Lanling was truly greatly astonished. Why would people of the Tiansha Clan come looking for him? And who was this Princess Dini?
This was the asymmetry of information. The great war in the Southern Wilderness was imminent, and the establishment of the Demon Race Alliance and the Demon Race Empire United Front was currently still only known to the top levels of the Eight Great Demon Races.
Even the Black Devil Banner Lord had not received any word of it.
“Let him in!” Lanling said.
Very soon, the emissary of Princess Dini of the Tiansha Clan walked in.
His entire body was shrouded in a silver robe. Even upon seeing Lanling, he did not lift his hood, still hiding himself in darkness.
Moreover, he was incomparably arrogant. Not to mention not kneeling, he did not even bend his waist in salute.
“I come representing the great conqueror, the future master of the Demon Race Empire, to grant you the opportunity to surrender.” The emissary said with extreme arrogance: “Lord Lanling, now kneel down and accept Princess Dini’s gracious gift.”
Lanling was stunned, almost unable to believe his ears.
Was this Princess Dini an idiot?
Furthermore, who was she? Was this fucking supposed to be a surrender offer? This was clearly a slap in the face.
The emissary said: “Very soon, the great army of my Demon Race Empire United Front will sweep across the entire Southern Wilderness, and the Rakshasa Clan domain will bear the brunt. The entire domain will all kneel at Princess Dini’s feet, all banner lords, including the Rakshasa Royal Family, will become slaves of the great Demon Race Empire. According to intelligence, you are enemies with the Rakshasa Royal Family, therefore you have this precious opportunity to become a minion under Princess Dini’s command. What you need to do is very simple, when my Demon Race Empire’s great army attacks the Rakshasa Clan domain, raise your army in response.”
At this time, Lanling’s expression became grave.
Because he heard that an immense great war was about to break out.
The so-called Demon Race Empire United Front led by the Tiansha Clan would raise a conquest in the Southern Wilderness.
This was a civil war of the demon race, but for the entire Southern Wilderness, it was a world war.
Lanling’s eyes narrowed, but his heart was surging with turbulent waves.
Originally according to his plan, after he unified the entire Southern Wilderness, he would then lead his army north, destroy the Modo Empire, destroy the human kingdoms, destroy the Dragon Holy Temple.
However…
He had just taken the Black Devil Banner territory, and the great war began to erupt.
Truly, plans cannot keep up with changes. The future situation had completely changed, there was simply no time for him to farm and develop.
Then in this great war, what could he, Lanling, gain?
“May I ask, what are the two opposing camps in the imminent great war?” Lanling asked.
The emissary said arrogantly: “What does that have to do with you? The role you play determines that you do not need to know so much!”
Fuck your grandfather.
Lanling endured the urge to step forward and slap him.
Was this fucking a negotiator? This was completely looking for a beating.
He had thought Princess Shayan was already very annoying, but he had not expected this Princess Dini of the Tiansha Clan to be even more annoying.
“Then if I join your camp, and raise my army in response when you send troops to attack the Rakshasa Clan, what benefits can I obtain?” Lanling asked.
The emissary said: “Being able to join the great Demon Race Empire, is this not a heaven-shaking benefit? Throughout the entire Rakshasa Clan domain, only you have this opportunity, you should be weeping with gratitude, because you can avoid the fate of destruction.”
Lanling truly felt fucked.
Was this Princess Dini brain-dead?
Persuading an enemy lord to defect, yet not only giving no benefits, but instead saying that being allowed to defect is a great grace. As for benefits, there was none whatsoever.
When the great army arrives, leaving you a dog’s life is the greatest benefit to you.
In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, when Cao Cao sent an emissary to persuade a general of Eastern Wu, if he dared to use this attitude, he would not have survived until the Battle of Red Cliffs before being killed a hundred times, his corpse rotted.
Lanling laughed in extreme anger: “Then may I ask, after you conquer the Rakshasa Clan domain in the future, what position will you give me?”
“Viscount, the position of Black Devil City Lord.” The emissary said.
Lanling almost spat out another mouthful of blood. He confirmed and asked: “Black Devil City Lord? Or Black Devil Banner Lord?”
The emissary said: “In the future there will no longer be a Black Devil Banner Lord. The entire Black Devil Banner territory will be restructured as a province of the Demon Race Empire, subordinate to thirteen cities. Your Black Devil City will be the capital city of the Black Devil Province.”
Lanling was completely speechless.
In other words, after defecting to this so-called Demon Race Empire United Front, his territory would shrink thirteenfold.
Now, he was still a banner lord, in the future he could only be a city lord.
This was absolutely not a surrender offer, but rather looking for a beating.
Lanling was truly very curious, who exactly gave this Princess Dini such great confidence? Such a good opinion of herself?
“Now, you can kneel to receive the decree.” The emissary said.
Lanling sneered: “Scram!”
The emissary’s gaze turned cold, and he said coldly: “Are you refusing the great conqueror Princess Dini’s gracious gift?”
If not for Lanling still having a trace of rationality, he would have directly ordered this emissary to be chopped into thirteen pieces.
“Throw him out…” Lanling ordered.
Instantly, Chiyan Khan stepped forward, grabbed this emissary, and directly threw him out.
The emissary roared angrily: “You wait to endure the great conqueror’s fury, Princess Dini will certainly exterminate all of you.”
Just like that, this arrogant emissary of Princess Dini was thrown out.
Lanling fell into deep thought.
Was this Princess Dini’s high-handed recruitment due to her being brain-dead, or was it her personality?
If she was brain-dead, then the result of this great war, this so-called Demon Race Empire United Front, was worrying.
And if she was innately arrogant, innately confident, that meant she truly did not care whether a small banner lord was willing to surrender.
