Chapter 87 Compensation
Having said that, there seems to be no room for maneuver. But Ruwang had a heavy responsibility and had to move on. It would be fine if it was just a defeat in a naval battle; but if the flagship and the entire fleet were destroyed, it would inevitably greatly change the situation in the Far East, and it could even be a shocking overthrow. The Portuguese have brought disaster upon themselves, but his bank has invested in Portuguese bonds and cannot afford such a huge loss.
Face means nothing in the face of profit. No matter how frustrated he was, he could only rack his brains and forcefully piece together an excuse:
"Even if you don't follow the rules of Europe, you should follow the rules of Da'an. Your emperor has always been merciful..."
"The emperor is indeed very merciful." Mu Qi said casually, "So the court rarely executes the entire family now. Usually, they just execute the person or behead him, and even keep his body intact. This is all because of the present emperor's heavenly mercy. You should all respect him."
Compared with Emperor Gaozu and Emperor Taizong, the current Feixuan Zhenjun Wanshou Emperor is indeed very kind-hearted. If Emperor Zhu Laosi had gotten hold of a treasure like the rocket, there is no telling what kind of tricks he would have come up with in Southeast Asia. Given the brutal tactics used by the Da'an Army to deal with Annan and Burma back then, the Prince of Mu's minor tricks of using poison gas, fire attacks, and water and mines can be regarded as the behavior of a mild and weak conservative.
Ru Wang took a deep breath, looked around helplessly, his eyes sweeping across the silent and wooden faces on the mountain peaks. At the same time, he rubbed his sleeves with his hands, trying desperately to hint - according to the unspoken rules of the officialdom today, this meant being willing to spend a lot of money and make many requests, asking the officials present to lobby on his behalf. The so-called argument is irrefutable, and the only thing to do is to let the people inside calm down.
Unfortunately, it is impossible for foreign merchants to infiltrate the circle of Central Plains. It is true that corruption is rampant throughout the Da'an court, but no matter how much money is valued, one cannot speak for outsiders in front of colleagues. If the relationship is not well-prepared beforehand, how can you be successful when the time comes?
It's not that Ruwang didn't understand this truth, but he was desperate and had to take a risk. Seeing that there was no support from any direction, sweat gradually began to seep out of his forehead. In despair and anxiety, Ru Wang accidentally glanced around and saw that the prince of Duke Mu was calm and composed, with a slight smile on his face, as if the previous argument was just a passing gust of wind and was not worth bothering with at all...
Ru Wang's heart skipped a beat and he suddenly came to his senses. Now it was too late to lay the groundwork, he blurted out:
"Wait a minute, Prince! If these officers can be spared, the Portuguese will certainly be willing to pay the ransom—"
"Oh?" Prince Mu finally responded: "The Portuguese are willing to pay to ransom me?"
"Of course, of course." Seeing that his words worked, Ru Wang's heart was lifted: "Those who are qualified to mobilize flagships are all great nobles, top nobles. For such great nobles, there must be many people in the country who are willing to pay a ransom, and a high ransom! There will definitely be a lot of money!"
He deliberately emphasized the word "high amount", hoping to touch the prince's heart. The upper circles in Europe are all united, and aristocrats of this level cannot easily get into trouble, otherwise his involvement as a banker will be exposed, and his days will surely be very difficult.
The social circle of the great nobles can’t afford to offend the prince of Duke Mu, so can’t they afford to offend you, the Confucian respect? The iron fist of the palace hurts a lot!
But unexpectedly, the prince raised his eyebrows and his tone suddenly became cold:
"Ransom? The most important affairs of a country are sacrifice and war. It is inappropriate to haggle over the price when the country is at war, Mr. Ruwang."
Mr. Ruwang was caught off guard, his eyes bulged out, he was so surprised and horrified that he could not describe it. He and the Prince of Duke Mu had known each other for dozens of days, and they knew each other quite well. From their previous interactions, he did not think the Prince was such a high-sounding person who cared more about face than money. !
Didn’t I say the ransom is negotiable? Is it really worth such righteous words?
