Chapter 382: Serving the Hard Dishes

After an entire night of deep "collusion" with the Transmigrators, just before the second dawn, Liu Xiang safely boarded the boat he had arrived on and silently returned to Lamma Island.

Standing at the bow as the morning sun rose ahead, watching the Pearl River's banks recede like a flying shuttle, recalling everything that had happened the night before, Shopkeeper Liu's mood at this moment was extremely complicated. The relief after a turn for the better and the fear of the future intertwined, leaving him at a loss.

On this trip to White Goose Pond, from beginning to end, Liu Xiang's emotional swings had been enormous.

At the start, he had set out with dark feelings akin to "seeking life in the jaws of death" or "walking into a trap."

Then, when he met the Transmigrators, Shopkeeper Liu sensed his opponents' "straightforwardness": although they were somewhat surprised to see him in person, the subordinates below the General quickly assumed a posture of formal negotiation, without resorting to the "show of force," "lockup intimidation," or "trick questioning" that pirates commonly used on envoys.

Having kidnapped countless victims and negotiated with middlemen for years, Liu Xiang quickly discerned the truth from subtle clues and his opponents' unconscious habits: they genuinely had no intention of using deceit. That original statement had been meant literally... "If you want to negotiate, have Liu Xiang come in person."

From that moment on, Shopkeeper Liu secretly breathed a sigh of relief — the Cao Clan was not Xiong Wencan; they were military officers under imperial orders to exterminate bandits. Even if they had beheaded Liu Xiang on the spot yesterday, it would have been the General's brilliant stratagem to defeat the enemy, and they would have had no moral qualms about it whatsoever.

However, once the formal negotiations began, Shopkeeper Liu's just-relaxed mood tightened again: the Transmigrators explicitly told Liu Xiang that all of his retainers must lay down their weapons and undergo screening and reorganization. This point was non-negotiable.

The very first clause of the negotiation shattered all of Liu Xiang's ideas about his core military authority. This undisguised arrogance baffled Liu Xiang: shouldn't they be courting talent with courtesy? At the very least, they should lure the wolf into the pen before "slowly plotting." Were they truly unafraid of him fighting to the death?

Perhaps because of the four big-bellied glass oil lamps, the meeting room was extremely bright. So the "Adviser Ma," with his hair in a topknot, sitting directly across from Liu Xiang, read the thoughts in Chief Liu's eyes.

He then smiled and said, "Shopkeeper Liu, you probably haven't even figured out why we want to negotiate with you. Very well, today I'll let you know what real strength is."

At this, Adviser Ma turned the shiny iron plate in front of him and pushed it to the middle of the long table. Then Liu Xiang's trio gaped: on that iron plate actually appeared a scene of Shopkeeper Liu sitting in his big tent on Lamma Island a few days ago, discussing matters with his subordinate leaders! Not only were there images, but Chief Liu's voice giving orders at the time was also transmitted from the iron plate in perfect synchronization.

The secretly filmed footage was very clear, and the angle was also very tricky, shot from the direction of a group of shopkeepers standing in a corner. The camera language was clearly in the Japanese school's upskirt style. The photographer had obviously received some professional training: finding a few chemical engineers among the Transmigrators might be troublesome, but there were quite a few who, inspired by Brother Edison back in the day, had resolved to elevate their photography skills.

In the next moment, Liu Xiang shot to his feet, drenched in sweat, and said, "This... what sorcery is this?"

"Haha." Adviser Ma extended a hand, palm down, signaling Shopkeeper Liu to stay calm: "Just some devices that capture images and sounds, nothing sorcerous. As you know, Shopkeeper Liu, the General's Mansion has many skilled craftsmen."

After staring at the bizarre iron plate with a pale face for a while, Liu Xiang's trio finally understood the reason for showing them these recordings: their opponents were telling him that all the confidential intelligence — the details, appearances, and on-the-spot decisions of all his leaders — was under the General's Mansion's control.

"Unfathomable..." Shopkeeper Liu now recalled: the first moment he had announced his identity, this Adviser Ma seated below the General had lowered his head to fiddle with this iron plate — it contained his own voice and appearance; they were verifying whether the visitor was genuine!

After giving Shopkeeper Liu a new-concept show of force, it was time to serve the hard dishes: the Transmigrators had found that persuading someone like Shopkeeper Liu with words was very difficult, so it was better to bring out something more substantial.

So the Transmigrators immediately rose and very politely invited Liu Xiang's trio to move elsewhere — in the dead of night, they boarded the Green Island Frigate.

Standing on the deck of the Green Island, even though he could see little in the darkness, Liu Xiang was still somewhat excited. After all, this was the fast ship that made all pirates flee at the mere rumor of it.

At that moment, Adviser Ma beside him handed over a strange contraption. Following the man's instructions, somewhat tremblingly placing his eyes to the night vision device's lenses, a green world appeared in Shopkeeper Liu's sight.

City soldiers, hunched over and clutching spears, patrolling the shore; a young master, wearing a soft-foot head wrap, leaning over the railing of a distant painting boat and vomiting profusely; Short Hair sentries, also holding night vision devices, constantly scanning in all directions from the lookout basket overhead... all of this was clearly presented on Liu Xiang's retinas.

