Chapter 1046 - The Force of a Prairie Fire (1/2)

The representatives from the Northern Alliance Area were also brought over, and the negotiations lasted for an entire afternoon. The “NAC-NAA Free Trade Agreement” that made countless businessmen on Sixth Street ecstatic was finally introduced.

However, while it was free trade, there were still restrictions.

First, “strategic materials” like iron, aluminum, titanium, tungsten, molybdenum, and rare earth materials were all restricted. Businessmen who were caught would be immediately treated as smugglers. At this point, Jiang Chen didn’t make any concessions, no matter how the Northern Alliance Area representative protested.

Iron, aluminum, and titanium were the keys to the production of advanced weapons ranging from the optical components of laser guns to the accelerometers of Type-50 Electromagnetic Pulse Cannons, all of which depended on these strategic resources. As for tungsten and molybdenum, one was raw material for smelting C-type steel, and the other was used to produce neural connection devices.

In addition to the ban on the sale of strategic materials, Jiang Chen also imposed an additional 15% tariff on luxury goods. They must pay the tariff if their products entered the Sixth Street market. For the modern world, a 15% tariff didn’t seem to be high, but in the apocalypse which had limited resources, it was very high.

Objections? Useless.

The products of the Northern Alliance Area weren’t the only option available to the NAC. NAC’s extensive trade routes went south to Yizhou and west to India, all of which could substitute as trading partners.

However, the Northern Alliance Area didn’t have much choice. Although they could find large survivor hubs in the south, the mutants and zombies along the way made them miserable. The extreme cold weather in the north wasn’t suitable for the cultivation of mutated fruit trees. The production of nutrient supply couldn’t just be supported by hunting unless they wasted their already-limited ammunition on mutants. Not just nutrient supply, but many things piled up in Wanghai’s warehouses were in short supply in the north.

Opening up the trade route down the river was their only choice unless they could access a large reserve of helium to build airships, but that was obviously impossible. In the 22nd century, helium was a scarce resource and only Jiang Chen could lavishly use it to fill “balloons”.

Of course, Jiang Chen didn’t make a one-sided agreement. Light weapon bullets, laser gun batteries, and other supplies could be purchased by merchants of the NAC. But in order to prevent them from hoarding ammunition, the amounts of each purchase were strictly limited.

With the signing of the trade agreement, the two sides finally lowered the guns pointed at each other. A peace that had appeared to have an expiry date had finally arrived on the land ruled by the NAC.

So far, Jiang Chen was finally able to deal with all the matters on this temporary return. And at this time, another new piece of information arrived from the modern world.

Although she was very disappointed, Sun Jiao finally let go of Jiang Chen, who was “squeezed out”. She left a kiss on his lips and watched him disappear from the room.

News came from Europe.

Since the militants fired the first shot at the “7th Institute Campaign”, they declared war on Peter’s government.

In the few days that Jiang Chen was gone, the fire of revolution had already ignited throughout Frankberg.