The Empress’s Gigolo

Just after the New Year, a couple of big events that were very important to the commoners of Lan City happened prior to the Lantern Festival.

First, hundreds of giant, six meter tall elephants travelled from Tianjing Basin to the north, arriving at the southern gates of Lan City.

After obtaining the secret manuals of the Six Doors after confiscating their possessions, Xi Wanya had finally managed to subdue the elephant soldiers after a few months.

The elephants were six meters tall, 11 meters long, and weighed around 13 tons. When these enormous beasts walked, they looked like small moving buildings. It made people feel as if they had returned to the early prehistoric times when countless giant wild creatures ran amuck.

Along the journey, the aboriginals who were faced with these elephants had no choice but to scurry away.

No matter what obstacles stood before them, they would be flattened and trampled into the mud.

The ground trembled as they moved forward, and the tremors could even be felt from more than five kilometers away. Many people had even thought that it was an earthquake before finding out that the tremors were in fact caused by the movements of these gigantic creatures.

Many people in Lan City were scouting to find out what had happened. When they eventually received news from the city gates, many of them immediately ran over to observe what was happening.

When the empress received the news, she brought the court officials out of the city to have a look.

In reality, they had already received the news the night before, which had prompted a discussion the moment they received the news.

“Your Majesty, the elephant soldiers will arrive in Lan City tomorrow.” When Ren Baqian received the news, he went back to the palace in high spirits and reported this to the empress.

“Oh!” The empress acknowledged the news with this sound.

“There are actually hundreds of those elephant soldiers, and their presence on the battlefield is like a tank. Xi Wanya put in a lot of effort before finally subduing them, and they can serve a great role in the war against the Yun Nation. Can’t Your Majesty at least have a slightly better reaction?” Ren Baqian was immediately speechless when he heard the empress’s response.

“Oh!” the empress responded again before lifting her head after some time and asking, “Regarding those things… How else do you expect me to react?”

Her eyes were filled with doubt.

It was as if they were a bunch of pigs and not a group of elephant soldiers.

They are just a bunch of pigs—how else do you want me to react? This was the only thought that flashed across Ren Baqian’s mind at that moment.

“Your Majesty, you may think that those elephant soldiers aren’t that strong and that Your Majesty alone would be able to take them out in just a short period of time. Actually, even the winged cavalry would be capable of killing all of them in a short while! However, on the battlefield against the Yun Nation, these elephant soldiers will be extremely useful in breaking through the enemy lines or even in besieging the opposing cities. These enormous elephants have very tough and durable hides. Their gigantic build and strength will be very devastating to the ordinary soldiers. They will also be a very strong deterrence, and it will be very hard for the ordinary soldiers to stay indifferent when facing such huge monsters.

As such, this is a chance to display it to the commoners of Lan City, to let them know that our army is formidable and that we have strong faith and confidence in winning the war before us. Just like on Earth, many countries will occasionally display a portion of their weapons to the commoners to increase their confidence and pride toward their country as well as to serve as a deterrent to enemy countries.

We don’t need to show deterrence at the moment. Simply increasing the commoners’ confidence will be good enough, letting them feel like, ‘Wow, we actually have such strong weapons!’ As such, Your Majesty has to appear in public and let them think that this is something that you regard highly,” Ren Baqian explained to the empress, exaggerating his tone especially for the last few sentences.

“Have you found anyone who doubts the outcome of the war?” the empress countered.

“No,” Ren Baqian answered truthfully. Not even a year had passed since the war started. Even though the commoners’ lives had already been affected, there hadn’t been anyone who doubted the outcome of the war or even questioned the purpose of this war.

“That’s why it’s already enough just to have my presence there. As long as I stay in a position where the commoners can see me, there won’t be any concerns! It would be sufficient simply to let them know that I’m there.” The empress’s tone wasn’t lofty, but her words were filled with strong confidence and aggression.

Ren Baqian couldn’t help but exclaim to himself in admiration. Sure enough, the empress ought to act like this.

This was how an emperor should be.

“Okay, Your Majesty is right. However, I still hope that you can show your presence and lead everyone to see these rare elephants. Most people probably haven’t seen them before right? Even though you’ll just be going to see something uncommon, this will still give the commoners of Lan City an occasion to cheer about.” Ren Baqian still hoped that the empress would turn up outside the city the next day and show her presence.

It wasn’t much, but somehow Ren Baqian still felt that if the empress didn’t show her presence, it would seem as if the elephants were insignificant. How could he to endure that? He had always cared a lot about these giant elephants.

The empress eventually nodded, which consequently led to the moment where the empress graced the occasion outside the city at the head of many officials.

