Section 2018 Obstacles to Negotiations

It has been nearly half an hour since the negotiation between the two parties began, but during this half hour, except for those people under Li Cong who were arguing fiercely with the high-level officials of the Southern Empire here, Li Cong did nothing. He didn't say a word, and the prime minister of the Eastern Empire didn't say anything either. The prime minister watched Li from some of this man's performances and could tell what this man wanted in his heart. The prime minister is an ordinary person who doesn't have the sharp reflexes of a soldier, but the prime minister thinks your skills are still very good, as if he is already very impatient now, and the people who look at the Cao's firm team are not Those who came to negotiate with them seemed to be stalling for time. Grasping a detail issue would waste too much time on this detail issue, and there was no sign of continuing to drive. What are these people here for? Are you here to waste your time?

The prime minister feels that this matter is not that simple, they must have their own goals, for the huge organization of Cao's House, the prime minister has already learned about it when he came to negotiate, they are not the kind of organization with a vain name, they It is very efficient to do things, but what are they doing now? Does it feel like all these things are very simple? That is impossible, what are they waiting for? Suddenly the Prime Minister thought of this question, and then looked at Li Cong, who was lying leisurely on the chair with his eyes closed, his toes still tapping little by little, as if he was thinking about something proud, and now the negotiation has ended What can he be proud of if he is in an impasse? That is to break the deadlock at the negotiating table and negotiate according to his wishes. Something bad happened to M, he might take some action.

In an instant, the prime minister's face changed drastically, and then he looked at the people on his side who were still digging for words. This is how this kind of negotiation is carried out. They don't need to have too much time to sit there and watch others quarrel. They just tell their subordinates their final bottom line before they come, and these subordinates will follow The prime minister and Li negotiated from the bottom line given, and they would fight for the last profit for their side. Let the opponent shed the last drop of blood. This is what negotiations should do, and as the top leaders of negotiations, they are often the most relaxed, because they can slap the table and leave when they fail to reach an agreement. Let's not continue talking about this matter. Put aside the controversy and continue to read below. So now the two of them are the most relaxed people.

"Master Cao is really relaxed. Are you so confident in the negotiation with our Eastern Empire? I don't think you have diverted your energy to this negotiation table from the beginning to the end. Could it be that there are other things that make Master Cao so nervous?" Are you calm?" The Prime Minister walked to Li Conna and said, his eyes were paying close attention to Li Cong's expression when he was talking. I hope to get some answers from Li Cong's expression. When Li Cong saw him coming, he just smiled politely, and then pointed to the seat beside him to invite the prime minister to sit down. He didn't show any other differences. Come on, this makes the prime minister very annoyed because the prime minister has his own principles, and he will not make rash moves before he has seen his opponent's psychology clearly, but now he has already made the move, but he still doesn't know Li Cong's What are you thinking? This is a very dangerous thing, he felt the danger.

"Your prime minister should actually come here and sit down like me.

The negotiation is left to the people below. Both of us have a psychological bottom line, just like this negotiation. You definitely hope that I will withdraw from your country’s territory without asking for anything, but I also have mine. Difficulties, I came to form this fleet, manufacture so many weapons and recruit so many soldiers, if you let me quit with just one word, my loss is really too great, so I want to get it for my own efforts Some rewards, the conditions I put forward, I think are normal rewards. If you don’t want to, we have nothing to do. We can only consume them slowly, or let’s put on a posture and continue to fight, but I think What we did is not a good thing for both of us. Whether it is your Eastern Empire or our Cao's firm, the losses in the war have already been very large. "

Li Cong's words are simply useless scene words, it can be said to be some nonsense, you feel very uncomfortable when the prime minister said these words to Li Cong, when is it now? What do you mean by such a scene? Did I come here just to listen to your scenes? If you listen to these scenes, I can go to any place and listen to it much better than you. The Prime Minister is very disgusted with Li Cong's uncooperative attitude. If he was in the past, he would definitely drop his teacup. Gone, but now it is different from before. With the Cao family business, the Eastern Empire needs to end the war in the south. Many people in the court have also started to attack him. If the prime minister can complete the peace talks, he will His position within the imperial court can still be guaranteed. If he can't complete it, his own position will be in danger. Many people have been looking at his position for a long time.

