Chapter 936: A New Round of Negotiations and Returning to the Federation

In mid-March, the Slard diplomatic delegation came to the Federation again to continue negotiations on the issue of "establishing world peace around the Slard military alliance."

The shipping lanes had been "cut off" for more than half a year. If the scarcity of supplies made the balance of war lose its balance again, it could still be accepted by the Slard people.

Then the Federation starting to contact, consult, and negotiate with the Dantela Republic was something the Slard people couldn't accept.

Their ruling group bore huge pressure, not just from the military, but also from within the country.

Because everyone knew what the Federation people wanted—to be the daddy.

Well, saying it like this is indeed a bit rude. To put it more civilly, the Federation people played a key role in the war and were trying to get more things.

Whether it was the right to lead, or the power to rule the world, they were all things they wanted.

The Federation people wanted these, why not just give them to them?

Some interest groups within Slard also started to operate, capital groups, civil interest groups, they all started to exert pressure on the current ruling group.

Once the Federation people and the Dantela people negotiated their unilateral ceasefire agreement, or even negotiated an agreement to divide Slard, then the next war situation didn't need to be considered at all.

Now there were also many voices within the Slard alliance. Everyone's purpose with the Slard alliance was actually very simple: to take down Dantela, and then use the war dividends to satisfy the appetites of the ruling group and interest groups, releasing the pressure within the society during the development process.

So many resources entered society, and what contradictions and classes disappeared in the huge war dividends!

The rule would become more stable, and the people would also become happier!

But all this had a prerequisite—the war could be won!

If the war couldn't be won, then everything was fake, and they might lose many things.

Things had reached this point, and the Slard people couldn't hold on anymore. This was their fourth time sending a delegation to visit the Federation to negotiate on this issue. This time, their President had already given them a very low bottom line.

What they had to do was to strive for more interests for Slard above the bottom line as much as possible.

The arrival of the delegation was very grand. Whether it was themselves or the Federation people, they actually realized that this might be the last negotiation, so both sides took out their greatest sincerity!

The dock in New Jincheng was cleared early in the morning. To avoid enemy agents and assassins from creating chaos and destruction, there wasn't even an ordinary person on the dock.

A large group of ten-year-old children held bouquets and shivered in the cold sea breeze.

The moment the Slard warship arrived at the dock, the children shivering in the cold wind looked at the command platform where more and more people were walking up, and they immediately started waving the bouquets in their hands.

The band played in the cold wind, solemn and solemn, yet with a trace of liveliness. The bright red carpet was laid directly to the dock, and the Secretary of State led many officials out of a warm house on the side.

They weren't very comfortable either. In order to show their "decency," not bloated, they didn't wear particularly thick clothes.

This era didn't have any particularly warm technology. These officials who could only be considered to be wearing spring and autumn clothes were also shivering slightly.

This damn, terrible, stinky weather!

Someone complained, "Don't they know to come after the weather gets warmer?"

The colleague beside this gentleman couldn't help but laugh and say, "After the weather gets warmer, it will be us meeting them in the capital of Slard."

Others all smiled knowingly.

In fact, in their contact with Dantela, they had already talked about how to divide Slard—of course, this wasn't raised by the Federation, but actively proposed by the Dantela people.

They could divide the interests of the Slard military alliance into three parts: the Federation takes one part, Dantela takes one part, and the small countries following behind them also take one part.

It seemed very reasonable. The Federation took a big head, but the Congress wasn't very interested in this proposal.

Because those small countries were actually Dantela's subordinate countries. After these resources were distributed to them, they would return them to the Dantela people.

Once the Dantela Republic continued to nibble away at other countries in the Southern Continent, it was very likely to realize one of the most terrible and great undertakings in human history—unifying a continent!

In this situation, including the Federation people, they could all become the next victims, and the Dantela people had also attacked New Jincheng and caused a large number of Federation soldiers' deaths on the battlefield.

If they really formed an alliance with them, or reached some consensus, it would definitely make the situation in the country explode directly!

So they couldn't possibly reach an agreement on these issues, and couldn't form an alliance. Now the contact between the two sides was actually just applying pressure to the Slard people.

But if they really couldn't talk it out, then the Federation would very likely withdraw its troops, and then set its goals on the Yalan region and the north of the Federation.

"I hope they won't be so stupid this time."

Two officials smiled at each other, shrank their necks, and walked toward the dock.

The warship that slowly docked lowered the gangway. The leader of the Slard delegation was the Vice President of Slard, followed by their Foreign Minister, Defense Minister, Chairman of the Slard Military Committee, and some representatives of capital groups. Many people came, and the visitor list had several pages, about four or five hundred names.

However, the part that docked now was just some of them. Others would dock later; they didn't have this kind of reception specification and treatment.

