Chapter 334, Father, Times Have Changed
When Eureka was still thinking about the role of the political commissar in the alliance army, a call woke him up from his thoughts.
"Eureka Pampos?"
Eureka raised his head a little uncomfortably. In his life, he had very few opportunities to be called by such a name.
Of course, he still knew that this was calling him.
Standing not far from him was a woman wearing a long black coat with a strange symbol on her face, and a short knife at her waist.
Although he was not tall, his sharp eyes made him feel a little chilly.
Eureka stood up without saying anything, but his meaning was conveyed.
The lady who didn’t look like a soldier but seemed a little more special than a soldier continued, “Come with me.”
So, Eureka followed him and met a man who always seemed to be smiling in a temporary house in the prisoner-of-war camp.
When the man saw them push the door open, he immediately stood up to greet them.
He first nodded to the lady in the long black coat and said with a smile: "Thank you for your hard work, Ms. De Jong."
"Yeah." The demon hunter Milia de Jong nodded slightly and walked out.
She still has a lot of work to do next. She needs to select a number of people who are suitable to be released back and who can help the alliance government when the alliance takes full control of the entire Angry Owl Star. She doesn't have time to worry about it here.
She helped bring Prince Eureka here simply because she had been exploring the situation in this prisoner-of-war camp for two days and was relatively familiar with it.
Another reason was that she really didn't want to stay in that room. The man in the room, Niko LS Lihovich, who had been a colleague of her elder sister in the Alliance's Zhongsi College, was always smiling, but she really felt uncomfortable staying with him, as if she was being stared at by something all the time.
According to her sister, the current Dean of the Zhongsi Academy, Hails Morgan, Salihovic was not like this before. Suddenly one day, he suddenly got enlightened, as if he had received some inspiration, and had some ability to see through people's hearts. If you talk to him for a little longer, you will be easily persuaded by him.
Milia felt that it was more like 'bewitching'.
Of course, according to Haiers, she herself seemed to have changed at the same time. Unlike Salihovic, her "enlightenment" was to have a more outstanding understanding of inspiring morale, teaching students to be more loyal, and analyzing ideological and political theories.
After gaining some enlightenment and feeling that he had grown a lot, Salihovic was transferred from Zhongsi College and joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Union Government.
Milia de Jong never expected that this person whom she only knew through casual chatting with her sister would one day work with her on the Black Arrow Star.
Although according to Haiersi, Salihovic is actually a very good person at heart, but... although she is not familiar with Salihovic and has never personally experienced his special abilities, she does not want to experience it at all.
Let the native prince experience it.
…
At this moment, Prince Eureka felt as if he were in spring breeze.
The communication with this diplomat was the most comfortable time he had spent since he was captured at the end of the war.
The diplomat's words always hit the nail on the head, making him unable to help but follow his suggestions.
Finally, he nodded to Salihovic and said, "Mr. Diplomat, I will do everything I can to help you and hope to end the war."
Salihovich stood up and said to Eureka very solemnly and respectfully: "You are the most loyal subject of the empire. I pay my respects to you."
…
A month later, Salihovic and Prince Eureka, who had changed into decent clothes, boarded the Falcon to the heart of the Kingdom of Panpos.
He is a diplomat, and of course he came here on a diplomatic mission.
Sitting in his seat, he gazed at Prince Eureka, who was sitting upright in front of him with his back to him, with admiration in his eyes.
His next task, to a large extent, requires this person's help.
Because of this, in the past month, in addition to constantly communicating with local historians and political scholars to learn about the political history and traditional culture of Black Arrow Star and understand the current political landscape on the planet, he basically spent the rest of his time on this prince.
He used some of his old teaching skills from Zhongsi College, and with the help of a military political commissar, he had been working on the prince's ideological work.
The effect is remarkable.
Although he had convinced Prince Eureka to accept his proposal a month ago, it was still unstable.
After receiving the "enlightenment", Salihovic's abilities increased greatly. But in fact, it was not as strange as the outside world had transmitted, and he did not possess any supernatural abilities. He was originally good at judging people, speaking, and communicating. And now, he just had more experience in these aspects.
