The sky is gloomy and the cold wind is rustling...≦,

Nicholas, with a golden hair, lay weakly on the ground, raised his head and kept twitching his nose and smelling the fragrance of the air. The air was filled with a pleasant smell of flesh, but the fragrance penetrated his nose, making him feel more hungry and uncomfortable. Nicholas lay back helplessly and tightened his clothes.

Around him were three hundred people in the same company. Nicholas was the company commander of this company. They had three hundred people in a row and were also the standard unit in the Spanish Army. Each company had about three hundred people. They usually ate, stayed, trained, and fought together, and had a good understanding and relationship with each other.

Nicholas' company was further divided into a team with a maximum of twenty-five people, and a team led by a team leader. Nicholas's three hundred people had twelve teams.

The Spanish army generally has two types of companies, musket company and spear company.

During combat, they usually unite five companies and form a square formation to fight, one musket company and four spear companies.

As the number of troops stationed in Taiwan continued to decrease, only five hundred soldiers were left, including two hundred sailors and three hundred army. This company of Nicholas had eight squads of spearmen and four squads of musketeers, and could form a simple Spanish phalanx during combat.

In this simple square array, spearmen lined up into a dense square array, with twenty people in the front of the horizontal line, ten rows in depth. On the four outer corners of the three horizontal line spearmen, there are twelve fronts and sixteen rows in depth. Then, on the four corners of the square array, a team of twenty-five musketeers were arranged.

Although this simple version of the square array is far inferior to that of the Spanish square array, the large square array is lined up in three dense horizontal lines on the battlefield, with 50 to 60 people on the front of each horizontal line, and a depth of twenty rows. Musketeers with dense squares are arranged on the four corners. The dense formation with strong and mobile capabilities is about 150 meters wide and 100 meters deep. A row of musketeers is arranged on each side of the four sides of the square, and an independent team is also sent to conduct a small-scale attack.

With this sharp Spanish formation, they made great contributions to the establishment of Spain's colonial empire.

Unfortunately, Taiwan's Spanish Army only has one company, and Nicholas even had no chance to fight with the Ming army with his simple phalanx.

He became a prisoner without a single shot.

The aroma of meat continues to blow here with the sea breeze, making people feel more and more uncomfortable.

The flag bearer of Nicholas Company was a tall Viking. He was not afraid of the cold wind blowing from the sea, but the feeling of hunger was really uncomfortable. The delicious venison in the castle was bought by him yesterday with the nearby indigenous Guirou Club. The cooked venisons had been surrendered to them and often used the hunting venison deer skins and golden sulfur pearls to exchange for some salt, cloth, iron tools, etc.

Among the items he exchanged yesterday, there were more than a dozen living deer, who were temporarily raised in the castle by him, but now, these deer that originally belonged to them were being cooked in a large pot by the Ming army. Thinking of this, Andrei's teeth were bitten together, and the scar on his face was also released due to anger.

I should have sat in the castle now, drinking delicious rum, eating big vegetarian meat, and even hugging those gentle Japanese ladies.

Those damn Ming people snatched my meat, my wine, my women and the castle, and let me sit in the open space with a cold wind.

Damn, sitting here, my hungry chest is almost pressed against my back.

"Dog shit." He punched the ground hard, "I can't stand it anymore. That's my venison, I want to eat meat."

"Don't be stupid, we can't beat the Ming people." Nicholas also had a big guy. He was a Germanic from the Holy Roman Empire of Germany. He fought fiercely and worked as a mercenary for many years. Later, he joined the Spanish fleet to the East and became the company commander in Taiwan.

Nicholas's entourage Marcos was a young German and Nicholas' nephew. He hugged his arms and inserted his palm into his armpits. "Does the Ming people plan to starve us to death? We have all surrendered to them, but they locked us here and didn't even give us a piece of bread."

He complained, "Go to the damn Potiro, if I had known this, it would be better to go to war with the Ming Dynasty."

"Don't say that, the Ming people have a saying that it's better to live than to die. I don't want to die on this deserted island in the east."

"Then you explain what the Chinese people are planning?"

Nicholas blinked his dark eyes and thought for a while and whispered, "I don't think we are in danger. The Ming people have already got what they want. They got San Salva, the port, and our fleet and the money and goods in the castle. Why do you think they want to kill us? I think the Ming people probably want to starve us first."

"Then when can we leave?"

"Let's go?" Nicholas smiled and shook his head at the innocence of his young nephew. "We are now prisoners of the Ming people, so it's not easy to leave. Besides, the ship is gone, how can we go? Moreover, we don't have to leave either."

The flag bearer Andre asked in confusion, "What does it mean?"

