Daming Military Empire

Chapter 699 Please ask for peace talks again, trying to delay
The anti-Habsburg alliance was put together by the iron-clad warships of the Ming Empire in the Atlantic decisive battle, and was defeated. At the same time, the secret of the iron-clad warships was discovered.

After the great powers got together to negotiate, they decided to put forward a request for peace talks, delay the time, and try their best to build iron-clad warships in order to turn defeat into victory.

This idea is good, and the Habsburg Alliance of Ming Dynasty also accepted their request for peace talks, but the result of this peace talk was not even expected by them.

The venue for the peace talks this time was Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. In order to show its sincerity, the Anti-Habsburg Alliance sent a delegation to Lisbon to wait for the peace talks. However, the peace talks envoys from the Ming Empire took nearly a month to arrive.

Procrastination is fine, the anti-Habsburg alliance is just trying to delay the time, even if the negotiators of the Ming Empire delay their arrival for a year, they have no objection.

After Zheng Zhilong arrived in Lisbon, he did not procrastinate any more. On the day of his arrival, he sent people to inform all the representatives involved in the negotiations, and the negotiations started on time the next morning.

This time, the lineup sent by the anti-Habsburg alliance is unprecedentedly strong, and the leader is no longer Dutch negotiator Spike, but Duke Richelieu, the behind-the-scenes controller of the anti-Habsburg alliance. The Earls of Bradford, Urfurt, Uxencien, including Speke, are all powerful figures in various countries.

As for the Daming Habsburg Alliance, there are only three in total, namely Zheng Zhilong, Shivela and Oquendo.

Three against five, it seems that the Daming Habsburg Alliance is a bit weaker, but the negotiation scene is not like this at all.

The negotiation was relatively calm at the beginning. After the two sides sat down on both sides of the negotiating table, neither of them spoke. Richelieu is also the old god, as if waiting for someone to beg him.

The two sides stalemate for about a quarter of an hour, and Zheng Zhilong became a little annoyed, not because he couldn't wait, but mainly because he couldn't understand Richelieu's pretense.

What kind of pretense are you pretending? If you can’t beat him, you’re still pretending to be aggressive. You’re addicted to pretending, right? He couldn’t help but sneer: “Do you want to talk about it? If you don’t want to talk about it, please go back. We just don’t want to talk about it either.”

This is a blatant slap in the face, the meaning is obvious, if you don't speak again, get out, I am too lazy to serve you.

Richelieu blushed at his words, and couldn't pretend anymore. After all, they came to seek peace and delay time. If they were sent back like this, they would really be doomed.

He thought for a while, put on a serious face, and said solemnly: "Your Highness, on behalf of the Anti-Habsburg Alliance, I strongly condemn all the aggression of your country and your country's allies. The east coast of the Ou River, the south of France, the south of Holland, and the east coast of North America, withdrew immediately, and immediately returned to our North American colonies, and promised not to invade the English Channel by force."

Oops, the toad yawned so loudly, I thought you were the victors!
Zheng Zhilong decided to tease the old fox.

Hearing the words, he didn't reply right away, but pretended to think for a while before hesitating and said: "It's not impossible to retreat, but you have to show a little sincerity."

It is certain that he will be slaughtered. Richelieu also understands that it is impossible for the Ming Empire to withdraw without paying a price. He said with a blank face: "Well, you say."

This guy can really pretend, Zheng Zhilong smiled darkly, took out a piece of letter paper from his bosom, opened it, put it in front of him and read slowly: "

First, please withdraw your troops from Spain and Portugal immediately;

Second, please open all the ports along the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, and allow merchants from the Ming Empire and its allies to conduct trade freely;

Third, you must compensate Daming Habsburg Alliance war losses totaling 30 billion taels of silver;
Fourth, you must permanently cede the Ports of Dover, Calais and the surrounding areas;
Fifth, you must reduce the army under the supervision of the Ming Empire, and the number of armies in each country must not exceed 1;

Sixth, you must reduce your navy under the supervision of the Ming Empire, and the number of super battleships in each country must not exceed ten. "

Is this condition still called peace talks?
No matter how deep the city of Richelieu was, he couldn't help but turned into anger from embarrassment: "Don't you think these conditions are too much?"

Representatives of other anti-Habsburg alliance powers also had faces full of anger. Can this condition be called peace talks? It just makes people kneel down and sing conquest!

Zheng Zhilong replied solemnly: "I don't think these are too much at all. You are the first to do it. If you dare to do it, you must be prepared and be prepared to bear the consequences of defeat."

Richelieu is so angry, he originally wanted to bargain with Zheng Zhilong, to get the Ming Empire to retreat, how can he bargain on this condition, except for the first one, the others are exaggerated to an outrageous level, there is no need to discuss it at all.

He couldn't help but refuted: "What is the consequence of defeat? Are we defeated? Can the outcome of a battle determine the entire situation?"

Zheng Zhilong said coldly: "If you don't accept it, keep fighting. We didn't ask for a truce."

When Richelieu heard this, his heart trembled, he finally remembered that he was here to fool others into retreating, how could he forget everything when he was provoked.

He suppressed the anger in his heart, and said in a tone as calm as possible: "We came to the peace talks with sincerity, Your Royal Highness, the conditions you put forward are a bit too harsh."

Zheng Zhilong changed his face so fast, he was tough when he was hard, and now he was soft, he immediately smiled and said: "Isn't this a negotiation? If you think it's unreasonable, you can bring it up. Let's discuss it."

When Richelieu heard this, he immediately probed: "Can the second question about treaty ports be appropriately reduced?"

Zheng Zhilong smiled and nodded, "Yes."

Richelieu tried again: "The third question about compensation, can it be appropriately reduced?"

Zheng Zhilong still smiled and nodded: "Yes."

Richelieu gritted his teeth, and finally asked tentatively: "Can Articles [-] to [-] be cancelled?"

Zheng Zhilong replied solemnly: "The fourth article is negotiable about the size of the ceded land, and the fifth and sixth articles about the number of troops and the number of super battleships can also be relaxed a little bit. It is impossible to cancel it!"

If Articles [-] to [-] cannot be cancelled, there is no need to discuss it. Richelieu became angry again and said, "Then His Royal Highness means that there is nothing to discuss."

Zheng Zhilong shrugged, spread his hands and said, "I didn't say anything, we can talk about anything."

Isn't this clearly a trick, Richelieu said sinisterly: "Don't think that we really have nothing to do, we just stay in the port and can't get out, what can you do?"

Zheng Zhilong said indifferently: "Let's wait and see."

Seeing Zheng Zhilong's attitude, Richelieu knew it would be useless to talk too much, so he snorted angrily, stood up abruptly, turned and walked out.

Representatives of other anti-Habsburg alliance powers also got up angrily and walked away, and the first peace talks ended.

(End of this chapter)