As expected, He Tingbin was a man of business, and he was very easy to talk with. In a few words, he explained the whole story of why they presented a boat to return to Yingzhou Island.

It's just that after He Tingbin finished speaking these words, he hesitated for a while and looked hesitant. Obviously, there might be something hidden about the matter of "returning by offering a ship".

But at this time, Yang Zhen had already guessed the general process.

Because Yang Zhen was very aware of the characteristics of the generals under his command, and knew that with Guo Xiaowu and Qiu Guangyi's temperament, they would never be able to assist outsiders for free.

The so-called "offering a boat to return" must be the result of watching the fire from the other side, adding insult to injury, and then the lion opened his mouth and raised the price, taking advantage of his illness to kill him.

Sure enough, at this moment, Guo Xiaowu and An Yixin looked at each other, and then Guo Xiaowu said "cough" several times, bowed and said to Yang Zhen:

"Well, we don't have enough food on Yingzhou Island. Besides, what does it have to do with us if the red-haired devils starve to death and die of thirst? If it weren't for the sake of He Tongshi's common sense and understanding of the Ming Dynasty, let alone a ship

Even if it’s ten or eight pieces, we won’t change them for him. They’re all starving to death anyway, so these things are still ours.”

Regarding what Guo Xiaowu said, An Yixin, who was standing aside, obviously believed deeply and couldn't help but nod while looking at Yang Zhen.

But these words fell on Yang Zhen's ears, and they really gave him a black line on his forehead.

Some things can be done, but cannot be said clearly. If you say it now and let He Tingbin hear it, how will you feel about me?

It's not easy for me to meet a talented person who knows something about the foreign affairs outside and understands the red-haired language and the Japanese slave language. I'm thinking of recruiting him for my own use!

But for Guo Xiaowu, a blessed and beloved general, Yang Zhen did not want to reprimand him face to face for this. He just coughed and reminded him to shut up in time, and then frowned and asked:

"How many ships have been changed in total?"

"The Nagasaki Red-Haired Ghosts only have one large and magnificent boat, and we want it. There are two small boats left, which are not as big as ours. Qiu Dusi means to keep a line in life so that we can meet each other easily in the future, so stay here."

Give it to them."

"Then how many of these red-haired ghosts are there? Where are they now?"

"There are not many serious white-skinned and red-haired ghosts, only about ten in total. There are more black-skinned slaves who look like coal black men. It is said that they are all slave labor and sailors. When they come to our side

, there are about sixty or seventy more."

Faced with these questions from Yang Zhen, Guo Xiaowu answered them very simply and neatly.

"Is the Governor worried that they will spread the plague to us? Bei Shi and others also thought about it, so when they accepted their donation, they were specially placed on a desert island for more than half a month. If they were sick, they would have died long ago.

"Their number, including white-skinned red-haired ghosts, black-skinned Uban slaves and other messy high-ranking mountain slaves, was one hundred and eighty in the beginning. The reason why they are getting smaller and smaller is not because of the plague, but because of the plague.

They were all killed and eaten."

"ah?!"

As soon as Guo Xiaowu said these words, not only Yang Zhen himself, but also everyone else present was shocked and exclaimed.

Previously, they were full of doubts about the return of the red-haired trading house from Nagasaki. They always felt that this matter was fishy and untrustworthy, fearing that the red-haired ghost had evil intentions.

But after hearing what Guo Xiaowu said about the situation of cannibalism, everyone's previous doubts, including Yang Zhen's, were all gone.

If the Dutch red-haired ghosts on Nagasaki Island and their black slaves, as well as the slave sailors from Daguan and Java, have been starved of food to the point of cannibalism, then in addition to agreeing to the conditions of Yingzhou Island

There is really no other way besides offering a boat to return.

"Guo Xiaowu!"

"The humble position is here!"

Although Yang Zhen suddenly realized it, Zhang Degui was still not at ease.

He saw that Yang Zhen had finished asking and seemed to have nothing more to say, so he continued to ask Guo Xiaowu:

"I heard that the red-haired ghosts are very fierce. Since they have big ships and manpower, why don't they go out to rob when they have no food or drink? Instead, they come to you to discuss purchases, and even sacrifice ships to return?!"

Zhang Degui's words were very rude. He could have asked directly why the Dutch red-haired ghost didn't seize Yingzhou Island.

"Haha, Mr. Zhang, you always don't know something. We have to thank the Japanese slave country for this matter. I can't explain it clearly in a few words, so I'd better ask Mr. He to talk about it!"

Faced with Zhang Degui's inquiry and the gazes of Yang Zhen and others, Guo Xiaowu certainly did not dare not to answer immediately.

However, the person who knew the truth best was He Tingbin, the general manager of the Nagasaki Red Hair Merchant Store, so Guo Xiaowu directly handed the question over to He Tingbin.

"This is reported back to the Commander-in-Chief, General Zhang. The reason for this is a long story, but in the final analysis, it's not that the Dutch Red Hairs don't want to plunder supplies, but that the merchant ships left behind to leave the island do not have such capabilities at the moment."

Immediately afterwards, He Tingbin explained in detail the exclusive trade terms reached between the Edo shogunate and the Dutch and the circumstances behind them.

It turns out that just a few years ago, a major uprising broke out on Kyushu Island, where Nagasaki is located. The uprising first broke out in the Shimabara area, so it was called the Shimabara Rebellion. It later expanded to the Amakusa Peninsula, so it was also called the Amakusa Rebellion.

chaos.

