Fearing being killed for his overwhelming merits, the empress decided to marry him.

In early December, the Luchuan negotiation delegation arrived at the Mengjiang Fortress, which was controlled by Shen Lang.

Indeed, after more than a month of continuous reinforcement day and night, the upper reaches of the Mengjiang River have been transformed into a solid fortress by the Chu army.

When the envoy Aung San saw this scene, he couldn't help but swallow.

Looking around, besides the Chu army, there were mostly militia from tribes like Mubang and Wadang moving back and forth, as well as local Luchuan natives who had been reduced to hard labor...

Aung San took a deep breath, tried to calm himself, and slowly walked into the Chu army camp.

Inside the camp, a rectangular table was set up. Shen Lang sat expressionlessly in the main seat, coldly watching Aung San Suu Kyi and his group.

Beside Shen Lang was Jiang Shangxian, who had been forcibly brought in to serve as the deputy envoy.

Aung San cupped his hands in greeting: "May I ask..."

Shen Lang interrupted him directly: "Don't ask anymore, sit down and talk. This time, I will be in charge of negotiating a ceasefire agreement with you."

To be honest, if the Empress hadn't only intended to punish the second-in-command, I would have liked to raze the entire Luchuan region to the ground in one fell swoop.

His opening remarks were a show of force; negotiation is all about taking the initiative.

Faced with such an arrogant attitude, Aung San had no choice but to swallow his anger.

With the Mengjiang River basin falling into enemy hands, Luchuan has lost the initiative.

"Let me first introduce myself. I am the Pacification Envoy personally appointed by the Empress, the Foreign Minister responsible for negotiating with you all."

On behalf of the entire Chu state, I issue the strongest protest against your blatant violation of Chu territory by Luchuan.

Upon hearing this, not only Aung San, but also Jiang Shangxian sitting to the side, Qu Yi behind him, and several guards and Chu soldiers on duty all showed extremely strange expressions.

It is a fact that Luchuan invaded Nanzhao, but...

Aren't we invading other countries' territories right now?

Can we please not bring this up?

"Hmph, this is outrageous!"

Suk Kyi, the deputy envoy stationed near Aung San, could no longer tolerate the situation.

"My Luchuan has invaded your territory, so what about your burning, killing, and looting within my Luchuan borders?"

Upon hearing this, Shen Lang smiled faintly: "This is a self-defense counterattack by my Chu army. As for burning, killing, and looting?"

I urge you to investigate thoroughly before speaking. Our Chu army has strict discipline.

They are a benevolent and civilized army; how could they possibly do such beastly things like you?

This must be a slander and fabrication by some anti-Chu extremists in your country, intended to sow discord and defame our Chu army.

I hope your court can give my Chu army a satisfactory explanation.

It's numb, it's really numb.

Aung San Suu Kyi looked at the serious-faced young general before them and were momentarily at a loss for words.

Jiang Shangxian was also shocked: How could he say such nonsense without blushing or skipping a beat?

Even the guards who had participated in the burning, killing, and looting were quite shocked by Shen Lang's shameless remarks, and some were even a little embarrassed.

Only Shen Lang remained calm, his fingers rhythmically tapping on the table.

What a joke! If diplomacy is about saving face, then what kind of diplomacy is that?

Shamelessness is a fundamental trait of politicians, and this has been true throughout history and across the world.

"How could you say such a distorted and false statement?"

"Where is the truth being distorted? I reiterate, this is not a joke. The reputation of my Chu army will absolutely not tolerate any slander."

Your country must bring the extremists who spread such rumors to justice, otherwise it will have an extremely negative impact on bilateral relations!

Su Ji slammed her hand on the table and stood up, pointing at the Luchuan people who were doing hard labor outside the camp: "Then what about these Luchuan people? Do you dare to say that they weren't kidnapped by you?"

Shen Lang glanced back at the curtain, then replied solemnly, "They were moved by the benevolent actions of our army and voluntarily joined our army's construction efforts."

We didn't force them to come. They can go back anytime they want; no one is restricting their personal freedom.

I advise you not to make assumptions based on your own assumptions, but to investigate the matter thoroughly before making a decision.

"Cough cough cough-"

Jiang Shangxian, who was standing to the side, couldn't stand it anymore and choked on his water, coughing.

That's so shameless, absolutely shameless.

They turned people's homes into a scene of carnage, kidnapped and forced them to work as laborers building fortresses, and then pretended to be aggrieved, forcefully accusing the other party of framing them.

Jiang Shangxian was speechless. This was practically a direct attack on the opponent's face. The opponent must have felt worse than if they had swallowed a fly.

"Alright, that's enough."

Aung San realized that continuing to argue with the other party would make it difficult to make progress in the negotiations, so he immediately spoke up to stop Sukyi's behavior.

"General Shen, let's set aside our previous prejudices for now and formally begin negotiations."

Shen Lang leaned back tactically: "Of course, what are your country's conditions?"

Aung San: "Please, General, immediately lead your troops back north and withdraw from my territory of Luchuan."

Shen Lang: "Hmm, and then?"

