Yang Zhen hopes that He Tingbin can stay here.

Because after Yang Zhen learned from his mouth about the raging plague in the Kyushu vassals of the Japanese slave country, he had already thought of taking advantage of the fire and taking advantage of the opportunity to march into Kyushu Island.

Once the operation to seize Kyushu Island officially begins, Yang Zhen will need someone who understands the situation in the Wonu Kingdom to lead the way or act as a counselor.

In this regard, this He Tingbin is the best candidate sent by God.

However, considering that the Tokugawa shogunate of the Japanese slave country was still at its peak, Yang Zhen was not very sure about seizing Kyushu Island, so he did not make up his mind immediately.

Therefore, Yang Zhen was also a little undecided about whether to recruit He Tingbin to work for him now.

At the same time, seeing He Tingbin's request to temporarily stay with the Dutch and act as an internal correspondent for himself, Yang Zhen readily agreed.

Correspondingly, in the afternoon of that day, Yang Zhen led the generals to meet Guo Xiaowu, An Yixin and He Tingbin who had transferred to his command at the Golden Mountain Fort, and then asked people to bring the people who came to Lushunkou with the ship.

Those two Dutch Redskins.

The two red-haired barbarians obviously also had a rough idea of ​​Yang Zhen's status. After meeting Yang Zhen, although they refused to kneel down, they knew that taking off their hats and bowing was considered polite.

One of them was a tall, thin man with a sharp face, a red-haired ghost wearing a double-breasted tights with large lapels and a thick crimson velvet cloak. He was the deacon Cohen of the Dutch Embassy in Nagasaki that He Tingbin mentioned.

This Dutch business deacon is quite young. Even though he looks older, he looks like he is only about 20 or 30 years old. Moreover, he is a genuine "red-haired man". Not only does he have red hair on his head, but he also has a full beard.

Red.

Under the translator He Tingbin, Yang Zhen started a conversation with the young deacon of the Dutch business office.

This Cohen first expressed his gratitude to Yang Zhen, the Ming general, on behalf of all the rescued persons of the Dutch East India Company in Nagasaki, and then expressed the hope that Yang Zhen could fulfill the conditions agreed by Yingzhou Island to provide them with

Provide them with enough food, fresh water, and help them repair the remaining boats to allow them to return home.

At the same time, the young Dutch merchant deacon lost no time in making a request to Yang Zhen through He Tingbin's translation to open Lushun Port or Seogwipo Port on Yeongju Island to conduct mutual trade with the Dutch East India Company.

In his words, Cohen boasted about the strength of the Dutch East India Company. First, he pointed at the "Nassau" that had docked in the port and said that the Dutch East India Company had more than a hundred giant ships of the same size.

, and then pointed to the several heavy artillery pieces placed on the Golden Mountain fort behind Yang Zhen to support General Tianyou, and said that they had more than a thousand similar heavy artillery pieces.

Yang Zhen certainly believed what Cohen said. The strength of the Dutch East India Company should not be underestimated.

However, Yang Zhen did not comment on Cohen's request and just nodded, indicating that he understood.

Because Guo Xiaowu and the others had a relationship with the Dutch East India Company's Nagasaki Trading Post, it was completely beyond Yang Zhen's expectation.

Therefore, he did not think about how he should use this opportunity. For example, should he make good friends with the Dutch first and cooperate with them to build a Japanese slave country? Or should he stay away from them, remain neutral for the time being, and deal with them?

Well water does not interfere with river water.

He needs to think carefully before making a decision, and he also needs to discuss with the main generals under his command to see what is best for him.

Therefore, Yang Zhen just responded that he would respect the agreement reached between Yingzhou Island and Cohen.

As for the request to trade with the Dutch, Yang Zhen neither refused nor agreed on the spot.

The situation in Jiliao and Denglai areas was already very complicated, and he did not want to attract the Dutch to this place again at this time.

Cohen's request to Yang Zhen to open the port for trade was obviously an attempt to test it. Seeing that Yang Zhen did not refuse on the spot, he already knew what was going on and didn't say anything more.

Similarly, Yang Zhen didn't have a good impression of this young deacon with high cheekbones, deep eye sockets and a hooked nose who looked sinister at first sight. After a brief conversation with him, he turned to another short, fat middle-aged man wearing a three-cornered hat.

