The Invincible Overlord of Heroes

One by one, when everyone bowed down before Xu Lai, Xu Lai's status as the king of the underground was beyond doubt.

"Please stand up, everyone. Since everyone is willing to worship me as the king, I naturally have no reason to not give you face.

From now on, everyone is a family.

We are a family, and everyone in the underground city, including you and your clansmen, will be protected by me from now on.

I can't guarantee your absolute safety, but I can guarantee that after you are wronged, I will help you get justice.

The so-called justice is that you don't take the initiative to cause trouble.

You also know that I belong to the empire, and the empire, the barrier and the tower are all my friendly forces.

For them, as long as it is not something you take the initiative to cause, I will be bullied. I will definitely help you get justice.

For the rest of the camps, I can promise to protect you, but only when the dungeon is invaded.

If you invade someone else's territory and get bullied by them, don't say I don't care about you. "

"Mr. Xu Lai, you worry too much. Although we have the habit of looting in the dungeon, we will never take the initiative to loot humans and elves from now on.

Moreover, although we often loot others, we never occupy other people's places.

Our dungeon race is special and cannot survive on the ground for a long time, so we always just rob and leave, and don't like to invade. "

Jones explained humbly.

"Mr. Mage, since you have recognized the identity of my lord, it seems inappropriate to call him Your Excellency."

After Jones finished speaking, Jilong immediately added.

Jones smiled awkwardly: "If you say so, it is indeed not very appropriate to call you Your Excellency. I wonder if my king has a title?"

Xu Lai shook his head. He actually didn't think that things would go so smoothly.

He had already prepared for the breakdown of the first negotiation, but he didn't want these dungeon species to lose the courage to resist because of a small friction.

Of course, it would not be difficult for them to surrender to him so easily, and to surrender to others.

When a stronger person than Xu Lai appears, these guys may not hesitate at all and kneel down to others again.

"Let's talk about the title later. Let's set the rules first." Xu Lai thought for a while and said.

Several people looked at each other and said in unison: "Just follow the orders of our king."

Xu Lai coughed, but did not speak, but signaled Jilong with his eyes.

The previous submission was only superficial. Kneeling and bowing to Xu Lai did not lose a piece of meat, and there was no actual loss.

But what we are going to talk about next is the actual interests, and both sides may tear each other apart at any time.

In this case, Xu Lai is still not suitable to go down directly, so as not to have no room for maneuver in the end.

Before Xu Lai came, he had not considered letting Jilong be his spokesperson, but as Xu Lai's assistant, Jilong knew a lot of things.

Otherwise, Xu Lai would not have asked Jilong to speak for him in such an occasion.

Jilong nodded in understanding and coughed to clear his throat.

His cough also successfully attracted the attention of the others.

"Ahem, my lord's meaning is to clarify the rights and obligations of both parties before respecting the king, so as to avoid trouble in the future."

"That's right, that's right." Jones responded quickly.

"Why not use Queen Massil's old system, anyway, everyone is familiar with it." Bull-headed King Gordon slapped his thigh and said.

"Cough cough cough..."

"Cough cough... cough cough..."

Suddenly, coughs came from inside and outside the tent.

People who don't know would think that there is some kind of acute infectious disease here.

"How can the new king continue to use the old system? Gordon, if you don't understand, you can just shut up."

The Queen of Medusa, who had been relatively silent, couldn't help but confront Gordon.

Moriel's exploitation was so cruel that everyone present, even Jones, the chief of the tribe, couldn't stand it, and how could the chiefs of the tribes accept it.

It was not easy to send away a queen. If a new one came, they would not be able to live.

Gordon was not stupid. Of course, he knew how cruel Moriel's exploitation was.

It's just that their Tauren tribe has always been more cooperative, and their racial characteristics are to charge forward and never retreat.

For Moriel, I don't know how many people in the Tauren tribe died.

Not to mention the distant past, when Xu Lai brought Reina to ravage the dungeon, the Tauren tribe had just lost a chieftain, Dais.

As a result, the Tauren tribe was actually more cared for by Moriel, and the treatment was relatively high, even better than the Evil Eye and Medusa tribes.

Gordon proposed to use the old system, in addition to wanting to repay Xu Lai for saving his life, the main reason is that the old system is more beneficial to the Tauren tribe.

Although according to Moril's collection method, it is still considered a harsh policy.

But as long as Xu Lai does not let their Tauren tribe die in large numbers in battle, they can accumulate more resources than other tribes.

Once something unexpected happens in the future, their Tauren tribe may be able to rise strongly.

