Chapter 207 Negotiations in Qianzhou
According to crazy literature, she really wanted to sit on that old man—
Of course, that's just some YY fiction.
When Xu Zhenying entered the house, everyone looked up in her direction. The door was open, letting in light, and the person walked slowly towards the light.
He seemed to look very different from other Han Chinese. Other Han Chinese did not dress like him, nor did they have such weird hair as his.
The natives knew that the Han people believed that their hair and skin were inherited from their parents and they would never damage their hair easily. However, this man had shoulder-length hair, a bit like a servant from a wealthy family, and he tied his hair into a bun, which looked very strange.
This glance made everyone feel puzzled.
Is this the city lord that Jiang Yongkang often talks about?
Too thin!
Too young!
He looks to be only about fifteen years old at most, and looks like a childish young boy!
But it was just such a young man, with a smile on his face, who was intimidating without being angry, especially when he saw that there was no seat for him in the room, there was no anger on his face, but he just smiled and asked his subordinates with angry faces to move a stool.
Everyone looked at Xu Zhenying expectantly, as if waiting for her to get angry so that they could flex their muscles and beat each other.
Ming Xiaoshuang was angry at first, but after listening to Xu Zhenying's whispers, he went out with a smile on his face.
Everyone was very puzzled.
Without saying a word, they had already clashed secretly several times.
The elder sitting at the head of the village coughed softly and waved at Xu Zhenying, "Are you the city lord Jiang Yongkang mentioned?"
Xu Zhenying smiled and said, "That's me, but please wait a moment. There's no seat for me here. I'll talk to you in detail once my stool arrives."
As the saying goes, don't hit a smiling person, and what's more, Xu Zhenying's smile was so sincere that the other party, who was ready to attack, choked back his words.
What is going on?
The reaction is different from what I imagined.
Normally, when people in power are insulted like this, shouldn't they be furious? Wouldn't it be best if both sides shed blood before sitting down to talk?
You might say that this young man is cowardly and afraid of things, but from the moment she walked in, it seemed that everything in the house was naturally under her control.
Would you say she was brave? I don't think so. She was smiling the whole time and it was hard to find any fault with her.
Why is it that the party that took the initiative is starting to feel uncomfortable?
Several chieftain representatives exchanged glances, unable to figure out Xu Zhenying's tactics, and no one spoke for a while.
Jiang Yongkang curled the corners of his lips, as if he found it a little funny.
The brothers behind Jiang Yongkang also looked over in confusion. Even in such a situation, they still kept their bodies tense, as if ready to draw their swords at any time.
Time passed slowly in this tense atmosphere.
Soon, footsteps were heard outside. Ming Xiaoshuang and two other people were carrying a stool over with a puff of panting.
Then, everyone looked at the newcomer in shock.
This is not a bench.
This is clearly the extravagant and huge chaise longue in the Qianzhou Prefecture Lord's room.
Everyone was stunned!
Not to mention Jiang Yongkang's team, even the chieftains and the Miao people in the house were stunned!
Ming Xiaoshuang, beaming with joy, instructed the two men to place the chaise longue securely next to the village elder, and even politely said, "Old man, could you please move a little further?"
The village elder kept his mouth wide open the whole time, watching Ming Xiaoshuang place the chaise longue next to him.
Xu Zhenying even smiled and instructed his men, "We're in Qianzhou, a poor place. I'm afraid we don't have much money to buy chairs. Go outside and get some stools. Once you've got them, come in and find a seat. We're starting a meeting!"
Wang Sanniang was so happy that she pulled them outside to find a stool.
"This..." The village elder had never seen such a strange scene. He only saw people coming in and out. Soon, twenty or thirty people went outside to move stools and found a place to sit down.
Especially Wang Sanniang and Jiang Yongkang, the two of them tacitly sat down in the gap among the Miao people. The Miao people glared at them fiercely, but they didn't care. There were plenty of empty seats among them anyway, so they could just squeeze in!
