Section 50 Bargging

"I'm very busy, and the Jesuit adults always have a lot of things to do with me." Lando twisted his lips in a grand manner—a place to enhance his manhood.

"Really?" The black slave girl said, "Are you interested in doing a little thing for my master in your busy schedule?" ”

"Who is your master?"

"This," the black slave girl said, holding up the purse, "do you think my answer is satisfactory?" ”

Look at this heavy money bag, there are at least three hundred Spanish pesos. This is a great temptation for Lando, who is shy in his pocket. After the nightmare, his enthusiasm for defecting to Lingao had dropped a lot. With this money, at least I can live in Macau for a while.

"It's even better if you have two hosts." Lando said, "Well, tell me, what's the matter?" ”

"You're a good soldier."

"Not bad."

"You served Aragonés." The black woman said.

"Yes. I can't serve him since he went bankrupt. It's a shame. Lando said. This Spanish playboy has not dared to return to Manila since he lost his ship, and has been in Macau all day long, and his condition is worse than his, and this person is unlikely to come to solicit him.

"You've been to Lingao."

Lando suddenly became alarmed: not many people in Macao knew that he had joined the adventures of Aragonés to attack Lingao. Aragonés kept a secret when he first set sail, and after fleeing back to Macao in defeat, he was even more secretive about such a humiliating defeat, and as for the sailors on the ship, they either came from Europe or recruited Malays from the islands of the South Seas, and they only knew how to sail the ship, but did not know where to go. The few who knew would either die in the night attack that night or in the battle with Zheng Zhilong.

As for himself, he has never advertised that he participated in this operation with the ship.

How could this black woman know that she had been to Lingao?

"Does this have anything to do with you?"

"It's okay, but my master wants to know."

Surely your master knows this, Landau thought, who is this man? What the hell are sneaky people going to do on their own?

"I can't be considered to have been there," said Lando cautiously, "I've been to Lingao's port, and that's all." ”

"You also saved the life of Aragonés in the South China Sea."

"Saving him was a matter of course."

"Would you like to go to Lingao again?"

"It depends on what you're doing." Langdo realized that the man knew about his time on the Countess Scarborough.

"Please, of course, it's not a simple matter for someone with such abilities as you."

"Okay. You girl, little jian, say it quickly: what does your master want me to do? Lando began to get impatient, and he said with an arrogant expression - he was a lord of status here, and it was a good thing to talk so much to this ugly black woman.

There was a look of resentment in the black woman's crooked yellow eyes, but she continued: "My master, she, he wants you to go to Lingao once, in whatever capacity—to find out how their fortresses are arranged, how far their artillery can hit, and what weaknesses are in their armaments...... It's all about the situation of the Australians in Lingao defense. ”

"Hmph, your master has a bad plot against Lingao." Lando said.

The other party was silent.

"There are a lot of people who have been to Lingao here, weishenme wants to find me?" Lando wondered. Every week in Macau, there will be boats going to Lingao to sell goods

"This is the master's command." The black slave girl said, "He said, you know Australians better than anybody here." ”

This made Lando dumbfounded, what did this mean? This can be explained in any way, but at this time, it seems to hit the nail on the head.

"Knows better than anyone here"

He even thought that he was exposed for a while, and he was a lot more discouraged by the appearance of a great lord.

Lando's first reaction was to refuse, but at this time, he didn't dare to act hastily. He vaguely felt that the other party seemed to know something.

He cautiously: "This task is difficult. ”

"Four hundred Spanish pesos."

"I want eight hundred."

"Six hundred. Here are three hundred. The black woman took out a purse, "Give me another three hundred when you come back." ”

"Deal." Six hundred pesos is a very haode sale.

"How long will it take you?"

"A month."

"I'll be waiting for you here in a month."

"Okay." Lando then said to the stall owner, "Come, bring me a bowl of your beans made of milk, it's too dark in here." ”

Half an hour later, the black slave girl reported to Li Siya 1510 about the meeting with He Lando.

"He asked for six hundred." Li Siya commented boredly.

It's been more than a year since she escaped from Bopu's messy boat. This female conspirator in the city of Macau, a female pirate in the South China Sea, continues to play with her intrigue and adventure. Sometimes he works for someone, and sometimes he gives advice to someone. When there is a good opportunity, there is no refusal to carry out a lucrative robbery at sea.

The more chaotic the situation at sea, the better her business will be. Even her stance of going around and over has given her many opportunities that others don't. All parties hope to use her channel to get in touch with a certain aspect and talk. There are also many people who are keen on the tricks of vertical and horizontal in the South China Sea.

Li Siya, as a pirate and a mercenary at sea, actually became a popular figure for a while. One will appear in Manila, the other will appear in Batavia, sometimes in Guangzhou, and sometimes in Dayuangang.

