Empire Conquest
Chapter 280 - 276: Playing the Lute to a Cow

Chapter 280: Chapter 276: Playing the Lute to a Cow

Entering the study, Bai Zhizhan first saw three people sitting on the sofa: Grand Secretary Xue Yuanzheng, Navy Commander Liu Changxun, and Army Commander Peng Huaisong; only then did he notice two people standing by the window, one of whom, judging by his silhouette, seemed to be Situ Jingde, Commander of the Imperial Guard.

Another one—could it be the Holy Emperor?

Bai Zhizhan didn’t react at first, mainly because the Holy Emperor had changed into casual wear.

Dragon Robe?

That item had been in the museum for a long time, even during the ceremonial occasions of ancestor worship, the attire worn was the Liangxia ceremonial dress initiated by Emperor Shiwu.

The abolition of the Dragon Robe, which had been passed down for two thousand years, actually marked the beginning of the secularization of the Imperial Family.

In the past, only members of the Imperial Family could claim to be descendants of the dragon and were entitled to wear the Dragon Robe, while "dragon" had always been a totem exclusively used by the Imperial Family.

Now, all citizens of the Liangxia Empire were descendants of the dragon, and "dragon" was no longer the exclusive preserve of the Imperial Family.

If one was to say, when the Holy Emperor appeared in public, it was always on formal occasions.

Ordinary citizens could never see the Emperor in casual clothes.

"Have all the guests left?"

"They have."

After being prompted by Liu Changxun, Bai Zhizhan quickly closed the room door. Liu Changxun didn’t say much more—he waited for Bai Zhizhan to approach and handed him a document.

It was a copy of an agreement, but not the confidential treaty Bai Zhizhan had negotiated in Baku.

"Wait a few hours, take a look at it first."

Bai Zhizhan nodded, flipping open the document, he glanced at his wristwatch—it was past two in the morning, and the document in his hand was clearly just delivered.

Indeed, this was the result of the Marra negotiations.

Today, or to be accurate, yesterday, was the deadline of the Marra negotiations.

Because Bulan Kingdom’s time zone was a few hours behind, they had to wait until early morning to receive news from the city of Luntai, whether Bulan Kingdom accepted this agreement.

If they accepted, there was nothing more to be said.

Unfortunately, the likelihood of this scenario occurring was almost nil.

If not accepted, it meant that Bulan Kingdom would immediately impose strategic embargoes on the warring parties, and the Prime Minister of Bulan would simultaneously announce the specific embargo measures.

As for this agreement, even if it’s written in three languages and spans hundreds of densely packed pages, it’s practically worthless.

In a word, the agreement could be described with a single idiom.

Playing the lute to a cow.

The entire Marra negotiations, with representatives from three parties and four nations, involved each party speaking their own piece, completely disregarding the concerns of others and not intending to make any concessions.

Although at the end they reached an agreement that seemed to uphold world peace, on a practical level, it was utterly inoperable.

To put it bluntly, this agreement was merely for Newland’s Secretary of State Hale to have something to report to Congress.

After over ten days of wrangling, the daily board and lodging of the representatives alone had cost tens of thousands of Newland Dollars—certainly something that needed explanation to the taxpayers of the Newland Federation.

Bulan Kingdom had only one demand: that the Liangxia Empire and the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom cease all combat operations unconditionally by zero hour on March 1, and within the subsequent forty-eight hours engage in the first ceasefire negotiation, leading to formal talks before March 15.

What if the talks failed?

Bulan Kingdom didn’t really care about that issue; there had to be a ceasefire, and if not, an embargo would be enforced.

The attitude of the Liangxia Empire was also very clear.

A ceasefire was possible, but there were seven preconditions.

First, the ceasefire would be based on the current situation, meaning the Liangxia Empire would not retreat its combat troops due to the ceasefire; it would simply temporarily halt targeted military operations.

