Three days later, in the morning, the God dragged a dilapidated Western-style ship bigger than herself, followed by a Da Mingfu ship that was slower than an old cow, and slowly sailed into the Yulin Bay wharf. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

Van Basten was now clean, dressed neatly in a captain's suit, sitting upright on a chair with Shinyuzaemon next to him. Opposite them were all seven members of the Yulin Bay Military Commission and the head of the Judicial Bureau, Liu Guannan. As to why this Dutch ship suddenly appeared near Hainan Island, the entire Military Commission was puzzled, and even Lu Tianxiang could not understand the mystery, so the Military Commission decided to meet the Dutch captain first.

"Captain Fan." Zhang Guodong's title caused the people around him to laugh secretly, and Zhang Guodong didn't care, "I am Zhang Guodong, chairman of the Yulin Bay Military Committee, how are you living in Yulin Bay these days?" Didn't our John technician talk to you? ”

"Your Excellency." Van Basten's tone was unhurried, "Thank you for taking care of me and my crew these days. I am a prisoner of war of your Ming Empire, but this does not mean that I can betray my motherland, so I hope you can understand what I cannot disclose. ”

"No, no, Captain Fan, you're mistaken." Zhang Guodong really couldn't remember Van Basten's tongue-twisting name, "We don't want you to betray your motherland or betray your faith or anything, let's just talk, a simple chat." ”

"Honorable lord, although my crew and I have been treated well, you cannot, and have no right, to keep us in the Ming Empire like this. I would like you to send someone to inform our East India Company of the value of the captain and 93 crew members of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Our company will not ignore it, and you will get a large ransom. Van Basten's tone gradually lacked a hint of arrogance.

Zhang Guodong didn't seem to hear what the Dutchman was saying, but continued to ask to himself: "Captain Fan, what is your age and position, and what is the mission of your voyage this time?" ”

"I protest." Van Basten became excited, "You have asked this question no less than three times, and I refuse to answer it again." ”

"Don't get excited, Captain Fan, excitement is not good for your health." Zhang Guodong still said unhurriedly, "Please forgive me, I'm old and my memory is not good, can you answer again?" ”

Van Basten was completely defeated by Zhang Guodong: "My name is Van Basten, I am 38 years old today, I am the captain of the St. Louis of the East India Company of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and we set out from Batavia this time to reinforce the city of Geranza in Formosa. In Formosa, we are fighting the Spaniards. ”

"Oh, that's right." Zhang Guodong seemed to have a slight understanding, "But Captain Fan, there is another question I don't quite understand, how did you appear in the Qiongzhou Mansion of our Ming Empire again, and you also robbed our 2 merchant ships, if you didn't meet us, you would continue to rob the third ship." ”

"I'm sorry, sir." Van Basten had to struggle to adapt to Zhang Guodong's rhythm, "We were lost in a storm, and we needed supplies, so we had to borrow your country's merchant ships. ”

Zhang Guodong didn't speak again, but secretly glanced at Wang Zhaoxing.

"Horn" Wang Zhaoxing slapped the table and stood up, "Borrowed?" Did you borrow it like that? You're robbing. According to the law of our Ming Dynasty, those who rob and kill people shall be executed. ”

"Don't be nervous, Captain Fan." Zeng Guangxian also learned from Zhang Guodong to call Captain Fan here, "Our Captain Wang's temper is not very good, I hope Captain Fan doesn't mind." But I have a question that I haven't figured out, can Captain Fan answer it for me? ”

Van Basten was frightened by the words "cut and decided", don't look at the good food and drink these days, but who knows what these barbarians will do, this is not a place that God can cover after all. Hearing Zeng Guangxian say that there were still questions, Van Basten hurriedly replied: "This lord, if you have any questions, you can ask me." ”

"Captain Fan, you said that you were setting out from Batavia to reinforce the city of Geranza, then your course should be due north and east, but why did you sail due east as soon as you came out, and inserted yourself on the route from South America to Manila. And your ship has been going back and forth on this route for more than a month, can you tell me why? "Through the interrogation of the other crew members who were captured, the Military Council now has a basic understanding of the route and recent movements of the Saint-Louis.

"Your Excellency." Van Basten vigorously argued, "You know that our Kingdom of the Netherlands is now having some minor friction with Spain, so it is understandable that we will harass their shipping routes and grab some merchant ships, which is also the consistent practice of our East India Company." ”

"Is that so?" Zeng Guangxian continued to say gently, "If you are just harassing the shipping routes and grabbing some merchant ships, then why did you actually let go of 2 Spanish merchant ships, and those small ships are vulnerable in front of you." Besides, your Saint-Louis was originally equipped with 16 cannons, but before this voyage, you had to load 8 more cannons, a total of 24 cannons, and the gunpowder and crew had increased considerably. Why increase the firepower, Captain Fan, can you explain these issues? ”

"This 。。。。。。" Van Basten's mind began to be a little confused, and he tried his best to find a plausible reason for himself, but the more he was in a hurry, the more he couldn't think of any reason to believe the people in front of him.

"Don't think about it, Captain Fan, you're waiting for a big target to appear, aren't you?" Zeng Guangxian's suddenly raised Dutch question startled Van Basten.

"No, no, it's not. There is no big goal. Van Basten was starting to be a little incoherent.

"It's the Queen, isn't it? Isn't it? This time, Jiang Beiming suddenly asked directly in Dutch.

"No, no, it's not the Queen, the Queen won't be in Manila until 2 months."

