................................................One.........

The scorching sun is scorching, and Hainan Island in June is gradually entering the hottest season of the year.

Diego and Carteromandoza, the Portuguese, sat in a small shaded field, squeaking and nibbling on half a watermelon while using a broken cattail fan to blow themselves out a cool breeze.

It's been so hot this summer!

As a veteran trader in Southeast Asia for several years, Diego has adapted to the hot and humid climate of the region, but he still feels that this will be a difficult summer.

Several of the negotiating group he was part of were members from the Dutch headquarters of the East India Company, which of course made it even more difficult to get used to a poor old Gorman. As the temperature rises, the old man has become more and more out of energy in the past few days, and most of the time he lies in the house during the day, and only dares to come out to move when he is cool at night.

Fortunately, Qiong Haijun did not abuse them in terms of diet and living conditions, in addition to providing sufficient drinking water, he also gave a few extra watermelons every day to relieve the heat, and if anyone was unwell, a doctor would also come to diagnose and prescribe medicine. Hygiene requirements are very strict, so until now, many people have not been sick, although they are depressed.

The conditions in the prisoner of war camp, anyway, are already good in Diego's opinion.

In addition to not being able to move freely, the living conditions here are probably even better than those in the military camps in Batavia.

In his case, there is actually no need to work here, but out of the hope of another bounty, he continues to hide in this negotiation team as a crawler. However, doing this kind of thing, the psychological pressure is relatively large after all, and as time goes by, this pressure is getting bigger and bigger.

The reason for this situation is related to the "excellent" that Diego has shown in recent times, and the entire negotiation team actually did not suffer much in this prisoner of war camp, and they were not allowed to do anything to them, and they were not allowed to run around, so they had a lot of free time to be in a daze every day. But as soon as this person is idle, it is inevitable that something will happen, especially in their environment, the emotions are tense, and the possibility of cranky thinking is more. Diego himself knows the bottom of his heart, but the other members of the negotiation team are not as sure as he is. It is not uncommon for them to be at odds with each other or to try to confront the management.

Diego saw that this was not going to work—they asked him to stay in the hope that he would be able to play a role, and he was still counting on a bonus, but what if there was a miasma in the prisoner of war camp, and they were not happy to cancel or shrink the bonus? So he acted as a warm-hearted person, often taking the initiative to adjust the relationship within the team, and when those people had any requirements, he also came forward to talk to the management staff, more or less for everyone to get some treatment......

After such a few times, Diego's reputation in this small team has increased dramatically, and everyone thinks that he is really good, that is, he has courage and ability, and even those ruthless greenskins can handle it. This negotiating delegation was originally headed by Old Gorman, but Old Gorman is getting older, and many things are gradually becoming weaker, and now Diego has come forward more, and others actually vaguely admit that he is the deputy leader.

It stands to reason that this is a good thing, but people in this era are generally more simple-minded, especially the trust of the entire group with religious beliefs in Diego has gradually become a burden for him, the more others trust him, the greater his psychological pressure, and he always feels that he has committed a great crime of deception, so that he has reported to his secret contact person several times, saying that he wants to give up and quit, and he doesn't want follow-up bonuses.

Zhao Lide set up an intelligence agency, and of course he would not let the ideological situation of the agents under his command go freely. This kind of guilt often appears among spies, and naturally there are special arrangements for it. The liaison saw that he was also suffering from this symptom in Diego, and quickly went to a psychiatrist to help with it.

After a few conversations, Diego's love was finally stabilized. Frankly, however, in Diego's own opinion, the effect of chatting for a long time with the kind doctor who had been invited over and claimed to be a heart cure was far less effective than the small piece of paper that the always reticent liaison had quietly stuffed him with the amount of money he had deposited in the account of the Qionghai Trading Company so far.

Diego put the piece of paper under his pillow, and whenever the queen had any doubts about his role, he took out the small piece of paper and looked at it, and then he could devote himself to spy work in high spirits......

At this moment, Diego was sitting in the shade of a tree thinking about the next step, and it stands to reason that these things should not be needed and should not be considered by him, which is really a bit of a deputy leader's posture.

