Translator: YHHH Editor: Book_Hoarder
On that very night, Zhu Chengjun was sent out of Lan City at the fastest speed possible.
Ren Baqian really didn't dare to let him continue staying here. Just in case his brain twitched, and he threw that bottle of sarin gas out, it would become a laughing matter.
But, Ren Baqian also thought of some other issues which he had to account for. As he would have to find out the locations of the other people from Lian Family first, he wasn't in a hurry to destroy the Lian Family when he returned.
Even though they were sent somewhere far away, they still had some sort of connection with the Lian Family.
If Ren Baqian were to exterminate the entire Lian Family, he was afraid that those people would conceal their identities. At that time, even if he wanted to dig those rats out, it would be difficult for him to do so.
In any case, as long as this husky was sent back to Great Xia, the other issues had nothing to do with Ren Baqian anymore.
It would be best if successful, but, it didn't matter even if it failed.
However, Ren Baqian also felt that even though aboriginals were powerful, there were many things that were really inconvenient.
For example, the issue this time, if he had another group of people underneath him this time, things wouldn't be this troublesome any longer.
Another example being if the aboriginals wanted to send spies outwards.
There were very few aboriginal spies outside of Dayao. They completely relied on a few merchant caravans. For instance, the two imperial merchant caravans scouted out information when they were on the move.
There were also a small number of weaker ordinary aboriginals, who looked more similar to the people of the other three nations, who acted as spies.
However, these aboriginals weren't really good at reconnaissance. Furthermore, the people from the other nations were also warier of these people. As such, scouting for information was really not easy at all.
Ren Baqian felt that the remnant citizens of the Hao Nation in the South were pretty good alternatives.
However, he counted the number of things he had at hand now. On one hand, was the issue regarding the glass. On the other hand, there was also the well salt issue which he had yet to deal with.
After settling both of the issues, he was actually prepared to make a trip to the South.
But at present, the problem regarding the glass had made Ren Baqian lose a lot of his hair. Looking at the bunch of hair he dropped on his pillow every night, he straightforwardly shaved his head bald.
So long as they used potassium nitrate to oxidize the metal element from the glass, getting rid of the color on the glass was not a problem at all.
It was also easy to obtain potassium nitrate.
However, the silver mirror reaction made Ren Baqian somewhat vomit blood. He listed all the processes of the oxidation reactions that were found online.
Firstly, he wasn't able to obtain ammonia.
Secondly, to obtain nitric acid, it was necessary to add nitrogen dioxide and water, or sodium nitrate and sulfuric acid.
But, nitric acid was required to produce nitrogen dioxide. Also, Ren Baqian had yet to find out whether there was sodium nitrate in this world.
After mulling over this for a long time, it was necessary to have chickens first before obtaining eggs. However, chickens still had to hatch from eggs.
After Ren Baqian had shaved bald, he began to scratch his scalp.
Ren Baqian almost grabbed a piece of his scalp out, yet he still didn't have any way out. In desperation, he felt that he should still shift those items over from Earth. After which, he would wait for this world to have the concept of chemistry before getting the people to study it.
"I want to nurture a few students," Ren Baqian found the empress and said suddenly.
The empress was somewhat astonished. She didn't expect that he would bring up this kind of idea as he feared to inconvenience himself the most.
All the thoughts in her head were practically written on her face.
"There are some things that I have to do. But, I don't even have time to spare on any given day. I feel that it's better to nurture a few students so that in future, I will be more relaxed," Ren Baqian helplessly said.
Every day, he had to spend half of his time practicing martial arts and doing a variety of things. Ren Baqian felt that he was living on less than 24 hours a day as it always seemed that he had less time than others.
The empress instructed Hong Luan and Qing Yuan to wait outside first. She looked at Ren Baqian for a long time before she finally spoke, "Actually, I always had this kind of intention. Great Xia, the Yun Nation and the Chen Nation all have their own Department of Education as well as various educational establishments. However, Dayao doesn't have any of these.
