Chapter 1255
Seeing is believing
Chapter 1255 Seeing is believing
fair competition?Ricardo wasn't a three-year-old child, so he naturally wouldn't believe what Roger called "fairness".In this era, there is only one kind of fairness, that is, whoever is stronger has the final say, and everything else is nonsense.Of course he hopes to monopolize Haihan's resources, but the Dutch obviously won't just sit back and watch this situation happen. Roger arranged this occasion for the two parties to meet, obviously to use their competitive relationship to win more for Haihan. Benefit.
But even if he knew Roger's plan, Ricardo didn't have a better way to deal with it. Now he is begging Haihan to do something. This passive position has no right to choose, so he can only accept it first.If there was any hesitation at this juncture, maybe Roger would fall to the Dutch side.
Can't lose!Ricardo took a deep breath in his heart, no matter what the real purpose of the Dutch people coming here is, he must try his best to prevent them from succeeding.Even if Haihan did not continue to use force against Johor in the end, the Dutch should not be allowed to intervene to disrupt the situation, especially in the area near Johor, the Dutch must not be allowed to set foot, so as not to affect the safety of Malacca.
Luo Jie was worried that he would not be able to greet him alone, so he specially called Tan Juren over the next day.Although Tan Juren's English is not as fluent as that of Roger, a Chinese who has lived abroad all year round, it is basically enough to deal with Ricardo and Philip who also speak poor English.
"I know the bureaucratic accent, but how are you going to arrange the two?" Tan Juren didn't know much about Roger's plan, so naturally he had to talk about it first.
Roger said with a smile: "They all want to take advantage of us. It's not that easy. Let's see what kind of conditions they can come up with! Remember that we are taking the initiative now, and you don't have to say anything they say. I’m in a hurry to express my opinion, just play it by ear.”
After hearing this, Tan Juren couldn't help laughing and said, "You're going to eat the last one and eat the next one! This Johor and the UK haven't done their tricks yet, and they plan to drag Portugal and the Netherlands into the water!"
Roger immediately denied it: "It's not that I dragged them into the water. They came here because of the smell. Since they want to benefit from us so much, of course they have to show some sincerity first."
When Tan Juren heard this, he knew how much he was thinking.This does not require any specific plan, as long as it is enough to see the tricks.The Portuguese and the Dutch are here to hug their thighs. As for whether they can hug their thighs, it depends on the actual benefits they give.
The two envoys arrived at Roger's mansion almost at the same time, and when they looked at each other, it seemed that they could see faint sparks of light in the air.However, in front of Haihan officials, the two still had to pretend to continue to play the role of civilized gentlemen, but they secretly scolded each other bloody.The so-called smile on the face and MMP in the heart is roughly the same.
But when the two listened to Luo Jie's introduction of Tan Juren's identity, they immediately turned their attention to the newly appointed Chief Executive.They have been dealing with Roger for a long time, and they know each other well, and it is difficult to convince this determined Haihan officer. However, the new chief executive may not know much about the local situation and the international situation, but he can try to win over him. Good impression may be able to promote some cooperation in the future.
So the two scrambled to praise Tan Juren as young and promising, and Xing Tao had a bright future.Tan Juren has lived for such a long time from before time-traveling to after time-traveling, and he has never been praised so hard by foreigners. Even if he can only understand a part of it, he can't help but feel a little smug at this time.It was Roger coughing lightly beside him that brought him back from his intoxicated state and realized that the commercial flattery of these two guys was not sincere, most of it was just to flatter himself.
Tan Juren also coughed twice and said: "Then let me introduce today's arrangement to you two first. First, let's go and see what was captured in this battle. If you are interested in items, you can bid for them. Then we will go to Take a look around the prisoner-of-war camp, where you can meet the two senior officers who led the invasion, one of whom is a British."
After hearing these words, the eyes of both of them brightened. Their interest in trophies is actually average. The muskets made in Britain are not much better than the weapons made in their own country. If the price is more favorable, they can buy them with their eyes closed. For a sum of money, if you sell it back to those merchant captains or local natives, you can make some profits.But now there is a sudden addition of a competitor, and he can't fall behind. Even if he has no money to make, he has to grit his teeth and accept the goods.
Of course, what they were really interested in was seeing the prisoners of war, which was the most direct and effective way to verify the results of Haihan's battle.Others can be faked, but prisoners of war certainly cannot be faked.Especially the Portuguese Ricardo, who has been dealing with the locals for many years, can recognize the appearance and attire of the Johor warriors at a glance.As for the British, it is easier to tell the difference, as long as you have a few casual conversations, you can tell the truth from the accent.