No matter how dissatisfied I am in my heart, there is nothing I can do. Who told me to demand others now? Whether it is from the big aspect of the empire or from the small aspect of myself, I need a good battle now, and I need to complete this negotiation. , complete it properly, let yourself obtain the maximum benefit and minimize the loss of the empire. Of course, when he came, he knew that this negotiation was a hard job, and it was negotiated with other ministers. If it fails, this shit pot will probably put its mouth on its own head, whoever calls itself the prime minister, who calls itself the highest official here, loses the national interest and loses its own interests. This truth has been understood since childhood. So no matter how hateful and annoying Li Cong's attitude is, he still has to negotiate with Li Cong and talk about it. The prime minister adjusted his emotions. Then he told Li Cong.

"What Mr. Cao said is really correct. To tell you the truth, our Eastern Empire is really facing internal and external troubles. From the perspective of the northern battlefield, it has entered a stalemate. Our losses are much greater than your losses. After all, we are the attacking side, we have to double our troops to achieve the current results, and you just have to defend in fixed fortifications. The peasant uprising in our central region has intensified. If we don’t If this wind is suppressed, it may throw hundreds of provinces in the entire central part into chaos. The hundreds of provinces in the central part of our Eastern Empire are the foundation of the empire. There must be no chaos here. Then there is the south, You people in the south are really too powerful, you can take down so many cities in a short period of time, we need to come down and accept the war in the south." The prime minister said. He was showing weakness by saying these words. It appears that there is a door.

"Your Excellency, you don't need to say that. This matter is actually not as simple as you said. As far as the northern battlefield is concerned, although I have my army there, most of the army over there is no longer mine. But the people of the three empires, my general can only stand aside and listen to others' orders, so I also need to end the southern battlefield, transfer a large number of troops from the southern battlefield to the northern battlefield to increase my right to speak, You also know that the hostile relationship I gave you is not that serious. The reason why I inserted it here is because of the relationship between Raiden Gate. The grievances between me and Raiden Gate cannot be solved. Only one of you can fall down. Although your Eastern Empire is facing internal and external troubles, the emaciated camel is bigger than the horse. If you really dare to add your own whole country, I don’t think other empires can resist it. Stay with you."

"Our Cao's House is very powerful when it connects the three empires, but compared with your Eastern Empire, there are too many people who want to have command authority in this powerful interior. After all, my cooperation with the three empires is very uncomfortable now. The people of the three empires can dictate everything they want, but they don't want to spend money and effort, and all the money and effort I do all the things, and they do all the things. If I want to change this situation, I need to talk to you. I want to let them know that I have equal opportunities with them. Of course, all The royal family does not want a person like me to come out from the people, that is a major challenge to their power." Li Cong said, Li Cong also showed a sincere look, at least now the prime minister feels very comfortable.

If the prime minister keeps talking about how weak the Eastern Empire is on one side, and Li Cong keeps talking about how strong the Cao family firm and the three empires are on the other side, then this conversation will be impossible to go on, even if the prime minister has his own purpose, he will He will not try his best to belittle his motherland and let others laugh at him. Now Li Cong has reported the shortcomings of Cao's firm. As long as two people seem to have found a common language, Li Cong remembers very clearly that there is no such thing as a political struggle. Eternal enemies have only eternal interests, and of course there are no permanent friends. The union with the three empires is only temporary, and Li Cong suddenly discovered that the union with the three empires is not as good as uniting with the Eastern Empire. At least there is only one leader in the Eastern Empire, and there are three leaders in the three empires. If you want to cooperate with them, you have to deal with the royal families of the three empires. That would be too much work for me. Not great either.

"In fact, we all have our own difficulties, so we all have the obligation to end this war. I wonder if Mr. Cao can make a little concession? The conditions you put forward are really too difficult for us to accept. If I take such a thing If I go back and put it in the court, I guess my official position will fall immediately. There are many people in the court who want to attack me. In the past, I was still cautious in doing things. They couldn't find a reason to attack me. But now if I want to sign this contract, don’t talk about my black hat when I go back, even my head may fall off.” The prime minister said honestly, he knew that he wanted to talk to someone like Li Cong in such a matter. If people make trouble, they are looking for death. The person in front of him is no slower than himself. If the trouble is not good, it may cause the whole negotiation to break down, which is definitely not what I want.

