The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 700 What to do if you don't have money to compensate?

The emperor of the Ming Dynasty actually demanded that they cede territory and pay reparations.

Moreover, it involved ceding all overseas colonies!

The Prince of Nassau, the Duke of Buckingham, and the Duke of Sully were all furious.

If negotiators from other European countries dared to speak to them like that, they would be cursing them out.

Unfortunately, the Ming Empire was too powerful, and they dared not openly curse it.

Originally, they genuinely intended to pay a ransom to redeem their men and ships, prepare for a few years, and then find another way to fight the Ming Empire.

To everyone's surprise, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty refused to discuss ransom with them and instead demanded compensation.

How can we even negotiate like this?
After a period of agonizing discussion, Prince Maurice of Nassau slowly shook his head and said, "Your Majesty, it is absolutely impossible to cede all overseas colonies."

Furthermore, we did not request your Great Ming Empire to send troops, and this reparation for the cost of sending troops is completely unreasonable.

Oh, so you mean you want to turn against me?

Do you dare to turn against me?

I will show you how serious the consequences of your turning against me can be.

Upon hearing this, Wanli nodded slightly, then said coldly, "Does this mean there's no room for negotiation?"

Those three, please go back and prepare. If you refuse to cede territory and pay reparations, then the fighting will continue.

"This time, if war breaks out again, I will not be polite. I will not only take all your overseas colonies, but also your homeland."

what?
Upon hearing this, the three of them panicked.

The emperor of the Ming Dynasty actually wanted to continue the war!
Can they hold out?
This question seems to be so obvious that it doesn't even need to be considered.

Their navy was almost completely depleted, and most of their army had been captured by the Ming Empire. What could they possibly use to fight the Ming Empire?
Right now, even the combined Ming Dynasty army and navy stationed at Pernambuco are overwhelming.

They didn't want to start a war immediately; they just felt that they couldn't negotiate with the Emperor of the Ming Empire anymore, so they didn't want to continue the negotiations.

Originally, they genuinely intended to pay some money to ransom the army and navy.

As for continuing the fight, we can only do so when they are ready.

This so-called preparation is to build warships. The Netherlands has a strong shipbuilding capacity. If given a few years, they can build thousands of warships.

The problem is, warships need someone to operate them.

Now that they can't even redeem the Ming Dynasty with their combined land and sea forces, what will they use to continue fighting the Ming Empire?
The three men discussed the matter with some trepidation for a while before Prince Maurice of Nassau cautiously said, "Your Majesty, it's not that we don't want to talk, but the problem is that we simply cannot accept the conditions you have proposed."

I haven't even told you how much money I want in compensation yet.

You just can't accept it?

Upon hearing this, Wanli softened his tone and said, "Aren't we negotiating? We can discuss ceding overseas colonies and paying indemnities."

"How many overseas colonies you think you can cede can be discussed in detail with De Shera, as well as the issue of reparations. I haven't even told you how much you're owed yet, so why can't you accept it?"

So you're trying to extort me, aren't you?
We don't want to cede territory or pay reparations, but you insist on talking to us about ceding territory and paying reparations!

We can't just not talk; if we don't talk, the fighting will continue!
The three men discussed the matter in hushed tones for a while before Prince Maurice of Nassau asked, "Your Majesty, let's talk about the reparations first. How much do you want us to pay?"

Hold on tight.

Emperor Wanli counted on his fingers and said, "This time I mobilized 800,000 troops in the army, 600,000 in the navy, and 1.2 million in logistics to transport grain and supplies."

The current rations for the Ming Empire are two taels of silver and two shi of grain per month, which is equivalent to three taels of silver per month. In addition, the food expenses for the soldiers are also three taels of silver per month. In total, the monthly expenses for each soldier are six taels of silver.

The monthly expenses for 2.6 million soldiers amount to 15.6 million taels of silver.

We fought for almost a year, plus the time it took to transfer personnel in the early stages, let's say twenty months.

The cost of these 2.6 million soldiers over the past twenty months is 301.2 million taels of silver. I'll leave the change aside and just say 300 million taels.

Furthermore, the compensation for the death or injury of our soldiers is one hundred taels each, and the reward for capturing or killing the enemy is also one hundred taels each.

We didn't suffer many casualties this time, let's say 20,000. We captured and killed 280,000 enemies, so the total is 300,000, which is another 30 million taels.

Furthermore, we must also compensate for the warships we lost. Even if it's ten thousand taels per ship, I'll give you a round number: one thousand ships, which would be another ten million taels.

The total compensation for these three items amounts to 340 million taels of silver.

When Descartes was translating, he thoughtfully converted it to the European unit of measurement, the pound. Three hundred and forty million taels is roughly twenty million pounds.

Upon hearing this, the three men's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. They had never imagined that the cost of the Ming Empire's military expedition would be so terrifying.