He is more able to capture other people's mentality from details that others don't notice, such as micro-movements, micro-expressions, and changes in tone; he also has a more precise grasp of his own speech skills, including what kind of expression and tone he should use when speaking. The combination of these two methods is the source of his ability to see through people's hearts and bewitch them.
Frankly speaking, it was nothing serious, but thanks to the Governor-General's favor, he was transferred to the Alliance Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The work here seemed to be able to better utilize his strengths than teaching at Zhongsi College.
So he came without hesitation.
He felt honored to contribute to the Governor's service.
In fact, the next diplomatic mission is not simple.
In the month since the end of the decisive battle, the two sides have not actually reached any ceasefire agreement and the war is still going on.
Although the Alliance won a great victory in the decisive battle, they also suffered a lot of losses. Although they fought a few good battles after the battle, the enemy retreated and contracted, occupying more land, and the impact on the manpower was not that great.
The Kingdom's army certainly does not have the ability to win the war, but if the alliance relies purely on military means, it will take a lot of time to win.
no need.
So, the rest is his task.
Of course, one possibility cannot be ruled out, that is, the current leader of the Kingdom Parliament, the old king of the Kingdom of Panpos, the largest country on Black Arrow Star, suddenly went mad and captured and killed his diplomat as soon as he landed.
Then just die.
But he feels that the risk is not great.
His guess was correct.
After he released an important prisoner of war, Prince Eureka, as a stepping stone and a gift, he was treated with considerable courtesy.
But it's just a courtesy.
After the first meeting with the old king, where the two sides roughly exchanged terms for a ceasefire, Salihovic lost the desire to have a serious conversation with the old king.
With his ability to judge people, he felt that the old king of Panbos really regarded "maintaining independence" as the final negotiation bottom line. At most, he would only accept the delivery of a certain population, wealth, and the cession of some land, but he was unwilling to hand over sovereignty. The country wanted independence, and would not accept the alliance's special ambassadors to dictate the country's politics...
And obviously, this is also unacceptable to the league.
From the very beginning, there was no room for further negotiations between the two sides.
But Salihovic continued to maintain the progress of the negotiations.
It’s true that the old king has this bottom line, but...what about the others?
The remaining forces on the entire Black Arrow Planet that were resisting the alliance were not only the Kingdom of Panbos; even within the Kingdom of Panbos, was the old king really so decisive? What were the attitudes of those generals and those powerful nobles?
Under the pretext of peace talks, Salihovic frequently contacted high-level figures of the Kingdom of Panbos.
In fact, this is not in accordance with the rules. Logically speaking, the only people Salihovic can reasonably contact are the people in charge of the connection with the Kingdom of Panbos and the Prime Minister.
But...the Prime Minister was convinced by him.
Many contacts with key figures are also conducted in secret.
Of course, it would be impossible for him alone to have the ability to secretly contact ministers and generals in other countries.
But isn't this the necessary help that someone is providing?
…
Two months have passed since the end of the decisive battle; it has also been a month since Salihovic came to the ruling area of the Kingdom of Panpos as the alliance ambassador.
Peace talks and the exchange of armistice conditions have been ongoing, and both sides have been "fully" exchanging views. Salihovic has held four formal talks with the old king of Pampas, and they have failed to reach an agreement every time. He has also negotiated on conditions with various ministers countless times, and both sides have been testing each other's bottom line.
At least that's what it seems like.
And during this time, the war continued.
The scale was not large, but everyone knew that the Kingdom of Pampas, or all the remaining kingdom troops, were actually dead, they just hadn't been buried yet.
Under Perbov's command, the Allied Forces advanced step by step, firmly capturing one strategic location after another.
The kingdom's army, which had neither strength nor morale, was completely unable to resist and collapsed at the first touch.
To use what Salihovic said in the diplomatic arena to Pampos and ambassadors from other countries, that is:
"What you can't get on the battlefield, don't expect to get at the negotiation table. All the demands of the alliance are not excessive. The only difference is that if we reach an agreement now and everyone ends this decently, maybe you can still have hope of survival; or you can continue to wait, waiting for our warriors to send all of you to the trial bench and the gallows one by one. By then, we can get everything we want, but no one can guarantee what you will have left by then."