Nicholas said, "Although we are Spanish soldiers, we are basically mercenaries from other European countries. We come to the East to take risks, just for the treasures of the East? To put it bluntly, we are working hard to make money for the Spanish. Since the Spanish can no longer pay us any more, why do we have to work hard to the Spanish? As long as we have money, who will not work for?"

Marcos reacted, "Are we going to work for the Ming people?"

"But these Ming people are so short, ignorant, backward and barbaric," Andrei interrupted.

"Shut up, the Ming Dynasty is so rich and prosperous, and it is not comparable to you in Northern Europe. Look at the Ming soldiers, their armor and equipment are so exquisite. I plan to try it. It is better than continuing to be hungry here." Nicholas said.

"What should the Spaniard do?"

"Fuck the Spaniards." Marcos slapped his fists and said with a swaying look, "Taiwanese Spaniards are finished, so let's care what they do."

Nicholas pinched his chin with a short beard like a steel needle and said to several officers, "But if we are going to work with the Ming people, we have to find a way to pull a person over so that the Ming people can pay attention to us. In the future, we can join the group without being bullied and get a good price."

Andre nodded quickly, and he agreed with the suggestion. "I'll go and talk to Paul and the other captains."

"I'll go talk to Anthony and the other captains." Marcos also hurriedly said.

At that moment, a few people began to act and talked to the captains of the company in the captive camp. Although the defenders outside saw their actions, they didn't care much. These people could still make things worse without any help.

In Santiago City, Liu Jun is checking the report below. Due to the continuous withdrawal of the Spanish in Northern Taiwan, the Spanish had only managed Santiago City, which also made the reception work more smooth.

All statistics were reported quickly and the harvest was very good.

A total of 800 Spanish soldiers were captured, and there were some wives and servants of Spanish people stationed in Taiwan on the island. There were more than 500 people in total, and there were some Japanese and Chinese merchants in the city, and some were familiar with the natives nearby who had contact with the Spanish. Liu Jun treated the merchants and the Frenchmen well and did not infringe on their lives and property. The remaining Spanish and their servants were all temporarily held in custody, with nearly 2,000 people.

The seized weapons and equipment include a four-masted Galen warship, four armed merchant ships, ten light sailing ships, and some other sampans. In addition, there are more than fifty cannons on the port and castles, more than 50 muskets, hundreds of swords and armor, and gunpowder.

In addition, a lot of gold, silver and grain were seized. Many Spanish people purchased goods from the natives of the island and Chinese and Japanese merchants to be transferred to Manila.

Although there was a lot of money and goods, Liu Jun didn't care much. What he cared about was the dozens of ships, especially the Galen ship and four armed merchant ships. This was equivalent to the main warship. Although Zheng Zhilong was known as the overlord of China's maritime tycoon, there were no ships of this level.

Liu Jun got five ships at once, not to mention that Galen was a big battleship far surpassing the Zheng family.

The circumference of the Castle of San Salva is about one mile long. It is wide at the bottom and narrow at the top. There are four round bastions in the city. If there are enough troops, such a fortress will definitely be at the fortress level. But now, Liu Jun has taken this place without any loss.

"Mr. Marquis, there is a yellow-haired man who says he wants to work for the Marquis." Wang Guoqiang came in to report.

"Want to work for me?" Liu Jun looked up, muttered, and smiled, "What is this person's identity?"

"He is known as the commander of the army with Hongmao here, Marquis, how old is this company commander?"

Liu Jun was a little surprised when he heard that he was a company commander, "As the company commander, it is probably equivalent to our nine-headed bird leader, who cares about three hundred people."

"Hey, I'm still a big official. There are only a few hundred soldiers here. He has three hundred soldiers in charge of each person, and he is the number one person."

Liu Jun asked Wang Guoqiang to bring people. As soon as Nicholas came in, he immediately knelt down, bowed down, and then reported his meaning to Liu Jun in a strong foreign accent. He was just a mercenary, not a Spaniard, but just worked for the Spaniards and never killed the Ming people. Now, he is willing to take his company of people to work for the Marquis of the Ming Dynasty.

"You mean to ask me to hire you, right?"

Nicholas nodded quickly. Liu Jun smiled. He was not unhappy with the idea of ​​this yellow-haired man. He was hired as a mercenary. This behavior was not considered a rebellion or something. After all, Spain had already made him surrender.

"All your 300 people are willing to be hired by me with you?"

"Yes, we three hundred are as close as brothers, so of course we are coming together."

"Then how much salary do you ask for?"

