The world of film and television begins with the God of Medicine.

Chapter 1650 Capture
Su Zixuan felt the warmth of that hand, and instantly a huge heat rose from within her, making her feel itchy from the inside out, both uncomfortable and very comfortable...

Wang Yan's words rang right next to her ear; she could even feel the breath he exhaled as he spoke.

"Look at you, you tease me with your words, but when it comes to getting serious, you're all stiff and at a loss."

Wang Yan lifted Su Zixuan's chin, "Don't be reckless if there's nothing wrong."

Su Zixuan struggled to get out of Wang Yan's arms, her pretty face flushed, whether from embarrassment or anger, it was hard to tell.

She seemed unaffected, forcing herself to pour tea for Wang Yan: "Sir, you've misunderstood me. I only have your best interests at heart. Assassinating you is not something I can decide. All the promises I made to you were true. If I had agreed, none of this would have happened."

"But you still don't get respect, do you?" Wang Yan chuckled as he sipped his tea. "Look how much better things are now. Thousands of people have died or been injured, but now everyone can have an equal dialogue, and they've even brought you back to negotiate peace. So, what are your conditions?"

"What are your terms, sir?"

“I’ve heard that when negotiating prices, whoever bids first loses. Now it seems I’m the winner, so how can I bid first? You want to settle, and I can refuse, but you can’t refuse.”

This is what makes the Heavenly Kingdom's situation difficult. Before the actual battle began, they did give Wang Yan considerable attention, otherwise they wouldn't have visited him repeatedly to recruit him. However, they didn't give him enough attention either, otherwise they wouldn't have decided to attack Wang Yan so casually.

Little did they expect that Wang Yan would be so difficult to deal with; he hadn't even gone all out yet, and he had already put them in a dilemma...

"How could a mere woman like me make such a decision? I'm just a mouthpiece. The one who truly makes the decision is Prince Ying."

Wang Yan nodded with a smile: "Let's do it tomorrow at Chenshi (7-9 AM), when it'll be cooler. I'll have a chat with Prince Ying on the front lines."

“Then you must first come up with a plan so that I can discuss it with the Prince.”

“I never intended to fight this war in the first place! Now, after two months of this, more than two hundred of my brothers have died, dozens more are waiting to die, more than a hundred are disabled, and hundreds more have various injuries. Now that Heaven wants to stop fighting, my casualties must be compensated. You can discuss it amongst yourselves.”

"Understood, then this young lady will take her leave now."

Su Zixuan responded and turned to leave the training ground, her steps slightly hurried.

After walking some distance, she couldn't help but glance back, only to see Wang Yan watching her with a smile. She cursed under her breath and quickly walked away...

The following morning, the two sides lined up in the middle of the road from Huoshan to Shucheng, but the atmosphere was relatively peaceful. The Taiping army suffered considerable casualties, but they were mostly wounded. If several thousand people had died, then the Taiping army would not have been able to negotiate peace.

The main casualties occurred during the initial main battles between the two sides, as well as when Zhao Erhu led a thousand troops to sabotage the enemy's logistics. Now, including Zhao Erhu's side, things have calmed down, and everyone has tacitly relaxed.

What awaits is the central decision-making of Heaven...

Looking at the young and vigorous Wang Yan, Li Cheng sincerely cupped his hands in greeting: "Brother Wang, you are so young, yet you have achieved such great things today. Truly, heroes emerge from among the young."

"Your Highness has overcome numerous obstacles and won every battle; I admire you greatly."

Li Cheng wasn't feeling too good, because the once invincible Li Cheng was now begging for peace...

He shook his head with a wry smile: "I have heard that Brother Wang treats his soldiers and civilians well. If I had not been forced to do so, I would not have wanted to lead my troops to attack Huoshan."

"We've already fought, why bother with all this talk? Sit down, let's have some of the unsold melon seed tea from this year, and then we can discuss compensation for my brothers. I'll trouble Miss Su to get started."

"It is my duty as a young lady." Su Zixuan nodded slightly and then began to brew tea.

"To be honest, I don't know how to appreciate tea, but after drinking this melon seed tea, I think it has quite a bit of flavor."

Hearing Li Cheng's words, Wang Yan laughed heartily: "Your Highness is too kind. To be honest, I've had a good life these past few years. The tea merchants' association has been quite sensible, sending me Huangshan Maofeng, Taiping Houkui, and other famous Anhui teas every year, as well as West Lake Longjing, Biluochun, Xinyang Maojian, and so on. I've been able to sample a wide variety of teas."

"I'm not afraid of being laughed at by Your Highness, but I'm a rough man. I've drunk so much tea, but I haven't really tasted anything. It's not easy for a lowly peasant like me to sit at a table and drink tea."