This uprising was related to the famine that lasted for several years in the Kyushu vassals, and also to the spread of Catholicism by the Portuguese throughout the island.

However, the Tokugawa shogunate, which had long been dissatisfied with the Portuguese for spreading Catholicism everywhere and was preparing to pursue a seclusion policy, attributed the main reason to the Portuguese's deceptive words.

Because many of the people who participated in the Shimabara and Amakusa Rebellions were Catholics who were oppressed at the time, the so-called Kirichitans in the Wonu Kingdom.

After several years of brutal suppression, the Shimabara and Amakusa rebellions finally subsided.

Then the Tokugawa shogunate turned its spearhead and began to target the Portuguese and their missionaries, the initiators of the Shimabara Amakusa Rebellion. Finally, with the support of the Dutch, they expelled the Portuguese and executed all the Chelishitan believers who refused to repent.

In this process, the Dutch gained the favor of the Tokugawa shogunate because of their joint attack on the Portuguese.

After the Tokugawa shogunate issued the lock-down order, the Dutch monopolized the trading power between the Western barbarian countries and the Japanese slave countries.

The reason why the Dutch gained the trust of the Tokugawa shogunate was because the Dutch East India Company was the same as the Portuguese and Spanish. They were mainly profit-seeking businessmen who focused on making profits and did not preach.

Moreover, the religion that the Dutch believe in is not Catholicism, but a sect of Protestantism, and they do not regard missionary missions as a more important mission than doing business and making money.

However, the Tokugawa shogunate, who believed that it had suffered a great loss from the Portuguese, was wary of all foreign barbarians, and was equally uneasy about the Dutch Red Barbarians.

Therefore, the only exclusive trading rights among the foreign barbarians obtained by the Dutch Red Barbarians were actually obtained in exchange for many conditions.

One of them was the Dutch red-haired merchant ship that came to the Wonu Kingdom. Before docking in the port, the cannons on the ship had to be disassembled and stored centrally on the shore. They could not be retrieved until the ship left the port and returned.

In order to obtain the exclusive trade rights, the Dutch supported the Tokugawa shogunate to seize the country and not trade with other Western barbarians, and at the same time agreed to this harsh condition.

As a result, as soon as the armed merchant ships of the Dutch East India Company entered Nagasaki Port and berthed, their guns had to be separated from the ships.

When Nagasaki Port fell into complete chaos due to the plague and became a ghost town of the dead, the Dutch red-haired devils who were isolated on the island in front of Nagasaki Port had no time to take back the dismantled guns and cannons.

This means that although they have a huge ship, a certain number of men, and even some privately stored matchlock guns, they do not have the strength to go to war with Yingzhou Island or other Japanese forces.

Moreover, the left-behind Dutch red-haired people, who were short of food and water, had no food or water. Although they had large ships, they did not have the courage to sail away and dock elsewhere to seek help.

Wandering and sailing on the sea can often last ten days and a half. Once they can't find a place to dock, they have already run out of food and water, and they are left with only a dead end.

In this way, various reasons were entangled together. Under the repeated persuasion of He Tingbin, the general manager who had other ideas, Deacon Cohen, who stayed behind at the Dutch Merchant Post, had no choice but to seek help from the Ming Army on Yingzhou Island.

As for the various conditions of the Yingzhou Island garrison, Cohen, who was in a desperate situation, finally agreed to all of them under He Tingbin's persuasion.

The 80%-new giant merchant ship that Guo Xiaowu and Qiu Guangyi were interested in was the only bargaining chip that the Dutch red-haired barbarians who stayed on Dejima Island in Nagasaki had, so it naturally fell into the hands of the defenders of Yingzhou Island.

Correspondingly, Guo Xiaowu and Qiu Guangyi not only promised to provide them with food and fresh water, but also agreed to bring the principal among them to Lushunkou to meet Yang Zhen.

In the whole process, the role played by He Tingbin was very crucial.

If this He Tingbin has evil intentions and is a traitor who wholeheartedly stands on the side of the Dutch Red Mao Yi, then Guo Xiaowu and the others may not be able to handle the Dutch Red Mao Yi.

So after Yang Zhen understood almost the entire situation, he quickly took a new look at He Tingbin, the general secretary of the Tang Dynasty who had been kneeling on the ground to answer.

"He Tongshi, Mr. He, why are you still kneeling? Please get up quickly, please get up quickly!"

Although Yang Zhen still could not find the memory related to the He Tingbin in front of him in the depths of his mind, Yang Zhen had already concluded that based on He Tingbin's role in persuading the Nagasaki Dutch Red Barbarians to offer their ships to return when they were short of food and water.

This person is worth wooing and should be put to his own use.

After all, in this era, not many people have had contact with the Dutch Redskin, and even fewer people are proficient in the Dutch Redskin and know the inside story of the Dutch Redskin.

There is no such person around Yang Zhen at all, and if he has to train him from scratch, he doesn't know what age it will be.

And with such a person in front of him, how could Yang Zhen not cherish him even more!

At the moment, Yang Zhen laughed, helped He Tingbin up who had been kneeling on the ground to answer, and said to him very warmly and generously:

"I, the Governor, what I am missing right now is Mr. He, a talented person who has traveled extensively and is well versed in foreign affairs. Since you have come to Lushunkou today, you should not leave again.

"Whatever the Dutch East India Company used to pay you as a monthly salary, this Governor will pay you double that.
Chapter completed!