"This is a divine object. Could it also be crafted by your ministry's skilled artisans?" Shopkeeper Liu immediately grasped the strategic value of the night vision device: a weapon for night raids. With this in hand, strong enemies and firm fortresses could be breached in the span of a breath.

"Indeed." Adviser Ma nodded as he led Shopkeeper Liu into the bridge.

Inside the bridge, Liu Xiang saw Short Hair soldiers completely different from the imperial court's and his own brothers. One glance at these soldiers, wearing front-opening short jackets, told you they were elite. After the Short Hair commander, who had remained silent during negotiations, gave the order, accompanied by a series of curt, forceful commands and soft mechanical sounds, the Green Island slowly departed from the jetty, raised its sails, and silently began to glide across White Goose Pond.

After this, Adviser Ma gave Shopkeeper Liu a detailed introduction to the sonar display's functions. Meanwhile, the Green Island cooperated by making a circuit along the reef-strewn shore, fully demonstrating the effectiveness of sonar + night vision for nighttime navigation.

By this point, matters like repeating cannons and ship speeds swift as galloping horses were no longer important. Liu Xiang, a master of naval warfare, now finally understood what had happened that night when Li Kuiqi's Great Gang had their camps linked and set ablaze in the deep night.

And tonight's negotiations automatically ended there. Liu Xiang did not wish to humiliate himself further, because he had no idea how many more contrivances and ingenious devices, even stranger and more unfathomable than the rapid fire cannon, his opponents still had waiting for him.

At the same time, he also understood why his opponents had stated from the very beginning that they would reorganize his retainers — because their strength was too overwhelming; they simply disdained deceiving him.

After the Green Island made a nimble circle in White Goose Pond, it turned around and returned to the jetty. Once both parties' representatives were back in the Daoist Temple, the topics this time were much more relaxed: the two sides mainly began discussing the future settlement of Liu Xiang and his brothers.

On the matter of settlement, the Transmigrators were consistently generous with terms: a wealthy power base is never short on confidence. Whether Shopkeeper Liu's next step was to remain in the ranks, become a civil servant in the Government, live as a wealthy man, or become a plutocrat capitalist, the negotiation team provided a clear roadmap.

Liu Xiang knew these paths; his spies planted in Dayuan had long since sent back word of the outcomes for many pirates who had surrendered. These men were indeed, as his opponents said, either living as wealthy men or continuing to fight within the ranks. Just moments ago, he had even seen a former shopkeeper, Cao Hu, in the bridge of the Green Island Frigate.

So the question now was one Liu Xiang needed to go back and consider on his own: should he truly surrender? If so, should he start from scratch and fight, hoping to one day command thousands of troops and horses again, or should he stop here and become a wealthy man with no soldiers and no horses?

In the early morning, before Liu Xiang's trio were sent onto the boat they had arrived on, on the jetty, Ma Yue told Liu Xiang a final piece of information.

The General's Mansion could, at any time, kill Liu Xiang himself or annihilate his Great Gang. The reason they were willing to negotiate with him now was simply that the General's Mansion did not wish for large numbers of scattered pirates to harass the coastal areas.

And this reason would gradually fade with time: the Support Fleet had already arrived. In a few more days, once the miscellaneous Water Army troops here in Guangdong were also integrated, the Liu Xiang Group, still sitting there waiting to die, would face utter catastrophe.

Therefore, whether it was a fight to the death, surrender, or going to the South Seas to eat coconuts, Shopkeeper Liu needed to make a timely decision. Waiting was the worst option.

After saying these words, Ma Yue extended an arm, patted Shopkeeper Liu on the shoulder, then turned around and went back.

And when Liu Xiang returned to Lamma Island with a mind full of worries, word soon spread within the Great Gang that Shopkeeper Liu was negotiating recruitment and amnesty with the General's Mansion.

Unexpectedly, whereas normally if such news appeared, some scattered pirates would certainly part ways — the only question being how many —

this time, after the trial balloon of amnesty was released, apart from one group of local bandit gangs who had only joined after Liu Xiang came to Guangdong, not a single one of the leaders who had followed him from Fujian took their men and left.

This strange state immediately solidified a certain person's conviction: it seemed everyone was terrified of that scorched-earth net-style extermination scene back in Fujian!

Thus, in the days after Liu Xiang went to White Goose Pond to negotiate, boats constantly carried his trusted military advisors back and forth across the Pearl River, relaying messages.

And while continuously colluding with Liu Xiang, the Fast Fleet was not idle either. After completely unloading all the cargo brought by the Support Fleet, they also began, through He Zhen, to contact the Regional Assistant Regional Commander of the Navy in Guangdong, preparing to muster a group of auxiliary soldiers and boats for menial tasks to form a Joint Fleet and devour a certain pirate power base in one go.

And He Zhen, for his part, naturally would not decline.

The Transmigrators had been invited in the name of him, the Regional Commander. Now they had proven themselves to be elite troops, and had also made it clear they only needed the Guangzhou Local Troops for menial work... how could He Zhen pass up such an opportunity to gain battle merits for free?

So, half a month after the Support Fleet arrived, the Fujian-Guangdong Allied Forces were finally assembled. That noon, after firing cannons and sacrificing to the banner, the Allied Forces surged out of White Goose Pond with overwhelming momentum.