Chapter 44, Mighty Master? Teacher of benevolence and righteousness?
Although his tone of voice was very kind, Wang Qiu's attitude and stance was particularly tough - this negotiation was not a friendly discussion from the beginning, but Wang Qiu and the others unilaterally made a final offer. The ultimatum ordered Princess Pinna and others to accept it immediately and unconditionally.
In this regard, Princess Pinna and her subordinates fully experienced the humiliation of being despised and the feeling of "a weak country without diplomacy".
As a result, the Empire naturally protested, but it was of no use. The attitude of the Chinese representatives can be described as hard-hearted, very similar to the time when Prime Minister Hirobumi Ito forced Li Hongzhang to sign the Treaty of Shimonoseki. Faced with the indignation and questioning of Princess Pinna and her subordinates, Wang Qiu said arrogantly: "...The current situation has become obvious. We are not here to discuss with you, let alone listen to you. Any sophistry. You are not qualified to discuss with us. All you can answer is agree or disagree. You only need to look at your head and surroundings to know that if our army decides to go to war, this will happen in an instant. A city has been reduced to rubble, please don’t make the mistake of being excited..."
Under such circumstances, Princess Pinna, who didn't have any chips in her hands and still had some sense in her mind, had no choice but to give in.
——After a short negotiation of less than twenty minutes, the empire accepted all the conditions of the aliens in humiliation without changing a word.
However, in Princess Pinna's view, compared with the tough and arrogant attitude of the outsiders, the various terms proposed by the outsiders are relatively restrained. At least it is definitely much milder than the peace negotiation terms proposed by the empire to those defeated and dependent countries before. Of course, this may be because what is being offered now is not the final peace negotiation terms, but just a period of negotiation with the imperial government. It's just a war zone control plan.
But even so, these temporary conditions for peaceful coexistence have appeared to be extremely generous, and can even be said to be very kind and generous.
First of all, these alien armies did not extort money or supplies from her - however, the current Earl of Formar territory actually had no wealth. On the contrary, the aliens also agreed to sell food and other goods to the city. In addition, the aliens also took over the burden of 30,000 demi-human refugees outside the city, and were willing to provide food and other living supplies to the refugees during the peace talks, provided that these demi-human refugees would obey their arrangements and dispatches.
Secondly, the outsiders stated that during the entire negotiation period and before the bad blood between the two countries was truly eliminated and peaceful and friendly relations were established, their army must take over the defense of the entire Earl of Falmar territory as a bridgehead for landing on the mainland of Falmat. Of course, in order to show the sincerity of the peace talks, the management and taxation rights of the city of Italica can remain unchanged. The foreign troops will not interfere too much, nor will they station a large number of troops in the city, but no more than a hundred people will be stationed. Serve as a surveillance force and provide force protection for shops that may be opened in the city. In return, if outsiders want to trade in the city, Princess Pinna's subordinates and the lord's palace are not allowed to impose taxes or obstruct them.
Third, the rural areas of the Earl of Formal outside the city of Italica were completely taken over by the army from another world and classified as a military restricted area. Members of the Order of the Rose are not allowed to leave the city of Italica during the peace talks without the approval of the outsiders to avoid conflicts and misunderstandings.
Fourth, before getting a reply from the Imperial Senate and the Emperor and starting formal negotiations to establish diplomatic relations, Princess Pinna herself must stay as a hostage and communication bridge. She can freely choose to stay in Italica or go to Mount Arnus. Qiu's alien camp accepts hospitality. What? Since the aliens have basically no troops stationed in the city, what if Princess Pinna chooses to stay in Italica and finds an opportunity to escape? Wang Qiu made this clear to Princess Pinna from the beginning. She is just a symbol representing peace and communication. You can escape if you want, but once Her Royal Highness the Princess escapes from Italica City, it will mean that the empire There is no sincerity for peace, and the two sides will automatically enter a state of war. The consequences will be, please imagine for yourself...
Fifth, the noble officials and members of the Order of the Rose in the Earl of Formal are allowed to stay or leave without any requirement to confiscate their weapons. However, those who stayed behind were only allowed to stay in the city of Italica and were not allowed to leave the city without permission. Violators would not be guaranteed life safety. Those who leave are not allowed to stay within the territory of the Earl of Formar, nor are they allowed to engage in any hostile behavior, otherwise they will be killed... Since a fierce civil war is going on in the hinterland of the empire on the other side of the Romanian mountains, it seems that the safety factor is not as high as here. So in the end, only a dozen or so members of the Knights of the Rose left the group.
