Chapter 1014 1105 Buying and Selling Prisoners of War

Chapter 1014 1105 Buying and Selling Prisoners of War

The order requiring his subordinates to guard against sneak attacks by the barbarians was quickly conveyed to all departments, especially the juncture of the siege of Tortoiseshell City and the barbarian defense line.

This place is commanded by a general flag officer of the Ming Army. Although he does not understand why such an order was issued, the general flag officer still gathered fifty local people around him, ready to deal with "friendly troops" from nearby. Possible adverse actions.

Deng Zilong also personally arranged the Ming army's artillery position and moved two of the artillery to the east of the position, always ready to deal with possible attacks by the barbarians.

Not long after, Deng Zilong received news from Lin Baihu behind him that the vanguard of Sulu soldiers had gathered about 2,000 people and were secretly lurking behind the woods ten miles behind the position.

The remaining troops are also being assembled and will arrive at the periphery of the battlefield later to wait.

Although Deng Zilong did not put out the Sulu army immediately, he made some preparations, that is, an army of more than a thousand people was on standby at any time.

King Bakr of Sulu divided the army into three, led by him and two other generals to prepare for war, while the other troops took turns to rest.

In this way, when the Ming army needs help, an army can join the battlefield as soon as possible.

At this time, the overall development level of Luzon Island was very low. The island was densely covered with dense forests composed of towering trees, which provided a good hiding environment for them to hide.

Moreover, these big trees are also excellent materials for building sea ships.

Compared with the increasingly scarce timber resources in the Ming Dynasty, Luzon Island was just like Dongfan Island. Deng Zilong's eyes lit up when he came here.

Before entering the Nanhai Navy, he had no idea about these things.

However, after following Yu Dayou into the navy, especially in order to raise wood for shipbuilding, it was often necessary to transport wood from Qiongzhou and Guangxi. Not only was it a lot of trouble, the transportation process was also very labor-intensive and financial.

This situation did not change until the Ming army entered Dongfan Island. After establishing the port, the first step was to cut down a large number of surrounding trees, part of which was used to build fences, and more good materials were hoarded for shipbuilding. .

However, the Ming army had only been stationed on Dongfan Island for a short period of time, and the prepared wood still needed several years of processing before it could be used to build ships.

Even so, after solving the problem of wood for shipbuilding, the further expansion of Nanhai Navy is just around the corner.

"Who said Luzon Island is lacking in resources? These trees alone are worth the Ming Dynasty."

At this time, Deng Zilong, who had completed the arrangement in front of the formation, looked back at the large trees that were ready not far away and muttered in a low voice.

It is conceivable that if the Ming army established a foothold here, they could choose a place to build a shipyard on the seaside to provide the navy with a steady stream of warships.

As for the Ming Dynasty, they only needed to transport the navy officers and soldiers who picked up the ship here, and then they could pick up the newly built warship and return to the country or go to the old port.

Thinking of Old Port, Deng Zilong couldn't help but wonder whether the environment there was the same scene with towering ancient trees as here.

If that were the case, the Ming Dynasty would not have to worry about running out of wood to build new ships for at least hundreds of years.

Deng Zilong was in a wonderful mood at this time, and twenty miles behind the Spanish position was a heavily defended military camp with a simple wooden house in the center.

In the room, Philippine Defense Commander Savera was pacing back and forth with an anxious look on his face.

Not long after, a guard came in, saluted first and then reported: "Your Excellency, Commander, it has been found out that the Ming Dynasty general led 500 people to block the outside of the prisoner camp and asked us to hand over the prisoners to them.

They said that these people were from the Ming Dynasty and could only be dealt with by the laws of the Ming Dynasty and could not be handed over to us.

Lieutenant Miguel has rushed over to negotiate with them, and there should be a result soon. "

"Five hundred people

Immediately ask Anthony to bring twenty musketeers to support, and then bring two hundred servants.

We have too few troops in the prison camp. I'm afraid these Ming people will break in and take away these prisoners. "

Commander Savela immediately concluded that the Ming people took so many people to the prison camp, obviously not to negotiate, but to rob people.

There were only about a dozen Spanish soldiers in the prisoner camp, and the remaining about two hundred people were temporarily recruited servants.

If they really fight, they will obviously suffer even more.

After the guards went out to deliver orders, Savela looked even more restless.

