The so-called severe torture by the aboriginals wasn"t severe, it was just plain torture. These guys weren"t able to have such fancy ideas.
In the Sixty Thousand Mountains, they had to contend with Heaven and Earth in order to live, They had no time or energy for such things.
To them, killing people was no big deal. Just kill if they found someone obnoxious. There was no need to think of fanciful ways to torture people.
Even if they left the mountains and built a country, it would last less than a few decades as they were so poor and surrounded by hostile countries that they would still never come up with these cunning ideas.
He picked up the scaly whip and shook it after dipping it into salt water, causing the scales to puff up. A lash of this whip would directly tear away a strip of flesh.
Even an aboriginal, let alone an ordinary person, would have to rest in bed for a few days after receiving three lashes.
After three lashes, an ordinary person would be half dead.
The person caught wasn"t unyielding, and it didn"t matter even if he was. Either way, Ren Baqian could easily catch others just by giving an order.
In Ren Baqian"s mind, these remnant citizens of the Hao Nation weren"t related to him in any way. After going through the war, they were just a number to him.
He had seen many dead people, and it didn"t matter if more innocent people were to die.
…
Where there were people, there would be society.
With more than one person, there would be comparison. With more than two people there would be collusion.
This was true even among the remnant citizens of the Hao Nation who were captured.
Not only were there social rivalries, there was a martial arts world and even sects.
This was what Ren Baqian found out over these few days in Gu City.
There were 67 big and small cities as well as hundreds of sects in Tianjing Basin.
Initially, the remnant citizens of the Hao Nation were forced into the basin by the rebel forces. Due to the division between different forces, there were many battles between them.
The most common were naturally the ordinary civilians.
Above them were the army and the sects.
The army const.i.tuted the greater power while the sects were the lesser power. There were struggles within the sects, so some sect members would enter the army to wield power.
There were three forces in Tianjing Basin and each controlled dozens of cities.
Plus, the relationships between these three forces were not monolithic.
Many of those rebel leaders of different ranks became the warlords or officials.
There weren"t that many of them, no more than 200,000. The Protectorate of the South was watching and wouldn"t just sit around and let them do something on a large scale.
Their name was also changed to the city security force while their forces were scattered such that each city ranged from no more than a few thousand soldiers to 10,000 soldiers.
After all, they still belonged to Dayao, and the imperial court could tolerate a few thousand defenders.
If they were independent forces, they would be asking for death as they wouldn"t be tolerated.
Those rebels were badly beaten in the past, could only resort to petty manoeuvres secretly and dared not stir up too much turbulence openly. If they overstepped the line, even the past agreement wouldn"t be able to protect them.
As for the sects, which numbered in the hundreds, their overall power wasn"t strong.
Some of the stronger sects escaped Dayao by tramping over the hills to other countries. Those left behind were either weak or sentimentally attached to their homeland.
Although there were some top experts left, they weren"t able to generate much waves.
Moreover, Xi Wanya was monitoring them. From time to time, he would execute a group of people if he discovered any untoward movements.
During those days of battle with Great Xia, he had killed tens of thousands of people.
Ren Baqian stayed in Gu City for a few days. Besides hearing from the few remnant citizens of the Hao Nation that he caught, other information was acquired from Xi Wanya"s sources. Although he hadn"t entered the basin to see with his own eyes, he had a rough idea of the situation there. He had to wait until he was there in person to confirm the validity of the information obtained.
Ren Baqian bound together a booklet that contained the notes he had compiled during this period.
He went out of his room, strolled past a few courtyards, and heard music being played from a bamboo instrument coming from another courtyard.
Upon entering the courtyard, he saw a couple playing a musical instrument made from bamboo. It was like a flute, but was only as long as one palm. The sound produced by it wasn"t that mournful and had its own flavor.
The empress happened to be eating fruits in the room.
The candy tree was by her side. Ren Baqian had fixed a trolley with four wheels to the tree so that she could be accompanied by the tree wherever she went.
