Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
A few days later, the imperial chariot carrying the empress reached Jiangbei City, which was the last city before entering the Three River region. 130 kilometers south of the city was the Wang Estuary, and south of the Wang Estuary was the Three River region.
The winged cavalry arrived in the city first, gradually followed by the imperial chariot of the empress.
There were traces left behind by the riots, and in one area not too far away, there were torched buildings and even unwashed bloodstains.
When all the soldiers and officers left, it was normal to for riots to break out because the ignorant commoners were fearful. A single spark could cause a prairie fire. This situation showed the evil nature of humans, which was hard to avoid in both ancient and modern times since it was a part of human nature.
After the Xiaoshan Sect arrived in Jiangbei City, the city began to show signs of chaos.
The people sent by Ren Baqian were late by four days.
It was said that when the army and the Lingshan Sect arrived, this place was already in chaos. The shops were destroyed and looted clean, especially those that sold daily necessities like salt and grain.
Furthermore, many commoners were killed or injured due to the turmoil.
Although a group of civilians fled the city beforehand, the army ruthlessly killed this group to suppress the riots. The city, which originally had 100,000 people, only had 60,000 remaining when the empress arrived.
“What are they doing? Who allowed them to be here?” The empress sat in her carriage and looked at the shivering commoners that were standing on the sides of the street with their heads bowed.
“This is the same as what you saw in Lan City—they are here to welcome you,” Ren Baqian said as he held a cup of wine in his hand. As for this arrangement, it should have been the disciples of the Lingshan Sect who organized it.
“The people of Lan City are my people, and they truly support and welcome me. These people…” the empress said softly.
“These people are also your people,” Ren Baqian said as he looked at the frightened commoners. “Your Majesty, if you treat them like your kinsmen, they will become your loyal subordinates, if you treat them like your dogs and horses, they will become your countrymen, and if you treat them like weeds, they will become your enemies. These people are frightened now, but as long as they can live and work in peace, they will one day support you as sincerely as the people of Lan City.”
“Who said these words? They are very logical,” the empress said with appreciation.
“An ancient sage composed them, and he has many wise sayings,” Ren Baqian replied.
“Tell me more about him later. Anyone who can spout such wise sayings mustn’t be an ordinary man,” the empress said as she looked at the commoners. “I don’t really like them.”
“Whether you like them or not, they are a part of Dayao. The reason why you don’t like them is because they are unruly, but this was caused by people continuously inculcating them with ideas. In fact, if you pacify and indoctrinate them, they can be very useful. Decades later, when the next generation has grown up, they will be true subjects of Your Majesty.
Moreover, these people aren’t living good lives and are struggling to survive. They just need to be able to live peacefully and work cheerfully. After that, I think most of them will no longer have any wild thoughts.
The people lining the two sides of the street have just experienced chaos and suffering, but now that the army has stabilized the city, they can return to their peaceful lives. They seem to look fearful, but that’s because they are unfamiliar with the empress. How do you know that some of them aren’t actually rejoicing?”
Then, Ren Baqian gulped down the cup of wine, held the empty cup, and praised, “This wine is really good. Though it burns you like fire, it has a sweet glutinous rice flavor and floral fragrance.”
Qing Yuan and Hong Luan glared at him before reluctantly pouring more wine for him.
The two of them had worked very hard and picked many types of flowers to make this wine, yet this rascal had drank so much of it over these past two days.
“You need to consider what to do with these people,” the empress said. Since she wasn’t good at dealing with such matters and Ren Baqian could handle them well, it would be good to shift these tasks over to him.
He also needed to prove himself to justify his position in the imperial court.
Although he had made many contributions before, no achievements were more dazzling than bringing peace to Tianjing Basin.
If things didn’t turn out well, she would just kill all of these people.
The empress was staying in the mansion of Jiangbei City’s warlord, but the residence looked ransacked with burn marks in many places. The whole place had been swept clean of everything.
Even though the Lingshan Sect had sent people to repair the mansion before her arrival and added some decorations, it was done in a patchwork manner and made the residence look even shabbier.
It gave the impression that everything was out of place.
For example, the flowers that were relocated there looked like weeds.
Among the tables and chairs in the main hall, some chairs were in different colors or styles and were obviously pieced together haphazardly.
As for the rooms, they were even worse. The blankets had gaudy colors and made Ren Baqian wonder whether these people had unusual tastes.
“Your Majesty, please take a rest here first. I will get someone to bring you a quilt later.” Ren Baqian made a sweep of the room before emerging from it. He bid the empress farewell and then summoned the people from the Lingshan Sect.
“Are there any people from the south who came to the city these past few days? How is the situation in the south?” Ren Baqian asked.
“Sir, dozens of people came these past few days, and they are waiting to see you. As for the south, the revolutionary troops are assembling many elite experts in the vicinity of the Wang Estuary to intercept and kill those who are seeking your safe harbor. The situation at Mount Dulong is also said to be the same, and many people were killed.”
“Revolutionary troops?” Ren Baqian squinted at him and said, “Your way of thinking is dangerous!”
“Sir, I was wrong! It should be rebel troops. They call themselves revolutionary troops. It was a slip of the tongue, and I hope you will not blame me,” that person said as he broke into a cold sweat.
“Remember, we are court officials, they are bandits. You are working for me and Her Majesty. Always remember your identity and status,” Ren Baqian repeated, drumming it in.
“Yes!”
“How many people did the they send to intercept? What’s their military strength?” Ren Baqian asked slowly.
“There are more than 100 practitioners at the Wang Estuary. The main forces are from the Zhushan Sect, Xiaoqingguan, and the Yueyang Sect. The people guarding Mount Dulong are from the Manxing Pavilion and the Yujiang Clan. In addition, there are thousands of soldiers at each location. However, this news was reported three days ago. They should have heard the news of the imperial army arriving here, and I think that the situation should have changed somewhat.”
“I get it. You are free to go.” Ren Baqian waved his hand and pondered for a long time after they left. If he were to send the winged cavalry to attack and there was something about the other side that he didn’t know, they might incur casualties.
The casualties suffered by the winged cavalry didn’t only affected the empress—even he felt heartache for them.Moreover, he knew that the revolutionary troops in the south had more than 200,000 soldiers, while the aboriginals only had 6,000 here at the moment in addition to the 800 winged cavalry warriors.
Even if the other side were all huskies, 200,000 huskies weren’t easy to deal with.
Ren Baqian summoned Zuo Cheng and Qingyun Sword after some deliberations.
“Gentlemen, I have an opportunity here for you to obtain merit. Are the both of you interested?”
“Sir, please proceed.”
Ren Baqian continued, “Currently, the Wang Estuary and Mount Dulong are being held by elite rebel troops. Those seeking the bright path to join me are being trapped in the Three River region and risk being wiped out by the rebels. According to the instructions of the empress, the army should directly attack and tear these vermin into bits and pieces. However, this will cause many casualties and both of you will have nothing to do.Your group was the first to surrender and will naturally be given important posts in the future, but if you gentlemen don’t achieve merits, people will gossip, and even if I want to promote someone, I will not be able to recommend you. I have been striving hard to get the people in your group the task of gathering information.”
“Then, I thought of the both of you and would like to know whether you would like to select some experts from the city to go with you to scout out these two locations?” Ren Baqian asked. “Anyway, there is no such thing as achieving merit by lying in bed, and no merits means less respect. I’m doing this for you with the best of intentions.”
“Sir Ren, you are right!” No matter what the two of them thought, they had to accept his proposal.
