Yang Sen was even more worried that each company commander would consider protecting his headquarters. Under heavy pressure, he would discuss his attitude toward the enemy in private. If his subordinates ignored him as their boss and chose to negotiate with Zheng Yiguan, then the castle would probably be destroyed. It can't be saved.
If you want to win over these company commanders, you must reduce the personnel losses in their departments, and use money as much as possible to balance their mentality.
Once these people feel that Bolger ignored the lives of their men, issued wrong orders, and allowed their soldiers to make unnecessary sacrifices, they will not sit still and wait to die.
Each mercenary group is employed by the East India Company, and it is a cooperative relationship, not a subordinate relationship. If the company commander is dissatisfied, sees no hope of perseverance, and keeps losing their men, then they are very likely to make new plans. chosen.
In the past, if Zheng Yiguan offered each company commander a surrender price of 10,000 taels of silver, they might still choose to side with the East India Company.
But judging from the current situation, if they can make a lot of money and avoid losing their lives, the stance of these company commanders may not be as firm as before.
Colonel Jansen was very afraid that Zheng Yiguan, after being unable to attack for a long time, would turn to using silver to bribe his company commanders. Under special circumstances, this would be more deadly to his own side than dense rain of artillery shells.
In the East India Company's salary system, the monthly salary of an ordinary sailor was six guilders, equivalent to three taels of silver in the Ming Empire. The monthly salary of an ordinary soldier was lower than that of a sailor.
Compared to mainland Europe, this is still an enviable high salary. In the war-torn Holy Roman Empire, many mercenaries cannot get paid. They work for zero monthly salary, and the most they can get is Just bread for survival.
In the East India Company, those who can really make money are at least officers at the level of lieutenant and deputy company commander, but they are not much higher. Without fighting, they can only receive fifteen to twenty guilders per month. That's all, it depends on the degree of danger in the garrison area.
If you become a captain or company commander, your monthly salary is only thirty guilders. Whether in the West or the East, if you want to make more money, you have to run your own side business, such as "spreading civilization"...
If Zheng Yiguan realized that shelling could not make the defenders surrender, and did not want his men to suffer too many casualties during the siege, using silver to recruit the defenders to surrender would be a very wise choice.
Including side jobs, the company commander's annual income ranges from one thousand to three thousand dong, which is equivalent to only one thousand five hundred taels of silver at most. If Zheng Yiguan is willing to spend money, he can recruit a surrender to serve in East India with only ten thousand taels of silver. The company's company.
If you don't fight, you can receive 20,000 guilders. A company has only fifty-two people at full strength. Excluding the shares of the company commander and deputy company commander, the remaining fifty people can get at least 10,000 guilders, each of which is 200 guilders. It's like getting three years' salary at once.
Who wouldn't be tempted if he could get three years' salary at once without any damage, let alone his life?
Bolger gave him a huge salary increase. Ordinary soldiers could receive five times their usual salary, which was only twenty-five guilders. It was hard to say whether they would survive until they saw the reinforcement warships.
If you want to get a salary of one hundred guilders, you have to persist for four months. What kind of perseverance and luck are needed to achieve it? Bolger must have planned this too. There can only be a very small number of soldiers who survive to the end, so he will save money.
On one side is a salary that can be accumulated in four months, and on the other side is a hundred shields that can be received at one time. In the face of huge temptation, mercenaries will also be tempted.
Fortunately, Bolger's mind was still clear. Not only did he pay a high attack fee to the officers and soldiers who participated in the night attack, he also paid the full bounty for killing the enemy. Each pirate's head was worth a hundred silver coins.
But this kind of thing can only be done once, and our side does not have enough mobile troops. Moreover, after the pirates were attacked by surprise, Zheng Yiguan will definitely order to strengthen the defense on the top of the mountain. It will not be easy to succeed again.
It is easiest to use silver to seduce the defenders. Thinking of this, even Yang Sen feels that this plan is very feasible. If the target of recruitment is himself, he might also be excited.
In the whole castle, the one who is least likely to surrender is Bolger. After Jansen surrenders, he may be appointed as the commander of mercenaries to fight for Zheng Yiguan. After all, mercenaries do not recognize people for their money.
Zheng Yiguan has been in contact with people from Western countries for a long time, and he also understands the rules of Western games. Except for a few exceptions, most of the time he still abides by the agreement and does not do anything out of the ordinary.
Therefore, there is nothing wrong with letting mercenaries work for Zheng Yiguan. It is just a change of patrons. As for offending the East India Company, who dares to care about it in front of thousands of taels of silver?
