While the war in the East China Sea was in full swing, a strange silence fell between the Shang, Tang and Cai kingdoms.
The State of Cai suddenly arrested almost all the merchants and civilians from the Shang Kingdom and the Tang Kingdom within its territory and took them as hostages. The Shang Kingdom and the Tang Kingdom had to suspend their military operations.
At the same time, intense negotiations began.
The countries further north and west also immediately stopped their military operations and watched quietly. To be honest, the Cai State's actions were a bit mean and shameless, which was not a method a king should use, but it must be said that it was really effective.
But as the news spread, the people of the Shang Kingdom were the first to get angry, especially the merchants, who were furious beyond measure.
Before Li Xian made an official response, a group of merchants led by Zhang Xianzhang, Wang Jingde, Xie Yuhua, Guo Youcai, Yuan Zhao and others found Li Xian.
These businessmen are all very smart, otherwise they would not have built up their current business. They realized the impact of this incident at the first time.
If the Shang Kingdom had handled this matter a little softly, the consequences would have been disastrous. Other countries would have adopted various means to blackmail, squeeze, and extort the interests of merchants.
Li Xian met with all the merchant representatives in the open space in front of the City Lord's Mansion. There were too many people and the meeting hall could not accommodate them.
Zhang Xianzhang was the first to speak: "Xian Wang, we cannot give in on this matter! Otherwise, there will be endless troubles!"
Xie Yuhua also stepped forward and said: "Xian Wang, this is a provocation, we must fight back strongly. We also have many people from the State of Cai in our country..."
He is really petty.
Li Xian interrupted Xie Yuhua and said, "The most urgent task now is not revenge, but to rescue those hostages."
Zhang Xianzhang immediately sighed: "The Cai Kingdom will not let us go easily! In fact, if we show too much importance, they will not let us go even more!"
The surrounding merchants immediately became noisy. Some said that they should try their best to save people, but more merchants believed that they should save those who could be saved. If the State of Cai insisted, they should let the State of Cai be buried with these merchants!
"At worst I'll be buried with the country! If a country can bury me with the country after my death, I'll die with a smile on my face!" Zhang Xianzhang also acted very tough.
And such opinions actually became the mainstream!
Li Xian looked at it and couldn't help but sigh, the fairyland is the fairyland, the people here think more about the theory of the strong and the survival of the strong, rather than the so-called democracy.
After knowing the opinions of the merchants and the people, Li Xian had a plan. He then used kind words to appease the merchants and the people, and then discussed strategies with Xu Ren, Li Yuanming and others.
However, Zhao's Secretary Ji Buxian had already left to find the Emperor of Cai to test the waters. In order to cooperate with the Kingdom of Shang, Ji Buxian also paid a lot.
Ji Buxian returned in the afternoon. "The Cai State has captured about 4,000 hostages in total. These people are being held separately, and their specific circumstances are unknown. The Cai State Emperor was very tough. He demanded that we withdraw all the existing troops. He also demanded that we return all the land that Cai State had in the past and restore the territory of Cai State five years ago. At the same time, he also asked us to cede Baofeng County and other territories that originally belonged to Xiao State to Cai State. In addition, the Cai State Emperor also said that he would only give us three days. After three days, we will kill 40 to 50 people every day. He also said that 4,000 people can kill for three months. In addition, all the technology, engineers, etc. from the Shang Kingdom must be sent to Cai State in full."