Back to Ming Dynasty with Industrial Revolution System

Chapter 1315 100 taels of compensation

In the dungeon of the Pennion Fortress, Li Jinde, the protagonist of the Barbary pirate incident, was imprisoned here.

He heard the occasional sound of artillery and noisy footsteps outside.At first the sound of the artillery was still in the direction of the port, but later the sound of the artillery got closer and closer, and he even felt that the artillery sounded near the fortress.

The sound of the artillery was getting closer and closer, which meant that the Fourth Fleet who came to rescue him was getting closer and closer to him.

There were footsteps in the dungeon, and Pasha Murat came in with an interpreter.

"Your men won, you are the first person who was caught by me and was able to regain freedom." Murat threw the key of the handcuffs on the floor.

Freedom!Li Jinde picked up the key, but his mood was a little calm at this time.

When the three-party coalition forces led by the Fourth Fleet blocked Algiers, Li Jinde was transferred to the dungeon. The food has improved a lot, and his complexion has improved a lot.

"I'll take you out, you are one of the bargaining chips we must hand over in the negotiation." Murat looked bitter.

He is the Pasha of the Ottoman Empire, the commander of the Barbary pirates, equivalent to the governor of a province, and he, a governor, has been reduced to the point where he hangs the white flag and surrenders, and he has to pay compensation.Other than that, it is unknown what the Ottoman emperor would do to him.

If he still had enough financial and military strength, he could still be the emperor of a semi-independent kingdom. However, now that his ships have been captured and he has to pay the enemy a large amount of property, he may have lost the capital to fight against the emperor.

Murat came to the tower in the middle of the fortress with a heavy heart. Soldiers from the Fourth Fleet and the Far West Dispatch Army had already occupied various important strongholds and entrances and exits of the fortress, while the pirates were disarmed and gathered in the open space in the middle.

Ordinary members of the British militia and the Knights of Malta were prohibited from entering the fortress to prevent them from looting the fortress again.

The gold and silver treasures of Pasha and other pirate leaders were hoarded in the fortress.If these trophies were snatched by the rebels, it is estimated that Murat would not be able to pay the silver taels to compensate Sun Chuanting and others.

The Fourth Fleet represented by Sun Xu and Zheng Zhibao, the Far West Expeditionary Force led by Sun Chuanting, the Royal Fleet led by the Earl of Stratford and Sir Pennington, and the Knights of Malta led by Castella sat at the negotiating table .

The one-eyed pirate Janson of the Netherlands did not dare to appear for fear of seeing the Pasha of Algiers.

"It's great to see you!" Li Jinde couldn't help crying with joy when he saw a group of people from his hometown.

"Thank you for your hard work. We also learned from the Dutch businessman Leuter that you were imprisoned in Algiers, otherwise we would never have found your trace." Sun Chuanting looked at the Dutch businessman Leyter Hitter.

Luiter's face became uneasy, because when Sun Chuanting looked over, the pirate leaders also focused their attention on him, and now everyone knows that he revealed the news.What if the pirates retaliate in the future?
"Tell me, how much gold and silver do you need to get to leave here?" Pasha Murat asked.

"100 taels of silver."

"One million taels?! Don't be joking. Now that we are at the end of our rope, we have lowered our posture enough to negotiate with you. You should at least give a reasonable number!"

The pirates started arguing, and it was unacceptable and unacceptable for the tripartite coalition forces to claim 100 million taels of silver.They thought that the three-party coalition forces made such harsh demands just because they didn't want peace talks, but they were wrong. The three-party coalition forces seemed to be serious.

"It is only natural to release the arrested people. The 100 million taels of silver is our compensation for losses including the frigate. If we do not pay the 100 million taels of silver in compensation, we will not leave Algiers."

"Impossible, we can't come up with 100 million taels of gold and silver, even I can't do it!"

Pasha Murat's original psychological price was to pay 50 taels of silver, but the other party always set the compensation at 100 million taels of silver, which was double his psychological expectation!
The high-level officials of the three forces looked at each other. They are now the winners. They can put forward harsh conditions, and it depends on whether the other party has the ability to pay.

"You can pay 50 taels of gold and silver treasures or goods first, and the remaining 50 taels of silver will be repaid in equal amounts within 10 years, which means that you need to pay us 5 taels of silver in compensation every year in the city of London. .” Sun Xu formally proposed a solution.

There is no one million taels of silver now?Then pay half first, and pay the remaining half in installments.

It is equivalent to Barbary pirates needing to pay protection fees every year!

This is the first time that the pirates have been asked to agree to such harsh conditions. They have always collected protection fees from the navies of other countries. When did they pay protection fees to others? !
Li Jinde didn't know about the negotiation between the two parties. He was shocked when he heard the huge compensation of 100 million taels of silver.

Obviously they are here to extort a sum of military pay from the Barbary pirates!

At present, the military expenditures of the Fourth Fleet and the Far West Expeditionary Force are paid by the local people, and a large amount of military expenditure is required every year. The annual maintenance cost of the sailing fleet of the Fourth Fleet alone is a huge amount.To make up for the expenses of the army stationed in Europe, there needs to be income, part of which comes from the taxation of the profits of Western companies. However, Western companies have not yet started to earn money from foreigners, so basically military expenses cannot be obtained from Western companies. make up.

Another effective way to resupply is to wage war and demand reparations from the defeated side.

"What do you think?" Murat asked his generals in a low voice.

"Lord Pasha, maybe we can agree to their request. It is our limit to take out 50 taels of silver in one go. It is not too much pressure to repay the remaining 50 taels of silver in ten years, and we may not have to pay for it by then." The remaining 50 taels of silver..." Amur said.

"Why?"

"The empire will never allow us to pay 5 taels of silver to the Chinese and Europeans every year for the next ten years, because we in Algiers hand over the money to the Chinese and Europeans, then we have no money to honor His Majesty the Emperor and those officials of the imperial court, this is something they absolutely don't want to see..."

"I understand what you mean."

When Murat heard Amur's analysis, he didn't dislike the claim of 100 million taels of war indemnity proposed by the other party.First pay 50 taels of silver to let them withdraw their troops, and we will talk about whether the remaining 50 taels of silver can be handed over.

"We are willing to accept half of the compensation, and the remaining half of the compensation will be repaid in ten years." Murat said on behalf of the pirates in order to save his life and property.

"In addition to the compensation of 100 million taels of silver, all pirates under the jurisdiction of Algiers are not allowed to rob our Chinese and British merchant ships, kidnap our merchants, and plunder England, Ireland and other coastal areas. In addition, our merchant ships can Freely enter and leave Algiers to get supplies." Sun Xu and the Earl of Stratford forced the pirates to agree to other conditions.

(End of this chapter)