Just kidding?
Twenty million pounds!

How could they possibly have so much silver?
Let alone 20 million pounds, they couldn't even scrape together 2 million pounds. They'd be lucky to raise 200,000 pounds of all their gold and silver combined.

The gap is too big, how can we negotiate?
The problem is, we can't just not talk about it. If they don't talk, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty will continue to fight.

The three men huddled together for a while longer before Prince Maurice of Nassau said helplessly, "Your Majesty, it's not that we don't want to pay compensation, it's just that we simply don't have that much money."

I know you don't have that much money to pay back.

Emperor Wanli nodded slightly, then asked, "How much money do you have?"

What does this mean?
The three men huddled together for a while longer before Prince Maurice of Nassau cautiously said, "Your Majesty, at most we can raise two hundred thousand pounds of real gold and silver."

Okay, let's squeeze all your hard-earned money out of you first.

Upon hearing this, Emperor Wanli nodded slightly and said, "Alright, then pay in gold and silver worth two hundred thousand pounds first, and you can use other things to replace the rest."

We're compensating you with so much real money, and you still want other things!

The three of them were so angry they were practically grinding their teeth to powder, but they dared not speak out, and they didn't even dare to stay silent.

Because if they don't talk, they will be attacked, and their homeland may even be taken over by the Ming Empire!
They discussed it in hushed tones for a while, before Prince Maurice of Nassau asked helplessly, "Your Majesty, what else do you require as a substitute?"

What else do you have?
Emperor Wanli thought for a moment, then gave an example: "For example, for ocean-going warships, I will also give you 10,000 taels per ship. Is that fair?"
You caused us to lose over a thousand warships, so you should compensate us with at least a thousand ocean-going vessels. I'll accept the loss; any ocean-going vessels will do, it doesn't have to be warships.

Of course, you can also compensate with more ocean-going ships. If you can compensate with 35,000 ocean-going ships, then the compensation will be settled.

Is this fair?

You're at a disadvantage!
We lost more than two thousand warships and ocean-going merchant ships combined, didn't we?
Why don't you compensate us?
Not only do you refuse to compensate for the loss, but you also expect us to compensate you with a thousand ocean-going ships!

Is it considered settled after compensating for 35,000 ocean-going ships?
Why don't you go and grab it?
Where did we get so many ocean-going ships?
The three of them were furious.

The problem is, they don't dare to get angry yet.

What could these colonial bandits do when they encountered the Ming Empire, which specialized in robbing and pillaging?
They discussed it in hushed tones for a while before Prince Maurice of Nassau mumbled, "We can consider that. Is there anything else?"

Do you have anything else of value?

It seems there aren't any left!
These colonial robbers seem to have nothing of value besides what they've stolen!

Then let's pay in installments.

After thinking for a moment, Wanli said simply, "You can also choose to repay slowly, paying 200,000 pounds of real gold and silver every year, and settle the debt in one hundred years."

you!
This is too much!
The three men gritted their teeth and discussed it for a while longer before Prince Maurice of Nassau shook his head helplessly and said, "Your Majesty, it's not that we don't accept this, it's just that we don't have any real money."

Moreover, none of our three kingdoms have any gold or silver mines; we simply cannot produce any real gold or silver, and we cannot afford to pay out 200,000 pounds of real gold and silver annually.

These guys really have no money, you can't squeeze any out of them, what can you do?

Can I just let this go?

That is impossible.

After thinking it over carefully, Wanli pretended to be helpless and said, "If you don't have the money, then you can owe it to us for now. In addition to the 200,000 pounds of real gold and silver and the 1,000 ocean-going ships that you compensate us, each of the three countries should write an IOU for 100 million taels to our Great Ming Empire."

"This debt accrues interest, but I'll give you a lower rate: 10,000 pounds of interest per country per year, until the principal and interest are fully repaid. Is that acceptable?"

you!
They also want an IOU!
The three men gritted their teeth and discussed for a while before Prince Maurice of Nassau cautiously asked, "Your Majesty, do you mean that even if we can't afford to pay the interest, we can still owe it to you?"

Are you trying to renege on your debt to me?

Do you think I'll let you renege on your promise?

After thinking it over carefully, Wanli nodded slightly and said, "If you really don't have the money to repay, you can owe the interest first. However, the interest for each year will be added to the principal and the interest will be recalculated."

Wouldn't that be like a snowball rolling downhill, getting bigger and bigger?
Fine, we won't pay it back. Go away, wherever you want!
The three men discussed the matter for a while longer, and then Prince Maurice of Nassau slowly nodded and said, "Your Majesty, we accept this condition. Is there no problem now?"

You didn't even consider it, did you?

No problem, we'll ask you for it when you have the money.

If you dare not give it to me, I'll beat you up until you can't even leave your house!

(End of this chapter)