Taking the initiative is a common tactic in negotiations, and it can be used in a variety of ways. Saruman's arrogance and domineering attitude is a kind of "taking the initiative", and Lin You's opening of the dimensional space door and crossing a hundred miles in an instant is also a kind of "taking the initiative". The reason why one failed and the other succeeded is purely a comparison of hard power.

Those who want to use this tactic in negotiations must conduct a detailed preliminary investigation; if they encounter a negotiating opponent who does not buy into this tactic, they must not say something like "starting from a position of strength." Otherwise, Saruman, who is now livid, will suffer the same fate.

Elrond was still the one who could smooth things over. "That gap in time and space, where did it come from? Was it artificially created, or was it naturally generated? To be honest, I don't think Sauron has such a powerful force that he can establish contact with the other world."

Lin You nodded, agreeing with Lord of the Valley's statement; he sat back in his chair, and the snake-wrapped scepter in his hand disappeared again at some point.

The earliest dark enemy, Morgoth, was not only a fallen "Valar", but also the most powerful among the "Valar"; Manwë, the current head of the "Valar", has a status in the world of Arda that is roughly equivalent to that of the god-king Zeus in the Olympian pantheon, and at first he was on par with Morgoth before his fall.

If we have to make an analogy, Manwe and Morgoth are roughly equivalent to Michael and Lucifer.

With this comparison, Elrond's doubts are easy to understand. When Morgoth was defeated and exiled to the Void, he has not returned yet; even Morgoth could not do this. Sauron was just a servant of Morgoth. Even if he returns now, he is not fully recovered. How can he pass through the Void and open the passage to another world?

"The conjunction of the celestial spheres can be considered a natural phenomenon, where different worlds overlap or collide in space by chance, causing people and objects in the two worlds to circulate between each other. However, as time goes by, people in many worlds that frequently experience the conjunction of the celestial spheres have begun to study this phenomenon, trying to find the laws behind it and use them, or even control it."

"In other words, you are unable to determine whether the space-time rift under Mount Dol Guldur is a natural phenomenon or man-made?" Elrond asked.

"I can only say that Sauron can't do this. After all, there has never been a conjunction of the celestial spheres in Arda before. Even if Sauron wanted to study it, he would have no idea where to start, let alone master the relevant technology." Lin You thought about it, and felt that he couldn't be too sure, "Unless... Morgoth had some adventure in the void, and then passed the knowledge of the conjunction of the celestial spheres back to teach his former servants through some means."

"Ha, it's getting more and more outrageous! Before it was just Sauron, and now it's Morgoth. Are you still planning to go to Aman and persuade the Valar to prepare for war together?" Saruman interrupted anxiously, revealing his urge to save his face.

Lin You laughed in silence: "You are right, I do plan to talk to the 'Vera's' after this meeting."

Saruman was rebuked for every word he said. He was used to looking down on others and couldn't hold his face anymore. He stood up and said loudly, "Well, please go to Aman, bring back the will of the Valar, and then convene a new meeting!"

Seeing the white-robed wizard preparing to leave, Lin You remained indifferent, and even sneered as if he was just watching a monkey show; he didn't care at all whether the "Holy White Council" could reach a result. Anyway, after the meeting was over, Gandalf would have to give him an explanation.

Regardless of whether the meeting succeeds or not, the person who writes the document will never be the one who is anxious.

Sure enough, Gandalf jumped over, as swift as an elf warrior, and stopped Saruman from leaving; but facing the white-robed wizard's once intimidating but now angry look, the grey-robed wizard still couldn't help but speak nervously.

"Saruman, calm down. After all, we have a common enemy with Mr. Forrester. The problems he and his world face are closely related to ours."

"Common enemy? No, I don't see how this is related." Saruman refuted loudly, "It's just a natural phenomenon that happened to be encountered by a hidden necromancer; he may think it is an opportunity to expand his territory, or simply hide in other worlds to avoid our attack, so he colluded with the orcs to launch an invasion of foreign lands."

"But he revealed his identity in the other world. Do you remember what Mr. Forrester said? He clearly called himself 'Sauron'." Gandalf argued.

"Bluffing, hiding one's head and showing one's tail, impersonating someone else! It's that simple. Those who have fallen into darkness are obsessed with Sauron's power and succumb to his notoriety, so they use the name of their master to embolden themselves. But one undoubted fact is that Sauron has long been defeated. Even if he is still alive, he no longer poses a threat after losing his power. Now he can only hide everywhere, trembling with fear all day long, fearing that he will be discovered by kind people. You once said that Sauron returned secretly, and now you say that he took the initiative to reveal his identity in another world. Such contradictory statements, how can I believe them?"

The white-robed wizard spoke eloquently and logically, and even Lin You listened with great interest.