"Lord Prime Minister, don't put yourself in such a difficult position. In fact, Lord Prime Minister is absolutely attributable to this matter. If it wasn't for the face of Lord Prime Minister, how could I have come to meet him in person? Just relying on this alone, Lord Prime Minister can go back In front of the gang of dignitaries in the capital, I asked for credit for myself. Whether the negotiation will be successful is a matter for both of us. If one side wants to negotiate a deal and the other doesn’t want to, this matter will not be possible. Believe it Those people in the capital understand this truth, and they won't embarrass the prime minister too much. Why did the prime minister want us to make concessions? Can't the prime minister make concessions? Li Cong smiled and put two cups of tea in the On the table between the two of them, those who are still negotiating are also pricking up their ears to listen to what their master has to say? They also hope to use me as a huge weather vane. If the master gives in, it will be much easier for her to negotiate If you don't give in, it will be a stalemate like this.

It can be said that the prime minister was very dissatisfied with Li Cong's words. What does it mean for us to make concessions? You people are aggressors in the first place. Some bandits, pirates, everything in these places used to belong to us, but now they want to cut our flesh and say it so grandiosely. The performance of the prime minister is only 0.01 seconds as shown on the face. Then there was none. He knew that if a negotiator recorded his expression at such a time, it would only be a tragedy, and it would be caught by people instead of solving any problems. And the other party will also disturb your mind because of this, so that the other party can take advantage of it. He is an old man, and it is absolutely impossible for him to make such a simple mistake. The prime minister tidied up his clothes, thought about it and then said.

"In fact, this kind of negotiation is nothing more than slowly coming. What we can give up is small and what you want is too big. We can only find a balance point between us. As long as this balance point is found, our The negotiation is considered to be completed." The prime minister said with a smile, Li Congxue nodded. He agrees with the prime minister's point of view, but the people on the table don't seem to be looking for a balance, they seem to be During the war, everyone who was arguing was red-faced. These people also knew when they heard the conversation between the prime minister and Li Cong. It also means that the Eastern Empire is actually a little weaker, and the people on the Caojiashan line on the table are even more arrogant. They have the qualifications to be arrogant and will definitely continue.

The negotiations at noon on the first day between the two sides failed to achieve any results. It was you who said one thing, and I said one thing. A negotiator basically didn't have his mouth idle all morning. It is certain that he lacks moisture. One by one, these people saw that it was almost noon, and then they all closed some documents in their hands, which indicated that today The negotiations in the morning were over. At that time, Li Cong couldn't sit still. Why hasn't the battle report from the eastern coastal area come yet? The coastal area is still far away from here. Even if you use an airship, you can only arrive tonight, not to mention the speed at which the high-level officials of the Eastern Empire received the news. It will definitely be slower. It is better to continue wasting time in the afternoon !

The lunch at noon was prepared by the Eastern Empire, and it was quite a sumptuous meal. In the morning, the people who were so quarrelsome began to chat with each other again at the dinner table at noon. The reception during the negotiation is also an art, and the two sides will get closer at the reception. The distance allows one's point of view to enter the other party's mind. This reception can be said to have gone smoothly, but nothing interesting was done in the middle. Both sides are discussing some political issues, that is, Prime Minister Li Tonggen, What they talk about with a smile is also the issue of complementarity, so it is impossible for them to become friends. At present, they are opposites, and the point of opposition between the two sides lies here, that is, whoever occupies the most areas and who occupies the most areas The question of whether to garrison taxation or land cession and indemnity is a series of big problems.

After lunch, the afternoon negotiations started again. Unlike in the morning, Li Cong and the prime minister did not attend the afternoon negotiations. Li Cong went back to his room after drinking a little wine at noon, his head was not so clear After a break, the prime minister's entourage told him that Li Cong was not at the negotiation site, so the prime minister naturally couldn't lower his value. The two of them were equal in the entire negotiation team, except when they were both present. , No matter what kind of performance other people perform? They will not go there to see, this is a kind of capital for both parties. Without this kind of capital, my momentum will be weakened. I am the leader of my negotiating team. If I don't have such momentum, how can the people below me have confidence? ? They will also start to think of this matter as something that can be done or not. Some interests can be pursued or not pursued, and the negotiation will fail.