Since you want to nurture a few students, why not build an educational institution and let the people of Dayao have a place to study.
Originally, I wanted to bring this matter up later on. Since you've raised this issue, it would be better to settle it this way."
"Eh?" Ren Baqian's mouth was wide open as he was caught off guard. All he wanted was to nurture a few students so that they could assist him in his tasks. How did this topic escalate to an educational institution?
He definitely wouldn't object if the empress asked him some time later. It was just that at present, he had to practice martial arts daily, manage things that were ongoing at the glass factory, and so on. Also, he had to come up with a solution to overcome the deficit at the imperial depository. How would he have the time?
"Why, unwilling?" The empress's expression changed in an instant. It wasn't cold, rather, she was longing for an answer. Her gaze was filled with hope.
"All these years, there were many people sent out of Dayao, but there had been no great gains.
Even though the court officials managed to gather some book collections from the other nations, they were not systematic. Also, there wasn't anyone to guide us on it."
As for the ordinary aboriginals, learning how to read was already difficult for them, let alone other things.
You have told me before that 'Knowledge is power.' Precisely, your world is based on countless ordinary people as the foundation. Among them, the geniuses born would lead the entire world's direction before they could achieve that state.
And it is too difficult for my Dayao to attain that state."
As the empress spoke, she got up from the couch, walked towards Ren Baqian and faced him. With her eyes fixated on his eyes, it was as if she wanted to see his innermost being.
"Only you can handle this and allow me to see what I want to see. In that case, are you willing to do it for me?"
The empress was waiting for Ren Baqian's reply with a pair of beaming eyes and a face full of eagerness.
It wasn't the first time that Ren Baqian had seen such an expression on the empress. When the empress first arrived on Earth and looked at the brightly lit city, her expression was somewhat similar to what she was showing now.
But for the first time, the empress showed such an expression to him.
Both of their faces were about ten centimeters apart from each other. Ren Baqian was able to feel the heat transmitted when she breathed and smell the scent emitting from her. He could even see himself in her eyes, and it made his heartbeat increase a little.
"The vision that you have pointed out, is the direction that I will advance towards," Ren Baqian replied softly.
Upon hearing these words, the empress revealed an astonishingly brilliant smile that was hard to come by. In a flash, she returned onto her couch with a bright smile on her face. "We will do it this way. You are responsible for the new educational institution. As for its name, we will call it… I'll give the honor of naming it to you." After careful consideration, the empress couldn't come up with any suitable names for the educational institution and immediately handed the task over to Ren Baqian.
Ren Baqian looked at the empress's expression and at that smile on her mouth. Then, he thought of her facial expression and tone just now, which was totally incompatible with her character. He felt that the empress had followed the bad examples from the costume dramas that she watched on Earth.
Sure enough, he opened the door to a new world for the empress.
"But, they have to start learning how to read first," Ren Baqian bluntly said.
Originally, he was thinking of translating the characters on Earth to the characters in this world. At this moment, he changed his thinking and might as well get them to start learning the simplified Chinese characters.
"I will leave the arrangements to you. Hopefully, I will see a group of real talents coming out from the educational institution," the empress said.
"I will strive for the best." Ren Baqian thought for a while. Those who had received basic education should be considered as talents in Dayao.
He will then pick a few relatively smart and witty students, who are able to accept and learn new things to assist him.
"What about the students? How do we go about recruiting them?"
"Not all of the kids of the court officials are gifted and extraordinary. Send those who are not to the educational institution," the empress stated as she scratched her chin.
Ren Baqian spread out his hands. Previously, the empress spoke as if this educational institution was where she placed all her hopes on. In the end, it became a shelter for the good-for-nothings.
However, the standard for those who were gifted and extraordinary would certainly be based on martial arts. After all, this world wasn't Earth. At the end of the day, strength still stood above every other aspect. Even though strength couldn't solve all problems, but, it was able to solve majority of the problems.
And those who were not gifted and extraordinary, they were just candidates who didn't excel in martial arts. It didn't imply that they wouldn't excel in other aspects.