As an opponent who was still on the battlefield not long ago, Hogg would not easily believe that the other party's so-called "voluntary release" was a good intention. It took so much effort for the Haihan people to capture themselves alive, and it was absolutely impossible for them to return to the mountains so easily, and this Haihan officer named Roger looked very shrewd, and did not look like he was sick in the brain at all.

Hogg concluded that there must be a conspiracy, and replied very cautiously: "What are your intentions?"

"Attempt? I should ask you this question, right?" Roger said unhurriedly: "What is your idea of instigating the Johor army to invade our country, do you still need me to analyze it for you little by little? Not executing you invaders is already the greatest mercy of our army, do you still want to live here for nothing all the time?"

"You...... Are you really going to let me go?" Hogg was a little confused about Roger's intentions, so he continued tentatively.

"Release, I'm not kidding you. Roger nodded, and changed his words: "But freedom has a price, and before you are allowed to leave, you must first compensate our country for the losses suffered by this war." ”

Hogg's heart immediately sank, and he understood that the other party was planning to use it to extort a ransom from the East India Company. However, this is not unusual, as ransom money has been exchanged for prisoners of war in European theaters since ancient times, especially for high-ranking officers and nobles who were imprisoned, and often used this method to regain their freedom after the war. It is common practice for the warring parties to pay money in one hand and to pay people in the other, or to exchange captured personnel directly.

But since it is a transaction, then there is room for bargaining, and if the other party's purpose is really for money, then their personal safety will also be guaranteed accordingly. Thinking of this, Hogg's mood relaxed a little, and he immediately responded calmly: "Then please ask Your Excellency to offer a price!"

"Before we talk about the price, let's sort out what you need to pay for!" Roger unhurriedly took out a book, opened it and showed Hogg, "You see, I've already sorted it out." ”

Hogg saw several rows of text densely written on it, and he couldn't help but suddenly feel a little flustered, the opponent's response this time was obviously prepared, and his own battle plan was controlled by it step by step, and there was no room for it to be used at all. And this plan to ask for a ransom in exchange for freedom after the war has obviously been in the other party's calculations for a long time, and there is no goodwill at all to say that he will let himself go, but he is just luring himself to accept their arrangement step by step.

"First of all, in order to deal with your sneak attack, the soldiers and civilians on the island stopped work and training in advance to prepare for the war, so the economic losses during this period, as well as the consumption of all personnel and labor costs, must all be recorded on your heads......

The first indemnity that Roger explained startled Hogg, although the number of Haihan soldiers and civilians stationed on the island was not too much, but there were two or three thousand, Roger opened his mouth for a month, and how much money was spent on the preparation during this period, it was completely up to him to say casually.

Roger continued: "The second major item is the damage caused by your invasion. You will also have to bear the cost of the suspension of the port, the suspension of work, the destruction of farmland and houses, and the cost of treatment and bereavement for our casualties. ”

Hogg's head began to hurt when he heard this, and what the other party said seemed to be the truth, but how to calculate these costs could not be verified at all. The other party calculated the accounts so carefully, I am afraid that he is preparing for the next lion's big mouth.

Roger gestured with a third finger and said: "Next is the combat expenses of the troops, the personnel dispatched by our side, the warships, the materials consumed, the ammunition, and the rewards after the battle, and the related expenses will also fall on you." This account has not yet been counted, so it is only listed first, not counted. By the way, we specially transferred a fleet from Ambuna Island to help in the war, and blocked the Straits of Johor during the encirclement and suppression of you, and the cost of dispatching the navy was very high. ”

When Hogg heard this, what he was worried about was not what kind of sky-high price the other party would offer in the end, but how much his life could be worth, and he had to ask for a ransom according to the algorithm of the Haihan people, just afraid that the company's top management would look forward to dying in this place.

Hogg, who was about to fall into despair, saw Roger stretch out another finger, and couldn't help but complain at the moment: "How can there be?"

"Of course!" Roger continued in a tone of righteousness, "Fourth, the post-war expenses. This includes the expenses of post-war reconstruction and feeding you prisoners of war, and we are not obliged to feed the prisoners of war and provide you with the necessary conditions for survival, so it should be very reasonable to charge a fee, right? Finally, since this war was initiated by you, the East India Company and the Johor State, and we were the ultimate victors, we will also ask for an additional fine as punishment. Well...... That's pretty much it, what do you think?"

Hogg replied angrily: "I heard that the Haihan people are greedy merchants, it seems that the rumors are true, but Your Excellency may think too highly of my status, you have listed so many projects to collect money, but the East India Company may not be willing to spend too much money to buy back my life!"

Roger shook his head and said, "No, no, no, it's not just your owner who is paying, but also your partner Johor." I don't expect the East India Company to be able to bear the reparations on its own, so in the end the two of you will have to share the costs equally. As for whether your boss is willing to pay to redeem you, I don't think you should only look at how much your life is worth, but also consider whether it is worth completely offending our country for this. Of course, your boss can choose to play dead and not pay a single silver coin, but by doing so, he will give up the opportunity to reconcile, and he will suffer from the retaliation of our country in the future, so he will not have any complaints. ”

Hogg didn't think about such a deep problem just now, and was woken up by Roger so little, only to find that the other party's scheming was really bottomless, and he had made so many plans to prepare for the lion's mouth, but it was not because of how valuable the prisoners of war, including himself, were, but because the East India Company and the Johor Kingdom did not dare to offend the Haihan Kingdom further after suffering this defeat. Roger's words have been made very clear, it is okay not to pay compensation, then wait for Haihan to carry out retaliation. As for what Haihan's means of retaliation would be, Hogg didn't need to think much about it, such a powerful military strength was not a joke, and the indigenous armies of Johor who were still using spears and machetes would definitely not be able to defeat the regular Haihan army fully equipped with muskets.

