No one expected this to be the case, and the guards were even more frightened and screamed, constantly twisting their bodies to dodge, and he yelled: "No, this is a misunderstanding, it is not like this, it was the Governor who tied me up and made me admit that it was me who beat this yellow-skinned monkey, not my ......." ”

"Shut up!" Paul slammed his fist into the guard's mouth, and the guard was knocked down and did not dare to speak.

Guo Huaiyi pulled the trigger, but he shot out the window, put down the gun, and said with a smile: "Lord Governor, it's just a misunderstanding, maybe the guard's hand slipped, you see, I also slipped my hand just now and went off." ”

Guo Huaiyi had already determined that the person who monitored him last night was his own brother, but he didn't want to debunk this matter.

"Don't get out yet." Paul kicked the guard.

Guo Huaiyi said to Guo Huaiyu: "You can go back too, you can't be without a master on the White Bird." ”

When there were only two people left in the restaurant, Paul asked with a smile, "Guo, how is the situation of the Shiratori, can you get out of trouble today?" ”

"Yes, but I'm going to say something else." Guo Huaiyi said.

Paul smiled and nodded, continuing to eat his own omelette: "Tell me, what's the matter?" ”

Guo Huaiyi said: "Last night, Li Zhaoji quietly came to me and gave me this. ”

As he spoke, Guo Huai put a handkerchief on the dining table, and after opening it, a small yellow croaker was revealed.

"What a big deal, he bribed you for, for what?" Paul was stunned for a moment, but after a while he came to his senses, picked up the gold bar, looked at it, and put it in his handkerchief.

Guo Huaiyi said: "For the sake of the White Bird, Li Zhaoji saw that the White Bird was trapped, and it was difficult to extricate him for a while, and he saw that I was organizing people to relieve the difficulty. Greedy, he wants to buy me off and let the Shiratori be trapped there completely, so that he can get a boat for nothing, or buy it from you at a low price. ”

Paul put down his knife and fork and asked, "What is the situation with the White Bird, and will it be able to solve its predicament?" ”

Guo Huaiyi said with a smile: "It's easy to get out of the beach, but it will affect the use." ”

Guo Huaiyi stood up, took down a model of a sailboat from the shelf on the side, pointed to the ribs under the waterline of the bow and said: "The fourth and fifth ribs are cracked, not optimistic, maybe they can be repaired temporarily, barely usable, but it is difficult to say in the event of a storm."

I don't know what the keel is like, I need to disassemble the guard plate to see, but now there is a lot of water in it, and I need to check it after getting out of trouble, filling leaks, and draining water. In fact, the ship is in its current state and should be overhauled. ”

Paul thought for a moment: "So, Guo, are you in favor of selling the ship to the Oriental Trading Company?" ”

Guo Huai pushed the gold bar on his handkerchief in front of Paul and said, "This is your ship, and you are also the commander of the fleet, and I obey your orders, Your Excellency the Governor." ”

Paul had a lot of smiles on his face, and seemed to be very satisfied with Guo Huaiyi's performance, he said: "It's okay to sell the ship, but what about the price, this ship was built in Batavia, it was launched last year, it is very new, and the first time I participated in the transportation mission from Batavia to Nagasaki, I was seconded by me to participate in this operation."

For the ship, the company spent seven hundred ducats, made of the finest tropical hardwoods. ”

Guo Huai looked solemn and said, "In fact, Li Zhaoji's estimate of this ship is much higher than yours, and he thinks that this ship is worth two thousand taels, that is, a thousand ducats. But he thinks that if I can cooperate with him to trap this ship on the beach, the value of this ship will be infinitely reduced, and even a Ducat is better than a fire. ”

Paul nodded slightly: "So, what advice do you have?" ”

"Get this ship out of trouble, and then let the Shiratori go straight back to the big guy. Or sell it to him. Guo Huaiyi still did not show a clear attitude, and still insisted that everything was decided by Paul.

But it was clear that Paul could not let the White Bird return to the Captain, that he could not let the news of his unfavorable actions be known before the expedition was successful, and that the Captain had no dock to repair the great wound of a broken rib, which would have been more troublesome to go back.

"If, I mean, if I sell it to him, what will it be at approximate price?" Paul asked, after careful consideration.

Guo Huaiyi said: "I don't know this, I need you to negotiate peacefully, I think he will lower the price, very low." ”

Paul laughed: "If I sell, it will naturally be you who will handle it, not me to talk to him, Guo, you are the person I trust the most, this kind of thing belongs to you." ”

Guo Huaiyi said with a straight face: "Thank you for your trust, Your Excellency the Governor, but it's better for me not to participate, after all, I am the same color as him, maybe you won't say anything, but Mr. Carl and some of the company's Excellency will not be able to stand it."

Of course, in order to repay your trust, I would like to give you a suggestion, if you do sell the Shiratori, you can use it to offset some of the purchase price of supplies, and I believe that you can offset more silver. ”

"Then I'll wait, I think the Shiratori will get out of trouble and sell for a better price than if she runs aground there." Paul said.

