides. Portugal does not really welcome Haihan's arrival, but is forced to bow temporarily due to the situation; Haihan is also unwilling to be bound by an agreement. , but it will take time to build the base of Hambantota, and before that, interference from the outside world must be avoided as much as possible.
That night, Qian Shaobao led the fleet back to Colombo. The fleet led by the Weixing followed the Dutch fleet and walked west for several hours. After confirming that the Dutch fleet should be sailing to the Port of Cochin on the west coast of the Indian Peninsula and had no intention of returning to the carbine, it returned to Gaoqiao Nan. . Although Qian Shaobao was performing a pursuit mission, Gao Qiaonan had already pointed out the essence of the mission to him. As long as the Dutch did not act excessively, he would naturally not attack rashly. There was no fighting between the two sides during this voyage, and they maintained a tacit understanding of a distance of about twenty miles.
However, the mission report after the incident only needs a little polishing, so it is not difficult to take credit for Qian Shaobao.
Takahashi Minami's attention was now on the several prisoners captured by his subordinates.
The retreat launched by the Dutch this morning was so hasty that the sporadic cavalry deployed in other directions of Colombo city to perform surveillance and follow-up tasks failed to evacuate with the large army.
These cavalry were not Dutch, but Indian soldiers from the Cochin Colony. After their master ran away, these Indian soldiers did not have a strong will to fight. They dismounted and surrendered after only a slight resistance.
Takahashi Minami had translators who could speak Dutch, but although these Indian soldiers could understand Dutch, they could only speak the local Tamil. Takahashi Minami had to negotiate with the Portuguese and borrowed a famous meeting The Tamil-speaking translator came over, and then his Portuguese translator communicated with him.
The interrogation of these prisoners was made possible through two translations. After a lot of trouble, Takahashi Nan finally knew why the Dutch evacuated in a hurry.
It turned out that after the Dutch failed to attack the Haihan beachhead yesterday afternoon, the commander, General Van Hollen, suddenly fell ill and was said to have been unconscious at the time. After one night of treatment by a private doctor, his condition showed no signs of improvement.
After some discussions among his deputies and subordinates, no one dared to assume the responsibility of starting a full-scale war with Haihan. Continuing to attack Colombo City has become an unrealistic goal. The only safe way to get out of trouble is to withdraw to Cochin.
So after dawn, several officers made a hurried decision to give up the siege and immediately organized the evacuation of the troops. However, many omissions inevitably occurred in the panic, and the fleet set sail in a hurry before even the people were evacuated.
Although these prisoners did not see Van Hollen's condition at the time of his illness, from the description they heard, Takahashi Minami guessed that his opponent should have suffered a sudden stroke due to the stimulation of defeat.
With the medical level of this era, it is probably difficult to take effective treatment measures for unconsciousness caused by stroke. The symptoms were so severe that even if he could wake up from the coma, he would probably not be able to escape the end of paralysis.
The commander is incapacitated and it is actually very wise to make the decision to retreat. Otherwise, if he continues to fight, he will just give the special operations division military exploits in vain.
Takahashi Minami was also quite emotional about this. If he had not led the special operations division to rescue Colombo in time and allowed Van Hollen to successfully break through the city, he might have suffered the same acute illness due to being too excited. But in that case, the conflict of interests between Haihan and Portugal would not be able to be successfully resolved through negotiation as it is now.
It is not difficult to imagine how excited the Governor of Ceylon in the city would be after receiving this news, and he would not let the unfinished barrel of Porto red wine stay overnight.