The Empress's Gigolo

Chapter 677: On the Verge of a Breakthrough

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

“Zheng Chengmian is ambitious but incompetent. Currently, a quarter of the territory of the Yun Nation has been occupied by the barbarians. Still, he remains in the court, eliminating the dissidents, slowing down the western troops and stopping their support troops. There are commoners in almost 100 cities that are currently under the iron hooves of the barbarians, and his incompetence is truly bringing misfortune to the nation!

The barbarians are currently rushing in vigorously, which is very different from the past.

Great Xia has long deployed 500,000 soldiers to the southern front to put up an endless fight with Hong Wu, the barbarian general. However, the 70,000 strong barbarian army still shows no signs of retreat at all. Can’t he tell their objective?

The barbarians are out to destroy the Yun Nation!

Meanwhile, Zheng Chengmian is actually steadfast in his wishful thinking and believes that they will retreat on their own!

If the Yun Nation were to be destroyed, we would all be known as the generation that caused the downfall of the nation!

Teacher will be setting out on a journey to Wang Jing to put it all on the line. He has already contacted a number of officials who have retired to join him on his journey. Even if they are to die, they must let Her Majesty know how bad the current situation has gotten!

If we are to let Zheng Chengmian do it his way, then the fall of the Yun Nation will be right before our eyes!

Even though I’m only a scholar, I’m still willing to join teacher on this journey! I’m not sure what you guys have in mind?”

In a pub, a scholar sat in front of a table and spoke vehemently. He had a young and tender face that seemed hot-blooded and slightly flushed.

“I’m not talented, but I’m willing to join Mister Shan on this journey!” Another scholar sitting across from him immediately cupped his fists in response.

“Together, together! I would rather put my life on the line to get the message across than to stay here and wait to be trampled by the barbarians!” A few others gradually got worked up.

The mettle of these scholars was displayed in great detail over all of them.

“Great!” A burly man slammed the table and cheered loudly. “Guys, even though I can’t join you on this journey, I admire all of you! This jar of wine is for you.”

After this was said, many other people spoke up as well. The first scholar was immediately riled up and said, “As long as the Yun Nation still has such hot-blooded men like you, we will be able to succeed!”

After finishing the drinks, the burly man asked about a few details, such as whether the bodyguards were safe and who the well known Mister Zhen Shan had invited, before recommending wantonly.

A while later, he took a stroll around the city and entered a remote courtyard. He then started narrating everything that had just happened at the pub in full detail before asking, “Sir, what do you think?”

In front of him was a middle-aged man in his forties. He had a wide forehead and looked like a typical man from the Jing Tribe. However, he didn’t look very different from a Yun Nation person, and nobody would be able to tell if he went out while wearing a bamboo hat.

“Even though the higher-ups didn’t mention it, judging from the current situation, I’m afraid that they are really going to destroy the Yun Nation. One of those bodyguards is an Earth Wheel expert, so it seems like I will have to personally take part. Take note of their departure time and route tomorrow. Then, intercept and kill them. We mustn’t allow them to go to Wang Jing.”

After the burly man left, the middle-aged man wrote a letter and sent someone to quickly deliver it.

The next day, a party of horse carriages and over 10 scholars left through the eastern gate.

At noon, someone discovered their corpses 50 kilometers away.

When this news got back, everyone in Jiang City turned pale with fright. There were actually so many people spying for Zheng Chengmian that this party of scholars actually got intercepted and massacred shortly after they set off.

…

“Well done!” Ren Baqian felt rather delighted as he held the piece of news that he received from the northeast. He then returned to the palace and handed that piece of paper to the empress, who was in the middle of reading manga.

“Those people have done a pretty good job. Even though they acted on their own initiative, I still feel that I ought to commend them,” Ren Baqian remarked.

He continued, “The value of incorporating those people is already being shown. With these people, many things can be done much easier. If those scholars were to stir up the Yun Nation, it would cause quite a bit of trouble. At the moment, we have only conquered a quarter of their land. If the Yun Nation mobilized their entire country, our casualty count would definitely increase. Even though this will happen sooner or later as more and more cities fall, it will be too late for them to react when they realize it. You can’t kill someone with just two fingers!”