Aung San frowned: "That's all. These are our King's conditions."

"Haha."

Shen Lang couldn't help but smile: "Now that you've stated your conditions, it's my turn."

My conditions are very simple, just the following:

First, we shall compensate your country for all losses incurred in violating our Nanzhao territory, totaling 350,000 taels of gold.

Second, pay the military expenses incurred due to your country's provocation, totaling 650,000 taels of gold.

Third, the border line should be redrawn, with the northern strongholds actually controlled by our Chu army serving as the new border line.

Fourth, allow merchants from Chu to freely enter and exit Luchuan for trade and to invest in mines and farmland in various places, with tax rates to be negotiated and determined with Chu.

Fifth, compensation for the enormous impact of this war, totaling 45 million taels of gold.

Sixth, other ethnic groups in the Indochina Peninsula are permitted to settle along the upper and lower reaches of the Meng River, and they must not be violently driven away.

These are the six conditions for now. If your country agrees to all of them, I will immediately withdraw my troops from your territory.

Aung San Suu Kyi were utterly shocked and couldn't believe it.

How dare he make such an outrageous demand?

If we agree to that, we'd be traitors!

Suji immediately jumped up: "We will absolutely not accept such harsh conditions!"

Shen Lang waved his hand and said, "Then you can go back. Once the dam is reinforced, I will cut off the entire downstream river."

"No!"

Upon hearing this, Aung San and Suk Kyi immediately stopped them in unison.

The Mengjiang River basin is crucial to the livelihood of the entire Indochina Peninsula. If the river is cut off, there will inevitably be a large-scale crop failure the following year, and the consequences will be dire...

Only then did they realize that their lives had long been in someone else's hands, and that the initiative had never been in their own hands.

It’s frustrating, it’s really frustrating.

Aung San: "General, I apologize for what my colleague said earlier."

However, the terms of the agreement you proposed are far too harsh. Could we discuss them further?

Shen Lang chuckled lightly: "If you had adopted this attitude earlier, wouldn't it have been fine? Talking is certainly possible."

Aung San breathed a sigh of relief, glanced at Su Ji beside him, and continued speaking to Shen Lang:

"I can grant you the first and second points on behalf of His Majesty. As for the third point, the demarcation of the border, that is not something we can decide."

We must go back and discuss this with the King. We can agree to the fourth condition.

Article 5: Forty-five million taels of gold wouldn't be worth that much even if I sold the entire Luchuan region. I hope you can be more lenient.

"Only this last point: the Mengjiang River must be controlled by my Luchuan people; there is no room for compromise on this."

Shen Lang clapped his hands: "Okay, those that were agreed upon, those that couldn't be decided, and those that were refused, let's put these aside for now."

Now let's have a proper discussion about the controversial Article 5. As far as I know,

The two largest gold mines in the Indochina Peninsula are both in the hands of the Luchuan royal family.

Over the years, the gold they've accumulated must be well over forty or fifty million taels.

“That’s not as outrageous as you’re thinking,” Su Ji couldn’t help but say. “Fifteen million taels of gold, that’s the bottom line for Luchuan’s compensation. Any more than that, not a single cent more.”

Upon hearing this, Jiang Shangxian's eyes widened in astonishment.

The annual fiscal revenue of the Great Chu is only ten million taels of gold. Shen Lang can squeeze out a year and a half's worth of revenue with this one move.

Is this central and southern region really that rich?

In fact, only the princes and nobles in the Central and Southern regions were rich; the common people were so poor that they couldn't even afford a pair of pants.

In terms of wealth disparity, the Central and Southern regions are far more disproportionate than inland regions such as the Great Chu.

"Fifteen million? Ha! Are you trying to fob me off like a beggar? That's impossible..."

But clearly, Shen Lang was not satisfied with this number.

As a result, the two sides engaged in a lengthy tug-of-war over the compensation.

The final result was that Luchuan was willing to pay 24 million taels of gold in one lump sum, of which 23 million taels of gold was the ransom for Mengjiang, but in exchange for Shen Lang settling the Mubang and other ethnic groups in the lower reaches of Mengjiang.

Shen Lang hesitated deliberately for a moment, but then "reluctantly" agreed.

The reason for choosing gold over silver is determined by geographical factors.

The hard currency in the Indochina Peninsula has never been silver, but rather gold, slaves, and spices.

Moreover, the value of slaves far exceeded that of gold. More importantly, the ratio of gold to silver was very unstable, sometimes 1 to 10, sometimes only 1 to 5 or even 1 to 3. The price fluctuated wildly almost every few months, making it less valuable than gold.

After the first phase of negotiations was completed, Aung San and Suk Kyi rushed back to the Royal Palace to report.

After everyone left, Shen Lang said to Jiang Shangxian, "It seems we need to continue to add fuel to the fire in the Indochina Peninsula. Sometimes being too complacent is not good for the development of the times."

"Speak, what terrible idea do you have now? I promise to cooperate with you."

"Ha ha……"

Shen Lang's smile was extremely eerie, causing Jiang Shangxian to squint his eyes, which he couldn't see.