Chapter 1764: Consequences at Your Own Risk

At this time, in Europe.

Saxony.

To show his friendliness, the King of Saxony sent his Prime Minister to personally invite Li Hongtian to conduct negotiations once more.

Seeing the sincerity of the King of Saxony, Li Hongtian gladly accepted and arrived at the Imperial Palace, where the King of Saxony had long since prepared a banquet.

Seeing all these preparations, Li Hongtian smiled slightly.

"Prime Minister, your King was prepared well in advance."

The Prime Minister laughed: "This only serves to prove the importance we place on the Longyan Envoy."

"Lord Li, you should be able to see the sincerity of our King of Saxony."

The Prime Minister ascended the steps and made a gesture of invitation.

Li Hongtian nodded with a smile and strode into the palace; he glanced at the Prime Minister and said: "I hope your country can express this same sincerity when it comes to the peace talks."

The Prime Minister smiled without a word, watching as Li Hongtian walked inside.

The King of Saxony greeted him personally; according to their etiquette, the Kissing Ceremony is a very high honor.

The King of Saxony embraced Li Hongtian warmly.

"Oh, respected Longyan Envoy, Mr. Li Hongtian, welcome to your arrival here; I have been waiting for you for a long time."

The King of Saxony invited Li Hongtian to take his seat.

Everyone attending this banquet was a high-ranking official or noble of Saxony; they represented the highest power in Saxony.

"This is our unique European wine, from the royal cellar; such a vintage has been stored for over twenty years and belongs to the aged wines. Lord Li, have a taste and see how it compares to Yinzhou Drunk?"

Li Hongtian nodded and picked up the wine glass to take a sip.

"The wine is not bad, but our Longyan Yinzhou Drunk was invented by the Chief Minister, Lord Liu, and we do not yet have any vintage that has been stored for so many years."

The King of Saxony laughed heartily.

Li Hongtian stared at the King of Saxony and said: "However, compared to our Yinzhou Drunk, this wine is a bit lacking in potency."

The laughter of the King of Saxony stopped abruptly.

He had specifically brought out the best wine in their country to dampen the spirit of Longyan, so that they could gain an advantage in the upcoming negotiations.

"Oh, so you mean to say that this twenty-year-old wine is not as good as your Longyan Yinzhou Drunk?"

Li Hongtian smiled slightly: "Each has its own merits. It just so happens that on this visit, I also brought a bottle of Yinzhou Drunk; Your Majesty may taste it."

"This bottle of wine has only been stored for three years."

Li Hongtian clapped his hands, and his attendant immediately presented a bottle of Longyan Yinzhou Drunk, handing it to a Saxon maid.

The Saxon maid carried this bottle of wine and presented it.

He looked at the bottle, not believing that this Yinzhou Drunk with only three years of cellar storage could be better than the twenty-year-old wine.

After the King of Saxony opened it and took a sniff, his expression changed drastically; a rich, fragrant aroma of alcohol rushed toward him.

It left him somewhat dazed—was this wine really only stored for three years?

He hurriedly poured a glass and took a sip; the strong liquor went down his throat, and a sudden, raw, spicy sensation rushed straight to his brain, leaving the King of Saxony stunned.

Seeing this, everyone was taken aback.

They had also drunk Yinzhou Drunk before, but it shouldn't have made His Majesty the King show such an expression.

Seeing the King of Saxony show such an expression, Li Hongtian smiled: "Your Majesty, if you take another sip of the wine now, you will have a completely different feeling."

The King of Saxony glanced at Li Hongtian.

He took another sip of the wine, but he could not feel the fragrance of the wine at all.

This...

The fragrance of the Yinzhou Drunk had completely masked the fragrance of the wine.

Having obtained this result, the King of Saxony was too shocked to speak.

"Your Majesty, how is the taste of our Longyan Yinzhou Drunk?" Li Hongtian asked with a smile.

The King of Saxony stammered in reply: "The... the taste is naturally good."

Hearing this answer, Li Hongtian nodded with satisfaction, and he said again: "In our Longyan, wine is often compared to people; this Yinzhou Drunk is the wine that the most people in our Longyan love to drink."

"Your Majesty, is your wine also compared to the Saxon people?"

Once these words were spoken, the banquet fell into silence.

Comparing wine to people, they in Saxony had lost by a margin.

The King of Saxony chuckled awkwardly: "We in Saxony do not have such customs. I observe that Lord Li's temples are graying; you must be sixty or seventy years old."

"At your age, in our Saxony, you should be enjoying family life and not be rushing about working hard for the country."

"For such matters, why not send a young person from Longyan?"

Li Hongtian laughed awkwardly twice and said: "I am ashamed, I am ashamed. This old man is indeed advanced in years, but I am sufficient to visit Saxony; furthermore, when we Longyan officials visit foreign countries, we look at talent."

"It just so happens that my talent is considered the lowest in Longyan; there is no one more suitable than me to visit Saxony."

Hearing this, the King of Saxony gave an awkward smile.

He had long known through investigation that this Lord Li Hongtian held a high position in Longyan; if it were truly as he said, then they in Saxony had no talented people at all.

Originally, the King of Saxony had wanted to ridicule Li Hongtian by using the fact that he was old.

As it turned out, he was ridiculed by the other party instead.

After the banquet, the negotiations officially began.

He had originally thought he could dampen Longyan's spirit at the banquet to secure more favorable conditions at the negotiating table.

But now it seemed that all their tactics had been neutralized by Li Hongtian one by one, and they had not gained any improvement whatsoever.

Instead, they had allowed Longyan to create a huge advantage in the negotiations.

"King of Saxony, how have you considered the conditions proposed by our Longyan?"

The King of Saxony spread his hands and said, "Forgive my bluntness, Lord Li, we can agree to the conditions proposed by Longyan, but we cannot hand over the authority of the military."

"I must consider the safety of Saxony; military power is the cornerstone of maintaining all of this, and we cannot hand it over."

Li Hongtian smiled faintly: "How many troops does your Saxony have left now?"

"Can these people maintain the situation within the country?"

Indeed, the current Saxony troops had already lost more than half in the battle against the Longyan army in Dresden.

There were simply not many troops left, and even if they wanted to maintain military power, they did not have sufficient funds.

Li Hongtian thought for a moment and then said: "How about this, we in Longyan can provide money to help Saxony establish a guard force, but you cannot possess an army."

"By possessing a guard force, the stable situation within your Saxony can also be maintained, and as for crises from other countries, you can rest assured about that."

"After Saxony signs the agreement with Longyan, anyone who dares to attack your Saxony represents them attacking all the countries on this agreement."

"Including Longyan; you should know what this means now."

An agreement was placed before the King of Saxony; he looked at the contents on it, with the pen in his hand.

"Alright, whether to sign or not, Saxony decides for itself; of course, the consequences will also need to be borne by Saxony itself."