Cold sweat broke out on Ruwang's back again. But he was a well-informed businessman, so he reacted in an instant and quickly changed his words:
"My Chinese is not good, so I said it wrong. It's not a ransom, it's not a ransom; it's war reparations that Portugal has willingly paid for the losses it has caused to your country!"
This one sentence was enough to save the situation. The prince's face immediately showed a smile, as if he was very satisfied with Ruwang's understanding. As the saying goes, one must first rectify one's reputation before governing. The use of military force by the court was such a big deal that the wording should of course be extremely cautious. If he, the imperial envoy, accidentally agreed to this "ransom", wouldn't it be a disgrace to the wisdom of Master Feixuan and lower the court's taste to the level of bandits? Only the four words "war reparations" are perfect and most suitable for his status as an imperial envoy.
Since the foreigner is so sensible, the prince will not beat around the bush. He glanced around and started to ask the question:
"Mr. Ruwang has expressed his sincerity. What do you think?"
What can you think? Everyone followed the prince and posed on the top of the mountain for a long time. The cold wind had made their noses crooked, their eyes slanted, and their legs tremble. They were already tired and exhausted and could not bear it any longer. They all hoped to go home to drink some hot water to soak their feet and write down the jokes they had just thought of today. Now that the Crown Prince has shown his intention to end the war, the officials are of course eager to hear it, so they bow one by one and express their stance in turn. Their attitudes are very clear, and they are all willing to obey the important decision made by the Crown Prince as the imperial envoy, without any hesitation.
Subordinates obey superiors, and localities obey the court. This is an iron rule that cannot be broken in the Da'an officialdom. Before the power of the Prince of Mu is obviously shaken, local officials will never openly disobey the wishes of the central government. But even though everyone below agreed in unison without any hesitation, the prince's gaze still lingered for a moment, until he saw Qi Yuanjing nod slightly at him, then he finally smiled.
After everyone expressed their opinions one by one, there were no more regulatory loopholes in the process. The prince nodded happily and said happily:
"In this case, I cannot help but appreciate the benevolence of heaven and the love of your majesty." He said in a gentle voice: "Then I'll trouble Mr. Ruwang to convey a message to us using flags. As long as they surrender unconditionally, I will stop the attack."
Ru Wang was shocked: "Unconditional surrender? Does this mean——"
Can a noble endure such a great humiliation? This is not grace at all, it is clearly a great humiliation!
The prince glanced at him indifferently. The merchant took a deep breath and dared not speak anymore.
·
Just as Ruwang expected, after receiving such a huge humiliation, even though the remaining flagship had been almost collapsed by the repeated attacks, the remaining morale still erupted - a dozen higher-ranking sailors actually managed to prop up the half-destroyed bow gun, loaded it with ammunition and fired a shot, bombarding the coast in almost despair. The so-called "Red Cannon" of Portugal and Spain is indeed one of the best firearms today, a killer weapon that can turn the tide of naval battles; but the craftsmen who launched the rockets were hiding far away behind the hills and woods, and there was no enemy to be found anywhere. These madly pouring shells were more of a vent than a retaliation, and were completely ineffective except for causing waves near the coast. They did frighten Ruwang, who had come down the mountain to direct people to signal with flags.
As the saying goes, if you don't accept a toast, you will be punished. Faced with such a stubborn opponent, Mu Qi did not say any more nonsense. He directly ordered his subordinates to replace the rockets, remove the extra Feixuan Zhenjun and Qingmiao Emperor, and replace most of the warheads with Wanshou Emperor's, and spray poison gas at the sailboat.
It should be said that the Portuguese sailors were able to travel around the world, burning, killing and looting, which showed that they had both endurance and willpower, otherwise they would not have been able to survive the outrageous sailing conditions of that era; even if they were thrown into hell, they might be able to grit their teeth and endure it. However, the hell in the classical era was nothing more than sulfur, fire and thick smoke, which had probably reached the limit of human imagination at that time; and now the Wanshou Emperor was roaring down, in addition to the above three things, there were also more powerful chlorides and fluorides, which were more innovative than the old-fashioned hell, and it was really not something that ordinary people could withstand.
