Chapter 822 Bargaining

"You are blackmailing!" Gesman retorted angrily: "You can't treat the people of the Kingdom of Spain like this!"

If, according to Minami Takahashi, 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 this ransom fee for these lowly pariahs, exiled criminals, rude mercenaries and ignorant farmers. After receiving this news, it is very difficult to

It is possible that they might as well not even send a ship, but simply give up these hostages. For them, thousands of immigrants rush from Europe to the Far East every year, so why spend a lot of money to buy them back from the Haihan people?

these prisoners.

Takahashi Nan smiled and said: "Do you think this price is too high? During this period, we have to provide food, housing and support for the prisoners of war. We can't pay the price in vain, right?"

Takahashi Minami opened his mouth as soon as he came up, which actually left room for Gusman to bargain. He understood that Gusman could not bother with him too much on this issue, as long as the Spaniards in the city wanted to keep the

If you want to leave here safely with your life, you must pay a certain price. In fact, paying ransom for prisoners of war is a common thing on European battlefields, and there is nothing unacceptable for the Spaniards. Gesman's anger

It was more that the bidding price from Takahashi Minami was too outrageous than 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. Anything more than this figure

It’s hard to forgive and 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 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, is Takahashi Minami's statement meant to

Detain all the Spaniards?

"That's right, including you and Mr. Alcarazo in the city." As if he guessed Gesman's thoughts, Takahashi Minami explained: "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. Takahashi Nan'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,

Then the Manila authorities may not be able to maintain a numb attitude. After all, if even the officials of the Taipei colony give up, the news will likely affect the mentality of other colonial officials in the Far East after the news spreads.

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 can't get the money he wants.

"Your Majesty General, in fact, we are just ordinary people working for the Manila authorities. We are not prominent 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

You may be disappointed." Gesman tried to maintain a calm tone and persuaded: "I think we should discuss 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 negotiable, but we have to see your sincerity."

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, how much..." 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, what will happen to me?"

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 this 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 take him about ten years to earn this money. The temptation is indeed not small. However, Takahashi Minami is not a person who is greedy for money.

As a man, for him, material comforts are far less comfortable than those on the battlefield. No matter how much property 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 gave almost nothing to Haihan.

If the army is still empty-handed at Jilong Port, it will be difficult for Gao Qiaonan to have the face to explain to Qian Tiandun after he returns.

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 in, the greater the military merits of Takahashi Minami will be. The value of Gesman's bid to him is far less than the commendation order from the Military Commission.

"The first batch of people who want to leave here will be given 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 Minami raised his hand to stop Gesman from speaking:

"You don't need 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'm going to say something ugly up front. After we break the city defense, there will be no more bargaining for you.

There is no room for you to take away even a single silver coin from here!"

Gesman immediately made a calculation in his mind. In addition to Alcarazor and himself, there were at least four or five important people in the city who had to escape unscathed. Six thousand each, which would cost thirty to forty thousand silver coins.

Including the later 50,000, this is actually not much different from the 3,000 paid in one day. The difference is that if you want to leave here safely as soon as possible, you have to pay a sum of money to the Haihan people first.

To pay for travel expenses, given the economic situation in El Salvador, it would be good if the city's treasury could raise two to three thousand silver coins. The bulk of this money would definitely have to be paid out of one's own 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 and silver jewelry contained in it is only about four thousand silver coins, and it is not enough to fill it all in. Alcarazo may be in a slightly better situation than himself, but for him, the ransom fee of six thousand silver coins is also the same.

is an unacceptable number.

The bitterness on Gesman's face could not be concealed: "Your Excellency 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 financially they have always been unable to make ends meet, so how can they get so much money together?”

Takahashi Nan ignored his distress and looked up at the sky in the distance without responding. This was not the first time he negotiated with the enemy under such circumstances. When fighting in Annan, South Vietnamese officials spent money to redeem themselves.

There are quite a lot of people, and there are also some people who obediently pay for things while complaining endlessly. After seeing them more often, Minami Takahashi will naturally become immune to these methods. If Gesman doesn't know how to promote and wants to significantly lower the price, then Takahashi

Nan didn'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 main reason why he is willing to sit down and negotiate with the other party now is mainly

Or consider reducing your 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 had to pay 40,000 silver coins.

While waiting for Manila to send a ship to pick them up, they have to 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 is another question. But Gao Qiaonan is not very

I don't care whether Manila will pay a second ransom payment, because the labor required for mining the mineral deposits near Jilong Port is by no means a small amount. Naturally, these prisoners of war detained in Jilong Port will not be idle, and they will definitely do so before leaving here.

They were requisitioned as miners. If Manila doesn't pay to redeem them, they will probably have to dig here until they die. Takahashi Minami believes that the value they can create before then will definitely exceed the value they have to pay to the Spanish at this time.

The amount of ransom required.

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 Alcalazo of the process in detail. Just as he imagined, Alcala

After hearing this, Suo was extremely angry - 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 dry first and then kill us!"

Gesman has been working with Alcarazor in Taipei for several years, and he naturally knows that he is greedy for money, so it would be difficult to accept such a large loss. However, Gesman is certain that Alcarazo is more afraid of losing it than money.

His greed for life and fear of death is no less than his own. Although he is shouting loudly 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 things come to pass. 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 patiently persuaded: "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 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 be able to 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 on the Haihan people to prepare for the future battle of revenge."

Gesman thought to himself that before it was decided whether he could escape unscathed, he started thinking about the revenge battle, which was quite far-reaching. But he also knew that Alcarazo said this just to make him surrender.

The behavior is just a high-sounding reason. Even if the Manila authorities launch a revenge war against the Haihan people in the future, the leader will definitely not be Alcarazo, the chicken coop chief who suffered a huge defeat. Maybe the big shots won't do it at all.

Will let him participate in related matters again.

"Then what we have to do now is to first consider the allocation 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 hundreds of Spaniards in the city. Who can pay and whose status is more important?

Importantly, these are very troublesome issues.

But the enemies outside the city did not leave enough time for Alcarazo 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.

A ransom fee of 40,000 silver coins, and at the same time appease the army and people in the city and let them accept the fact of surrender. No matter what it is, it is a big test for Alcarazo. Can any of the links be handled?

No matter how bad it is, he may be affected by it and unable to leave this place safely.
Chapter completed!