But Guo Huaiyi obviously had no intention of getting the Shiratori out of trouble, and in essence, it was very difficult for the Shiratori to get out of trouble.

This was when the Dutch fleet went deep into the Tamsui River, and in order to avoid grounding, the highest tide of the tide was chosen, which was also the common practice for sailing ships to enter the river from the open sea, but the problem was that the Shiratori fled in a hurry, resulting in the grounding, which was also at the highest tide.

The main reason for the ship to get out of trouble is the tide. The Shiratori is still leaking, and with the help of the climax, the time window is already small.

Therefore, Guo Huai can let his subordinates dig up the sediment on both sides of the White Bird when the tide is low, so that it can get out of trouble at high tide.

It's just that Guo Huaiyi deliberately played a trick, through the difference in digging depths on both sides, the change of the position of the ship's materials and the displacement of the ballast stone, he successfully made the White Bird roll over on the water when it was close to noon that day.

And when he rolled over, Guo Huaiyi was still reporting on the Hague, so he put the responsibility on his younger brother Guo Huaiyu, and beat up this dog in front of everyone.

"Six hundred ducats, that's my reserve price."

The White Bird flipped on its side, and it was obvious that the two sides could no longer negotiate on this ship, so the two sides chose a sandbar at the mouth of the sea and set up tents, and Paul came up and showed a tough posture, obviously, when he didn't want to sell the White Bird, he could use this incident to express his trust in Guo Huaiyi, but when he really wanted to sell, he wouldn't really let Guo Huaiyi be responsible.

Li Zhaoji behaved very indifferently: "Six hundred taels of silver, I will not increase the price again." ”

Karl said angrily on the side: "This is an important asset of the company, and it cannot be less than six hundred ducats. ”

The Ducat's exchange rate with silver was about one to two, and apparently Lee gave only half of the price.

"Let's end it then, fortunately the Shiratori is still half exposed in the water, you go and burn her, so we don't need to quarrel, so as not to ruin the cooperation between us that we have so hard to reach." Li Zhaoji stood up and looked like he was leaving.

Paul was the first to say: "Five hundred ducats, I will give a step, and I don't want cash, you can provide supplies of equal value." ”

"Six hundred taels of silver, I said, no price increase." Li Zhaoji turned around and said to Paul, a ship that overturned on its side could no longer run, and he had plenty of room to reduce the price.

Paul seemed to want to give in, but Karl refused, for the simple reason that Karl had come to Dayuan on this ship, and that he was going to Nagasaki on this ship, and that there were four four-pounder guns and some munitions on board, and that he could not take all of this with the rollover.

Li Zhaoji sat back in his position, drinking tea and watching the two people quarrel, and soon Guo Huaiyi also joined in, and kept asking for new prices one after another, from one thousand taels of silver to eight hundred taels, but Li Zhaoji bit six hundred taels to death.

"Two adults, his attitude is very resolute, and not a single ducat is willing to add." Guo Huaiyi's face was full of embarrassment and said to Paul.

"This damn yellow-skinned monkey, heretic, should be killed immediately." Carl was young and vigorous, and he was furious.

Paul said angrily, "Is it any use for you to do this? Could it be that your anger can make the Shiratori float? If you're so impulsive again, go back immediately, or set the Shiratori on fire. ”

Carl picked up his hat and chose to leave, while Paul said to Guo Huaiyi: "Guo, make a final effort." ”

Guo Huaiyi discussed with Li Zhaoji for a while, and said to Paul: "I discussed with him, and it was still six hundred taels of silver, but it was not to offset the materials, but to give you six hundred taels of silver, that is, sixty taels of gold. ”

A hint of joy flashed in Paul's eyes, and he nodded slightly: "This is a good price, let him raise it a little more." ”

But the result was that there was no increase at all, except that the change from six hundred taels of silver to six hundred taels of gold was itself an act of raising the price.

For Li Zhaoji, there is no difference between 60 taels of gold and 600 taels of silver, and the purchasing power is the same, but for the Dutch East India and Du Company, it is not the case at all. Because the exchange rate of gold and silver between the East and the West is not the same.

In the East, one tael of gold could be exchanged for ten taels of silver, but in Europe, it could be exchanged for fifteen taels of silver.

This is because since the Spanish occupation of South America, the colonies have produced a large amount of silver, such as the Spanish-occupied Potosi silver mine, which at its peak could produce more than 30,000 taels of silver a day.

Therefore, the favorite thing of the colonizers of the West from the East was gold.

Guo Huaiyi took out a handkerchief, wiped his sweat, and said meaningfully: "Fortunately, you have already obtained a gold bar, which means that your loss is smaller." ”

Paul nodded slowly, and said helplessly: "Perhaps, it seems that this is not a place protected by God, we should not have rested here in the first place, but went straight to the city of Spain." ”