When the terms proposed by the other party were heard, Shen Feng was stunned. It wasn't that conditions couldn't be put forward when surrendering, but the suggestions made by the other party at this moment were simply too outrageous. Shen Feng even doubted if his ears had misheard. Such an absurd suggestion could be put forward so openly. Were the rebel forces in Jiucheng really indulging in wishful thinking?
"Lord Fengshen, have you made up your mind? My time is very precious. These three suggestions are so simple, you shouldn't need to think for so long," Liu Changfu urged, seeing the look of astonishment on Shen Feng's face. Having finally arrived in the prosperous Yuzhou, he naturally wanted to enjoy himself quickly.
Shen Feng leaned back in his chair and said to Zhou Xiaoxiao beside him, "You negotiate. In any case, I will not accept these conditions. You know why."
After speaking, Shen Feng leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes to rest, unwilling to bother with Liu Changfu at this moment. After all, he was the lord of Yuzhou, and there was no need to argue with a fool. He really didn't know how a ruined Jiucheng had the nerve to propose such conditions.
Zhou Xiaoxiao couldn't help but force a bitter smile after receiving Shen Feng's order, as she hadn't expected to encounter such a mess. Talking to intelligent people was the easiest, because intelligent people knew what the other party was thinking. But negotiating with a fool meant not knowing what was going on in their minds, nor knowing how a foolish person would make their next move.
"Mr. Liu Changfu, please think clearly about one thing. Negotiating conditions requires capital. May I ask what capital you have?" Zhou Xiaoxiao said unhurriedly, but her underlying meaning was clear: in front of Yuzhou, Jiucheng had no right to make demands.
"Capital? Jiucheng has a lot of capital. We have two hundred thousand people, and we captured Xue Ba's firearms. Now we have as many as five thousand soldiers. Isn't such powerful strength capital?" Liu Changfu clearly hadn't understood Zhou Xiaoxiao's deeper meaning and instead began to talk about the military strength Jiucheng possessed.
If Zhou Xiaoxiao hadn't known the specific situation, she might have been intimidated by Liu Changfu's words. Five thousand soldiers was indeed not a small number; it was enough to occupy a city. Without sufficient strength, five thousand armed soldiers were naturally not something that could be easily dealt with.
However, Zhou Xiaoxiao had already learned the details of Jiucheng from the telegram sent from Zhaotong. Jiucheng was now just an empty shell. The so-called five thousand soldiers were probably just newly formed from refugees. An army formed from refugees who had previously been well-fed. If nothing else, whether they could march was a problem. As a result, this could be considered capital, and Zhou Xiaoxiao really wanted to laugh at this moment.
"Since you have so much capital, why do you still want to surrender to Yuzhou? You can rely on your own strength to live in Jiucheng. As the saying goes, self-reliance leads to prosperity. I don't need to remind you of this, do I?" Zhou Xiaoxiao said this and then smiled at Liu Changfu.
Liu Changfu's face also showed a hint of unnaturalness after hearing this, because discussing this matter at this time infinitely magnified Jiucheng's weaknesses.
After a long while, Liu Changfu said awkwardly, "Actually, it's because that scoundrel Xue Ba burned all of Jiucheng's grain for a year before he died, so the two hundred thousand people have no food to eat. But... but as long as we are given resources and time, Jiucheng will surely become strong."
"Oh, so that's how it is. In other words, you are very short of food now, but you still propose so many conditions. I don't think this is the attitude of someone asking for help. In any case, we cannot possibly satisfy your first condition, which is to provide you with enough food. Do you think Yuzhou is a great philanthropist?" Zhou Xiaoxiao coldly refused.
Liu Changfu was stunned when these words were spoken, because in his mind, Jiucheng's status must have been very important. As long as Jiucheng was willing to surrender to Yuzhou, even if they didn't receive the highest courtesy, they would definitely receive the attention of Fengshen. But now it seemed that the situation was completely different. Jiucheng's conditions were directly rejected, and if the first condition was not agreed to, then there was no need to talk about the subsequent conditions.
"How can you do this? We followed Xing Xian and made contributions. We helped Xing Xian complete Yuzhou's mission. Now how can you ignore us?" Liu Changfu began to question at this moment, clearly unable to accept what was happening.
Zhou Xiaoxiao said unhurriedly, "Regarding your second condition, the Xing Xian you mentioned is an esper from our Yuzhou. What position she will hold in the future and when she will shine are all decisions that only the City Lord can make, not that you recommend her to be the City Lord of Jiucheng and we will agree. As for your third condition, you want land distribution. That's fine, but even in Yuzhou, we implement屯田 (tuntian - military farming). You specifically want land distribution, how would others see this? In conclusion, we will not agree to any of the three conditions. Escort him out."
After Zhou Xiaoxiao finished speaking, she gestured to the soldiers in the conference room. The soldiers immediately came to Liu Changfu's side and escorted him away. They had long been fed up with this arrogant envoy. He was from Jiucheng, but it was just such a broken city. Even when attacking Jiucheng, Xu Xing took the lead. These people were just supporting players, yet they acted so arrogant. Driving him out now was truly satisfying.