From the number of captured prisoners of war and the rank of officers, it is not difficult to infer the scale of the joint troop dispatch by Johor and the United Kingdom, and from this we can also judge more information, such as the extent of the determination of the United Kingdom and Johor to occupy Sing Tao , and the current combat capabilities of the Haihan Army, etc.These first-hand intelligence materials are very important, and even if you spend money outside, you may not be able to buy them.
Soon they saw the weapons confiscated in the Battle of Xingdao in an armory temporarily converted from a cowshed, although Roger had already heard that there were thousands of matchlock rifles seized this time. There are so many rifles, but when they witnessed so many rifles piled up together, the visual impact was still quite large.Several soldiers opened the covered oil cloth, revealing the rifles piled up layer by layer underneath, piled up like a hill.
"The two of you can take a few pieces to see the quality." Roger introduced it confidently from the side.
Ricardo and Philip looked at each other, and each stepped forward to inspect the rifles.Although they are all merchants, sea merchants are more or less equipped with weapons. They are not unfamiliar with the structure and use of these matchlock guns. It is easy to tell how fine it is.Judging from the results of random inspections, Roger did not brag. These rifles are indeed very new. Mark, it seems that the Britons and the Johoreans have indeed spent their money this time.
Since most of them were new guns, the two envoys were also relieved. They were somewhat worried that Haihan would make some junk to make money, but it seemed that they were a little overwhelmed.These rifles are of uniform standard, complete with spare parts and ammunition. It is a pity to resell them, but they can be used for personal use.That is to say, the Haihan people are rich and powerful, and they can make more powerful weapons themselves, so they don't take these brand-new weapons seriously, and just treat them as useless things.
In addition to rifles, there are also a lot of other spears, machetes, and metal armor, but these things are not so attractive.The two picked for a while, but they only took a fancy to some armors with better workmanship, not even one-tenth of the total number.As for the rest of the rags, they didn't really want to spend money to buy them.But Roger probably doesn't care about these. If no one buys them, then at most some weapons of better quality will be left behind for armed militias, and the rest will basically be used to make farm tools and kitchen utensils.
These two usually choose suitable weapons and equipment, while estimating the number of weapons piled here.In addition to thousands of rifles, the remaining weapons are almost enough to equip an army of a thousand people.Roughly estimated, the coalition troops defeated by Haihan were at least about 2000 people, which is very likely to be the elite of a country's army for a country like Johor whose military strength is not too strong.
It is not difficult to estimate how long it takes to train and how much money it takes to form a musketeer unit of [-] people.Ricardo has a relatively better understanding of the situation in Johor. He believes that with Johor's current national strength, it is estimated that the formation of such an army will have to empty the national treasury.The facts are similar to his estimation. Johor not only emptied the national treasury, but also owed the British a debt that needs to be repaid in installments.
Of course, this battle was so thoroughly defeated that the newly-baked musketeers were completely annihilated in the first battle. The British boasted about the theory of victory in weapons, superiority in troops, and tactical advantages were not reflected at all. Under the circumstances, whether Johor is willing to perform the contract and pay the remaining payment to it is not certain.After all, the two sides agreed that after occupying Xingdao, part of the arrears would be offset by the right to use Xingdao. Now that the goal has not been achieved, the progress of the payment will naturally stop first.
It is naturally difficult for the two envoys to deduce the inside information of these behind-the-scenes transactions from these seized weapons, but how much chips the United Kingdom and Johor have cast in this operation, they already know it after seeing this temporary armory.
Then Roger quoted a rough price, which was not outrageous, and it was a bit lower than the cost of the weapons they brought from China.And the situation of raising prices and competing with each other did not appear at this time, because the number of weapons is indeed a bit too much. After they buy them back, even if they are installed in the existing troops, there will be a lot more.Besides, raising the price was nothing but sending money to Hai Han, so the two messengers tacitly did not add drama to themselves, and divided the confiscation, mainly rifles, in half according to Roger's quotation.
But when they came to Xingdao this time, they didn't think about spending a fortune at all, so the cash they brought with them must not be enough, so they can only write down the IOU first, and then ship the money to settle the settlement later.For this kind of official-to-official transaction, Roger didn't need to be afraid that they would not pay back the money they owed. After receiving the IOU, he asked his subordinates to arrange migrant workers to transport these weapons to the port for loading as soon as possible.
