Kays Translations
Just another Isekai Lover~
Chapter 281: Cheers and Negotiations
Yan Zhengqing looked at Kong Donglai, who blocked his path, and smiled coldly and indifferently. “Governor Kong, the Jin Kingdom has surrendered, and the Wise King has accepted their surrender. With the order personally signed by the Wise King, we have no choice but to withdraw our troops.”
Kong Donglai stared at Yan Zhengqing and spoke slowly, almost word by word: “So, you are just going to abandon your comrades like this?”
Abandoning comrades is a heavy burden to bear.
But Yan Zhengqing didn’t care, replying, “Sorry, we were never comrades. The agreement we signed at Xian Dai River, the technology and goods we provided, we’ve already given you everything. Anyang owes you nothing.”
“We originally had plans to attack Jin to the south!” Kong Donglai said.
Yan Zhengqing suddenly shrugged, a strange smile on his face. “As you said, it was a plan, not an agreement. And now, plans are no match for how quickly things change. We can only compromise with reality. Of course, the people of Jin Kingdom are already very weak now. You can continue your attack; we won’t interfere.”
“Moreover, the Wise King is merciful, and all the Jin Kingdom prisoners are left for you. Consider it compensation.”
After saying that, Yan Zhengqing quickly ordered the army of Anyang to retreat, without any pause, all the way back to Anyang. As for the prisoners, it was a hot potato; the letter had clearly informed Yan Zhengqing—do not take any Jin Kingdom prisoners.
The people left behind were stunned. However, things weren’t too bad, as Yan Zhengqing had said. Kong Donglai’s people could continue fighting because the Jin Kingdom army was already exhausted. And now, hearing the news of “surrender to Anyang,” they were even more demoralized—Jin Kingdom, once powerful, had surrendered to Anyang!
Kong Donglai looked at Yan Zhengqing, and he really left. All the prisoners were left behind, and his eyes flickered with decision. “We still have 400,000 troops here, while Jin Kingdom only has a little over 80,000. Kill them!”
The battle lasted until dawn. Without the pressure from Anyang and the command of General Yan Zhengqing, Nan Gongzhi was ultimately at a disadvantage, and Li Lisong began to turn the tide. Especially after the large-scale interference from airplanes was no longer a factor, the Wanjian formation activated three times and completely tore open the border defenses of Nanyang County.
But in the end, it was a weary army. Li Lisong only took away fewer than 70,000 soldiers, and the Jin Kingdom’s army on the outskirts that had been supporting Li Lisong suffered more than 10,000 casualties—almost all from weapons.
It wasn’t until the army retreated back to their own checkpoint that Li Lisong looked back north with a complicated mood.
…
In Anyang, dawn broke, and the latest issue of the newspaper was selling like crazy. Last night, the paper had worked overtime to add new content—the Jin Kingdom had surrendered.
The Prime Minister of Jin Kingdom, Sima Xuan, brought the Jin Emperor’s letter of repentance to Anyang to surrender. This meant that this unprecedented war, involving numerous countries, vast in scale, and marked by severe casualties, had finally come to an end.
Today, the senior leaders of Anyang would officially meet with Sima Xuan to begin negotiations.
Of course, before that, Li Xian had already spent the night in long discussions with Xu Ren, Li Yuanming, Yan Zean, and others. Among these, Li Xian had set a very clear direction for the negotiations—official titles were unnecessary, but we need real benefits. Moreover, the Jin Kingdom is a major power, so we must keep a balance.
Early this morning, the news spread quickly, through every street and alley. Within half an hour, the newspapers were sold out. Anyang, a small county, had actually defeated Jin Kingdom! Jin Kingdom had almost two or three times the land area of the Great Xia Empire!
Shock, disbelief, cheering, and overwhelming joy… The people didn’t even know what kind of emotions to express.
Dong Guanwu, a reporter for Anyang Daily, sat in the shadow of an overpass, staring blankly at the railway ahead. He had worked through the night, and today was finally a day off.
Every time he took a break, Dong Guanwu liked to sit here, watching the overpass above, the speeding trains passing by, and the people around who had come to see the commotion. Then, he would look at Anyang, a city that was constantly changing—yes, a city. Anyang had already abandoned the ancient name of “town” and replaced it with the word “city.”
