Fearing being killed for his overwhelming merits, the empress decided to marry him.

Shi Mingzhu's words rekindled the hope and expectation in the depressed and desperate Ruan Xialai father and son.

Yes, Shi Mingzhu is an envoy of the Celestial Empire. If he were to step forward, the Chu army would certainly not dare to invade again. Otherwise, they would be offending the Wu Zhao Kingdom. Would the Chu Kingdom dare to oppose the Wu Zhao Kingdom?

So he grabbed Shi Mingzhu's hand as if he had grasped a lifeline.

"Angel, are you truly willing to help the Kingdom of Li?"

Shi Mingzhu looked at the claws gripping her arm with a hint of disgust in her eyes, and quietly pulled them away.

"Your Majesty, please rest assured. I am grateful for Your Majesty's warm hospitality these days. This small matter is of my ability. Please wait here for a moment, and I will go to negotiate with the Chu army general."

Upon hearing this, Ruan Xialai burst into tears, repeatedly bowing and kowtowing to Shi Mingzhu, saying, "I entrust everything to the angels, please, please..."

His appearance was so humble, he was practically kneeling down, completely lacking the dignity a monarch should have.

Shi Mingzhu responded emphatically, then took Tieji and turned to walk out of the palace gate.

At this moment, the assault team led by Shen Lang had completely cleared the road from the port to the palace.

After the royal guards were wiped out, the assault team advanced unimpeded, encountering no further resistance, and reached a point one mile outside the palace, ready to launch the final assault.

Just then, a squad of royal guards emerged from the palace, raising a white flag and shouting to the assault team: "General of Chu, please cease your attack! His Majesty has sent an envoy to negotiate peace. Please do not attack!"

Seeing this through the telescope, Shen Lang coldly ordered: "Cease the attack, set up artillery, and prepare to assault the enemy at any time."

"Yes!"

The artillery unit immediately moved the two 75mm howitzers to positions with better visibility.

"Bring them here."

"Yes."

A short while later, the Lebanese negotiating delegation appeared before Shen Lang, trembling with fear.

They were all trembling, their heads bowed, not daring to look Shen Lang in the eye.

Shi Mingzhu, however, remained calm and composed, her hands behind her back, looking at Shen Lang with the air of someone in a superior position.

Tie Ji, standing beside him, also displayed an attitude of regarding all heroes as ants, completely disregarding Shen Lang and the surrounding army.

Seeing Shi Mingzhu, Shen Lang felt extremely displeased and even had an urge to slap him a few times.

It wasn't the other party's attitude that was the problem, but rather the money-tailed rats behind Shi Mingzhu and Tie Ji's heads that made him furious.

He suppressed his anger and asked in a cold voice, "I heard you want to negotiate with me? Then tell me, how do you plan to negotiate?"

The envoys sent by the Li Kingdom all fell silent, not uttering a single word.

They were already so frightened by the Chu soldiers and officers all around them, who reeked of gunpowder, that their tongues were tied in knots.

Shi Mingzhu remained calm and composed. He flicked his sleeves, cupped his hands, and said to Shen Lang, "I am Shi Mingzhu, the envoy of Wuzhao. I have met with the generals of the Chu army. May I ask what position you hold in the army? I will also address you with the utmost respect."

It has to be said that Shen Lang was disgusted not only by Shi Mingzhu's outfit and the money rat tail on the back of her head, but also by her attitude.

Those words, though seemingly polite, were in fact incredibly arrogant, behaving like a superior subject of a celestial empire.

So Shen Lang casually replied, "Just call me General Shen. Now, tell me, how do you plan to negotiate?"

Shi Mingzhu: "Then may I ask General Shen, do you think your country has gone too far in daring to offend the South China Sea?"

Shen Lang found a stool and sat down by himself. Hearing what Shi Mingzhu said, he smiled slightly and asked, "Tell me, how exactly is this excessive?"

Shi Mingzhu was taken aback, then said, "Isn't your country's act of mobilizing such a large force to forcibly occupy Li's territory excessive?"

Shen Lang nodded: "Anything else?"

He was too lazy to explain the whole story to this guy; he just wanted to know what Shi Mingzhu's purpose was in coming here.

Shi Mingzhu frowned. This Shen Lang seemed a little too calm.

"If your country is still willing to give my Wuzhao Kingdom some face, then I would like to ask your country to take the initiative to leave Wangjiao City."

"Ha, so according to you, my trip was a complete waste?"

"Please go back and tell your emperor that as long as she is willing to give up her involvement in all affairs in Southeast Asia, Wu Zhao Kingdom will grant Chu Kingdom special permission to become the next permanent tributary state."

Shi Mingzhu probably didn't even realize how proud he looked when he said those words.

After all, not every country can become a tributary state of Wu Zhao.

Wu Zhao Kingdom had hundreds of vassal states, but only a very few were qualified to become tributary states and pay homage to the emperor in Shengjing every year.

By offering tribute, one could get closer to the great Emperor Wu Zhao, and even have the opportunity to have a private conversation and share a banquet.

This is an honor that all vassal states dream of, and a source of pride for them to boast about in the future.

Being able to become a member of the Wuzhao vassal state is already an immense favor from the emperor. If we could become a tributary state, wouldn't we be moved to tears of gratitude?

Shi Mingzhu believed that by proposing such conditions, these people from the lower-class country would be flattered and kneel down to thank their lord for his great favor.

After all, when the other vassal states were granted permission to go to Shengjing to meet the emperor, which one of them wasn't extremely excited? Which one didn't burn incense, bathe, and devoutly kneel and bow to the north?

Now that I have offered such generous terms, I think the Chu general will be as excited as I expected and choose to withdraw his troops.

However, this time he made a truly egregious mistake.

Upon hearing this news, Shen Lang couldn't help but make an exaggerated face, smiling as he looked at Shi Mingzhu.

"You mean to make my Chu Kingdom a vassal state of your Wu Zhao Kingdom, and make Chu Kingdom pay tribute to your Wu Zhao Kingdom every year, in exchange for my Chu army to withdraw its troops? Is that right?"

Shi Mingzhu nodded and said proudly, "Yes, this is my Wuzhao Kingdom's act of kindness towards your country. Why don't you kneel down and thank your country?"

"Hahaha."

Shen Lang couldn't help but laugh, and tears streamed down his face.

Yue Pengju, who was standing to the side, was also puzzled as to why Shi Mingzhu would make such outrageous demands and yet seem so confident.

"What are you laughing at? Stop laughing! Be serious!" Tie Ji roared, standing directly in front of Shi Mingzhu. "You think you can laugh at envoys from the Celestial Empire? You must be tired of living!"

Shen Lang stopped laughing and suddenly turned his gaze to Tie Ji.

In an instant, Tieji felt a chill run down his spine.

The next moment, Shen Lang's figure flashed and he disappeared from the spot.

"Oh no, I've misjudged this... This is..."

puff-

Before he could finish speaking, Tie Ji's raised hand froze in mid-air.

Beside him stood Shen Lang, holding a dripping blood dagger in his backhand.

Tieji touched his neck, opened his palms and saw they were covered in blood. His eyes widened and he cried out.

"What a fast knife."

After he finished speaking, three feet of blood spurted from his neck, and his entire body collapsed heavily to the ground.

Shen Lang didn't even glance at the corpse, sheathed his dagger and sneered, "You haven't made a move in a while, did you think I couldn't lift a knife anymore? Heh..."