Besides, the European naval wars were fought without fatal blows, mostly because of the tacit understanding among the nobles and their covetousness for the spoils. At present, when shipbuilding technology is relatively backward, a sailing ship that can be used as a warship is a huge asset. Even if it is bombed to pieces in an artillery battle, it can be repaired and used again after being captured. In order to prevent the defeated party from becoming desperate and sinking their ships, appropriate preferential treatment is also necessary.
But now - now, the Wanshou Emperor, which was falling like raindrops, sprayed out a large amount of poisonous fog, most of which settled at the bottom of the cabin, completely eliminating the possibility of sailors going down to the cabin to scuttle the ship and sink it into the sea. So they could only huddle on the deck, wailing and struggling, with nowhere to hide or take shelter. They could only fire a few rounds of cannon in anger when there were gaps in the rockets, watching the shells swirling out, only stirring up a few waves in the sea.
Only silence is the greatest contempt. After conquering so many wild lands by force, it is finally the turn of the Portuguese to experience this contempt.
Being beaten up unilaterally is very demoralizing, especially in this purgatory of poisonous gas and fire. No matter how tenacious the so-called aristocratic spirit is, it will not last long. But things have progressed to such a point where there is no suspense, and the prince is too lazy to spend time watching the subsequent procrastinating plot. He waited for a moment, then handed his telescope to Qi Yuanjing, indicating that he would entrust all the aftermath matters to General Qi and the local officials, thus demonstrating the court's absolute trust in him. After singing his high-pitched speech, he raised his hand, signaling to the officials who were freezing in the cold wind to go back to their offices and do their work as usual. He then slowly walked down the mountain surrounded by a crowd, looking contented and in high spirits.
When the group was halfway there, Hai Gangfeng came up with the trembling Ru Wang. After the war started, he had been waiting at the foot of the mountain to lead the militia, supervising the progress of the craftsmen in launching rockets at any time, in order to prevent the Portuguese from rushing ashore in the event of a loss in the naval battle. He also had to cooperate with Qi Yuanjing to launch an ambush. But he stayed at the foot of the mountain for a long time without any news, and basically did nothing except launching rockets as instructed. He waited and waited until he was really anxious, and happened to see Ru Wang, who went to wave flags to persuade the enemy to surrender, was beaten back in a panic, so he simply took his men up the mountain to ask for instructions.
The prince also happened to be looking for someone to talk to. When he saw the two of them coming to meet him, he immediately waved his hand to let the officials behind him step back, and then asked with a smile:
"How did Mr. Ruwang talk?"
What else can I do? Due to the limited range, the shells on the flagship could not hit the shore, but the roar of the cannons and the surging waves still made the merchants who were caught off guard feel a little frustrated. He calmed himself down before speaking softly:
"They agreed to pay the compensation, but asked the prince to guarantee..."
"I have no promises." The prince said immediately: "Unconditional surrender is the only way out. If they not only refuse to surrender, but also dare to resist stubbornly, then they will have to bear all the consequences themselves."
What does "all consequences" mean?
Even a day ago, this statement was just pure empty talk and a meaningless threat. But now Ruwang no longer dared to have such confidence. He could only hum and remain silent.
But it's not a big deal. Although he was hit by cannonballs from the frustrated Portuguese, Ruwang had already seen through the telescope and knew that their mental state would not last long. The so-called "guarantee" is just an excuse to back off from the situation and to find a decent excuse for surrender; but since the prince is unwilling to give this way out... then he can only roll down by himself.
As long as you are willing to think positively, there are always more solutions than problems. A living person cannot be suffocated to death by urine. After all, he is a man who has worked hard in the colony. How could he really die by banging his head against a wall just for the sake of face?
Although the negotiations were ruined this time, I believe the officers on the ship will change their minds as long as the poisonous smoke lasts for a few more quarters of an hour.