Their negotiating team has been here for almost a month, and they don't know how long they will have to wait. Even if they are trying to reconcile and do their work in the middle, everyone's feelings are still getting more and more worried. Although I have reported this problem to the liaison several times, the answer I get each time is "it will change after a while." "When will a change come? Would you like to ask the liaison tomorrow?

… Just as Diego was hesitating, he suddenly heard a commotion outside the walls of the prisoner of war camp. There seems to be the sound of the axles of a four-wheeled carriage - who is going to go out on this hot day? Diego just wanted to stand up and go to the door to see the excitement, but saw the door of the prisoner of war camp "creak" open, a team of green-skinned soldiers walked in, and several large cars parked at the door were coming at them!

The Portuguese stood up all at once, and felt his heart beat like a drum, and just now he was hoping for something to change. But when this change really appeared, his first reaction was nervous, even though Diego knew very well that he was on the side of the Joan Navy, no matter how the shape developed, his personal safety and future would definitely be guaranteed, at this moment, he still felt unconfident.

Fortunately, the soldiers were empty-handed, unarmed, and the liaison officer who had been dealing with him was also standing in the crowd. Seeing that his face was full of nervousness, he gave him a slight look, signaling that it was okay, and Diego's beating heart slowly calmed down.

Even if he was like this, the poor worms in the house who had been suspicious all day were naturally terrified, and Diego had just stood up when he heard the sound of furniture toppling over in the house behind him, and someone shouted in terror: "Here they are!" It's finally going to attack us......" "Fight with them!" ”

Words like this only made Diego's face full of black lines outside, but fortunately those greenskins couldn't understand it, otherwise there might be an incident.

However, there was still a relatively stable old man in the room after all, so those people only made a fuss in the room for a while, and did not come out.

After a while, it was the elder Gorman who appeared at the door, arranging his crumpled shirt and trying to make his image more solemn, while loudly announcing his identity as an envoy, and at the same time asking Diego to turn his voice for him: "We have come with peace in good faith, and we do not pose any threat to you."

We really don't know about Diego about the attack on your ally, my good fellow, tell them quickly. Diego faithfully performed his translation work, and a slight smile appeared on the corner of his mouth after listening to his translation.

He took out a copy of the leather document he carried with him and showed it to the elder Gorman and the others, which was the official document that the delegation had handed over to the Qiong Navy when they landed, requesting commercial negotiations.

"Is this what the scalemen are asking for?"

Old Gorman nodded his head again and again, and the officer, who seemed to be of a high position, also nodded: "Then, I hereby formally inform you that after careful consideration, and after eliminating any adverse factors that may be detrimental to our relations, I, the Qionghai Trading Company, have decided to accept the peace request of the Dutch East India Company, and agree to negotiate trade cooperation and other matters between the two sides. As he spoke, he made an inviting gesture to old Gorman: "Now that you have become a business negotiator, you don't have to stay in the prisoner of war camp any longer. So please pack your things and come with us. We will provide you with a new environment that is compatible with your current identity. "Huh?" Not only Old Gorman, but also those behind him were all stunned, obviously not able to understand the other party's meaning for a while. Diego is slightly better, but it's also a bit of a fog. He could only look at the liaison officer he was most familiar with again, and saw that the other party was slightly leading the way, signaling him to accept the request, and then he came back to his senses and whispered to persuade Old Gorman to accept them.

Old Gorman and they have nothing to refuse, although they still have doubts about the sudden "goodwill" of the Qiong Navy, but they don't necessarily say that we are happy to be prisoners here?

There was no luggage, but the group quickly packed up and got into the cart, and when the four-wheeled carriage creaked out of the camp, many people still felt that it was a bit untrue, including Diego.

But old Gorman was calmer, he didn't know where the other party was going to take them, anyway, just take the car. On the way, he also found an opportunity for Diego to ask the officer, who seemed to be a better talker, what he meant when he had said that he had "eliminated the detrimental factors that would have detrimental our relationship"?

The officer was very cheerful and made an explanation without concealment: just two days ago, on the island of Taiwan, which is the northern part of the island of Formosa, you call it, our army and our allies joined forces to annihilate the Dutch fleet and its accomplices who dared to attack us. A group of culprits, including Hampertmans, who claimed to be a senior employee of the East India Company, have all been captured.