Around 7:30 the next morning.
The Longcheng delegation had gotten up early, washed up, and followed the diplomatic officials who came to pick them up to the administrative building in front.
Everyone came to the negotiation venue and saw a simple banner hanging inside that read "Welcome to the Longcheng delegation."
The venue was filled with Blackwater Corps guards, each of them armed with live ammunition, looking at the members of the delegations with stern eyes.
The entire welcoming ceremony seemed very depressing and solemn.
Bruna, wearing a chief executive's coat, stood in the center of the crowd. Beside her were some of the core leaders of the Bana City administrative faction.
Boang also appeared at the meeting in a wheelchair, surrounded by military representatives of the Blackwater Corps.
After the representatives of both sides met, Fei Pingsheng smiled and extended his hand as usual: "Long time no see, Chief Bruna."
Bruna also smiled and was about to shake hands with Fei Pingsheng.
"Wait a moment."
At this moment, an officer in a neat uniform came over to Boang, stepped forward to stop Fei Pingsheng, and reminded him seriously: "Mr. Fei, the person in front of you is our Chief Executive of Bana City, Her Excellency Bruna Bernardo! Your actions are not in line with the diplomatic etiquette of our Bana City."
As he spoke, the officer placed one arm in front of his chest, leaned forward slightly and bowed, following a very standard Bana City etiquette template: "You should do this, Mr. Fei."
Fei Pingsheng was stunned for a moment, but soon nodded and said, "Okay, okay, I'm sorry for being rude."
As he spoke, Fei Pingsheng saluted Bruna in the Bana City way.
Bruna frowned, but said nothing, then gently returned the greeting.
Then, the officer solemnly introduced Boang beside him: "This is our Bana City's highest military commander, His Excellency Boang Bernardo! You should salute him, Mr. Fei."
Jin Maohui frowned when he heard this and was about to step forward. Fei Pingsheng stretched out his hand to stop him, then said to Boang in a tone of voice: "Dear commander of the Blackwater Corps, His Excellency Boang Bernardo, the highest military commander of Bana City, on behalf of Dragon City, I express my highest respect to you!"
As he said this, Fei Pingsheng performed a very standard Banacheng salute.
Boang glanced at him, nodded slightly, and said nothing.
Bruna watched from the side with a stern look, but didn't say anything.
After Fei Pingsheng saluted twice, a group of people entered the conference room.
Jin Maohui said nothing, a hint of unhappiness flashed across his brows, and his mood was very complicated.
Just a few months ago, whenever Boang saw him, he would always address him with the word "you". But in the blink of an eye, the other party acted superior and ignored him.
This shift happened so quickly, proving once again that politics is without emotion.
Jin Maohui tried hard to control his emotions and said nothing.
Everyone came to the table, took their seats, and began the day's negotiations.
At the meeting, the Bana City side proposed a large number of new alliance terms, which were placed one by one in front of Fei Pingsheng and his team.
During the entire process, Bruna hardly spoke. It was her administrative heads and military representatives such as Boang who negotiated with the Dragon City delegation.
The terms listed are similar to the ones in the report Bruna saw last time.
The most important issue is the distribution of profits from the Panama Canal. According to the new terms, Longcheng's profits were slashed by almost two-thirds compared to the previous share.
At the same time, Longcheng was also deprived of its right to station troops in Bana City. All troops could only be stationed in some unimportant towns outside the city, and the number of troops and armaments were strictly limited, making it almost impossible to form an effective force.
In addition, the size of the Chinese Association in Bana City has also been restricted. Not only that, the association's personnel, scope of activities, and activity schedule must be reported to the Bana City Administrative Office.
In terms of economic and trade, there are clear quantitative regulations on how much goods and military supplies the Old Triangle region should transport to Bana City each year, and all of them must increase.
Among these terms, the one that concerned Jin Maohui the most was that Bana City proposed that the number of all foreign officials would be reduced by 80 percent.
At the very beginning, when Lao Li's team, as well as the An faction and the Chinese district helped the Bernardo family to stabilize the regime again, they discussed the issue of the number of foreign officials. Forty to fifty percent of the main official seats would be given to the Chinese.