"Then let's not drink tea when we sit down, let's drink alcohol instead."

"Your Highness, if you can't appreciate tea, how can you understand wine?"

Su Zixuan interjected, "Your Highness, Uncle Wang, the two of you together haven't even attended a complete private school, so stop with the cryptic remarks. The sun is getting high, and the brothers are about to get scorched."

Li Cheng was taken aback for a moment, then laughed and said, "Why does it feel like your title of 'Uncle Wang' sounds more like 'Prince' than mine?"

After a few jokes, Li Cheng said, "We're all rough men, so let's not mince words. Brother Wang, the Heavenly Kingdom may not have much else, but it has plenty of silver, and even more brothers and sisters. Your brothers are injured, and so are my brothers, and there are even more of them. In your opinion, how should we calculate this?"

Li Cheng smiled and started haggling without any logic.

Wang Yan glanced at him: "Your Highness is going too far. You were the ones who came to attack us. We told you nicely long ago, but you wouldn't listen and insisted on fighting. Now that there are casualties and the fight can't continue, you still want to bully us because you have more people? What kind of logic is this?"

"Brother Wang knows best that this is how things are in the world. It's not that the Heavenly Kingdom can't defeat your Huoshan, but that I, Li Cheng, with my 20,000-plus troops, can't defeat Huoshan. Do you think that my Heavenly Kingdom's 500,000-strong army is just sitting around doing nothing?"
I know Huoshan has a year's worth of grain reserves, but what about after that? Your Shunfeng Escort Agency has spread throughout the land, becoming the number one escort agency in the world. Will you still be able to do business? We don't even need to fight. As long as I blockade Huoshan and cut off all transportation, I believe the situation in Huoshan will be completely different.”

"It seems that my goodwill has been mistaken for weakness by your Heavenly Kingdom. Then go ahead with the blockade, and you'd better send tens of thousands more troops over, otherwise you won't be able to block it, and the casualties will be considerable. Let's see who can outlast whom."

Wang Yan adopted a fearless attitude, looking like he was ready to fight if anyone disagreed.

The Taiping army's blockade of Huoshan did have a significant impact, but that was contingent on the Taiping army being able to maintain the blockade. Clearly, if they truly had that capability, they wouldn't have waited until Zhao Erhu went to Anqing and fired his guns before realizing the situation.

Moreover, Wang Yan's troops are truly highly effective, especially after this battle, which has given them valuable experience and the potential to improve further and deliver even better performances. If Wang Yan were to abandon his defensive strategy and instead engage in mobile warfare, the losses would escalate dramatically… This is the source of Wang Yan's confidence.

Although Li Cheng's words were quite upsetting, he himself was well aware of the power Wang Yan wielded; otherwise, he wouldn't have told his superiors that they wouldn't fight anymore.

"Let's discuss it. We need to discuss it properly. You can't just come up here and flip the table. Have some tea." Su Zixuan poured tea for Wang Yan, trying to calm things down and mediate.

Wang Yan snorted: "Your Highness said he was a rough man from the start, and that there was no need for so much beating around the bush, but all he did was fart."

Li Cheng wasn't embarrassed. He figured he'd take a gamble, no matter what. What if Wang Yan's success was accidental, and he didn't actually have the brains? He'd be easily fooled. Even if Wang Yan was intelligent, he might not be quite there enough to fall into Li Cheng's trap, which would still be advantageous for him. It was just a matter of talking; he wouldn't lose anything.

He then said, "Fighting with Brother Wang this time has truly broadened my horizons. Putting aside everything else, just take these firearms for example, they are incredibly powerful, far more powerful than the firearms of the foreigners."

“It’s not ready yet. This time, the barrel exploded and injured dozens of brothers.” Wang Yan waved his hands repeatedly. “Why do you think the foreigners are so powerful? It’s because they can produce firearms quickly and in large quantities. I’ve been working on this for several years and I only have a little over three thousand guns. I don’t even have enough for myself, so don’t even think about it.”

"It all comes down to money, doesn't it? You produce over a thousand guns a year, just give us five hundred, and you can name your price. I'm practically giving you money, isn't that a great deal?"

Wang Yan remained noncommittal: "Let's talk about the compensation and pensions for my brothers who died or were injured first."

"One hundred taels for the dead, fifty taels for the crippled, and twenty taels for any other injuries that can be healed. This price is fair enough, Brother Wang. If you don't agree, there's nothing I can do. To be honest, all the brothers under my command died in vain, and we can't even find anyone to pay their compensation."