Year red-haired ghost.

This stocky red-haired ghost, about forty or fifty years old, looks like a pirate leader at first glance.

There were a few long blue feathers from some unknown big bird stuck in his tricorn hat, and he was wearing a cloak made from a dirty woolen blanket. There were many scars on his fleshy face.

It looked very vicious.

And this man was DeWeese, the captain of the Nassau.

Dewes was taciturn and behaved very coldly. In the conversation with Yang Zhen through He Tingbin's translator, he only made one request.

That is to ask Yang Zhen to ensure that he pays all the salary promised to him by Yingzhou Island.

Only then did Yang Zhen know from He Tingbin's explanation that Dewes's appearance here was not his own wish.

He was not interested in Yang Zhen, nor was he interested in Jinhaizhen. He was not even particularly interested in the Dutch East India Company opening a new trading base.

Although he is the captain of the "Nassau", the "Nassau" is not his.

He was just one of many professional captains employed by the Dutch East India Company, and he received a basically fixed salary every month.

In his boring life at sea, the only thing that could arouse his interest besides wine was the sound of money.

This time he came to Lushunkou because he was hired, and the people who paid him a lot of money to hire him were none other than Qiu Guangyi, Guo Xiaowu and the others.

Of course, what Qiu Guangyi, Guo Xiaowu and others did was helpless.

Although Guo Xiaowu and his carefully selected shipwrights and sailors were very excited about the newly acquired giant sailboat "Nassau", they were not familiar with this giant ship and had never operated a ship of similar size.

Big ship.

In order to avoid extreme happiness leading to sorrow, Qiu Guangyi, Guo Xiaowu and the others discussed with He Tingbin and agreed to pay a large sum of money to hire Dewes, the original captain of the "Nassau", to guide the ship, and paid half of the remuneration in advance.

Fortunately, Dewes did not hide it all the way from Yingzhou Island to Lushunkou. Adhering to the principle of "you get what you pay for," He Tingbin did his best under the translation.

For Guo Xiaowu and his carefully selected sailors from the Yingzhou Island Navy, the tuition was not in vain. After sailing for a thousand miles at sea, they finally mastered the know-how of controlling this giant sailboat.

Of course, the "tuition fee" paid by Guo Xiaowu and his sailors, that is, the "heavy sum" paid to hire Dewes for such a trip, was still very cost-effective in Yang Zhen's opinion.

Because the commission that Yingzhou Island promised to pay to Dewes was only one thousand two hundred taels of silver.

When Yang Zhen learned that the so-called heavy-money employment was only for one thousand two hundred taels of silver, Yang Zhen looked calm on the surface, as if indifferent, but deep down he was very surprised and very happy.

Surprisingly, one thousand two hundred taels of silver was an irresistible wealth for Dewes, which showed that the salary paid to their captains by the Dutch East India Company did not seem to be high.

Fortunately, judging from DeWeese's attitude towards the plywood ship "Nassau", it seems that his loyalty to the Dutch East India Company or the Nagasaki Merchant House was not high.

According to common sense, Dewes was the captain of the Nassau. In the words of this era, he was the captain of the ship. He should be very affectionate towards the ship he was in charge of.

At present, this ship was taken away by Yingzhou Island in exchange for extremely low-priced food and fresh water when they were in desperate situation. As the former captain of this ship, emotionally speaking, he should not accept Yingzhou Island anymore.

It's appropriate to hire someone from the island.

However, the facts are completely contrary to Yang Zhen's conclusion based on common sense.

Not only did Dewes accept the employment of Yingzhou Island despite paying a high price, but in front of Yang Zhen, he did not show how much nostalgia he had for the Nassau, or how much Yingzhou Island meant to Jinhai Town.

hostility.

In Yang Zhen's view, these circumstances are enough to show that as long as the price is right, this Dewes can be bought.

Of course, if you want to bribe him to fight against the Dutch East India Company or become an enemy, you may not be able to succeed.

However, it is very possible to hire him to stay in Jinhai Town and work for him.

"Hahaha, Captain Dewes, you can rest assured that I will pay you the salary that my subordinates on Yingzhou Island promised you in full."

Faced with the request of Dewes, the former captain of the Nassau, Yang Zhen readily agreed. At the same time, he also began to test and win over Dewes.