"Oh, two months later." Zhang Guodong let out a long sigh after listening to the translation, "Captain Fan, you see that we have cooperated very well, these two colleagues of mine have spent a lot of energy to learn these two Dutch words." ”

After learning about the route and movements of the Saint-Louis, the Military Commission felt that there must be a big secret in it, and with the news that Sun Tianhao had mentioned about the Portuguese gold ship, the Military Commission preliminarily concluded that the Saint-Louis might be waiting for this gold ship. If you can learn the details of this gold ship from Van Basten's mouth, then for Yulin Bay, the odds of victory will be greatly strengthened. Therefore, the Military Commission carefully arranged this interrogation and invited Liu Guannan to make a series of predictions and deductions from the psychological aspect of the interrogation. Jiang Beiming and Zeng Guangxian spent most of the day memorizing those two Dutch words by rote.

Van Basten's sweat ran down his cheeks, and he cursed secretly in his heart: "Damn barbarian." ”

"Captain Fan, our cooperation is not over yet." Zhang Guodong began to ask slowly again, "As for how you got to Qiongzhou Mansion, we won't ask about this, let's talk about the Queen What do you think?" ”

"You, you're cheating." Van Basten protested again, "From now on, I refuse to answer any questions. ”

"Captain Fan, your attitude is not very good, is it, cooperation can be a win-win situation, isn't it?" Wang Hua continued on the side, "Let's settle an account, even if you can successfully grab the Queen, you have a total of more than 100 crew members, and there is the East India Company behind you, how much can you get in the end, have you thought about this question?" What do you think of working with us, at least five percent? ”

Van Basten looked up at Wang Hua, his eyes flashing with greed, but he didn't speak.

Wang Hua didn't care about Van Basten's gaze, but changed his words: "Of course, this five percent is conditional, you need to provide us with all the accurate information about the Empress and the source of the information so that we can confirm it." If you still have any questions or requirements, you can also put them forward, and we will try our best to meet them and cooperate happily. ”

"I will never work with you." Van Basten is trying to maintain the last bit of his pitiful dignity, "I will never betray." ”

"Four percent." Liu Guannan stared into Van Basten's eyes and said calmly.

"You?!" Van Basten finally couldn't help it, got up from his chair all of a sudden, pointed at Liu Guannan and shouted, "Money will not make a great captain succumb." ”

"Three percent." Liu Guannan's voice was still calm, "Captain Fan, you have seen the capabilities of our warship, do you think it is very difficult for our warship to wait outside Manila for 1 or 2 months?" ”

Van Basten sat back in his chair in frustration and muttered in a low voice: "Does the five percent you just said still count?" ”

Zhang Guodong really laughed: "Captain Fan, we are true to our words and have a happy cooperation." ”

The Dutch in Batavia bought off a Manila Spaniard with a lot of money and got the news of the gold ship Empress. The Empress was a warship belonging to the Royal Spanish Navy, with a displacement of 400 tons and 28 cannons. This time, 2 tons of gold and more than 5 tons of silver were loaded from South America to be shipped back to Manila, and then from Manila to Macau, where they were loaded with Chinese porcelain and tea returned to Europe. After receiving this news, the Dutch East India Company sent two warships to search for the route from South America to Manila, and in order not to startle the snakes, the East India Company strictly ordered that all the Spanish merchant ships except for the Empress be spared. The St. Louis searched for a month without finding any trace of the Queen, and just when Van Basten was anxious, he received news from the inside line of Manila that due to changes, the arrival of the Queen would be delayed by 2 months. Van Basten was unwilling to return with such a futile voyage, so he decided to insert himself on the route from Manila to Guangzhou and grab some Chinese merchant ships first. The St. Louis searched and looted all the way, and gradually got closer and closer to Hainan Island, only to run into Wang Zhaoxing's God.

After Van Basten revealed the news and the plate, he made his own request. A deposit of 10,000 taels of silver was to be paid in advance, and after the matter was completed, a way was to be found to send him back to Europe, and the matter was to be kept strictly secret, and the other captured sailors were never to be made aware of it.

"No problem, Captain Fan, we can agree to all your requests." Zhang Guodong said with a smile, "Your European compatriots once said that if there is a 20% profit, capital will be ready to move; If there is a fifty percent profit, capital will take risks; If there is a 100% profit, capital dares to risk hanging its head; If there is a profit of 300 percent, capital will dare to trample on all the laws of the world. Captain Fan, think about what your profit is. ”

Two committees met again as a group. After learning that there might be 2 tons of gold on the Queen, Sun Dalei excitedly circled around the conference room: "Everyone, everyone, 2 tons, that's gold." It should be equivalent to more than 500,000 taels of silver, plus the 5 tons of silver, a total of more than 700,000 taels. We have these 700,000 taels of silver, what can't we do in Yulin Bay, we can open a bank and issue banknotes. ”

"Don't be too happy." Jiang Beiming said with a smile, "This news needs to be further verified, and we still have to wait for the news from Qiongzhou." However, the navy needs to prepare in advance, and once the news is confirmed, it needs to act immediately. ”

Finally, the 2 committees made a resolution that, in view of the last attack on the Qiongzhou office, Yulin Bay would send the God with 2 platoons of land to Qiongzhou to strengthen the defense of the sugar factory. Wang Zhaoxing and the God were temporarily stationed in Qiongzhou, and once Sun Tianhao received the confirmed news, he immediately flew the pigeon and sent the book back to Yulin Bay. Zeng Guangxian led the Yazhou and Wanzhou ships to form a ship formation from Yulin Bay to Manila. Wang Zhaoxing's God departed from Qiongzhou, and the three battleships converged in Manila.