Read Novel Full Chapter 624: What Are You Thinking?
Chapter 624: What Are You Thinking?
Forget about weapons. If it comes to a fight, Fengcheng will definitely win. As for the Americans, they won’t be walking out of this unscathed.
Jiang Ning knew exactly what they wanted. “They’re after the hibernating chambers. They’re convinced we have them, and they just want to take them back.”
Commander Xiao sighed deeply. “That’s not happening. We can’t admit to something we didn’t do.”
In other words, they had no evidence.
The next day, it was another six-hour stretch of back-and-forth, with everyone’s voices nearly burning out.
Jiang Ning sat in the corner, almost falling asleep.
On the third day, the same thing happened again. Both sides were getting better at it, and their responses were becoming more civil.
Probably due to the unfamiliar environment, the Americans started to wilt. “Doesn’t matter. You have to compensate us for the hibernating chambers.”
Commander Xiao and the others exchanged glances before bursting into laughter, as if their expressions said: You’re dreaming!
The Americans was furious but realized that continuing the argument was pointless. “Fine, we won’t ask for the hibernating chambers, but you need to compensate us with an equal number of poultry, medicinal herbs, and crop seeds.”
Look, this was their real goal. They had been dragging things out for days for this.
Commander Xiao pretended to hesitate before replying, “We’ll give you the poultry, herbs, and crops, but you’ll have to trade something for them.”
The Americans could guess what was coming next.
Commander Xiao had already spoken to Chief Gu over the phone.
Since it concerned human heritage and civilization, Fengcheng was willing to turn weapons into olive branches. As long as the conditions were acceptable, it was better to avoid conflict if possible, but they couldn’t appear weak.
Trade? The angry Americans nearly pulled out their weapons.
Damn these Chinese! They had already made concessions, not pressing charges for the stolen military supplies, the hibernating chambers, or the destruction of the oil field.
And now they were demanding so much more!
Clearly, their intentions were greedy.
The two sides bickered some more. Commander Xiao stood up to leave. “There’s no deal here. Since you lack sincerity, we’ll end the negotiations.”
He paused, then added, “This conflict is entirely your fault. As a gesture of goodwill, considering it’s your first offense and no civilians were harmed, we won’t pursue it further. But if this happens again, no matter the distance, we will take action!”
He gave them one last look and walked out.
The others followed suit.
The Americans immediately panicked. “Stop!”
Stop? Who did they think they were?
Commander Xiao ignored them and strode away.
The Americans hurriedly chased after him. “Let’s talk, we can negotiate.”
Commander Xiao didn’t stop. “Commander Huo, Major Jiang, you’re in charge.”
The Americans were furious. They had thought everything would go smoothly, but Fengcheng wasn’t swayed by soft or hard tactics.
It hadn’t been easy to come this far, and they had to take something back.
They sat back down, and the Americans presented their demands: 100 head of poultry, 4 males for every 1 female, along with herbs and crops.
They wanted everything they could get, the more the better.
With Western medicine destroyed and no way to produce it in the short term, they wanted to learn traditional Chinese medicine, including herb cultivation, acupuncture, and such.
If possible, they also wanted to visit the mainland.
Visiting was out of the question.
As for the other demands, they could be met, but it would be done in stages.
The Americans were frustrated but had no choice. “Fine, we’ll start with the poultry.”
Jiang Ning calculated and agreed to give them only 10 pairs of poultry, 8 females and 2 males. The rest could be fertilized eggs, and they’d have to figure out how to hatch them themselves.
These were rare species; they couldn’t just give them away.
The condition for the exchange was fuel.
The price for chickens, ducks, geese, and quail was 20,000 cubic meters of fuel.
20,000 cubic meters? The Americans nearly had a heart attack.
“You guys are nothing but robbers!”
Jiang Ning thought for a moment, and yeah, it did feel a bit like that.
One question—should they go ahead or not?
She smiled. “This is already the friendship price. If it’s not suitable, we can do 40,000 cubic meters instead.”
“You…” They almost drew their knives.
The Americans took on a pirate-like stance. “We don’t have any fuel.”
“Well, then wait until you’ve stocked up and come back,” Jiang Ning said calmly.
She wasn’t stupid. Yes, the oil field had been burned, but it would seep out from underground.
As long as they figured something out, they’d get the 20,000 cubic meters eventually.
As for herbs or medical skills, that could wait until the first round of exchanges was done.
Anyway, she wasn’t in a rush. She could trade for the next ten or eight years if needed.
The Americans tried to haggle, and Jiang Ning doubled the price.
The other side, being clever, saw her lips change shape and quickly covered the officer’s mouth. “Alright, 20,000 it is. But we need to go back and discuss it and figure out how to bring it over next time.”
They’d done their best. Staying too long in the sea was dangerous, so they needed to get back as soon as possible.
As for agreeing or not, that was up to the higher-ups.
After a friendly and cordial exchange of opinions, both sides finally reached an agreement.
The Americans set sail and left, with the nuclear submarine from Fengcheng seeing them off, until they left the Fengcheng waters.
Jiang Ning and the others took the destroyer back home.
And just like that, the Americans ruined their Spring Festival.
Next time they came, they’d definitely have to slash the price twice as hard.
The military talks went better than expected, and Commander Xiao was in a good mood, giving Jiang Ning and Huo Yishen a big compliment.
Not to mention, the two had really kept the Americans in check.
The Americans surprise attack was annoying, but being able to guarantee the safety of Fengcheng’s residents through negotiations was a huge relief.
In the end, it all came down to having strength, so that foreign enemies would respect you.
Commander Xiao thought the military talks went well. Ding Qi was especially commendable. She kept her cool under pressure from the Americans, and the three of them worked together perfectly.
Commander Xiao couldn’t help but feel impressed by the younger generation.
It wasn’t just the three of them—Fengcheng had many young people rising up.
Entrusting the base’s development to them seemed like a good idea.
The destroyer returned to Fengcheng the next day, and the base had returned to calm.
Well, not entirely. The dock was still pretty busy.
Right next to the dock was the food factory, and the workers had gathered to welcome them. There were military personnel, government officials, residents who volunteered, and the special salvage team members.
Rong Sanshao wasn’t just there—he’d also organized a welcome ceremony.
He’d picked a few wild chrysanthemums and handed them out to Commander Xiao, Huo Yishen, Jiang Ning, Ding Qi, and others.
Lu Yu, Zhang Chao, and the others were also there, giving warm hugs as soon as they met.
Whoever spread the word, it felt like they’d won the 14-year war of resistance. Everyone was beyond excited.
It was Americans, and now they were leaving with their tails between their legs.
The news about exchanging poultry for fuel had also spread. At first, many weren’t happy about it. Not only should they not exchange poultry, but they thought they shouldn’t even give them a single feather.
But after thinking it over, they realized the Americans had even photographed the farms. It was only a matter of time before the poultry got out.
As long as there were no more natural disasters, once the scale of farming increased, poultry wouldn’t be as rare as before. It was better to exchange resources early.
The military had safeguarded the safety of Fengcheng, and it was worth celebrating across the city.
Rong Sanshao handed flowers to Jiang Ning. “Sister, you’re now a hero in Fengcheng.”
Wait…Commander Xiao was right there. How did she become the hero of Fengcheng?