Xu Zhenying also sat down, then smiled with satisfaction, clapped his hands and said, "Old man, everyone squeeze in and sit for a while, you see how lively our room is now! Don't worry, we are not wronged, you don't have to worry about us. Oh, by the way, what were you about to say just now——"
The show of force instantly turned into a farce.
The village elder held a heavy breath in his chest, which was neither rising nor falling. He felt even more uncomfortable when he saw Xu Zhenying's smiling face.
What do you mean you don’t have to worry about them and they don’t feel wronged?
Why do I get angrier the more I hear this?
Unexpectedly, Xu Zhenying only symbolically expressed his respect for the elderly and love for the young. Without waiting for the village elders to speak, he began to take control of the situation. "Okay, let's begin today's meeting!"
No one could get a word in. They could only hear Xu Zhenying's rapid voice. As she spoke quickly and urgently, several people in the audience immediately took out booklets and pencils and pretended to take notes.
The Miao people were completely confused.
"Let me first briefly introduce myself. My name is Xu Zhenying, and I can barely be considered the Lord of Jinzhou Prefecture. The entire Jinzhou Prefecture area has been completely taken over by us. Comrade Jiang Yongkang has been entrusted by me to cooperate with you in annihilating the Great Zhou soldiers. I'm here to discuss the management and control of Qianzhou Prefecture."
Xu Zhenying spoke very quickly, using unfamiliar words. The chieftains were completely bewildered. It was the village elder who seized the opportunity and interrupted her immediately: "Xu...Xu Zhenying?"
"Hey, what are you talking about?" Xu Zhenying's eyes flickered, his expression was extremely sincere, and he looked like he respected the elderly and loved the young. "Just call me Xiao Xu."
The village elder said he couldn't bring himself to say it. He coughed again and spoke in fluent Chinese, "I understand the general course of events. I'm very grateful to your Instructor Jiang for helping us repel the imperial attack. But you should know that you only had two thousand men in this battle, while we mobilized forty thousand, and the casualties were countless. Therefore, we must have a serious discussion regarding the ownership of Qianzhou."
"Grandpa, aren't we talking right now?" Xu Zhenying smiled warmly. She seemed emotionless, leaving people perplexed. "You all, listen to me first. If you have any questions after I'm done, we can discuss it later."
The village elder always felt that this young woman was too strange. Even though he had seen countless people, he still couldn't figure out her thoughts. He could only nod and say, "You speak first."
"My point is, we should still follow the original imperial court's management model: Han people govern Han people, and Miao people govern Miao people. You want to discuss the ownership of Qianzhou Prefecture, that's fine, but if you want to completely take over the management of Qianzhou Prefecture and become a local tyrant on this land, that's absolutely not allowed."
Without waiting for the others to slam their tables and stand up, Xu Zhenying continued, "Why do I say this? Because the Miao and Han peoples have different living habits, and neither of them submits to the other. Now the Han people can't rule the Miao people, and the Miao people can't rule the Han people either. If you rashly take over Qianzhou Prefecture, it will only cause strong opposition from the 800,000 Han people in Qianzhou Prefecture. What? Don't you think that just because you have taken over Qianzhou Prefecture, you 200,000 natives can rule over 800,000 Han people? In this world, there are only cases of the majority governing the minority, and I have never seen the minority governing the majority. I dare to predict that if you dare to move into the Qianzhou Prefecture government office, the people will smash your government office the next day! Not to mention that you have no experience in governing a city at all. You have been poor and destitute for hundreds of years even when you were managing your own place. Do you really want the people of Shunyuan City to follow you and live in poverty and hardship like you?"
These words were a bit harsh. The weakest chieftain, Demao, immediately stood up and protested fiercely, "You Han people have enslaved us natives for decades. Why can't we enslave you? If you say the majority governs the minority, don't forget that Shunyuan City has belonged to us natives from the very beginning. It was you who forcibly occupied this city and then enslaved us natives! Now we are just asking for our own territory back. That is only natural!"
The others also stood up. The Miao people stared at Xu Zhenying excitedly, and the atmosphere in the room was instantly ignited.