These thousands of captives were originally free labor in his eyes. Now that they were short of manpower to build Manila, someone just happened to be sent.

However, given the current situation, he had to think carefully about whether the price of these thousands of prisoners was worth falling out with the Ming Kingdom.

At this time, in Xavera's eyes, Lin Feng was still the biggest enemy of their Kingdom of Spain. After all, he once led his men to attack them.

Although the Ming Kingdom is more powerful, the exchanges between the two sides have been pretty good so far, and the Ming Kingdom has not shown a strong ambition to expand outward.

According to what the businessmen told them when they came back, the Ming Dynasty seemed to have no idea about the expansion of overseas territories. They felt that except for their own country, everything else was remote and barren land, and it was not worth spending energy to occupy.

If the upper-level rulers of this country have such thoughts, they naturally have nothing to worry about.

After wiping out the Lin Feng pirate group, these Ming people should leave here and return to the Ming Dynasty.

And these prisoners may be taken away by them and brought back to the country for punishment.

Savera also knew a little about the Ming Dynasty's attitude towards pirates. He knew that most of these people would be beheaded when they returned, and it was impossible for them to survive.

Before, Savera refused to deliver prisoners to the Ming Dynasty based on this consideration.

It would be better to help build their Manila city than to be beheaded when they returned.

But now looking at the actions of the Ming army, it seems that if they don't get these people, they will not stop until they die.

"Forget it, let's spend money to buy these people from the Ming Dynasty generals.

I think their price should not be very high."

The idea of ​​buying people appeared in Savera's mind, because the Spanish merchants also told him that Ming Dynasty officials were very greedy.

Many things that cannot be done, as long as they give their officials some silver coins, they will turn a blind eye and acquiesce to them.

"I don't know if a hundred silver coins can buy these prisoners."

After calculating in his mind, Savera offered a price for the prisoners in his hands.

Of course, this is not his psychological price.

In fact, even if they hired this group of Ming soldiers to help them wipe out the Lin Feng Pirate Group, they would have to pay at least thousands of eight-riel silver coins for this. If they were only given a hundred or a few hundred eight-riel, they would still make a lot of money.

"But the price cannot be settled in one go. Let Miguel negotiate slowly."

After thinking about it, Savella still did not intend to turn against the Ming people, at least not now.

Things that can be done with a little money are actually trivial.

The current Spanish silver coins are produced in Mexico in an endless stream, and they are not considered rare at all.

Yes, Mexico almost monopolized the production of most silver coins in the next few hundred years.

It can be said that without the huge output of silver coins in Mexico, world trade would shrink by an unknown amount in the next few hundred years.

Of course, the silver mines in South America are also huge, but they have not been discovered at this time, so naturally there is no talk of mining.

Mexico is really a silver country with endless silver mines.

When Savella made up his mind and planned to spend money to resolve the dispute, Miguel had already arrived at the prisoner camp and was negotiating with Wang Wanggao.

"Miguel, do you think that the Ming Dynasty will hand over the people to outsiders for punishment? They are guilty, and they will be punished by the laws of the Ming Dynasty.

I will give you face now, you immediately go to Commander Savella to make it clear that the people must be handed over to me to take away."

Wang Wanggao already knew Deng Zilong's plan, and naturally showed an aggressive momentum.

However, since the other party wanted to talk, it was obviously not possible to force his way in at the first time.

He had already thought about letting Miguel go back once, and if he was still unwilling to hand over the people when he came back, then he could do it.

Even if the Spaniards came to reinforce just now, it didn't matter whether the people inside could be snatched out, in Wang Wanggao's eyes.

There was actually no difference between dying here and returning to the Ming Dynasty.

It can only be said that human life is really worthless in this era, and Wang Wanggao didn't care much about the life and death of the prisoners of war inside.

"Well, Captain Wang, please wait a moment. I will go back and ask the commander."

Miguel has said a lot of good things, hoping to fool Wang Wanggao first.

But it seems that this time it won't work, and they have brought troops.

After temporarily settling the Ming army, Miguel quickly rushed to Savella's headquarters and reported the situation of the prisoner camp.

"I understand, the Ming people want to take those prisoners away, but."

After listening to Miguel's report quietly, Savella said: "We also need manpower, and Manila City still needs a large number of laborers to build the city.

You tell the Ming people that we are willing to buy these prisoners of war with silver coins, eight riels for ten prisoners of war."

