As for those people under Li Xian, they may not have failed to see this, but they thought that Li Xian did intend to give Shen Baozhen and the others a disadvantage, but no one even said anything to point out that it was inappropriate.

The end result is this beautiful misunderstanding now.

"These bastards, old stubborn. Wu Sanniang was indignant, but she didn't have much real anger, after all, she herself had expected this situation from the beginning.

Many people thought that Li Xian would almost give up, that is, after giving a dismount, he would change to a man to go up to negotiate, but he didn't expect Li Xian to have no such intention.

"It seems that the gang in Guangzhou still don't know how serious the current situation is, so let's hang them out. Li Xian said lightly.

Guangzhou protested several times to Li Xian's side, asking for a negotiation opponent worth talking about, but Li Xian just gritted his teeth and did not let go, and he must insist that Wu Sanniang be the host of the negotiation.

Shen Baozhen was naturally furious, slapping the table and scolding his mother, but in the end he gave in, after all, if he waited like this, it was they who would be hungry, and there was no pressure on Li Xian at all.

At this time, the officials in Guangzhou finally understood what it was like to be a knife and a fish.

The two sides sat back down at the negotiating table, pinched their noses and began to talk.

Shen Baozhen's hope is naturally that Wang Jiuxuan of Foshan will no longer be stuck in the grain road, so he is willing to give Xuan Zheng and Wang Jiuxuan the name of Taoist officials or something, that is, other people on Li Xian's side can earn some official positions to some extent, and the Sanyuanli coalition army has acted against the will of the imperial court during this time, and will also explain to the imperial court on their behalf, etc.

At the same time, Shen Baozhen's side also issued a threat to Li Xian's side, if you don't think that you will underestimate the heroes of the world with a little military strength, and you will definitely be gray when the imperial army arrives, etc.

This is a typical idea of spending a little money to do big things, or a way of doing things without spending money, just promising some official positions, wanting to restart the material delivery channel, and at the same time wanting the Sanyuanli coalition army to work for the imperial court.

Such an unreliable request was naturally rejected by Wu Sanniang with righteous words.

Shen Baozhen didn't expect Li Xian's side to agree to such an outrageous request, he just wanted to see Li Xian's request first, but when Wu Sanniang put forward the request of the Sanyuanli coalition army, he couldn't help but be dumbfounded.

It turned out that Wu Sanniang's request was quite peculiar, that is, to establish a free trade zone in Shilipo, a suburb in the northwest corner of Guangzhou, where foreign enemy grain merchants could transport grain to this outskirts of Guangzhou, and merchants and ordinary people in Guangzhou City could freely buy grain in this place and then take it back to the city.

This Shilipo was naturally controlled by troops sent by the Sanyuanli coalition army, but these soldiers were only used to maintain law and order, and did not interfere in any way in the purchase and sale of grain and other materials, nor did they charge any fees.

Of course, in order to ensure that there are no problems in the transaction, Guangzhou should also send people to assist in the management, that is, each commercial bank has gathered 500 literate and experienced shopkeepers and stewards to manage the free trade zone and sort out the relationship between the two parties to the transaction.

Shen Baozhen was conceited and intelligent, much stronger than those stupid bosses in Guangzhou, and he couldn't see what the purpose of Li Xian's proposal was, what kind of goal he wanted to achieve, and he couldn't see whether it would be beneficial or harmful to Guangzhou to follow this proposal.

According to the thinking of the officials in Guangzhou, after the resumption of trade routes, it is better to do the same as before, and if foreign merchants go to the city of Guangzhou to deliver and sell goods, if they deliver and trade in the suburbs outside the city, they will have a lot less control over the entire business behavior, and they will feel uncomfortable.

"There is no precedent for this, it is not in accordance with the rules, and we will never accept it. Shen Baozhen said to Wu Sanniang solemnly.

"Then you should think about it more, in order to protect our interests, we will never allow foreign enemy grain merchants to send grain directly into the city of Guangzhou. Wu Sanniang naturally refused strongly.

Shen Baozhen snorted, then left the negotiation table with his sleeves brushed up, not even willing to say a word more, and the second negotiation was suspended again.

When Shen Baozhen returned to Guangzhou City and consulted with officials at all levels, he gradually figured out a little clue.

If Li Xian's side allows foreign grain merchants to directly send grain into Guangzhou City, then Guangzhou will have a high degree of control over the grain merchants, which should not be allowed by Li Xian's side, so it should be regarded as Li Xian's bottom line when the grain is only sent outside Guangzhou City.

As for the five hundred shopkeepers sent by Guangzhou to assist and the like, it should be just a bargaining chip, this free trade zone is really going to be built, and even an official can see that there are a lot of opportunities to earn oil and water, and Li Xian is not stupid, but he will not really let such a cornucopia be controlled by the shopkeepers sent by Guangzhou.

However, this kind of thing is really a bit shocking to the world, there is no precedent before, and the pros and cons in it cannot be seen through in a short time, so the officials in Guangzhou carry forward the long-standing fine tradition and fight in the city to fight over whether or not to accept this proposal.

If it is a normal time, it is possible for this kind of dispute to last for a year and a half, but now it is not such a time, there is a lot of grain in Guangzhou City, and there will be no danger of food shortage for the time being, but everyone who understands knows what it means that the grain road in Guangzhou City is cut off, and the big families began to store grain, grain merchants began to stock grain, and the people in Pingtou also began to stock grain, and the result is that the price of grain in the city began to soar.

Ten days after Wang Jiuxuan cut off the grain route, the price of grain in Guangzhou had tripled compared to before, and the officials could not hold on anymore and had to agree to reopen negotiations.

In this negotiation, all the officials below Shen Baozhen lost their previous spirit, agreed to all the proposals put forward by Wu Sanniang, and were willing to set up a free trade zone outside Guangzhou, send 500 literate and experienced shopkeepers and stewards and associates to assist them, and even agreed not to interfere with Li Xian's normal trade behavior.

Li Xian has been operating in Leizhou for many years, and has a lot of products, including whale oil, soap and perfume derived from the whaling industry, as well as pickled salted fish and preserved fish produced by his own salted fish processing plant, tiger bone wine, and traditional sugar, white sugar and rock sugar in Leizhou.

In the past, since the time of Governor Lin, Li Xian's various businesses have been suppressed by the government secretly and openly, and he obviously has good goods with good quality and low prices, but he has not been able to open the road.

However, the officials in Guangzhou understood that the times had changed, and if they wanted to continue to suppress Li Xian's business, they were afraid that all the agreements negotiated earlier would become a piece of waste paper, and they should not expect Li Xian to allow grain from other places to be transported into the city of Guangzhou.

Fortunately, Li Xian's whale oil, fish, sugar, etc. are all grain goods, which means that the most supple things in the city, buying these things is beneficial and harmless to guarding Guangzhou City, and all the officials pinched their noses and agreed.

As for Li Xian's side also proposing to sell pistols and the like, this issue was privately discussed in Guangzhou before, and with the idea that a firearm in his own hands would be a hundred times stronger than putting it in Li Xian's place, he happily agreed, allowing the Thirteen Lines and some powerful businessmen to openly sell these pistols.