Girls und War

"Well... let's do this," Xia Shu said decisively, chin in hand. "First, have your special forces stop sabotaging our logistics. Second, give up all remaining areas under your control in the rainforest. Then I can return those 400-plus soldier-level prisoners to you. What do you say?"

The condition given by Xia Shu is relatively reasonable.

First, if the Flower District and the Sakura District really intend to sit down and negotiate and redivide their territorial boundaries, then the special forces must stop their destruction.

Now that Xia Shu has put forward the conditions, it can be regarded as fulfilling this matter in advance.

Secondly, based on the psychological expectations of the Sakura District, there is really no point in continuing to control the remaining mountain ranges in the rainforest area after losing most of the control areas.

Rather than leaving them there in fear, it would be better to simply hand these places over and defend the Dada Mountains wholeheartedly.

So it is likely that we will have to let go of those areas.

It is indeed not too much to exchange these conditions for more than 400 soldiers.

But the importance of soldiers is not that high.

So the lieutenant colonel asked hurriedly, "What about the officers? What about them?"

"Officer...we probably captured..." Natsuki hesitated, seemingly unable to recall the exact number.

Then he heard Rush remind him, "Two hundred and twenty-one."

So Xia Shu said, "Yes, more than two hundred. This is not a small amount. Even if I wanted to, I don't have the right to just ask you to give it to me."

The Sakura District officer was a little disappointed when he heard this.

But before they came, they knew that things would definitely not be that simple.

Among this group of captured officers, there are more than 40 mid-level command officers, who are the most important military forces, and the Sakura District does not expect to get them back directly.

The remaining one-third were junior officers, one-third were armored officers, and one-third were logistics officers.

The sudden loss of this number of officers was a major blow to Sakura District.

They were anxious to redeem the girls so they could fill the defense gap in the Dada Mountains.

However, the Flower District and the Sakura District are still at war, and letting these people go back at this time is tantamount to letting a tiger return to the mountain.

Under normal circumstances, the Flower District will drag on for a year or two until the Sakura District has alleviated its weakness on its own, and only then will a large number of captured officers be released.

At this time, Xia Shu had already shown enough sincerity, and the Sakura District officers did not dare to ask for too much and could only reach a preliminary consensus for the time being.

As for the old captives that Hana-ku left behind at Sakura-ku's place, honestly, Natsuki couldn't care less.

Even if the prisoner-for-prisoner method was used to exchange back those old surrendered soldiers who had been in the Sakura District prisoner-of-war camp for an unknown period of time and had become distorted, in the end, Wutongqi could only be an extension of the combat operations of the original commander of the Alpine Front.

It has nothing to do with their special forces.

It’s like a good friend owes you money, and the goddess owes the good friend money. Can the accounts be settled in the end and the goddess owes you money?

Even if you want to, your good friends may not be happy about it.

By the same token, since Wutongqi lost to the surrendered soldiers from the Sakura District, there is no reason for Xia Shu to pay the debt for her.

Even if this is done, Wutongqi may not necessarily accept Xia Shu's kindness.

After all, the two of them are now enemies.

What Xia Shu needed most now was to use these prisoners to maximize his victory and turn the prisoners who could not generate military merit into actual strategic benefits.

This is the self-interested thinking that a mature commanding officer should have.

Otherwise, you will give away the land that your subordinates fought so hard for you.

What would his loyal subordinates think?

So after the two sides reached a preliminary willingness to reconcile, the Sakura District officer quickly left the Flower District transit station, returned to the command center, and ordered the Sakura Squad to stop their combat operations.

Feeling the other party's sincerity, Xia Shu quickly returned the prisoner with soldier rank to Sakura District, expressing his intention to reconcile.

After the Sakura District received these prisoners, they withdrew the remaining defensive forces in the Rainforest District as promised.

From then on, the entire alpine rainforest area fell into the hands of the flower area.

Xia Shu also gave the headquarters a perfect answer.

1002. Winner takes all, loser leaves

When Xia Shu compiled the results of the Hana-Sakura Battle into a preliminary report and handed it to Princess Zhao, Princess Zhao was satisfied deep down in her heart.

But on the surface, the special forces are still a little disobedient, and they are too close to the headquarters of the three armed forces.

Princess Zhao also noticed the little tricks that several generals did in private.

It's just that I didn't say it out loud because of face.

Xia Shu and her special operations command also played the role of pimps.

This made Princess Zhao a little dissatisfied, so her reply to Xia Shu contained a harsh warning.

Xia Shu naturally would not take these warnings seriously. After all, she was a meritorious person now, so she should be a little youthful and frivolous.

If he saw Princess Zhao's reply, he would take it as an imperial decree and immediately put on an attitude of being willing to learn, which would make Princess Zhao suspicious.

The inner thoughts of a commander-in-chief who holds such great power are quite complicated.

When working under her, you have to think twice before doing anything.

It’s like an emperor who prefers to use those he thinks are easy to control rather than those who are smarter than himself.

It can be said that being spoiled and arrogant, self-willed and self-righteous is the character that Xia Shu has arranged for himself now.

Perhaps, if you think about it carefully, the other generals in the Flower District are thinking deeper in their hearts than what they show on the surface.

-

On the other hand, now that the situation has been settled, the next step is peace talks between the two war zones.

As the losing party in the war, it is natural for Sakura District to sign a post-war contract.

But these things are not Xia Shu's concern, she just needs to take care of her own affairs.

A few days later, the headquarters of the Flower District and the Sakura District had made plans for peace talks, so they contacted each other and arranged an off-site peace negotiation meeting.

As the main officer commanding the operation, Xia Shu was also invited to attend the meeting.

