Chapter 1339: Renegotiation

"Changle isn't coming anymore?" This news was quite shocking to Xuanyuan, but he also felt it was normal. After all, Changle was such a clever child that it was certainly more reassuring to keep him at home. Moreover, Changle could do many things; doing his previous work was a bit of a waste of his talent. If he could, Xuanyuan would even want to keep Changle in the Xuanyuan Tribe, but unfortunately, that was impossible.

"Then what about you? You came from such a far place; I imagine you must have some major matter to discuss?"

Everyone was a master at playing dumb. Xuanyuan knew what Baifeng was here for, and Baifeng knew that Xuanyuan knew, but no one said it explicitly. Whoever spoke first would be at a disadvantage.

However, things had reached this point, and Baifeng no longer paid attention to such things. He believed that Xuanyuan was even more anxious than he was, so he said very directly: "I have come for the war against the Shennong Clan. As for why I have come again, Xuanyuan, I believe you know better than I do. After all, you are the one commanding on the Shennong Clan Battlefield, while I have not been there."

"Is it for the division of the spoils? Although I know that what was allocated to you last year was a bit small, the total profit last year wasn't much. I allocated it according to the requirements of our treaty, and there were no problems at all. Are you trying to violate it now?"

Baifeng shook his head very calmly: "No, no. Since I signed the treaty, I naturally have to accept it. So, I have no opinion on how it was allocated last year, and I cannot have an opinion."

"But if it is like this for a year, our Huaxia can still bear the losses. If it is like this every year, our Huaxia has no way to continue. After all, we provided grain, provided people, provided weapons, and spent so much time, yet we only gained such a small amount of profit."

"Not to mention anything else, just my Soldiers going to reclaim wasteland and farm—even in a safe year, the grain earned would be more than fighting a war."

"A big reason why we participated in the war was that our Huaxia lacked population. But now it feels that if the price to be paid is this high, then we are not that short of people, and our grain is not enough to feed so many people either."

Then Baifeng also took a jab at Xuanyuan: "Tribal Chief Xuanyuan, you added so much territory and so many people last year, but the arable land shouldn't have increased that much, right? You should consider your grain problem; don't let your new tribesmen go hungry."

Baifeng's words were thorny, but no one could refute them. Although Xuanyuan had given all the Slaves to the Bear, compared to the tribesmen the Xuanyuan Tribe had gathered and incorporated, that number was not worth mentioning, which was why they dared not make a sound when Baifeng insulted them like that.

"Baifeng, we truly have no way to deal with this. After all, they are not Slaves; they are seeking help from our Xuanyuan Tribe. Even if they join, they are only willing to join the Xuanyuan Tribe. I cannot force them to join Huaxia; we cannot do that. So, this is not our fault."

Baifeng placed his hands on the table: "Right, on this matter, no one is at fault; it is just that our Huaxia had bad luck. We had bad luck last year, but we are also afraid that we will have the same bad luck this year—pure investment without any harvest. Therefore, I have come again."

"Then are you prepared to renegotiate a treaty?"

Baifeng nodded: "Yes, that is exactly what I am thinking. Either we sign a new treaty, at least so that our Huaxia won't suffer such a loss, or our Huaxia will give up participating in this war, and you can do it yourselves."

The people of the Xuanyuan Tribe all looked a bit displeased because Baifeng's tone sounded like he was threatening them. They all wanted to say very firmly: "If you don't come, then don't. Our Xuanyuan Tribe is enough on its own; our Xuanyuan Tribe can certainly defeat the Shennong Clan."

But those who had participated in the war knew the importance of Huaxia. Just the deterrent power of those Bombs was something no human could compare to; apart from Huaxia, no one else had them.

Furthermore, there was the grain. Huaxia's grain supply was timely and stable. If it were their Xuanyuan Tribe, gathering grain would not be so easy; there were too many places that needed grain. If they had to provide a stable supply for the war, gaps might appear in other areas. Huaxia's grain supply capability was not something their Xuanyuan Tribe could compare to.

So no matter how you look at it, letting Huaxia join in was a very wise choice. Even if it meant ceding a bit more benefit, it was completely worth it.

Xuanyuan chose to step back first: "Then tell me, what kind of changes do you want, and how do you want to revise a new treaty?"

"It's very simple. We, Huaxia, need land. If you still want us to participate in this war this year, then we also want a share of the occupied land. But because we cannot control it all, I want you to exchange it with Xuanyuan Tribe territory that is close to Huaxia."

"The Shennong Clan's territory is larger and flatter, suitable for farming. Your territory close to Huaxia is not as suitable for farming, so exchanging it is very cost-effective."

Xuanyuan did not expect Baifeng's request to be so simple—just an exchange of territory. However, he would not agree to it so easily, because ceding his territory close to Huaxia was still a very risky matter.

After all, the Shennong Clan's land was so vast. Even if he split it fifty-fifty with Huaxia, that would almost mean ceding half of his current territory to Huaxia, because the Shennong Clan's territory was much larger than the Xuanyuan Tribe's.

Besides, Qingqiu City was very important to the Xuanyuan Tribe. If the central status of Qingqiu City were eliminated, or even handed over to Huaxia, that would be maximizing the loss. Such a trade could not be agreed to.

"You say it that way, but the Shennong Clan's territory is much larger. Half of the Shennong Clan's territory is already larger than more than half of our Xuanyuan Tribe. If I agreed, wouldn't that basically be trading the Xuanyuan Tribe to your Huaxia?"

"The land we have reclaimed and the cities we have built would all be given to your Huaxia. Even if I agreed, the tribesmen would not agree. It would be like asking you to trade your Huaxia City territory for our territory; that is also completely impossible, and you would not agree."

Baifeng agreed with Xuanyuan's point of view: "That is correct, but our Huaxia has no intention of taking such a big advantage. Population, grain, and various wealth—I will share a bit of everything."

"As for the territory, using territory that cannot be managed to exchange for territory that can be managed is inherently a profitable matter. So, I did not intend to exchange it at an equal value or amount. How about this: let's use five days' travel of Shennong Clan territory to exchange for one day's travel of Xuanyuan Tribe territory, how about that?"