Jin Maohui and Fei Pingsheng both knew that this adjustment in the number of foreign officials was just the first move by Bana City.
It won't be long before they continue to cut back until there are no foreign officials in the entire city of Bana.
Faced with these conditions, from an objective and fair perspective, these clauses are undoubtedly oppressive.
After all, considering the precarious political situation in Bana City at the time, Bruna and Boang were able to hold on to power. The Lao Li team, the An faction, and the Chinese district all put in a lot of effort and paid a huge price.
The Blackwater Legion, which had already been broken, was rebuilt with the help of three forces.
As a result, in less than three years, the city of Bana wanted complete independence, which was tantamount to tearing up the original treaty and had a hint of betrayal in it.
But from the perspective of regional ethnic groups, there is nothing wrong with Bana City doing this. After all, no ethnic group or regime likes to be a colonial government.
During this period, Bruna looked a little guilty, while Boang looked calm.
However, what surprised both of them was that despite the aggressiveness of Bana City, the negotiations went exceptionally smoothly and there was not the gunpowder smell they had expected.
Throughout the negotiation, Jin Maohui and Fei Pingsheng showed very friendly attitudes.
Especially that old Fei, who was simply a seasoned man. When faced with these oppressive clauses, he hardly raised any objections or rebuttals, but instead said the most: "I agree."
Fei Pingsheng even offered cigarettes to Boang several times, but the latter refused them every time.
In this somewhat strange atmosphere, the negotiations ended surprisingly smoothly.
At 4:30 in the afternoon, the meeting ended and Bana City began to prepare for the dinner.
Boang controlled the wheelchair and walked out. His chief of staff walked beside him and couldn't help but whispered, "Mr. Boang... Why do I feel that this negotiation is going too smoothly?"
Boang said expressionlessly: "There is an old saying among Orientals, which is called a delaying tactic. Do you understand?"
The Chief of Staff nodded thoughtfully.
…
The dinner officially began at six o'clock in the evening.
Delegations from both Longcheng and Bana City attended the dinner, and a variety of exquisite local seafood was served for the guests to enjoy.
It seemed that because the negotiations went smoothly, the atmosphere of the dinner was quite harmonious.
Fei Pingsheng was particularly active at the dinner. After three rounds of drinks, he even took off his military uniform, blushed and hugged Boang and said, "Sir Boang, to be honest, as a soldier, I admire you very much! At such a young age, you have created such a fearsome and powerful army like the Blackwater Corps. You are a role model for my generation! I want to learn from you!"
Lao Fei's words were a bit corny, and Bruna, who was sitting next to him, frowned continuously, held her forehead, and was speechless.
Jin Maohui pretended not to see it and let Lao Fei play freely.
Boang was the most uncomfortable. He was a little overwhelmed when facing such a big brother. He was not used to the gangster spirit of the other party.
In the end, I could only perfunctorily drink two glasses of wine with Fei Pingsheng and chat with him casually.
When everyone had almost finished eating, Fei Pingsheng suddenly cleared his throat, walked to the stage, picked up the microphone and said, "Everyone, follow me!"
Everyone stopped talking and looked at him. Fei Pingsheng raised his glass and said with a smile, "Our negotiation went so smoothly this time. This is a great thing. It has promoted the friendship between Longcheng, Huaqu, and Bana City. At such a wonderful moment, I must announce something even better and bring everyone an unexpected surprise!"
Everyone was a little stunned, not knowing what Fei Pingsheng was up to.
Fei Pingsheng paused, glanced at everyone present, and said loudly: "Next, please welcome my surprise to make a shining debut!"
“Bang!”
The door to the conference hall was suddenly pushed open, and a guard in Longcheng uniform walked into the hall with a somewhat frivolous step.
Under the gaze of everyone, the guard reached out and took off the mask on his face, revealing a somewhat pale face - it was Bai Hongbo.
"Bang!"
Bruna pushed the chair away, stood up suddenly, stared at Bai Hongbo with her eyes, and her eyes turned red instantly.
Boang, who was standing aside, showed a trace of astonishment between his brows, and looked at the man who suddenly appeared in a daze.