As for why the British took the initiative to jump out to attack Star Island, it is not difficult for Roger to deduce their true purpose from the information known. They had hoped for decades to extend their trade routes to the South China Sea and Northeast Asia, and to establish armed bases and colonies, but they were a little slower than Portugal, Spain, and the Netherlands, and as a result, they fell into a situation of complete passivity and backwardness, completely locked out by the other three countries. Although the British established the East India Company in 1600 to operate trade and colonization in the Far East, its scope of activity could only reach the coast of the Indian Ocean, and British ships that sporadically entered the South China Sea and Northeast Asia had to be carefully disguised as merchant ships of other countries.

Naturally, the British will not abandon the huge potential market of the Far East, and continue to try to break the blockade of their European counterparts year after year, and having a port in the Strait of Malacca has become their obsession. The former borderless land of Star Island may have been favored by the British for a long time, but after all, the old problem of slow movement has not been changed, and it is still occupied by Haihan in front, so their strategy is to take advantage of Haihan's unstable foothold to seize this island again. Anyway, the location of Star Island is also more than a thousand nautical miles away from Haihan's "mainland", and it seems that there is no need to worry that Haihan will take retaliatory measures immediately. With Johor, a country bent on reviving its former glory, there was something to be used for, so it was logical to form a coalition to attack Sing Tao.

Having figured out the opponent's aims and means, it was much easier to deal with them, and now that the opponent's armed offensive had been completely dismantled and the initiative was taken in the negotiation arena, it was enough for Roger to explain to him what was at stake in the future situation in the Far East. Haihan did not have to worry about not having trade channels to the West at hand, while the British had to try to get tickets to the Far East, and the difference in situation made the British have little choice, and if they did not accept Haihan's terms, their situation in the Far East would only become more difficult.

"If you East India Company want to enter the South China Sea, it will not work by relying on Johor, you should choose a more powerful partner who can ensure that you have ports to dock at in the South China Sea, and you will not be beaten in the ass by Portugal and the Netherlands...... Yes, that's what you think, no one is more qualified for this role than us!" Roger ignored the other's surprised eyes, and continued to talk eloquently: "Do you know why Portugal and the Netherlands want to cooperate with us? The reason is very simple, if you find that your opponent is far superior to you, what should you do? Do you continue to fight to the death, or find a way to turn your opponent into a partner? They have all chosen the wisest plan, and now it is your turn to be British. ”

The shift in position with an enemy who had just defeated him was so sudden that the British delegates at the negotiations were not even sure whether Roger was just a casual remark or a sincere suggestion.

Roger had interrogated Hogg before, and knew that the British, who were currently staying in Johor, could not make decisions about such a big thing, so he immediately changed his perspective and continued to persuade: "It's not the point that you have suffered defeat here, think about what your purpose is." If you can open up the sea trade route that you have always dreamed of, then what does it matter if you win or lose this battle?"

Yes, if the ultimate purpose of waging a war is to open up the route between the two oceans, then now Haihan has given a glimmer of hope. Although the conditions they offered were very harsh, it was much better than the situation of having nothing to gain after suffering a defeat. Moreover, Haihan does not seem to have any intention of setting aside the option of "refusal", if the East India Company must do so with its head, then it will face a more severe naval blockade in the future, and it will be even more difficult to squeeze into the Far East.

If you choose between the two outcomes of "suffering defeat and then completely offending Haihan" and "suffering defeat but saving the situation through reparations", then it must be the lesser of two evils, after all, the latter seems to have the possibility of achieving its goal. Whether it was through war or negotiation, entering the South China Sea and Northeast Asia was the major policy that the East India Company was bent on pursuing, and Hogg's subordinates naturally understood this truth, and after listening to Roger's persuasion, they couldn't help but be moved.

Roger struck while the iron was hot and threw out his killer idea: "If the East India Company can meet the conditions we proposed, we will release the prisoners of war one after another after receiving compensation, and we will consider opening Star Island and other ports belonging to Haihan to British merchant ships to dock, and give British merchants the right to trade in Haihan port!"

The person in charge of negotiating on behalf of the East India Company was originally a merchant captain, and his eyes lit up when he heard this. He had been to the island of Anbuna under the rule of the Haihan, where he had heard rumors about the major trading ports in the South China Sea, and also knew that the ports controlled by the Haihan were all over the Indochina Peninsula to the coastal areas of the Ming Dynasty.

"Is what Your Excellency said true?" the British representative's breathing became heavy.

"Seriously, of course, but you must first pay the reparations proposed by our country for the previous war, and then sign a written agreement on trade matters. Roger replied solemnly: "At that time, we can arrange for a special official to negotiate with you on the specific terms of trade, so as to ensure that the interests of both parties will not be damaged as much as possible." ”

"If the Portuguese and the Dutch are opposed to this, what will your country choose?" asked the British delegate, still with some trepidation.

"What I have just mentioned is a bilateral agreement, not a multilateral agreement, and the relevant agreements signed by our country with Portugal and the Netherlands are not exclusive, and the same will be true of the agreements signed with you in the future. Roger was very clear about this, and immediately gave a clear answer.

In fact, when Haihan signed the agreement with Portugal, there were still some exclusive contents, but they were all limited by the statute of limitations, and these exclusive contents have long been invalidated. After that, Haihan's international trade became bigger and bigger, and there were more and more objects, and the road was wider, so it was naturally reluctant to sign such exclusive diplomatic agreements with any party.

Of course, Roger's statement is actually a bit of a small doorway, he only said that the British would consider opening ports and trade rights after paying reparations, but did not make any promises. If the conditions cannot be negotiated at that time, or if the Executive Committee has other ideas, it is not a violation of the agreement. But he knew what the British thought, since even such an unconventional means as starting a war had been used, as long as there was hope of achieving the goal of negotiation, the other side would certainly not give up such an opportunity easily.