"Stop." Xu Zhenying raised his hand. "First, let me make a few points. First, it was the Great Zhou Dynasty that enslaved you, not me, Xu Zhenying. I, Xu Zhenying, opposed the imperial court and have already risen in rebellion. So, like you, I am an enemy of the Great Zhou Dynasty. As the saying goes, the enemy of my enemy is my friend, so our two families are friends. You can't blame me for the Great Zhou Dynasty's crimes, right? Do you think what I say makes sense?"
Does this make sense...
Is this reasonable?
This question left everyone a little confused.
Why are you beating around the bush? Can't we just negotiate properly? Why do we have to go around in circles?
"Secondly, my philosophy of governance is completely different from that of the Great Zhou Dynasty. I do not favor enslaving anyone, no ethnic group. My approach to governing is win-win cooperation, making money together, and living a good life together." Seeing that the room had quieted down a bit and the Miao people seemed to have listened, Xu Zhenying continued, "Take Qianzhou for example. You natives have always been exploited by the imperial court. From what I understand, this time you're causing trouble because you can't bear the burden of the fixed tax, right?"
The eyes of the village elder lit up slightly, as if he noticed the word "also" that Xu Zhenying said.
"That's right. I occupied Lan County last year, and the imperial court demanded 600,000 in taxes from us. You haven't been to Lan County, so you don't know the specifics. You all know about the flood in Jinzhou Prefecture last year, which killed hundreds of thousands of people, but the imperial court ignored our lives and continued to impose high taxes on us. The people couldn't make ends meet, so they followed me in rebellion. In a sense, the lower-class Han people, like you Miao people, were both deeply exploited by the imperial court."
The village elders looked a little solemn. They had lived in the mountains for a long time and seemed to have no idea what kind of life the lower-class Han people outside were living.
"It's not the same. The taxes on the natives here are 20% heavier than those on the Han. Corvée and taxes are the heaviest. Last year, they captured 1,000 Han people and 3,000 natives for building bridges and roads. Only half of them returned. The supervisor was the distant nephew of the concubine of the Qianzhou Prefecture Army. Because of this relationship, he's still alive. But he was stabbed to death by our brothers a few days ago."
Xu Zhenying continued, "That's right. In fact, our identities and positions are similar. We are both miserable people. I often say that I am different from the Great Zhou Dynasty. The Great Zhou Dynasty liked to gain wealth through oppression and exploitation, but I gain wealth for myself and the people by creating more wealth. You may not understand what I am saying now, so let me give you a simple example. Take our Ye County. Last year, Ye County was occupied by bandits. The people there either fled or were killed, and Ye County became a deserted city."
"But it's only been half a year, and all production has recovered. The people have already planted their first crop, and per capita income has also increased. From being penniless last year, we now have one tael of silver per person per year. That's just per capita, so a family of five would get five taels of silver."
The village chieftain was stunned. "Five taels of silver?"
You know, in their eyes, the people of Shunyuan City are already extremely wealthy, but asking them to earn five taels of silver a year without counting grain is almost like a fantasy.
"Secondly, I have no prejudice against you natives." Xu Zhenying said with a dry mouth, and Wang Sanniang immediately added more tea.
The others were obviously fascinated by what they heard.
It’s been a long time since I saw the city lord talk so freely!
I remember that during the evening classes in the military camp, the city lord was always like this. He could catch everyone's ears with just a few words, making people want to listen unconsciously.
"The indigenous people are human beings, and the Han people are also human beings. We live on the same land. To put it bluntly, we all have the same ancestors."
At this point, Xu Zhenying saw that the Miao people opposite him looked disdainful and did not seem to want to be identified with the Han people.
"Whether you like it or not, we all have two eyes and one nose, we are all human beings, and we even speak the same language. So the Han people's desire to enslave the Miao people, and the Miao people's desire to enslave the Han people, are backward, short-lived, and unsustainable!"
"Humph, that's nice of you to say. We won't enslave the Han people, so why don't you give Shunyuan City to us?"
