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Diego, a Portuguese who was a furrier and now works as a clerk for the Dutch East India Company, Catelo was so ......, and Mandoza stepped out of his cramped room and took a deep breath of the slightly damp but soothing sea breeze, the weather on this island always seemed to be so mild and pleasant.

It's just that when he saw the tall wall next to him and the green-clothed soldiers on the nearby watchtower staring at him coldly, he couldn't help but shrink his neck again.

Compared to the natives in the rest of Southeast Asia, who were still in a state of primitive obscurantism, this group of Chinese armed forces who called themselves "Qiong Navy" were in every respect, if not more advanced, than those of Europe.

Unfortunately, the gentlemen at the headquarters in Batavia and Amsterdam still do not want to believe this, and they still insist that all non-white people are ignorant and short-sighted, and that the company's previous fiasco in Formosa was considered a regrettable accident. And what surprised Diego the most, or what was incomprehensible, was that even those who had seen the might of Joan's navy, who did not know what to think, actually said that their opponents were worthless after arriving in Batavia and Amsterdam.

In particular, the Governor of Formosa, who was released by the Joan Navy, should be said to be the "former" Governor Han Hao...... Putmans, after seeing the invincible iron ship of the other side with his own eyes and after learning the enemy's artillery fire, he actually dared to promise the board of directors that as long as there were a dozen ships to retake Formosa Island and reopen the trade route to Japan, it was really arrogant to the extreme.

His request, while not fully met, influenced the judgment of the bigwigs at headquarters to come up with such an outlandish, almost contradictory business plan.1

On the one hand, they asked their envoys to negotiate a commercial understanding with the Qiong Navy, which had achieved supremacy in Southeast Asia, so that the East India Company could return to the East Asian maritime trade circle: on the other hand, they authorized Han Hao ......, the war maniac, to allow him to use military means to obtain as much as possible for the company before the negotiations began, and the most important of these "first-mover advantages" was to try to reoccupy a piece of land in East Asia as a base for future trade.

"This bunch of idiots ......"

Diego whispered in his heart, this plan seems to be very well-thought, even the Spaniards as the enemy have been calculated, but they have not considered the reaction of the other party in the negotiation. It seems that they can fight when they say they can fight, and they can fight if they say peace, and their bones are still full of Caucasian arrogance. And it was this arrogance that made him fall into such a field.

But it's not surprising, don't you think he had the same idea when he first went to Hainan as an envoy? I always thought that these people were easy to fool, but they were treated as idiots.

This time it was the same, and when the other party came to negotiate heard that they were asking for corresponding treatment in the capacity of emissaries, they had a sneering look on their faces, but they still replied: Since they are currently in a state of war with the East India Company, they can only handle their relations with you in a state of hostility.

If that were all there was to it, an old gentleman here who thought he was good at negotiating had added to himself: We are not attacking you, but only another force in the South China Sea, and as far as we know, they have no close relationship with you, but only general commercial cooperation, and if you allow the East India Company to take their place...... And so on and so forth.

As a result, the negotiator on the other side looked at them with idiotic eyes for a long time, and then pointed to a flag flying above their heads, and saw clearly what flag it was? The symbol of the Ming Empire! What you are attacking is the army and territory of the Ming Empire, and it is a provocation to the entire empire, so at the moment you are making enemies of the entire Ming Empire, and our Qiong Navy is also part of the Ming Empire, this is a war! Do you know what war is? You think it's a kid's game?

After that, the dumbfounded old man was thrown into the prisoner of war camp along with the whole group, and treated according to the standards of prisoners. However, because this group of people themselves did not have any hostile actions after all, their attitude towards them was quite polite, as long as they did not go out of the camp wall, they could usually move freely in the camp, and their daily supplies were also okay, and they did not treat each other harshly.

It's just that when it can be released depends on the course and outcome of the war. As for the business negotiations that these envoys expected, they simply ignored them, no matter how much they asked the other side to say: now is not the time for negotiations, and there will be something to wait until this battle is over.

"You provoked the war, but how to end it, and in what way, can only be decided by us."

