The Empress’s Gigolo

After persuading the empress to leave the city to look at a bunch of elephants, Ren Baqian ended up being taught a lesson. This actually made him understand that the people in this world were different from those on Earth. They responded to things differently as well.

Soon after, the elephant soldiers were sent toward the Yun Nation to test their might on the battlefield.

The lantern-grabbing contest began after the elephant soldiers left. During last year’s event, Ren Baqian was threatened by the empress and forced to participate as one of the contestants, which earned him a bunch of shoes thanks to his quick-wittedness.

This time, he spectated the entire contest with the empress. Displaying their affection publicly, both of them whispered to each other throughout almost the entire contest.

Two days after the lantern-grabbing contest, there was another very important event.

The troops who transported the captives and spoils of war back from the Yun Nation had finally arrived.

There were almost 100,000 people held captive as well as 300 wagons filled with the spoils of war like gold, silver, and precious stones. There were also nearly 1,000 wagons filled with edible salt.

There were originally over 100,000 captives, but a few thousand of them had died during the month-long journey. They were either publicly beheaded for trying to escape or had died due to injuries, illnesses, or other causes. When they eventually arrived in Dayao, there were only 906,400 people left.

A round figure of 906,400 names was reported, but in fact, there should be slightly more. The people’s militia of the aboriginals were originally commoners, so one shouldn’t have too high of expectations regarding their ability to count. As such, the militiamen in charge of the transportation took it less seriously and omitted the numbers after the hundreds place.

As for the dozens of people who weren’t accounted for, at such magnitudes, the soldiers didn’t really know how to count properly anymore.

The entire group, comprising of the people’s militia, spoils of war, and captives, stretched and snaked for more than 100 kilometers. While the front end of the group, consisting of the wagons that contained the spoils of war, arrived outside of Lan City at noon, the tail end would only arrive at noon on the third day.

It was naturally impossible to send all 100,000 people into Lan City for the officials, the commoners, and the empress to see. By right, they should have selected a few of the captives with the highest statuses and paraded them through the streets, which was the so-called “presentation of captives.”

For instance, the dozens of warlords who had their cities sacked or the high-ranking military officers who had been captured.

Unfortunately, Zi Donglai never bore such intentions from the start. He killed to his heart’s content back then and wiped out almost all of the warlords and top officials. The lower level officials who wanted to rebel were all killed as well, leaving behind only the compliant ones who maintained order in the cities together with a few of the minor officials.

After picking and choosing from the horde of captives, what remained of the highest ranking people were only a few officers of the warlords’ soldiers, the sectmaster of a small sect, and a few rich merchants. They were selected as the representatives of the captives to be sent into the city, but they truly weren’t exactly worthy of being shown off.

The militia stood tall and they were in great spirits, but one could tell from their eyes that they were tired. When they escorted the hundreds of wagons that contained the spoils of war into the city, the entirety of Lan City flared up.

All of Jingyang Street was filled with people who had received the news and came to watch. Even the shops along the street and the second floor windows were filled with people. They immediately began to cheer when they saw the soldiers approaching.

Seeing the crowd along the streets and hearing their cheers, the militia grew excited. After a long and arduous journey, they felt that it was all worth it when they saw this.

They knew in their hearts that all the cheers that they received were originally meant for the soldiers from the Protectorate of the Northeast.

The wagon at the forefront carried stacks of boxes that produced creaking noises as the heavy wagon rolled along the road that was laid with flagstones.

Even though the boxes were closed, the surrounding commoners could make out what was contained inside them. The image of the boxes being filled with treasures and gold arose in their imaginations.

The truth was in fact what they had imagined it to be.

Around 100 of the wagons at the vanguard were filled with gold and silver. Aside from the weight of the boxes, each wagon carried 300 kilograms of gold and silver, which equated to 30 tons of gold and silver in these 100 wagons. Among this treasure, most of it was silver, though there was a small amount of gold. In total, it was valued at around 1 million taels of silver.

There were also some precious stones and jewelry worth twice the value of silver.

Behind these 100 wagons were exactly 200 wagons filled with gold and silver household utensils and things like calligraphy equipment, which seemed like valuable items. Lifting the curtains of the wagons revealed a bright and dazzling golden color underneath. Many different things were jumbled up together, making one feel that they were extremely valuable.

These 200 wagons took exactly two hours to roll past the crowd. The cheers during this period were much louder than they had been earlier on.

After the wagons passed by the crowd, trailing behind were ten haggard-looking captives with ragged clothing and their hands tied up.

They all lowered their heads and staggered forward, dragging along their weak bodies. Compared to the tall, strong, and fearsome looking aboriginal civilians that lined the sides of the road, the captives looked like shivering quails.

“Who are they?” At this moment, the commoners stopped cheering and began asking around as they stared at the captives.

“I think they are captives!”

“Beat them to death!” someone immediately shouted loudly.

“My a**. They are to be presented to Her Majesty. If they die, are they going to present you to Her Majesty?” someone cursed in a rage.

“Er, that’s fine as well!” that man instantly replied in high spirits. It was very worth it to make use of this opportunity to see Her Majesty!

A staff member of the Public Order Bureau, who was safeguarding the procession, responded sinisterly, “Not in this lifetime! It’s impossible to present you to Her Majesty. You’ll probably be taken away to enjoy 30 lashes of the whip! Rest assured, we will be very gentle!”

At the thought of the barbed whip at the Public Order Bureau, everyone shriveled up at once.

It was a popular custom for the aboriginals to be as tough as nails, and there weren’t many commoners in Lan City who hadn’t endured the whip before. Many of them had even been punished for their second, third, or further offences! One would have to lie down and rest for a few days after enduring just three lashes. A person would probably die after 30 lashes.

At present, Ren Baqian was wearing his official robes as he stood atop the gates of the imperial palace with the empress and the others.

The plaza in front of the palace beneath them was filled with wagons that were consecutively moving in.

“Greetings to Your Majesty! Your Majesty is mighty and formidable!” Standing below, the militia cheered immediately when the empress appeared atop the walls.

These militiamen couldn’t think of words like, “Your Majesty is well versed in literature and martial arts, and your grace extends to all life. Your name will go down in history, and you will rule the world!”

Eventually, after racking their brains, they merely shouted, “Your Majesty is mighty and formidable!”

However, the atmosphere in the air was extremely warm and enthusiastic.

All these militiamen came from other cities, and 99 percent of them had never seen the empress before. Now that they had seen her, every one of them was very excited and felt that this long journey had really been worth it.

“Well done!” the empress said faintly as she stood atop the palace walls. Her voice was flat and resonated throughout the entire area.

“Thank you, Your Majesty!” These ordinary words from the empress made the militia feel as if they had received the biggest compliment ever.

“Present the gifts!” After someone shouted, everyone opened up the boxes on the wagons, and the dazzling radiance of the gold and silver immediately sparkled.

Tu Wan and the people from the Ministry of Revenue looked very happy. 300 wagons of gold and silver were worth at least a million taels of silver. With this supplement to the imperial treasury, the financial situation of the empire, which was currently very poor, would finally be slightly better.

Tong Zhenye, Qin Chuan, and the rest also looked very happy. They touched the pieces of paper in their breast pockets where they had written down all the details regarding the areas where money was needed in their departments.

This money hadn’t even gone through the Ministry of Revenue, yet these officials had already planned out how to spend it.