I’m the Farmgirl You Can’t Mess With
Chapter 837 - Chapter 837 Negotiation

Chapter 837: Negotiation Chapter 837: Negotiation Editor: Atlas Studios Even though Little Bear had gotten a house for free, he wasn’t too happy, because the house didn’t produce any income.

In fact, he still had to spend money now that he owned it.

However, this wasn’t a problem that he couldn’t handle.

Little Bear decided to hand the house over to Blackie’s father to manage.

Since there was no one living here, he could just come in and check it every few months.

After settling the matter of the house, Little Bear finally had the time to pay attention to other matters.

He asked his mother, “Why did Second Brother and Third Brother switch places?” “Ask your father about this.

This was decided by him, Tiger Head, and Little Lion.” “Then how long will we be staying in the capital this time?

When will we be back?” Mu Yangling stroked his head and said, “Can’t you see that I was about to sell the house?

I don’t know if you and your brothers will ever come back, but your father and I won’t be back for at least 15 years.” Little Bear was stunned and asked, “Why?” “These are the conditions that your Royal Uncle and West Xia have agreed on.” Little Bear immediately jumped up and said, “What right does West Xia have to bully Daddy?” Judging from the fact that his father was not allowed to come to Qiannan for 15 years, it was obvious that West Xia was bullying him.

How could he not get mad?

He clenched his fists and shouted, “Why is Daddy being bullied when he’s a great general?

Mother, I’ll go gather Blackie and the others.

We’ll go and beat them up.” Mu Yangling smacked him and said, “How old are you to want to fight in a war?

Stay here obediently.

Do you think our Great Qi and your father suffered a loss?

West Xia is the one at a disadvantage this time.” Mu Yangling lit a candle for West Xia in her heart and said solemnly to her son, “West Xia suffered a huge loss this time.

You have to remember not to play mind games with Little An in the future.

Since the son usually takes after the father, I’m certain you will lose out if you play mind games with Little An.” Little Bear was confused.

Since they had already signed the documents, Mu Yangling didn’t hide it from Little Bear anymore.

She held his hand and brought him to the study to talk to him about state affairs.

Little Bear was Prince Rong’s heir.

Although Mu Yangling felt that children should play happily during their childhood, she could not let Little Bear remain totally clueless.

Hence, she did not stop Qi Haoran from talking to him about state affairs, even though this child couldn’t quite understand such complex stuff.

At this moment, Mu Yangling did not expect him to understand, but she hoped that he would remember some of the principles.

This time, Qi Haoran was transferred back to the capital because of the negotiation between Great Qi and West Xia.

More than a year ago, Qi Haoran transported back more than 10,000 taels of gold from West Xia’s territory and even discovered a gold mine.

However, he falsely accused West Xia of injuring him and demanded compensation from West Xia.

West Xia began to send messengers to negotiate.

The Crown Prince of West Xia expressed his friendliness to Great Qi and returned home after officially establishing diplomatic relations with Great Qi.

Then, he left his subordinates in Great Qi and let them be in charge of negotiating the compensation terms with Fan Zijin.

They felt that this matter should be very simple.

Although West Xia’s soldiers had injured Qi Haoran, Qi Haoran’s men had also killed many of their soldiers to take revenge.

As such, West Xia assumed that they could settle the matter with some medicinal herbs and medical fees.

The theme of this negotiation should revolve around the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries and mutual development going forward.

Unexpectedly, as soon as their Crown Prince left, Fan Zijin boldly asked them to return the plains of the Hexi Corridor to Great Qi.

The envoy from West Xia almost spat blood all over Fan Zijin’s face.

A few of the pro-war officials slammed the table and stood up immediately, almost getting into a fight with Fan Zijin’s guards.

Ready to give and take, Fan Zijin simply said to them, “You can bargain.” Everyone held their breath.

Bargain?

How to bargain when he outright asked for the Hexi plains right from the start?

That plot of land had been conquered by the warriors of the West Xia Kingdom, spilling much blood in the process.

If they cede the land, would they still keep their heads when they returned?

Everyone suspected that Fan Zijin did not want to see the two countries establish diplomatic relations and was deliberately provoking them so that the two countries would become enemies.

However, his attitude was extremely good, suggesting they could compensate with money should they be reluctant to part with the land.