Then finally came the highlight they were looking forward to, visiting the temporary prisoner-of-war camp set up by Haihan on the island.The two were taken to the plain north of the immigrant village, and then they saw the prisoner-of-war camp surrounded by iron fences.This prisoner-of-war camp didn't even have a wall, so it looked really simple, but the number of prisoners of war in the camp didn't seem to be as many as Roger claimed, far from their previous estimate.
"Most prisoners of war are currently assigned to work on various construction sites, and those who stay in the camp are responsible for cleaning and building infrastructure." Tan Juren explained to them the scene in front of them in a timely manner: "For example, building roads in the east These people are all prisoners of war."
The two looked in the direction Tan Juren pointed, and they saw a large group of people, as many as two to three hundred, busy building roads not far to the east.This road starts from outside the immigrant village and leads to the north, but two miles away is a wasteland. I don't know the significance of building such a road.
Ricardo raised this question to Tan Juren, and soon got an answer.In this battle, Haihan's troops fought back and forth between the north and the south of the island. Because there was no road, the march was quite difficult. Roger planned to build a special road leading to the north of the island, and set up a permanent post in the northern strait. Beware of military threats from north of the strait.Of course, this road has more than just such a function. In the future, resettlement and agricultural development on the island will naturally be deployed with this avenue running through the north and south as the central axis, so as to make full use of the traffic function of this road.
Originally, the construction of this road was expected to be postponed for a year or two, but at this juncture, so many free laborers were sent. After discussing with Tan Juren, Roger decided to implement this infrastructure project ahead of schedule. When it is available, it counts as much as it can be repaired.
When Ricardo saw the clothes on these prisoners, he could basically confirm their identities, and it was indeed the clothes of the Johor Army.Looking at the dejected looks of these guys, it doesn't look like they are pretending, and the people who direct the labor of these prisoners of war are obviously a few Johor military officers.It seems that Haihan really made the best use of everything, so he directly enlisted him as a foreman.
"Why didn't you see the British?" Philip asked with concern after looking around but not seeing the target he cared about.
"The British are all senior officers in this coalition army. We have captured 13 of them in total. However, because of their special identities, they were not locked up with these ordinary prisoners of war." Tan Juren understood what the other party meant, and immediately Then he answered: "If you want to see the British, then we can go now."
(End of this chapter)
fair competition?Ricardo wasn't a three-year-old child, so he naturally wouldn't believe what Roger called "fairness".In this era, there is only one kind of fairness, that is, whoever is stronger has the final say, and everything else is nonsense.Of course he hopes to monopolize Haihan's resources, but the Dutch obviously won't just sit back and watch this situation happen. Roger arranged this occasion for the two parties to meet, obviously to use their competitive relationship to win more for Haihan. Benefit.
But even if he knew Roger's plan, Ricardo didn't have a better way to deal with it. Now he is begging Haihan to do something. This passive position has no right to choose, so he can only accept it first.If there was any hesitation at this juncture, maybe Roger would fall to the Dutch side.
Can't lose!Ricardo took a deep breath in his heart, no matter what the real purpose of the Dutch people coming here is, he must try his best to prevent them from succeeding.Even if Haihan did not continue to use force against Johor in the end, the Dutch should not be allowed to intervene to disrupt the situation, especially in the area near Johor, the Dutch must not be allowed to set foot, so as not to affect the safety of Malacca.
Luo Jie was worried that he would not be able to greet him alone, so he specially called Tan Juren over the next day.Although Tan Juren's English is not as fluent as that of Roger, a Chinese who has lived abroad all year round, it is basically enough to deal with Ricardo and Philip who also speak poor English.
"I know the bureaucratic accent, but how are you going to arrange the two?" Tan Juren didn't know much about Roger's plan, so naturally he had to talk about it first.
Roger said with a smile: "They all want to take advantage of us. It's not that easy. Let's see what kind of conditions they can come up with! Remember that we are taking the initiative now, and you don't have to say anything they say. I’m in a hurry to express my opinion, just play it by ear.”
After hearing this, Tan Juren couldn't help laughing and said, "You're going to eat the last one and eat the next one! This Johor and the UK haven't done their tricks yet, and they plan to drag Portugal and the Netherlands into the water!"
Roger immediately denied it: "It's not that I dragged them into the water. They came here because of the smell. Since they want to benefit from us so much, of course they have to show some sincerity first."
When Tan Juren heard this, he knew how much he was thinking.This does not require any specific plan, as long as it is enough to see the tricks.The Portuguese and the Dutch are here to hug their thighs. As for whether they can hug their thighs, it depends on the actual benefits they give.
