Chapter 605 - Bargaining
"I'm very busy! The Jesuit lords always have many matters to entrust to me." Landu stroked his lip whiskers with an air of importance—these he'd grown specially to enhance his masculine aura.
"Is that so?" The black slave woman said. "Would you be interested in doing a small favor for my master in the midst of your busy schedule?"
"Who is your master?"
"This," the black slave woman produced the money pouch. "Do you find my answer satisfactory?"
Judging by its weight, this pouch held at least three hundred Spanish pesos. For the cash-strapped Landu, this was extremely tempting. After his nightmare, his enthusiasm for defecting to Lingao had cooled considerably. With this money, he could at least survive in Macau for a while longer.
"It would be even better if you had two masters," Landu said. "Alright, tell me: what's the matter?"
"You are an excellent soldier."
"Correct."
"You served under Aragon," the black woman said.
"Yes. Since he went bankrupt, I can no longer serve him. What a pity." Landu said. This Spanish dandy had lost his ship and still didn't dare return to Manila. He spent every day hanging around Macau, in even worse condition than Landu—at least Landu probably wasn't a candidate offered as sacrifice.
"You've been to Lingao."
Landu suddenly became alert: few people knew that he'd participated in Aragon's adventure, attacking Lingao. When Aragon had originally set sail, he'd kept it strictly secret. After his humiliating defeat back to Macau, he'd been even more tight-lipped about such a disgraceful rout. As for the sailors who'd been aboard, they were either Europeans or Malays recruited from various islands in the South Seas. They knew how to sail but not the destination. The few who had known had either died in the night raid or in the battle with Zheng Zhilong. Very few remained.
As for himself, he'd never publicized his participation in this mission.
How did this black woman know he'd been to Lingao?
"What's that to you?"
"Nothing to me, but my master wants to know."
Your master must know this already! Landu thought. Who is this person? What underhanded thing does he want me to do?
"I wouldn't say I've been there," Landu said cautiously. "I entered Lingao's harbor, that's all."
"You also saved Aragon's life in the South China Sea."
"Saving him was incidental."
"Would you be willing to visit Lingao again?"
"That depends on what for." Landu realized this person knew about his history on the Countess of Scarborough.
"Hiring someone as capable as you can't be for simple matters."
"Alright. You little black wench, you cheap slut, just say it: what does your master want me to do?" Landu was growing impatient. He spoke arrogantly—he was a gentleman here, after all. Speaking so much with this ugly black woman was practically beneath his dignity.
The black woman's askew yellow eyes flashed with venom, but she continued: "My master—she, he—hopes you'll go to Lingao, using whatever identity—to find out how their fortress is laid out, how far their cannons can fire, what weaknesses their military has... everything about the Australians' defenses in Lingao."
"Hmph, your master has designs on Lingao," Landu said.
The other party remained silent.
"Many people here have been to Lingao. Why look for me?" Landu found this strange. Ships left Macau for Lingao every week. Many people had traded there—
"Those are my master's instructions," the black slave woman said. "He says you understand the Australians better than anyone here."
This statement left Landu dumbfounded. What did this mean? It could be interpreted many ways, but spoken now, it seemed to strike at his heart.
"Understand better than anyone here!"
For a moment, he even thought he'd been exposed. His aristocratic airs deflated considerably.
Landu's first instinct was to refuse. But now he didn't dare act rashly. He sensed vaguely that the other party seemed to know something.
He became cautious: "This mission is very difficult."
"Four hundred Spanish pesos."
"I want eight hundred."
"Six hundred. Here's three hundred." The black woman produced a money pouch. "You'll get another three hundred when you return."
"Deal." Six hundred pesos was a very good deal.
"How long will you need?"
"One month."
"One month from now, I'll be waiting for you here."
"Fine." Landu then said to the vendor: "Come, give me a bowl of that milk you make from beans. It's too dark here."
Half an hour later, the black slave woman reported verbatim to Li Siya about her meeting with Landu.
"He really asked for six hundred," Li Siya commented listlessly.
Since her humiliating escape from Bopu by small boat, more than a year had passed. This conspirator of Macau, this female pirate of the South China Sea, continued playing her intrigues and adventures. Sometimes serving one person, sometimes advising another. When good opportunities arose, she wouldn't refuse a lucrative maritime robbery.