You can never wake up a person who is pretending to be asleep, and you can never use reason to convince a person who does not want to reason. This is why, even though the legal provisions in modern society are becoming more and more detailed, the position of judge is still required during trials, and the prosecution and defense cannot be left to decide the outcome through reasoning.

Gandalf obviously discovered Saruman's problem and knew that it was useless to reason with him, so he sighed and said, "Saruman, Saruman, old friend, it's not that you don't know the danger is coming, you just don't want to open your eyes and see it, and you don't want to believe it."

Saruman retorted, "You said I didn't want to open my eyes to see, but I think you always make a fuss and stir up trouble. This is the case with Dol Guldur and the Lonely Mountain. You should know that awakening Smaug will bring uncertain dangers to the entire Middle-earth, so why encourage the dwarves to take risks? Isn't it better to let the dragon continue to sleep?" "Yes, maybe if it sleeps for too long, the dragon will die directly in its sleep?" Lin You laughed and "echoed". He found that Saruman was actually very smart. He seemed to be blaming Gandalf, but he actually quietly shifted the topic from Dol Guldur to the Lonely Mountain.

The white-robed wizard could not defeat Lin You in the matter of Dol Guldur, but he was able to avoid the most difficult opponent in the matter of Lonely Mountain.

In any case, the Lonely Mountain Kingdom and Smaug the Dragon are internal issues of Arda, and Lin You, a foreign visitor, has no right to interfere; for Saruman, dealing with Gandalf is much easier than dealing with Mr. Forrester.

But the white-robed wizard had not expected that the foreign visitor would be so thick-skinned. Not only did he openly interrupt him about things that had nothing to do with him, but he also pretended to agree with him and made sarcastic remarks.

All we can say is that Saruman does not understand Lin You’s mentality at all; since it does not matter whether the negotiation succeeds or not, the writer will naturally just enjoy the fun.

The white-robed wizard retorted: "How to deal with Smaug is our internal affairs. If you are interested, you might as well pay more attention to your own problems. Since you are so powerful, why don't you deal with the time and space rift of Dol Guldur yourself?"

"You mean I can do it all myself? That would be great."

How could Lin You be easily manipulated? In a negotiation, if things go wrong, how could they go wrong?

"Speaking of which, before I entered Arda, I had already burned all the invading orcs. However, if the gap in time and space exists for a long time, the problem will not be fundamentally solved, so we have to think of a permanent solution. At least we can't let the orcs come and fight whenever they want and launch surprise attacks on us every time. As for how to do it specifically, I already have some ideas."

Saruman sneered: "Then let us listen to your words."

"It's not a brilliant theory, it's actually a stupid idea. My idea is to station a powerful army in Dol Guldur to prevent the orcs and Sauron's followers from ever getting close to the gap in time and space. Therefore, we need to build a powerful fortress to ensure that the orcs cannot get involved in that area." Lin You said seriously.

"I'm sorry, as far as I know, no race or country currently has the spare capacity to send a large army to Dol Guldur, let alone take the time and effort to build a city defense fortress and station there for a long time." Saruman sneered.

"It's okay. I can provide troops. In order to prevent foreign invasion, all the countries in the other world have united; when I came, a large-scale coalition force was stationed on the other side of the time and space gap. If a fortress and some garrisons can permanently eliminate the danger of foreign invasion, those kings will definitely be happy to provide troops and supplies."

"Heh...how many people can you send? As you can see, the orcs have an almost endless supply of manpower. If you want to defend the fortress for a long time..." Saruman shook his head disapprovingly, but the next moment he was "scared" by Lin You and was stunned.

"One hundred thousand...is that enough?"

"How much did you say?" The white-robed wizard was not the only one who was stunned.

"One hundred thousand. If it's not enough, we can add more." Lin You patted his chest and assured the "councillors" present. "In order to prevent the invasion of orcs, various countries have currently assembled 200,000 troops near the gap in time and space. Such a large military force puts a great pressure on logistics. If it can be reduced by half, even if it costs a little more money to build a military base, I think the kings of various countries will be able to accept it."

"Two hundred thousand, are you sure?" Elrond asked. From his expression one could easily tell the words "I don't believe it".

"In fact, considering the population size, it is not impossible for each country to mobilize a maximum of 300,000 troops. However, doing so would cause too much damage to the national economy." Lin You lied seriously.

If someone from the Demon Hunter world stood here, they would easily see through the fact that the writer was engaging in diplomatic blackmail.

There are indeed 200,000 troops, but they are prepared for the "World War" between the North and the South; given the current tense situation between the North and the South, only a fool would believe that the kings would withdraw their precious troops into a strange world at this time.

Unfortunately, there is no one here who is a native of the Demon Hunter world—not even Lin You. (End of this chapter)