The Empress’s Gigolo

Early in the morning, Ren Baqian sat in front of the bonfire and fully utilized his prowess by roasting two lambs at the same time. These lambs were of fairly small build, but they had very nimble movements. They were considered pretty rare game animals because they were able to crush the skulls of ferocious beasts with just their hooves.

The ordinary soldiers had been eating babeasts over the last two days. Those beasts could be found in packs everywhere. They had the appearance of rabbits, but the behavior of wolves. Their meat was a little rough, and they didn’t exactly taste good.

In the olden days, there were some generals who loved their soldiers so much that they ate and lived together. However, both Ren Baqian and the empress weren’t generals, so they naturally wouldn’t compromise themselves.

A thin and slightly hunchbacked elder who wore a green top was walking over unhurriedly from afar.

This elder had a head of white hair while his body emitted an air of defeat. His movements were slow as well, seemingly like a log.

When they noticed that someone was approaching, both the students, who were in the midst of preparing breakfast, and a few soldiers immediately went on the alert.

“An enemy!”

All of the soldiers successively drew out their weapons.

“I’m not here to pick a fight. I just want to have a few words with you,” this elder said.

“Shi Gan!” Ren Baqian called out to Shi Gan to take over the breakfast roasting. After he cleaned off the soot from his hands and nodded at the empress, he walked toward the elder.

Qingyun Sword. Ren Baqian had never expected him to actually arrive just to have a few words. Furthermore, he was alone.

However, Ren Baqian could somehow guess what he wanted to ask.

Ren Baqian stopped several meters in front of Qingyun Sword and looked at him. His current outlook was entirely different from when they had first met.

Even though his hair had still been white and his age was roughly evident back then, he looked as if he was in the pink of health. After all, even if a Spirit Wheel expert was 100 years old, it shouldn’t be a problem for him to live for another 40 years or so. In addition, his condition would only begin to rapidly deteriorate about a year before his time was up.

However, looking at him now, his entire body seemed defeated and appeared about 20 years older than it was before.

“You didn’t expect this, did you?” Qingyun Sword questioned.

Ren Baqian nodded very honestly. He had indeed never expected for this to happen.

“Neither did I,” Qingyun Sword replied drearily.

Everything was indeed beyond expectation. Qingyun Sword had neither expected that Ren Baqian was an undercover agent nor that the envoy from Great Xia was actually in cahoots with Ren Baqian and had revealed information to him.

When he came to know of this piece of news, he was at a loss for quite some time. He didn’t know what was wrong with this world.

All that talk about providing support and starting a revolt; it all seemed like a joke.

Issues between nations and what happened at the imperial ancestral temple, all of it didn’t seem to be something that people of the society could comprehend.

All they had were bodies full of hot blood, but they were acting like fools. They did things that many people thought were foolish.

“I want to ask you something, and I want you to speak the truth.” Qingyun Sword spoke after standing there for some time.

“They all call me the cute and honest husband!” Ren Baqian replied very genuinely.

Qingyun Sword looked at him profoundly.

Cute and honest… Cute and honest… He had been deceived by this man!

“If we were defeated, how would you treat all the living beings in this land?” Qingyun Sword asked unhurriedly. This was his purpose for visiting. Assassinating the empress was a very grave matter indeed.

If it were to succeed, they would be able to launch a counterattack if they could withstand the retaliation from the Protectorate of the South.

However, if they were to fail, rolling heads would likely be the outcome of what the aboriginals would do since this had been their habit all the while.

All living beings in Tianjing Basin would be like lambs waiting to be slaughtered.

As a result, Qingyun Sword’s purpose for coming was to try to persuade Ren Baqian to let the innocent civilians off. This was the only thing he could do at the moment—to plan for everything after their defeat due to their blindness and impulse.

He used to harbor thoughts about victory, but all of that was already gone.

Even Great Xia’s envoy was in cahoots with the aboriginals. Were all those things that he and his men had done a farce in the eyes of the others? Qingyun Sword didn’t know.

Su Qing’s betrayal had dealt a huge blow to him.

“I’ve said it before, but all of you were actually too rushed…” Ren Baqian said as his eyes darted around before he found a rock and sat down.

“This is my purpose for coming. Actually, you all and the aboriginals aren’t coexisting in a state of irreconcilable adversaries. It’s not that this land can’t accommodate both ethnic groups living together.

