The Empress's Gigolo

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

After sending the students off to do their homework, Ren Baqian continued working on some of the issues in the city which he had been busy with on a daily basis.

All in all, almost 30 people had set out to investigate, but only eight of them returned. Many of those who had died were the masters and pillars of some of the small sects. Their demises had led to some disturbances among many of the sects in the city.

Ren Baqian had to put in quite a bit of effort to appease them.

Even though it was said that swords had no eyes and that death was ordinary in this world, everyone still made mental preparation for it. However, those people were working for him, and furthermore, they had been scouting and collecting military intelligence.

Right now, the hearts of the people were still unable to be subdued. Everyone was only forced to surrender due to the constraints of the current situation. Even though there were almost 100 Earth Wheel experts, only about 30 of them participated in the investigation of the Wang Estuary. Based on this, it could be seen that the majority of the Earth Wheel experts only surrendered to stay alive and that they didn’t wish to put in their utmost effort.

After arranging a task for them, there were immediately such heavy casualties. If this matter wasn’t handled properly, Ren Baqian was afraid that the will of these people would shatter, making it even trickier to pacify Tianjing Basin after the war.

Fortunately, the other team that was headed toward Mount Gui didn’t meet with any mishaps. That team was comprised entirely of people from the hidden village and was led by Qingyun Sword. Although they were discovered and had to fight their enemies, the people from the hidden village were all experts of the previous generation. Not only were their strengths considered the cream of the crop among the Earth Wheel experts, they also understood each other very thoroughly. At the same time, they were very well coordinated too.

After negotiation with the empress, Ren Baqian planned to preliminarily establish the Embroidered Uniform Guards. This was to give these people an identity and allow their feelings to stabilize.

Of course, even after its establishment, they would still be considered as outsiders. In other words, day laborers. They had to wait until the empress returned to the imperial court and passed down the edict before they would officially become an authorized department.

Likewise, from the period of establishment to completion, it would be an opportunity for Ren Baqian to observe the internal details and filter out those who were unqualified.

Ren Baqian planned to spur them on by giving them status as day laborers. At the same time, he would observe and make adjustments to this organization. After all, he was also very foreign to such matters. Even though there were predecessors with some experience, the difference between this world and Earth was too great. As such, he wanted to observe and correct it bit by bit.

Two days later, Ren Baqian gathered the higher-ups from various sects to sit down face to face with him. With a total of less than 100 people, majority of them were Earth Wheel experts and a few of them were Man Wheel experts. Among them, some of the Earth Wheel experts were glad to be there. However, the Man Wheel experts were pretty sorrowful. They came as representatives because there were no other high level experts in their sects due to the demise of their pillars.

A few of them still had bandages and injuries on them; for instance, Zhan Changkong, Su Qing, etc. Even though Zhan Changkong had suffered severe injuries, thanks to the extremely high medical standards of this world, he could actually walk now with the assistance of Painting Fairy.

Ren Baqian looked at everyone’s expressions first before slowly starting to speak.

“Ladies and gentleman, everyone has already found out about what happened a few days ago. There were actually spies who had sneaked in, which led to such results.

This is very heartbreaking to me! Those who have died were all outstanding people and pillars of Dayao. For this incident, I’ll definitely make the rebels pay the price!

Also, I would like to say something. The deaths of the elders from some of the sects has resulted in a huge decline in the strength of those sects. This might be slightly worrying in the future. However, I can guarantee to each and every one of you here, that I’ll treat everyone equally favorably.

All the merits achieved by those who have sacrificed for the nation will be recorded down. Also, their later generations will receive grace from the empress.”

After hearing Ren Baqian’s speech, a more relaxed look could be seen on the Man Wheel experts’ faces. They were really worried that after making use of them, Ren Baqian would dispose of them. This promise had somewhat made them feel a little better.

“The reason for gathering everyone here today is to inform you that the empress is worried about all of you. Despite serving the nation, you all do not have status. A new department has been established that will be called the Rearguard Commandery!

Do you remember what I said before about all of you being able to walk out of Tianjing Basin freely under the sky and even having the possibility of joining the imperial court as an official?

This is a leap from ordinary citizens to high officials in the imperial court. Your chance is here and much earlier than expected!

The Rearguard Commandery will be of equal grade to all departments in the imperial court. A Rearguard marshal will be equivalent to a Standard class, Rank 3 official, a rank higher than my own. Those who join the Rearguard Commandery shall work for the imperial court and the empress in the future,” Ren Baqian explained. He was currently a Secondary class, Rank 3 official, but of course, no one regarded him simply by that rank.