However, Li Cong, who didn't come to the negotiation field, was completely different from the prime minister behind. Li Cong drank a little wine at noon, and he was still not used to the wine on this continent? After just drinking two cups, Li Cong's head hurts a little now. Under the service of two beautiful maids, Li Cong slowly leaned on these recliners and enjoyed the massage. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the massage. Live, smell the house. The very fragrant incense smells, Li slowly fell asleep from this moment. He is enjoying life, but the prime minister on the other side is not like that. The prime minister's room is much more luxurious than Li Cong's. After all, he is the host, and the best things will definitely be kept for himself. But the prime minister was not in the mood to enjoy all this. Bye bye, let everyone in the room go out. The prime minister walked back and forth in the room, wondering what Li Cong was thinking. What is he going to do? What is their bottom line?

Now that the bosses of both of them are not at the negotiating table, these people have also started to be lazy, and emphasized a problem many times in the morning. It was for my boss to see. Why is the boss doing so hard when he is not here in the afternoon? It is rare to put some food and some drinks on the table. The people on both sides seem to be chatting in the afternoon and have no intention of negotiating. Naturally, Cao's House is calm, and they have to wait for the latest battle report. Well, the negotiators from the Eastern Empire didn’t have that idea either. Even if the people from the Cao’s House didn’t want to give in, it wouldn’t make any sense to continue the debate in the morning. They had to go elsewhere. There was no way. Time, since I wasted time and didn't allow myself to enjoy it, the food and drink here are very good, and talking to them about some things in other empires can be regarded as my own knowledge.

There will naturally be some anxious people outside the negotiating room, that is, some local officials of the Eastern Empire. The original areas of these local officials have been occupied by the troops of the Cao Family Firm. Since the day the Cao Family Firm occupied them, they They were expelled, and they could only be expelled with their family and their belongings. Many assets of their family, including some real estate in fields and houses, were in that area. They all hoped that the court could help them Bring those things back, and the imperial court also responded positively. As long as the troops of the Eastern Empire march in, they will be theirs or their empire will not want any of them. They are also nervously waiting for the result of the negotiation. If they If you go to you, those negotiating officials will definitely be beaten up. I lost all my wealth. You can still have a drink with these robbers here. Go to sleep at your house.

It doesn’t matter if Cao’s House is good in terms of fundamental interests. Anyway, the occupied area is not your own area. If you occupy one more day, you can get more benefits from these hundreds of cities. The Eastern Empire is different. There are a lot of things that can be produced every day in these hundreds of cities. Apart from other things, even if it is just taxation, it is not a small amount. It's twice the same, thinking that the Prime Minister in the room here and those people in the negotiating room over there are a little restless. If others can waste this time, I can't waste this time. The Prime Minister feels that it is necessary It was his idea to quickly sign some issues that the two sides reached a consensus on in order to prevent future changes. This idea saved the Eastern Empire from losing a lot of things in the future, such as the issue of indemnity.

Regarding the issue of indemnity, both sides have some consensus, that is, the indemnity is necessary. Of course, the Eastern Empire will not admit that it was defeated. Li Cong admitted that he was defeated, but the other party did not admit that he was the winner. What's the taste? Of course, the Eastern Empire will not regard this money as indemnity. He can regard this money as a trade with you Li Cong. Li Cong gave them some worthless things and they just bought them back at a very high price. That’s it, there is a big difference between the two sides on this amount. The Eastern Empire is only willing to pay 20 billion silver to compensate for this matter, and Li Tong wants the Eastern Empire to take trillions of silver as Li Cong said. to pay for this. The gap between the two sides is as high as 500 times, and this matter has persisted, but the prime minister believes that this matter can be resolved. The bottom line of the prime minister is 600 billion silver, it depends on what Li Cong thinks?