Someone objected loudly.
"I've already said this before. Shunyuan City is given to you. How do you plan to manage it? You don't want to be controlled by the Han people, just as the Han people don't want to be controlled by you. The Han and Miao people used to be enemies. You killed me, I killed you. We have a blood feud for generations. There's no way we can coexist right now. The best thing to do is to cool down and let things slide for a while, each retreating to their own position, and then work together for development."
"You say it so easily, but were the thousands of men in our village slaughtered in vain by the Han people? What kind of life have we Miao people been living these past ten years? Our generations-long blood feud with the Han people was wiped out by your words?"
Xu Zhenying narrowed his eyes and smiled, looking at the person who spoke. "Of course, you also have another option. Take Qianzhou and continue to advance southward to join the Great Zhou Dynasty. However, with a population of 300,000, I'm afraid you can't even set foot on Jinzhou Prefecture. After all, you are a minority, and you are at a demographic disadvantage. You are destined to be unable to leave this small piece of land. Instead of letting your small piece of land be forever embroiled in war, why not find a way to help your people develop better and live a good life for everyone?"
A Miao person wiped his tears and said, "Who doesn't want to live a good life? Isn't it all forced by your court?"
Wang Sanniang couldn't stand it anymore and shouted, "Brother, why are you telling our city lord this? I've told you countless times that it wasn't the city lord who killed your people. On the contrary, he helped you kill many Han people. And our city lord has already rebelled, so why are you putting the blame on him? After all, the city lord is your benefactor, and this is how you treat him. You didn't even give him a seat when he entered the house, and you act like you're here to accuse him."
"You!" The Miao man didn't speak Chinese well and didn't understand what Wang Sanniang said. He just knew that what she said was not a good thing. He was about to rush forward aggressively, but was stopped by his companions.
Ming Xiaoshuang also responded, "That's right. If it weren't for our Jiang Yongkang giving you the idea of the fire attack, who knows how long this battle would have lasted, and who knows how many brothers would have died. You're so quick to destroy the bridge after crossing it, aren't you?"
The village elder was a sensible man, and his face turned slightly red, but his face was dark, so it was not very noticeable.
Yes, there is no doubt that Jiang Yongkang played a decisive role in this battle.
The village elder raised his hand to calm down the impulsive Miao people and said to Xu Zhenying, "They are right. Your people did help us in this matter."
"Elder!" The small chieftains below became anxious.
Xu Zhenying found that she couldn't be too reasonable with them. After all, this was not the modern world. She had to consider that the people here were uneducated and uncivilized. She should also measure her muscles from time to time.
So she quickly adjusted her negotiation skills. "Well, let's just put it this way. I'll ask directly, Master. Do you mean to take over Shunyuan City and occupy the entire Qianzhou Prefecture?"
"Of course!"
"Shunyuan City has always been ours!"
The Miao people below immediately responded excitedly.
"Alright." Xu Zhenying frowned. "Then I have three questions for you. First, after you occupy Shunyuan Prefecture, how do you plan to deal with the disobedient Han people there? They outnumber you by a lot, and their weapons are more advanced than yours. How do you plan to maintain your court with fewer people, and ensure that Shunyuan Prefecture doesn't experience another riot and more casualties?"
"Use a whip. The whip will definitely make them obedient! The Han people are docile and bloodless. As long as you give them a bite to eat, they won't resist!"
Well, that’s true. The Chinese nation has always been the most patient nation.
"Using tyranny to suppress, while not a good idea, is a solution. Secondly, how do you plan to govern Shunyuan City? Since you're the kings here, you naturally have an obligation to ensure the people live a better life. But from what I've heard, not only are the locals in Qianzhou Prefecture living in dire straits, but even the people of Shunyuan City are incredibly poor. After you take power, if you don't even talk about building bridges and roads, developing water conservancy projects, and developing education, at least you should develop agriculture, right? How many of you know how to farm, how to make compost, how to select seeds, and how to increase yields? You won't let the limited fertile land in Qianzhou Prefecture go to waste, will you?"
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