Joining her in the meeting was Lieutenant General Wutongqi, the nominal commander-in-chief of the Flower District Alpine Front, and Chief of Staff Vivian, another Lieutenant General from headquarters representing Princess Zhao.

As for the other middle-level military officers in the flower district, they are of low rank and it is better not to mention them.

The corresponding officers in the Sakura District were Lieutenant General Oda Megumi, the headquarters commander, and Lieutenant General Hakuma Temple, the former commander-in-chief of the Alpine Front and current commander-in-chief of the Dada Mountains.

The only one left who was of equal stature to Natsuki was the famous Colonel Tamano Nadeshiko.

At this time, the two parties sat down in the peace negotiation room and then began detailed discussions on the truce between the Flower District and the Sakura District.

Xia Shu couldn't get a word in on topics like this, and was too lazy to say any more.

In addition to demarcating the existing border line, the more important thing for the truce between the two war zones is to confirm the truce time with each other, set up observation points at their respective military assembly points, and communicate with each other.

This is to prevent one party from suddenly tearing up the treaty and launching an unjust surprise attack.

However, as the victor, Huaqu is obviously unwilling to give up the right to attack easily.

The Sakura District did not dare to lower its guard against the Flower District.

So the debate between the two sides was very intense, and the point of contention was the setting of the observation point, where would be the better place to put it.

Although these things seem important, they have no meaning to Xia Shu who is about to leave the mountain front.

She just leaned back in her chair, staring at the ceiling in a daze, waiting for the meeting to end.

At this moment, a pair of eyes attracted his attention again.

Xia Shu looked across the table and found that it was the lady Tamano Fushiko who was looking at him with interest, with a slight smile on her lips.

Xia Shu didn't know why she was interested in him. It seemed that the commander of the special forces in Sakura District had no interest in the meeting either.

Come to think of it, special forces are only used for special offensive operations. The defense of the general front line really has nothing to do with them.

For example, the wrong command that occurred in Sakura District last time was corrected later.

That's why the "Sakura" team carried out a series of sabotage activities on their front-line logistics, which put Xia Shu in a very troubled situation.

That must be the work of Tamano Fushiko.

Thinking of this, Xia Shu nodded to her as a sign of respect.

Seeing this, Lord Nadeshiko nodded in return.

After a brief exchange, the two looked away.

Then I waited foolishly for the leaders of both sides to see when they would discuss the issue clearly.

On the first day of the meeting, both the Flower District and the Sakura District refused to give in. It seemed that each side had its own bottom line and its own reasons, and was not willing to accept the other side's conditions at all.

However, there was a lot of noise at the meeting. After the meeting, the two sides had a small amount of private contact and each gave the other a price that could be negotiated.

So the next day, the atmosphere on both sides eased. It seemed that overnight, they reached some kind of tacit understanding, knew their respective bottom lines, and began to bargain.

But peace talks are never something that can be achieved overnight.

They will lower their prices little by little, constantly testing and adjusting.

This process will continue for a long time until both parties sign a terms acceptable to them.

So the third day, the fourth day passed... until the meeting lasted for a week, and the contract was preliminarily finalized.

This ceasefire agreement is obviously beneficial to the Flower District but not to the Sakura District.

Because Huaqu, as the victorious party, has a natural advantage in discourse.

As for the details in the treaty, there is no need to carefully examine them one by one.

Just know that the Sakura District now fully acknowledges that the Flower District is in the control area of ​​the Alpine Front, based on the newly drawn Dada Mountains-Alpine Front.

And promised not to send large-scale combat troops capable of launching an attack to the Dada Mountains within one year.

The Flower District just needs to ensure that it does not launch a frontal offensive against the Dada Mountains.

At this point, the first strategic plan made by Huaqu has undoubtedly achieved complete victory.

No matter from which angle you look at it, the Flower District's suppressive operations against the Sakura District have gained all-round advantages.

Although this battle consumed a large amount of war resources, the short and strong fighting attitude undoubtedly demonstrated the extremely strong combat capability of the Flower District.

Just this point alone will prevent the surrounding war zones of all sizes from easily having any ideas about the flower district.

They are now like a young lady who beat up a little bitch who was too talkative in class, and has gained the fear and admiration of her classmates.

As for the Sakura District who were beaten up, no one cared about their feelings at this time.

The winner takes all, the loser loses everything - this has been the truth since ancient times.

1003. From Lieutenant Colonel to Colonel

Since the Sakura District has already admitted its defeat, it would be inappropriate for the Flower District to continue to be aggressive.

So they went on to sign a joint development agreement on the mineral area, and Hua District was also very generous in sending the captured officers back to the Dada Mountains.

To be honest, the decision made by Huaqu was completely beyond their expectations.

After all, officers were the core of regional defense. Releasing these prisoners meant the Dada Mountains wouldn't have to endure a miserable period of weakness, and would immediately gain a military foundation sufficient for a counterattack.

This undoubtedly showed the Hana District's great sincerity, so much so that even the Sakura District's command began to be somewhat moved. It was as if they had forgotten who had beaten them like this.

So, this is how the Stockholm patient came about.

There is a reason why the flower district does this.

First of all, the resources in the mountainous area are relatively scarce and the production of materials is not abundant.

Therefore, investing a large number of troops in defense is very cost-effective and not economical.

Moreover, the snowy areas in the north have been eyeing us covetously, with the ambition to open up an ice-free port in the south.

Instead of bearing all the pressure by yourself, it is better to reach a defensive agreement with the Sakura District and let them share the pressure from the Snow District.

As for whether this move will make Sakura District have some other thoughts - to be honest, even if Hana District doesn't do this, Sakura District will not be grateful to Hana District.