In the final analysis, it is unlikely that outsiders want to occupy the underground city for a long time.

Just like the people in the underground city only like to plunder but not occupy, the aboveground and underground are completely two different lifestyles.

The simplest thing is that the cavemen have evolved away from their eyes and are particularly afraid of sunlight. How can they survive on the ground?

The people on the ground are the same, except for freaks like Xu Lai, who can sweep the entire underground city alone with only a few guards.

If the rest of the people want to occupy the underground city, they must station a large number of soldiers.

These people, if they are kept away from sunlight for a long time and live underground, their morale will collapse in no time.

"I don't agree to use the old system either. Queen Moril oppresses her fellow dungeons too harshly, and she doesn't treat the tribes fairly.

But after all, Moril is a pure dungeon native, and she has the support of the Red Dragon King and the Black Dragon King.

Our tribes have been resisting the Dragon Queen for many years, but have never succeeded.

If my king continues to use Moril's old system, I'm afraid that the underground world will never be peaceful."

The harpy queen Loria also said.

Seeing that everyone disagreed, Jilong also smiled and waved his hand and said:

"Don't get me wrong, my lord has never said that he wants to continue the old system of Moril.

What the lord means is that everyone should discuss together and come up with a plan that both sides can be satisfied with and can achieve long-term peace in the future."

Jones shook his head silently in his heart. No matter what, Xu Lai is the exploiter, how can there be long-term peace.

Not to mention that Xu Lai is the exploiter, even if he has too much money to spend, and in turn feeds the underground city, the people in the underground city will only think that Xu Lai is weak and easy to bully.

Therefore, there is no so-called long-term peace at all.

But, this cannot be said on the table.

"Mr. Jilong is right, why don't you come up with a plan first and let us discuss it."

Jilong smiled and said, "This is not suitable. If I come up with a plan, it seems that we are oppressing you. You should say it first."

If I come up with it first, the initiative will be gone, especially in this situation. Losing the initiative is not a wise choice.

Neither Xu Lai nor Ji Long knew how much Moril would charge.

If the offer was too low, Xu Lai might be dissatisfied. If the offer was too high, the negotiations would break down, and Xu Lai would still be dissatisfied.

Therefore, in Ji Long's position, speaking first was the most disadvantageous choice.

"The major tribes have been oppressed by Moril for a long time, and there have been, uh, misunderstandings during this period.

Moreover, the Southern Empire is unwilling to let us go and is constantly retaliating against us. There is really not much that the tribes can offer."

Ji Long smiled and said, "Once the misunderstanding is resolved, there will be no more misunderstandings.

As far as I know, the Southern Empire's revenge on you is entirely due to your looting in the Southern Empire.

We have no suitable reason to dissuade this just war.

However, after the misunderstanding between you and me is resolved, you can also concentrate your strength to fight against the Southern Empire, right?"

Really? Isn't it?

Jones just wanted to use this as an excuse. In fact, the Southern Empire is not important at all.

The people of the Southern Empire were not very courageous to begin with, and this time they launched an attack on the underground city out of an explanation to the people.

Even though they were constantly taking advantage, the Southern Empire still did not dare to go deeper.

After all, they did not know the actual situation of the underground city, and the news of Moriel's death was at least known to the middle and high-level people in the underground city.

It can be said that when the people who returned to the underground city, as long as they concentrated their efforts to find trouble with the Southern Empire, the other party would not dare to stay for long and would return to the ground quickly.

Anyway, they had already taken enough advantage, and they could explain to both sides. If they went back, they would be injured for meritorious service, so why should they stay in this dark underground city for longer?

"That being said, we can't create wealth out of thin air. Can you allow us to recover our strength first according to the actual situation?"

"Queen Moriel is indeed a bit harsh, and we are not unreasonable.

But there is one thing I don't understand. Queen Moriel has been killed by us. Have the resources she has exploited over the years disappeared out of thin air?"

Moriel's space ring is large, especially the one that can be filled with gold coins and rare resources infinitely.

But in the end, this is what Moriel took out. She must have countless resources that she couldn't take out, or didn't want to take out.

There is no need to think about these things. After confirming Moriel's death, they must have been divided up by these powerful people.

It's just that because Moriel's resources are unevenly distributed, they will not be divided equally.

If there was no external factor like Xu Lai, these people would have fought over the resources left by Moriel.

There were constant quarrels below, but Xu Lai sat on the Diaoyutai, holding his chin with his hand, and said nothing.

The underground city had many people, chattering and making a lot of noise.