Alas, the amount he quoted was astronomical.

Little Bear didn’t know much about the grudges between the two countries.

Hearing his mother’s narration, he felt indignant for West Xia and said, “Second Uncle, why are you snatching someone else’s land?

Daddy didn’t seem injured either.” Mu Yangling looked at him awkwardly and explained, “The land occupied by West Xia originally belonged to the Central Plains.

Most of the people living there are Han Chinese who have now been relegated to fourth-class citizens in West Xia, equivalent to slaves.” Little Bear opened his mouth wide and said with red eyes, “Why is our land occupied by others when Father and Royal Uncle are so powerful?” Mu Yangling quickly comforted him and said, “This land was seized by the enemy in the previous dynasty.

At that time, your Royal Uncle wasn’t the Emperor yet.” After a pause, she said, “And your father wasn’t even born at that time.

So, it’s not their fault.” Little Bear clenched his fists.

“Then let’s go and snatch the land back.” Smiling, Mu Yangling said, “Now, your father is training his troops to prepare for this matter.

Your second uncle is also working hard to negotiate with the West Xia envoy.

The nature of the two is the same, but if we enter a war, people are going to die.

This is why we should try to resolve it peacefully if possible.” Mu Yangling didn’t want Little Bear to think that his father was cowardly for retreating from Lingnan, nor did she want him to think that Fan Zijin was cunning for dealing with West Xia like this.

Hence, she tried her best to beautify the matter and said, “Your Second Uncle takes credit for your Royal Uncle signing the letter of credence with West Xia this time.” Little Bear’s eyes lit up as he asked, “Did Second Uncle snatch that whatever plain back?” Mu Yangling smiled.

“Of course West Xia wouldn’t return the Hexi plains to us.

But we did get them to return to us the land in the southwest.

This is retreating in order to advance.

Your second uncle never thought that West Xia would return the Hexi Plain to us.

He was deliberately quoting high knowing the other party would bargain.” Fan Zijin had done everything he could for this matter.

First, he found someone to hint to the West Xia envoys so that they could raise conditions one by one.

Then, he found someone to bribe a high-ranking official in West Xia.

After a year and four months, the matter was finally settled.

A large piece of territory, including that gold mine, had been ceded to Great Qi.

The price Great Qi paid was that Qi Haoran was not allowed to hold any official position in Lingnan for the next 15 years, nor was he allowed to step into Lingnan.

It could not be helped since Qi Haoran was too dangerous to West Xia.

Not long after Qin Er’s incident back then, Qi Haoran transferred the unconvinced generals of the Qiannan army out of Qiannan in one go and threw them into the capital or elsewhere to be idle.

Also, he promoted a few lieutenants who had been suppressed.

According to the new training plan he crafted, he divided the soldiers into groups and took turns to bring them to the southwest border to train.

For the past year or so, there had been no major conflicts between the two countries, but there had been small conflicts every now and then.

The soldiers of the Qiannan army often went to West Xia from time to time to take a look.

They rarely harassed the commoners, but they would steal the rations from West Xia’s guardhouses, forcing the West Xia army to retreat three miles.

The West Xia envoys had often expressed their fury to Qi Xiuyuan because of this, but Qi Xiuyuan expressed that he could not do anything about this younger brother of his.

The reason being, Qi Haoran bore grudges and still remembered the assassination attempt on him by the West Xia soldiers.

He could not vent the anger in his heart.

He hinted for West Xia to quickly pay the compensation.

West Xia’s envoy was almost angered to death.

Why hadn’t Qi Haoran been angered to death with all this anger pent up for so long?

Seeing that Qi Haoran was training his troops brilliantly and that the Qiannan army was becoming more and more valiant, West Xia became nervous.

Back then, they were afraid of Qi Haoran and feared they would kill the West Xia soldiers.

In Great Qi, when the commoners and officials mentioned Qi Haoran, the first thing they thought of was that he was the Emperor’s younger brother.

However, in West Xia, when they mentioned Qi Haoran, the first thing they mentioned was his title as the Killing God.

Many people still remembered the bloody battle in which he defeated the army of West Xia with merely more than 20,000 men despite being outnumbered.

Due to this, West Xia listed him as their number one enemy.

They were very eager to kill him, but since they couldn’t, they could only stay away.