Of course, the aboriginals don’t have enough mental capacity, and this resulted in your people not having a good means of settlement over the years. As for you all, those who have survived from 70 years ago can’t live in peace either. As such, the relationship between both parties became worse over the last few decades.

In fact, precisely because the aboriginals don’t have as much mental capacity, you all could do better.

In my opinion, you guys are more useful toward aspects such as the economy, culture, scientific research, etc.

Both parties actually complement one another.

The aboriginals have military strength, but no brains. You guys have no military strength and no brains… but, have a little more brain power compared to the aboriginals.”

From afar, the empress picked up a piece of rock, and it screeched through the air as she sent it flying toward them.

Qingyun Sword stretched out his hand and grabbed ahold of it. He glanced toward the empress and said to Ren Baqian, “Your standing among the aboriginals is much higher than what I had expected.”

If he were to be blunt and comment about the aboriginals not having enough mental capacity in front of Qi Zixiao, he reckoned that he would probably be buried by now.

However, Qi Zixiao couldn’t even bear to throw the rock at Ren Baqian to warn him, but instead threw it at Qingyun Sword. Even though such an action felt a bit like a girl throwing a tantrum, he could tell where Ren Baqian stood in the heart of Qi Zixiao.

“Please continue, I’m all ears,” Qingyun Sword added. Previously, when he first saw the empress, Ren Baqian seemed to have said something similar. However, everyone was unwilling and nobody could accept what he said back then. Even if they listened, they still wouldn’t have believed him.

Currently, Qingyun Sword already knew the what the outcome would be. With an open mind, he was able to calm down and listen properly.

This matter was itself a very lamentable thing.

“My purpose for coming is to resolve this issue and let you guys walk away.

First, let out a small group of steady minded people to run businesses or do other tasks. Allow them to interact with the aboriginals while allowing the aboriginals to get to know you all better. This will also allow all of you to get to know the aboriginals better. Through such interactions, both parties can understand each other better and treat each other relatively fairly instead of being completely prejudicial.

Once this first step is accomplished, more of your people will be let out progressively.

Of course, this will require some time. However, as time passes, all of you will be able to coexist with the aboriginals under the same sky.

When that happens, my objective will be met and so will yours.”

“Are you serious?” Qingyun Sword’s voice shuddered slightly.

This was something that many people had been looking forward to over the last few decades. Could it really be accomplished so easily now?

“There isn’t a need for me to lie. Your vision is too limited—it’s as if you’re looking at the sky from the bottom of a well.

What I see is far greater than what your see. I also know about the needs of various types of talents far better than you.

The future Dayao won’t be a good-for-nothing nation that only knows fighting. It will be the center of this world. A nation that far exceeds all others of this era in aspects like economy, culture, education, etc.

I need talents, a large quantity of talents from all aspects like education, economics, research, project planning, and manufacturing. Only with a large amount of talented individuals will we be able to achieve what Her Majesty and I have envisioned.

Even in Tianjing Basin, I will spread education extensively and allow every child to be able to attend classes. This is so that they will grow to become the talents that I need before allocating them to positions that can bring out their expertise.

This way, after 10, 20, or 30 years, there may even be officials from Tianjing Basin entering the imperial court.”

Qingyun Sword remained silent for a good while after listening to what Ren Baqian said.

He was in slight disbelief.

If the aboriginals were to coexist peacefully with everyone from Tianjing Basin like what Ren Baqian mentioned, it was something that would probably take decades to achieve.

The sole fact that children from Tianjing Basin could go to school and attain knowledge was already enough to make it hard for Qingyun Sword to believe. This was something that the past generations were unable to achieve. It was impossible even for the populous and affluent Great Xia.

As for the other things that Ren Baqian said, they completely made no sense to him.

From the looks of it, it seemed that Qi Zixiao and the person in front of him had a majestic plan that embodied many elements. However, he didn’t know what the plan was nor could he imagine what it would be like.

Let Dayao become the center of this world?

It sounded like the words of sheer fantasy.

However, looking at how Ren Baqian was glowing with vigor, it seemed as if that was what he planned to do.

Most importantly, seeing that the other party indeed had no intentions of exterminating his people, Qingyun Sword had attained peace of mind.

Since that was the case, there was no need to say everything that he had planned before.

“Just surrender! Given your status, strength, and position in Tianjing Basin, you can shorten the process of pacifying Tianjing Basin by so much more. The more time saved, the less blood shed. Also, you too could live on to witness if this world will evolve to what I said it will,” Ren Baqian persuaded.