Nicholas chuckled and said in his poor Chinese, "I know that the Ming Dynasty hired the Portuguese in Macau in the early years. At that time, they paid their team leader a salary of 150 taels a year, and an additional 15 taels a month for additional expenses. The rest of the people were 100 taels a year, and they gave another 100 taels a year, and they gave another 100 taels a month for food."

"Our requirements are not high, just follow this one. I have 300 people in a row. I am the company commander. There are twenty officers including the flag bearer, the captain and other 20 officers, the remaining 100 musketeers, and 179 spearmen. As the company commander, the marquis pays me five hundred taels of silver every year, the captain and other twenty officers each of three hundred taels of silver, the musketeers each year, and the spearmen don't have to pay extra money for food!"

After hearing this, Liu Jun sneered. Chongzhen paid a very high salary for hiring Portuguese back then, and this guy asked for even higher requirements.

The average soldier of the Nine-Headed Bird is only about two taels of silver per month, less than thirty taels a year, although there are other combat rewards. However, compared with the most ordinary spearman proposed by Nicholas, the price of these mercenaries is ten times the salary of the Nine-Headed Bird.

"Two hundred and five." Liu Jun said.

When Nicholas heard this, he thought Liu Jun was bargaining. He was secretly happy and said with some displeasure on the surface, "The price of Marquis is a bit low, there are 300 people in a row. If each person is 250 taels, it will be a little lower. But in order to show respect to the strong, we are willing to accept this employment salary."

Liu Jun was angry at this big man. "Is Nicholas? If you plan to earn food under my command in the future, remember to learn more Chinese in the future. The profoundness of Chinese is not so easy to learn. I said 25, but it doesn't mean to give you 250 taels of silver. This is actually called "evaluating people," meaning idiot!"

The smile on Nicholas's face condensed.

"Don't speak loudly. I don't like those who are exaggerated. I'll tell you the truth. The soldiers under my command only have two taels of silver per month. A sixth-rank official in the Daming Wei Institute only has only ten stones of rice per month, less than ten taels of silver. Do you think the Ming Dynasty's silver fell from the sky? No. Most of the silver comes from America and Japan, so you should be clear about this."

Liu Jun continued without any haste, "As far as I know, you are employed by the Spanish. A skilled musketeer can earn four Escudos a month, and a spearman will not exceed three Escudos at most. Am I right?"

"In addition, you are employed by the Spanish to come to Taiwan to stay, and usually only earn a salary once a year. That's right?"

"And how much silver is one Escudo worth? An Escudo can only exchange one or four cents of silver now. I'm right?"

As Liu Jun reported one by one, sweat fell on Nicholas's face. He didn't expect that this young Ming nobleman knew so clearly about these things.

"In other words, you do things for the Spanish. The skilled musketeers only cost five or six silver a month, and a spearman only cost four or two cents a month. This salary is not much higher than that of our Ming Dynasty, but you dare to speak to me for 250 taels a month. Your head is really flooded. Also, have you forgotten that you are my prisoner now? You are actually my private property now. As long as I want, I can even sell you to grow sugarcane for people!"

Nicholas's sweat wet his back.

Although Nicholas and his fellow hired by Spain were not only so much, and they went to the East to be mercenaries, their main income was war income, war rewards and robberies during robbery. But now he was facing Liu Jun, he no longer knew what to say.

"I will give you ten taels of silver a month, six taels of silver a month for your twenty officers, three taels of musketeers a month, and two taels of spearmen a month."

Liu Jun offered the employment price.

"This is too low!" Nicholas whispered. "Only half of us, and we were hired by Spain before, and our main income was various rewards and dividends."

"What I just mentioned is your basic salary. If you fight bravely, of course there will be additional rewards." Liu Jun said, "Of course, you can not accept my employment conditions. You can wait for the Spanish to redeem you with silver. If they don't redeem you, you can also go to the Ming Dynasty to mine or farm!"

“Which one do you choose?”

Nicholas replied helplessly, "We are willing to accept the employment conditions of the Marquis. From now on, we will be your warriors."

"very good."

"Marty, I want to make a request to you."

"explain."

"We've been hungry for a day. Can we give us a meal first?"

"Of course." Liu Jun nodded with satisfaction, "You go and take your people to register first, and then there will be a meal. After you have a meal, you come over again. I have something to talk to you."

Nicholas and his three hundred soldiers finally had a meal. When they held the bowl, the people were crying.

The other red, yellow, white and black skins in the prison camp there felt hungry when they saw the army eating delicious food. Some people knew that these mercenaries had already joined the Ming Dynasty and began to move. Soon, some sailors also shouted to the Ming army guarding them that they were willing to work for the Ming army.

"We want to have a meal, and we are willing to work for Mingguo."

"We want to have a meal!"
To be continued...