"Your Majesty, we have arrived late. Please forgive us."
Xi Wanya jumped down from the saber-toothed tiger to greet the empress. He vomited a mouthful of fresh blood just after he finished speaking.
He had simply treated his wounds while he was traveling. However, even though he had prevented a mortal blow to a vital point, his internal organs were badly damaged. At this time, his ability to still greet the empress showed that his strength was astonishing.
"Greetings, Your Majesty!" Over 2,000 soldiers got down from their mounts and saluted at practically the same time, shaking the entire place.
"Why are you in such a tragic state?" The empress looked at Xi Wanya's miserable appearance and frowned.
"I experienced a set of amazing skills. A pity that I won't be able to see it again," Xi Wanya answered while vomiting blood. That person had used all of his essence, qi, and spirit to exert that deadly technique. Whatever the case, after unleashing this technique, that person would die no matter what. As a result, those skills were now extinct.
"There was actually such a person?" The empress was somewhat surprised. She wanted to meet an expert that could injure Xi Wanya so seriously with just one move.
Ren Baqian actually discovered a few familiar figures at the back of the cavalry force. Most importantly, these people were all wearing ordinary clothes and were very different from the soldiers. Originally, it would have been difficult to find them in a large crowd, but due to the fact that they were jumping up and down nonstop, it was almost impossible not to spot them.
Among them were Great Elder's youngest son, Shi Gan and Xu Peng, the gluttonous student who used Kadsura Coccinea to trade for candy with Ren Baqian. Du Laoliu and a few others were also there.
Ren Baqian waved his hands.
"Yagui! I knew that you would be able to see us." It was as if Du Laoliu had won the lottery.
Ren Baqian squinted his eyes and looked over.
These children were assigned too little homework!
"Teacher!" Shi Gan hurriedly said.
"Why are you guys with the troops? Have you seen Tong Lan and the rest?"
It was a coincidence that Shi Gan's group had bumped into Xi Wanya. After all, when they saw huge numbers of troops arriving in Tianjing Basin, they knew that something was amiss and hurriedly joined the cavalry. Xi Wanyan also felt that it wasn't safe for them to wander around outside and allowed them to follow behind.
"How's the assignment so far?" Ren Baqian asked.
"We have gained some insights," Shi Gan said.
Ren Baqian nodded. Perhaps it was because of his upbringing, but even though Shi Gan wasn't old, he had a lot of opinions. Compared to those boorish aboriginals soldiers, Ren Baqian's expectations of Shi Gan were much higher.
Moments later, someone pulled along a few empty mounts for them to ride on. Although Xi Wanya wanted to give his saber-toothed tiger to the empress, his mount only recognized its owner. After considering for a while, he gave up on the idea.
The empress sat on the mount and inquired, "What's the casualty count?"
"873!" Xi Wanya didn't need to ask anyone. Throughout this entire journey, he was very clear about the number of deaths. Among them, about 400 of the deaths occurred at the top of Wu City's walls.
"Send their bodies back to the mountains," the empress said.
"Yes."
"Protector General, are you fine?" asked Ren Baqian. He couldn't resist raising this question when he saw Xi Wanya vomiting blood.
"Just a minor injury. I'm fine." Xi Wanya grinned as a stream of blood flowed down.
"There's something in the blood that you vomited…" Ren Baqian warned him. No matter how he looked at it, it seemed like Xi Wanya had vomited pieces of his lungs out.
"I'll be fine after a couple of months of cultivation," Xi Wanya casually said.
Ren Baqian gave a thumbs up.
"Your Majesty, why didn't you inform anyone before venturing out on your own?" Xi Wanya couldn't help but ask.
"I was bored stiff. Now that you have come, there's nothing more to say." One sentence from the empress shut Xi Wanya up.
As for the rich food aroma that drifted from the empress's body, he didn't even dare to mention it.
Ren Baqian scanned the troops and estimated the number of people before asking, "Protector General Xi, there are just the few of you?"
"We will be sufficient," Xi Wanya said resolutely and decisively,
Ren Baqian touched his chin. If shooting one's mouth off was useful, the experts in Tianjing Basin would begin to doubt their lives.
First of all, the empress was only left with one third of her strength. Furthermore, Xi Wanya had landed in such a miserable state.
