Tiger Owl

Chapter 308 Negotiations Resume
Chen Qun and two deputy envoys arrived in Chaisang for the second time. Although the second round of negotiations was originally scheduled to begin only after Wu Guotai arrived in Chaisang, as requested by Lu Su, it was later slightly adjusted so that the negotiations could only end after Wu Guotai arrived in Chaisang.

This means that they can talk and wait at the same time. More importantly, Chen Qun provided Chaisang with a copy of Cao Cao's order to send back Wu Guotai.

Lu Su relented and stopped pressing Wu Guotai for details, and the two sides began negotiations once again.

This time, Lu Su spoke first, "How has your side considered the requests we made earlier?"

"Land, population, food?" Chen Qun asked cautiously.

Lu Su nodded, "That's right!"

Chen Qun took a deep breath and said, "Let's talk about the land first! The Prime Minister has agreed to restore the pre-war borders. Lujiang County and Jiangxia County will be returned to you. Once the agreement is reached, we will immediately withdraw our troops and withdraw all of our troops from the two counties, including the three passes of Yiyang, within three days."

“Very good!” Lu Su said happily, “We have already reached a consensus on the land issue, so there’s no need to dwell on it anymore.”

"and many more!"

Chen Qun asked urgently, "And what about Qiupu County in Danyang Prefecture?"

Qiupu County in Danyang Commandery is currently Zhou Yu's garrison. Lu Su said calmly, "When we captured Qiupu County, Jiangdong had not yet fallen!"

The implication is that they seized Qiupu County from Jiangdong, and it had nothing to do with Cao Cao's army.

Chen Qun quickly shook his head, "That won't do, Qiupu County must be returned."

"Military Advisor Chen!"

Lu Su's voice became stern, "If we are to return Qiupu County, then Cao Cao's army must also be returned to the Sun family in Jiangdong!"

Chen Qun was stunned. What the other party said was absolutely right. If their Cao army could occupy Jiangdong, why couldn't Western Chu occupy Qiupu County?
At this moment, Deputy Envoy Wang Lang quickly smoothed things over, "Strategist, we should consult the Prime Minister again about Qiupu County. We can discuss that later and talk about other things first!"

"Alright! I need to consult with the authorities regarding Qiupu County. We'll discuss that next time. Now, let's talk about the population issue."

Chen Qun hesitated for a moment and then continued, "But I hope Strategist Lu can understand that it is unrealistic to relocate 200,000 households. We simply cannot find that many people. If we agree to that, it would be a deception of you. What I want to talk about is not a seven-year agreement."

Chen Qun's frankness softened Lu Su's expression considerably, and a slight smile appeared on his face. "Two hundred thousand households is indeed a bit too much, and we can't handle it. So, how much do you intend to provide?"

"Change 200,000 households to 200,000 people! Then we can agree."

Lu Su shook his head. "That's too little. Reducing it by three or four times at once? There's no way to negotiate like that!"

Chen Qun quickly explained, "Seven counties in the northwest of Runan Prefecture, namely Xihua, Zhaoling, Xiping, Zhengqiang, Ruyang, Dingying, and Wufang, have suffered severe drought and locust plagues, resulting in 36,000 households of refugees who have left their homes and gathered in Xiping County. We can send all 36,000 households of refugees to Lujiang Prefecture and Jiangxia Prefecture. Military Advisor Lu, this is not an empty promise, but a concrete immigration plan. We have already begun escorting these people to the Yiyang Three Passes. Once an agreement is reached, they will immediately pass through the Yiyang Three Passes and enter Jiangxia Prefecture, where they will be handed over to you."

In reality, Gan Ning's bottom line for negotiating with Lu Su was 200,000 people to be relocated, but they made an exorbitant demand, changing 200,000 people to 200,000 households.

Lu Su pondered for a moment and said, "Let's discuss this first. Please wait a moment, Military Advisor Chen!"

Chen Qun smiled and waved his hand, "Please go ahead!"

Lu Su, Yin Mo, and Zhuge Jin walked into the inner room together. Mao Jie whispered to Chen Qun, "Strategist, they didn't say they were going to report to the Marquis of Chu, but instead discussed it internally. They've exposed their bottom line; they can actually accept it." Chen Qun nodded. "You're right. The 36,000 disaster victims that they can actually receive are a fatal attraction for them."

In the room, Lu Su and the other two sat down. Lu Su said to the other two, "The bottom line given to me by the Marquis of Chu is 200,000 immigrants. I think this is a good opportunity. What are your opinions?"

Yin Mo stroked his beard and smiled, "These are real disaster victims! They are things we can actually obtain. Strategist, we can't let this opportunity slip by."

Zhuge Jin also said, "Two hundred thousand immigrants is already a huge burden. They will consume a lot of food every day until the summer harvest, which is a full six months. I personally think that two hundred thousand is the limit that we can accept."

The three immediately reached an agreement to accept the plan and asked them to transfer the disaster victims southward as soon as possible.

The three returned to the negotiating table and sat down again. Lu Su then said to Chen Qun with a serious expression, "We can accept this plan for 36,000 disaster victims, but we have a few conditions."

Chen Qun was overjoyed that the other party had indeed accepted. He quickly said, "Military Advisor Lu, please speak!"

"Because our negotiations may take a long time, but we are worried that the disaster victims may change their minds, so we ask that you immediately transfer the disaster victims southward, and at the same time provide them with enough dry food and winter clothing to prevent loss of people on the way. If an agreement is reached, we can ultimately bear the cost of this dry food and winter clothing."

"no problem!"

Chen Qun readily agreed, "We are already transferring disaster victims south. As for dry food and winter clothing, we can provide those as well. The army has old winter clothing and dry food."

"The second condition is that once we reach the three passes of Yiyang, these disaster victims will be handed over to us for care. You can send troops to monitor them, but you can only monitor them and cannot interfere."

Chen Qun thought for a moment and said, "You can send officials and a small number of troops to manage the disaster victims. We will decide on the specific number after I report to the Prime Minister."

Lu Su immediately agreed. The other side wanted to get rid of the disaster victims, while Western Chu wanted to take them in. The two sides reached a win-win solution.

No one expected that the second most difficult population negotiation would be reached so easily.

However, the third grain negotiation was more difficult. Chen Qun was only willing to offer 200,000 shi of grain as compensation, while Lu Su clearly told Chen Qun that 500,000 shi of grain was their bottom line, and there was no point in negotiating if it was less than that.

“Military Advisor Lu, 200,000 shi of grain is already a lot. After all, we are not defeated, but merely at a ceasefire. You cannot demand that we be treated as the defeated!” Chen Qun’s tone was already tinged with dissatisfaction.

Lu Su shook his head, his tone unusually serious and unambiguous.

“If you are the defeated, it’s not just a matter of a little bit of food. What we are demanding now is compensation. I made it very clear before that Jiangxia County and Lujiang County have had no harvest for a year, and there is also abandoned land and forced migration. All of this was caused by your invasion, and you must compensate us.”

"Therefore, we believe that compensation of 200,000 koku is sufficient!"

“We cannot agree to a ceasefire unless the amount is less than 500,000 shi (a unit of dry measure).”

The two sides remained deadlocked until the afternoon, when finally Lu Su slowly said, "How about this? Let's both go back and report. We'll continue negotiating the remaining differences in the third round."

Chen Qun had no choice but to nod, "Okay! I do need to go back and report."

That afternoon, Chen Qun once again left Chaisang by boat and returned to Hefei. The two sides agreed to begin the third round of negotiations on the tenth day of the first lunar month.

(End of this chapter)