Second, the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom had to hand over, including both the current and former Prime Ministers, all those involved in planning, organizing, and implementing the surprise attack, as well as those who directly or indirectly supported, condoned, and assisted in launching the attack, committing crimes, to the Liangxia Empire within forty-eight hours before the first ceasefire negotiation. Moreover, they had to provide evidence and witnesses and unconditionally cooperate with the Liangxia Empire in the trial of war criminals.

Third, by March 15, before formal negotiations, they had to unconditionally hand over and return all overseas territories originally belonging to the Liangxia Empire that were occupied during and after the last war, including but not limited to the Poro Continent, Mala Peninsula, and North Ma Islands, and compensate for the damage caused by illegal occupation.

Fourth, before signing the ceasefire agreement, they needed to disband the navy and army. The navy had to hand over all vessels with a standard displacement exceeding 500 tons, along with all submarines and combat aircraft, and stop all battleship construction. For the battleships under construction, those that had their hulls completed would be treated as completed, and those not completed would be completely dismantled. The army was to retain only one hundred thousand security troops and surrender all heavy artillery, tanks, and aircraft, with all military personnel returned to their places of origin.

Fifth, after signing the ceasefire agreement, they would unconditionally cede the Volcanic Islands, lease Shuangma Island to the Liangxia Empire for no less than 99 years, open up Long Sorrow and Hengbin, permanently lease them to the Liangxia Empire to serve as military bases, and allow the Liangxia Empire to station troops there.

Sixth, after the ceasefire agreement took effect, negotiations on war reparations would begin. Moreover, the Liangxia Empire had the right, during and after the negotiation period, to employ various methods including imposing compulsory tariffs to obtain economic and non-economic benefits that did not exceed the demands for war reparations.

Seventh, after the war, the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom must not enter into any treaties of any nature with any country other than the Liangxia Empire.

These were not preconditions; they were clearly an unjust treaty, even more excessive than the demands Chen Bingxun had made when he first opened the gates of the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom!

Would the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom agree to these?

Definitely not!

Of course, the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom also had demands.

Much simpler, all it took was for the combatants to return to the status before the outbreak of the war within forty-eight hours after the ceasefire, no later than March 15.

This meant that the Liangxia Empire needed to hand over the Lower High Kingdom and the Volcanic Islands to the Saiyi troops and withdraw its forces from the North and South Sado Islands.

Clearly, the Liangxia Empire could not agree to these terms either.

In the spirit of compromise, the Newland Federation, which provided the location for negotiations, also proposed a plan.

The Saiyi Imperial Kingdom would relinquish the Lower High Kingdom, the Liangxia Empire would withdraw from the Volcanic Islands, and once the North and South Sado Islands returned to normal, the Liangxia Empire would promise not to build military bases and facilities outside Nagiu Port and would open the Watcher Strait, adhering to the principle of free passage.

Issues such as punishing war criminals and war reparations would be discussed after the ceasefire.

The proposal from the Newland Federation seemed to require both sides to give ground, but in the end, both were unlikely to accept this thinly disguised compromise proposal.

In summary, without having determined the victory or defeat on the battlefield, the negotiation was simply wasting time.

For a result, they also managed to provide an explanation to Hale, who had organized this, creating an ineffectual and valueless agreement.

This was never about ceasefire negotiations; there was no requirement to achieve a ceasefire agreement. What was needed was merely an outcome that could be taken back for compliance.

Would the Bulan Kingdom declare an embargo on the combatants just because the negotiations had failed?

Failure to agree did not equate to a breakdown in negotiations; after all, negotiations had not even begun.

Putting the embargo sanctions on hold, there was still room to talk.

As soon as the embargo measures were implemented, there would be absolutely nothing left to discuss!

"At the beginning, Liu Xiangdong sent a telegram, still consulting with the representative of the Bulan Kingdom, saying it would certainly end before daybreak."

Hearing this, Bai Zhizhan looked over at Xue Yuanzheng.

"As long as we can still talk, that is a good thing," Xue Yuanzheng smiled, offering no further explanation.

Before Xue Yuanzheng said this, Bai Zhizhan had thought of it.

Being able to negotiate meant there was still room for discussion, and it also meant that a strategic embargo was not likely to be so severe.