"Commander, do you mean to buy prisoners of war with money? But they are our prisoners."

Miguel asked in surprise.

"It's called buying prisoners of war, but in fact it's just paying a commission for hiring them to help eliminate pirates."

Savila looked at Miguel and smiled, "How much do you think it will cost to hire these Ming people to fight for us?"

After being enlightened by Savilla, Miguel also knew the commander's calculations at once.

Indeed, if mercenaries were recruited, the cost would be even greater, and they would have to go to Manciga, where there were a large number of Spanish and Portuguese mercenaries.

The Portuguese came here by bypassing Africa, and actually came earlier than them, so there were more people.

Although Spain and Portugal have a bad relationship, the two countries have the same attitude on the issue of suppressing indigenous peoples.

What's more, the mercenaries they deal with don't care which country you are from, just give money, as long as you don't go to fight their motherland.

"I understand, Your Excellency the Commander, I will go and talk to the Ming people about this."

Miguel thought that spending money should be okay. He had heard from those businessmen countless times that Ming officials were greedy for money. At this time, being reminded by Savilla, he also felt that the Ming people wanted these prisoners for money.

Yes, going to the Philippines to wipe out pirates will get nothing except promotion and honor when returning home. Perhaps this is why the generals of the Ming Dynasty made such a fuss. They wanted to get some money from them.

Just as Miguel opened the door to leave, Savilla's voice came from behind him.

"If they are not satisfied with the price, you can raise it a little bit. Now is not the right time to turn against the Ming people. Our top priority is to wipe out Lin Feng first.

Only by killing him can our Lord Governor sleep peacefully, otherwise he will be awakened from his dreams, hehe."

Savera teased.

"Yes, Your Excellency Commander."

Miguel also said with a smile on his face.

Soldiers never had a good impression of politicians like Governor Vesalius, they were nothing more than run-down nobles.

Without these soldiers, those colonies would not have become the territory of the kingdom.

Soon, Miguel returned to the prisoner camp and started negotiations with Wang Wangao again.

Wang Wanggao was still very surprised when Miguel said that these prisoners could be purchased with silver coins.

Yes, the Ming Dynasty actually prohibited the sale of people, except for those with low status.

And the people in the prison camp now will also be criminals when they go back. The pirates should be beheaded, and their families should be sold into slavery.

Well, before coming, Deng Zilong only gave him the two options of handing over or not handing over, but did not tell him what to do if the Yi people were willing to spend money.

There was some embarrassment in my heart. The earlier plan to start fighting directly was naturally difficult to carry out.

Moreover, breaking up with the Yi people was something Deng Zilong tried his best to avoid.

This may also be something that the leaders of both sides are avoiding, that is, before Lin Feng is eliminated, they must try their best to avoid chaos caused by internal conflicts.

But at this time, Wang Wangao immediately shook his head after hearing Miguel's quotation.

"You are telling a joke, even if it is a lowly job, it cannot be so cheap in Ming Dynasty.

The labor of a mature man is worth at least three taels of silver, and the labor of a woman is also worth two taels of silver.”

Immediately, Wang Wanggao started talking to Miguel about the price, but when Miguel wasn't paying attention, he still gestured to the soldiers behind him with his hand behind his back, asking them to go back and report to Deng Zilong.

He can't make the decision on this matter.

If the barbarians refuse, then they will directly rob them. He can give this order.

But for selling people, he thought it would be better to report it.

I don’t know if General Deng has this intention.

Although Yu Dayou was still relatively strict on military discipline after forming the Nanhai Navy, it did not stop them from deducting the military pay of their subordinates. It was just limited and they could not ignore the life and death of the soldiers as they did in the past.

The other thing is the reward after the war. They are not allowed to hand over this money.

Therefore, Wang Wanggao was not sure whether Deng Zilong would want the money.

Even if a person has one tael of silver, that is still an income of thousands of taels of silver, which is not a small amount.

Moreover, as the war progresses, there will only be more prisoners, and the money will also increase.

At least for a family like him, a thousand taels of silver was a lot of money. He had to save for at least twenty years to get so much.

The amount deducted from a hundred households in a year would only amount to a few dozen taels of silver, which would require reselling some supplies.

After all, the military salary was too small, and it had already been divided up several times by the superiors in his hands. (End of chapter)