No matter how he looked at it, the probability of 2,000 Man Wheel soldiers winning a fight against 600 Earth Wheel experts, over 1,000 Man Wheel experts, and countless city guards was practically zero.
In the past, it was always the aboriginals who would crush their enemies with their top-notch strength. Now, they were actually going to be crushed by their enemy.
First of all, just based on the number of soldiers and experts they had, they didn't have the upper hand. Additionally, the aboriginals were going to attack an enemy city. Ren Baqian didn't hold high expectations regarding whether they would be able to successfully attack Wu City.
Unless…
Ren Baqian still had dozens of smoke grenades. He wondered what the consequences would be if he threw them into the city.
Were they here to fight with their lives or would they escape after catching wind of the circumstances here?
That very evening, everyone decided to stay on Mount Wu for the night. Many soldiers who went to look for game animals inadvertently made their way to the location of the previous battle. Immediately, their bodies were polluted by the foul stench.
In particular, there was a substance in the skunk musk that made it adhere extremely strongly to the human body.
Moreover, this substance released thiol when it came into contact with moisture.
Even if the original stench on one's body faded, as long as this substance was still present, thiol would be released if there was relatively high humidity in the air. The lingering stench was the end result.
Furthermore, the climate of Tianjing Basin was filled with moisture, particularly at night.
"What did you observe after staying here for some time?" During dinner, the empress, who had finally gotten rid of the stench, was extremely delighted. She was finally concerned about another issue.
Ren Baqian understood that the empress was talking about the people in Tianjing Basin and replied, "There's nothing much to take note of regarding the commoners. They don't plan ahead and can't be bothered with things. Plus, their current living conditions aren't good at all. As long as public opinion is well controlled, I believe that they will stabilize and serve Your Majesty. Those sects and factions are the troublemakers. As long as we get rid of these troublemakers and use public opinion to stabilize the commoners while utilizing our strong army to show deterrence, Tianjing Basin will be able to settle down."
The empress nodded. "I'll hand this issue over to you when we return to Gu City. You will be given up to half a year to resolve it. If they still have any resentment, you can't blame me for being harsh on you."
Initially, she only wanted to give him a time frame of three months because she didn't want to wait too long. However, after thinking it through, he would be hard pressed to pacify such a large area in just three months. Therefore, she relaxed her restrictions and extended the deadline to half a year.
Ren Baqian nodded his head. There were more than 10 million lives in his hands. This was a huge responsibility on his plate.
The systems in Tianjing Basin had to change.
He wondered how much he could change Tianjing Basin in just half a year's time.
If he started from scratch, he would have to find a talented person who could take over and implement ideas of their own. Xi Wanya was a professional in the field of killing people. Due to this aspect, he wasn't reliable at all.
However, if they were able to subdue some of the experts in the city, it would make things much easier.
"Your Majesty, I'm afraid that the Chen Nation has already sent their troops out." Ren Baqian recalled the news that Su Qing had told him previously.
"Oh!" the empress replied in an indifferent tone as if she didn't care at all.
As a matter of fact, everyone was present at this moment, but without the radio station, they weren't able to accomplish very many things.
Still, the Protector General of the South was someone who always had tricks up his sleeves. As such, the empress was confident in him.
"Your Majesty, have you heard of this saying before?"
"What?"
"There are as many stars as humans in this world. Every time someone dies, a shooting star will fall from the sky. When someone is famous and powerful, the star that belongs to him or her is even more resplendent. I believe that the brightest star in the sky belongs to Your Majesty." Ren Baqian placed his hands behind him, leaned back, and looked up at the stars in the sky.
All of a sudden, the empress looked at the starry sky and said, "I want to see a meteor shower!"
Ren Baqian was speechless.
This was something rather tricky.
Xi Wanya, who was in the vicinity, heard the empress's request and said firmly, "Tomorrow, I'll massacre everyone in Wu City and let you witness a meteor shower. "
Ren Baqian gave him the side eye.
Why are you everywhere? Can't you differentiate between what is right and wrong? You are spouting things that are impossible!
If the empress was Emperor Zhou, you would be Fei Zhong or You Hun, the kind who idles and does nothing but flatter your higher-ups.
[Emperor Zhou: An emperor of the Shang Dynasty. Fei Zhong and You Hun: Emperor Zhou's Chancellors]