"How are things?" the empress asked as he strode in.
"I need to take a look in order to know," Ren Baqian replied gently. He sat beside the empress and took a bite of the refreshing fruit which melted in his mouth.
This was one of the goodies that Xi Wanya had given to the empress.
"When are we leaving?" The empress brightened up as she was getting bored here.
She wasn"t really interested in what Ren Baqian was doing.
The main purpose of this trip was to see what these people were like. They were protected by Dayao, yet harbored evil intentions against Dayao. On the other hand, she didn"t like to be separated from Ren Baqian for several months at a time.
"I am afraid we will have to be apart from each other in due time," Ren Baqian said. They would be too conspicuous together, and it would be hard to discover the desired information.
The empress was a little disappointed, but understood that this was a serious matter.
Ren Baqian asked, "Your Majesty, do you want to follow me back to Earth? Your humble servant will set out after this trip."
He said he wanted to meet Qi Jiayu, but these days, he was always on the move. The empress also didn"t follow him back to Earth, and he was thinking of quickly settling this matter as he already had a plan to resolve the issue.
He wanted to kill those who deserved to die so as to prevent the mind from mulling over it.
"Let"s go back and take a look," the empress told Qing Yuan and Hong Luan. She held Ren Baqian"s wrist, and the two disappeared into the room.
A moment later, Qing Yuan and Hong Luan went out to ask the two musicians to leave.
After returning to Earth, Ren Baqian and the empress changed their clothes.
It was the end of midsummer, so the weather was very hot.
Ren Baqian wanted to ask the empress whether she would like to go for a swim. He longed to see the empress in a swimsuit because she had a figure that would excite a man.
However, there was a official business to attend to.
"Your Majesty, do you remember when I said that there was a person who looks the same as you?" Ren Baqian asked
"I have some interest, but I wonder why you are so eager for me to meet her." The empress smiled at him. She always seem to be more relaxed on Earth.
Over here, she wasn"t the empress of Dayao.
"It"s indeed true." Ren Baqian nodded. "But the empress must see her first."
"Very well." The empress nodded her head after seeing his seriousness. Although he was normally easy going, when he said that something was important, it was time to take a look.
"Your Majesty, this is a new phone." Ren Baqian didn"t rush to leave, but instead took out something from his bag. It was a red phone.
"What are the differences compared to the previous one?" The empress found this phone to be slimmer, and it turned out to be soft when she touched it.
"It"s really different." Ren Baqian took the empress"s hand, placed the phone around her wrist, and it became like a watch.
"This is the latest version." Ren Baqian said with a smile. This phone used the latest technology, which was a flexible screen. In fact, it was already available two years ago, but only available on the open market recently.
"It"s really convenient." The empress nodded.
"Let"s go." Ren Baqian guided the empress to the car and drove to SH University.
While in the villa, he had checked the course schedule of Qi Jiayu and found that she should be teaching today.
The two entered the campus. The ivory tower environment was refreshingly pure when compared to society. With books in their hands, the to and fro of the students gave the place an academic atmosphere.
"Is this Zixiao"s first time visiting a university?" Like a pair of lovers, Ren Baqian held the empress"s hand while walking around the campus.
"It"s indeed my first time." The empress nodded. She had been brought to an elementary school by Ren Baqian, but those 10 year old kids were radically different from these university students, making her envious.
Fortunately, Dayao had its own school nowadays. Although there weren"t many students, they were the seeds that would germinate later.
As the two walked around the campus, her looks and disposition were attracting attention, especially in an ivory tower where students harbored illusions about love.
They stared at the empress and thought, Our university actually has such a female student? Why haven"t we heard of her before?
However, after seeing that Ren Baqian was holding her hand, they swore silently, A good cabbage is being eaten by a pig.
"Wait here." When they reached the teaching block, Ren Baqian stopped walking and waited with the empress under the shade of a tree for Qi Jiayu to finish her lesson.