si-mexico Chapter 503 I Will Lead the Negotiations
Chapter 503 I Will Lead the Negotiations
Li Shaoyi sorted himself out, nodded with a smile, and then led the participants in.
"You all came earlier than me, but there are some things I want to say in advance. Please close the door first."
There were several special envoys from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the room. The two sides had already met at the dinner that night. They would assist Li Shaoyi in the negotiations. After all, Li Shaoyi was the protagonist of the negotiations. Only when Li Shaoyi asked about certain international relations laws would these people give some opinions, otherwise they would not interfere.
"Commander Li, please speak."
A special envoy named Sun is the representative of the Nanjing Ministry of Foreign Affairs. There are several staff members here at the moment, but they also received orders when they came. Everything must be under the command of Li Shaoyi. They must not make decisions on their own. After all, this concerns military and national affairs.
Although the Nanjing National Government hopes to cease fire immediately, the decision is in the hands of Li Shaoyi. If we reach an agreement through negotiation but he doesn't recognize it, or if we disrupt the negotiations but he doesn't want to fight, neither of these will be good for us. It will allow outsiders to see the contradiction between us and the 72nd Division, which is at least not a good thing for the current international situation.
"Regarding today's negotiations, I'd like to come in person. It would be best if we could have a result this morning without going through all the cumbersome formalities."
When Li Shaoyi finished speaking, everyone present was dumbfounded. Negotiations of this level would probably take at least half a month, and you don't know anything about diplomacy. If you were to personally participate, once the talks broke down, there would be no room for maneuver.
"Thank you, Commander. We are all just officials. We can say whatever we want, whether it's deep or shallow, and we can even regret it behind closed doors. It's definitely different. You represent 200,000 soldiers from the north. You can't go back on your words."
Special Envoy Sun performed quite well, this was also from Li Shaoyi's perspective. At this level of negotiation, most of the time the people below were testing each other, and only when it was almost over did the leaders come out to express their opinions.
"Director Sun, don't worry. I will record everything. Even if something happens in the future, it will never happen to you. There are some things that don't need to waste our time."
Director Sun was a little confused by Li Shaoyi's attitude. When he went to the dinner that night, some people from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had already reached an agreement with Li Shaoyi. Today, Li Shaoyi just came to show up. Li Shaoyi could not show up in the negotiations for the next few days. He could just play the game as he pleased. When the talks were almost over, Li Shaoyi would come out for a formal high-level meeting with the other party.
But it’s only been one day, how come I have changed everything?
"Okay, Commander Li."
Director Sun is an old man in the officialdom after all. He has seen some people with capricious moods. Now he regards Li Shaoyi as such a person. Some words are on the tip of his tongue, but he just can't say them. After all, as a civil servant, he always feels that he is not strong enough to talk about these warlords.
When the civil servants in Nanjing quarreled with the local warlords, the Nanjing National Government would usually transfer these civil servants from their original positions in order to calm the situation. The fundamental reason was that they were not as effective as those who held guns.
"Don't worry, Director Sun. I'm just saying it my way. If you have any correct suggestions, you can remind me during the meeting, including you."
Li Shaoyi was also a smart man. He understood what Director Sun wanted to say in an instant. After hearing what Li Shaoyi said, Director Sun nodded. If it weren't for Li Shaoyi's later words, he really thought that Li Shaoyi had lost his mind.
As soon as Li Shaoyi finished speaking, the door opened from the outside and the negotiating representative from the Rakshasa side came in.
The leader was naturally Mr. Delbakoff, followed by some senior officials of the Russian Foreign Affairs Committee.
After a brief introduction, both parties sat in their respective seats. As the host, Li Shaoyi's side should have been responsible for Director Sun's statement of the causes and process of the war, according to the original meeting arrangement. Of course, when making the statement, he would certainly put all the blame on the Luosha side.
Similarly, after Director Sun finished his statement, the Luosha officials would also go through a similar procedure. Just when Delbakov was waiting for Director Sun to speak, Li Shaoyi knocked on the table with his hand. This was a very impolite behavior in a diplomatic negotiation. Delbakov and other Luosha officials frowned at Li Shaoyi, wondering what tricks this guy was going to play.
"Dear gentlemen, I believe it's necessary to change the course of this negotiation. I have received accurate intelligence that your Far East Military Region is in talks with high-ranking officials of the Japanese Kwantung Army. Don't deny this. I have concrete evidence. This is extremely unfriendly to us, so I intend to shorten the negotiation time and have a conclusion this morning."
After Li Shaoyi's words came out, most of the Luosha participants looked ridiculous.
They thought this was absolutely impossible. Since the end of the Russo-Japanese War, the two sides had basically been in a state of confrontation. After 1931, the Russians even transferred most of their interests in the Northeast to Japan, which was considered a shame by the Russians.
How could we possibly get in touch with those damn Japs?
This was a sentence that appeared in the minds of most of the participants, but this sentence did not appear in Delbakov's mind. Instead, another sentence appeared in his mind, which was how did Li Shaoyi know about this matter? Wasn't everything done in secret?
"General Li, I don't know what your so-called evidence is. I just want to tell you that what's at stake is hundreds of thousands of square kilometers of land and over a million civilians in the Outer Xiongnu. This isn't some trivial matter. To be able to decide on this level of negotiation this morning is simply ridiculous."
Delbakov's psychological quality is absolutely top-notch. After hearing what Li Shaoyi said, this guy's face didn't even change at all, as if he was chatting with a neighbor. He didn't look like someone who was hurt by someone else at all.
"The issue we need to discuss is very simple. Using the current occupied line as the border, you will withdraw 30 kilometers and treat it as a neutral zone. Both sides will sign a non-aggression agreement and pay us 20 million in compensation for military expenses."
After Li Shaoyi finished speaking, except for Li Sibei and a few followers, the rest of the people looked surprised and some even cried out.