The Empress’s Gigolo

“Spinning and weaving? Irrigation? Planting? Processing? Regardless of whether it’s farming equipment or something else, what can you provide?” Ren Baqian thought about it and said to Shi Hu, “Go to my room and bring me the brown wooden box.”

Shi Hu left hurriedly to fetch the item.

The room then plunged into silence. Ren Baqian stayed calm amid the chaos and waited. Saying anything now would be needless time wasting. These people simply refused to be convinced until they were faced with the grim reality.

Meanwhile, the people from the Zhang family were wondering what it was that Ren Baqian had ordered his bodyguard to retrieve.

Shi Hu returned hurriedly an hour later and was holding a wooden box that was about 60 by 30 by 15 centimeters. “Sir, here it is.”

Ren Baqian took the box and opened it up before rummaging through it for a bit. Then, he took out some blueprints.

“Hydraulic weaving machine, using hydraulic power to drive the weaving of cloth. Have a look and see if you can understand it? This is the hydraulic forging machine, driven by hydraulic power as well. It’s used for forging metals, and it can save a lot of manual labor. This is the pulley composite bow! A powerful bow that can generate 50 kilograms of power output with just 20 kilograms of force input. I don’t have to say more about its function.”

Just as Ren Baqian finished speaking, one of the people who was still studying the previous blueprints immediately snatched away the blueprint for the composite bow.

After looking at it for some time, everyone was amazed.

“So it works like this! We can reduce the physical effort by placing a pulley here!”

In fact, this world had discovered the functions of pulleys long ago. Such simple physics was something that everyone knew about, regardless of the world they existed in. The problem existed in the understanding of the object.

“See, I’m not afraid of showing you these things or even letting you study them. This is because my knowledge exceeds way past what you think. Things that you deem important, only seem important to you. These few things that I have shown you are already more advanced than what you know, and furthermore, this is just the simper stuff. In fact, I can actually do much better—it’s just that more effort will be needed. I enlisted you guys, not because of the things that you can bring over, but because you can help me save time. I have too many things to do and don’t have the energy to spread my focus everywhere. That’s why I need a group of more intelligent people to help me handle some tasks. In my eyes, you are the more intelligent people,” Ren Baqian said slowly.

After a good while, Zhang Zishan put down the blueprints, raised his head, and looked at Ren Baqian with a complex express. Taking into account the wine brewing, spring construction, and cloth dyeing contest from before, Ren Baqian had indeed performed remarkably better than the Zhang family in many aspects. Zhang Zishan had no choice but to admit that there were indeed people in this world who were naturally gifted.

When he was Ren Baqian’s age, he already had earned some reputation in the Zhang family. However, he was still only more gifted in a single aspect.

A sense of helplessness gushed into his mind. Sure enough, he couldn’t hold a candle to Ren Baqian. Compared to him, Zhang Zishan was only as good as a dog for the past few decades of his life.

“Sir Ren, you’re indeed remarkable. Just you alone are already better than the thousands of us in the Zhang family. However, you still haven’t told me anything that makes me trust that you won’t abandon us after achieving your goals.”

“What good would I get from doing that?” Ren Baqian burst out in laughter. “I’m neither interested in your skills nor am I interested in money, let alone the other things. If not for the war, just solely based on the sale of mirrors in the Yun Nation and Great Xia, I would have earned an insurmountable sum of money.”

Ren Baqian took out a palm-sized object and placed it on the table. It was made up of two glass bulbs with sand flowing nonstop from the top to the bottom.

“This is an hourglass, which is used to measure time. It will take exactly two hours for the sand to flow from one bulb to the other. How much do you think this thing is worth?”

“600 taels of silver.” Zhang Zishan and the others made a guess after carefully examining the transparent hourglass that Ren Baqian took out. Even though the quality of this hourglass looked pretty crude to Ren Baqian, the Zhang family felt that it was extremely delicate.

They believed that the rich would definitely be willing to spend a few hundred taels just to buy this little thing.