After the negotiators of the Eastern Empire received the prime minister's order, they also began to concentrate on the issue of compensation. More than a dozen people put down their work and began to discuss the issue of compensation with the people from Cao's House. The only person who can live besides Li Cong is Boss Cui, and Boss Cui is most familiar with such things, so Li Cong brought him to discuss these issues, except that he cannot make concessions on the territorial issue. Concessionary. Li Cong also wanted to end the war quickly. But the bottom line for Boss Cui is to get the best benefit for him, and it is still very good to urge the boss to measure this benefit. Just like now, he has seen that the other party wants to reach an agreement on the issue of compensation. The trillions of silver I asked for is indeed not a small amount for others. It is also possible to give in a little bit. It depends on what the other party thinks? "Everyone, we have reached an agreement on the issue of compensation, that is, the money must be paid, and the amount of compensation is something we need to discuss. I feel that you have no sincerity in such negotiations. First of all, you The amount that was not mentioned is really too big. The trillions of silver is equivalent to about one-third of the income of our entire imperial court. It is also very uncomfortable for us. If we take out this money, our imperial court may not have any money in the next few months. Our empire also needs support and money to support it. A negotiator from the Eastern Empire patted the table and said, "Everyone else has quieted down. Everyone knows that this is the time to start talking about serious things. It's not a waste of time. Everyone in the Cao's Commercial Bank has also thrown away just now." After being lazy, I started to deal with it seriously.

"I don't think my conditions are harsh on the issue of compensation. First of all, we have occupied 307 cities in total. The average annual tax revenue of these 307 cities is about 120 million silver. If you don't pay the money If you give it to us, we will continue to occupy these more than 300 cities. On average, we will have an income of hundreds of millions of taels of silver every day. This is also a very big loss for you. Besides, we lost in order to win these places. It's so powerful that our soldiers lost nearly 50,000 people. Although this number is not very large, our soldiers are all soldiers who are our new weapons. It costs me nearly 502,000 silver to train a soldier. Come and calculate the amount we asked you to eat, it is really not much, remind the boss to think about it, this guy is the best at talking nonsense.

The high-ranking officials of the Eastern Empire simply wanted to rush up and beat the boss. How could this guy be so shameless? We didn’t invite you to fight, but you came to us to fight. Now you have received losses and still If you want us to compensate you, I really don't know what to say about you. You don't even know what's going on in your mind if you keep doing this one by one? The same person just now said that the origin of the war should be your responsibility. We did not provoke this war. You have provoked this war and now you want us to pay so much money. We cannot accept this aspect. Yes, we can only come up with 50 billion silver compensation at most. If you can accept it, I think we can continue to negotiate. When it comes to 50 billion silver, Boss Cui snorted coldly and even asked for it. It's not even a fraction, if I agree, I will probably be picked up by my brother-in-law when I go back.

"Five billions of silver, I think this gentleman is joking, do you see that my avatar lacks a little silver to come here to negotiate with you? The people here are all the top executives of our Cao’s firm. How much is your salary for a year? If I’m not mistaken, this gentleman should be a high-ranking official, but I think your salary for a year is only in the tens About 10,000 taels of silver, plus some of your other income, it should not be too much to have more than one billion silver per year. The corruption rate of all your officials here is probably tens of billions a year. You just compensate me How can it be justified to buy 50 billion silver? It is equivalent to a few more officials like you. Do you think we will accept it?" Boss Cui's words made these people blush, you are talking nonsense here what? Who embezzled? Who said that ruining you is not farting or insulting.

"Sir, please speak, pay attention, we are all imperial officials, we only take our own salary, we will never touch other money." Another official of the Eastern Empire said that Cui Boss knew that he had just What I said was a bit too much. This was all done under the table. If I said it myself now, if there were officials from the Eastern Empire Supervision Department, they might be subject to investigation when they went back. The official administration of the Eastern Empire is still very good among the four empires. At least on the surface, it seems to be very clean, whether these people took the black money is not what I want to pursue, but after boss Cui disturbed the rest of these people, when they talked. Also paid attention to a lot. He will not casually propose something that Cao's House of Firm cannot accept. They also knew that the person in front of them was so unscrupulous that he would shake off something, and they were the ones who suffered.

