Doug’s attitude towards the Demon Clan is quite complicated. Having collaborated with them before, Doug knows their wolfish ambitions, yet the Demon Clan is indeed a powerful ally.
However, the demands put forth by the Demon Clan have far surpassed what Doug can accept, which is why he fell out with them earlier.
The demands of the Demon Clan are too great; the leased territories have effectively become their domains, yet the Demon Clan seems not satisfied with that and desires even more.
Seeing that Doug was unwilling to compromise, the Demon Clan approached the eastern nobles, and just like Doug once did, these nobles confidently believed they could control the Demon Clan, starting to assist them in swallowing up the Northern Border.
But now, the situation is different. Doug’s collapse happened even quicker than expected, and the Demon Clan has keenly sensed this and turned to Doug, the gambler.
“Impudent! Why don’t you just let me hand the entire kingdom over to you?”
Upon hearing the conditions proposed by the Demon Clan, Doug furiously searched his body and finally drew a firearm from his waist.
“Lord Governor, you need to think this through; this is certainly better than being caught by your niece’s husband, right?”
The envoy from the Demon Clan calmly looked at Doug, even taking the leisure to sip some tea.
“Moreover, you are still nominally the governor, aren’t you? It’s just boundary governance, after all.”
The Demon Clan demands that Doug surrender to Lind, ceding most of the land and governing according to boundaries set with Lind, while the Demon Clan would station troops on Doug’s territory to help him resist Lind.
As for where the boundaries would be drawn, that would depend on where the final frontline is maintained.
Not only that, the Demon Clan also requested Doug to change his religious beliefs, converting from the original Goddess to the Demon God.
If the conditions of the Demon Clan were fully met, Doug would not even have the authority to mobilize troops within his own territory; any matter would require the consent of the Demon Clan’s stationed troops, and even the faith within the territory would not be preserved, completely losing his autonomy.
Doug aimed the firearm at the envoy of the Demon Clan, but glancing at the dark muzzle, the envoy teased, “What’s wrong, Lord Governor? You didn’t hesitate like this when you invited us to kill your cousin.”
After his arm trembled several times, Doug finally lowered the firearm and said, “The circumstances were different then; back then, I had the Royal Capital’s support, but now, the Royal Capital does not stand by me.”
“This is simple.”
The envoy from the Demon Clan replied, “Although we cannot change the attitude of the Royal Capital, we can help you negotiate with the Eastern Border; at least during your counterattack, there won’t be any disturbances from the Eastern Border.”
Seeing the envoy’s demeanor did not seem to indicate deceit, Doug was somewhat shocked that the cooperation between the Eastern Border and the Demon Clan had reached such a depth.
After thinking for a moment, Doug continued, “And I’m not saying I disagree; given the fierce offensive from Graywhite Territory, you at least need to prove whether you can truly fend off Graywhite Territory. Only then can we discuss this business.”
Doug’s idea was quite sound; he would use the Demon Clan as a tool to gauge their combat capability. If they were indeed stronger than Graywhite Territory, then Doug wouldn’t have to choose.
Even if they were not as strong as Graywhite Territory, he could see how powerful the Demon Clan currently is and possibly even weaken them.
The envoy of the Demon Clan raised an eyebrow, as if he had already guessed Doug’s thoughts, and asked, “This can be done, but we don’t do small skirmishes; how about we go for a big one?”
“A big one? What do you mean by that?”
Doug felt a sense of foreboding rising within him.
“Lord Governor, you cannot withstand the Graywhite Territory army right now, so you are seeking a total assault, correct?”
Doug nodded. Given the opponent’s equipment advantages, he could not gain any advantage in skirmishes or defensive battles; his only hope lay in a large-scale battle.
After all, Doug’s forces were fighting on their home turf. Having drawn on the manpower of those nobles for so long, the number of Doug’s army had already swelled to an astonishing figure, not to mention the number of professionals among them. Even placed at the southwestern border, they could stand toe-to-toe with the Anju Kingdom.
Thus, when he heard that the Anju Kingdom had been defeated by the armed Western Border army, Doug felt less depressed. It turned out it wasn’t that he was too weak, but that the opponent’s weapons were too strong. What Anju’s professional army couldn’t hold off, after all?
And he had managed to hold out under an even more powerful firearm for such a long time; thinking of it this way, Doug felt he was much stronger than the army over in Anju.
“Since it’s a total assault, why not count us, the Demon Clan, in? Let’s take advantage of this total assault and delineate boundaries with the opposing governor, how about that?”
This implied that the Demon Clan wanted to join the total assault forces.
Though this no longer allowed for further testing of the Demon Clan’s real strength, the more people involved in the final battle, the better.
“So, in what way would the Demon Clan join?”
At this point, Doug was already somewhat tempted, as he had no way out.
“What way? Of course, it would be in a form led by us.”
The envoy of the Demon Clan said nonchalantly, “Our Demon Clan’s army has the right to mobilize your soldiers, and the command of Demon Clan generals takes precedence over your generals. Do you have any objections?”
“My personal guards cannot be interfered with, and battlefield arrangements must be decided by me; I will remain the overall commander.”
The envoy from the Demon Clan also knew that his demands were overly outrageous, and Doug couldn’t agree outright. So upon hearing Doug say this, he merely nodded.
“It doesn’t matter; the final victory will definitely be ours.”
Doug felt puzzled. The Demon Clan had indeed faced off against the Graythorn Territory’s army and the resistance forces before, usually coming out on the losing end. Where did they get the confidence to take on the Graythorn Territory’s army?
Moreover, the so-called Demon God they demanded Doug believe in was one he had never heard of, making it hard to imagine that a new god would emerge in this era.
Doug had conducted some investigations into this god. It was said to have been excavated from the Eternal Frozen Land, and it had been years since it was unearthed, only recently starting to awaken slowly.
As for the legends surrounding this god, Doug completely disbelieved. Many such legends were created on the spot, directly grafted from other gods, representing a standard evil god, not to mention it was even excavated.
It was said that this so-called Demon God could indeed respond to followers, but Doug wasn’t particularly interested. The Goddess also claimed to respond to followers, but how precisely she did so, the higher-ranking nobles were well aware.
The faith in the Goddess, besides being built up over many years, also relied on the Church’s divine arts and Holy Water. In the Church’s peak era, even kings had to look up to its existence.
Moreover, there’s no telling whether the Goddess would suddenly start responding to her followers again; such events had not been rare throughout history. Even if the Goddess’s church had declined for a while, as soon as she began answering the prayers of her followers once more, the Goddess’s church would rise again.
Thus, although the nobles usually did not place great importance on faith, changing their beliefs was not an easy task.
Subsequently, Doug discussed the final battle arrangements with the envoy from the Demon Clan. As it was necessary to prepare for boundary governance with Lind, the originally intended use of the River Valley army had to be moved up; it could not be delayed until the end as planned.
Now Doug’s army must fully commence operations, blocking Lind’s army outside, keeping it as far out as possible. The larger Doug’s territory is when the boundaries are finally delineated.
Moreover, to resume cooperation with the Demon Clan, many permissions that were previously impossible to grant were also opened to the Demon Clan, such as allowing large numbers of Demon Clan troops to enter.
It was no longer the small-scale raiding teams of the past but a real Demon Clan army that was about to enter the Northern Border.
