Start as a young leader, grow bigger and stronger, and create more glory

Xu Le's identity information has always been a mystery. Apart from a few soldiers within the Xu family army, only some senior generals in major war zones of the Tang Dynasty and a few guerrilla officers have seen him.

The Japs investigated Xu Le for two years, and apart from knowing that Xu Le was a man and from Xikang Province in the Tang Dynasty, they knew basically nothing else.

This is also thanks to the interference of Keiko Yamaguchi and Zhang Shulan. Originally, some Japanese spies found some clues, but although the Japanese North China spy department is no longer controlled by Keiko Yamaguchi, a lot of important information has to pass through their hands.

After some deletions and disguises, the information obtained by the Tang Expeditionary Army, the North China Army and the Japanese headquarters was basically false or vague.

The Xu family army's temporary diplomatic compound in Mandalay is where Wei Li works to receive delegations from various countries and help handle Myanmar affairs.

Kuroda Shigenori and his two men were waiting anxiously in the living room. The responsibility of this trip was heavy and more stressful than deploying a large-scale battle.

After the failure of the Battle of Mandalay, he and Terauchi Hisaichi hurriedly deployed troops and transferred the remaining main forces in the Dutch East Indies to India.

Then, they hurriedly flew back to the country and participated in the emergency military meeting at the base camp!

If for no other reason than to discuss how to rescue the 18 captured people, they even ignored the more than 10 troops trapped in Imphal, India.

Brush brush brush....

More than 10 guards rushed in carrying Type 81 automatic rifles and pointed their guns at Kuroda Shigenori and three other Japanese devils!

"Put it all down, put it all down, what the hell are you doing?"

Xu Le walked in from behind and shouted in an accusing manner.

"When a friend comes from afar, he must be killed. Bah, no, isn't it? How can you point your gun at a guest?"

Kuroda Shigenori has been in the army for more than 30 years. He is experienced and steady. If he were somewhere else, he would not be moved at all.

But in Xu's army, his heart trembled just now!

Because he had heard about Xu Le's style of doing things a long time ago. He was a man who did not follow the rules, and Xu's army would kill the enemy whenever they saw them, without mercy.

Wei Li raised his finger slightly and pointed at Xu Le and said, "General Kuroda, let me introduce you. This is the commander-in-chief of my Xu family army, Xu Le, Commander Xu!"

Kuroda Shigenori was immediately shocked: "I thought Mr. Xu was as old as us, but I didn't expect Mr. Xu to be such a young hero! There is a saying in the Tang Dynasty that 'heroes emerge from youth', and I have truly witnessed it!"

He kept a low profile because he was afraid that Xu Le would not negotiate if he was unhappy. If he was still unhappy, he was afraid that he would not be able to go back.

Xu Le would not give the devil a good face. He smiled coldly and said, "Haha, your name is Kuroda Shigenori, right? Chief of Staff of the Japanese Southern Army. Graduated from the Army Officer School in 09 and the Army University in 16. He served as squadron leader, wing commander, and infantry regiment commander. In 39, he was promoted to lieutenant general and served as division commander. Am I right?"

Kuroda Shigenori was shocked again. How could the other party know his resume so well?

"Not only is your army's combat effectiveness strong, but your intelligence department is also so powerful. I admire you!"

No matter how powerful the Xu family army's intelligence department is, it is impossible for them to investigate a Japanese lieutenant general so clearly. This was passed on by Keiko Yamaguchi.

Xu Le waved his hand and said, "Forget it, let's not waste any more time talking nonsense. Kuroda Shigenori, I heard that you are here to redeem someone. Tell me what price your country of Japan can pay!"

Kuroda Shigenori was unwilling to stay any longer, so he cupped his hands and said, "Marshal Xu is a quick-witted person. I'm sure you have some considerations in mind. Why don't you tell me first, how can I redeem these 18 people!"

The most basic premise of bargaining is to let the other party make the first offer!

Xu Le announced the prices he had thought of long ago: "One kilogram of silver for a soldier, 1 kilograms of silver for a non-commissioned officer, and 10 kilograms of silver for a lieutenant. One ton of gold for a major, three tons of gold for a lieutenant colonel, and five tons of gold for a colonel. A major general will receive 100 tons of gold, and a lieutenant general will receive 1 tons of gold.

In addition, you will have to pay our army an additional 50 tons of pig iron and 100 billion yen."

After Xu Le finished speaking, even the calm and steady Kuroda Shigenori immediately stood up and tried his best to control his emotions and shouted:

"Impossible, absolutely impossible. You are asking for too much. You are asking for the life of our country. We can't afford it!"

Today's annual GDP of Japan is approximately 150 billion US dollars, equivalent to 600 billion yen.

Due to Japan's rapid troop increase over the past year, the military's annual military expenditure reached 50 billion US dollars, equivalent to 200 billion yen.

But Xu Le asked for half of the military expenditure, not including gold and silver.

How could this not make Kuroda Shigenori furious!

Xu Le said nonchalantly: "General Kuroda, calm down! I asked you to state the conditions first, but you asked me to speak first, and you got angry again after I spoke. How can we discuss this business?"

Having said that, Xu Le stood up and prepared to leave.

Kuroda Shigenori spoke up hastily, "Wait a minute, Marshal Xu. I was too reckless! It's just that the conditions you proposed are too harsh. We really can't afford them!"

Xu Le returned to his seat in a pretentious manner. The first wave of bidding must be fierce so that it will be easier to bargain later!

"Oh, I'm not someone who doesn't want to be discussed with you. So tell me your bottom line!"

Since Kuroda Shigenori had lost contact with the headquarters after arriving at Xu's army, they naturally agreed on a rough price. There was definitely a bottom line, and as long as it didn't exceed that line, it would be fine.

Kuroda Shigenori thought for a while and said, "We need to reduce the amount of silver by at least one zero, gold by at least two zeros, and pig iron by one zero. As for the yen, we can only give 5 million!"

Snapped....

Xu Le slammed the table, stood up and walked out, not giving the Japanese a chance to react!

Wei Li was also slightly stunned. He looked at the confused Heitian Zhongde and smiled, "You are really too disrespectful. You actually caused my commander to slam the table and leave. How about this, the three of you rest here for a night and think carefully about whether you are really here to redeem me!"

In this way, Kuroda Shigenori and the other two returned to the room in a daze.

"Humph, this Xu Le is going too far. He left when we didn't agree to his conditions. He also wanted to leave when we stated our own conditions! This is not a negotiation at all, it's almost a unilateral verdict!" A colonel slammed the table and shouted, he had never experienced such a negotiation before.

Kuroda Shigenori shook his head slightly: "Alas, now we are living under someone else's roof, and the lives of 18 imperial soldiers are in his hands. If it were me, I might be even more arrogant than him!"

Another colonel said worriedly, "But General, what's the difference between the conditions they offer and those of bandits?"

Kuroda smiled coldly: "That's just a show. If they don't want to negotiate, just kill us all. And there's no need for us to think about it all night. He just gave us time to think about it!"

The grumpy colonel said, "It's obvious that he won't accept the price you offered!"

"Indeed, let's talk about it tomorrow. Pig iron doesn't really matter, the headquarters doesn't care about that! We have also robbed a lot of gold and silver in the past few years, so we can afford the price, but we have to lower it a bit, and we can't fulfill Xu Le's wish!

As for the Japanese yen, it is the foundation of our war. It involves our country's economy. We can't give 100 billion, or even 50 billion! Let's discuss it and come up with a better price!"