“I think that it can be done!” The empress stretched out two fingers and moved them around in front of her.

“Alright, Your Majesty is right. However, the strength of two fingers can never be greater than a fist.” Ren Baqian stretched out his arms and laughed.

The empress retracted her fingers before faintly replying, “I understand what you mean. Those people have done pretty well. I’m clear on giving out rewards and punishments, so I will give them the rewards that they deserve.”

“With Your Majesty’s words, they won’t be risking their lives for nothing,” Ren Baqian answered indistinctly as he took a piece of fruit from beside the empress’s couch and put it in his mouth.

It was already June now, and the rainy season was here. Not only did the torrential rain fail to reduce the heat in Lan City, it made the place even more humid.

After previously showcasing the train to the officials, everything was methodically arranged for the process.

The students were improving the train as they attended their classes.

Ren Baqian left this entirely to them. Even if their progress was very slow, the things that they would receive in return were huge.

Apart from this, they were also required to do something else, which was to develop a thermal-powered dynamo that Ren Baqian frequently gave instructions for.

In fact, the principles of this thermal-powered dynamo weren’t complicated at all, and the students very quickly achieved preliminary results. The more important issues were to achieve a higher conversion efficiency as well as improve its stability.

With the train’s example, many students dived straight into doing the research work for the dynamo and took pleasure in it.

This research also helped drive them to learn on their own initiative and flip through books in the library. Every bit of improvement was able to make them very happy.

At present, the students at the school and the rest of the people out there formed two different groups of people, turning the school into a lone tower.

The people outside the academy completely didn’t understand what the students were fiddling with.

The students also no longer had any interest in the things that the people outside the academy were fiddling with.

What they saw was a new world full of unknowns, and they were able to discover something new in this world every once in a while. As they began learning more, they bumped into more problems and solved more problems as well. Discovering and solving these new problems made them feel very happy and put them in high spirits to continue forging ahead.

This sense of accomplishment and excitement, combined with the acknowledgement that mutual cooperation brought, was something that nothing else was able to give them. Despite the fact that there was still an air of arrogance around her, even Tong Lan had unified with the rest of the students.

However, there were still exceptions in the school, like Qing Lian. They didn’t know why she was so obsessed with mathematics that she couldn’t free herself from it. Without fail, she would be carrying textbooks every day about subjects like algebra and geometry.

The various problems that Qing Lian faced daily had also forced Ren Baqian to relearn the knowledge that he had long forgotten.

On the other hand, as the high yield crops that Ren Baqian had introduced began to ripen, they were able to harvest a few thousand kilograms of crops from every mu of land. This was sufficient to give Lan City and the surrounding cities an abundance of provisions. New crops such as pumpkins and potatoes appeared in the markets in large amounts, and they were all readily accepted by the commoners.

These high yield crops and canned fish, which had been increasing in production, had greatly alleviated the pressure that the recruitment of soldiers had brought to Dayao over the past year.

The empress had also taken this opportunity to transfer soldiers from more cities toward the Yun Nation.

They would be able to aid with the transportation of the plundered goods as well as manage the captives working at the three iron ore mines that the aboriginals had just acquired.

At present, Zi Donglai was plundering money, rations, and resources in the Yun Nation. There was a large volume of prisoners who weren’t able to be sent back to Dayao in time, which resulted in having to manage these prisoners in the captured territory or even killing them.

As for the wars against the Chen Nation and Great Xia, due to the arrival of the rainy season and the moisture in the air, bowstrings and crossbow strings began losing their elasticity. The offense of both parties had pretty much slowed down at this point.

For this reason, Ren Baqian had no choice but to give Su Qing a bunch of skunk bombs to occupy everyone’s attention in Great Xia.

At present, there was only one thing that was important to him—he was getting closer and closer to breaking through the final visualization of [Ruyi Visualization], which was the [Visualization of Metal]

Once he broke through the [Visualization of Metal], he would complete the first part of [Ruyi Visualization]. According to the manual, the complete harmony of the five elements would allow him to immediately break through the Man Wheel level!

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