"We have accepted the first batch of released prisoners, and I would like to express my deep gratitude to Lightyear for his sincerity. I am here to confirm the time and place of the second negotiation, as well as some details that need to be determined in this negotiation. Terms. If everything goes well, we hope to finalize the first supplementary agreement in this negotiation..." Hathaway said calmly.
Lin Xi nodded and said, "You can send the draft agreement to me first, and I will forward it to Jun Gui."
Hathaway nodded and looked into the distance. As far as the eye can see, groups of federal prisoners of war are getting off the ark, some are walking to the temporary barracks, and some are walking out of the temporary camp and changing to the newly built camp. Further away, a large number of soldiers were building a new camp. Countless building materials were moved from the ark and slowly turned into barracks.
"Are these the second batch of prisoners of war to be handed over?" Hathaway asked.
Lin Xi replied: "Yes, 100,000 people in total."
"Can I go see their residence and living environment?"
"certainly."
Lin Xi led the way, and the little princess followed her to the nearest camp. Li Xinyi walked beside Lin Xi.
From beginning to end, none of the three girls shook hands.
Whether a camp is big or small, the barracks all have airtight doors. You can take off your armor inside and still have a minimum of comfort. But after all, this is a prison cell, so each room has three large bunks with upper, middle and lower floors. Outside the bunks is the walkway, which can only accommodate two people side by side. For the general living environment, you can refer to the submarines of the home planet era, and also the submarines of the northern giant bear.
But the little princess was once a prisoner, and it wasn't even called light years back then. Although she has never enjoyed the life of a real prisoner, she has seen the kind of life where three people can be crammed into one square meter. In that kind of cell, no matter how strong two muscles meet, they have to adapt to each other and eventually become a flat surface.
Compared with then, these federal prisoners of war are living a paradise-like life now.
However, the little princess raised questions as usual, believing that Lightyear did not give the prisoners of war enough treatment and respect in accordance with humanism. To be more precise, it should be at least a double room, and the officers must have a single room. Each meal should have no less than six appetizers and no more than three main courses. There are less than eight dishes, unlimited supply of fruit sweets, and more than one hour of free time every day. Facilities such as a gym, entertainment room, and even a swimming pool are also provided. In addition, afternoon tea and late night snacks are also essential.
The little princess was asking for a sky-high price, but Lin Xi was not an economical person. It immediately became clear that the little princess's butt numbing that day was not a fluke.
"These requirements are very reasonable, and we can and should meet them. However, according to usual practice, after the armistice agreement is signed and before the ransom is received, we have the right to collect necessary living expenses. First of all, these barracks are one-time. It was specially built for prisoners of war and will be scrapped after the handover is completed. But don’t worry, these building materials are very cheap, the cost per square meter is only 150,000..."
"In terms of meals, we can configure 9 appetizers, 21 main courses, and more than 50 kinds of fruit desserts. We will order a limited edition food making machine from Deep Space Food to serve you. Of course, there will be a small fee charged per calorie. You only need to pay 50 yuan..."
…
"Finally, every 50 people can have a swimming pool, built entirely according to five-star standards. Of course, water is a scarce resource on Planet 4, and we will only charge a cost price of 99.99 yuan per gram..."
In this way, the two people chatted happily all the way and looked at the barracks, armor warehouse, restaurant and various ancillary facilities. It took more than an hour just to watch it in one camp. Next, it was time to visit the construction site where the prisoners of war worked.
Moderate labor for prisoners of war is allowed and is a historical practice. From ancient times to the present, many prisoner of war camps were built by the prisoners themselves. The same is true for this group of prisoners of war who are about to be released. They will have a standard working time of 4 hours a day. Of course, it is impossible to assign them any confidential or complicated work. The most they do is leveling the land and assembling barracks.
Hathaway's reason was to see if the prisoners of war had been mistreated. This was a legitimate request in name, but Li Xinyi believed that she was here to inform the time and content of the second negotiation, and she could leave once the news was delivered.
The girl quietly sent a message to Lin Xi: "She just doesn't want to leave!"
"Follow her." Lin Xi replied.
The girl was angry, but then she remembered that Chu Jun's return was thousands of kilometers away, and the little goblin wouldn't be able to see anyone even if she stayed there for another day. Naturally, she would never tell Chu Jungui that the little princess was here.
I don't know why, but since the little princess pulled Chu Jungui to say a few words after the last negotiation, Li Xinyi felt unspeakably awkward all over her body when she saw her.
But thinking that her trip was in vain, the girl felt inexplicably happy. Then at this moment, I heard Lin Xi ask: "It seems that you and Jun Gui are very familiar with each other. Will your cooperation be very close in the future?"
Finally entering the critical link... Li Xinyi immediately pricked up her ears.
Hathaway's expression was as normal, as if it was an ordinary question, and then the corners of her mouth curved up slightly before she spoke. Suddenly her expression changed, and she turned her head to look at the distant sky.
Lin Xi and Li Xinyi also looked in that direction at the same time.