The two envoys arrived at Roger's mansion almost at the same time, and when they looked at each other, it seemed that they could see faint sparks of light in the air.However, in front of Haihan officials, the two still had to pretend to continue to play the role of civilized gentlemen, but they secretly scolded each other bloody.The so-called smile on the face and MMP in the heart is roughly the same.
But when the two listened to Luo Jie's introduction of Tan Juren's identity, they immediately turned their attention to the newly appointed Chief Executive.They have been dealing with Roger for a long time, and they know each other well, and it is difficult to convince this determined Haihan officer. However, the new chief executive may not know much about the local situation and the international situation, but he can try to win over him. Good impression may be able to promote some cooperation in the future.
So the two scrambled to praise Tan Juren as young and promising, and Xing Tao had a bright future.Tan Juren has lived for such a long time from before time-traveling to after time-traveling, and he has never been praised so hard by foreigners. Even if he can only understand a part of it, he can't help but feel a little smug at this time.It was Roger coughing lightly beside him that brought him back from his intoxicated state and realized that the commercial flattery of these two guys was not sincere, most of it was just to flatter himself.
Tan Juren also coughed twice and said: "Then let me introduce today's arrangement to you two first. First, let's go and see what was captured in this battle. If you are interested in items, you can bid for them. Then we will go to Take a look around the prisoner-of-war camp, where you can meet the two senior officers who led the invasion, one of whom is a British."
After hearing these words, the eyes of both of them brightened. Their interest in trophies is actually average. The muskets made in Britain are not much better than the weapons made in their own country. If the price is more favorable, they can buy them with their eyes closed. For a sum of money, if you sell it back to those merchant captains or local natives, you can make some profits.But now there is a sudden addition of a competitor, and he can't fall behind. Even if he has no money to make, he has to grit his teeth and accept the goods.
Of course, what they were really interested in was seeing the prisoners of war, which was the most direct and effective way to verify the results of Haihan's battle.Others can be faked, but prisoners of war certainly cannot be faked.Especially the Portuguese Ricardo, who has been dealing with the locals for many years, can recognize the appearance and attire of the Johor warriors at a glance.As for the British, it is easier to tell the difference, as long as you have a few casual conversations, you can tell the truth from the accent.
From the number of captured prisoners of war and the rank of officers, it is not difficult to infer the scale of the joint troop dispatch by Johor and the United Kingdom, and from this we can also judge more information, such as the extent of the determination of the United Kingdom and Johor to occupy Sing Tao , and the current combat capabilities of the Haihan Army, etc.These first-hand intelligence materials are very important, and even if you spend money outside, you may not be able to buy them.
Soon they saw the weapons confiscated in the Battle of Xingdao in an armory temporarily converted from a cowshed, although Roger had already heard that there were thousands of matchlock rifles seized this time. There are so many rifles, but when they witnessed so many rifles piled up together, the visual impact was still quite large.Several soldiers opened the covered oil cloth, revealing the rifles piled up layer by layer underneath, piled up like a hill.
"The two of you can take a few pieces to see the quality." Roger introduced it confidently from the side.
Ricardo and Philip looked at each other, and each stepped forward to inspect the rifles.Although they are all merchants, sea merchants are more or less equipped with weapons. They are not unfamiliar with the structure and use of these matchlock guns. It is easy to tell how fine it is.Judging from the results of random inspections, Roger did not brag. These rifles are indeed very new. Mark, it seems that the Britons and the Johoreans have indeed spent their money this time.
Since most of them were new guns, the two envoys were also relieved. They were somewhat worried that Haihan would make some junk to make money, but it seemed that they were a little overwhelmed.These rifles are of uniform standard, complete with spare parts and ammunition. It is a pity to resell them, but they can be used for personal use.That is to say, the Haihan people are rich and powerful, and they can make more powerful weapons themselves, so they don't take these brand-new weapons seriously, and just treat them as useless things.
In addition to rifles, there are also a lot of other spears, machetes, and metal armor, but these things are not so attractive.The two picked for a while, but they only took a fancy to some armors with better workmanship, not even one-tenth of the total number.As for the rest of the rags, they didn't really want to spend money to buy them.But Roger probably doesn't care about these. If no one buys them, then at most some weapons of better quality will be left behind for armed militias, and the rest will basically be used to make farm tools and kitchen utensils.
