The Empress’s Gigolo

A few days after the New Year, hundreds of people and carriages escorted by soldiers arrived at Lan City. Zhang Junzheng could be seen from a distance waiting at the city gate.

Most of the people in this group had large hands and feet, were between 17 and 70 years old, and looked tired. Although they had arrived at their destination, they weren’t excited. Instead, they seemed uneasy.

“Second Uncle, you must be tired after a long journey.”

Zhang Junzheng, followed by Zhang Heqi and Zhang Heju, said this to an exhausted elderly man who was coming out of his carriage.

This group of people were the craftsmen from the Zhang family. Many of them were respected professionals in the manufacturing industry. After Zhang Junzheng lost the bet, they received a letter and headed for Lan City after some discussion. They passed through many places and took one month to reach their destination.

The elderly man didn’t reply, but raised his head to look at Lan City and said, “Let’s talk after entering the city.”

He turned to a big fellow who was riding a fork-horned cow and said, “Captain, thank you for your company along the way. Bring those things to me.”

Following his command, someone brought him a plate of silver ingots.

“All of you have worked hard during this period, and this is a small token for you to buy some wine to drink.” The elderly man laughed.  ( NovelFull )

That big fellow looked at the plate of silver ingots, gestured for someone to take it away, and said, “I was ordered by the governor to escort you to Lan City. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have been able to make it here.

Without any further ado, he and his men simply departed.

Soon after, Zhang Junzheng brought everyone to the houses that were arranged for them in advance. The elderly man then brought another six or seven men and Zhang Junzheng to a building.

“I have seen the letter. Can you elaborate?” the elderly man asked.

Zhang Junzheng explained the nature of the bet in detail, carefully took out a heavy box from a cabinet, and put it on the table. He opened it to display torsion springs of various sizes.

“Second Uncle, take a look. These were made by him.”

A few people beside the elderly man didn’t wait for him to speak and immediately took out the springs to examine carefully.

After a long examination of the springs, the elderly man sighed and said, “Great. I never expected anyone to do better than the thousands of craftsmen in the Zhang family. Since we lost the bet, we will accept defeat willingly and serve this guy. However, this matter involves the safety of thousands of our members. What’s your opinion of this person?”

Zhang Junzheng pondered before saying slowly, “Although he looks ordinary, he has revolutionary ideas.”

“This is quite a compliment.”

“He looks ordinary and doesn’t seem outstanding, but he is very ruthless.”

“His nickname, Poison Warrior, was attained at the cost of countless people dying.”

“Furthermore, he’s proficient in manufacturing weapons. If not for those powerful weapons, Great Xia wouldn’t have been defeated so quickly after launching a surprise attack last year. Coupled with the attack by the Yun Nation, the situation could have been completely reversed.”

“His knowledge of forging, dyeing, and brewing have already been made known to you. He also set up Black Bamboo Academy to impart knowledge of mathematics and other subjects.”

“I already know about these. He’s for sure an extraordinary person.” The elderly man nodded and continued, “You know what I want to know. The lives of so many people from the Zhang family depend on him, so I can’t afford to be careless.”

“There’s one matter which Second Uncle probably doesn’t know. He went to Tianjing Basin last year and returned with thousands of remnant citizens from the Hao Nation. Some of them are working in the imperial family’s glass and spice shops. There are also a few in the imperial zoo and the palace.”

“I have tried to fish for information from the remnant citizens of the Hao Nation before, but didn’t get much information from them. From his actions, it seems like he wants them to live together with the aboriginals.”

“It looks like he prefers to use people who aren’t aboriginals. After all, he isn’t an aboriginal,” remarked the elderly man.

“By nature, he isn’t a callous person, but the most important thing is our value. It’s better that Second Uncle sees him personally,” Zhang Junzheng said.

“Might as well see him since I’m here. Please make the arrangements,” the elderly man said.

In fact, prior to their entry into the city, Ren Baqian had known about their impending arrival. He received the invitation the next day and met them at the teahouse after that.

Besides Zhang Junzheng, there was his Second Uncle, Zhang Zishan, as well as a number of old craftsmen from the Zhang family. They were still surprised by his youthful look even though they already knew his age. In their hearts, they were wondering how someone this young could know so many things.

“Sir Ren, I’m Zhang Zishan. This is our first meeting, and I’m here to discuss matters concerning the Zhang family.” Zhang Zishan rose up to greet Ren Baqian upon seeing him.

Ren Baqian nodded and sat across from this group of people.

“I’m an unrefined man, I don’t know much, and I don’t know how to speak eloquently. I only want to know how the Zhang family will be resettled and what you can give us,” Zhang Zishan cut straight to the point in a self-deprecating manner.

Ren Baqian laughed as his eyes glanced around at the few people.

Then, he asked, “You are only asking about the betting stakes now? Isn’t it too late?”

The expressions of these few people immediately changed.

Zhang Zishan’s face changed momentarily before saying, “Sir Ren misunderstood. We are not here to bargain. We want to know how we will be resettled since it involves the livelihoods of thousands of people in our family and we have many voices internally. So, we hope Sir Ren can clarify and let us know what to expect.”

“Senior isn’t a boor!” Ren Baqian laughed.

“Dayao lacks everything, including talent and basic skills. All of you will definitely be useful here. Bring all of your knowledge and technology to set up industries here. However, things in Dayao aren’t the same as in the Yun Nation. You can’t just bring in your technology and follow the same old ways because the best ideas are in my brain.

The operating plan is this: the aboriginals must participate in every industry with both sides contributing money and effort. The aboriginals will account for 70 to 90 percent of the share, which doesn’t look like much, but you would be envious if the aboriginals were given even more. This is for the whole country and only two parties are involved, so what does that mean? This is a monopoly, a monopoly of all the industries in the country. Of course, this will be slowly liberalized, but that will happen in the future.”

“If it’s done this way, the Zhang family will be swallowed up in a few years,” Zhang Zishan said gravely. The rest of the people were also displeased.

Based on this plan, the Zhang family had to transfer all of their technology and would only own a small portion of each industry. After a few years of development in Dayao, the aboriginals would have mastered these technologies, leaving the Zhang family without any clout.

“I have mentioned this before—the best ideas are in my brain and not with you, so don’t overrate yourselves.”

This Zhang family needed to be made aware of their present position, and Ren Baqian needed to ram it into their heads. They had occupied a place of pride for over a hundred years and forgot that the best ideas were with Ren Baqian. Reminders were constantly needed.