※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※ ※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※※
——From a general point of view, the terms of a peace treaty like this, even if it is only the content of a temporary armistice treaty, appear to be too generous, so that Princess Pinna and her subordinates were in disbelief at first: According to the empire’s Experience, if you encounter this situation, at least a ransom will be extorted from the family members of each member of the Knights of the Rose, and the citizens of Italica will also have to donate the city's money and supplies to buy their lives. The defenders Disarming everyone is also a basic requirement. However, although the aliens clearly possess overwhelming force, they almost never commit any crimes and are willing to treat each other with courtesy. This only shows that the aliens are very sincere about peace and friendship. This is good news for the empire, which is currently suffering from both internal and external troubles.
However, in fact, whether it is Wang Qiu, the urban management brigade captain, or Director Ma, who serves as a temporary inspector, or the relevant departments and the central government behind him, it is difficult to deal with someone who has attempted aggression against China (actually, China The people brought it on themselves, but the natives of the alien world don't know), and the backward slave ancient countries will automatically break off diplomatic relations in a few years (the maintenance time of the "door" is limited), and they lack interest in developing diplomatic relations. There is no hobby for peace at all - in every plot world, Wang Qiu himself is almost the natural enemy of peace.
The reason why we treat the indigenous rulers of this city so politely and courteously is not because they have much sincerity for peace and friendship, but because they feel disdain and disdain for their little family wealth-the relationship between the two parties is about wealth. The concepts of words are obviously very different.
For example, in the eyes of members of the local ruling class, the more than 30,000 destitute demi-human refugees outside the city are just a burden that consumes food and potentially unstable factors that may cause riots. However, in the eyes of people on earth, they are It is a living special actor and a non-human intelligent life gene pool, which is enough to make the entertainment and scientific circles around the world crazy about it. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is walking gold.
In the same way, the relevant departments have already been very concerned about the demihuman villages scattered in the remote areas of the Earl of Formar territory. It is said that the number of orcs, elves, demons and dwarves exceeds 300,000, including deception, abduction, kidnapping, Various plans for acquisition are already being formulated.
The city of Italica at your feet, in the opinion of the natives of this plane, should be a gathering place of wealth in a region and the first choice target for bandits and the army. But in the eyes of Wang Qiu and others, even if the city was looted, what would they get? At best, they are just some worthless copper and iron products, grains, cheese, bacon, blankets, linens and rough pottery, plus a small amount of gold, silver, gems and some women - from the perspective of earthlings, they must be refugees outside the city. The cat-eared girls, dog-eared girls, winged girls, and Medusas in the camp are even more attractive.
To give a similar example, during the Afghan war, the US military did not loot Kabul after occupying it. Instead, it provided a lot of relief to the citizens. On the one hand, it was naturally for the sake of international image, and on the other hand, it was because Kabul was too poor. If you want to rob, there is nothing to rob.
As for the military and geographical significance of the city of Italica, it is not worth mentioning at all when the gap in military force between the two sides is so huge. Of course, if it must be said that the city of Italica has any value at the moment, it is that it provides a model sample of a city in a fantasy world, which can be used by sociologists on earth to conduct "social and economic surveys of fantasy worlds"... But this is Wang Qiu and the others were even more asked to preserve the city as completely as possible.
In short, after Princess Pingna held her nose and took out her personal seal, signed and sealed the takeover document, and unconditionally accepted all Wang Qiu's requests, the Chinese delegation immediately put away its initial arrogance and became more arrogant. With a smile on his face, he ordered more refreshments to be served to entertain the natives from another world. In addition, Wang Qiu also presented souvenirs to the indigenous people from other worlds in accordance with China's custom after meetings: the male representatives of the empire at the negotiating table each presented a colorful crystal glass wine glass, and the female representatives each presented a cultured pearl necklace. , Princess Pinna and a bottle of perfume... These cultured pearl necklaces, which at first glance look much better than natural pearls, make the female knights of the Order of the Rose shine with joy and at the same time feel strange. The name is so wonderful that it is like falling into the mist, and you almost mistakenly think that your side has won the battle and is accepting the tributes from the defeated. Just like this, stroking the round and smooth pearl necklaces, looking at the crystal clear " crystal perfume bottle ", listening to those people from other worlds bragging endlessly, claiming that they are mighty teachers, civilized teachers, and teachers of benevolence and righteousness... The sense of humiliation in Princess Pingna's heart gradually dissipated, but her curiosity about people from other worlds also followed. Germinate quickly. So, she finally decided to let Chief Instructor Gray and Captain Shirley of the Red Rose Squadron bring their own handwritten letters to deliver the news to the Senate, while she followed the alien army to Arnus Hill. Find out...