"But I'm curious, how much is your monthly salary in the Dutch East India Company? You are the captain of the Nassau, why are you so miserable?"

Yang Zhen's words were full of sowing discord, but unfortunately, Dewes couldn't understand him at all.

After He Tingbin's translation, Yang Zhen had no way of knowing whether the meaning had changed or how much it had changed since he didn't understand Dutch.

However, Yang Zhen soon noticed that after He Tingbin translated his question, the deacon of the Dutch Nagasaki Merchant Store, Cohen, looked at him very warily.

And that Dewes curled his lips, spread his hands with disdain on his face, and muttered something red-haired.

Of course Yang Zhen couldn't understand what he said, but Yang Zhen could see DeWeese's dissatisfaction.

At the same time, Yang Zhen also saw that after Dewes said something, Cohen, the deacon of the Dutch Nagasaki Merchant House, immediately turned his attention to Dewes, frowning and staring at him, with a look of displeasure on his face.

Although Yang Zhen didn't understand what DeWeese said, looking at Cohen's performance, he immediately knew that DeWeese obviously did not refuse to answer his question.

Sure enough, just as Yang Zhen's eyes were moving back and forth on the faces of DeWeese and Cohen, He Tingbin translated DeWeese's words.

"Ninety guilders per month in Hong Kong, one hundred and eighty guilders per month out of Hong Kong, fifty taels of silver per month out of Hong Kong."

Dewes didn't say so many words just now, but He Tingbin's translation was very long.

However, regardless of whether He Tingbin's own answer to Yang Zhen's question was included in this, from this answer, Yang Zhen further confirmed that the salary of the Dutch East India Company was not high.

Especially for an experienced senior captain, the monthly payment of fifty taels of silver while out of port was actually very average compared with the huge profits of the Dutch East India Company's trade.

If this is the case, then the salary of ordinary mercenaries of the Dutch East India Company may be even lower.

Thinking of this, Yang Zhen simply stopped asking Dewes and the others, and instead asked He Tingbin directly.

"Mr. He, I know that the Dutch East India Company recruited a large number of pirates, sailors, vagrants, and scoundrels from the Atlantic barbarians to serve as mercenaries. I would like to know the monthly salary of the shipwrights, sailors, and mercenaries they hired?"

Yang Zhen didn't know much about the Dutch East India Company, at best he only knew a little bit about it.

But even so, he knew very well that the employees or mercenaries of the Dutch East India Company in this era were not good and law-abiding citizens. Most of them were jobless vagrants and rogues who could not survive in their own country or Europe.

Of course, there are also some bold adventurers who are skilled in art and dream of getting rich overnight, such as some pirate leaders, missionaries, shipwrights and sailors with rich experience in navigation and ship repair, retired soldiers with rich combat experience, etc.

However, if the captain of a large armed merchant ship like Dewes only earns one hundred and eighty guilders per month during the voyage, then how much salary can an ordinary shipwright, sailor or ordinary mercenary earn?

"Back to the Governor, as far as I know, the salary of a captain during a voyage is the highest, even higher than that of a deacon in a merchant house. The salary for ordinary merchant staff and employees is much lower. In the Nagasaki merchant house, the salary is the highest.

He is a senior employee and his monthly salary is ten guilders."

He Tingbin probably guessed that Yang Zhen had the intention to win over Dewes and his crew for his own use, so he answered with extra care and detail.

"As for the first mate on the ship, the second mate is different from the experienced shipwrights, sailors, gunners, and musketeers. The first mate is lower than the captain. He is only half of the captain, which is about twenty-five taels of silver. The second mate is lower than the first mate.

The mate, less than one-third of the captain, had about twenty taels of silver.

"Experienced senior shipwrights and sailors are roughly similar to professional gunners, but they are more than half as low as the first mate and second mate. They earn about ten taels of silver per month while away from port.

"The remaining ordinary crew members and ordinary gunners only received nine Dutch guilders per month, which is about more than two taels of silver, even during the voyage. However, in addition to the fixed monthly salary, the income of these people mainly comes from robbery.

Loot and capture.

"So they are very different from the Ming Dynasty's officers and soldiers. Their crews, sailors and hired gunners are always eager to leave the port and mobilize troops, so they go everywhere to cause troubles in order to send troops to plunder and obtain large quantities of seizures to make up for their daily wages.
Chapter completed!