However, before starting the next round of negotiations, Ruwang still has to find out his employer's bottom line. So he was silent for a moment, and finally mustered up the courage to speak:
"The Portuguese finally agreed to pay the indemnity. But the amount of the indemnity..."
Mu Qi hummed and looked back at Hai Gangfeng:
"May I ask Prefect Hai, how much did Shangyu lose in this war preparation?"
Of course, such numbers had been calculated long ago. Hai Gangfeng blurted out:
"The total is probably around thirty thousand taels."
"I see." The prince nodded slightly, then turned around:
"We want three million taels."
Hai Gangfeng:? !
Ruwang:? ! ! ! !
——No, no, buddy, are you out of your mind or have you gone out and banged your head against a wall? Are you talking normal language? !
Three million taels! If you can squeeze three million taels out of the Portuguese population, why not just ride on their necks and let them call you their daddy!
No, let alone a mere living father; even if God came down to earth as the Messiah, he would not be able to get three million taels from the mouths of these blood-thirsty, money-hungry, greedy and conscienceless colonists - to be honest, instead of asking them to pay so much, you might as well let them simply admit that King Hong is really the second brother of the Messiah; anyway, the annual indulgence package of the Holy See will definitely not cost so much.
Perhaps this number was too much. Ru Wang could no longer hold back his nerves and spoke in a tone that was almost infuriating:
"Please understand, my lord, this is impossible!"
"Why?"
"Because three million taels is too much!" Ru Wang blurted out, "Even if the fleet sent by the Portuguese this time, the total cost will not be more than three million taels!"
Spend three million taels to redeem a fleet that has been bombed to pieces and is beyond repair? Do you think the Portuguese are stupid?
"But aren't there distinguished nobles on board the fleet?"
Can it be the same? What noble aristocracy can compare with three million taels of silver?
Of course, Ruwang couldn't openly engage in double standards, so he could only change the subject:
"Indemnity must always be paid. Although your country has made such a request, as long as the Portuguese refuse to pay, what can you do?"
After this battle, he also saw clearly that the reason why Prince Mu had to go to great lengths to use King Hong's secret method to lure the enemy to his door was because the Central Plains' long-distance navigation capability was really poor; but even if they won a great victory now, there would be no fundamental improvement in their long-distance navigation capability. Even if the Portuguese refused to pay compensation, could Daan still come to collect the debt?
People have to respect reality and just be content with what they have.
"Oh, this argument is very interesting." The prince smiled: "Sir, you are indeed very discerning. We really don't have the ability to come to your house and ask for money."
Ru Wang let out a long sigh of relief and immediately tried to take over the conversation to ease the atmosphere.
"But the same old saying applies. If the mountain doesn't come to me, I will go to the mountain. If we can't come to your door, there will always be someone who can." The prince said calmly: "Sir, you may not know that the three types of rockets launched now, Feixuan Zhenjun, Qingmiao Emperor, and Wanshou Emperor, can all be sold to foreign countries. If the Portuguese refuse to compensate, then we can only sell arms to subsidize our family expenses; the final destination of these rockets may be a little difficult to control..."
The advantage of rockets is that they are easy to transport and launch. After practicing them for a while, even an illiterate person can carry a rocket launcher and fire one. Once such simple and dangerous weapons are spread in large quantities, the Portuguese military advantage in Asia will undoubtedly be greatly reduced. Apart from anything else, as long as there is a assassin who can hide in the harbor and fire a few shots at the anchored sailboats at regular intervals, the navy that the colonial empire relies on to command various places will surely suffer a very painful blow; at that time, the Portuguese colonies may be...
A fleet is not worth three million taels, and a few nobles are not worth three million taels; but how much is the stability and peace of the South Sea colonies worth?
Ru Wang's expression finally became uncertain.
Of course, he was indeed moody. The reason why Europeans were able to colonize the Far East was not because of any religious or moral advantages, but because of their absolute superiority in military force. If there really is a weapon that can eliminate this advantage, then it is not just Portugal that will be threatened, but all colonial empires including Britain, and all outsiders who rely on violence to bully others.
In other words, if the three million is not paid honestly, all the dinner tables in Europe will be overturned!
