On September 1, the ninth year of Ankang in the Ming Dynasty, Xianbei City was the capital of the Xianbei Principality.
Representatives from Honglu Temple and Zhu Jingyuan from the Ming Dynasty met with representatives from Lucia.
Before the two parties met, there was no clear official definition of the significance of the meeting.
Therefore, the first meeting was not official, but took place in the form of a private banquet organized by the Duke of Xianbei.
The form of the banquet is of course Ming style, and now the Xianbei Principality is completely Ming style from top to bottom.
Luo Yashan, the Duke of Xianbei, sat at the main seat with his daughter Luofiya and niece Yekaterina.
Lin Zexu and other people from the Ming Dynasty sat on the left side, and Wedemeyer and other Lucian people sat on the right side.
People from all parties exchanged greetings and took their seats for the banquet. After three drinks, the singing and dancing paused, and both parties began to ask each other about their attitudes.
Lucia’s representative, Wedemeyer, first confessed himself:
"His Royal Highness the Grand Duke of Xianbei, Your Royal Highnesses the two princesses, friends of the Ming Dynasty.
“Since the end of the World War, the whole country of Lucia has regarded Ming as a respected leader and friend.
“Lucia’s development in the Volga region has absolutely no intention of targeting the Ming Dynasty and the Xianbei Principality.
“Simply because, in all of Lucia, this is the only place where clear, exploitable oil deposits have been discovered.
“We in Lucia can give the most solemn commitment and guarantee from the royal family and the official court, guaranteeing that this oil field development will be carried out in a purely civilian manner, and no official military personnel will be deployed to the local area.
“After the oil is extracted, it will be directly transported to the inland for refining, and no industrial production facilities will be built locally.
“Nor will we build larger residential areas than are needed to extract and transport the oil fields.
“No factories will be built locally that can be used to produce vehicles, weapons and ammunition.
"Both the Ming Dynasty and the Xianbei Principality can arrange personnel to inspect and supervise the site."
Wedemeyer felt that what he said was very sincere, and he confessed directly from the beginning.
Then Lin Zexu and the representatives from Honglu Temple looked at each other, and the representative from Honglu Temple smiled and nodded at Lin Zexu.
So Lin Zexu spoke carefully:
“Our Highness Prince Dashi is also prepared to make private investments to explore and develop resources and land along the Caspian Sea and in the Ural region.
“We are preparing to build high-standard railways and roads locally to connect important cities and fortresses in Xianbei, Kazakhstan, Khiva, Persia, and the Western Regions.
“We are preparing to build large-scale residential areas locally and will adopt military fortress standards to protect the lives and property of our immigrants.
“We are prepared to build local factories that produce textiles, fuel, steel, machinery, vehicles, and aircraft, and ensure that these factories can produce supplies when necessary.
"And we are not going to allow Lucians to go out there and inspect and monitor...
“Of course, the Ming Dynasty officials will not violate the agreement they signed, so before the war is about to break out, the Ming Dynasty will not arrange official military combat personnel to the local area.
"The safety and order of local residents will be maintained by private bodyguard companies in cooperation with official guards."
When Lin Zexu's words came out, all the Lucia representatives, including Wedemeyer, and the Xianbei people headed by Luo Yashan, all opened their mouths and were speechless.
High-grade railways and roads, fortress-level defensive residential areas to protect immigrants, plus factories that can be converted into military factories or produce military supplies, and finally, there will be no "official" military personnel before the outbreak of war...
Can your threat be more explicit?
Lucia reluctantly sought negotiation and resolved the conflict, but Ming Dynasty directly filled up the war preparation plan.
But soon, everyone realized that this threat was just a threat for the time being.
Saying it so directly now means that there is a lot of room for maneuver, otherwise we would not be here to discuss it.
This is the threat of asking for high prices, and it depends on how Lucia will pay back the money on the spot.
After Wedemeyer understood it, he immediately said in an exaggerated manner:
"Why is this, why is this! We, Lucia, have absolutely no intention of being an enemy of Daming, and Daming does not need to be so nervous about Lucia.
“We understand that the key point of this issue is that this oil and gas field happens to be at the border between the two sides, and both sides are demilitarized zones stipulated in the treaty.
"But we can resolve it through friendly negotiation and avoid unnecessary conflicts.
"If Daming has any suggestions, ideas or requirements regarding the current situation, he can directly submit them to us, and Lucia will cooperate as much as possible."
Lin Zexu saw that the other party was talking about this, so he didn't hold back and listed out the prepared requirements:
“According to Daming’s oil development experience, the scope of the oil and gas fields themselves can be very large, and the scope of oil and gas resource areas with a large number of oil and gas fields is usually wider.
“For example, the entire Persian Gulf is considered a place where there are likely to be exploitable oil and gas resources.
