As a junior, Kong Yingzhi respectfully but not flatteringly welcomed the Jin delegation into the city lord's mansion and treated them as guests of honor.
After a few pleasantries, both sides got straight to the point.
Faced with the "good intentions" of Sima Xuan, the prime minister of Jin, Kong Yingzhi was very direct: "We are willing to become brothers with Jin and not invade each other. If we can join forces to capture Anyang, we will share all of Anyang's technology."
"Great, that's great!" Sima Xuan was delighted. "We have a million elite soldiers in Jin, and we can mobilize them at any time. We will always be the strongest backing for Nanyang County."
"Thank you so much." Kong Yingzhi was grateful on the surface, but he felt a little nervous inside. A million elite soldiers, this is an implicit threat - if you, the Kong family, are obedient, these million elite soldiers will be a solid backing; if you are not obedient, these million elite soldiers will be an indestructible millstone.
You, the Kong family, must consider carefully whether you want our Jin State to be your backing or to be your millstone.
Because Kong Donglai was in charge of the war at the front and had not returned yet, Kong Yingzhi did not dare to sign the full oath for the time being; but the two parties had reached a verbal agreement and were just waiting for Kong Donglai to come back.
The matter was of great importance, so Kong Yingzhi asked his younger brother Kong Yingcai to go to the front to find his father Kong Donglai and take over his father's military deployment. The envoys of Jin State did not leave, but stayed here to learn about the current situation of Daxia State. To put it bluntly, they were blatant spies.
At night, when it was quiet, Jin's Prime Minister Sima Xuan and the commander of the central army Li Lisong exchanged quietly:
Sima Xuan dipped his tea in the water and drew a simple outline on the table, which was the current form of local separatism in Daxia. "Now there are many countries in the east of Yingzhou, and they have been confronting each other for hundreds of years without major changes. The sudden change of Daxia is an opportunity to break this thousand-year dullness. And we are close to Daxia. Only by taking the opportunity to swallow up a part of Daxia and strengthen ourselves can Jin gain the upper hand in the future chaos. This was the idea in the past. But now there is the variable of Anyang. This unprecedented industrial and commercial development model caught us off guard. The extensive use of artillery can greatly offset the role of ordinary soldiers. So I think it is more important to obtain Anyang's technology and talents than to obtain land."
Li Lisong nodded: "I have seen the power of artillery with my own eyes. The power of a small artillery explosion is equivalent to the general attack power of the Jindan stage; but artillery attacks from all directions. The explosive power of a large artillery is almost comparable to the self-detonation of a Jindan stage master. In particular, the attack of artillery is earth-shattering and has a great impact on the soldiers' minds. In addition, there are airplanes, ironclad ships, and trains, which are all technologies that must be obtained. In particular, train technology can deploy millions of soldiers thousands of miles away in just half a day. This technology must be obtained."
Sima Xuan was puzzled: "Train technology is just an internal combustion engine. Anyang has also made public the design drawings of the internal combustion engine. What difficulties are there?"
"There are so many difficulties. Before I set off, I went to see the internal combustion engine produced by the royal craftsmen. It was terrible and could not function at all."
Sima Xuan was thoughtful: "It seems that Anyang really has something to hide. Li Xian is not such a generous person."