The more chaotic the seas became, the better her business. Even her constant fence-sitting gave her opportunities others lacked. Various parties hoped to use her as a channel to establish relations or open dialogue with others. The games of alliance and counter-alliance on the South China Sea had many enthusiasts.
Li Siya, as a pirate and maritime mercenary, had somehow become a celebrity of the moment. One moment she appeared in Manila, the next in Batavia. Sometimes she surfaced in Guangzhou, sometimes she showed up in Tayouan Harbor.
She was a welcome guest of various sea lords, governors, commanders, and trade commissioners. Everyone had her do their bidding, freely paying her large sums of gold, or granting her privileges to move goods in and out. But everyone also secretly watched her.
Yet Li Siya knew her days of playing all sides couldn't last much longer.
After Zheng Zhilong had accepted pacification and become a Ming official, he could use the Ming government's resources to continuously replenish his ships and men. Xiong Wencan even directly sponsored cannons and ships. His goods shipped to Japan no longer needed to be secretly purchased—they were openly bought and transported unimpeded to Zuosuowei. By comparison, Li Kuiqi's situation was much worse. Though he'd initially had far more ships and men than Zheng Zhilong, resupply was difficult. His maritime trade was also constantly struck by Zheng Zhilong. Liu Xiang in Guangdong waters, though sworn enemies with Zheng Zhilong, wasn't Li Kuiqi's ally either. After Zhu Cailao's destruction, most of his remaining forces were absorbed by Zheng Zhilong. The rest were taken in by Liu Xiang and Lingao. Liu Xiang's power surged. He was urgently preparing to eliminate a rival, hoping to rise to the next level and become the undisputed hegemon of China's southeastern coast.
Li Siya estimated that Zheng Zhilong was very likely to win. Not only did he have government backing, but his foundations were much deeper than Liu Xiang's. Whether with the Portuguese or the Japanese, he had deep influence. Once Li Kuiqi was destroyed, Liu Xiang's destruction would follow in an instant.
After Zheng Zhilong eliminated all opponents, he would forcibly establish new order on these seas. Not only would the Portuguese be powerless to resist, but even the Dutch might not be his match.
So recently, Li Siya's activities had begun to lean toward serving Zheng Zhilong's potential opponents—though she still didn't dare openly offend him. To be precise, she'd been serving the Dutch.
She had just met with a personal representative of the Dutch East India Company Governor de Carpentier—Savage Gonzales. This man was a true Spaniard, formerly a Spanish officer. After dishonorable discharge, he'd been destitute and had to try his luck in Manila. When luck didn't come in Manila, he simply went over to the Dutch side, becoming an officer for the East India Company. The Dutch East India Company welcomed all European dregs willing to serve it. The death rate for whites in the East Indies was high. The Governor needed large numbers of soldiers, officers, and commercial agents, so he basically accepted everyone. But for Spanish Catholics, serving the Dutch carried the danger of losing one's soul—the Dutch allowed religious freedom at home, but in the East Indies, all Company personnel had to participate in Protestant religious services. Otherwise, it was treason, punishable at any time by hanging—the East India Company's laws were famously harsh and merciless.
With nowhere else to turn, Savage Gonzales risked his soul to serve the Dutch. As an experienced former Spanish artillery officer, he served as an artillery officer in the East India Company's forces, participating in several expeditions, including the unsuccessful Pescadores Islands (Penghu) expedition years ago. At that time, he'd commanded three 12-pounder cannons in a hastily built fort, facing countless junks on the sea and an endless stream of Chinese soldiers swarming ashore.
After the Pescadores expedition failed, he followed the fleet to Tayouan, where they built a castle. Savage Gonzales served for a time as the local fortress artillery commander. During that time, he traded fire several times with attacking Chinese pirates and local natives. He survived both battle and disease.
He gradually became trusted. When the Governor needed someone to enter Portuguese colonial territory, the Spaniard Savage Gonzales became a suitable candidate. A true Spaniard could obviously slip into Macau more safely than a Dutchman—Macau had the Jesuits, the Dutch's mortal enemies. Besides, in the Governor's planned next move, this former Spanish artillery officer would also prove very useful.