“Now it has been jointly explored and comprehensively developed by Daming Royal Petroleum Company and Dashiguo Petroleum Company.
“Since the place where Lucia discovered oil and gas resources is located in the border area, the area on the Ming side is likely to also have rich oil resources.
“So what His Highness Prince Dashi means is that the resources here can be jointly developed by both of us.
“At the same time, in order to deepen the cooperation between Ming Dynasty and Lucia, we can use the demilitarized zone on the border to build a large-scale border free trade zone.
“Allow official and private businessmen from both sides to invest and develop agricultural and industrial resources along the Ural River.
“And locally produced goods can enter either Lucia or Ming Dynasty as domestic goods.
“In order to realize and enhance this cooperation, and at the same time further strengthen the connection between Ming Dynasty and the countries of Thailand and Spain, His Royal Highness Prince Dashi proposed to connect the railway and road networks of both parties in the Ural region.
“Also further extending the railway lines to Berlin, Vienna, Amsterdam and Paris.
“The participating royal families jointly funded the establishment of a cross-border trading company, allowing the company’s vehicles to freely carry out road, rail, and air transportation and trade throughout the Shenou Continent.
“When crossing the border, there is no need to go through complicated border inspection procedures, just like transporting and operating within the country.
“As this type of cooperation continues to increase, our economic ties are getting closer and closer.
“Then, our conflicts in other areas such as politics, military, and society will continue to decrease.
“The key is that it can be more easily solved through economic means.
"Because Ming Dynasty has no intention of starting another meaningless war with Lucia and other European and Western countries."
Luo Yashan already understood Daming's thoughts, and now he listened relatively calmly.
Wedemeyer was a little dazed after hearing this. Although he had expected before coming that Ming might ask for "cooperation" again, this request was really too big now.
Connecting the road network is not a big problem. The big problem is eliminating border barriers. The big problem is cross-border free trade.
Wedemeyer couldn't fully understand the benefits and risks involved.
The key is that this kind of issue must be decided by Emperor Lucia, and no one else can make a decision.
Lin Zexu also knew this, so after he finished speaking, seeing Wedemeyer standing there stunned, he directly added and reminded:
"Of course these issues cannot be decided at once. The ambassador can think about it carefully after he returns and wait for formal discussions when we meet next time. It is better to concentrate on the banquet now."
Wedemeyer nodded without hesitation:
"We really need to consider it, thank you for your understanding..."
The next banquet was really a banquet, but many people had too many thoughts and could not really concentrate on having fun.
So the banquet didn't last long and ended around ten o'clock in the evening.
After Wedemeyer returned to his residence, he sent the Ming Dynasty's request to the Lucian Emperor Nicholas in Moscow without stopping.
However, time is urgent and there is no additional explanation. This is just a situation report.
Just to explain, there will be an analysis report ahead tomorrow.
After Nicholas saw the news, he was stunned and silent for a long time.
In Nikolai's view, these cooperation plans proposed by Daming are really confusing.
None of them made Nikolai reject it directly as a matter of course.
Because the Lucian country, as well as the Lucian royal family, can benefit from this cooperation.
Establishing a joint venture with the Ming royal family to establish a cross-border trading company is equivalent to using Ming technology to operate and distribute dividends.
And Lucia’s products are allowed to enter directly into Ming Dynasty, Prussia, France...
With the Ming Dynasty royal family taking the lead, the Thai and Western monarchs who participated in the business, although they certainly could not be the big boss, they would definitely obtain relatively stable profits.
But it’s equally difficult to accept it directly.
Since it is cross-border free trade, while exporting, we must also allow the influx of foreign goods.
Lucia's market was also completely open to the Ming Dynasty, Prussia, and France.
Ming's strategy of getting everyone to unite really made the Taixi monarch very confused.
In fact, it is also because the world is still dominated by monarchy.
While the monarch considers national interests, he also considers family interests and personal interests.
It's not that the leaders of a republic won't consider these things, but they won't be so straightforward and open. They can only be done in private, and it's even less likely to be directly implemented in official treaties.
Cooperation between monarchs in various countries to engage in trade is in most cases a bad thing for the capital of the country, but for the monarchs themselves, the benefits often outweigh the disadvantages.
The old ruling classes around the world unite to make profits, which will inevitably enhance their ability to rule at the same time.
It will certainly be more difficult for civil society forces to gain power and status.
Under the various worldviews of Zhu Jingyuan's previous life, this can basically be regarded as a situation where reactionary forces are overwhelming.
But what the ruling class unites to do is free trade.
It's just that it's not free trade of private capital, but free trade of monarchs and royal families of various countries.
But if you look at it from another angle, it is actually free trade for the ruling class.
Real civilians can only participate in the form of producers.
Nikolai looked at these requirements for most of the night, and Wedemeyer also studied them in front for most of the night.
In the end, the two came to naturally very similar ideas.