Xu Lai's side seemed much weaker, and there was only Jilong in the negotiation.

However, Jilong's voice was enough to drown out the dozens of people.

It was all because Xu Lai stood behind Jilong, and Jilong's confidence was extremely strong.

Every time the underground city people argued, Jilong was ruthlessly exposed.

But although Jilong became more and more excited, Xu Lai could not let him play unlimitedly.

Just now, the people in the underground city had proposed to double the share of the previous supply to the empire, that is, 4 million gold coins per year, plus 100,000 units of rare resources.

Gold coins are nothing, the main thing is rare resources, especially gems, crystals and other rare resources that are more expensive in the empire.

Even if we only calculate the average price, the amount that the underground city pays to the empire every year is almost equivalent to 10 million gold coins.

If it doubles, it will be worth at least 20 million. The key is that even if you have money, you may not have a place to buy it.

However, such a proposal was rejected by Jilong without a second thought. He was also born as a minor noble, and he valued reputation far less than practical benefits.

After such a proposal was easily rejected, everyone in the underground city also knew that it would be difficult to impress Jilong without taking out something substantial, so they proposed the idea of ​​doubling it again.

Jilong certainly wanted to make further efforts to double the tribute so easily.

It was at this time that Xu Lai interrupted them.

He had to interrupt them. If they continued to talk, he didn't know how much the gold coins and rare resources would increase.

The key is that Xu Lai's existing resources are already unknown when they will be used up, and Moril also gave him a terrifying gift.

No matter how many resources are hoarded, if a battle fails, it is likely to be a wedding dress for others, just like Moril.

Therefore, the core of Xu Lai's supply is not gold coins and resources, but warriors.

"Gold coins and resources are symbolic things. I don't need too much, and I don't want you and your tribe to have any difficulties because of me.

How about this, gold coins and resources, follow the previous empire's precedent, still 2 million and 50,000 units of rare resources.

However, I have requirements for rare resources, mainly gems, and crystals. If it is really hard to get them together, adding a little mercury should not be a big problem, right?"

"My Lord..." Ji Long stood up and hesitated.

He finally raised the tribute to nearly 80 million, and Xu Lai sent it back in one breath.

Although Xu Lai should have asked for as much as he wanted.

But if so, wouldn't his verbal battle just now be in vain?

Jilong was unhappy, but the others were all smiling, and they all happily answered that there was absolutely no problem.

However, Xu Lai smiled and waved to Jilong, signaling him to sit down and be patient.

"Don't rush to agree, I haven't finished speaking yet."

Everyone knew that Xu Lai had something else to say, otherwise who would give up the money and resources they had obtained.

"I have a map here, and I marked some buildings on it.

You also know that I can't stay underground forever, otherwise I wouldn't need you.

So, I would like to ask you to help me spread this map.

Whoever owns the buildings above, please help me recruit the soldiers in the buildings and send them to Mingyue City in the middle of each month.

Mingyue City, do you know where it is? It is the place where Moriel fell. If you don't know, I will have someone mark it clearly on the map.

In return, I will also open an underground market in Mingyue City, and sell resources that are not needed on the ground, such as sulfur and mercury.

There are also soldiers, equipment, treasures, and anything that is not suitable on the ground. It can also be placed here."

The map that Xu Lai spread on the ground was very familiar to everyone, and some of them had it hung in their homes.

On this huge map, Xu Lai drew nearly a hundred circles of various sizes.

But the good news is that these circles seem to be in the wild, and almost all of them are unoccupied wild buildings, which obviously do not look like the barracks of the underground city.

Everyone silently calculated that there are only a hundred buildings in these large and small circles.

Recruiting soldiers in these buildings is also a very huge expense.

But in comprehensive comparison, it is probably more cost-effective than 8 million gold coins and 200,000 units of rare resources per year.

Besides, Xu Lai also promised to open bilateral trade and exchange resources on the ground and underground.

Even the dumbest people know how much profit is hidden in it. Maybe after completing the share handed over to Xu Lai, they can still make some money.

So, everyone silently lowered their heads and exchanged their eyes for a while, and unanimously agreed to Xu Lai's conditions.

"Then let's draft a tribute treaty, implement all of this in the treaty, and announce it."

The people in the underground city may not care much about their reputation, but these are all well-known.

In addition, Xu Lai's request was not excessive, and the other party's strength was there, so there was no need to go back on their word, so they all signed the new treaty in Jilong.

"After signing, let's ask those people outside to sign as well, including some city lords and clan leaders." (End of this chapter)