Savage Gonzales was tall and powerfully built. In his early years of fighting the Turks, he'd lost an eye and now wore an eyepatch. Together with his scars, it outlined the image of an "unmistakable old soldier."
Savage Gonzales arrived in Macau posing as an unemployed veteran, and quickly made contact with Li Siya's agent in a tavern. Then he visited this legendary female pirate and delivered the Governor's letter.
In the letter, the Governor requested that Li Siya provide intelligence on Lingao, including the true situation of the so-called "Australians"—there were many rumors about them, and some goods had found their way to the East Indies and India through various channels. But so far, no one had seen Australian long-distance trading vessels appear on the seas.
His Excellency the Governor was very interested in knowing: What kind of people were the so-called Australians? Were they white? Did the Australians have interest in trade? Was the castle in Lingao built for trading with China? If so, what was their current trading status? What was the Chinese government's attitude toward them? What was the status of the Australians' iron ships and cannons? Was their performance as exaggerated as rumored? How many Australians were in Lingao? Did they have blacks, Malays, Japanese, Europeans, and Chinese serving them? Were these people armed? How many had firearms? What were the firearms' capabilities...
The letter contained one hundred twenty-five questions in total.
The more Li Siya read, the more suspicious she became. The first questions were general intelligence, but the later questions about the Australian military, weapons, and Lingao's harbor and defenses were entirely military in nature.
What did the Dutch want this information for? Li Siya thought. Were they planning to move against the Australians? Lingao's geographic position wasn't the most ideal, but it was much closer to the Chinese coast than Taiwan, and right on the shipping lanes from the East Indies to the Chinese mainland. Dutch control of this point—
"These questions are worth at least five thousand guilders," Li Siya said after reading the letter.
"Here's one thousand guilders," Gonzales generously produced a leather bag. "You'll get another two thousand after you answer everything."
"I want five thousand guilders—expenses extra," Li Siya said. "This job is very tricky. I'll have to spend a lot of money myself."
"That's beyond my authority," Savage Gonzales said. "But the Governor says: if your intelligence is accurate, he can pay additional compensation."
"And if it's not accurate?"
"That's not something I can know." Gonzales bowed.
"I'll need time to answer your questions. About one or two months," Li Siya said. "Will you return, or wait here for my reply?"
"I'll wait here, of course." Though Gonzales wasn't particularly devout, being forced to participate in Protestant prayers every day still made him uncomfortable. Temporarily escaping this religious drudgery couldn't be better—and Macau's climate and food were much better than the East Indies.
"You can stay at the 'Crown Inn.' Good food, and some women you might find interesting." Li Siya said, taking a money pouch from a drawer. "Here's three hundred reales."
After Savage Gonzales took his leave, she summoned Li Chun—also known as Li Huamei. She'd just returned from Goa and was resting.
"Your trade may not be possible now," Li Siya told her foster sister. "The Dutch have designs on Lingao."
"Those cheese-eaters are asking for trouble," Li Huamei sat on a cushion—a rather presumptuous posture for her status, but theirs was more a partnership than master-servant relationship.
Unlike her mistress, who devoted more energy to scheming, Li Huamei preferred straightforward business—whether trading or maritime robbery.
"I rather like the Australians, even though they're a bit naive," Li Huamei laughed. "Can't even climb a mast, yet they call themselves captains one after another."
But whether she liked or disliked them didn't matter to Li Siya. What mattered was interests.
In Li Huamei's view, the Dutch alone couldn't destroy the Australians in Lingao. Li Huamei had seen the Australian cannons fire and had seen their defense system and iron ship. Bopu Harbor couldn't be taken by frontal assault—when Bopu had no heavy artillery, when they hadn't even deployed their iron ship, the combined Spanish and Liu Xiang assault had been routed. Now that they'd fortified Bopu...
"...To attack or bombard those two positions is completely impossible—the iron ship is taller than the largest galleon. The hull is iron; sailors simply cannot climb it, nor can it be set ablaze. As for the old beacon tower, it's positioned deep inland—you'd have to travel a long distance after landing to reach its base."
Li Huamei continued marking on the map: "These two locations are just what I saw. There are certainly other batteries or defensive installations I didn't see. They have several key strongpoints in depth, all fortified."
(End of Chapter)