Chapter 548: Return Trip

At dusk, a team of around 2,000 men and hundreds of chariots (TLC. Maybe wagons or carts fits better?) were on the move in Gu City and heading toward Tianjing Basin.

There was a never-ending flow of all sorts of caravans between Tianjing Basin and Gu City. Even though caravans of more than a thousand people weren’t exactly a rare sight, one could bump into them occasionally.

Especially when many of the caravans traveled together, it was almost impossible to tell if all of them were from the same group. Furthermore, their numbers were far greater.

It was only during recent months that the number of caravans between Tianjing Basin and Gu City had drastically reduced.

The war in Tianjing Basin had stopped the tracks of many of the caravans.

Moreover, the custom checks before entering Tianjing Basin had become more strict at Gu City. Many of the large caravans in the past weren’t able to pass through. Some of the caravans, who had the backing of the three major factions, even had their entire group wiped out. Subsequently, some of the smaller caravans, who were unheard of in the past, expanded very quickly over the last two months and had monopolized the majority of Tianjing Basin’s supplies.

These small caravans were under the influence of one or more sects.

And an organization called the Rearguard Commandery was backing those sects.

At present, however, these troops were different from the caravans.

This was an army, an army that people would lower their heads and be afraid to offend when sighted from afar.

The winged cavalry!

After the three month long journey in Tianjing Basin, the strongest military power in Dayao had finally returned.

Alongside the winged cavalry in the imperial chariot was the fifth strongest expert in the world and the empress of Dayao, Qi Zixiao.

Outside Tianjing Basin, almost nobody knew about the death of Teng Yue. If news got out that Qi Zixiao had killed Teng Yue, it would probably shake up the entire world.

Besides the winged cavalry and the empress’s imperial chariot, the most surprising thing was that many of Tianjing Basin’s people were following behind the aboriginal troops.

This sparked the astonishment of many.

“So this is Gu City!” Qingyun Sword mumbled to himself among the troops.

“First time here?” Ren Baqian turned around and asked when he heard him muttering from the front.

“No, but the last I came here was 70 years ago, so far back that I can’t recall clearly anymore.” Qingyun Sword shook his head. His eyes darted around, appearing very disturbed.

Everyone that was following behind Ren Baqian had a very disturbed look.

After 70 years, they had finally walked out.

This journey to Gu City was no longer the same as back in the day when they followed the caravans and bought all sorts of supplies. They used to feel inferior wherever they went.

This time they felt like they belonged here.

“This is actually my first time here. Previously, I landed here when I leaped down from the mountains.” Li Fu smiled as he stroked his beard.

Li Fu, Qingyun Sword, Zuo Cheng, Zuo Leng, and the bodyguards were among the troops. Alongside them were two new qianhu, a few baihu, and the three scholars from Great Xia.

The death of Xie Kun took place a month ago, and the only unusual creature that got away was the crow general. No matter how strong they were, nobody was bothered by it.

After that incident, Xi Wanya was primarily in charge of rounding up the rebels who had escaped. On the other hand, Ren Baqian made arrangements along the way to purge many of the sects in the south. He also handled matters pertaining to the Rearguard Commandery and drew up new systems for Tianjing Basin.

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First of all, Tianjing Basin had been divided into six large districts called the Six Prefectures. In the north and south, there would be three prefectures each.

Every prefecture would have a group of 1,000 aboriginal soldiers as well as a newly established prefecture garrison.

Anyone from Tianjing Basin would require a guide in order to travel from one prefecture to another.

The cities in the Six Prefectures wouldn’t have military rights. They would only be responsible for establishing the city laws, disseminating the government decrees, and handling official affairs.

As such, the imperial court would have full control over the Six Prefectures, and it would be very difficult for them to revolt.

Apart from this, Ren Baqian scattered the Rearguard Commandery members among the Six Prefectures and wantonly recruited more strong men. He made sure that every three cities had one baihu. Other than the city that the baihu was residing in, the two other cities had to have at least one zongqi, two xiaoqi, 20 tiqi, and hundreds of strong men of all professions hidden among the commoners.

To those sects that had given their all to the Rearguard Commandery, this wasn’t exactly a difficult task.

This way, Ren Baqian would be notified of everything that happened in the Six Prefectures through the Rearguard Commandery.

Also, the headquarters of the Rearguard Commandery in Tianjing Basin would be located in Gu City and was called the Tiannan Defense.

Besides, one would only be able to communicate with Ren Baqian via radio outside of Tianjing Basin, thus Gu City.

In this team, other than the 300 plus soldiers from the Protectorate of the South and the winged cavalry, everyone else was from Tianjing Basin.

Most of them were artisans and commoners brought from the north. In the north, there were very few casualties this time from putting down the revolt. Most of the rebels came from the south. As a result, stricter control was exercised over the south as compared to the north, and the selection of candidates this time were all from the north.

The artisans were out of the question. The commoners would require some training and would stay in Lan City as small traders or take up odd jobs. This was to let the aboriginals get used to seeing people from Tianjing Basin so as to be able to live together harmoniously.

Ren Baqian was slowly working hard toward what he had promised Qingyun Sword before.

It wasn’t only for the people of Tianjing Basin, but for Dayao as well.

It would be unstable to walk on one leg, which was exactly what Dayao was doing at present. Ren Baqian had high expectations toward making the remnant citizens of Tianjing Basin useful.

Ren Baqian pondered for a moment while sitting on his horned cow before turning around and saying to the people, “From now on, don’t call yourselves remnant citizens anymore. That would only remind you of the past. Set your mind at ease to be an ethnic group of Dayao and integrate with us.”

“We shall be called the Jing Tribe then.” Qingyun Sword looked at Zuo Cheng briefly before replying. He understood what Ren Baqian meant.

“The Jing Tribe of Tianjing Basin. It is decided then.” Ren Baqian nodded. It seemed that besides the aboriginals, even the people of Tianjing Basin wouldn’t be able to let go of the past that easily.

Following the troops into Gu City, the people behind Ren Baqian all looked at the city entrance and simultaneously felt both apprehension as well as hope.

The commoners of Gu City also began sizing them up with an inquisitive look.

In the few days to come, the empress would be in Gu City, linking up with Lan City and a few other protectorates to settle all sorts of affairs. Even though there had been daily reports sent back, it wasn’t as convenient as being able to chat over wireless radio.

Ren Baqian would be settling the people of the Rearguard Commandery and would let Gong Zheng dispatch some people to escort the artisans and commoners to Lan City at the same time.

Of course, there were still those few hundred carts of goods. This was the largest harvest of goods from this rebellion.

Other than those sects in the south who had surrendered previously, all of the rest had been exterminated. The goods and gold that they owned were naturally taken to support the state treasury as well as the empress’s little treasure-house. Then, the secret manuals were all taken by Ren Baqian, who intended to construct a large library in Lan City!

All the secret manuals from all the sects would be placed there.

After that, he would gather all of the aboriginals’ manuals and place them there as well.

He strongly believed that only a library like this would be fit to be the nation’s national monument, which was also the nation’s immense wealth.