Annihilated?!

After hearing this sentence from the officer's mouth, Old Gorman and the others looked at each other, and their faces were uncertain. When I got into the car, there were no outsiders around.

I couldn't help but start talking......,.........

Although they claim to have no knowledge of the company's plans, there is no airtight wall these days. Since they are working for the same company, "there is still some idea of the movement of the company's main forces... You must know that even for a behemoth like the Dutch East India Company, the transfer of more than a dozen warships from Europe is a big move, and it is impossible to hide it from people.

That's more than a dozen warships! Unlike those improvised armed merchant ships, it seems that the tonnage is about the same, and the guns and sailors are far behind......

The company went to great lengths to bring them from Europe, not just to avenge the humiliation of the German Putmans at Hainan and Formosa, but to fill the military gap in Southeast Asia and thus gain military superiority there.

Even in Europe, in the face of the fleets of Spain or England, these more than a dozen warships can also play a big role. When this bill was first introduced at the headquarters in Amsterdam, there were still people in the parliamentary group who felt that it was a waste to send a special warship loaded with more than 20 cannons to Southeast Asia just to deal with a group of Oriental natives... Ararmed merchant ships will suffice.

Although the Batavian side was not as arrogant as the gentlemen of the European headquarters, it had never intended to lose the entire fleet when it arranged for Putmans to attack the coast of China, and if the company judged that it was possible, even if it was only a little, they would never have given this order. In Batavia's plan, the Putmans fleet would take advantage of Spain's attack on Luzon, and the military organization known as the "Joan Navy" would have no time to show a little force near the coast of China to prove that the East India Company still had a strong enough force in Southeast Asia to threaten the negotiating opponents, and then the old Gorman would release peace and goodwill to get the best start to the negotiations.

As for Putmans, he could have returned to the Batavia headquarters after completing the harassment mission, but because of the inconvenience of contact in these years, many situations were unpredictable in advance, so the company also authorized him to go further if necessary, and recapture a stronghold or even a larger territory for the company in Formosa or Penghu under appropriate circumstances, depending on the intensity of the opponent encountered in actual combat.

When the Spaniards first landed in South America, they never imagined that they would be able to destroy the huge Inca Empire in one fell swoop, did they? Although the Oriental "China" country is described as extremely powerful in Marco Polo's travels, who knows if it is a giant with feet of clay, which will fall down at the first push? Let Putmans test it, maybe there will be a surprise, and before the battle, there were not a few people in the company who had such an idea.

Of course, bad intentions are not out of the blue, but even in the worst-case scenario, the company feels that it is always okay for this fleet to retreat in its entirety. Especially before the fleet set off, they received information that the most terrible iron ship of the Joan navy had appeared in the waters of Luzon, and it was this information that made Putmans himself and the company's management more determined to send the fleet, as long as they did not run into the invincible iron ship, they would not pay attention to the small junk ship of the Chinese people.

First, this is the situation before the old Gorman and others opened the headquarters of the Batavia company, and it has only been a month so far, and it is actually the whole army that has been wiped out? Even Putmans himself was taken prisoner?

This qiē sounds too unreal.

Some people began to speculate that this might just be a lie, anyway, they were all locked up in a prisoner of war camp during this time, and there was no information from the outside, and even if the other party said that Batavia had been captured, they could only listen. But old Gorman felt that the other party did not need to do this--this kind of big incident could not be hidden, and people could know it by looking back and asking a little. They are not negotiating this time to exchange actual supplies, and there is no benefit to being deceived in this way.

The group argued for a long time to no avail, and old Gorman couldn't help but ask Diego to inquire with the officer, who seemed quite kind, and ask them what they planned to do with Putmans.—In any case, the German was a senior employee of the East India Company, and his status was about the same as that of old Gorman, and old Gorman was still quite concerned about his fate.