Slard's government structure gave the Vice President great power, and he was also fully granted diplomatic power.

The moment he stood on the gangway, he looked at those people on the dock and had already felt huge pressure.

He squeezed out some smiles, walked down from the gangway, hugged the Secretary of State, and performed a cheek-kissing ceremony.

This was a way to show intimacy and closeness, and then they shook hands, and then moved backward little by little.

Actually, no one paid attention to those children waving bouquets, but they were still waving the bouquets in their hands, shouting slogans like "Long live the friendship between the Federation and Slard!"

The entire reception process lasted for more than twenty minutes, and then the group got into the arranged cars and left the scene.

Not long after, the lively dock became quiet again.

But with the lifting of restrictions, ordinary pedestrians started to enter, and it gradually returned to liveliness.

Today obviously wasn't very suitable for direct negotiation. The negotiation was held the next day.

Senator Cleveland came to the meeting scene early in the morning. The location of this negotiation was placed in the "Kelender Manor." Some important political events had happened here, including drafting the Federation's Declaration of Independence, drafting the Federation Charter, and completing the first constitutional amendment.

This place might not have any status in the minds of the vast majority of Federation people, mainly because their academic performance wasn't good. It was very likely that nine out of ten Federation people didn't know what place this was.

But in the political arena, this place had its very special position.

The entire Kelender Manor covered a huge area, composed of dozens of buildings, like a small town.

The Slard delegation also lived here. The Federation people were trying to express their importance to the Slard people in this way.

At this time, there was half an hour before the first consultation at ten o'clock. Senator Cleveland and several meeting representatives were smoking on the side.

The work these few days was to determine what everyone was going to talk about, discuss what to talk about first, what to talk about later, and only then start entering the negotiation link formally.

Although the atmosphere was also very serious, there was no gunpowder smell.

"I heard a thing!"

Senator Cleveland looked at the Speaker of the House who was speaking. "What?"

Others also looked at him. The Speaker of the House shrugged. "Those few in the north, they also intend to establish an alliance organization."

The "north" he spoke of referred to the three countries to the north of the Federation. These three countries had been abnormal since last year. They closed the borders and slowly stockpiled soldiers at the borders.

On the surface, they said these were normal decisions, but anyone could see that they were guarding against the Federation.

And this very likely had something to do with the Dantela people.

Senator Cleveland was stunned for a moment, and then his brows twisted together. "Such a thing happening at this time is not a good thing for us."

"Who says it isn't?", the Speaker of the House also sighed. "Yesterday the President called them, chatted with them, and revealed that the Federation could also join this alliance organization, but was rejected."

The expressions of several people became serious. Now the Federation's biggest advantage was non-local warfare, so the people didn't have so many intuitive feelings about the destruction caused by the war, and naturally, it couldn't be called trauma.

If these three countries formed an alliance, and the border issue escalated to produce friction, it was very likely to trigger some unpredictable consequences of danger. Senator Cleveland took a puff of cigarette. "It seems that even if we handle Slard, there are still many things to deal with next."

"What is the President's idea over there?"

The Speaker of the House curled his lips, and at the same time lowered his voice a little. "You know, he is a person who cherishes his reputation and face."

"They flatly rejected it, which made Mr. President feel that his face was thrown on the ground by them, and stepped on a few times."

"He said in the office that he wanted to send troops to attack them..."

This was his angry talk. They could imagine Mr. President's red-faced, angry, brainless anger after feeling ashamed, but this was indeed a problem.

But it wasn't that there was no good news. The good news was that if they decided to take action, the President didn't need to be persuaded, he could sign the war document directly.

Several people chatted for a while about the fresh things that happened during this period, exchanged some secrets in the political arena, and soon the delegation arrived at the scene, and Senator Cleveland and the others also returned to their seats.

Next was the exchange of items to be discussed by both sides. Perhaps the Slard ruling group realized the "danger," so they had changed some strategies.

Since some things couldn't be resisted, then just enjoy it well. It didn't necessarily have to be underneath; it could also be on top!

Senator Cleveland, as one of the negotiation members, also received the consultation content list submitted by the Slard people. Just looking at it for a few eyes, he couldn't help but shake his head.

Some things mentioned inside were very ridiculous!

For example, the Slard people requested to obtain some key technologies mastered only by the Federation, and also included some supporting things, they all needed them.

Senator Cleveland could see that they wanted to exchange for more advanced technology by giving up the "right to lead."

And these technologies might be used on the Federation in the future, not selling finished products to the Federation, but dumping, commercial competition, and even tearing up the alliance at a certain time.

These definitely couldn't be agreed to. He took a pen and wrote and drew on some clauses, and all those he thought were inappropriate were crossed out.

Some that could be considered or negotiated after modifying a part of the content were raised with his suggestions.