Ruwang certainly could not allow such a terrible thing. His expression changed drastically, and he finally squeezed out a warning:
"Prince, the cost of building these rockets must be quite high..."
If rockets are huge and expensive, then they cannot spread even if they want to, and the danger is certainly much smaller. If you seize this point and hold on to it hard, you can always bargain down the price!
In any case, three million taels is too outrageous!
"It's not bad." The prince said: "This is just a prototype. Excluding the initial R&D costs, the total price is about 10,000 taels..."
He paused, as if remembering something:
"If Mr. Ruwang hadn't told me, I would have forgotten that the cost of the ten thousand taels has not been taken into account. Please tell the Portuguese that our compensation has been changed to four million taels."
Ruwang: ——What?
Ru Wang stared for a moment, then took a breath and wished he could slap himself in the face!
I told you not to talk too much, I told you not to ask about the price, I told you not to have a brain!
But there was nothing that could be done now, because the prince continued to speak:
"Of course, this is just the initial cost. If you choose the Youth Fantasy Edition with reduced configuration, the cost can be reduced to 5,000 taels. What do you think, sir?"
What else can you think? If 5,000 taels can destroy a fleet, then the navies of all the European powers will be wiped out!
Ruwang stood there in a daze, unable to utter a word.
However, Prince Mu would not give him any time to adjust his mindset. He turned around and seemed to want to greet his followers:
"Yes, now it's not proper for only Prefect Hai and I to discuss the expenses. We should find General Qi and ask him about the military expenses for this security operation..."
Before he could finish his words, Ru Wang was pissing and shitting, and ran down the mountain at full speed!
·
The group watched the sea merchant tumbling down the mountain, and then he disappeared around the rocks as if he was escaping. They all sighed for a moment. After a moment of silence, the prince turned to look at Hai Gangfeng:
"In fact, Mr. Gangfeng could have reported a little more just now. The foreigners can't see the government's account books."
Hai Gangfeng: …………
He said with difficulty: "Those Portuguese want to pay so much..."
"That's not a big deal." The prince said, "The Portuguese are now occupying the cornucopia of Southeast Asia, with plenty of money to make, so they can definitely afford the compensation."
Nowadays, the fare for a ship going to Southeast Asia and India is five thousand taels; the fare for a ship going to Europe and the New World is eight thousand taels. When the two places are combined, the net profit from taxes collected in a year is more than five million taels. The Portuguese have been plundering for a long time, so what is there that they cannot afford to pay back?
"Besides, even if you can't afford the compensation now, you can still pay it in installments." The prince said calmly: "Four million taels will be paid off in ten years, with an interest rate of 3%. During the compensation period, customs duties and commercial taxes will be used as collateral, and the balance will be guaranteed by a bank loan... There are many ways to make money."
There are indeed a lot of them, and they are indeed very good. Each and every one of these methods were personally taught to Middle-earth by the imperialists. They are so painful that they are engraved in our hearts and cannot be forgotten. Now that we have this opportunity, how can we not give back to our teachers?
A disciple does not have to be inferior to his teacher, and a teacher does not have to be better than his disciple. This is the universal truth.
"Of course, the old colonial empire still has its cards on its chest." Mu Qi seemed to be thinking, "It is said that the amount of gold and silver plundered by the Portuguese in the New World is incalculable. Now this little compensation can only temporarily curb their ambitions and adjust the layout of Southeast Asia. In the final analysis, it is nothing."
Ruwang’s opinion is actually not wrong. After all, the Da'an court lacked the ability to launch long-distance attacks. No matter how sharp and powerful the firearms were, there was no way to clear the entire South Seas for the time being. The so-called intimidation and deterrence was nothing more than a repetitive dance among the numerous colonists, barely maintaining the balance of the situation. This is also the reason why Mu Qi is still willing to spend time on negotiations - if the Portuguese decline, Britain and the Netherlands will inevitably rise, so it is necessary to stop while you are ahead after biting the fat meat.
but……
"You are still too weak." The prince sighed and went down the mountain.
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