There is no doubt that the failure of the previous decisive battle not only broke the backbone of the kingdom’s army, but also broke the backbone of the rulers in the rear.
At this moment, the news that this city had been conquered and that this army had been surrounded and annihilated kept coming in, like cutting their flesh bit by bit as they lay on the ground unable to resist.
For most people, their psychological defenses had collapsed after the decisive battle; the few who did not collapse also collapsed amid the frequent news of defeats during this period.
Against this background, the fifth formal negotiations between Salihovic and the old king of Pampas began.
They negotiated the terms as usual.
The chamberlain, who spoke on behalf of the old king, lowered the conditions again, as he had done several times before.
In general, they were willing to cede more land, give more wealth, and more people. They could even agree to the alliance's request to send envoys to the palace, but they only had the right to supervise and were not allowed to interfere in internal affairs.
Overall, there is progress.
According to Panpos and his ministers, even if they could not reach an agreement this time, it would be just like the previous times, and they could just wait for the next negotiation.
They still have hope for the situation on the battlefield.
It was impossible to win the war, but the kingdom still had a million soldiers who could resist layer by layer, retreat step by step, fight with a tenacious attitude, and show their strong determination.
Indeed, your alliance can get everything on the battlefield, but if you want to get anything, you need to pay with the blood of your soldiers. Is it worth it? Why not accept our conditions?
That’s roughly the mentality.
Salihovic had seen through this a long time ago.
Even after the first negotiation, he had already given up hope that the old king would accept the alliance's conditions. And the reason why he had been pretending to be nice to the king and his ministers of the Kingdom of Panbos for the past month was to prepare for a big event.
And today, all the necessary preparations have been made.
Then it's time.
This time, his attitude changed suddenly.
He no longer had the smiling face that he always had during past negotiations, which made the Panbos people have to admit that he was a very graceful and gentle man.
His expression became serious and earnest, even a little fierce.
"Altai Panpos, on behalf of the governor of the alliance, I express my deep regret to you. All the generous conditions of the alliance are based on the governor's true kindness. But in the past month, you have ignored the overall situation and repeatedly set unrealistic conditions, disregarding the good intentions of the governor."
"I reiterate the conditions of the alliance to you once again. According to the imperial decree, the order signed by the governor of Black Arrow Star is recognized by the Imperial Executive Council. The 'Alliance', as a legitimate interstellar organization of the Empire, has already effectively gained full ruling power over all the land and people of Black Arrow Star. As a subject of the Empire, you have no choice but to accept all the conditions of the alliance. There is no room for bargaining."
"This is my ultimatum to you on behalf of the Governor of the Alliance."
Salihovic's unusual toughness caught everyone off guard.
The old king coughed twice and said, "Can you give us a little more time? We need to discuss..."
"No." Salihovic refused decisively. "The ultimatum lasts for thirty seconds. Your Majesty, this is the last time I'm calling you this. Please give me your answer immediately. There will be no next negotiation."
Even though he had to show respect to Salihović because of the strength of the alliance, Altay was, after all, the de facto king who had controlled the most powerful kingdom on Black Arrow Star for decades. He had great royal authority and it was still a bit embarrassing to be threatened like this.
What’s more important is that the specific conditions proposed by Salihovic crossed his bottom line.
He would rather lose his country and his people than accept the conditions of the alliance. In his opinion, there is no difference between the two.
He took a deep breath, and the majesty of the king returned to his face again: "Mr. Ambassador, we cannot accept the alliance's proposal."
Salihovic had anticipated this.
He shook his head slightly, sighed, and said, "I understand. I will convey your meaning to our governor."
At this moment, heavy footsteps suddenly appeared behind him at the gate of the hall.
The old king could tell that it was the sound of the Sentinel Mechas and Knight Titans marching.
A young figure walked into the hall.
Prince Eureka took off his helmet and said to his father at the top:
"Father, times have changed."
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(End of this chapter)
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