If Burg surrendered, he would be a complete prisoner. If Zheng Yiguan wanted to seize important officials for the Ming Empire, he did not need to appoint a Dutchman like him as the manager of this area.
The current chief officer was the most tenacious person in the entire castle. After being captured by Zheng Yiguan, the only way for Bolger to survive was to have his relatives and friends redeem him.
The mercenaries fought bravely because they signed a contract with the East India Company, and the bounty offered by Bolger was very high. It has nothing to do with loyalty. They work hard for money and have very professional ethics...
"are you ready?"
"alright!"
After withstanding the fierce bombardment in the morning, Colonel Jansen ordered to use mortars to fire imitation gunpowder packets after nightfall. These shells were exactly the same as those fired by the pirates, except that they were more suitable in size for the mortars used by the defenders. Cannon.
The rest is to wait for the sun to sink into the sea level. Without night cover, once the pirate sentry on the top of the mountain discovers that the artillery in the castle has pushed out the artillery carriage, Zheng Yiguan's mortar artillery unit will immediately open fire.
Colonel Jansen could not imagine how Zheng Yiguan's artillery deployed the heavy mortar halfway up the mountain. The construction difficulty caused by this was very difficult. Once it could not be fixed, the huge recoil would cause the mortar to collapse. Roll to the bottom of the mountain.
Since the five companies faced many enemies on the night of the night attack, and none of the companies could break into the pirates' artillery positions, no one could see clearly what the mortars used by the pirates looked like.
But this is no longer important. What is important is to obtain the artillery shells fired by the enemy, which are of great value to one's own side. This kind of artillery shell has a simple structure but is extremely lethal to infantry, and is very easy to manufacture.
Jansen believed that as long as there was enough gunpowder, his men could produce hundreds of such cannonballs in a short period of time, and use the darkness to shoot them all to the top of the mountain, so that the pirates could taste how big their own cannonballs were. The power.
"Hurry up and clean up!"
"Get out of here!"
Since there was a cultural performance in the afternoon, after firing the explosive packs in their hands in the morning, Hu Dawei's artillery regiment could pack up and temporarily retreat to the south of Dayuan Island on the orders of Zhen Haibo Zheng Zhilong.
Originally, he wanted to let a group of people stay at the position, but considering safety issues, especially the need to defend against possible raids by the Red Yi soldiers, Zheng Zhilong simply retreated all officers and soldiers to the south of the island.
Five hundred people were left to monitor the Utrecht Castle. If there was any change in the red barbarian soldiers in the Castle of Geranze, they must be reported to him immediately.
In this way, the infantry units no longer need to protect the safety of the artillery regiment. It is of little use to keep the artillery regiment where it has exhausted its ammunition. Instead, it will become a living target for the Red Barbarians.
Zheng Zhilong thought that after a busy morning, it would not hurt to let the soldiers rest for a half day, especially since the song and dance troupe sent by the Crown Prince was here this time. This opportunity was rare and should not be missed.
Although the area from the mountainside to the beach is large and can accommodate tens of thousands of people watching, a guard force must be left to guard against the red barbarian soldiers. Moreover, if there are too many people, it will be difficult for the soldiers in the distance to hear clearly, no matter how quiet it is. singing.
Therefore, Zhen Haibo ordered half of the troops to enjoy the performance first, and after the performance was over, the other half of the troops would take turns to come over. Anyway, the performance time was only half an hour, so there was no time left.
The mountain was already overcrowded and occupied in a mess. Zheng Zhilong had to send his own soldiers to maintain order and avoid stampedes or even group fights.
I originally wanted to perform in the afternoon, but the sun was shining brightly at that time. Under the scorching sun, it was difficult for people to be in the mood to enjoy the song and dance performance, so it was arranged to be after 5 p.m., specifically from 6 to 8 p.m.
The generals naturally sat in the front row, close to the beach stage, so that they could enjoy the most authentic and wonderful performance. According to Zheng Zhilong, this is a rare sound that will make you feel relaxed and happy after listening to it.
Except for Zheng Ju who was unable to come because he was too seriously injured, almost all the senior generals of Zheng's army who fought on Damuan Island were present. Even Zheng Zhifeng got off the ship and went ashore.
There is a fleet on the seashore on alert, not afraid that the Hongyi warship will suddenly attack the offshore. Otherwise, a single cannon attack may kill half of the senior generals of the Zheng family.
"Everyone be quiet and no noise is allowed! Anyone who dares to make a sound again will be given twenty military sticks!"
