In the city of Slutsk, a procession of dozens of people waving the Lithuanian flag slowly marched towards the fortress in the city, and the leader rode on a group of maroon steppe horses, wearing a lambskin hat and a thick beard covering two-thirds of the face area, and the hair was full of hair......

Brad rode the prairie horse while looking at the elite musketeers of the Taiping Army who walked by from time to time out of the corner of his eye, the strict and standardized walking queue and the solemn expression left an extremely deep impression on Brad, and he couldn't help but have four words in his mind - cold-blooded and ruthless.

This is the most intuitive first impression left by the soldiers of the Taiping Army, there is no brave and belligerent wind, let alone unruly, some are just cold and indifferent to life, not only the lives of the enemy, but also their own lives!

As the saying goes, being ruthless to others is not really ruthless, only those who are ruthless to themselves are the most terrible!

Whoever can even kill himself with a knife can imagine what he will do to his enemies.

Brad, the representative of the envoy from the city of Vilno, Lithuania, calmly passed through the two rows of elite musketeer guards of the Taiping Army standing guard in a queue, and walked into the hall of the castle under the guidance of the guide.

Hong Tiancheng, wearing a golden crown, appeared in front of Brad in gorgeous court clothes, surrounded by several senior generals of the elite musketeers of the Taiping Army, and on the other hand, Brad also stood beside five accompanying aristocratic representatives.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty the Heavenly King of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Baron Bullard of Vilno offers you the most sincere respect."

Brad, with a gentlemanly demeanor, bowed slightly to Hong Tiancheng, who was sitting in the first seat.

At the same time, the representatives of the Lithuanian nobility behind Brad also performed a noble gentleman's salute at about the same time.

Of course, for Hong Tiancheng, he doesn't have a good impression of these etiquettes, and in the face of foreign races, Hong Tiancheng prefers only ...... Bow down!

It's just that the Lithuanian envoy doesn't seem to have the intention of coming to meet the superior with the next person.

Hong Tiancheng knew very well that Brad's confidence came from the coalition of tens of thousands of Lithuanian nobles gathered in the city of Grosnov in Herosnov.

Lithuania has been able to confront the Polish suzerainty for so many years, of course, not just by lip service, their strength is beyond doubt, but many Lithuanian nobles themselves do not want to have a war with the Polish nobles, but hope to integrate into it, after all, both sides believe in Catholic Christianity, and the Sulm Council of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania also allowed them to join, and the Lithuanian nobles really did not have much motivation to start a civil war.

But in the face of the Taiping Army, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's behavior towards the occupied areas has proved Hong Tiancheng's ruling principle - unconditional and absolute obedience, otherwise you will die!

This was naturally intolerable for the vast majority of Lithuanian aristocrats, and to be precise, for most of the more autonomous nobles in Europe in the 17th century, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had zero tolerance.

Therefore, even though the Lithuanian aristocracy had just experienced a fiasco half a year ago, when the Taiping army invaded, the Lithuanian nobles still tried their best to gather tens of thousands of elites composed of private soldiers, knights, and mercenaries. Sincerity came to Slutsk, the outpost of the Taiping army's advance, to negotiate peace and try to defuse the war.

"Baron Brad, are you qualified to be a plenipotentiary negotiator? I didn't waste my time talking to inconsequential little people, and the daily consumption of my tens of thousands of soldiers was not a small amount. Hong Tiancheng glanced indifferently at Brad and the representatives of the Lithuanian nobility behind him.

Such a high-minded 'rude' language that did not speak diplomatic etiquette at all suddenly made a trace of embarrassment flash on the faces of Brad and the aristocratic representatives behind him, but fortunately, they were all noble gentlemen with 'culture' and would not attack on the spot.

Brad took a slight breath, and completely affirmed the outside world's character traits of Hong Tiancheng's eclectic behavior and his preference for straightforwardness.

"Your Majesty, the war has brought profound suffering to the lives and property of people everywhere, we are willing to recognize the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom as the victor in this dispute, and will officially recognize the establishment of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, after all, war is not good for anyone, is it?"

"No, no, no, if I don't go through the war, how can I get what I want?" Hong Tiancheng replied with a sarcastic smile.

"Your Majesty, the lives of your soldiers are very precious, they can be used for themselves on a better stage, why waste them in vain in a meaningless war?

The war has already lost too many innocent lives, and if His Majesty is willing to stop fighting, we Lithuanians are willing to make some compensation. ”

"Compensation? Well, I like that term very much, so I've always longed for the scenery of Vilno, so you might as well cede it to me, how about it? That way, neither of us will have to die anymore. ”

Hong Tiancheng blurted out a naked robbery tone, and there was no embarrassment of taking people's money at all.

After hearing Hong Tiancheng's blatant excessive request, the professional smile on Brad's face could no longer be suppressed, and the aristocratic representatives behind him were even more angry, if it weren't for the elite musketeers of the Taiping Army who were watching him, I am afraid they would have scolded Hong Tiancheng for being 'shameless'.

"Your Majesty, I hope you understand that we Lithuanians just don't want too many warriors to die in this unnecessary war, not the lambs to be slaughtered in your Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and if you see Lithuania as the spineless rebel nobles of Polesie, how much do you think you need to pay to get the city of Vilno?"

"Hehe, I can bear whatever the cost, as long as I can achieve my goal, I don't care how many soldiers will be sacrificed!"

When Brad heard this, he glanced at the senior generals of the Taiping Army behind Hong Tiancheng with a hidden look, and found that their faces were full of fortitude without any fluctuations, and he couldn't help but sigh in his heart for the brainless fanaticism of the Taiping Army......

"Your Majesty, we are here with the sincerity of peace, if you have to do this, tens of millions of Lithuanians will become the eternal enemies of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, even if you can gain a temporary advantage, you will be stuck in the quagmire of war in Lithuania!" Brad stared at Hong Tiancheng categorically.