“The Rearguard Commandery will appoint one marshal as a Standard class, Rank 3 official; two chief commanders as Standard class, Rank 4 officials; four commanders as Secondary class, Rank 4 officials; eight captains as Standard class, Rank 5 officials; four officers as Secondary class, Rank 5 officials; and tenqianhu as Standard class, Rank 6 officials. There will also be other positions such as assistant qianhu , baihu , cong baihu , zongqi and xiaoqi .

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Out of these positions, each qianhu will be in charge of 1,000 people. As such, anassistant qianhu will be in charge of 500 people, a baihu in charge of 100 people, a zongqi is in charge of 50 people, and a xiaoqi is in charge of ten people,” Ren Baqian briefly explained the positions. In fact, he had divided this Rearguard Commandery into two sections to guard and oversee two locations, namely Tianjing Basin and the Yun Nation.

In his mind, the Yun Nation was already considered as part of Dayao.

Many of them were bedazzled. According to what Ren Baqian said, ten qianhuand their subordinates would already equate to 10,000 men. This meant that the Rearguard Commandery would almost be equivalent in grade to the five protectorates in Dayao.

Ren Baqian’s plan was actually so large scale? Would the imperial court agree? Besides, with so many people, would Dayao’s financial resources be able to manage?

Using their own lives to fight for the future, nobody felt that this was in any way inappropriate. If it could really turn out to be like what Ren Baqian had described, many people were in fact interested. People in the society weren’t all about placing themselves above the common populace, but if there was a chance to join the imperial court as an official, not many people would actually refuse.

However, this Rearguard Commandery that Ren Baqian spoke of was a future too radiant for many of the people. This had actually made them skeptical.

Would the imperial court really approve of a department like this? Would the remnant citizens of Tianjing Basin really be up for it? Would the imperial court really treat them like that?

Many of them had their doubts.

Ren Baqian didn’t mind at all when he saw the skepticism in the eyes of the people. He then continued by saying, “What is the purpose of people who live in this world? Power? Wealth? Status? Strength? After you join the Rearguard Commandery, I will not say that all of these would become easily obtainable, but at least the opportunity would be presented to you, especially when pertaining to strength.

To the best of my knowledge, Tianjing Basin hasn’t managed to obtain the medicinal herbs from the Sixty Thousand Mountains over the last 70 years, right?” Ren Baqian tossed another heavyweight bomb toward the people.

These days, a topic had been brought up when Ren Baqian was chatting with Gong Zheng about the practitioners in Tianjing Basin. Ren Baqian came to know of the importance of the medicinal herbs from the Sixty Thousand Mountains, regardless of whether it was for the aboriginals or the remnant citizens of Tianjing Basin. However, due to the difficulty of safekeeping these herbs, only a small amount could be shipped to Lan City, and it was difficult even for the winged cavalry to purchase them.

As for Tianjing Basin, they lacked these herbs even more. It could be said that not even one piece of it would be found in Tianjing Basin over the last 70 years.

Out of all the practitioners in Tianjing Basin, the 18 Spirit Wheel experts could already be considered as illustrious heroes of this place. After all, among the volunteer army from back then who had survived before retreating to this place, many of them were experts. Their later generations were pretty gifted as well. Tianjing Basin had a mere population of over 10 million, but their proportion of gifted experts was much higher than that of Great Xia or the Yun Nation.

Thanks to that, it was much easier to clean up Tianjing Basin this time around.

This speech had made Ren Baqian realize something—that these people could be firmly tied together on Dayao’s war chariot.

As for the Rearguard Commandery, most of the Earth Wheel experts only showed a little interest toward it and were full of skepticism at first.

Only tens of people participated in the scouting mission previously. Even though most of these people had surrendered, they didn’t wish to sacrifice their lives.

However, after hearing Ren Baqian’s speech, it could immediately be seen that they were emotionally moved.

“Sir Ren, what do you mean?”

“The medicinal herbs of the Sixty Thousand Mountains will be undergoing supervision when distributed in the future. People of the Rearguard Commandery can report their requests and purchase them based on their official positions. The higher your rank is, the higher the quantity you can purchase.” Ren Baqian smiled as he looked at these people’s expressions. Apart from the regions where the aboriginals lived, these people were much more useful.

In the future, along with the provision of medicinal herbs, the strength of the Rearguard Commandery officials would naturally increase. The original state of Tianjing Basin would also be preserved. Thus, if one were to be in control of the Rearguard Commandery, one would be in control of Tianjing Basin and even the Yun Nation.

As for the transportation of the medicinal herbs, with the availability of glass, vacuum packs, and ice boxes, there had to be a way to go about doing it.

“Sir Ren, I’m not sure how one would become eligible to join the Rearguard Commandery? What would the position be for an Earth Wheel expert at the Intermediate Stage?”

For some of the practitioners who were already interested from the start, there was no hesitation.