Just as the show was about to begin, Zheng Zhi'ao heard a buzzing sound behind him like a fly. He turned around and saw that his soldiers were all whispering to each other, and there were not a few people making loud noises. Then he stood up suddenly and shouted loudly to the back.
In contrast, Hu Dawei's troops were well restrained, unlike here they looked like a bunch of rabble, which really embarrassed Zhen Haibo.
Master Ao said a harsh word, and everyone became honest. This was no joke. Zheng Zhi'ao was really ruthless when he made Zheng Zhi'ao mad. He was so cruel that Master Ao couldn't come down. This was tantamount to disobeying military orders and must be used as a warning to others. .
First, a good-looking woman came up to announce the curtain. The opening remarks were that the prince thought of the pain of regaining the sea territory and the difficulty of fighting the red barbarians, so he ordered the song and dance troupe to come to reward the troops and express condolences to the officers and soldiers.
Without further ado, the first program was "aibiacaihuiya", which Zheng Zhilong never forgets. This song was placed first because most of the audience present were from Fujian. This is a Fujian song that can arouse the audience's attention. Their prayers.
For the northern officers and soldiers under Hu Dawei's command, the Mandarin language is very difficult to speak and difficult to understand. This song is sung in Mandarin and for them to listen to it is like playing the piano to an ox. Everyone can only nod along the tune and appreciate it. That’s all.
But to the officers and soldiers of Zheng who were born and raised in various places in Fujian, they were attracted by this song almost immediately. They all paid full attention to it without any distraction, for fear that their ears would miss any word. .
In an era without loudspeakers, when singing to a large audience, the distance the song spread depended entirely on the singer's voice. The lead male singer tried to keep his voice as loud as possible without breaking his throat so that more audiences could hear it.
Except for the sound of the waves and the accompanying musical instruments, there was no noise at all. A few guys who were already addicted to it and humming along with the songs were severely slapped by the elbows of their companions, so as not to pollute the sound originating from the fairy world. .
Everyone at the scene had never heard such a beautiful melody. Most of them were immersed in it at the beginning and couldn't extricate themselves. It seemed that they had forgotten the war and time, and their spirits were completely relaxed.
Before they knew it, the song was finished. Everyone was listening to it with great interest, but suddenly the beautiful sound of the song was lost. They suddenly felt that the meaning was not finished, and they all felt regretful.
"How? Can you live up to your reputation?"
The proud Zheng Zhilong could finally show off to his brothers. Previously, he briefly recounted what he saw and heard in the capital, especially the songs, but none of the brothers had heard of it, so naturally they didn't believe it.
"Excellent! Excellent! The melody of this piece is beautiful and the words are touching. They complement each other perfectly. It is truly worthy of its music. It is understandable that it is highly praised by my brother!"
Zheng Jiaqi repeatedly praised it. He had also heard a lot of melodious music from the Jiangnan area in the building, but after all, it was just music that was not popular on the stage. It was definitely not as beautiful and catchy as this.
"One-third of it is destiny, and seven-tenth of it depends on hard work. This is obviously talking about our family!"
Zheng Zhi'ao directly and preconceivedly believed that the lyrics and music were about Zheng's past experiences. He didn't remember most of the lyrics, but he kept these two paragraphs in mind.
"The next song is Sailor Sailor!"
This is a new song that even Zheng Zhilong has never heard of. The title alone aroused Zhen Haibo's great curiosity. After the host announced the curtain, the flute sounded, and a group of short-dressed people came up from behind the background board. youth.
The singer is even dressed in a sailor outfit, which is almost similar to Zheng Jun's sailor outfit. To be precise, he borrowed clothes from Zheng Jun to make the audience feel more immersive.
Hearing the sound of the flute, there was no need for Zheng Zhi'ao to ask his soldiers to enforce military law. The old men who were chattering just now immediately fell silent. With the opening of the song just now, the guys who had tasted the sweetness of the music couldn't help but want to continue listening.
Since most of the audience grew up in Fujian, especially in coastal areas, they have a strong and intuitive understanding of the sea and sailors.
A certain prince chose a song with a more similar content to attract everyone, which could get twice the result with half the effort. Moreover, the song itself was also very nice, almost to the point of becoming popular.
The accompaniment of the song started with a flute solo, which soon became three, and then the piano, cymbals, drums, bells, clangs and other musical instruments were added, which immediately enriched the accompaniment of the song.
As soon as they heard the beginning part, and the singer's voice was hoarse and slightly crying, as if he was singing out all his years of experience, and his external performance was quite good, many people felt like they wanted to burst into tears.