A small black dot appeared in the sky, approaching at a very high speed, and in a blink of an eye it was clear that it was a fighter plane. Still far away, the fighter plane suddenly turned over and pointed its tail forward. Then the thrust of the engine turned into a strong brake, the speed dropped sharply, and then it drew an arc, roared down, and slapped hard on the tarmac of the base.
Such violent movements shocked hundreds of thousands of prisoners of war.
The fighter plane landed too hard and bounced twice before it landed safely. All the prisoners of war who saw this scene subconsciously asked the question, are the people in the fighter plane still alive?
Suddenly, there was a loud sound, and one of the fighter plane's engines separated from the body and fell to the ground. Then there were two more bangs, and two small explosions occurred in the machine body, ejecting several parts.
At this time, the cabin cover slowly opened, and Chu Jungui jumped out.
Hathaway's eyes lit up and she took the initiative to greet him, saying, "You're here!"
Before Chu Jungui could speak, Li Xinyi asked, "Why are you here?"
In an instant, all major components started working at full speed. In the end, tactical deception prevailed. Chu Jun returned and said, "I want to confirm one last time to see if anyone is willing to stay and work for Lightyear."
The girl said angrily: "I've confirmed it three times! Humph, I just want to defraud cheap labor."
Chu Jungui smiled and said: "The war has just ceased, and money is needed for everything. It is always good to save some."
After speaking to the girl, he nodded to Lin Xi and then looked at Hathaway. Hathaway looked calm and explained the purpose of coming here, then sent another draft of the supplementary agreement to Chu Jungui, and then said: "Can you accompany me for a walk?"
She had already asked this question, and there was no reason to refuse Chu Jungui. So the two separated from Lin Xi and the girl and walked in the camp.
The girl wanted to go straight to the monitoring center, but Lin Xi grabbed her and took her to the office building. As soon as she entered the office, Lin Xi gave the girl a list of prisoners of war and asked her to make a final check.
The girl opened it with a grimace and found that there were more than 10,000 names in the list.
Looking at the base filled with prisoners of war, Hathaway said: "I could only briefly explain it during the last negotiation. Now that I have some time, I can talk to you in detail about the operating mechanism of the federation."
Chu Jungui nodded, "I'm listening."
"Our system has evolved over thousands of years, but its essence has not changed much from its original design. In normal times, it can be said that the country is governed by elites, so decision-making will become very rational, profit-seeking, utilitarian and pragmatic. Sometimes I will take the initiative to pursue some noble behaviors.”
Chu Jungui once worked hard on the federal political system. In fact, after thousands of years of mutual learning and struggle, the federal and dynastic systems are not much different. There is no fundamental difference between the presidential parliament and the cabinet parliament under the constitutional monarchy. They are nothing more than rights. The divisions and constraints are slightly different. In fact, the more factor that separates dynasties and federations is culture.
As for the community, it is a hodgepodge with everything in it.
Hathaway continued: "Many people believe that strength is the only language the Federation understands. This is true in most cases. But these are no longer normal times. As the war progresses, public anger is rising. With savings, the voice against war is becoming smaller and smaller. Federal people are not afraid of sacrifice or death, just like the people of the dynasty. It’s just that in traditional philosophy, we like to use money to solve problems rather than using the lives of soldiers . But if one day we have to make sacrifices, we will be fearless. At that time, anyone who dares to resist the war will be torn apart by the raging public opinion."
"Like it was over 1,000 years ago?"
"Yes, at that time the Federation was attacked and all the people erupted. The only person who voted against the declaration of war ended miserably. Most of the time in the past, what people saw was just a somewhat chaotic and often contradictory And the utilitarian Federation has forgotten what we would become in a total war."
Chu Jungui nodded.
Hathaway stopped and said: "I'm not threatening you, I'm just stating a fact. Because I think this war is meaningless at all. If it continues, it will enter a truly uncontrollable state. A total war will not benefit anyone." The benefit, what was wanted to be achieved is now available on the table.”
"You mean the longitudinal line?"
Hathaway nodded, sighed, and said: "Yes, the war over there is escalating infinitely. I don't even understand what the dynasty wants. That's why I want you to make a big concession on the ransom issue, and don't irritate it." The people in the country. This amount of money is not important to you, but our people will be very sensitive to this number. Crassus is already preparing to make concessions in other places to completely end the war here. If it continues to be delayed, if it is manipulated, The war on the other side of the line has escalated in an all-round way, and we can’t stop it even if we want. At that time, no one in the Federation dared to call a truce."
Chu Jungui thought for a moment and nodded slowly. Until now, Chu Jungui still doesn't understand why the dynasty is so determined to promote the war and destroy the federation? However, before humans entered the Star Sea Age, in many cases territory and annihilation were no longer the core objectives of great power wars. However, through the little princess's explanation, Chu Jungui had already made it clear that the federal system tends to be weak internally and tough externally, and this war is sliding into an abyss out of control.