Roger knew that the union of the two families was dominated by the British, and as long as he could persuade the British to accept the terms, it would be much easier to deal with Johor. The British negotiator was really moved by what he heard, but he did not forget his mission, even if he asked Haihan to show his sincerity, first release the senior officers headed by Hogg and Bappon, and then talk about the follow-up war reparations.

"Release people first? Then Your Excellency is thinking too much. Roger unceremoniously rejected the other party's request: "Pay the money with one hand and hand over the person with the other, it's okay to get the goods if you don't have money, and it's okay to exchange people for the goods." Please make clear one fact first, we Haihan are the victorious countries, and the outcome of the negotiations will not be too great a loss for us, but it will not necessarily be for you. If you talk well, you can stop losses in time, but if you don't talk well, it will only make matters worse!"

Roger knew very well that the two generals, Barpon and Hogg, were the real valuable figures in this group of prisoners of war, and if they were released, the ransom for the prisoners of war might not be obtained. Moreover, these two people are high-ranking figures in their respective camps, and they can slowly extract a lot of valuable information from their mouths, which is even more valuable than their own value. No matter how soft and hard the other party is, Haihan will never make any concessions in this link.

Negotiations involving the three parties will naturally not end in this round, and after everyone shows their cards, the next direction of the negotiation will have to be weighed by the decision-makers. Roger's side has already communicated with the Sanya base camp through the radio, and the executive committee has also authorized the Sing Tao Management Committee to deal with follow-up matters, but Johor and the East India Company obviously can't be so cheerful, Johor depends on the attitude of the British, and the British need to pass the news back to the stronghold on the Indian Peninsula first.

Haihan, for its part, did not care about the long negotiation process, and took advantage of this period to further strengthen the island's defenses. While there is a batch of cheap labor in the hard labor camps at hand, some infrastructure projects with a large amount of construction, such as transportation, water conservancy, and housing, can also be quickly carried out at this opportunity.

Tan Juren has more plans for the use of this free labor, and he hopes to reclaim new agricultural land as soon as possible for planting cash crops such as rubber trees with long growth cycles but stable long-term returns. It's not that he has a long-term vision, but that he received a long list of cash crops that must be planted in Sing Tao before he went south, but that also requires a lot of manpower.

In fact, these planting plans are not in a hurry for the Ministry of Agriculture to generate income in Sing Tao, and there are some scientific research in them. As the geographical span of the Haihan colony became larger and larger, the cultivation of various food crops and cash crops must also begin to consider the impact of regional environmental differences on yield. Although several travelers from the Ministry of Agriculture are professionals, their experience in tropical agriculture mainly comes from the book knowledge and statistics before the crossing, and this era is hundreds of years different from before the crossing, and the climate and environment are also different. Moreover, in order to make the sample comparison more scientific, the planting scale should not be too small, which brought a greater test to the already tight labor arrangement on Star Island.

Fortunately, after coming to Sing Tao, it was just in time for the wave of "warmth" actions in the United Kingdom and Johor, and sent 2,000 free young and strong laborers to the island. However, considering that it would be more troublesome to arrange for prisoners of war to work in the field, Tan Juren also made corresponding adjustments to the arrangement of labor, arranging more prisoners of war to work at the construction sites near the stronghold, and leaving the task of reclamation in the field to the local people.

Tan Juren had already communicated with Roger on the issue of prisoners of war, and this plan of exchanging civilians for prisoners of war was proposed by him, and if the two families wanted to get these prisoners of war back, they would either pay the compensation in full according to the amount given by Haihan, or they would use young and strong labor in exchange for the release of these prisoners of war. Of course, considering the value of soldiers, a one-to-one exchange is obviously impossible, and where it can be extorted, Tan Juren will definitely not be ambiguous. If this deal is finally realized, it will solve the problem of labor shortage on the island in the short term.

Almost all of the prisoners of war, with the exception of a handful of high-ranking officers, were assigned to work on various construction sites, but even Hogg and Barpon were not completely spared, and were still assigned the task of knocking stones. Tan Juren also didn't know much about how deep his subordinate Han Zhengshan's resentment was about the work of knocking stones, but at present, it seemed that Han Zhengshan's management of the prisoner of war camp was also in order, and there was not much to find fault with. This made Tan Juren quite proud of his choice of Han Zhengshan, thinking that he was also a discerning person and picked a capable management talent.

Of course, Hogg and Papon, who were enslaved, were not so comfortable, for them, the labor assigned by Haihan was boring and heavy, and such days could last for a long time. Roger summoned them when he returned to the base after the negotiations, and clearly informed them of the attitude of Johor and the East India Company, and although the two men had been mentally prepared, they were a little disappointed to hear that they might not receive a positive answer from their respective camps in the near future.

And the news of Haihan's war with the allied forces of the two countries on Sing Island slowly began to spread through various public opinion channels. The outcome of the war did not cause much of a sensation, after all, the countries in the South China Sea region are relatively clear about the strength of Haihan, and the alliance formed by these two countries only added a heavy touch to Haihan's record, and failed to break Haihan's golden body of constant victory and undefeated. The British are not enough, they don't know enough about the strength of Haihan, and it is normal to act rashly, but Johor can be regarded as an unofficial member of the South China Sea Trade Alliance, and they actually follow the British to find death by their necks, which will inevitably make the melon-eating masses of various countries mock it openly or covertly. There are even people who are afraid that the world will not be chaotic, and they are already secretly asking whether Haihan will take further retaliatory actions against Johor.

(End of chapter)