Furthermore, you, Huoshan, can maintain the status quo; we'll keep to ourselves. However, when things get down there, mistakes and trouble are inevitable. Those of us in charge need to be aware of this. We're both acting in the best interests of the people; if we fight, it will only benefit the Manchus…”

Li Cheng spoke very sincerely, then looked at Wang Yan and said, "You've finished speaking. Since you haven't said anything, it means you don't object. Let's talk about firearms! How much can you offer?"

"How much can you offer?"

"Foreigners' firearms..."

Wang Yan waved his hand, ignoring his advice: "The real price is one hundred taels of silver per bullet. These bullets can't be produced outside, so you have to buy them from me. It'll be one tael of silver for ten bullets. As for the quantity, I can't give you too many. I'll sell you two hundred bullets first, and we'll talk about it later when my production increases."

"Hey, don't rush to haggle. I've seen those foreign firearms too. Let me put it this way: even if they take my firearms, disassemble them, and then mass-produce them, it would still take them several years. This is a unique business for me; I won't charge you any price. I'm already doing you a favor by selling them to you."

After a moment of silence, Li Cheng thought it over and nodded: "Then it's settled. Hurry up and bring your brother back, so he won't steal my food."

"I can't return what I stole. Hurry up and send over the silver; I'll give you the firearms next month."

"Congratulations on your reconciliation with my Heavenly Kingdom, Master Wang! May our two families cooperate extensively in the future. I've heard that Master Wang is exceptionally skilled in business; we're sure to make a fortune together. Come, Your Highness, Master Wang, let's drink tea instead of wine..."

Su Zixuan raised her teacup in a grand gesture, and Wang Yan and Li Cheng also smiled and raised their teacups in a gesture of respect...

The two sides reached an agreement, but it was not put into writing.

This thing is not very useful in the form of written documents. It mainly depends on whether both parties abide by it, and of course, the most important thing is whether you have the ability to make the other party abide by it.

It seems that the Treaty of Nanjing, signed between the Qing Dynasty and the foreign powers, ceded Hong Kong Island, opened five ports, and imposed an indemnity of over 20 million taels of silver, etc. It was the first unequal treaty in modern Chinese history. That's what history books say. The signing of the Treaty of Nanjing marked the beginning of China's descent into a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society...

The reason is that they never fought the foreign devils. If they could have, they would naturally not admit defeat.

Fortunately, after the battle, both sides are reasonable people, so there are not many troubles. Li Cheng withdrew his troops that day, and Wang Yan's side withdrew all his personnel except for the necessary sentries and scouts.

As Pang Qingyun once said, "All warfare is based on deception; this is war!"

Even though Wang Yan had made peace with the Taiping Army, necessary precautions were still required. After all, treaties were not obligatory to be followed. If an opportunity was discovered, it would be best to eliminate him swiftly and decisively, so that he wouldn't be an eyesore, like a nail stuck in their territory.

Therefore, from now on, the defense of all parts of Huoshan County must not be relaxed. At the same time, Huoshan County's own forces should not be diverted too much; they must maintain a considerable fighting capacity and preserve their reserves.

However, having learned from this experience, both soldiers and civilians in Huoshan County have gained experience, so there is no need to rely on more troops to stabilize morale.

So Wang Yan decided to fully demonstrate his sincerity. The very next day, he had the list finalized and left Huoshan County openly and legitimately, scattering to do business and make money, continuing to expand his power...

"Sir, you have quite the nerve! You've already disbanded your troops on the second day?" Su Zixuan's eyes widened in disbelief. He couldn't understand how Wang Yan could be so bold. Did he really have such audacity?

"They've been staying at home for so long, how much silver have they missed out on? Now that the war is over, it's time for them to go out and earn money. It's a double-edged sword, the fate of China is intertwined with the fate of the nation. Right now, with the land in chaos, the escort agency business is booming, and they can't afford not to make money."

Wang Yan glanced at the convoy not far away and said, "You guys are pretty good too, you paid generously."

"Since it's already agreed upon, it's best to finish it as soon as possible to put your mind at ease. The money for buying firearms has also been delivered. Next month, you can arrange for someone to deliver it directly to Lu'an."

"No problem," Wang Yan nodded with a smile. "Is there anything else?"

"Old man, how heartless you are! Can't you come if there's nothing wrong?"

"You have absolutely no memory. What, you're not planning to leave this time?"

Su Zixuan giggled, "This young lady knows, sir, you're kind-hearted, you were just bluffing... Ah~"

"Even a clay figure has some temper. You've provoked me time and time again, which shows your malicious intentions. I've told you long ago to be careful not to play with fire and get burned. Today, I'll show you what true power and strength are, otherwise you little wench will think I'm just all talk and no action..."

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