The words that the negotiator had left behind as he was leaving, to this day, still make most of the envoys feel sore at the thought of it, and they were not very impassioned, but only expressed an obvious fact in a flat tone. And it was precisely the realization of this that made the hearts of the envoys who were all high before they came.

Of course, Diego was not among them, and he already knew that this was the result.

As a dutiful company employee, he once gave advice to his superiors, but it was not accepted. After all, compared to Mr. Putmans, who used to be the governor of a place, he was just a newcomer who had just joined the company, and it was normal for no one to listen to him, although the reason why he was absorbed into the company was because he had dealt with the Joan Navy and knew them better.

However, after experiencing this lesson, I think my voice in the company will become higher. In fact, at present, within the envoy group, several leaders have begun to attach importance to him, because only his construction is more practical, and no matter how arrogant and arrogant he is, he is still the most able to accept reality after all.

, "Mr. Diashi...... Mr. Diego? ”

Saying Cao Cao, Cao Cao arrived, and just as he was thinking about this, a few calls came from behind, and Diego immediately turned around, respectfully took off his hat, and bowed deeply to the fifty-year-old gentleman at the door of the barracks: "Mr. Gorman." ”

An old man was the main negotiator of the envoy group, and he had a very high position in the company. This time, it has the highest decision-making body of the company's board of directors, the "seventeen-member gentlemen's group", which can make decisions on behalf of the company's board of directors.

The Board of Directors of the East India Company, like all other bodies that collectively decided on the affairs of the Qiong Navy, was divided into two parts: the moderates who advocated negotiation and the hardliners who advocated a military settlement, and Gorman was one of the representatives of the moderates.

Of course, the reason why this old man has a moderate attitude is not that he has any good feelings for that Qiong Navy, but simply because of the old man's mentality of pursuing stability in everything, and the political need to stand on the façade of those main battle factions in the board of directors. In the depths of his heart, he still holds the pride peculiar to the white race to the yellow race, and always feels that the other party is a group of uncivilized people who are easy to fool, and they are lambs who need God's salvation.

Old Gorman was a devout believer.

However, this arrogance was shattered after the first negotiation with the other side, and it was this old man who put forward the theory that "it has nothing to do with you to fight another force", and then the young man on the other side looked at him with extremely contemptuous eyes for a long time, and he was speechless in two sentences.

Diego believed that this must have dealt a heavy blow to the old man's pride, for he had not said anything since then that the Asians needed God's teaching. Now, though, the old man is starting to worry about his own safety.

"Mr. Diego, are you sure that the other party will indeed not hurt us?"

This was the third time that the old man had raised the question, and for the third time Diego had given the same answer: "Yes, Monsieur Gorman, on this I am sure you know that they are not unreasonable barbarians, and that even for those prisoners of war there will be a trial to confirm the punishment. Those who have not acted in specific hostilities will be released, as they have done with their captives in the past, and this time should be no exception. And those of us who are here as messengers are unlikely to be in any danger.

“…… Yes, it makes me feel much more relieved to hear about your well. Old Gorman breathed a sigh of relief, "You seem pretty sure about that?" ”

As in the previous days, the old man was still not very reassured. He had been captured by the enemy on the battlefields of Europe, and it was probably because of that very bad memory that he became particularly cautious.

"Yes, I'm pretty sure that the current situation has come to an end and is not going to get any worse."

Looking at the old man's puzzled face, Diegorho smiled a little smugly, "He is very sure in his heart, no matter how bad the situation is, his life must be safe." Moreover, these words he said will definitely be fulfilled.

Why is he so confident? There is a reason, of course......

One night, after everyone had gone to sleep, Diego quietly went out of the door under the pretext of going to the toilet, bypassing a few corridors, and after making sure that no one was following, he walked to the edge of the camp, next to a small door, and knocked lightly according to a certain pattern.

After a few seconds, a small window opened in the door, and a face appeared to look at him a few times.

"Say hello to Mr. Zhao." ”

Diego said in a low voice, and after a moment of silence, the other party nodded: "Mr. Zhao also greets you...... ...... Come here. ”

One, with a "squeak", the small door opened.