She was a guest of the various sea lords, governors, commanders, and merchants, each of whom asked her to do things for herself, and paid her large sums of money without hesitation, or gave her the privilege of allowing the goods to be transported and carried away, but everyone was secretly wary of her.

However, Li Siya knew that her good days like this would not be too long.

After Zheng Zhilong became a Chinese official, he was able to use the Liliang of the Ming government to obtain a steady stream of ships and people from the mainland, and Xiong Wencan even directly sponsored cannons and ships for him. The goods he trafficked to Japan did not need to be purchased secretly, but were purchased by Zhengda Guangming and transported all the way to the Zhongzuo Institute unimpeded. In contrast, Kuiqi's situation is much worse, although he had much more people and ships than Zheng Zhilong at the beginning, but it was difficult to supplement, and the sea trade business was constantly hit by Zheng Zhilong, although Liu Xiang on the sea in Guangdong was inseparable from Zheng Zhilong, but he was not Li Kuiqi's ally. After the fall of Zhucai Lao, most of the remnants of Liliang were absorbed by Zheng Zhilong, and the rest were accepted by Liu Xiang and Lingao, Liu Xiang's shili skyrocketed, and he was eager to eliminate an opponent, so that his Liliang could go to a higher level and become a well-deserved overlord of China's southeast coast.

Li Siya estimated that Zheng Zhilong's victory was very likely, not only because he had the support of the government, but also because his roots were much deeper than Liu Xiang's. Whether it is the Portuguese or the Japanese, there is a deep shili. Once Li Kuiqi is destroyed, Liu Xiang's fall will be in an instant.

After Zheng Zhilong eliminated all his opponents, he would forcibly establish a new order at sea here, not to mention that the Portuguese were helpless, even the Dutch were not necessarily his opponents.

So recently, Li Siya's activities have begun to be biased towards serving Zheng Zhilong's potential opponents - she still doesn't dare to offend Zheng Zhilong blatantly. For the Dutch, to be exact.

She had just met the Dutch East India Company Governor de Batavia? Carpentil's personal representative - Savanchi? Gonzalez. This man was a real Spaniard, and had been a Spanish officer in the past. After being discharged from the army in disgrace, he was destitute and had to try his luck in Manila. After failing to get good luck in Manila, he simply went to the Dutch side and became an officer of the East India Company.

The Dutch East India Company welcomed all the scum of Europe who were willing to serve it, and the high white mortality rate in the East Indies, and the need for a large number of soldiers, officers, and businessmen in the Governor-General, were basically not refused. But for Catholics like the Spaniards, serving the Dutch risked losing their souls - the Dutch allowed freedom of religion at home, but in the East India all company personnel had to attend Protestant religious ceremonies, otherwise they would be treason and could be hanged at any time - and the laws of the East India Company were notoriously harsh and ruthless.

Savanki? Gonzalez was cornered and risked his soul to serve the Dutch. As an experienced former Spanish artillery officer, he served as an artillery officer in the East India Company Army, participating in several expeditions, including an unsuccessful expedition to the Pescador Islands (Penghu Islands) a few years earlier. On that occasion, he was on the hastily built Haode Battery, commanding three 12-pounder cannons, facing the dense sea of junk ships and a steady stream of Chinese soldiers pouring onto land.

After the failure of his expedition to the Pescador Islands, he arrived with the fleet and built a castle there. Savanki? Gonzalez acted as the commander of the artillery of the local fortress for a phase. During this period, there were several exchanges of fire with the Chinese pirates and local natives who were harassing them. Survived battles and plagues.

He grew to be trusted. When the Governor needed a candidate to enter the Portuguese colony, the Spaniard Savanci? Gonzalez was a good fit. A true Spaniard is obviously safer than a Dutchman infiltrating Macao, which has the Jesuits, the sworn enemies of the Dutch. Moreover, the former Spanish artillery officer also played a big role in the next action planned by the Governor.

Savanki? Gonzalez is tall and stout. In his early years, he lost an eye in a battle with the Turks and became a one-eyed. He wears an eye patch and his scars paint an image of a "true soldier".

Savanki? Gonzalez arrives in Macau as an unemployed veteran and soon gets in touch with Li Siya's agent at the tavern. He then visited the legendary female pirate and handed over the Governor's letters.

In his letters, the Governor asked for information from Lysya, including the true condition of the so-called "Australians", about whom there are many legends, and some of the goods were destined for the East Indies and all over India. But so far, no one has seen an Australian long-sea trade vessel appear on the surface.

His Excellency the Governor was very interested in wondering: What kind of people are so-called Australians? whether they are white or not; Australians' interest in trade; whether the castle was built in Lingao for trade with China; If so, how are they trading now? What is the Chinese government's attitude towards them? What is the state of the iron ships and artillery of the Australians; whether their performance is exaggerated; How many Australians are there in Lingao, are there blacks, Malays, Japanese, Europeans and Chinese to serve them, are these people equipped with weapons, how many of them are firearms, and what are the performance of firearms......