She sent an emissary to recruit, it was like taking a shot in the dark, or like beating a child on a rainy day, since one is idle anyway.
Immediately after, Lanling thought of himself.
At that time when he went to recruit officials of the Southeastern Province, his attitude was exactly the same as Princess Dini’s, every official was demoted by one or two ranks upon appointment.
And the officials of the Southeastern Province led by Yan Wuzhi were unbearably arrogant, putting on airs expecting Lanling to make three visits like Liu Bei at the thatched cottage, and completely asking for the moon.
In the end, Lanling massacred them, killing them until they wailed like ghosts and howled like wolves, finally kneeling down obediently.
Now the wheel of fortune had turned, it was others’ turn to use this attitude to recruit him, and he had arrogantly refused.
Of course, Lanling certainly would not end up like those officials of the Southeastern Province.
But now Lanling finally understood why, when he attacked the Black Devil Banner territory, Rakshasa City’s reaction was so low-key, and also understood why Princess Shayan had actually agreed to the Heavenly Demon Blood Oath, even though she felt Lanling could not possibly win. But as long as she said the words that if Lanling won she would marry him, it was a great humiliation to the Rakshasa Royal Family.
Because the Southern Wilderness was at a very critical moment, the great war was about to erupt, presumably the Rakshasa Clan domain did not wish to have a huge internal conflict, thereby attracting the Tiansha Clan’s gaze, placing the first conquest target on the Rakshasa Clan.
The Tiansha Clan bordered three races, and the Rakshasa Clan was one of them.
Once the Tiansha King launched the great war to unify the Southern Wilderness, he would certainly choose one tribe as the first conquest target.
Just like Hitler chose to strike east first, then west.
If the Tiansha Clan struck east, it would be the Rakshasa Clan, south would be the Disha Clan, west would be the Yune Clan.
And once a large-scale civil war broke out within the Rakshasa Clan, without doubt it would instantly attract the Tiansha King’s gaze, immediately setting the first conquest target as the Rakshasa Clan.
Then, what benefits could Lanling gain from this overall situation?
From the perspective of the Rakshasa King, or the Little Rakshasa King, how should they deal with him?
There were two choices.
The first choice, kill him, nipping the internal conflict in the bud.
The second choice, use him, even use him as cannon fodder to resist the Tiansha Clan’s invasion.
The third choice, place him under house arrest.
If time were ample, the Rakshasa Royal Family would certainly choose the first, because killing Lanling would settle everything once and for all.
But now the demon race great war in the Southern Wilderness was about to erupt, even if the Rakshasa King killed Lanling, his centaur army would certainly massacre wantonly, even slaughtering the entire Black Devil Banner, and the worst result would even be thirty thousand centaurs defecting to the Tiansha King to avenge Lanling.
Therefore, in this environment with the great war imminent, killing Lanling had become impossible.
The second choice was possible.
First, those who are not of my race have hearts that must differ, the Rakshasa Royal Family would never truly accept Lanling no matter what. Not to mention Lanling had once slapped the Rakshasa Royal Family in the face, forcibly marrying Princess Shayan.
Once Princess Shayan married Lanling, it was basically no different from Princess Wencheng marrying Songtsen Gampo, it was no small humiliation to the Rakshasa Royal Family.
Since they could not kill Lanling, using his army as cannon fodder was basically a very good result.
The third choice, summon Lanling to Rakshasa City, nominally marry Princess Shayan to him, then have Lanling fall ill, remain in the Rakshasa Clan to recuperate, completely placing Lanling under house arrest. Then, forcing Lanling to order the centaur army to be cannon fodder, resisting the Tiansha Clan’s invasion.
That’s right, the Rakshasa Royal Family would certainly choose the third.
Moreover, Lanling summoning Hell Lightning had already completely harmed the Rakshasa Royal Family’s interests.
Summoning the power of heaven and earth belonged to the Devil King’s domain.
A Rakshasa Clan could not have two people possessing the power to summon heaven and earth, at least on the surface.
Because up to now, even the Little Rakshasa King did not dare to show the slightest ability in this aspect.
If there was no mistake, next Rakshasa City would issue a decree, letting Lanling go to Rakshasa City to propose marriage, then the wedding would be held in Rakshasa City, and Lanling would be completely placed under house arrest.
Then how should Lanling respond?
He wanted to make the Rakshasa King choose the second, using him, Lanling, as cannon fodder to resist the Tiansha Clan’s invasion.
How, how should he accomplish this?
Suddenly, Lanling said: “Someone come, go kill that Princess Dini’s emissary.”
“Yes!” Chiyan Khan said, then flew out like lightning.
A quarter of an hour later, he returned, holding the head of Princess Dini’s emissary in his hand, still bloody.
“Send someone to deliver this head to Rakshasa City, personally deliver it before the Little Rakshasa King.” Lanling said: “Black Devil Lord, you make the arrangements.”
“Yes, Master.” Heizhou bowed in acknowledgment.
Half an hour later, one of Heizhou’s sons rode a griffin beast, personally flying to Rakshasa City carrying the head of Princess Dini’s emissary.
Next, accompanied by the Black Devil Lord, Lanling continued to receive the new chiefs who were about to take office.
Evening time!
The Rakshasa City emissary arrived, bringing the Little Rakshasa King’s decree.
“Summon Flame Demon Banner Lord Lanling to enter Rakshasa City to propose marriage, and discuss wedding ceremonies!”
It had indeed come. Once Lanling entered Rakshasa City, it basically meant he would never return!
And if Lanling did not go, then he could not marry Princess Shayan, nor could he rightfully become the Flame Demon Banner Lord, nor could he rightfully become the master of this territory of over one million square kilometres.
And if he went, he would certainly be placed under house arrest.
What should he do?