As everyone was leaving the city, there were people cheering the whole way along the streets and in the shops. This was a result of the empress’s influence in Dayao.

Was it because the empress was number four or five among the world’s top experts? To everyone, there wasn’t any difference because she was the strongest in Dayao. This was something that everyone knew.

When they arrived at the city gates, they could see a horde of gigantic creatures standing in the distance and revealing their three meter long tusks. Rattan armor that had been soaked in a special type of plant juice was draped over their bodies.

Even though they were far away, one could still feel their enormous presence as well as the intense and imposing manner of a horde of hundreds of giant elephants.

Standing behind the empress, Shi Qing recalled an experience he had back then and commented after seeing the elephants soldiers, “So they are giant elephants! It’s rare to see such a large group of them. Previously, I had only seen a group of about ten of them in the south. Even though they aren’t exactly that strong physically, they aren’t to be trifled with when they are charging.”

“These are giant elephants? I’ve actually never seen them before!” Tong Zhenye added. He would only refer to himself humbly in front of Shi Qing or the empress.

The empress always kicked him around like a ball.

As for Shi Qing, it was because of the very rare respect that Tong Zhenye had for the wise elder. After so many years, he had already gotten used to it.

Everyone halted outside the gates.

Ren Baqian held a walkie-talkie and ordered, “Advance!”

After that, the elephant horde cried out in the distance and released an extremely deep and resounding noise.

The hundreds of giant elephants then began to advance, causing the ground to start trembling.

Under the command of the soldiers on the elephants’ backs, they began to pick up speed, and the ground rumbled incessantly. The giant elephants raised their long trunks and trumpeted as they charged toward the city gates with the attitude of pulverizing everything in their way.

This stance and attitude made many people astonished. It was indeed impressive when these gigantic beasts were charging.

Gathered near the city gates, many of the ordinary aboriginal commoners felt a tinge of fear as they witnessed such a cataclysmic scene. This made them feel very dissatisfied. Many of them clenched their fists, tensed their necks, and gritted their teeth as they watched the elephant horde charge over. They neither made any sounds of alarm nor did they fall back a single step.

Everyone chanted in their minds. If they took a single step back, cried out in alarm, or exposed any signs of cowardice, it would be extremely humiliating.

F*ck! Do I still want to save face? Furthermore, it’s in front of the empress!

Plus, we aboriginals have relied on hunting since ancient times, so we can’t simply be frightened upon seeing these creatures in our generation.

If we fall back now, we will be too ashamed to return to the Sixty Thousand Mountains even after death.

Such uncultivated, barbaric, and titanic creatures had greatly evoked the valor and desire to fight in the blood of the aboriginals. It was as if they had returned to the era when their ancestors had to vie against various behemoth creatures in the Sixty Thousand Mountains.

For a moment, other than the sounds of the giant elephants running and their trumpeting, all the gesticulating noises around the city gates had completely faded away. In fact, it was rather quiet.

Slightly surprised, Ren Baqian turned around and took a glance, only to see the commoners clenching their fists with bulging veins on their necks as they looked forward with bloodshot eyes. He was first astonished, then relieved and felt somewhat happy. After all, upon seeing the commoners being intimidated by the gigantic weapons that he regarded highly, he was pretty satisfied with the outcome.

Yet, weren’t the commoners’ reactions a little too violent? Why did they have to adopt such oppressive and tyrannical looks?

“Haha, these things are pretty good indeed. Not only can they can be used to fight battles, but if the frontlines run out of supplies, their meat can be eaten as well! With such a large head, it can probably feed quite a lot of people.” Qin Chuan suddenly burst out laughing.

Following Qin Chuan’s laughter, everyone from the Ministry of War started laughing. Tong Zhenye, Shi Qing, and Tu Wan began laughing as well. Soon after, the commoners’ ferocious expressions also loosened up, and they all started laughing.

“Do you understand now?” The empress tilted her head to the side and looked at Ren Baqian.

“No, I don’t,” Ren Baqian replied truthfully. Unaware of what was happening, he felt a little stupid.

“This is courage and valor! To you, these giant elephants are weapons of war, but to the others, they are simply just food. It’s not a matter of who is respected and honorable, it has always been like this since ancient times!”

As the empress spoke, her face glowed with vigor as her heroism emanated. It was clear that she was very satisfied by the behavior of all the people and commoners behind her.

Ren Baqian looked at the empress, glanced back at those people behind him, and began to smile lightly.

It seemed like he still didn’t really understand these aboriginals! He didn’t expect the effect of simply watching the horde of charging giant elephants to actually stimulate the viciousness of the aboriginal commoners.