There were 125 questions in the letter.

The more Li Siya looked at it, the more suspicious she became, if the previous questions were still general intelligence, the later questions about the Australians' army, weapons, and the situation of the port and fortifications of Lingao were all military.

What do the Dutch know about these? Li Siya thought, do they want to do something to the Australians? Lingao's geographical environment is not optimal, but it is much closer to the Chinese coast than Taiwan, and it is on the communication line from the East Indies to Chinese mainland. The Dutch occupy the place

"These questions are worth at least five thousand guilders." Li Siya read the letter and said to the visitor.

"That's a thousand guilders." Gonzalez generously took out a leather bag, "Give two thousand after you answer them all." ”

"I want five thousand guilders - the cost is additional." "It's a tricky job, and I have to spend a lot of money myself. ”

"That's all I have." Savanki? Gonzalez said, "But the Governor said: if your information is accurate, he can pay more." ”

"What if it's not accurate?" Li Siya smiled and took a sip of wine.

"It's not something that a contemptible person can understand." Gonzalez bowed.

"I need time to answer your question. It will take about a month or two. "Are you going back or waiting here for my reply?" ”

"Here it is, of course." Although Mr. Gonzalez was not very religious, he was also uncomfortable being forced to attend Protestant prayers every day. It would be nice to be able to escape from this religious servitude for a while - and Macau is much better than the East Indies in terms of climate and food.

"You can stay at the 'Crown Hotel'. The food is good, and there are some women who will probably be of interest to you. Li Siya said, taking out a money bag from the drawer: "This is three hundred riyals." ”

Savanki? After Gonzalez retired, she called for Li Alcohol, also known as Li Huamei. She had just returned from Goa and was resting.

"I'm afraid you won't be able to do it." Li Siya said to her nurse, "The Dutch are playing with the idea of coming to the top. ”

"Cheese eaters are going to beg for themselves." Li Huamei sat on a cushion - this action was a bit presumptuous for her identity. But they are more partners than masters.

Unlike her young lady, who focuses more on intrigue and intrigue, Li Huamei is more willing to do straightforward things, whether it is trading or robbery at sea.

"I prefer Australians, even though they're a bit silly." Li Huamei smiled deliciously, "I can't even climb the mast to be a self-proclaimed captain." ”

But it doesn't matter whether it's good or bad. The key is a matter of interest.

According to Li Huamei's opinion, the Dutch alone could not destroy the Lingao Australians, Li Huamei had seen the Australian artillery fire, and saw their defense system and iron ships. It is impossible for Bopu Harbor to be captured head-on - when Bopu Harbor did not have heavy artillery, the joint assault of the Spaniards and Liu Xiang was still defeated, not to mention that now they have turned Bopu into a fortress.

"It's just that as far as I can see, Bopu has two forts that are almost impossible to capture." Li Huamei marked on the map, "One is on the old beacon tower, and there is a heavy cannon on it, which can be hit almost a mile away." And then on the foredeck of their 'holy ship', there was also a similar cannon. ”

Li Siya looked at the line of fire of the artillery on the map - the coverage of these two guns was too wide, as long as any ship approached Bopu, it was within range, and the Australian artillery was simply incredible.

But the most frightening thing is not such a cannon. Li Siya knew that the fire speed of heavy artillery was very slow, up to a 12-pound gun, it could almost fire one shot a minute. According to the size of the cannon mentioned by Li Huamei, the interval between the firing of these two cannons should be at least ten minutes or more.

And it was difficult to adjust the aiming of large artillery. If you are not afraid of loss, use large ships to attract fire within range, and small ships rush into the harbor at full speed - preferably by rowing boats, and rush in with the tide.

The point is that the advantage of the Australians in small artillery is also very obvious. In particular, some of the artillery that fired cone-barrel shells far outperformed all European artillery in terms of range, penetration, and firing speed. If she hadn't experienced the power of the cannon fire on the Countess Scarborough, when they had neither a fortress, nor a heavy art, nor even an iron ship, they had beaten the Spanish galleon to the ground—she would not have believed that there was such a powerful artillery fire on this shijie.

“…… It was completely impossible to attack or shell either place - the holy ship was taller than the largest Galen ship. The hull of the ship was iron, and the sailors could not climb it at all, and it was impossible to make it incapacitated by arson. As for the old beacon, it was located deep on the coast, and it had to travel a long distance after landing to reach its feet. ”

Li Huamei continued to mark the map: "These two places are just the places I see. There must have been other batteries or defenses in places I hadn't seen. They also have a few key support points in depth, all of which are fortified. ”