These two usually choose suitable weapons and equipment, while estimating the number of weapons piled here.In addition to thousands of rifles, the remaining weapons are almost enough to equip an army of a thousand people.Roughly estimated, the coalition troops defeated by Haihan were at least about 2000 people, which is very likely to be the elite of a country's army for a country like Johor whose military strength is not too strong.
It is not difficult to estimate how long it takes to train and how much money it takes to form a musketeer unit of [-] people.Ricardo has a relatively better understanding of the situation in Johor. He believes that with Johor's current national strength, it is estimated that the formation of such an army will have to empty the national treasury.The facts are similar to his estimation. Johor not only emptied the national treasury, but also owed the British a debt that needs to be repaid in installments.
Of course, this battle was so thoroughly defeated that the newly-baked musketeers were completely annihilated in the first battle. The British boasted about the theory of victory in weapons, superiority in troops, and tactical advantages were not reflected at all. Under the circumstances, whether Johor is willing to perform the contract and pay the remaining payment to it is not certain.After all, the two sides agreed that after occupying Xingdao, part of the arrears would be offset by the right to use Xingdao. Now that the goal has not been achieved, the progress of the payment will naturally stop first.
It is naturally difficult for the two envoys to deduce the inside information of these behind-the-scenes transactions from these seized weapons, but how much chips the United Kingdom and Johor have cast in this operation, they already know it after seeing this temporary armory.
Then Roger quoted a rough price, which was not outrageous, and it was a bit lower than the cost of the weapons they brought from China.And the situation of raising prices and competing with each other did not appear at this time, because the number of weapons is indeed a bit too much. After they buy them back, even if they are installed in the existing troops, there will be a lot more.Besides, raising the price was nothing but sending money to Hai Han, so the two messengers tacitly did not add drama to themselves, and divided the confiscation, mainly rifles, in half according to Roger's quotation.
But when they came to Xingdao this time, they didn't think about spending a fortune at all, so the cash they brought with them must not be enough, so they can only write down the IOU first, and then ship the money to settle the settlement later.For this kind of official-to-official transaction, Roger didn't need to be afraid that they would not pay back the money they owed. After receiving the IOU, he asked his subordinates to arrange migrant workers to transport these weapons to the port for loading as soon as possible.
Then finally came the highlight they were looking forward to, visiting the temporary prisoner-of-war camp set up by Haihan on the island.The two were taken to the plain north of the immigrant village, and then they saw the prisoner-of-war camp surrounded by iron fences.This prisoner-of-war camp didn't even have a wall, so it looked really simple, but the number of prisoners of war in the camp didn't seem to be as many as Roger claimed, far from their previous estimate.
"Most prisoners of war are currently assigned to work on various construction sites, and those who stay in the camp are responsible for cleaning and building infrastructure." Tan Juren explained to them the scene in front of them in a timely manner: "For example, building roads in the east These people are all prisoners of war."
The two looked in the direction Tan Juren pointed, and they saw a large group of people, as many as two to three hundred, busy building roads not far to the east.This road starts from outside the immigrant village and leads to the north, but two miles away is a wasteland. I don't know the significance of building such a road.
Ricardo raised this question to Tan Juren, and soon got an answer.In this battle, Haihan's troops fought back and forth between the north and the south of the island. Because there was no road, the march was quite difficult. Roger planned to build a special road leading to the north of the island, and set up a permanent post in the northern strait. Beware of military threats from north of the strait.Of course, this road has more than just such a function. In the future, resettlement and agricultural development on the island will naturally be deployed with this avenue running through the north and south as the central axis, so as to make full use of the traffic function of this road.
Originally, the construction of this road was expected to be postponed for a year or two, but at this juncture, so many free laborers were sent. After discussing with Tan Juren, Roger decided to implement this infrastructure project ahead of schedule. When it is available, it counts as much as it can be repaired.
When Ricardo saw the clothes on these prisoners, he could basically confirm their identities, and it was indeed the clothes of the Johor Army.Looking at the dejected looks of these guys, it doesn't look like they are pretending, and the people who direct the labor of these prisoners of war are obviously a few Johor military officers.It seems that Haihan really made the best use of everything, so he directly enlisted him as a foreman.
"Why didn't you see the British?" Philip asked with concern after looking around but not seeing the target he cared about.
"The British are all senior officers in this coalition army. We have captured 13 of them in total. However, because of their special identities, they were not locked up with these ordinary prisoners of war." Tan Juren understood what the other party meant, and immediately Then he answered: "If you want to see the British, then we can go now."
(End of this chapter)