He remembered three years ago, it was still a collection of mud houses; three years ago, it was still a marshland; three years ago, there was even a small pond where he used to catch little fish and shrimp as a child; three years ago, a cultivator at the 7th or 8th layer of Qi Refining was a master in Anyang. Now, the streets were full of Foundation Establishment cultivators, and occasionally, one could even spot an elder at the Nascent Soul stage…
What caused this change? What made the small town of Anyang defeat the Jin Kingdom, which had always been the strongest power in the East?
The train roared, the newest train going faster. Initially, it took two hours to travel from Anyang to Ding Mountain City, a distance of about 100 kilometers. The newest train now only took one hour.
“It was industry that defeated Jin Kingdom! Yes, it was industry, commerce, and the power of machines that defeated the power of humans!” Dong Guanwu suddenly jumped up, accidentally hitting his head on a cement pillar of the overpass, dizzy. But he didn’t care about that. He immediately ran home, determined to start drafting an article on the “Machine Era.”
…………
The Lord’s Residence of Anyang still looked the same as before—ancient and solemn. Surrounding citizens had torn down their old houses and built spacious and bright cement buildings, but the Lord’s Residence remained unchanged.
Inside the Lord’s Residence and the Grand Hall of Discussions, more than thirty people, including Li Xian, Xu Ren, Li Yuanming, Yan Ze’an, Ling Zhifeng, Fang Shijing, Gongsun Wushang, and others, sat in a row on the eastern side.
On the other side, on the western side of the hall, there was only one person, the Prime Minister of Jin Kingdom, Sima Xuan.
The situation felt a bit strange, almost like bullying. Li Xian sat in the middle, facing Sima Xuan.
Sima Xuan furrowed his brows, slightly confused. Wasn’t the seating arrangement usually such that the victor sits in the north and the defeated in the south during negotiations? What kind of show was Anyang putting on?
Actually, it wasn’t just Sima Xuan who was puzzled; even many of the officials from Anyang who were involved in the negotiation didn’t quite understand. Only a few, like Xu Ren, had a slight smile of satisfaction, mixed with a hint of helplessness and wry amusement.
In fact, this seating arrangement was designed to place both sides on equal footing—there were no victors or losers. Of course, this was just superficial, a way of giving Jin Kingdom some face. Another deeper reason for this arrangement was that Anyang was planning to follow a path of industrial and commercial development.
If the plan was to pursue domination through conquest, it would be simple—just defeat the neighboring countries. But to pursue industrial and commercial development, one must “conduct trade across the world.” And for that, countless negotiations were unavoidable. In order to avoid future complications, they had decided to adopt this seating arrangement for the negotiations from the start.
Years later, this type of negotiation setup would become the standard for commercial negotiations—a symbol of equal trade and mutually beneficial exchanges. Of course, this was just symbolic.
But at the moment, this first-time implementation left many people confused. Especially now, with only one representative from Jin Kingdom—the Prime Minister, Sima Xuan.
Sima Xuan sat there, feeling uneasy, unsure of what Anyang was trying to do.
Li Xian spoke first, “Prime Minister Sima, before we begin the negotiations, I’d like to say something. I believe that everyone has the right to start a war, but the right to end a war belongs to the victors. What do you think?”
Upon hearing this, Sima Xuan’s whole body stiffened—a clear threat was embedded in those words. If the conditions offered by Jin Kingdom didn’t satisfy Anyang, they would continue fighting.
Facing Li Xian’s bright yet subtly imposing gaze, Sima Xuan had no choice but to nod in agreement. “What King Xian said is very profound; in one sentence, it points to the core of war.”
Seeing that Sima Xuan agreed, Li Xian continued, “Today, we are only beginning a rough negotiation; the more specific talks should be handled when Prime Minister Sima returns to your country and assembles a real negotiation team.
Now, let me outline Anyang’s conditions.”
The specific terms didn’t need to be explained by Li Xian himself, as an Undersecretary was assigned the task. An Undersecretary placed a paper filled with terms in front of Sima Xuan. As Sima Xuan took the paper, he was stunned… it seemed different from what he expected.
Seeing Sima Xuan’s dazed expression, Li Xian nodded to the Undersecretary. The Undersecretary immediately began to read aloud.