Chapter 450 Argument

Standard aristocratic etiquette and conversation proved that Claire was a veritable aristocrat.

Rhode acted as a translator between the two at this time, and he translated Claire's words to Xiao Ming.

Xiao Ming nodded lightly, stretched out his hand and motioned for Claire to sit down, he said, "Welcome to the Great Yu Kingdom and Dengzhou."

Sitting down in response, Claire glanced at Xiao Ming again. What surprised him was that the king of the Great Yu Kingdom was so young, and he began to understand why the king of Qi was so tough.

In his cognition, young people have always been impatient, but always warm-blooded and impulsive.

After being silent for a while, he first said, "Dear His Royal Highness King Qi, I think you are very clear about the purpose of our visit this time. Regarding the Ryukyu issue, I hope to have a negotiation result that satisfies both parties. This is also my visit this time. Here's why."

There was a long table between the two. At this time, Rhodes and Claire were sitting on the opposite side, while Xiao Ming and Yang Chengye were sitting on the other side, just like a modern negotiating posture.

Hearing this, he said: "This king also hopes to negotiate a solution to this matter. No one likes to risk the lives of their soldiers."

"In that case, please allow His Royal Highness King Qi to allow us to keep the city of Relan. Besides, are we willing to agree to your other requests?" Claire said sternly.

Claire said this to agree with Xiao Ming's leading trade routes in East Asia, and at the same time only trade between Dengzhou and Ryukyu, but just like Rhodes last time he came to Qingzhou, Claire also refused to withdraw the Dutch soldiers from Relanza City.

Xiao Ming tapped the table with his fingers, and his eyes swept across Claire's body. Claire's face was calm, and he could not find a trace of emotional fluctuations, and the tone of his speech was also very firm.

"If you don't withdraw the garrison, then you need to give this king a reason." This time Claire's presence in person means that the negotiation will end between the two.

Therefore, Xiao Ming had to be cautious at this time. This Earl of Claire was much calmer than Rhodes, and he was a character that was not easy to deal with.

"First of all, we can't be without the protection of the army before our safety can be guaranteed. In addition to protecting the routes of East Asia, the Ryukyu fleet also has another purpose to prevent privateers from looting the caravan. I don't know if Your Highness understands anything. Is it a privateer?" Claire's words contained a temptation, and he wanted to find out whether the King Qi of the Great Yu Kingdom had profound knowledge.

"Privateer?" Xiao Ming frowned.

A privateer is a civilian-armed vessel authorized by the state to attack another country's merchant ships, essentially state-sponsored piracy.

In modern times, from the 16th century to the 19th century, European powers used all means including "encouraging pirates to attack other countries' ships" in order to compete for maritime supremacy.

Although on the surface, all countries have declared that they are incompatible with pirates, behind the scenes they wantonly recruit pirates for their own use.

Armed civilian ships were created in this context.

"Is it a privateer from the UK and Spain?" Xiao Ming said lightly, "It is said that the UK started out with a group of pirates, and it is even said that the whole of the UK is a large group of pirates, and the Queen of England is the biggest pirate leader.

Claire's expression moved slightly, and he was a little surprised. King Qi's answer was exactly the same as their Dutch description of Britain and Spain.

With a sigh, Claire said, "Yes, it is the privateers from these two countries. They are already seriously threatening our merchant ships, and now they are even appearing on the routes near Manila."

"Okay, this is a reason." Xiao Ming said, "But how do the soldiers in Relanza City explain that privateer ships are on the sea, I don't think they will attack Relanza City rashly."

"These soldiers are to guard against the Japanese." Claire's eyes flashed, "I'm sorry, we in the Netherlands first started trading in Nagasaki, and some businessmen who were dazzled by gold even sold the skill of the arquebus to the Japanese. In our opinion, the current Japanese state is more dangerous than the Great Yu state, because the Japanese state is very skilled at producing arquebuses, and now the Japanese state with firearms has ambitions to expand, which is very dangerous for us.”

When referring to the Japanese kingdom, Xiao Ming's face was very ugly. He said: "Thanks to you, the Japanese kingdom is now planning to invade the Goryeo and Dayu kingdoms. This is your own fault. You should know very well that the nature of the islanders is no different from that of pirates. In Europe it's Britain, and here it's Japan, they're all the same, always thinking about robbery, murder."

"I have to say that I agree with what you said." Claire suddenly laughed, "It's just a pity that your people in Great Yu also have a problem? This problem prevents us from trading with you in the first place."

"Oh, what's wrong?" Xiao Ming asked.

"Arrogant." Claire was very rude.

Xiao Ming nodded, "This king admits that this was a mistake, but it seems pointless to discuss this now. Let's go back to the topic of negotiation."

"Isn't that enough to explain why we keep the garrison?" Claire said.

"Yes, but you can only keep two thousand people and four battleships." Xiao Ming said with a smile.

Claire was startled. The real Dutch garrison on Ryukyu Island was only 2,000 people. The King Qi's vision was very vicious, and he believed that King Qi also knew the information about the city of Relan.

Now, eight of the twelve warships in Ryukyu were originally colonized by Manila. It was only in order to stop the adventurous actions of King Chu that he mobilized another eight warships from Manila to Ryukyu.

"It seems that Your Highness has understood everything." Claire smiled bitterly.

Xiao Ming sneered, for these Europeans, they no longer care about the life and death of the indigenous army, and it is easy to use these indigenous forces to take risks.

With this in mind, he made Claire remain in the pure Dutch army, so that the Dutch would have to even think about it before starting a war in order to reduce casualties.

"This is already the bottom line of this king. At the same time, I will also send 2,000 soldiers to the city of Relan to protect you." Xiao Ming smiled maliciously, then he looked at Claire and waited for Claire's answer.

Frowning tightly, Claire's eyes wandered. He knew exactly what King Qi's purpose was. He was testing whether they were sincere.

After a long silence, he hesitated and said, "Okay, I accept this condition."

Hearing this sentence, Xiao Ming felt relieved. This was the last test for the Dutch. If the Dutch had ghosts, they would naturally not accept his request to garrison in the city of Geranja.