Hearing this question, the officer glanced at Old Goman, and there seemed to be a faint complication in his eyes, but he finally answered: "How to deal with him will depend on the outcome of the Ming court's trial." "You want to hand him over to Mingguo?" Hearing the response from Diego's mouth, Old Gorman's face suddenly became ugly, and he didn't care about the other party's look at him, and hurriedly asked: But last time...... That is, the time you took Formosa Island, didn't you release all the captives? ”

After listening to Diego's turn, the officer sneered: "We put the man back with good intentions, not so that he could bring another army back to retaliate. Since he dared to lead people to the coast of our country to rob and set fires, of course he must be prepared to be punished. Even in Europe, isn't the God you believe in also particular about an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth? ”

After listening to Diego's translation, old Gorman was speechless for a while, what the other party said was reasonable, so that he couldn't even find a reason to intercede for Putmans, he had no friendship with the German, but from the way the other party planned to deal with Putmans, we could test their attitude towards the East India Company and all their Europeans, which was what the old man cared about.

However, now, old Gorman couldn't help but have a kind of worry in his heart, before he came, there were still many people at the headquarters in Amsterdam who thought that this group of Chinese people called "Qiong Navy" might be more capable of fighting, but after all, it was just an ignorant, arrogant, and ignorant indigenous regime of the civilized world, which was no different from other forces in Southeast Asia, and this kind of indigenous regime could not have the spirit of contract like their European civilizations. So even if you negotiate with them, it's just some kind of play, and the ultimate goal is just to grab benefits for the company, as for what name to use, what agreement to reach, and even whether to abide by it in the future, the company doesn't really care.

-- Old Gorman and the others originally viewed this kind of negotiation with such a superior mentality, but what they were most worried about in advance was that this group of people was unreasonable and treated each other purely with violence. But after really coming into contact with this group of people, they found that they didn't bother to use violence against them at all, even if they were thrown into a prisoner of war camp for nearly a month, there was a full reason, no matter what the actual situation was, the Qiong Navy was nominally subordinate to the Ming Empire after all, and at this moment the armed forces of the East India Company were fighting with another force of the Ming Empire. Even if the elder Gorman repeatedly claimed to be only negotiators, it was only natural for them to limit their sphere of activity.

In this month, the civility shown by the other party has far exceeded the expectations of Old Gorman and others. Aside from not allowing them to move freely, the Europeans did not feel at all that they were in a prisoner of war camp - food, lodging, and hygiene were much better than in the regular barracks in Batavia.

After today's exchange with the officer in Tongguò Diego, the elder Gorman felt a very familiar flavor from the other party's words - the condescending tone that they Europeans often inadvertently show when facing the inhabitants of Southeast Asia, and the officer actually treated them with a similar attitude! And to the great dismay of old Gorman, he was unable to refute it, because even according to the virtues and laws of their Europeans, what they said was true.

And it was this that worried old Gorman... He is not afraid that the other party will be unreasonable, those domineering and domineering indigenous leaders are often short-sighted, as long as they find out what they want and do what they like, it is easy to get what the company wants from them. In this regard, the elder Gorman, who was a senior negotiator of the Dutch East India Company, was extremely confident.

But this time, he was facing a different kind of negotiator than the people he had met before: the other party knew exactly what his strengths were and how to play to them... That's not all, old Gorman can even vaguely feel that the other party seems to know exactly what they want!

Although he has not yet sat down at the negotiating table, the elder Gorman is already certain that this negotiation will be very difficult.

Old Gorman was full of apprehension, but the rest of the team was looking at the scenery with curiosity. After coming out of the remote prisoner of war camp, after a small road turned onto the main road, the four-wheeled carriage suddenly became very stable, and there were almost no bumps. Soon, someone noticed the paved road beneath their feet.

"What kind of road is this? It looks like it's all whole stone! ”

Someone said strangely, but immediately someone else responded to him: "Idiot, this is only poured with mortar, and after solidification, it becomes a stone shell, but it's really strange, there is no volcano in this area, where did they find so much plaster?" Or extravagant enough to pave the way? ”

-- The ancient Romans used volcanic ash as natural cement, mainly for construction, but there were also a few roads paved with volcanic ash, so people who have been to Italy can recognize this kind of cement pavement.

Of course, there is a big difference between the cement road here and the ancient Roman one, but these merchants can't tell so clearly, and they are amazed as they look at the road that seems to never end before and after them along the way.