These had to be determined by the meeting. Everyone definitely had different ideas. In order to ensure that they wouldn't forget some of their ideas, everyone would record them first.

The "exchange" content process was very fast, and both sides could also ask each other about some problems they didn't understand. This was also why the delegation would have representatives of capital groups.

Because a considerable part of the content had a relationship with capital, the Federation's military industry, energy, and some heavy industry groups mastering core technology would all participate in the overall discussion.

This simple meeting lasted until twelve o'clock at noon. Next was naturally the lunch link, a relatively relaxed lunch.

In the afternoon, they would each start closed-door meetings to discuss those things on the documents exchanged by the other side.

Lunch was also held in the main building of the manor, a huge restaurant. The Secretary of State also introduced them friendly and kindly that the first Federation President and those gentlemen on the oil painting, after establishing the Federation, had their first meal here.

The thickness and seriousness produced at different times overlapped at this moment. Although the music was melodious and light, and there were easy smiles on people's faces, it always made people feel that something was pressing on their chests.

For a whole afternoon, Senator Cleveland was participating in various discussions. Before formally entering the negotiation, both sides actually didn't have much certainty.

People sent one hundred items, and before talking, they directly denied seventy or eighty items. This didn't look like it was possible to succeed at all.

The process of "exchange" was very fast, and both sides could also ask each other about some problems they didn't understand.

Dinner was very rich. Perhaps after an afternoon of precipitation, the mentality of both sides had become much more stable, and it seemed more relaxed when dining.

The dinner menu was said to be formulated according to the "first dinner" menu. Of course, there were also deletions and additions. The Secretary of State also told some small stories related to the first President, and the atmosphere at the scene was very good.

After finishing dinner, Senator Cleveland already intended to go back to rest. His work for the whole day was arranged very full, and he couldn't hold on if he worked overtime again.

He had just finished taking a shower when the phone bell on the bedside table rang. He walked over and picked it up. "I am Jeffrey."

"Senator, Lanse is back."

The call was made by Tang Mu. He was slightly stunned after hearing this news, and then looked at the time. It was already past eight o'clock.

There was a more formal consultation at ten o'clock tomorrow morning. Both sides had already discussed the documents submitted by each other today, and then they would exchange opinions for the first time tomorrow.

For example, the Slard people wanted the Federation's steelmaking technology, and the Federation side unilaterally rejected it. Tomorrow they would exchange opinions. They might say "this is content that cannot be changed."

If the attitude wasn't very tough, then this clause would be abolished directly.

If their attitude was very tough, and there would be no talk of other things without this clause, then it would be retained, and then they would think of ways to solve it circuitously.

In terms of time... it should still be in time.

Kelender Manor was less than fifty kilometers away from New Jincheng, and the round trip took two hours.

He and Lanse might not be able to talk for a long time, at most four hours.

Returning before one o'clock, getting up at eight o'clock tomorrow morning, he could still sleep for seven hours.

"Is he in New Jincheng now?", he made a decision, and then asked.

"Yes, he is in New Jincheng. I have already let him stay in the hotel."

Hearing this, the Senator already understood that Lanse should have something he wanted to say to him.

He didn't hesitate anymore. "I will return to the city in an hour. You take him to the manor."

"I know."

The phone hung up quickly. Senator Cleveland put on his clothes again, checked, and left his room.

His big staff, driver, and bodyguard were all on the first floor.

When he came down from upstairs, these people stood up immediately.

In front of outsiders, these people were actually very glorious. To a certain extent, they represented the Senator.

But here, they didn't even have a bed, could only sleep on the sofa, and might need to do things anytime, anywhere.

"We are going back to the manor."

He didn't explain why, nor did he need to explain.

Soon two cars left Kelender Manor one after another.

About fifty minutes later, he saw Lanse in his manor.

The moment the door was pushed open, Lanse and Tang Mu, who were chatting, stood up immediately.

Senator Cleveland appeared here dressed neatly. He shook hands with Lanse who came up to meet him, and then walked to the sofa and sat down separately.

"Let's not talk about pleasantries. I've been very busy during this time. Let's save some time."

"During this time, I heard that the situation in Lapa is getting more and more chaotic.", he took out a cigarette case from his pocket, a cigarette case that looked very simple.

It was wooden, with the name "Jeffrey Cleveland" embossed in gold thread in the lower right corner. Besides that, there was a ruby button, and there was nothing else on the exterior.

But when he opened it, the interior used two linings that wanted to be taken out, and then used platinum as some metal parts, and some gemstones as embellishments.

This cigarette case wasn't cheap, including the wood that looked very ordinary, which was actually a very precious and rare variety.

He took out a cigarette, lit it, and took a deep breath. "Let's talk about the things you did."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 937 =====