Cooperation is possible, but it must be limited in scope.
The categories of goods for joint free trade must be limited, and free trade cannot be completely opened up.
For the sake of fairness, participating countries should bring out their own advantageous products and products that are in short supply and include them in the scope of free trade goods in the most complementary manner.
Specific to the unilateral cooperation between Ming Dynasty and Lucia, that is, the comprehensive development of the Ural region, the same standards apply.
We can establish free trade zones, but free trade goods must also have category restrictions.
Finally, regarding the development of local oil and gas resources, it is best not to cooperate.
The Ming Dynasty has abundant oil in other places, but the only oil fields currently discovered in Lucia that are worthy of development are here.
Therefore, even Nicholas, as a traditional monarch, hopes to have complete control of this oil field.
Instead of sharing it with the people of Ming Dynasty, you Ming Dynasty does not lack this...
Finally, as a political figure of the commissioner, Wedemeyer also thought of some new supplementary plans.
In the afternoon of the next day, Wedemeyer and Nicholas contacted again to exchange and confirm their opinions.
Three days later, the second meeting between Ming Dynasty and Lucia began in the Principality of Xianbei.
Following the requirements and consideration process at the first banquet, this meeting was semi-formal.
So it was held in a conference room in the palace of the Xianbei Principality.
It was Wedemeyer who spoke first, explaining Lucia's basic attitude.
Willing to cooperate, but cooperation has conditions and limitations.
In addition to the aspects considered by Emperor Nicholas of Lucia, Wedemeyer proposed his own ideas:
“The idea is that free trade in the Urals should be limited to the Urals itself.
“In the free trade zone, merchants from both sides can trade freely without paying tariffs.
“However, when leaving the scope of the free trade area, a unified free trade tax should be paid to both countries.
"The amount of this tax is decided by both of us without interfering with each other..."
Lin Zexu frowned immediately after hearing this.
Zhu Jingyuan's initial request was for a thoroughly fundamentalist free trade zone.
If things from both countries pass through this place, they belong to both countries at the same time and can be sold to either country without restrictions.
The modifications proposed by Wedemeyer are similar to later free trade zones.
You can only trade freely within the trade zone, but you still have to pay taxes when leaving the trade zone.
The difference between the two is of course very big...
However, complete fundamentalist free trade is only an ideal state.
Unless Lucia becomes a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, it would be difficult to achieve that level of free trade.
Zhu Jingyuan was also well prepared for this and had given instructions to Lin Zexu.
Although Lin Zexu did not know about the free trade zones of later generations, he already understood the twists and turns involved.
Lin Zexu had room for concessions in negotiations, and Wedemeyer's conditions, which were similar to those of later free trade zones, were actually within the scope of Zhu Jingyuan's acceptance.
But Lin Zexu couldn't just accept it, so he deliberately showed some anger and said:
“You have to pay taxes when you leave the region, what kind of free trade is this?
“You just moved the payment time of customs duties from the point when you cross the border customs to the point when you leave the free trade zone.
"Instead of doing this, why bother with a free trade zone? Let's not have any cooperation at all, let's each work on our own."
Wedemeyer quickly explained:
"It's different, it's different. There is no tax in the free trade zone. There is no tax when entering the trade zone. It is only collected when you leave.
“So businessmen can build factories and businesses within the trade zone and import raw materials duty-free from both countries.
“This eliminates the value-added tax from raw materials to goods, as well as the import fees and procedures for imported materials.
“The actual production costs can be reduced a lot, so businessmen are definitely willing to build factories and businesses locally.
“If you add in free trade rail, you can even import raw materials from across the continent and make products here.
"If individual buyers are exempt from tax and visa requirements, we can attract tourists and residents from both countries and even the entire continent..."
After hearing this, Lin Zexu nodded in his mind. These ideas were all explained by Zhu Jingyuan, but he still couldn't just agree.
However, Lin Zexu also took a small step back:
“Even so, the tax rate for leaving the free trade zone should be controlled within a certain range.
"And it cannot be set unilaterally by each party. It should be determined and adjusted by both parties through consultation."
As the negotiator, Lin Zexu only stated the requirements for negotiation, but would not directly say how much the limit would be. That was a matter for specialized tax and accounting personnel.
This request was further restricted on the basis of accepting Wedemeyer's conditions. After Wedemeyer achieved the basic goal, he did not hesitate too much and directly expressed his acceptance:
"It can be negotiated... However, while we are negotiating the tax rate, we should also determine the specific scope of the free trade area."
Lin Zexu nodded after hearing this.
In this way, the intention and general direction of cooperation on free trade between the two sides have been basically determined.
The details come later, and the details are not the task of these two people.
The two will next discuss the development cooperation in the oil-based Ural region, as well as the road network connection between Daming and Western countries and the cooperation between the royal family's joint venture trading companies.
(End of chapter)