Liu Changfu was unwilling to be treated like this and began to shout loudly, "You will definitely regret this. The way you treat me today, be careful that our two hundred thousand people from Jiucheng will rush to Jiangyang and take down your Jiangyang City too."
Shen Feng opened his eyes at this moment and said to the soldiers escorting Liu Changfu, "Wait a moment, don't escort him out of the City Lord's mansion."
Liu Changfu, upon hearing Shen Feng's words, immediately felt hope and thought to himself, "Threats are useful after all. Two hundred thousand people are still a considerable force. Even Fengshen must consider our wishes."
However, Shen Feng then said to the soldiers escorting Liu Changfu, "Don't escort him out of the City Lord's mansion, just escort him out of Yuzhou territory and prohibit him from entering Yuzhou again."
Upon receiving Shen Feng's order, the soldiers became even more excited and immediately said, "Yes! City Lord, we will definitely drive out this rude madman."
Liu Changfu was completely incredulous about the treatment he was receiving, because in his mind, he was representing the important Jiucheng to discuss surrender, but at this moment, he was being driven out.
"Shen Feng, you scoundrel, how dare you disregard the decisions of our Jiucheng? You are a scoundrel. Just you wait, and then our two hundred thousand people will flood Jiangyang, and then we'll see if you can still be so arrogant," Liu Changfu shouted hysterically, his face filled with madness.
Shen Feng remained unmoved, sitting on his chair, propping up his feet, with a look of indifference.
Before being escorted out, Liu Changfu was still shouting unyieldingly, "Shen Feng, you will definitely regret this. You are not the only ones with grain in the world; the headquarters also has enough grain. So, after we join the headquarters, your good days in Yuzhou will be over."
Yang Ye said helplessly after seeing the other party's reaction, "Should I say this guy is a mad dog, or should I say Jiucheng doesn't understand its own position? They are clearly begging for food, but now they want to sit at the table and eat, and even threaten us. They are truly ignorant of their own limitations."
Yang Ye was also speaking the minds of several people present. Jiucheng was clearly broken and incompetent, yet at this moment, they dared to speak wildly and threaten Yuzhou! Even the headquarters would not directly do such a thing. The headquarters did not dare to attack Yuzhou at this time, but instead blockaded Yuzhou's transportation. As a result, after two years of chaos, the rebel forces that now controlled Jiucheng had become lunatics.
Shen Feng smiled and said, "Since Jiucheng claims to be strong, let them experience the torment of winter. I'd like to see what fate awaits these people without food."
Previously, Shen Feng had considered the people of Jiucheng to be a burden. If he took over Jiucheng, there would be significant expenses. If he didn't accept them, the people of Jiucheng had already come to his door. If he didn't agree, it would be equivalent to abandoning a suitable area for farming.
But now, Jiucheng's attitude was too arrogant, which gave Shen Feng a reason to refuse their surrender.
At this moment, Zhou Xiaoxiao couldn't help but ask, "In this situation, what if the people of Jiucheng, driven to desperation, all take boats to Jiangyang?"
Zhou Xiaoxiao's biggest concern was that the rebel forces of Jiucheng would act rashly. Once they brought people to attack Jiangyang, it would be difficult for Jiangyang to cope.
"Don't worry. These people are already running out of food, so large-scale actions are impossible. A journey of tens of kilometers, especially in the dead of winter, if it snows, these people will basically freeze to death. Especially with their lack of organizational strength, it's impossible for them to reach Jiangyang. However, to be safe, I have already asked Li Xiang to guard Jiangyang well," Shen Feng said calmly.
Shen Feng was not worried about the refugee problem. It was winter now. Twenty thousand people moving from one city to another, abandoning their homes and families, was an unprecedented event in history. A village leaving, that might be possible, but a large-scale movement of twenty thousand people from a city was completely absurd.
There were no large mutated beasts in the Yangtze River. As long as there were large mutated beasts, Yuzhou only needed to post a bounty, and soon someone would kill the mutated beasts and send them to the laboratory for dissection.
However, while there were no large mutated beasts, there were many small mutated beasts. Large mutated beasts were generally mutated beasts longer than ten meters, while small mutated beasts were within ten meters, and fish eight or nine meters long were also small mutated beasts.
And the food source for the mutated beasts in the Yangtze River came from the shore. Whether it was people or other animals going to the water's edge to drink, once the fish in the water discovered them, they would open their mouths and bite. Unsuspecting people often ended up as fish food.
Therefore, going downstream was not impossible, but without large ships, traveling downstream in small boats was a very dangerous matter. With the slightest carelessness, the boat could be overturned by the fish in the water.
Zhou Xiaoxiao thought for a moment and worried, "Then if the headquarters really takes over Jiucheng, won't we be blockaded even more strictly? This doesn't seem like a good thing, does it?"
Shen Feng smiled and said, "Don't worry about this. I don't plan to expand immediately, especially since Yuzhou hasn't fully tapped its potential yet. Let them blockade. Most of the fields in the northern region of the river have already entered the屯田 (tuntian) areas. However, in the southern mountains of the Yangtze River, there are still many abandoned farmland. If we are still blockaded next year, we will continue to屯田 (tuntian) in the south."
Zhou Xiaoxiao now heard the City Lord say this and knew that her worries were unnecessary. The City Lord had clearly thought it through, so why should she worry excessively?