As for the East India Company, although the area under its actual control was still far from the territory of the Haihan, if the British merchant ships were to enter the South China Sea in the future, they would have to face another layer of risk, and they would have to face the Haihan Navy, which was known as the hegemon of the South China Sea and was more powerful than Portugal and the Netherlands. The negative impact on the East Indies' long-term plans in the Far East was much greater than the defeat at Sing Island. This battle was defeated, at most, it was a loss of 500 mercenaries and a dozen British ** officers, but on the premise of failing to occupy Xingdao, it completely offended Haihan, so the possibility of British ships wanting to enter the South China Sea for trade and colonial expansion in the future is even more remote.

If you can buy a trade route into the South China Sea for money, then he thinks that the bigwigs at the top of the company don't mind paying a little out of their pockets to make this deal, as long as the price is not too excessive. Of course, Hogg also understood that the first thing to do was to find out whether the price offered by Haihan only included the ransom of the prisoners of war, or whether it included the so-called "settlement" fee.

Hogg mentally sorted out his words for a moment, and then he spoke again: "What do you mean by reconciliation? Can I understand this to mean that British merchant ships will be allowed to pass through the Strait of Malacca and the waters under your jurisdiction after reconciliation?"

Roger smiled and said, "The extent of reconciliation also depends on the sincerity of your East India Company. The situation you are talking about is not impossible, and if you have the will to do so, then you can negotiate and resolve the differences. My country has always advocated peaceful coexistence, and if you had tried to engage with us in a normal way from the very beginning, how could this completely unnecessary war break out?"

Hogg was so angry by Roger's words that anyone can say peace, but Haihan's claim to advocate peace is really a bit untenable, and he has a record of fighting with all the surrounding countries before the founding of the country, so it can be said that this country is fought by force. Although the war was initiated by the East India Company and Johor, the Haihan had already noticed it in advance, and they did not try to prevent the outbreak of war by means of negotiations, which is a big lie to say that they love peace.

But it is useless to accuse Haihan on this kind of issue, speaking by force and respecting the strong, is the real law of this era, and there is no reason to talk about it if you can't beat others, and Hogg, who is a military adviser to the East India Company, is also very clear about this. Didn't he follow this rule when he came here with mercenaries and sent troops together with Johor to fight against Haihan? The logic of the coalition is that if the coalition forces win the battle against Haihan, then they will naturally have the capital to bargain with the powers of the South China Sea, and the victor will have the right to choose to negotiate to solve the problem.

If, according to Roger, the East India Company would have a chance to achieve its goal without fighting this war and directly contacting Haihan for negotiations? Hogg believed that even if there were, it would be very slim, and that Haihan had relevant trade treaties with Portugal and the Netherlands, which were likely to include some exclusive contents, and that Britain wanted to establish trade and even diplomatic relations with Haihan, which could not be done by wishful thinking. The East India Company also evaluated this, and finally came to the conclusion that it would still rely on force to open up the situation and win the war to gain the initiative in the negotiations. However, judging from the actual implementation effect, the result of this choice can be said to be catastrophic, and the coalition forces not only failed to achieve the expected results, but instead completely annihilated, suffered heavy losses, and put their own side in a completely passive state.

Seeing that Hogg was silent, Roger continued to persuade: "The treatment we are giving you now is based on your position in the East India Company, if the East India Company abandons you because of the defeat or the ransom issue, then your status will lose its value to us. At that time, you will have to do the same hard physical labor as any other ordinary prisoner of war, and you will most likely die in a prisoner of war camp due to overwork. So I hope you will cooperate with us on the ransom issue, which will be of practical benefit to you personally, and to the country and organization to which you are allegiant. ”

Hogg took a deep breath and said, "Then what do you want me to do?"

Roger smiled slightly: "First of all, I need you to write a handwritten letter......

At the same time that Roger was persuading Hogg, Tan Juren was also doing ideological work for the Johor general Papong through a translator in another place. Roger had already consulted with him about what to do with the prisoners of war, so his persuasion of Papon was similar to Roger's.

Compared with the British, who only lost a few hundred mercenaries, the Johor army can be said to have lost its elite this time, and almost all of the nearly 2,000 new troops that had just been formed were folded in Star Island, and the value of the hundreds of civilians who were captured with the army was simply negligible. The East India Company provided Johor with weapons and training, which led to a huge investment in the new army, for which the Kingdom of Johor already owed a large debt to the East India Company.

Originally, it was expected that most of this debt would be mortgaged through the right to use Sing Tao, but now this plan has completely failed, and Johor will not only lose all its money, but also face the sky-high war reparations offered by Haihan. If the reparations are refused, the POWs, led by Papong, will never return home, and Johor will face reprisals from the Haihan.

To say that Johor is not a war-fearing country, and the surrounding countries have almost fought all over the country, but Johor's own strength is limited, belonging to the repeated defeat of the type of players, and now this batch of elites is all folded in Xingdao, it is difficult to organize another strong army to fight against the powerful Haihan army. After this encounter, Bapong also understood that it was not possible to confront the Haihan army head-on with muskets and artillery, and the gap in strength between the two sides could not be filled by Johor pulling a helper. If there is a war between the two countries, the resistance of the Johor army will be extremely limited, and if not the country will be destroyed, it will be inevitable that the strength will be greatly damaged.