“People will even buy it for 1,000 taels of silver. The reason for showing you this is to explain to you that even a small object that I casually bring out has great commercial value. If I was after money, I can get it easily. With you guys around, you can help me save some time. If I kill you, how will that benefit me? I have even accepted the Jing Tribe, so why wouldn’t I accept you guys? Naturally, as long as you know your place, no one will ever create trouble for you. I can also recommend you for an official post in the Ministry of Works. You should know those people from the Jing Tribe, right?”

Ren Baqian looked at Zhang Junzheng and continued, “I want the people of the Jing Tribe and the aboriginals to coexist under the same sky. As such, I will gradually promote the status of the Jing Tribe. You guys can enjoy the same treatment as them.”

“Is Sir Ren from the Jing Tribe?” Zhang Zishan questioned closely.

“There is no need for you to make conjectures about my way of thinking.” Ren Baqian shook his head, and his words were filled with disdain. “What I see is the future of this world!”

Everyone in the Zhang family was indeed unclear about Ren Baqian’s way of thinking. However, Ren Baqian’s tone really made them feel as if he was standing on the clouds and looking down on them… Simply an arrogant lunatic.

You think you are God?

“You have already submitted the name list for the Zhang family, yet you are asking these questions now. You fear to advance or retreat and feel at a loss. This isn’t the demeanor of a family with centuries of history.” Ren Baqian smiled as his tone shifted.

Even though what Ren Baqian said was true, Zhang Zishan didn’t look pleased.

It was just that he was really placed in a tight spot. After all, this was a matter that involved thousands of people in the Zhang family, so there was no room for carelessness. Even now, there were still endless disputes within the Zhang family.

“I shall make another promise to you. You may choose to retain one core trade or skill and can use that to establish yourselves here.” Ren Baqian smiled.

Indeed, after this was said, everyone in the Zhang family looked a little happier.

Ren Baqian sighed to himself. Regardless of which family they came from, the thoughts of the people in this age were very limited. They didn’t consider that if they were to obtain more advanced techniques in the trade that they chose, it could collapse their entire family at anytime.

In fact, the Zhang family might not necessarily misunderstand this possibility. They simply stuck to this decision because they needed something important to keep ahold of. This would make them feel as if they were still in control of their own lives.

“Sir Ren, that will be unnecessary,” Zhang Junzheng suddenly replied.

Everyone in the Zhang family immediately turned their heads and glowered while looking extremely puzzled.

“Junzheng, since when are you able to call the shots for the Zhang family?” Zhang Zishan shouted.

“Second Uncle, I will explain to you later.” Zhang Junzheng gently shook his head and cupped his hands toward Ren Baqian. “Sir Ren, this was all part of our lowly expectations. We, the Zhang family, are willing to accept Sir Ren’s sincerity. Given your status, you naturally wouldn’t deceive us. We only wish that in the future, you won’t hold back your guidance for us!”

Ren Baqian smiled. Finally, there was someone in the Zhang family who understood.

“Think it through before looking for me again.” Seeing that the rest of the people were still confused, Ren Baqian stood up and left with his bodyguards.

After Ren Baqian left, a dispute among the Zhang family broke out in the restaurant.

Eventually, Zhang Junzheng managed to convince everyone. The Zhang family went to look for Ren Baqian the next day and completely submitted to him. Of course, they submitted to the empress nominally.

Henceforth, there was the addition of a large group of experienced craftsmen under Ren Baqian’s control. After the Zhang family submitted to him, the first thing Ren Baqian did was summon a portion of the baihu in Tianjing Basin to escort them from Tianjing Basin to the Yun Nation.

With the internal support of the influence of the Zhang family that had spent centuries in the Yun Nation, the baihu were easily able to conceal themselves among the Zhang family within various large cities inside the Yun Nation.

At the same time, a large group of aboriginals from the Sixty Thousand Mountains left the mountains during the night and entered the training camp for recruits. They embarked on a life of eating so much fish that they began to question their own existence. As they trained every day, they cursed the fellow who had come up with this rotten idea.