"My lord, let me accompany you," Painting Fairy said.
"Stay behind and take care of Caixian. I'm just going out to scout this time, so there isn't much danger. Caixian, I'll bring back some meat for you." Zhan Changkong waved.
After saying this, Zhan Changkong felt that he was somewhat miserable. He actually wanted to bring back some meat for his daughter after he returned from his mission. In any case, he was the chief of Golden Ring Residence, but had now landed in this state.
Still, even the winged cavalry were eating rice stubble six times a day just to replenish their energy. These people naturally wouldn't have anything fancy to consume. It was already considered pretty good that they were able to fill their stomachs.
Rice stubble was a type of food commonly found in Tianjing Basin. It was somewhat similar to millet, which could be found on Earth. Although it wasn't tasty at all, there was an abundance of it.
"Madam, don't worry. We will bring the chief back in one piece." Ling Zekuan and four others stuck their thumbs up, followed by their index fingers, and finally, their pinkies. These hand gestures represented the promises of these four people.
"Thank you for going through the trouble." Painting Fairy bowed and returned their kind gesture.
"Set off."
The five men got on their mounts and headed south as they went along the lengthy street. When they arrived at the city gate, they threw a token at the soldiers to examine. After exiting the city, they went south for two kilometers, only to see over 20 people standing or sitting in groups.
"Greetings, everyone. I have arrived late." Zhan Changkong swept his gaze across the crowd and saw people from the Lingshan Sect, the Nine Blades Sect, the Xiaoshan Sect, and the Jiangliu Sect as well as a few from other small sects.
Apart from the Lingshan Sect and the Golden Ring Residence, the other sects were all small sects that at most had one or two Earth Wheel experts holding the fort. If it were before, the status of a big sect would naturally be significantly different.
Now, however, apart from the Lingshan Sect that managed to bootlick Ren Baqian, there weren't any differences between a big and a small sect.
Along with the arrival of Zhan Changkong and his four subordinates, everyone got up from the ground. It seemed like they were the last to arrive.
The one leading these people was the chief of the Lingshan Sect, Su Xing. He was wearing a brocade robe and instructed, "Everybody is present. Set off."
"Isn't Senior Zuo coming?" someone asked. If there was a Spirit Wheel expert to keep watch, even if there were any ambushes, no one would be too worried.
Su Xing looked around and sternly warned, "Senior Zuo will come as well, but he will not show himself. The investigation mainly depends on everyone here. After arriving, please be careful and don't be careless."
"It's said that there are more than 10 Earth Wheel experts over there and that their skills aren't lower than that of our people over here. This was the news we obtained a few days ago. Currently, there might be even more experts that have joined them. In addition, there are 5,000 soldiers on the mountain. If surrounded, it would be difficult even for Spirit Wheel experts to escape."
"The goal of trip is to investigate. Don't fight with others if there's no need to. If there are any unforeseen events, evacuate immediately."
"Chief Su, don't worry. We aren't rude and impetuous people," everyone chimed in. In reality, no one wanted want to fight either. It wasn't that they were afraid of fighting, but not too long ago, they were just having a meal with those people at the same table and discussing how to kill Qi Zixiao together.
Now, however, they were all relying on Dayao's imperial court for survival. When facing the other party, they somehow felt that they were doing something wrong.
…
While these people were heading toward the Wang Estuary, Ren Baqian was writing on a piece of paper.
"What are you writing?" The empress extended her head and saw him writing simplified Chinese characters. At the top part, the three words: "Embroidered Uniform Guards" were written.
"I've always felt that it is a pity that we aren't utilizing these people. In the past, the imperial court knew nothing about matters outside of Dayao because the aboriginals were suited for killing people on the battlefield and were not good at infiltration or investigation. Besides, aboriginals are too easy to identify. With this kind of build and demeanor, even a blind person could tell if a person was from Dayao.
Now that we have these people, we can at least cast our nets. At the very least, we can understand more about the trends in the other nations. Furthermore, we can also make use of these people to control Tianjing Basin as well as the Yun Nation Province," Ren Baqian explained.
"Yun Nation Province?"
"Or maybe we can call it the Protectorate of the East Cloud? When we conquer the Yun Nation, Your Majesty can name it whatever you want," Ren Baqian said.
At the moment, Dayao was still fighting against the Yun Nation. In the future, this wouldn't be the case anymore.
Neither he nor the empress had doubts about whether or not Dayao could conquer the Yun Nation.
A few decades ago, if the first emperor hadn't only thought about conquering the Yun Nation before departing right after, then the Yun Nation wouldn't have this enmity.
"Why Embroidered Uniform Guards?" the empress asked curiously.
"As a matter of fact, from the perspective of their duties, it's somewhat similar to the Department of Inspection. However, this unit will be comprised of the sect experts who have surrendered, which is somewhat different from the departments in the imperial court. As such, I have given them another name. Currently, this is just a concept. If Your Majesty doesn't like it, we can call them the Eastern Depot, the Western Depot, or even the Department of Security." Ren Baqian gave a simple explanation.
"Embroidered Uniform Guards. This name sounds pretty good." The empress gently nodded and then followed up by asking, "Do you think these people are trustworthy?"
In the end, despite Ren Baqian's efforts to get these people to surrender and him allowing them to take part in missions, the empress still didn't like them.
Ren Baqian was very clear about this. Even the empress was acting like this, let alone the other aboriginals.
However, this was also normal. After all, decades of notions, likes, and dislikes couldn't be changed over a few days.
There was still a long way to go if they wanted these people to live in harmony with the aboriginals.
"I'll give it a shot. As for whether it's credible, we must always utilize them first before we can tell," replied Ren Baqian.
"I'm a little bored. Let's go to Earth and relieve some boredom." This was the first time the empress had initiated going back to Earth, and it could clearly be seen that she was bored out of her mind.
Outside of Tianjing Basin, they were still able to use the radio station to at least find out news from other regions. Over here, however, apart from the daily letters sent from Gu City, there was nothing much they could do.
It had been a month, and her patience was wearing out.
"Great! I reckon that those people will return tomorrow," Ren Baqian responded. "Your Majesty, do you want to meet Su Wen?"
The empress's eyes lit up after hearing what Ren Baqian said.
She was very interested to find out more about this person.
One had to know that the peaches sent by Su Wen were well timed. It was just after the empress had sustained serious injuries and right when the Spirit Spear, Teng Yue, showed up. If it weren't for the two peaches, they would have only driven Teng Yue away at best with the combined might of the allied experts and the empress's 30 percent strength.
The both of them went back to Earth and returned to their own rooms to change into new sets of clothes.
Ren Baqian, who had just put on his pants, wriggled his ears as if he had heard some noise.
"Ah! Save me!"
Is the sound coming from outside? And getting closer?
With this thought circling in his head, Ren Baqian put on his clothes as he walked toward the window. However, before he could even see the other party, he heard the thunderous noise of glass shattering coming from the next room as well as a "boom" that was caused by a heavy collision.
"Oh no!" Immediately, Ren Baqian quivered. The room next to his was the empress's room.
Ren Baqian zipped up his pants, hastily ran to her room, and kicked open the door, only to see a palm expanding right before his face. After that, it slapped him on the face…
Bang!
Ren Baqian was instantly smashed into the wall.
Before he fell unconscious, he seemed to see two hills pressed together by a fair and delicate arm…