There was no room for negotiation on the first clause; Sima Xuan was still somewhat embarrassed to formally admit defeat in front of all the representatives of the countries. Admitting defeat made the negotiation atmosphere in Jin State quite depressing. The confrontation had already begun.
But after a little hesitation, Sima Xuan signed the surrender document. All the delegates signed in turn; more than 50 people from Anyang and more than 30 people from Jin also signed in turn.
Then, Xu Ren announced the second condition: "Second, Anyang's various expenditures this time totaled 38.7 million taels of gold; Anyang lost more than 15 million taels of gold due to the war. A total of 53.7 million taels of gold. Anyang only wants gold and silver; calculated at one tael of gold for ten taels of silver. The purity of gold and silver must be above 99.95%. The deadline is 365 days. If it is not paid within the deadline, it will be calculated at an annual interest rate of 20%; interest will be compounded."
When this condition was put forward, Jin State Prime Minister Sima Xuan boldly slammed the table and cursed: "This is blackmail. You are a small Anyang, and you invested more than 50 million taels of gold in a war? Even if I buy your entire Anyang, I can't sell it for 5 million taels of gold!"
As for Anyang, Fang Shijing rolled up his sleeves rudely. "The Brilliant Star Group and its textile branch sold cloth worth two million taels of gold a month. The smelting branch sold iron ingots worth 1.8 million taels of gold a month. The sales of industrial wires last month reached 3.79 million taels of gold. The sales of cement last month reached 2.83 million taels of gold! Stainless steel alone was sold to Dragon Palace for 4.2 million taels of gold. An ironclad warship was sold to the Sea Clan for 12.5 million taels of gold. And there are many more. Anyang is much stronger than your poor and remote place! I, Anyang, can hit people with gold!"
The merchants around Anyang nodded immediately, agreeing with Fang Shijing's talk. Because of the liquid spiritual energy, Anyang and the sea tribe have begun to use gold to settle transactions; gold is the best carrier of luck, and for Anyang now, it is more cost-effective than spiritual stones.
The people around him gasped, and for the first time they clearly understood how wealthy Anyang was. An ironclad ship was sold for 12.5 million taels of gold, which was almost the annual fiscal revenue of an ordinary empire!
Although fiscal revenue is not the entire income of the empire, as an empire, there are also some magic tools, spiritual medicines, etc., and there are royal businesses, which bring higher income. But Anyang has only been developed for less than four years and is only one county. Of course, after swallowing up Luliang County, Anyang already has the area of two counties, which is equivalent to Nanyang County.
Sima Xuan was speechless for a moment because of Fang Shijing's figures. As the saying goes, if you don't investigate, you have no right to speak. Sima Xuan nodded for a while, and finally made a compromise, "The losses in Anyang and Jin only account for half of the total losses. The other half needs to be borne by Nanyang County and Dongyuan County."
Xu Ren took over the conversation: "Now it is a negotiation between the two of us. It has nothing to do with Nanyang County and Dongyuan County. We will negotiate with them separately."
"Then we can only pay half the money at most!"
"No, no," Xu Ren waved his hand confidently and elegantly, "Haven't you heard of Anyang's current catchphrase, which is 'business is business'. This war is also a fierce commercial activity, and it is compulsory and has the one-sided nature of 'the winner takes all'. If we invest, we must have output. Therefore, 53.7 million taels of gold, not a penny less!"