"Of course, if you don't agree with my compensation plan, we will also carry out some activities in our group in order to make up for our own losses." The activity he was talking about was not a simple organizational activity. up. The officials of the Eastern Empire are also like human beings. They also thought of the local officials outside. They are still waiting for me to help them get back their property. It is certain that some valuable things in the house must have been moved. Let's go, now that Cao's House is going to use their brains, it must be the real estate of these people. If all the real estate is sold, it must be a lot of money, but who they want to sell to is a big problem. The local wealthy businessmen have no money in their hands, and they have been cleaned up by Cao's business. It can be said that hundreds of cities are now impoverished!

"Don't get me wrong, I know what you are thinking now? Those things like land are not worth a penny now, even if I beat them out and ask them for a very low price, who will buy them? ? The wealthy people in your Eastern Empire will not come to buy it for the time being. The other three empires are not familiar with this place, and of course they will not come to buy it. What I want to consider is your head. Among the more than 300 cities, there are I believe you know more about the population than I do. I can take out all the billions of people and sell them to the other three empires as slaves. I just don’t know if your Eastern Empire dares to sacrifice this Things, what if we sell them all? Although the compensation I want is not as much as the bastard I want, it can also supplement us with a lot of funds. If we get a taste of the sweetness in this regard We will continue to attack other counties, and we may get more money at that time, don't regret it." Cui Boss said shamelessly, this kind of thing is probably what this guy can do , and also said so grandly, as if he should do such a thing, it doesn't matter if you don't give it, we just sell slaves, this idea is really good.

Boss Cui's flowers directly stunned these Eastern Empire officials. They have seen shameless people, but they have never seen such shameless people. They are about to start trafficking their people. What is this guy thinking in his mind? Is something like human trafficking something you can do if you want to? Everyone can't wait to grab this thing on the table and beat this guy directly, and if the whole empire knows, then their brains can't stay still, and it is very likely that they haven't returned to the capital yet. It was killed by some people in the rivers and lakes. Such a shameful thing is too terrible. What else can you do if the people of your own empire can't protect it? It seems that they should continue to retreat when it comes to the issue of compensation, otherwise they will definitely capture these people and sell them. Even if they take those places back for use, it is just a piece of land. Land without population is similar to dead land. After a dozen Years have no other effect except growing grass, and the losses of the Eastern Empire will be even greater, and they will never allow such a thing to happen.

"Things are not non-negotiable. Everything is negotiated slowly. As far as I know, you have obtained a lot of gold and silver treasures after occupying the city. Can those be used to offset part of the compensation amount? If the total If it adds up to trillions, I don’t know if it’s okay?” The officials of the Eastern Empire have already begun to give in, and they have already received some news from various sources. The money in it is estimated to have exceeded trillions of taels of silver. Even if some other valuable things add up to several trillions or even tens of trillions, there may be tens of trillions of silver. After all, the southern part of the Eastern Empire The coast is a very rich place, and just some of their official warehouses are robbed, and there may be hundreds of billions of silver. Whether these things can be worth the indemnity of the Eastern Empire depends on what the Cao family firm thinks of?

"Sir, I think what you said is a bit one-sided, and some don't understand the previous situation. Our army will never do this kind of robbery when it comes to a place. Such things are people who have no discipline at all. The army here did it. After our army arrived in a place, they got along very well with the people. I think there are hundreds of people from your Eastern Empire outside this building. You can go to our occupied area and have a good time. Ask them if we have robbed their homes? There is not at all, and for those we robbed, you can find them to come out and confront us." Cui Boss said with a big smile, this is also a characteristic of Li Cong. Ordinary people in all the cities in the city are absolutely not allowed to enter their homes. Those who rob are those who commit crimes and are very rich. and government warehouses and the like, of course the common people will not object to them.

People from the Eastern Empire stopped talking about this matter. What the people from the Cao’s House of Commerce said was the truth. These people basically did not oppose the Cao’s House of Commerce, mainly because after the people from the Cao’s House of Commerce robbed the warehouse, these people People will distribute some worthless things to the common people, and each of these common people is very happy. This thing is really well done. (to be continued...)